Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The next moment, the 'minister' in front of them exploded!

This is a trap.

The trap was filled with strong acid and deadly poison.

However, in just a moment, Logandao managed to escape from the sudden attack. His gaze swept across the scene, and a huge figure that was fleeing rapidly could be vaguely seen in the distance.

"Kill that man! He's an assassin!" the burly figure roared, and with his shout, countless guards and bodyguards rushed out of the courtyard. They yelled when they saw Luo Gandao, then charged at him with all sorts of weapons and firearms!

"Aren't we going to catch him?" — Ex's voice remained calm and indifferent.

“That’s just a second stand-in.” Roger sneered, stomping his foot and cracking the thick ground. The cracks deepened instantly, and a whole floorboard was even lifted up by the stomp, blocking the bullets fired by the bodyguards. Without hesitation, he rushed into the room where the minister had been, casually dodging a few traps before finding an iron door leading underground through the cracks in the ground. He then punched through the sturdy door, allowing him to land successfully in the secret chamber behind it.

"Found you." He looked at the minister hiding in the secret room, who wore a surprised expression, and a cruel smile appeared on his lips. He knew that this was his true target, and this time everything would be resolved.

"Wait!" The minister struggled to remain calm, a faint glimmer of light emanating from the jewel in his crown. "My valiant warrior! Is there some misunderstanding between us—"

He couldn't utter the word "will." Just as the jewel on his crown, capable of destroying other Imperial Arms, proved utterly useless. Before he could finish his stalling words, Logando was already before him. With twice the strength, he easily broke through his fighting stance and ripped out his heart.

Blood gushed from the minister's mouth, his face filled with disbelief, before a swift, horizontal slash severed his neck, ending his life—he was dead.

At the same time he died, his double exploded immediately due to the activation of a trigger bomb.

"[Ex, is the change of fate still not enough?]"—He held the minister's head and asked his own heart softly.

"Hmm, not enough." — His inner voice answered him: "He alone is far from enough."

“There’s no other way.” Luo Gandao shook his head. He nimbly jumped out of the secret room, ignoring the bodyguards who were in chaos because of the death of the ‘minister’—he raised his head and looked at the still dark night.

Since killing one minister wasn't enough, they had no choice but to expend more effort and send an emperor and a general to the underworld to keep this lonely minister company.

Section 57 The Tightening Net

The emperor is dead.

Alice gently stretched out her fingers. The sudden disappearance of the constraints on the communication network made her realize that the emperor had been assassinated and had not even left an heir. Her heart was unmoved, because when the communication network was released, a clear thought emerged in her mind.

The emperor's death is of no benefit to me.

Theoretically, he shouldn't have died at this time. With the country in peril, the Grand General and ministers wouldn't allow the emperor to suffer any harm. If he had died a natural death, there would inevitably have been a successor. But now that the information network is open, it means that not only he died, but the Grand General and ministers should also have died together.

Therefore, his death must have been orchestrated by someone behind the scenes.

Who orchestrated this scheme?

Alice knew very well who was capable of orchestrating this scheme.

It could be either a self that has blocked out its memories of the past, or it could be the fourth-tier captain of the Morizu team. And given my tendency to leave no blind spots in my thinking, the possibility of both is extremely high.

[This was something the captain of the Morizu team did, and it should also be considered a scheme I orchestrated.]

[It seems the captain of the Morizu team has successfully arrived in this world and found a suitable vessel. The time for battle should not be far off...]

We need to deal with Esdeath's situation quickly. Otherwise... since they've already killed the Emperor, the General, and the Ministers, logically speaking, she should be the next to die.

The girl gently rubbed her head, trying to free her overthinking brain a little.

I understand now. After the emperor died and I received the intelligence about the liberation of the information network, I understood everything.

He wouldn't erase his own memories without a reason, nor would he erase the memories of newcomers without a reason. Since he did so, it must involve an important scheme. And if the scheme he set up in this world has a target, it must be the extraordinary beings of the Mori Continent team.

Since Esdeath wasn't qualified, and he could defeat her the first time, he could defeat her a second time; there was no need for elaborate schemes to outmaneuver her. She was merely a stepping stone; whatever she thought, planned, or ultimately decided, it shouldn't hinder his plans. Based on this understanding, his own strategy naturally became clear.

[So that's how it is. Esdeath was just bait. Because her memories were used as a template, and her self-centered perception was used as a foundation, she would inevitably play a pivotal role in the world that was ultimately created. Even after being supplemented by the higher-ups, she still had the potential to become an important supporting character, or even the protagonist.]

She is the flaw in this world, a flaw I deliberately left before shielding my memories. This world is a 'door,' a 'door' that can only be passed through normally, and destroying it is meaningless. The simplest and most superior strategy is to kill all the chosen protagonists and supporting characters of this world, rewrite its script, and force the world's own will to manifest. Therefore, Esdeath, as an important supporting character, is inevitably a key target.

Alice let out a soft breath. She finally understood what she had intended to do before blocking her memories. Blocking her memories also implied another significant thing: she had the potential to leak information. Furthermore, the captain of the Morizumi team might actually appear beside her!

Yes, this world is fragile, fragile and secretive. Even if the captain of the Senzhou team could find this world, he would find it difficult to enter, just as no one can fit a 1TB installation package onto a 3.5-inch floppy disk with a capacity of only 1.44MB. His body and soul cannot enter; he can only project his will, and then, like those evil gods also isolated beyond the realm, create electors, and then use blood sacrifices to drag his power into this world little by little!

[And we outsiders, who also arrive through various channels, become its optimal targets because of our incompatibility with the world itself—no wonder I dragged the newcomers in as well; it was to dilute the odds and greatly increase the likelihood of it landing on the newcomers. Tsk, how roundabout.]

She couldn't help but recall the various actions she had taken since her arrival. Subconsciously distancing herself from the capital, subconsciously establishing divine authority, deliberately keeping her distance despite having ample means to kill the emperor and destroy the empire without magic, even intentionally wasting time here with this swarm of insects—clearly either hers or Patchouli's doing. While all these changes seemed natural and even had clear reasons and excuses, a closer look revealed a host of anomalies!

Clearly, all of this was deliberate. It was a carefully planned arrow shot by the self before the memories were blocked, scheming against the self after the memories were blocked!

Now that the restrictions on the information network have been lifted, and he has regained his strength, confirmed that the formidable enemy has landed in the correct location and its subsequent actions, all the previous preparations can naturally be cancelled. The information he has now acquired is more than enough to deduce the cause and effect. And all that remains is one thing to do!

Alice sighed softly.

"I've been plotting against myself... I've had enough. But now, all I need to do is wait."

She shifted her gaze upward, turning her attention away from her own mind and back to the current battle. And as her mind returned to the outside world, the flames of war filled her entire field of vision.

..........................................

war.

The war between the mechanical puppets and the insect swarm has lasted for three full days since Alice was attacked, the puppet army established a base in that nameless town, and was attacked by a large swarm of insects at night.

In those three days, the puppet army advanced its battle line more than 230 kilometers into the southern border. As a result, the insect swarm lost nearly 100,000 square kilometers of land.

The Zerg swarm doesn't care about these lands, and neither do the puppet legions and their masters. The resources of these lands have long been exhausted by the Zerg—to the north lie the ruins of cities and traces of survivors' struggles. However, the further south one goes, the scarcer these traces become.

One hundred kilometers into the southern border, the land is devoid of vegetation; all places that once seemed inhabited have been completely scavenged. Only exposed rock layers and traces of acid dissolution remain. There are no living or dead people, no living or dead animals; everything has been utterly devoured, leaving not a trace.

However, this was not the limit for the insects. When the puppet army advanced to 150 kilometers, the ground was covered with a carpet of fungi that looked like tattered patches—those were also insects, insects that even devoured the ground. After the puppets used flamethrowers to annihilate all the carpet-like insects, the ground about five meters deep beneath the fungi carpet had been completely hollowed out. All the precious minerals had been extracted, and the natural gas wells had been emptied, leaving only a desolate wasteland.

Akame, who was accompanying the army, initially thought this was the worst-case scenario. However, as the puppet army continued its advance, reaching a point two hundred kilometers deep within the southern border, she realized she had been far too naive. From that point onward, beneath the fungal carpet, there was no longer any land, only sparse yellow sand and gray soil. Countless grotesque and enormous capillary towers stood in every corner of the fungal carpet, extracting every usable resource from the earth and transporting it further south into the southern border.

—The insects must be plotting something, but no one knows their secret.

Akame, Brand, and the others had already given up on the possibility of any remaining rebel forces surviving deep in the southern border by the second day. Instead, they were filled with deep apprehension about the insect swarm. And on the third day, when the puppet army advanced to the two-hundred-kilometer mark, that apprehension transformed into fear.

They did not participate in the war between the puppet legions and the Zerg. Because they simply weren't qualified. From the second day onward, many powerful and bizarre units appeared within the Zerg swarm. For example, there were the dimensional worms capable of continuous short-range teleportation, spewing a kind of web-tearing substance that Alice called 'monomer lines'. There were also the laser worms, capable of firing beams like pumpkin cannons and as sturdy as cannon turrets. And then there were the heavy flamethrowers, capable of shooting out azure flames that could melt steel like soap.

They are diverse in species and fearless.

Brand once recklessly charged into the battlefield and fought a dimensional worm. The result was that he was possessed and damaged by the demon, and he himself was wounded. The dimensional worm was then annihilated by an elite puppet squad that was urgently summoned and used heavy explosive projectiles and laser cannons. Because of his reckless action, a gap appeared in the puppet army's battle line, resulting in the destruction of three thousand puppets. An invisible killer worm even took the opportunity to infiltrate the rear of the battle line, causing the direct deaths of more than a thousand people and the blood and flesh contamination of two thousand four hundred people in the auxiliary army composed of mortal believers.

Those who are contaminated will gradually turn into worms, and the only way to cure them is to die.

A complete, purified death.

When Brand dragged his wounded body to the auxiliary legion's encampment, he saw with his own eyes the devout followers of the Tranquil Path lining up to walk into the fire pit and burn themselves to ashes.

From that moment on, Brand never went to the front lines again. Alice, as his commander, neither reprimanded him nor restricted his movements, but this indifferent attitude, along with his conscience, caused him even greater torment. When Akame found Brand, dead drunk, at a logistics camp at dawn, this once towering man was almost completely broken, looking old and ashen, like a stray dog.

Akame didn't know what to say or how to say it.

All she could do was carry the limp Brand back to the camp Alice had assigned them, and then, together with the equally absent-minded Hill, take care of her companion who was in a slump.

Low point.

Haven't I also fallen into a trough?

Akame sat on the edge of Brand's hospital bed, glancing up at Hill, who was sitting on another chair beside her, one hand still bandaged, the other holding a book absentmindedly. She had been staring at that page for a full half hour, seemingly oblivious to it. Akame wanted to wake her, but the words caught in her throat.

What's the point of shouting?

They were so weak; Murasame's poison couldn't kill the insects, the demonic possession couldn't stop them, and even Soul-Stealing was reduced to scrap by the insects' self-destruction. And their achievements were practically zero.

This battlefield is not one where humans can survive, nor is this land one that humans can reclaim. A day earlier, Akame had received information from Alice that the Imperial Southern Expeditionary Army had been completely annihilated. Their flesh and blood became food for the insect swarm, and their weapons and equipment became their armaments. When a few rescued survivors were brought before Alice by puppets, Akame, who was present, also learned of the Imperial army's fate.

Yes, Esdeath is strong. Stronger than imagined. She can even single-handedly summon an army of hundreds of thousands of ice soldiers, fearless of death, never retreating, daring to test her strength even if the earth collapses and the sky crumbles ahead. In the past, this single move would have been enough to wipe out the northern tribes or the southern rebels. However, against the insect swarm, her power is practically meaningless.

Because the sky really did collapse, and the earth really sank.

The swarm's plasma barrage was like the collapsing sky, while the rapidly multiplying fungal carpet and burrowing behemoths were like the sinking earth. And the Frost army, no matter how powerful, was nothing more than a bunch of moving, jumping ice blocks. They weren't puppets; they couldn't replicate themselves like puppet legions, constantly upgrading their equipment with each generation. Faced with this cataclysmic crisis, their only fate was annihilation.

The battle lasted thirteen minutes, with the Ice Legion holding out for eight minutes and Esdeath and her Imperial Arms users for five minutes. She was ultimately defeated by the indiscriminate long-range bombardment of the insect swarm, and was saved by her Imperial Arms users who forcibly relocated her. After her defeat, her legion suffered annihilation.

Almost everyone is dead.

The few survivors who remained turned into cowards who wouldn't even touch a gun again. If this was the fate of the Empire's most elite troops, how long could anyone else have held out?

Does our fight still have any meaning?

What's the point of overthrowing the current empire?

A bitter smile played on Akame's lips as her bewildered hands gently caressed her beloved sword, which now resembled half of her own body—she knew she could still trust her sword as much as she trusted her own hands and feet, trusting the deadly Teigu Murasame. Yet, trust aside, the sword still couldn't bring her any victory.

One's own knife is the same, and so is oneself.

She let out a soft sigh, stood up, and prepared to leave. But just then, she felt her companion grab her hand.

“Brand…”

She lowered her head and met Brand's gaze, who had somehow awakened. This man, after experiencing a major setback, seemed to have regained his fighting spirit; his eyes shone with a light as if his soul were burning.

“Akame.” His voice was hoarse, yet resolute. “Arya… Alice must live. No matter what, she must live! Her safety must be confirmed under any circumstances!”

"I know." Akame was a little confused. Wasn't the reason she and her group followed her south to protect her among the insect swarms? Although it turned out that she didn't need them, these weaklings, to protect her, it was still their duty. Why was she emphasizing it?

Akame was puzzled, but she still quietly agreed to Brand's request.

However, it seems that Brand was trying to express more than just that.

“No, you don’t understand.” He shook his head vigorously. “It’s not that you need to protect her, but that you absolutely cannot hurt her! She is very important. Only her puppet army can withstand the swarm of insects. If she lives, others have hope of living; if she dies, everyone is doomed.”

“We absolutely cannot hurt her, nor can we allow anyone to hurt her. Even if… even if…” Brand hesitated for several seconds before finally managing to utter the name. “Even if it’s Najenda…’s order, it’s the same.”

Akame was suddenly stunned.

A bitter smile slowly crept onto her lips, her gaze suddenly meeting Hill's as she saw the shock in his eyes. After several seconds, she slowly said, "I know."

Her voice was low, like the buzzing of a mosquito.

Brand then slowly loosened his grip on her hand.

Arya cannot die, no matter what she has done. Alice cannot die, because she is crucial—Akame only understood her true mission in being sent to Alice's side after hearing Brand's words. And after this realization came sorrow.

Najenda wanted Alice dead, for a simple reason: her death would grant Najenda control of the Path of Peace. In the past, Akame wouldn't have objected to Najenda's actions. They were comrades, and their shared goal was to save the people of the Empire. However, from this moment on, everything changed.

She didn't know if Najenda would change her mind after realizing the current situation. She could only consider the worst-case scenario. And if Najenda went down the path she didn't want, then she could only stand on the other side—no, perhaps she should take precautions.

Because the Imperial Army can't defeat the insects, and neither can the Imperial Arms users. The only ones who can... or rather, have any hope of winning are Alice and her puppet army. And if she dies, the entire Empire will lose all hope of resistance.

Therefore, Alice's life was as heavy as a mountain, while Najenda's life was as worthless as a weed.

Years ago, he betrayed the empire and joined the rebels for the sake of the people. Now, standing on the same ground again, he will still choose the side that benefits the people, even if it means turning against his former comrades.

She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest.