Earthquakes were common, but continuous earthquakes were terrifying.
Until news appeared that Nagazora City was about to sink due to earthquakes, completely detonating the fear in people's hearts.
Thus, most people began frantically selling off the land they held.
After receiving compensation, some of these people moved to the newly built Second New Nagazora, which was said to have extremely strong earthquake and tsunami resistance, while others left Nagazora City for other cities in the Far East.
For ordinary people fleeing, there wasn't much loss—in fact, after selling their land at a premium, they could even make a small profit.
However, for those who had previously hoarded land, things became far less pleasant.
As usual, Ryusuke once again held a meeting with his partners.
The moment he came online, people began verbally attacking him.
"Ryusuke, didn't you say this was foolproof?"
"The land we previously acquired has plummeted in value—it's basically rotting in our hands!"
However, facing the verbal attacks from these old geezers, not only did Ryusuke show no panic, he was actually smiling.
"Isn't this a good thing?"
"Ryusuke, have you lost your mind?!"
Hearing this, Ryusuke covered his eyes with his hand, leaving only an extremely exaggerated smile on his face.
"Lost my mind? No no, I'm perfectly lucid!"
"Since land prices have taken a nosedive, why don't we take the opportunity to buy up more? The acquisition cost is much lower than before."
The old geezers on the other end were shocked by his astounding statement, then became even more furious.
"Stop playing crazy! You'd better give us an explanation, or we won't mind sending you to Black Dolphin Prison to sell yourself!"
Seeing the old geezers' emotions explode, Ryusuke slightly reined in his wild smile and asked them a question.
"Let me ask you—does the earthquake actually affect the land we've acquired?"
"We're not those commoners who've staked their lives and fortunes on their houses. When their houses are destroyed by earthquakes, naturally they have nowhere to go. But after we acquire land, the buildings on it were going to be demolished anyway. If they're destroyed by earthquakes, doesn't that save us demolition costs?"
"Earthquakes aren't Great Honkai events. The houses collapse, but the land beneath them doesn't run away. Or do you actually believe those fake news stories hyping up the so-called 'Nagazora City sinking'?"
Everyone fell silent for a moment, then suddenly realized—it really was that simple!
What erupted in Nagazora City was an earthquake, not a Great Honkai event. After the earthquake passed, the land would still be the same land, and its value wouldn't change.
Seeing his argument taking effect, Ryusuke continued:
"After discovering the so-called 'Far East sinking' news, I specifically investigated and found that the news sources were basically all media controlled by MEI Company."
"I have reason to believe that MEI Company's president Ryoma has the same calculation—spreading news that Nagazora will sink to force citizens to sell their land."
"What an opponent utterly without moral bottom lines..."
After the old geezers on the other end conferred among themselves, they finally said to Ryusuke: "Then Ryusuke, we're willing to temporarily trust you. Don't betray our trust, or else..."
The communication ended. Ryusuke let out a cold laugh.
"A bunch of stubborn old fools. If I didn't still need your power... hmph!"
Then Ryusuke began contemplating his current situation.
Since he had temporarily convinced those old fools to continue supporting him, the work of acquiring Nagazora City land needed to continue.
"The bigger the storm, the higher the price. Now is the time to place bets!"
Although he had already guessed that the sinking rumors in Nagazora City during this period were MEI Company's doing, Ryusuke had no interest in helping Nagazora City residents dispel the rumors. In fact, he even wanted to fan the flames and make the rumors burn more fiercely.
That way he could acquire land at even lower prices.
"What a pity. If the existence of Honkai didn't need to be kept secret, directly spreading rumors that Nagazora City was about to experience a Great Honkai event would probably be even more effective."
...
Lucius hadn't noticed Ryusuke's little maneuvers, or rather, even if he had noticed, he wouldn't have cared—he might even applaud them.
Since Nagazora City was destined to become a dead zone after the Great Honkai, the residents on this land naturally needed to be relocated. To compensate them, Lucius had offered substantial premiums when acquiring their houses and land.
All in all, this was no small expense. Although he no longer cared about money now, he wouldn't watch his money be wasted.
Now that Ryusuke was bringing a bunch of old geezers willing to help him take over from Nagazora City's residents, willing to pay even higher prices to acquire houses and relocate the populace—why not?
And so, time quickly passed.
The continuous earthquakes and fear of Nagazora City sinking caused most of Nagazora City's residents to leave with their families temporarily.
However, even in such circumstances, some people chose to stay here for various reasons.
Such people were negligibly few compared to Nagazora City's overall population. Regarding this, Lucius chose to deploy Titan mech units to forcibly evacuate the residents still remaining in Nagazora City.
As for why he was being so extreme...
"The Candy House sent word that the abnormal amplification rate of Honkai energy detected by the Outer Key is real. According to Elder Konpeito's calculations, the Great Honkai will erupt on Earth within 10 hours, with an error margin not exceeding three hours."
"Based on the intensity of this Great Honkai, the probability of it spawning a Herrscher is over 90%. The Elder expressed concern for us."
On the deserted streets of Nagazora City, white-haired, red-eyed Kiana, like a competent secretary, faithfully relayed the intelligence obtained from the Sugars to Lucius.
She now wasn't the white blob Kiana that Lucius was accustomed to, but rather Brown Sugar, the black blob.
At this moment, having reported the observation data transmitted from the Sugars species, her face bore indelible worry.
"Nothing much to worry about." Lucius offered a comforting word, smiling as he said: "All preliminary work has been completed. Just follow the plan we established beforehand."
"Let's go. Mei is already waiting for us at the Honkai energy reactor."
Hearing Lucius's words, Brown Sugar closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the crimson pupils had vanished, replaced by those ocean-blue eyes.
Now was Kiana's time.
Seeing Lucius walk away, Kiana hurriedly chased after him.
"Lucius, wait for me."
Lucius stopped and looked at her, then suddenly said:
"In a bit, I'll transform into Ryoma's appearance. You need to keep your distance from me—can't let Mei discover we're familiar with each other."
"Outside, I don't care if you call me Lucius, but in front of Mei, you have to call me Uncle."
Speaking of this, a mischievous smile appeared on his face. He crooked a finger at Kiana and said: "Come on, dear niece, call me Uncle and let me hear it."
Hearing this, Kiana jogged to Lucius's side, a smile on her lips.
Then she elbowed him.
"Hiss~" Lucius clutched his stomach and sucked in a cold breath.
"It's not that exaggerated, is it?" Kiana was suspicious. "I didn't even use much force..."
Then she met the corners of Lucius's mouth that he couldn't suppress.
"...Lucius, is it that funny?"
"To be fair, good brother, it's pretty funny."
Kiana's little face darkened. She interlaced her fingers with a cracking sound, a cruel smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.
"Lucius, looks like I need to let you know which one of us is the dad here!"
Seeing her like this, Lucius turned and ran.
But unfortunately, his physical abilities were completely incomparable to Kiana's—with her UR-grade physique enhanced by the Shicksal symbiote. She instantly pressed him to the ground, her limbs locking his body.
The next moment, he felt his bones continuously crying out.
"Pain... pain pain... they're breaking..."
"Lucius, what should you call me?"
The situation was extremely critical. Lucius felt the dad position he'd earned by bringing Kiana lunch was about to be lost.
And at this critical moment, a cry of alarm attracted both their attention.
"Wait, I'm not leaving! I absolutely won't leave!"
"All the money I earned went into buying houses here. I'll die before I leave!"
Following the voice, the two looked over and saw a MEI Company Titan mech break through a nearby building, extracting an OL-suited woman with short gray hair from inside.
The Titan mech, under the control of the super AI Prometheus, quite dexterously grasped her with its giant mechanical arm, but the woman still desperately clung to the doorframe, gritting her teeth and refusing to let go.
A milk-flavored mechanical voice came from inside the mech.
"Miss Natasha, a disaster is about to occur here. Please evacuate with me immediately. We will provide appropriate compensation for your property."
"I bankrupted myself, paid five times the premium to snatch up these houses. Your acquisition price doesn't even cover my零头."
"Gah! My houses definitely still have appreciation potential. I won't leave!"
But unfortunately, without the almighty Honkai energy enhancement, flesh and blood couldn't defeat steel.
Thus, this lady clinging to the door and constantly struggling was ultimately dragged away by the mech.
...
By the time Lucius and Kiana arrived at the Honkai energy reactor that had been built in Nagazora City beforehand, Mei was already waiting there.
According to the plot, Raiden Mei's Herrscher transformation was accompanied by a Great Honkai affecting all of Nagazora City. Lucius of course couldn't wait for the Great Honkai to naturally erupt. He chose to artificially trigger the Honkai, which actually wasn't difficult.
Simply overloading a Honkai energy reactor of sufficient energy level could trigger a Great Honkai capable of spawning a Herrscher.
But the prerequisite was proper calculations—they had to precisely control the energy level after detonation to ensure the Great Honkai was contained within the evacuated Nagazora City.
This problem was essentially a rigorous mathematics problem, but fortunately he had many companions who were good at math.
The detonation plan was calculated by Vill-V and had undergone secondary verification by Mei to ensure absolute reliability.
Now everything was ready. All that remained was to detonate the reactor and have Mei inherit Raiden Mei's fate of becoming a Herrscher.
However, upon seeing Mei, Lucius and Kiana found her frowning, looking somewhat troubled.
Upon seeing Lucius arrive, Mei reported a troublesome matter to him.
"Father, Prometheus told me that some people in Nagazora City still refuse to evacuate."
Hearing this, Lucius was rather puzzled.
"Didn't we dispatch mechs for forced evacuation?"
"We did, but the mechs we sent out were destroyed by them."
After hearing Mei's explanation, Lucius furrowed his brow.
"Nagazora City still has forces capable of destroying our mechs?"
At the moment of detonating Nagazora's Honkai, Lucius had deployed all the military mechs produced during this period. Even the local security forces and United Government military units shouldn't have been a match.
"I also find it strange." Mei was equally puzzled. "I checked and found they're a company established recently, with their main business being real estate. They've been massively acquiring land in Nagazora City during this period."
Hearing Mei's words, Lucius's expression turned cold.
"So they're the ones who've been causing us trouble this whole time?"
"It's them."
"Since they don't want to leave, let them stay here and watch the fireworks together!"
Lucius made his decision.
Though thinking Mei might feel guilty, he prepared to console her.
But Lucius quickly discovered that Mei seemed to have no objections to this decision.
Seeing the confusion on Lucius's face, Mei adjusted her glasses and smiled quite calmly.
"Since Father has decided, there must be a reason. I trust you."
"Uh... it doesn't actually have to be this extreme..."
But since Mei wasn't dwelling on this issue, Lucius could naturally continue arranging what came next.
He looked at Mei, his expression gradually becoming serious.
"Mei, according to the plan we established before, next you'll seize the authority of the Herrscher of Thunder."
Mei adjusted her glasses, a cold gleam flashing across the lenses.
"Please leave it to me, Father."
Then Lucius looked at Kiana, his expression relaxing. He retrieved a baseball bat from his system inventory and stuffed it into Kiana's hands.
"Kiana, next you're responsible for watching over Mei and preventing unexpected situations."
Their eyes met. Kiana remembered what Lucius had instructed before coming.
—After Mei becomes a Herrscher, rush up and beat Mei with the bat.
Kiana felt Lucius wanted her dead, but unfortunately Lucius stated this was a real event that occurred fifty thousand years in the future. To obtain power from the "script," it had to be completed.
Although Lucius had repeatedly stated this was just going through the motions, not really making her fight the Herrscher of Thunder Mei, somehow, gripping the solid baseball bat in her hand, Kiana felt utterly insecure.
So a baseball bat had defeated a Herrscher capable of easily slaughtering hundreds of millions—what kind of monster was that counterpart fifty thousand years in the future!
Not paying attention to Kiana's internal muttering, Lucius looked at the system panel.
[Facing the Herrscher-transformed Raiden Mei, Kiana chose to correct her with a baseball bat. Thus, the first rooftop battle is about to begin]
[Mission: Check in at the first rooftop battle. Reward: A-rank Stigmata Selection Box x1, Crystals 300, Kiana Signature Weapon x1]
His gaze withdrew from the mission and looked at the crystal balance.
[Crystal Balance: 10,200]
Over a year's time, even with expenditures, the crystal balance exceeded 10,000. Of course, the bulk of it came from eating Mei's cooking.
Over a year's time, three meals a day—Lucius hadn't missed a single meal. All of it was Mei's cooking.
Every time he thought about it, he felt like wiping away tears.
Sigh... for this world, he had sacrificed too much.
Then Lucius looked at the system shop.
[Item: Herrscher Experience Card (Reason)]
[Price: 3000/30 minutes]
[Item: Herrscher Experience Card (Thunder)]
[Price: 3000/30 minutes]
The next moment, 6000 crystals instantly evaporated.
In their place were the authorities of Reason and Thunder as two Herrschers.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, Lucius detonated the Honkai energy reactor installed in Nagazora City.
The Great Eruption had begun.
---
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