The civilization before the collapse, heroes and heroes are reborn with me

It all comes down to the fact that the Fire Moth has always been a subordinate organization of the United Nations. As the threat of Honkai grows, the status of the Fire Moth has begun to challenge that of the original vested interests.

To put it bluntly, they just don't want the Fire Moth to have the final say in matters related to fighting Honkai, and they have no say at all. As a result, the anti-Honkai research institutions on the Mu Continent take this opportunity to cooperate with those people. After all, they have common interests in engaging in internal friction with the Fire Moth.

If I hadn't been transferred to the Fire Moth, and hadn't personally experienced the subjugation battles against the Seventh and Eighth Herrschers, as well as the daily battles against Honkai, I would probably have ended up like them...

Just like the first time I met Feng and the others...

Lionel sighed deeply. He had always been proud of his hometown, Mu Continent, but... after standing on the front line of the fight against Honkai for a long time, he also deeply realized that humans have reached the point where they can no longer drag each other down. Even though the achievements made by humans in the fight against Honkai so far have been extremely impressive, in fact, a single wrong step may lead to irreversible consequences.

Take the Seventh Herrscher incident alone, which was the closest to the survival of mankind in Lionel's mind. If Feng had not discovered Uriel's abnormality first and allowed her to continue to develop in secret, what would have happened? In other words, if Mebius had not performed the Fusion Warrior surgery on Xila in advance, and after that, many influential people including himself pushed for the Fusion Warrior plan, how far would Himiko have destroyed the Australian continent?

There was also the Eighth Herrscher incident, in which Maple, one of the two top fighters among the fusion warriors, was directly hit, and Kevin was powerless to do anything about it. In the end, it was up to Kosmo and Seele to complete the final crusade.

If we take a wrong step, or take a step too late, there's no telling how far the Eighth Herrscher's memetic weapon will spread.

But even if I tell them, what are the chances that they will believe me? It is more likely that they will feel that they have been in the Fire Moth for a long time and have enjoyed the power of the Fire Moth for a long time and are unwilling to give it up. In addition, in order to gain the right to speak for the Fire Moth and promote the Fusion Warrior Plan, I have offended many people and endured a lot of pressure...

It's really a headache to convince those who only fight against Honkai with words... and the most important thing is that His Majesty the King who has always supported him has now become ambiguous... Not allowing him to bring back Beffinger, the debating genius, has already shown that His Majesty the King's inner attitude is likely to be biased towards them.

Lionel folded his hands and rested them on his chin, thinking constantly in his mind how to minimize internal friction in the future direction of mankind in the upcoming court debate.

If His Majesty the King really intends to replace me and let me return to Mu Continent to serve, then the best candidate to replace me should be Beffinger. Of course, it is not ruled out that it could be Dr. Einstein who proposed the armed puppet plan.

If things really turn out to be a situation where he has to return to Mu Continent, he must ensure that these two people replace him. Only these two people can cooperate with him on Mu Continent to stabilize the situation and reduce human internal friction. He cannot trust anyone else, and he cannot gamble with the future of mankind.

The change in His Majesty's attitude, apart from the rumors spread by those people in the court every day, the assassination of the former Fire Moth senator far away in Africa was definitely one of the reasons. Although various investigations have shown that this was the result of a local armed conflict, but...it happened at this critical juncture when the fusion warriors had already aroused suspicion from the top leaders.

With the ability of a fusion warrior, it is not difficult to do this. The armed fight may just be an excuse. At the same time, although I have been investigating, I can't find any evidence, but I can clearly feel that the organization lurking in the shadow of the Fire Moth is not impossible to be involved in this matter.

Even though the subsequent investigation found letters in which the congressman tried to contact local armed forces to regain his original position, but... this kind of thing, even if you know in your heart that it is right, if the organization in the shadows can kill the former congressman this time, will it be you next time?

Even if there is no solid evidence to prove the existence of that organization, even if there is no evidence to prove that they really did it, many times just a little suspicion is enough.

This is also a headache...

Seeing Lionel's thoughtful expression, Yanar, who was sitting opposite him, sighed softly and looked out the car window.

She and Lionel had indeed known each other since childhood. In her eyes, or in the eyes of most of her peers, Lionel was definitely the kind of "other people's child". Although she was his fiancée, but... it was precisely because of Lionel's excellence and the equal status of both families that the pressure from her family on her side had never been small.

They didn't want to be said to be Lionel's vassal after they married him, and she felt the same way.

So she had been trying hard to catch up with Lionel, trying not to bring shame to the family... But Lionel was really getting further and further away from her. After he went to the Fire Moth, he successively participated in the command of the Seventh and Eighth Herrscher's Crusades, while she herself had not made any progress on the Mu Continent...

She turned her gaze to the still-thinking Lionel. He had been like this since childhood... Logically speaking, as they were engaged, they should have said something on the way to their reunion, right? But he hadn't said a word since he got in the car. He was just thinking...

He must be thinking about fighting the collapse...

When he took the initiative to apply to be transferred to the Fire Moth, his attitude was already very clear. He wanted to participate more in the front line against Honkai and learn more about Honkai...

Yanar also remembered that after the conquest of Varuna, Lionel looked in a trance as he stared at the fragments of warships floating on the sea. Strictly speaking, that conquest should be considered as a joint command by her and Lionel, but she... might not have thought as much as Lionel.

She has been chasing after his back, walking the road he walked, not only the pressure from the family, but also her own ideas, and she also wants to prove that she is no worse than Lionel, she can Can do the same thing well.

Besides...she also wanted to have something in common with him that he was interested in.

She still remembers the first time she met Lionel, when he, still a child, came to her rescue and pretended to be an adult to invite her to dance.

However, perhaps Lionel himself didn’t remember these things. Perhaps for Lionel, many things were just what he thought should be done, and then he did it. What other people thought had nothing to do with him.

That's just the kind of person he is.

But I just happen to have a crush on such a person.

How much goodwill could a meeting at the banquet bring? At least there was a basic goodwill. In my eyes at that time, Leon was like a prince who defeated the dragon and saved the princess. After my family and Leon's family had made an engagement, how many girls envied Leon's engagement with themselves? And how much did I enjoy the envious eyes of others?

Although these gazes also brought a lot of pressure to myself...

Besides that, his eyes… never seemed to fall on him.

Maybe it was because Leon had barged into her world on his own, left a deep impression on her, and then left on his own, which made her demand for men become quite high... Looking around at other men of the same age around her, there was really no one who could compare to Leon...

Except for Beffinger. If he was a woman, Yanar felt that Lionel would most likely choose to break up and go to Beffinger... Fortunately, Beffinger is a man...

Now, after so many years, is she more obsessed with Leon or does she like him more? Yanar can no longer tell.

"If... I become a Herrscher, will you... keep your eyes on me?"

Today's leave was due to a sudden course adjustment. I did a day of experiments at a campus on the other side of the city, and then on the way back, I took the wrong bus with my resentful roommate...

The things in this paragraph really happened to us, it's a bit emmmm

Then, my power bank ran out of power, but my phone still had 8% power left when I finally caught the bus back to school (my roommate’s phone was even out of power).

I just finished my lab report, I am exhausted physically and mentally...

Anyway, there will be a lot of things to do in June, and then in July I plan to offer an unlimited bounty for additional chapters (I haven't tried this as a new author, so I'll check with other authors later. Although I think there shouldn't be much... I'll still try to put some pressure on myself and add more chapters to finish the previous volume of civilization in July, and then wrap up the foreshadowing of the current volume of civilization.)

Chapter 254: Spreading Snake Shadow

Lionel followed the court staff into the king's office.

"Your Majesty." Lionel bowed.

"You're back, Sir Lionel." The king stood in front of the French window in his office with his hands behind his back, his back to Lionel. "Okay, everyone else can leave."

Lionel glanced at the court officials who were leaving beside him. After the office door was closed, he and the king were the only ones left in the room.

"Before you came back, you should have known that I intended to transfer you back from the Fire Moth to be the person in charge of the Honkai affairs in Mu Continent, right?" the king said slowly.

"My father did mention this to me," Lionel said, "but Your Majesty, in my opinion, this is totally unnecessary. Fighting against Honkai does not allow the Fire Moth Council to have a one-man show, but I can just serve as a check and balance on the Fire Moth Council in Fire Moth."

"I believe in your loyalty to Mu Continent, Lord Lionel." The king's voice became a little low and serious. "But, if you are the only one in the Fire Moth, how can you fight against the shadow that has been spreading inside the Fire Moth? Aren't you really blinded by others in what you see and what you judge?"

"I did sense the shadow gradually spreading within the Fire Moth, but..."

"Do you mean to say that you have Lord Beffinger as your assistant?" The king turned around.

"Exactly..."

"Then have you ever thought about what if even Lord Beffinger has betrayed you?" the king said with a gloomy face.

Lionel's pupils shrank. Although that guy was always jumping back and forth, there was no possibility that Beffinger would betray him in this matter. He almost subconsciously linked this matter with the slander of the people around the king who wanted to make trouble: "This is impossible, your majesty..."

"Impossible... No, it's very possible." The king once again turned his gaze to the sky outside the French window. "Long time ago, before Mebius got his seat in parliament, Lord Beffinger may have betrayed me and Mu Continent!"

"Your Majesty, I believe in Lord Beffinger..." Lionel wanted to say that he believed in Lord Beffinger's character, but he swallowed it back. To be honest, this B's character was really not that good. "There must be some misunderstanding! After Lord Beffinger transferred the Fire Moth, he has been meticulous in assisting in handling daily affairs, and the relevant documents are also archived on the Mu Continent. As long as you check it, you will know that there is absolutely no personal relationship involved. In the Eighth Herrscher incident, Lord Beffinger chose to set an example by performing the fusion warrior surgery, and he also made many contributions in the process of conquering the Eighth Herrscher. All of this..."

"That's enough, Sir Lionel." The king interrupted Lionel's defense of Beffinger. "Indeed, I know what you said, and I also believe in your character. But do you really think Beffinger is what you think?"

"I……"

"Their style of doing things is indeed extremely covert, but from the beginning to the end, they have only one goal, which is to completely unify the voices of the Fire Moths." The king said calmly, "The purpose of the establishment of the Fire Moths is to fight against the Honkai, but once there is only one voice left in the Fire Moths, who can guarantee that the path they finally choose is the path suitable for humans?"

Lionel remained silent. This was the only point he couldn't think of how to defend himself.

"Back to the topic of the so-called 'shadow', you should have heard about the recent assassination of Lord Abraham, right?" the king continued.

Lionel nodded: "Yes, but this is most likely just a coincidental armed conflict..."

"Coincidence? Sometimes, coincidences may be made by someone just to let you see them." The king lowered his eyes, "Take a look at the document on my desk. They... have gradually stopped hiding themselves. They know that we know of their existence, so they may really stand out in the near future and dominate the Fire Moths in front of us openly."

"Ouroboros..." Lionel whispered the key word on the document. Of course he knew what it meant. It was the word that represented "immortality", "perfection", "infinity", "world" and "wisdom" in alchemy. According to legend, it was a giant snake that surrounded the world with its head and tail connected.

Its other name may be more familiar to later generations, Jormungand.

The giant serpent that encircles the world, the World Serpent Jörmungandr.

In this file, Lionel saw that a long time ago, the World Serpent had already provided weapons and equipment to various local armed forces in Africa and used this to circulate funds.

This period of time can even be traced back to the fourth great collapse.

"In other words, the World Serpent was born long before the Fourth Collapse?" Lionel frowned. The Fire Moth was established after the First Collapse, and the World Serpent was born as the shadow of the Fire Moth before the Fourth Collapse... When it comes to the infinity and immortality represented by the term "Ouroboros", as well as the cycle of life behind it, Lionel's first reaction is Mebius.

Moreover, the symbol of Mobius happens to be the snake. Besides, Mobius is not without the motivation to establish the World Serpent. When the Fire Moth was established, Mobius was also one of the participants. She can be said to be a veteran figure of the Fire Moth. But soon after that, she was ostracized and exiled outside the center of power.

At the same time, when it comes to the famous incidents related to Mobius before the Fourth Herrscher incident, all Lionel can think of is the assassination she encountered, and the killer who assassinated her, Xila, is now the original fusion warrior, belonging to Feng's team and under Feng's jurisdiction.

After the assassination, Mebius unusually did not choose to retaliate, but just made a slight counterattack and let it go.

Everyone who knew about the shadow lurking in the Fire Moth knew that Mebius was definitely a high-ranking figure in that shadow organization, but by the time they began to realize the existence of the shadow, they were already unable to eradicate it.

They didn't know how far the shadow had spread, how much the Fire Moth had been eroded... and, in the face of the great enemy of Honkai, the record achieved by the Fire Moth was indeed impressive, which made them even more cautious. Even if the anti-Honkai research institute of Mu Continent could theoretically be comparable to or even better than the Fire Moth, but...

Who can say for sure?

In terms of experience in fighting Honkai, which organization can compare to the Fire Moth?

If we uproot that shadow at all costs, starting with Mobius, who knows how much of an impact it will have on the Fire Moths. After that, facing an increasingly severe situation in the fight against Honkai, the Fire Moths, as the main force, will be seriously injured. Who can guarantee that when the Herrscher appears next time, humans will be able to survive safely?

"But... why did they choose backward Africa to attack?" Lionel muttered to himself in confusion. "No matter what, North America and Europe are more suitable places to start than Africa... Wait, are they using Africa as a testing ground for new weapons?"

The chaotic situation in Africa was beyond the reach of the United Nations, and the xenophobia of the local armed groups made Fire Moth's Honkai clearing operation quite difficult, so in the end Fire Moth and the local armed forces reached an agreement that they would clean up the Honkai beasts themselves. Fire Moth would provide weapons and funds, and the local armed forces must keep this highly confidential from the public, otherwise the result would be that Fire Moth would wipe them out at all costs.

The African branch of the Fire Moth is only a nominal branch, and in fact all management is handled by the local armed forces themselves.

From this perspective, the World Serpent's layout in Africa may be for the purpose of conducting weapons experiments against Honkai... So, Velvet, who is responsible for the production of most of the Keys of God and is the director of the Fire Moth Weapon Department, is also from the World Serpent?

His Majesty the King said that Beffinger's betrayal was...

"It seems you have thought of this, Sir Lionel." The king's tone became a little cold. "It was Beffinger who first supported Mebius to become a senator. At that time, none of us knew about the existence of the World Serpent Organization. After we knew about it, we didn't pay much attention to it. We simply regarded it as a faction within the Fire Moth. If you think so, all of Beffinger's activities from that time on are worth pondering."

He supported Mebius's ascension to power and pushed the Fusion Warrior Program in the court of Mu Continent. He even went so far as to enter the Fire Moth as a "spy" to "monitor" the progress of the Fusion Warrior Program.

Until now...

"If I call a halt to the Fusion Warrior Project now, what is the probability that this project will be completely stopped within the Fire Moth?" asked the king.

Lionel was silent. A long time ago, Mebius had secretly carried out the Fusion Warrior Project to create Xila. If the World Serpent spread over a large enough area, it could indeed be concealed...

The currently known high-level officials of World Serpent are Mebius and Admiller. In Europe, except for the fact that the director of the Fifth Institute, Spasi, disagrees with Admiller, Admiller basically has the final say.

As the head of the weapons department of Fire Moth, Velvet is very likely a high-ranking member of World Serpent, and his sister, Roffko, who is the right-hand man of both Mobius and Velvet, cannot escape suspicion.

In other words, given Roffko's personality, if she knew that Mebius had established the World Serpent, it would be strange if she didn't join.

In addition, the position of Feng, who is currently the strongest fighter in the Fire Moth, is also very questionable. He may even be one of the founders or creators of the World Snake.

He was the first person that Mobius contacted, the protector of Mobius during the assassination, the first person to take the initiative to undergo the fusion warrior surgery, and had a record of killing the third, fourth, and seventh Herrschers...

In this way, the World Snake already possesses military power, armaments, and technology.

In this situation, even if Mu Continent discovered the World Snake, what would happen? What price would it have to pay to go to war with the World Snake? And then let humans cripple themselves before being crushed by the collapse?

Even if Kevin's position is different from Mebius's, Feng has at least half of the fusion warriors under his command. In addition, Feng's reputation among the Fire Moth Warriors and Mei's own unclear attitude...

Among the three current forces of the Fire Moths, Mebius's side undoubtedly belongs to the World Serpent. Although Me and Mebius have different positions, they can maintain consistency in most cases. Only Lionel's faction is truly directly under the Mu Continent... But even on Lionel's side, there is a very suspicious identity of Beffinger, who is the second in command.

To sum up, Mu Continent really has no way to take action against the World Snake. The king is not a fool. Of course, he knows that fighting the collapse is the top priority. There is no reason to cause internal friction among humans.

What really made him uneasy and angry was Beffinger's possible betrayal, Mebius' deception, and... the World Serpent's purge of the congressmen who had been expelled from the center of power.

The most important thing is the information sent back by Mu Continent's secret agent in the Third Research Institute before his death, which shows that the birth of the Eighth Herrscher is related to an experiment conducted by Admiller!

However, this information was intercepted before it was received by Mu Continent. Although Mu Continent took measures immediately, most of the information was destroyed by the World Serpent in the end. The only information recovered was that Admiller speculated that the Eighth Herrscher incident was related to one of his experiments.

This also explains why when the Eighth Herrscher incident occurred, Admiral was able to quickly come up with a plan and put it into action...

This incident was really fatal, and it caused the king's trust in Fire Moth to drop significantly.

Although the Eighth Herrscher incident was properly resolved in the end, what if these guys come up with another Herrscher next time? Will they be able to handle it next time?

So, as soon as the king received this information, he called Lionel back from the Fire Moth.

If the Fire Moth is unreliable, then Mu Dalu will do it himself.

As for Lionel, as a young member of the military family of the Mu Continent, Lionel grew up under the king's care, and the king knew his character very well. At the same time, when giving this information to Lionel, the king was also observing Lionel to confirm that Lionel really knew nothing.

Lionel read the summarized investigation report in silence. Apart from some things about what the World Serpent had done, no definite evidence of the existence of other World Serpent high-level officials was found. All evidence could only remain at the stage of "suspicion" and "highly likely".

There is no evidence for anything, but it is reasonable to be suspicious... Even in the case of Admiral, it only said that Admiral speculated that there was a connection, and nothing else.

It is also pointed out here that the World Snake network is very likely to cooperate with the world's top hacker shadell. In addition, there are many other hackers associated with World Snake who are jointly responsible for World Snake's network intelligence and security.

This makes it even more difficult to detect the World Snake's presence on the Internet. It is even very likely that the World Snake has its own independent network.

only……

If Beffinger is also a high-ranking official or cadre of the World Snake, then wouldn't there be other people from the World Snake on the Mu Continent?

Lionel quickly figured it out, and the king was also aware of this matter, but there was no other way but to transfer him back, at least to ensure that the Honkai Research Institute and the Defense Force on the Mu Continent would not be corroded into a sieve by the World Serpent.