Chapter 13: The Dean's Conspiracy
Imomi looked at the communicator on the grass. It wasn't that she had a cleanliness obsession, but she was afraid the saliva on it was poisonous. Such things were something contractors from Reincarnation Paradise would do.
Hiss~
Before Imomi could dial, static came from the communicator, and the red light turned green, indicating it was connected.
"There's nothing wrong with the communicator. I wouldn't use such low-level tricks."
The Dean's voice came from the communicator. Hearing this, Imomi took two steps back, distancing herself from the device.
"We've already lost the qualification to continue competing for the Space-Time Crystals. If we cooperate, what are your conditions?"
"Conditions? What conditions could there be in cooperation? We split the Space-Time Force Crystals we seize evenly, and the spoils are split evenly. Our Reincarnation Paradise has always advocated harmony and friendship. Of course, against enemies, our methods might be a bit extreme."
The Dean's tone was natural, taking the art of lying through one's teeth to the extreme.
"Stop joking. This isn't funny at all." Imomi's expression wasn't pleasant. She pondered for a moment, then said, "If we seize more than seven Space-Time Crystals, we only want one. Although we won't complete the war mission, we can reduce the penalty. The rest of the spoils have nothing to do with us."
"Splitting evenly is fine."
"You... are you really that determined to wipe us out?"
"..."
The Dean was silent for a moment, then a low laugh came from the communicator.
"Then let's cooperate on your terms."
After saying this, the call was hung up. The last sentence carried a huge amount of hidden information.
Throughout the entire negotiation, the Dean wasn't as aggressive as Imomi had expected. Listening to his tone, it seemed like any form of cooperation was acceptable, with Imomi free to set the conditions.
Was that really the case? Of course not. The Dean's seemingly casual attitude was actually a test. He wanted to know if Imomi understood the current situation.
If Imomi was a sensible person, then cooperation was possible. If she, relying on her side's many healing-type contractors, used that as leverage to demand benefits, then what awaited them would be gradual erosion and eventual elimination.
Imomi was a smart person, and she also knew this was an opportunity—a chance for her to soar. Currently, her side was at a huge disadvantage, nearly on the verge of being eliminated.
If she could maneuver against Reincarnation Paradise's side under these circumstances and survive in the end, using a small number of Space-Time Force Crystals to avoid punishment, she would completely establish her authority among the hundred-plus people on her side.
The Holy Light Paradise contractors who could survive the siege of Death Paradise and the Church were definitely elites of the Sixth Rank. If she could win over these contractors to form a small adventure group, even after advancing to Seventh Rank, it would be a very strong and rapidly developing team.
Imomi had been in several large teams before, and her conclusion was that large groups were too difficult to manage. Everyone had their own thoughts. They were indeed strong during World Wars, but resource allocation in normal times was a major problem.
Therefore, a long time ago, Imomi planned to form a small team of about five people, taking an elite route. Unfortunately, teammates weren't easy to find. She had tried before, but they all died.
Now the opportunity had come. Selecting four teammates from 108 people wasn't too difficult, and their strength was guaranteed.
To complete her teammate recruitment plan, Imomi needed to accomplish one thing: lead these people through the crisis and fully establish her leadership authority and charisma, rather than being just a temporary leader.
Setting aside Imomi's thoughts for now, back at the Reincarnation Paradise base camp.
"It's settled. The situation went smoother than expected. We can begin."
The Dean put down the communicator and turned his gaze to Su Xiao.
"I'll handle any Seventh Rank that might appear."
"Are you sure that's no problem? There's a huge gap between Seventh Rank and Sixth Rank. I once fought a Seventh Rank contractor in some world. That woman tore through all the plans I set up. If I hadn't retreated in time, I would have died there."
The Dean sighed with some emotion. His failure that time was due to the enemy's absolute force. In a fully open Primordial World, all kinds of monsters could be encountered. That time, the Dean not only faced an Apocalypse Paradise Seventh Rank contractor as a Sixth Rank contractor, but there were also people from the Transcendent Primordial World, Doom Star, in that world.
The reason the Dean was teleported to that kind of fully open Primordial World had some punitive meaning. At Fifth Rank, he had gotten all his own contractors killed. If he hadn't won that World War, he wouldn't have needed to reach Sixth Rank before being 'thrown' into a fully open Primordial World.
"In principle, it's no problem."
"In principle..."
The Dean was speechless. In his perception, Su Xiao was a monster, strong beyond his understanding of Sixth Rank. He even suspected that, given suitable terrain, this monster could single-handedly fight over a hundred Sixth Rank contractors.
"As for Apocalypse, there's no need to interfere for now. You should understand what I mean."
A gold coin flipped between Su Xiao's fingers. With a *ding*, it slid off his fingertip, rolled across the table to the Dean, and stopped perfectly upright.
"Of course. Bai Ye, you're overthinking. I wouldn't use our own people..."
The Dean's words stopped midway. A pair of eyes tinged with red light were staring at him. If he continued, he would die. He would definitely die.
"We're at war with three sides almost simultaneously. People will die anyway. There's no helping it."
The Dean seemed to admit something but didn't say it directly. Sacrificing some allies was the price of fighting so many contractors at once. After doing certain things, the Dean would be the first to run, to avoid being killed by those dissatisfied madmen. With Widow West around, the subsequent plans would be fine.
"After dealing with the Death and Sanctuary alliance, stop. Avoid all unnecessary combat losses."
"What do you mean?"
"I found many corpses of native residents in the Fallen Zone. They also need Space-Time Force Crystals. Judging by the time of death, they arrived in the Fallen Zone five days before we entered this world and obtained at least twelve or more Space-Time Force Crystals."
Su Xiao lit a cigarette. The faint spicy and smoky taste in his mouth made him relax as he leaned back in his seat. Based on his judgment, those native residents were waiting—waiting until their side's numbers were reduced to a certain level before charging in.
The core of this world had no imprint from any Paradise, and the Void Tree's certification prevented too much interference here.
In other words, the native residents of this world were actually a hidden enemy. They were numerous and held an absolute geographical advantage, since they lived in this world.
Even stranger, Baha had previously found several orc corpses mixed in with the alien corpses. This meant both sides were cooperating to obtain Space-Time Force Crystals.
The orcs had been beaten into submission. After seeing some possibility, they surrendered. The humans and sub-humans of this world, however, should still be holding onto their principles, still hating and resisting the aliens.
"The aliens haven't reconciled with the orcs, have they?"
The Dean also knew from his own intelligence channels that there were orc and alien corpses in the Fallen Zone, but he didn't know about that mixed pile of corpses. Baha had already burned it.
"The orcs surrendered."
"That's... not good."
The Dean picked up the gold coin from the table, pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Let's clear out the Death and Sanctuary alliance first. Give me two days. If I can't do it in two days, you can cut off my head."
"Why would I cut off your head? Because you're from the Gentleman's Alliance? Because you were once a violator? Because you and Mr. J come from the same mental hospital?"
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face, a very friendly one. He left these words behind and stood up to leave.
"Just like J said, a monster."
The Dean looked at the gold coin in his hand. On the coin was an Ouroboros pattern. This pattern represented a certain madhouse and also the Gentleman's Alliance.
Mr. J, the Dean, and Mad Doctor all came from the same madhouse and were all members of the Gentleman's Alliance. Mr. J had once been independent for a time but nearly got killed by Su Xiao.
It had to be said, that madhouse produced talented people.