Chapter 719.1: Played

“You useless trash!” Chalas cursed furiously and hurled the communicator onto the sofa. After pacing back and forth for a moment, he closed his eyes tightly.

Soon, a faint golden glow appeared not far away from him, and the figure of an elderly man in a gray robe slowly materialized. Before the old man could even speak, Chalas stormed up to him and glared into his eyes aggressively. “Your people screwed things up again! Why the hell do I have to say this again?! Can’t you people come up with any decent weapons?! Or are those scale-covered fish freaks literally the only people you have left?!”

Arzu’s expression was equally ugly. After all, he was not a true Pathfinder, but merely an Apostle stationed within the Second Sanctuary. He could not completely suppress human emotions and achieve perfectly rational thought. Even so, he still patiently waited for Chalas to finish venting before coldly voicing his own dissatisfaction. “Let me remind you, this is your territory. Your people have lived here for two centuries, while we only arrived recently.”

“I can certainly help solve some problems that are inconvenient for you to handle personally, but did you seriously think we’re just as omnipotent underwater as we are on land? If that were true, why would we even need you?”

Chalas’s expression stiffened awkwardly. “But even so–”

This time, Arzu didn’t wait for him to finish before exploding in anger himself. “Enough with the ‘even so’ bullshit! Do you really need me to spell it out? You’re moving too slowly!”

Chalas stared at the suddenly enraged Arzu in shock, momentarily forgetting who was supposed to be interrogating whom.

Taking a deep breath, Arzu steadied his chest and continued staring into the Federation Chief-of-Staff and Naval Head Advisor’s stunned eyes.

“The New Alliance is attempting to establish a containment network around us. The time we have left is shrinking rapidly. We must expand our strategic space into the seas before that encirclement fully forms. Research on the Hive in the Heavenly Court is absolutely essential.”

“And what about the Coral City you promised me? Another two months have passed. When exactly are we finally going to begin our research?”

Hearing Arzu suddenly bring the matter up, Chalas looked somewhat embarrassed and coughed lightly in an attempt to explain himself. “It requires time. There are still opposing voices within the Federation. I’ve already been working very hard to speak on your behalf.”

He needed those friends in the north to help him deal with certain problems, but that didn’t mean he intended to completely side with them. At the end of the day, they were simply using each other.

Certainly, he desired eternal life alongside power, but he had his own pace for achieving that goal, and in his view, it was the safest path.

“Too slow.” Arzu shook his head, disappointment written all over his face. “I trusted you and gave you maximum support. Whether you wanted technology or aid, we gave everything without reservation. We even handed over our most precious psychic interference technology. What did you give me in return?”

“Two months wasted playing your pathetic little political games? Do we seriously have to wait until you become President before we can move to the next step?”

Before Chalas could explain himself, Arzu snapped, “If I had even a single submarine or warship of my own, we wouldn’t have needed to rely on those ugly fish freaks in the first place.”

“Why did our plan fail? Because of you, Chalas, because of your weakness and incompetence! You left my men isolated again and again! If you had provided them even the slightest support...”

“That’s enough!” Chalas finally snapped, angrily interrupting him. “I’ve already helped you as much as my authority allows! What, do you expect me to bypass command and directly order Federation ships to fire upon New Alliance targets? Nobody would obey such orders!”

“This isn’t your territory! There are no brain-rotted puppets hollowed out by Na Fruit here. I can’t simply do whatever I want. I have to operate within the framework of our laws and rules–”

“Operating outside the rules while pretending to stay inside them?” Arzu sneered lightly and stepped closer to his dear ally, slowly speaking while staring directly into those wavering eyes. “That is your greatest weakness. You want every benefit while refusing to shoulder even the slightest risk.”

“If you truly respected your pathetic rules so much, then you should never have borrowed our strength in the first place. You should have simply followed your beloved President’s example and sought majority support through proper means.”

He chuckled softly. “I can already tell... your subordinates have started doubting you.”

Chalas instinctively took a step backward and frowned. “My subordinates?”

Arzu nodded lightly, his empty gaze drifting toward the window. “That destroyer is heading toward the incident site. Let me make a guess here. They certainly aren’t going there to help us. If they intended to, they wouldn’t have waited until after we finished.”

“Destroyer? You mean Dongwen?” Chalas stared at him in surprise, muttering to himself. “Didn’t I order him to return to Peace Island and stand by?”

“Looks like my guess was correct after all.” Watching Chalas’s expression gradually change, Arzu merely let out a cold mocking laugh. “What a pity, Mr. Chalas. It seems your little political game has completely spiraled out of control. You no longer have any chance of becoming President of the Federation, none whatsoever. Though that doesn’t mean you’ve entirely lost your chance to seize the power you crave...”

He smiled faintly before he continued, “What do you think about the title of Supreme Leader instead?”

Before the stunned Chalas could respond, Arzu delivered one final blow. “This is your last opportunity. Let me see whether you possess the courage to bear the consequences of your choices.”

“And if you’re just a coward... I had better replace you with another ally as soon as possible. Heh.”

The moment those words fell, the golden phantom began gradually fading like smoke dispersing into the air.

Chalas jolted in alarm and hurriedly shouted, “W-wait!”

But the phantom ignored him completely, vanishing directly from the room before Chalas could even finish speaking, utterly uninterested in hearing another word.

“That bastard!” Chalas clenched his fists tightly.

At that moment, a drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead and splashed onto the carpet. He had been played.

From the very beginning, that bastard had already anticipated the failure of the blue-skinned freaks. And he had also predicted that Chalas, who never fully trusted the Torch Church, would once again arrange a Federation warship nearby to monitor the outcome.

Now, his own subordinates had begun doubting his motives. They had even begun doubting whether what they were doing was truly right.

Just as that manipulative bastard had said, he no longer had the luxury of remaining an opportunistic fence-sitter. And this time, the suspicious gazes weren’t coming from the conservatives. They were coming from his own men, the officers and hardliners who had supported him in this reckless gamble.

Now only two paths remained before him. Either he confessed everything to both his supporters and his doubters alike, accepting punishment according to the very laws they themselves had established, or... While he still held the initiative, he could drag the remaining loyalists into one final gamble.

Chalas suddenly realized his palms were soaked with sweat.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by a knock.

Almost reflexively, he replied, “Come in.”

The door opened, and a military officer stepped inside before giving a respectful salute. “Mr. Chalas, the President requests your presence at the Presidential Office. Regarding the investigation into the Golden Coast, there are several unresolved concerns he wishes to discuss with you.”

The Golden Coast?

Chalas froze briefly before finally remembering. It was the survey ship sent to establish an outpost in Ocean Edge Province.

The realization almost made him laugh. At a time like this, those people were still investigating that nonsense?

Of course, there were outsiders present, so he suppressed the urge to laugh aloud. After calming himself slightly, he turned toward the officer and replied with refined courtesy, “Please inform the President that I still have certain matters requiring my attention. I will meet him before dusk.”

“Yes, sir!” The officer saluted once more and departed.

The door closed again.

Staring silently at the now-quiet room, Chalas remained motionless for a moment before finally walking over to the sofa and picking up the communicator lying there. He rapidly dialed a string of numbers.

This time, there was no hesitation left in his eyes, nor any uncertainty in his voice.

As command after command was issued, he quickly completed every arrangement necessary before beginning this final gamble.

Honestly, there was never much reason to hesitate. Arzu’s judgment had been entirely correct, he was weak and indecisive. But amusingly enough, the officers and hardliners who had pushed him into the spotlight were hardly iron-blooded men themselves. They too were opportunistic fence-sitters, people desperate for benefits yet terrified of responsibility.

Was he really so different from them?At the very least, he possessed one small advantage over them. When the time came to make decisions, he could still make them.

There was no reason for him to lose this gamble!

...

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