Chapter 123: Taking All the Benefits While Leaving the Blame to the Dusa Rebels

Two days had passed in the blink of an eye. The situation above the cavern left the several high priests in a state of utter bewilderment.

It had been two full days, and according to the readings from the life-sign detectors... they discovered that, surprisingly, not many people had died!

Because the Ironwood Forest covered an immense area, it was not very convenient to dispatch personnel to monitor everyone. Therefore, the high priests had only arranged for guards to be stationed at the supply distribution points. In the eyes of the high priests, in that kind of weather, without sufficient supplies, people would die very quickly. The supply points were, quite simply, places that no survivor could bypass.

Yet, aside from a minor skirmish at a supply point on the first day, there had been almost no real fighting. Eventually, it even reached the point where survivor groups would arrive at the supply points only to find absolutely no rival competitors present.

According to reports from the Sacred Army scouts monitoring the supply points, out of two thousand people, at most six hundred had shown up on the first day. The remaining fourteen hundred had never appeared at all.

Upon receiving these reports from their subordinates, the high priests were even more confused. Fourteen hundred people had not appeared at the supply points? Where had these people gone? Had they all stripped off their clothes and intended to endure temperatures of minus thirty to fifty degrees for three days without food or drink? That was simply impossible.

Although most of the survivors participating in this trial had been given anti-freeze agents by the high priests, that stuff could only last for a few hours at most. Furthermore, those agents relied on stimulating cellular activity, forcing the body's cells into intense movement to generate energy for warmth. If, after the agent wore off, they could not obtain food, they would even face life-threatening risks.

Under normal circumstances, within an hour or two, all survivors should have appeared at the supply points to ignite a massive battle. In the view of the high priests, this competition should have been resolved in a few hours; it was highly unlikely to last three days. The three-day limit had been set simply out of concern that the survivors might not engage in direct conflict. In that case, the high priests would have cut off the supply of food and water, forcing them to either rob others to survive or prove they were more resilient than the rest.

Yet the current situation was far too bizarre. Over fourteen hundred people! Not only had they not visited the supply points, but hardly anyone had died! What was going on? How on earth were they surviving in this frozen wasteland while stark naked? This situation led the high priests to suspect that the life-sign detectors installed on the survivors were malfunctioning.

Meanwhile, inside the body of the biochemical moray eel, a grand religious ceremony was taking place. A group of people prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing to Zela, who was putting on an act atop an experimental platform.

They shouted excitedly, "Thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the water and food!"

"Thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the clothing..."

"Thanks to the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the divine power!"

"We vow to serve the Flying Spaghetti Monster until death."

"Wherever the divine church points, we shall not hesitate to die..."

"Many thanks to Archbishop Zela..."

"Many thanks to Grand Protector Tyrant, Grand Protector Reaper, Grand Protector Veronica, and Grand Protector G."

Amidst the roaring cheers, Xavier’s eyelid could not help but twitch. "Can I change my codename? Why does it sound so awkward?"

Ye Hai shook his head helplessly. "Don't tell me, go talk to that Archbishop. This was all choreographed by her... Anyway, I think it’s fine."

As it turned out, from the very beginning of the competition, Ye Hai and his group had been frantically hunting down the participants under the four high priests. Over the course of half a day, with the mobility of their biochemical fortress, they had captured over fourteen hundred people. Coupled with those Zela had been luring in one after another, there were over two thousand survivors inside the Mythical Fortress.

To facilitate control, Zela had brainwashed these people with her mystical nonsense, while keeping them well-fed and comfortable. Each person was even wearing two layers of cotton-padded clothes—that was just how generous she was! For over twenty years, none of these survivors had ever been treated this well. Joining this battle to try and enter the Land of Miracles was nothing more than risking their lives for a future. Now, they had discovered the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster—low risk, high reward! Wasn't this much better than the Shesha Sect?

Thus, they bowed their heads and surrendered to Archbishop Zela. Ye Hai even felt that a group of them had truly developed a faith in the unknown Flying Spaghetti Monster. When they heard some opportunistic fellows whispering insults or mocking the Church, they would fly into a rage and strangle the unlucky wretch to death on the spot.

Damn! Were these not textbook fanatics?

Discovering that the spread of this religion seemed beneficial to his rapid annexation and control, Ye Hai naturally played along with Archbishop Zela. Zela was also very happy. These people all had the technologically improved second-generation parasites implanted in their bodies! These were over two thousand formidable existences at the sixth stage. Such a terrifying force was now under her control; it was far more imposing than when she was a taboo figure in the Prati black market. With the people under her command now, she could completely flatten the old Prati black market—provided the Grave Diggers did not intervene. This power was even stronger than some minor warlords on Chaos Star.

Moreover, Ye Hai did not seem to have much interest in managing these people. Only those survivors with specialized skills would be recruited into the Grave Digger organization.

Now, as long as Zela did not betray Ye Hai, if the Talan Army or Giant Tree Star wanted to find trouble with Zela on the surface of Zombie Star? No chance! Zela was now a ruthless character second only to the seven, commanding thousands. Having tasted the benefits, Zela racked her brain to develop the religion further.

After the ceremony concluded and the believers dispersed, Ye Hai called Zela to his side. "Go, select another two hundred people from Qi Beishan’s group! Also, keep two hundred from each of the other three high priests... make it a total of one thousand."

"We must ensure that everyone entering the Land of Miracles is under our control."

"Start searching for the remaining participants now... capture them all..."

"Once everyone is captured, have the others remove their life-sign detectors..."

"Right, remove them in batches... don't do it all at once; the high priests aren't idiots!"

Zela smiled and replied, "Understood, Mr. Ye Hai! I will get it done right away!"

After Zela left, Xavier walked over with a frown. "What we’re doing still has huge flaws... So many naked survivors not going to the supply points and surviving for two days isn't normal."

Ye Hai chuckled. "Since it isn't normal, we’ll give them a normal reason! We discovered a shipment of supplies belonging to the Dusa Resistance and intercepted them..."

"Then, the people of the other high priests discovered it too!"

"So, everyone got enough supplies from the Dusa Resistance... and therefore, didn't go to the supply points to fight."

"However, the Dusa Resistance, upon learning their supplies were hijacked, launched a frantic retaliation!"

"That’s why so many people died..."

"To make it more convincing... we can have the Dusa Resistance's retaliation extend to the Sacred Army at the supply points... fire a few shots at them!"

"We can also use the opportunity to see the strength of the Sacred Army!"

Xavier’s eyes lit up. "You mean, use the five hundred Dusa Resistance members we captured earlier? And shift all the blame onto them?"

"That’s a plan! I like it!"