The red moon returns

Chapter 566: Win-win for all parties (two chapters in one)

"Wait a minute, aren't you worried that your plan with Hongyue will be exposed if you make it public like this?"

The Night Demon's apostle, the winged monster that did not resemble a human, seemed very suspicious. He sniffed hard and sneered:

"Let's not talk about how many eyes are watching here. There are gods standing behind them, which is much more troublesome than us. Now let's just talk about our stance. We are your enemies. Are you so sure that we are interested in what you are saying? Aren't you worried that we will leak your plan to the Shadow Alliance?"

Lynch raised his eyebrows, realizing that Milt was not the only one hiding and spying. The believers of the gods were also busy. But he just looked around the center of the tunnel thoughtfully and continued:
"My plan is not a conspiracy. To use the words of another world, it is an open conspiracy. To put it bluntly, this is a plan that is beneficial to everyone. It requires all parties to take the initiative and cooperate as much as possible without any reservations. So I don't care how many people know about it, and I don't care whether the people who know about it are human or not."

As he spoke, Lynch took off his hat and bowed deeply to the gazes around him that he didn't know whether they existed or not. Then he turned to the Night Demon's apostle:
"And you said enemies, how come I didn't know we were enemies? You may have a lot of grudges between you, but I'm a blank slate who just woke up. Do we have any personal grudges?"

Lynch has realized that cultists may be crazy, disorderly and unpredictable, but most evil gods are not. It's just that mortals cannot understand their logic. However, Lynch has knowledge of two worlds, especially the knowledge acquired in his hometown in the era of information explosion. This gives him the confidence of "I have heard of all kinds of scenes". He tries hard to analyze their thinking and position from the perspective of evil gods. There is no reminder from his neighbors in his mind, which makes Lynch more confident. Well, it shouldn't be a big problem.

So, Lin Qi ignored the girl with the round fan who nodded secretly to his question, and said with a smile:

"In my opinion, we are only arguing because we want the same things. We are not enemies. On the contrary, it is precisely because we want the same things that the contradiction between us will disappear as long as we can find a suitable way to unify them. So there is no need for you to doubt my sincerity. Whether my opinion is feasible does not need to be determined by me. You who are watching can judge for yourself. As for the Shadow Alliance, heh, since it is an open conspiracy, I don't care if they know it either, because the plan of Ms. Scarlet and I is beneficial to everyone. If they are willing to share what we need with us as they promised you, then we will have common interests, and they naturally have no reason to hinder us, but if..."

Lin Qi smiled grimly. If you, the Shadow Alliance, are targeting me, don't blame me for fighting back. Let's see who can defeat the other. I have thousands of years of experience in my previous life behind me, so I am not necessarily afraid of you.

"If they continue, it would be tantamount to undermining our common goal. I don't need to tell you how credible their previous promises to you are. After all, facts will not be quibbled with."

As Lynch finished speaking, he could clearly feel countless twisted wills intertwining around him.

That was a will that lingered beyond the perception of mortals, and he was able to vaguely sense these twisted, dark and terrifying wills with his extraordinary inspiration.

It wasn't there just now, but I can sense it now. It is obvious that the other party is putting more consciousness into these carriers in the present world. It seems that I have really attracted their attention.

Neighbor, I'm famous.

Muttering to himself, Lin Qi straightened his chest and raised his head, his voice full of confidence, completely different from the blank mind he had a few minutes ago:
"First, we need to consider a question: what will happen if the mortal world gradually relaxes its control over the mysteries?"

"Of course, it makes the power of the Dreamland infinitely stronger." The swollen girl sneered, "For mortals, understanding means connection, and then being eroded by the mystery of the Dreamland. Do you want every mortal to be eroded to death by the mystery? You are helping the Dreamland to grow stronger."

Lin Qi's eyes fixed and he clenched his fists suddenly. The swollen girl subconsciously took a step back, with the fan covering her nose.

However, Lin Qi just covered his mouth with his fist and coughed a few times, half smiling, then he retracted his gaze and said lightly: "The greatest fear comes from the unknown. Properly revealing the existence of the mysterious world and entertaining it in the form of tabloids will not only not increase the fear of the dreamland, but will reduce it. The only price is that everyone will become a mysterious associate and be constantly eroded by the mystery. But what does it matter?"

Lynch smiled a holy smile and drew a full moon on his chest with his fingers like a priest: "Believe in the Lord, worship the Lord, the Lord will bless the devout believers."

There was a silence. At this moment, the cultists looked at him as if they were their own kind, and more advanced ones. In the end, a string of eyeballs made a coughing sound and refuted:

"Your idea is actually very close to the situation in the First Age. The protection of the gods can indeed offset some of the erosion of the mystery, but that requires very devout faith. So your method can indeed greatly increase the faith in the gods, even beyond the level that should be achieved in this steam-based era. But that is only the beginning. It won't be long before those who are not devout enough in their faith and are quickly eroded by the mystery will realize that the danger comes from the mystery. Such a gap will increase their fear and make the Dreamland even more powerful. Once the power of the Dreamland is too strong, it will one day break through the protection of the gods and let those devout believers be affected by the mystery. At that time, the fear will be like a flood that has broken through the dam, and it will be impossible to stop it."

So that's how the First Age finally collapsed.

Lin Qi was thinking in his heart, but on the surface he looked very confident. He lifted his hat to the air, as if to salute the non-existent sight:
"So my plan is called the Heaven and Hell Plan. This part is just the Heaven Plan. Once it stabilizes, the gods will gain an endless supply of believers, and the power of the gods will be able to protect most believers. As for non-believers... well, I think there won't be too many atheists who insist on being non-believers, so I won't consider it for now."

Then he looked around at the cultists and the evil gods in their consciousness: "The following is the Hell Plan. According to legend, the Fantasy Dreamland was originally a paradise. It is a beautiful place with beautiful scenery and pleasant climate, just like a dream. However, since the end of the First Age, it has been occupied by the 72 evil gods from the void. These demon gods are extremely terrifying. Even if a trace of their consciousness is put into the world, it will bring a devastating threat to the world."

Listening to Lin Qi's description, some of the cultists were thoughtful, while others were dazed, but those strange and twisted auras kept colliding in the air. Seeing that Lin Qi stopped, several cultists urged him at the same time: "You continue."

"It is because of their appearance that the beautiful Dreamland has become the horrible state it is now, with miasma everywhere and monsters and demons running rampant in the world. These demon gods are coveting the beauty of the real world and want to turn it into that horrible state. The end of the previous eras was caused by the invasion of these demon gods into the real world. It was only because of the suppression of the gods that the evil gods' crazy behavior was stopped and the safety of the real world was preserved."

Silence, deathly silence.

In the underground tunnel, only the crackling sound of burning torches echoed.

The apostles had different cognitive abilities and might not understand the significance of this approach, but the Old Ones behind them were constantly communicating with each other beyond the cognition of mortals. This made the apostles dare not express their opinions casually, and they could only quietly wait for the will of the gods they served.

It was quite pleasant to be stared at cautiously and respectfully by a group of high-ranking warriors. Lynch smiled faintly and did not urge them. He just stood there leisurely, leaning on his cane.

Although this idea came up on the spur of the moment, it was by no means hasty.

In fact, although this set of rhetoric is relatively unfamiliar to the polytheistic world, it has been used in the monotheistic world for thousands of years and is already quite mature. The binary opposition structure formed is quite stable. I just don't know if people in the polytheistic world can understand it. The silence continued for a long time, and it was the Eye Apostle of Yog-Sothoth who spoke up... "So, Lord Leviv, your Hell Plan is to separate the Old Ones from the Dreamland from the Dreamland itself?"

"That's right." Lin Qi clapped his hands in appreciation. He was indeed the all-knowing and all-seeing Lord of Billions of Glory. He understood everything at once: "What do you think, once Heaven and Hell come to the same conclusion and make this explanation universal, will people's fear of the mystery be focused on the picturesque Dreamland itself, or on the terrifying 72 evil gods from outside?"

Then the source of evil god must be more terrifying. Who would be afraid of an environment that is only affected by evil god?

Of course, there is fear of the Dreamland itself, but that is just a by-product of the fear of the evil god and various mysterious aliens. As a result, the evil god has taken away the vast majority of the share that originally belonged to the Dreamland, and the Dreamland that continues to devour the fear and despair of the living beings in the world. In the future, it should be difficult to accumulate enough power to continue devouring the world for a very, very long time.

Without the world-destroying disaster that strikes every thousands or tens of thousands of years, the living creatures in this world should have enough time to find ways to deal with the mysterious erosion.

Therefore, this is not a crazy act that ignores the lives of the living beings in the world, but a choice of breaking down and then building up. If you don't take this step, it will always be a vicious circle, but if you take this step, the world may get back on track.

The only drawback is that as the population expands and disasters such as plague and war occur, the evil god will become more powerful, but the closer one is to despair, the stronger the hope for life will be, and the power of the gods will also leap forward.

The apostles who were not completely crazy had gradually figured out the hidden meaning and fell into deep thought.

Once this system is firmly established in the future, the two camps of heaven and hell will be in opposition on the surface, but in fact unified, and will live in peace from then on. In the future, as long as we carefully keep this secret together, it will not only greatly weaken the strength of the dreamland, but also work together to divide the faith and fear of the mortal beings.

As Lynch said, faith belongs to the gods in heaven, fear belongs to the evil gods in hell, and life belongs to human beings themselves.

It is indeed a win-win outcome.

"I don't know what the Shadow Alliance promised you, but I think that since you are here, it is enough to show that the Old Ones behind you..." This time, Lynch did not bow, but nodded to several of the apostles of the rulers in a reserved manner. "We can communicate, and they are interested in this matter, so I told you all this today. I don't know what their ultimate purpose is, but..."

"No one knows their goal. Perhaps only their gods know."

A heavy and huge voice rang in the consciousness of everyone present, and the sudden reaction startled Lynch.

The main reason is that the "sound" is too loud. If it were in the real world, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was deafening.

He couldn't see the person speaking, but Lynch could feel the voice coming from underground.

Oh shit, could this be Shudemel?

Its will did not retreat back to the dreamland, but kept lingering around. If it were to bite its way up from underground, everyone here would have to fill its stomach.

And you said that as a big guy who has half a foot in the realm of evil gods, is it appropriate for you to hide under the floor and eavesdrop?

He complained in his heart, but pretended to be calm and confident on the surface. This reminded Lin Qi of a white-bearded old man playing the piano on the city wall. He coughed dryly and put away his self-entertainment thoughts: "So, who is their supreme god?"

"Contact with gods is not something you can understand from your current human perspective, blind." The huge ancient voice was slow and heavy. "What we are in contact with is not his will, but his believers. From the believers, I sense power such as conspiracy. This is the sign of identifying a god."

Conspiracy? Who?
The first thing Lynch thought of was the God of War, but if you think about it carefully, the Lord of War's main sphere of influence is in the ancient continent, where the people are tough and his power is closer to tactics or strategy. The supreme being behind the Black Spider is not rough, so this speculation can be ruled out temporarily.

Who would that be?
Lynch was puzzled, but the most fortunate thing now was that Shudemel's performance was enough to prove that the evil gods had been moved.

"The Shadow Alliance will not tell us their plans, they just ask us to complete some tasks. I don't know about other individuals. What they promised to me is to maximize the fear we suffer on the basis of ensuring that the present world and the dream world are not destroyed. They promised to repeat this every once in a while. This is why we are willing to work with them." The ancient consciousness slowly conveyed the information, "In this matter, you are willing to make your plan public to me, which makes me more willing to do so. At least I can judge whether your plan is feasible, unlike them who can only regard it as a wish. Moreover, although the future you described is risky, it is more lasting and more secure. I am willing to consider your proposal, blindly, but I have a question."

Lynch calmly made a gesture of invitation.

"You never mentioned it. How can you guarantee that your plan will succeed? Especially when your plans conflict with each other, why should we believe that you will be the winner?"

Lynch paused with his cane and said calmly, "Hasn't the fight just now made the point clear, Shudemeier?"

A powerful pressure surged up from underground.

The Earthbreaker was angry.

(End of this chapter)