Afterward, Elysia and Vill-V headed to the survivors’ settlement.
A rough fence had been hastily erected around the perimeter.
Inside, tents of varying shapes and standards had been pitched haphazardly, many without even their guy lines secured.
The ground had been roughly leveled, but it was filthy and chaotic, littered with all kinds of trash and reeking unbearably.
Many people who had not received tents could only lie scattered across the open ground, wrapped in plastic sheeting as they rested.
This is a complete disaster.
Elysia sighed inwardly.
The branch leaders she had contacted earlier had already organized manpower and set out, but more than half of the governments in the other regions were still merely watching and waiting.
As for the European Union Parliament, it had done nothing beyond promising over television and radio that it would devote every effort to aiding the disaster zone.
Who knew how long it would take for any real support to arrive?
“When one side suffers, everyone else gathers to watch,” Elysia sighed.
“We can only rely on ourselves.
Lamington City has been completely reduced to a dead zone, and only a little over thirty thousand people survived.
Anyone can see that reconstruction will be a bottomless pit.” Vill-V picked up an empty can from the ground and tossed it into the following robot behind her.
“It’s realistic, isn’t it?” “Far too realistic.” Elysia did not feel particularly discouraged.
“Since that’s the case, we’ll do it ourselves.” “Fine.
If you can persuade him, that would naturally be best.
I’ll clean up around the perimeter.” Vill-V left with her robots.
…
Elysia walked up to a relatively tidy tent and pushed aside the entrance flap.
A man sat inside with his back to her, smoking one cigarette after another.
A tall pile of cigarette butts had accumulated beside him.
His back remained perfectly straight, but the presence around him had withered, like a collapsed iron tower.
Light spilled in through the tent flap, yet he remained buried in shadow.
“Godfather Falco, I’m here,” Elysia greeted him.
He did not respond.
“Godfather?” Elysia asked again.
“Why…
am I still alive?” he murmured.
He turned around stiffly and raised his lifeless eyes.
“Why didn’t I die together with this city?” Elysia fell silent for a moment.
The more than ten years he had spent enduring hardship for this place were proof enough of how deeply he loved the city, yet everything had vanished overnight.
“As long as we’re still alive, we can rebuild it.” Elysia looked directly into his eyes.
“What would be the point?” He gradually returned to his senses, took another drag from his cigarette, then laughed bitterly at himself.
“There’s no point anymore, Elysia.
Everything I devoted myself to is gone.” “Rebuild?
With what?” He smiled helplessly.
“Elysia, don’t speak in empty promises.
The roots of this city have been torn out.
We can’t even produce the funds needed for reconstruction, and the entire city has already become a dead zone.
No one can live there.” “Damn the Honkai.
Damn the Herrscher.” He lowered his head and cursed.
Though his words were filled with hatred, his tone was unbearably desolate.
It seems MOTH has already made some information about the Honkai public.
“Then what if I told you that a Herrscher’s Authority could be used for our benefit?” Elysia calmly played her trump card.
“What?” He raised his head.
“The Authority of creation.
You saw it yourself, Godfather.
Imagine how much potential it would have if used for construction.
“And activating an Authority consumes Honkai energy.” “Is that true?” He immediately understood what she meant.
“Without question.
Forgive me for not being able to disclose the details, but I promise that it is feasible.” The site of a Honkai Eruption was unquestionably a forbidden zone for life, but the extraordinarily high concentration of residual Honkai energy would generate enormous quantities of Honkai crystals.
If properly utilized, it would undoubtedly become a rich mine.
As mining continued, the Honkai energy concentration could also be gradually reduced, allowing the original ecosystem to recover.
In fact, Elysia had already decided what to do regarding the first Divine Key, and she was confident she could persuade MOTH’s upper leadership.
Falco stared into Elysia’s eyes and met her unwavering gaze.
After a long while, a light gradually returned to his eyes.
“If that’s truly possible, I still have plenty of connections outside.
Once the infrastructure is complete, we can attract investment.” “That’s thinking a little too far ahead.” Elysia walked to the entrance and pulled open the flap.
The final glow of sunset streamed in and illuminated her face.
“Godfather, I hope you can first calm the survivors in the settlement.
At the very least, don’t let them lose hope.
Leave everything that comes after to me.” Looking at Elysia bathed in the evening light, he became momentarily dazed.
“You’ve walked ahead of me, Elysia.
That’s good too.” “When I was traveling around the European Union, weren’t you already following behind me~?” Elysia teased.
“That’s true.” For the first time that day, he smiled.
“As for why Lamington City must be rebuilt…” Elysia stepped into the last rays of daylight and turned around.
“It’s because we aren’t rebuilding only a city, but also a spirit.
This city will become a monument to humanity’s refusal to ever submit to the Honkai.” …
“The situation with the survivors is more or less settled.
With Godfather here, stability should hold for a while.” Elysia walked over to Vill-V, who had already been waiting outside for quite some time.
“Impressive, Elysia.
Just how much have you done today?” “At dawn, I wiped out a group of terrorists.
At noon, I rushed back and sniped a Herrscher.
In the afternoon, I rescued survivors with you.
After that, I made a deal with Uncle Ato and recommended you to MOTH.
Then in the evening, I persuaded Godfather to rebuild the city.” Elysia counted each task one by one, then could not help sighing.
“That really is a lot.” She suddenly remembered that she seemed to have forgotten her own organization entirely.
“Come to think of it, with headquarters gone, what happens to all the regional branches?” She truly did not have the energy to reclaim them one by one.
“Actually, headquarters was empty most of the time anyway.
After I trained that group of subordinates you had before, most of them were sent out to serve as branch leaders.
They’re absolutely loyal.” As she spoke, she took a flash drive from her pocket.
“The management regulations, financial statements, personnel rosters, and information on all regional assets are stored here.
After working together for so long, they’re already familiar with the procedures.
And as long as you’re not dead, those local tyrants won’t dare cause trouble.” Vill-V, you’re practically superhuman.
“Thank you, Vill-V~” Elysia breathed a sigh of relief.
This was one of the few pieces of relatively good news she had heard all day.
“Then let them govern themselves for the time being.” Elysia called Ato and winked.
“Let’s go take a look at MOTH’s base.” — —