Chapter 990 — Cecil in Motion
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 4
"What you have done at this stage is very good — after taking Winterwolf Fortress you did not rashly advance, but chose to hold the line in place and wear down Typhon's counterattacks. That was the most correct decision," Gao Yang said. "This is indeed a divine calamity. The 'normal people' on the Typhon side clearly have no will to fight, but an army in the grip of the God of War's faith will still keep attacking their 'enemies.' So military conflict is unavoidable — but there is no need for us to plunge deep into Typhon's heartland to solve their problems for them.
"At this stage, apart from holding the line, our main task is to understand the internal situation in Typhon and to understand their plan for dealing with this divine calamity. If we truly mean to lend a hand, we should start from that direction — as for the front-line battlefield, just make a token effort to placate that God of War who has so thoroughly got himself killed through sheer stupidity."
Hearing her ancestor describe a fearsome mad god as having "literally bored himself to death," Hedy was struck dumb for a moment, then could not help but burst out laughing.
The nerves she had kept wound so tightly for so long finally loosened, if only a little.
And that was precisely Gaosong's purpose—from the moment he had laid eyes on Hedy, he had known that this descendant of his had been under far too much strain of late.
"As for the situation inside Typhon," Gaoyang continued after a brief pause, "has Number Twenty-Five sent any word back?"
"Not yet," Hedy said, shaking her head. "Typhon's situation is unclear at present. Given that elements among their upper ranks have already shown signs of contamination by the God of War, Aldernan is very likely to launch large-scale investigations and purges. To guarantee the safety of our informants, the intelligence department has suspended proactive contact with all our covert assets—including those of the Trajectory Project and the Number Twenty-Five dedicated line. But should anything unusual occur, they will get word out provided their own safety is assured."
Gaoyang considered this briefly, then nodded. "...Yes. The correct response. That is how it should be."
Then he looked at Hedy, about to ask a few more questions—but just at that moment, a familiar psychic ripple suddenly entered his mind.
"Ancestor?" Hedy looked at Gaoyang in confusion as he abruptly fell into a trance. "Is something wrong?"
Gaoyang raised a hand to signal her to wait, then swiftly focused his mind to listen to the brief message Daniel was transmitting—the content was extremely condensed, receivable even without immersing himself in the network, clearly intelligence that had been abridged and compiled before being sent; under the present tense and dangerous circumstances, such caution was entirely necessary.
A moment later Gaoyang raised his head and gave Hedy a faint smile. "What a coincidence... Number Twenty-Five has just contacted me."
Hedy's eyes went wide at once. "There's new developments on that front?"
"...Two things. First, Number Twenty-Five has more or less determined how that earlier 'declaration of war' was smuggled out of Obsidian Palace. Second—and more importantly—Luo Yan Augustus has already declared Typhon in a state of emergency, and used the occasion to push through three emergency decrees in a single day: the dissolution of Parliament, the sealing of the city by the Imperial Guard, and... the temporary revocation of all exemption privileges held by the national church."
As he spoke, Gaoyang could not help letting out a soft breath, his tone tinged with feeling: "...That is really something..."