Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 634: Chapter 529 Good news bad news_1

In fact, Huai Shi’s job was quite simple. He didn’t need to execute plans, formulate them, or even be responsible for every project. All he needed to do was make decisions—decide the fate of the Iron Crystal Throne.

The eight leaders followed their own missions and responsibilities, perfectly performing their duties. Then, they submitted report after report to Huai Shi, awaiting his reply: yes or no.

Whether it was the maintenance of the outer armor, the replacement of equipment, the rotation of personnel, the rescue of the exploration teams, or even the daily food supply, Huai Shi didn’t need to know the details of execution. Nor did he need to understand precisely how to achieve the best outcome. He just had to decide whether or not to do it.

As long as he understood the consequences of messing things up.

Actually, everything would be unabashedly detailed in the reports. They even included numerous examples from past incidents for Huai Shi’s reference, lest the descriptions weren’t vivid enough to convey the potential impact.

Two exploration teams that had left the Iron Crystal Throne and ventured deep into Hell had lost contact; one had sent an irregular distress signal, while the other transmitted intermittent alarms.

Should he respond? Rescue? Or remain on guard and exercise caution?

Due to accidents during material recovery, signs of mild erosion and bacterial infection had appeared in the D1 area. Should they halt work temporarily for cleaning and disinfection?

Food supplies could last another three and a half months, but should he allocate the currently extremely scarce manpower to cultivate native plants and research edible meats?

Should the exploration continue? Withdraw? Should team members under excessive mental stress receive psychological counseling for more than a week?

...

A myriad of issues, large and small, piled up before Huai Shi, waiting for his approval: yes or no, and if yes, how to proceed and who to assign.

Every decision would affect the future operations of the Iron Crystal Throne. Would today’s actions, while beneficial, bring trouble in the future? Should we prepare and guard against it?

On the entire Iron Crystal Throne, nine hundred and forty pairs of eyes were watching Huai Shi, waiting for his next move.

The outcome was, undoubtedly, surprising and satisfactory.

Even Andrea, along with the other original seven department heads, had never imagined Huai Shi could achieve so much.

Truth be told, they had all braced themselves for a scenario of ”eight gods carrying one dog.”

They had secretly prepared numerous contingency plans: to cover the costs of Huai Shi’s potential mistakes, to absorb the impact of his trial and error, and if all else failed, to quickly summon the Great Grandmaster to patch things up.

But in reality, those plans were never needed.

Although there were minor oversights in the details, when it came to decisions about the bigger picture, Huai Shi was as steady as a preternaturally wise old dog. He didn’t act like a rash young man; instead, he was exceedingly cautious.

His Death Perception, coupled with the new Skill ”False Wisdom”—developed from over ten thousand cycles in the All Spectrum Heaven Sphere—was enough for him to avoid most incorrect choices, even if he couldn’t always make the perfect one.

Faced with such tremendous pressure and complex affairs, after some initial hesitation, Huai Shi displayed an unbelievable level of composure and calm in his subsequent work, as if he had already grown accustomed to it.

Although privately he occasionally sighed with worry or nursed a headache, in public, he never showed any sign of weakness or hesitation.

Well, he even incidentally improved the terrible official document format within the Iron Crystal Throne...

Whether it was a facade and acting, or genuine composure and confidence, having such a leader during the exploration and subjugation of Hell at least gave the workers below some peace of mind. It was certainly better than someone who cried and whined every day, sitting at the top, indecisive and an utter failure.

Anyway, in the minds of the eight department heads, this principal’s secretary had earned a passing grade.

Whether this person was a heartless conspirator who didn’t care how many others died, or a heroic figure with ambition and strategic foresight capable of leading them out of their predicament... even if it was all just for show, everyone below was prepared. Wouldn’t he just have to nod?

As for Huai Shi placing his own name at the very end of the emergency evacuation list, they didn’t care whether it was a genuine act or mere posturing.

Now, with seamless cooperation between all parties, the Iron Crystal Throne was operational again, and everything was developing in a positive direction.

Everyone seemed alright, except for Lin Nineteen, who was terrified—frightened by this teacher of his.

Others might not know, but how could he not? As a genius of the Path of Karma, he instinctively sensed the astonishing accumulation of malevolence his teacher had gathered in just two short days. While working, almost every moment, he felt as if incredible conspiracies were brewing in his teacher’s heart, poised to unleash a storm of blood and chaos. Yet he dared not say or ask anything, pretending daily to know nothing. In reality, his legs were trembling with terror behind the desk. Scared.

Actually... Huai Shi was just habitually experiencing strange mental impulses.

For the past forty-eight hours, ever since taking office, Huai Shi couldn’t understand why, but his mind kept being filled with the urge and thoughts of staging a coup, along with subsequent plans that inexplicably emerged. It all seemed highly feasible.

Given enough time, I even feel I have a forty percent chance of a complete takeover, freeing myself from this superficial authority, removing the Great Grandmaster’s influence, and truly becoming the unchallengeable ruler of the Iron Crystal Throne... But what the hell am I after?! I have no wish to bear this burden! In fact, if circumstances permitted, I would distance myself as far from this position as possible. But the situation now feels like a big red button has been placed right in front of a mischievous child. Every now and then... I just want to press it.

An impulse inside him urged:

—Press it, no matter what happens!

But thankfully, I haven’t completely lost my senses. How could I betray everyone’s trust and mess around like that? Even if I occasionally feel an impulse, it’s just a fleeting thought. Could it be ”False Wisdom” activating, steering me away from this erroneous choice?

Huai Shi scratched his head, leaned back in his chair, and took a couple of sips of coffee. He was just about to step outside for some fresh air when Yuan Yuan, also temporarily serving as his assistant and secretary, entered the room with a serious expression.

”Teacher,” she said, ”the investigation team has reported back. The rescue team sent out yesterday afternoon has just located the individuals who sent the distress signal and transmitted their findings. Miss Andrea says this will greatly impact the exploration of the Iron Crystal Throne and requests your presence at the meeting.”

Huai Shi paused for a moment, then immediately stood up.

”I’m on my way.”

After hastily delegating the majority of his work to her and Little Nineteen, Huai Shi rushed out the door. Once the door clicked shut, Lin Nineteen (also known as Wood Cottage) could no longer hold it together; he collapsed into his chair, drenched in sweat.

”How about we switch for a bit?” he pleaded, putting his hands together in supplication to Yuan Yuan. ”I’ll run errands outside, and you can stay in the office. I really can’t take this anymore...”

Yuan Yuan looked at him blankly, then concluded he was having one of his episodes again.

According to what Teacher said, a beating should do the trick.

Five minutes later, inside the bridge, even the Great Grandmaster—who had previously expressed a desire to stay out of matters—had been summoned. Everyone gathered before the video feed transmitted by the frontline exploration team, examining the data on the screen.

The footage showed what appeared to be the interior of a massive factory. Among countless gigantic pipes rose an enormous cubic metal structure, as large as a small building. It was already covered in a thick layer of dust, looking as if it had been abandoned for ages, making it impossible to determine its purpose.

The frontline investigation team members were communicating with the Iron Crystal Throne using their costly Border Relics. Following the experts’ instructions, they used portable analysis tools to perform various tests on the equipment before them.

Then, Huai Shi noticed that as the parameters came in, the expressions of the Scholars grew increasingly grim, while the Alchemists’ faces lit up with fanatical excitement—diametrically opposed reactions.

Finally, after the last test was completed, the leader of the action team issued orders to stand guard and await support. Communication was then quickly cut off.

Andrea was the first to speak. ”If the test results are correct,” she said, ”they prove the Great Grandmaster’s guess was right. This Hell, besides its core high tower, indeed contains other control structures... and there’s likely more than just this one.”

Another Alchemist chimed in, ”Considering the size of the Town of Dusk, there would need to be at least ten or more such structures to control it all.”

”Do we have a conclusion?” Huai Shi coughed, reminding them of his presence. I need to suppress this urge to seize power again... He waited patiently.

”Yes, that’s right,” the representative of the Scholars said solemnly. ”Based on the preliminary inspection, we suspect that what the frontline exploration team found is a mechanism that adjusts the internal parameters of this Hell. If the Town of Dusk is a machine, then this would be one of its controllers.”

”Controller?” Huai Shi was beginning to understand. ”You mean it controls those factories? Or can it interfere with the central, heavily guarded high tower?”

”No, the high tower should be the main control center of the Eternal Frozen Heart. These subsidiary structures likely don’t have the authority to interfere with the upper levels. What they control is probably not those factories, but this Hell itself.”

Huai Shi frowned. ”That’s too vague. Can you explain?”

”...”

After pondering for a moment, the old man—the Scholars’ representative—finally spoke. ”Most of these are conjectures I’ve formed in conjunction with the Great Grandmaster’s research. Without evidence, they cannot be considered definitive. However, I firmly believe that the curses of day and night here are connected to these subsidiary devices. If we can gain control of them, we might, to some extent, be able to find a solution.”

”Then what are we waiting for?” Huai Shi made an immediate decision. ”Prepare for action. Never mind the specifics for now; let’s seize this subsidiary device first. Do you need my signature and authorization?”

Taking action was better than doing nothing. After a long period of stalled progress, they had finally received some good news.

Then, the communications director brought bad news.

”An alarm was sent by the other exploration team,” the communications director announced, gesturing for images to appear on the projection. ”The communications department has just completed a preliminary analysis. Our unmanned exploration drones have discovered traces of a large-scale summoning ritual conducted by the Ivy League.”

He added, ”They’re calling for external aid.”