Light Fortress-Chapter 1586 - 274: This Is a Conspiracy

On the shattered surface of the Ice Sea, a large amount of broken ice floats along with the wreckage of Source Energy Boat debris.

Countless bodies rise and fall within the waves.

The heavy fog has dispersed.

"Dead... all dead..."

A deep, murmuring voice echoes above the sea, swallowed by the waves.

Yin Zhuo, the Fourth Elder of the Light Temple, stands alone and despondent atop the well-preserved, massive alloy cover of the Main Light Ship.

His hair is disheveled, extremely haggard; the magnificent sacred white robe he wears is in shreds, and his chest, pierced by a laser beam, emits hissing heat from the unhealed flesh.

In the final barrage, the Light Main Ship failed to break through and was completely shot down, and those protection boats exploded in mid-air.

This can no longer be described as heavy casualties.

Survivors are one in a hundred.

And even those survivors have lost limbs, with little time left to live.

Yin Zhuo gazes at the Light believers floating on the sea, his eyes filled with pain. Each believer nurtured by the Lord Divine is a "treasure" of Light City. They may die, but not in such a worthless way... This Ice Sea operation has been a huge sacrifice for Light City.

The most unacceptable sight for him is seeing the Changye Fleet from Central City retreat perfectly intact.

"Yin Zhuo..."

Not far from where the Source Tower’s Main Ship fell, an exhausted voice suddenly arises.

This time, the overall Commander sent by Central Continent was the renowned Holy Cross Academy alumnus, bestowed with the title "Giant Moon" by the Upper City Council, named Meriz.

"Meriz, are you okay?"

Yin Zhuo hurriedly flits over to inspect the injuries.

[Giant Moon] had poor luck; in the last salvo, he was pierced all over by laser beams while trying to protect the Main Ship. Even with powerful spiritual power to mend wounds, his life force continues to wane... But for a Titled being, these injuries aren’t immediately fatal, and Yin Zhuo quickly envelops him in Holy Light, offering sanctuary.

"Healing arts" are Light City’s specialty.

"I’m... okay."

Meriz smiles slightly, looking toward the dissipating vortex of the storm, murmuring: "Never expected... the Ice Sea mission to be a conspiracy."

Yin Zhuo is struck by a cold wave.

Those who are alive, numbering about ten, start gathering around the Titled beings’ location.

Though the Ice Sea has returned to calm, the disaster has not ceased. Those lucky survivors from the initial bombardment and lasers still face a problem...

They wish to return, but there is no available vehicle here.

"Do you believe ’ancient civilization’ truly exists in this world?"

Meriz suddenly asks this question.

Yin Zhuo looks up toward the distant sky, pointing ahead as the fog of the Ice Sea has dispersed, and the shadow of the giant ship protruding from the sea has completely vanished.

From start to finish, they never saw the enemy’s face, nor did they encounter any "Transcendent"...

Undoubtedly, the advance party must have been completely wiped out.

The fleet has suffered severe losses too.

"Did you see it?"

"This is... a conspiracy."

Meriz upliftingly spoke within Holy Light: "A conspiracy against the Source Tower and Light City..."

This sentence abruptly awakened Yin Zhuo, who was in confusion.

Indeed.

The Storm Church’s sacrifice was only the prelude; the Storm God’s Throne concealed such critical information to lure the Five Continents Fleet to set off together. For this purpose, the Holy City spared no effort.

But taking a step back.

Is it possible the unprincipled acts aren’t solely by the Holy City?

"I suspect that South Continent Holy City has already joined forces with Changye, Central City..."

Meriz seriously gazes at Yin Zhuo, grasping the hand of this Light Temple’s Fourth Elder tightly, speaking word by word: "Everything that happened today in the Ice Sea is by no means a coincidence."

...

...

"An insider?"

Wei Cheng uttered these three words, sounding rather humorous.

Osmond and Gu Nanfeng have already checked the numbers. This mission southward was personally determined by the two of them.

The advance party returned completely.

In this scenario, how could an insider, like a deity, emerge to manipulate [Ice Sea Ruins], dealing a blow to Light City and the Source Tower?

This is very unreasonable.

Yet... it’s precisely the only explanation.

"It’s like this; we encountered some trouble in [Ice Sea Ruins]..."

Wei Cheng concisely explained the events within the ruins.

At this point, concealing the existence of the black-haired demon is impossible, so it’s better to reveal the events to facilitate discussions between the two Commanders for handling the ensuing situation when returning to the Five Continents.

Just for prior safety.

Wei Cheng omitted many details, such as the "demon" healing his hands... In his heart, this seemingly ferocious demon must be an old acquaintance from East Continent or North Continent.

Perhaps, after all, this is the "back-up" arranged by the higher-ups?

"..."

Calmly, Wei Cheng narrated the Snowfield journey and the incidents encountered by the advance party.

Osmond and Gu Nanfeng listened, and after, the entire Spiritual Conference Room fell into absolute silence.

Not just the audience here.

When initially confronted with the "black-haired demon," the advance party members were bewildered, and it took them a long time to regain their composure.

"Are you certain... that the so-called ’demon’ single-handedly killed the Giant Deer Saint and the newly advanced Xuan Turtle Divine Envoy?"

Presently, the Deputy Corps Leader of the Investigation Corps, Lu Zhe, voice filled with surprise.

The Giant Deer Saint’s capabilities are ordinary.

But the Xuan Turtle Divine Envoy is no ordinary person. When such a super talent advances, even within Titled beings, they aren’t weak.

At the titled level, wanting to fight one against two is much more difficult than at rank four!

What’s more, the two titled ones have used the powers bestowed by the Divine Throne, [Cloud Mirror] plus [Tide], which is another great weapon!

"I’m sure."

This time Wei Cheng didn’t need to speak.

The leader of the East Continent’s vanguard, Zhong Fan, spoke up, "We saw it with our own eyes... This battle was intense, and in the end, that ’Black-haired Demon’ bathed in blood, cleaved the Giant Deer in half, and then chopped the Xuan Turtle’s head off." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Such powerful combat strength, why have we never heard of it before..."

Lu Zhe’s expression was grave.

Transcendents of this level shouldn’t be many across the Five Continents.

But in his impression, he had never encountered such a figure.

What Black-haired Demon, never heard of!

"Brother Nanfeng, is this a backup plan of your East Continent?" Lu Zhe looked toward the other side of the conference room.

"No..."

Gu Nanfeng shook his head, he honestly said, "I don’t know this so-called ’Black-haired Demon,’ and the East Continent doesn’t have such a person."

Wei Cheng and Zhong Fan looked at each other, their expressions becoming strange.

Wei Cheng couldn’t help but ask, "Isn’t this arranged by the higher-ups?"

"The higher-ups’ arrangement..."

Osmond helplessly smiled and countered, "If the higher-ups truly had such an arrangement, would they have been ambushed by the Storm Church? Don’t forget the first round of shelling from the Ice Sea Ruins, we were also targeted. If the shield wasn’t strong enough, the fleet would have suffered at least half losses."

"Who is this person?"

The high ranks of both continents looked at each other.

Wei Cheng discreetly looked at Zhong Yuan, who stopped speaking after entering the conference room, and regarding every detail of this operation, remained silent.

"..."

Wei Cheng sighed lightly in his heart, among the details he omitted, was Zhong Yuan’s unusual reaction.

He knew.

This guy likely guessed something.

But since Zhong Yuan wasn’t speaking, he couldn’t ask directly.

"The current problem is, after we return to the Five Continents, the pressure we might face... With the Ice Sea mission, we had no casualties, the fleets of Source Tower and Light City were completely annihilated."

Luo Yu spoke, his expression somewhat troubled, "That’s hard to explain."

Osmond and Lu Zhe also fell into thought.

"Just return without explanation."

A faint voice emerged in the conference room.

Gu Nanfeng calmly said, "Did we initiate the ’self-explosion’ causing the Ice Sea Ruins to attack?"

"...No." Luo Yu instinctively replied.

"Then do we need an explanation? In this incident, we’re victims too." Gu Nanfeng said, "According to the truth of this incident, the ones who truly need to explain are the Storm Church who provoked the attack, they are the ones who initiated the conflict."

Luo Yu immediately said, "But Light City and Source Tower will be furious, thinking this was a conspiracy."

After Luo Yu spoke, he immediately understood the Young Master’s intention.

The truth is meaningless.

In the eyes of the East Continent, they are the victims.

But Source Tower and Light City won’t see it that way... because the East Continent had zero casualties!

"So, explanation is useless from the start."

Gu Nanfeng was composed, "If we comply with Source Tower and Light City’s wishes, making this truly a conspiracy... then what?"

At this moment, not only Luo Yu.

Everyone understood the deeper meaning of Gu Nanfeng’s words.

"In this incident, the only victims were the cloud ship fleets of Light City and Source Tower."

"The Storm Church was already prepared to lose everything—"

"They don’t care about their casualties because in their plans, the Five Continents Fleet would be entirely wiped out in the Ice Sea Ruins."

"Now we’ve returned alive."

"So, the Storm Church’s ’self-explosion’... It’s neither a conspiracy nor is it a conspiracy."

Osmond slowly spoke, his single eye shining with an appreciative expression, looking at Gu Nanfeng opposite him, "CN021, as expected... you intend to use this ’Ice Sea incident’ to formally divide the Five Continents into clear camps."

Five continents, two major alliances.

Regarding the layout of those two Divine Thrones at the highest seat, both Osmond and Gu Nanfeng could vaguely guess something, these two Divine Thrones are both formidable warriors, never willing to be suppressed by the alliance between sky and light, so these years’ ’merging’ is to accumulate strength, these years, rumors of the Divine War have repeatedly caused a stir.

But everyone knows.

When it comes to fighting.

East Continent and North Continent would suffer—

Even merged, they lack some power.

If they want to win, they must first take down a Divine Throne... these years, those genuinely at the top of power in the two continents have vaguely sensed some signs.

If the Empress and Bai Shu intend to strike, the one most likely to be taken down is the Storm.

None other.

Southern Continent weakest!

But from another perspective, if they could bring the ’Storm’ into their own camp, it could produce the same effect.

"Dividing camps is not that simple."

"Simply embracing the Storm Church in this current situation is the uniquely best solution."

Gu Nanfeng’s expression was neither joyful nor sorrowful: "Now that the Ice Sea incident has evolved to this point, all we can do is negotiate with the Holy City, affirming Changye Central City’s stance. Whether this matter ultimately succeeds or fails, it’s not up to us."

"If Light City and Source Tower claim this is a conspiracy."

"Then..."

"It is a conspiracy."