That Chubby Doctor

Zhe Qiuhong knew Han Qingyu's physical condition, so she was the most likely suspect. That logic certainly held, but on its own, it wasn't reliable enough. At first, it seemed everyone had also been subconsciously reluctant to connect it to her. After all, the likelihood of other people or factions noticing suspicious clues about Qingzi was by no means small either. So in the end, it still came down to logic and objectives; only by finding a plausible motive could they make a further determination. Regrettably, the result of their analysis ultimately pointed the finger at her—or rather, at her Voyage. Voyage itself was a self-preservation faction founded predominantly by scientists and the ultra-wealthy. It had existed for over seventy years, and its objective had never once changed: to head into the depths of space. Their specific motives varied: some wished to preserve the spark of human civilization; some sought to flee and survive, looking for a new home; while others merely held an ideal of scientific exploration, wanting to see the depths of the sea of stars. In short, they simply wanted to leave. Its earlier decision to pledge allegiance to Azure had the very same purpose—to leverage Azure's might to fulfill its dream of reaching the cosmos. Following the victory of the Zenith War, with the capture of those six Great Spike motherships, that dream had once seemed within arm's reach, real and tangible. Back then, they probably would have needed only two. As long as Azure was willing to spare two motherships along with the necessary personnel and logistical support, they could have set off immediately into the deep reaches of space. Yet over the past few days, that dream had suddenly shattered. The Azure Council's final resolution had incorporated all six motherships into the combat order of battle... "So they have more than enough logical reason to take action to strike at the world's conviction—especially the conviction of the Azure Council and its councilors—in hopes of reversing Azure's current decision. And Qingzi was their most logical, most suitable target." The Little Prince's analysis was stripped of any emotional bias. When such a conclusion was laid bare, he and Wen Jifei were the most readily accepting of it. Because stripped of sentiment and personal stakes, they were, in essence, roughly the same kind of people as Zhe Qiuhong. Generally speaking, those who played with tactics, strategy, and psychology had dirtier hearts, and correspondingly higher thresholds for tolerance and acceptance. The remaining few took it far harder. After all, this was someone they had spent so much time with, someone with whom they had walked through life and death... and they had parted ways less than three months ago. He Tangtang stared blankly for a few seconds before slowly muttering, "Fuck!" Yang Qingbai smiled wryly; during the Zenith War, half of his life had essentially been saved by Zhe Qiuhong. Rusty Sister remained silent. Being both girls, she had spent the most time with Zhe Qiuhong over the years and shared the deepest bond with her. Though she never said it out loud, in her heart she had occasionally regarded her as an older sister. And yet, Zhe Qiuhong's ultimate identity remained that of the Navigator of Voyage. "That chubby doctor... isn't she our friend?" Han Qingyu did not yet understand such clashes of interests and principles, nor the human choices made from a certain height of authority. At that moment, filled with grief and bewilderment, he chimed in as well. However, with him saying this, the atmosphere suddenly shifted. Everyone looked at him with helpless smiles. "Sister Zhe having someone hack at you wasn't entirely unwarranted," Rusty Sister said earnestly. Caught between feeling sad and fighting back a laugh, Rusty Sister cleared her throat twice and added, "You have no idea how long you bullied her." "Speaking of which, why did they have to resort to violence?" Yang Qingbai couldn't quite wrap his head around it. "A top-tier expert and an energy gun—that's no small cost. Planting them in like that must have been even harder. Besides, if it really is her, why couldn't she just step forward directly and say something happened to Qingzi..." "Because this guy is called Major Qing," the Little Prince said, gesturing toward Han Qingyu. "He isn't someone the public will believe is effectively gone just because somebody steps forward and says a few words, or because a few media outlets publish steered articles. On top of that, Voyage currently answers to Azure after all. If she stepped forward and said it directly, the motive would be far too blatant, the effect wouldn't be good, and it would likely only draw suspicion and controversy." "Then isn't she afraid of getting exposed?" He Tangtang grew somewhat irritated. "She's probably very confident, seeing as she dared to do it," the Little Prince replied. "Look on the bright side. Maybe our analysis is wrong?" Wen Jifei smiled faintly, then furrowed his brows in contemplation. "Maybe it wasn't her, or maybe she genuinely didn't know and it was done behind her back by subordinates within Voyage. I recall hearing the chief of staff mention before that even within Azure itself, there has always been an exodus faction. They'd certainly want to keep an escape route open, too..." What Plague Chicken spoke of was an open secret. In truth, aside from preservationist factions like Deep Sea and Earth's Core, as well as the newly aligned Voyage, an exodus faction had always existed within the Azure Alliance itself. They were commonly referred to as pessimists, or defeatists. Throughout Azure's century-long history up to the present day, they had long been permitted to exist. They could voice their perspectives internally and undertake lawful actions based on their pessimistic projections. If anyone ever had the chance to peruse those top-secret historical Azure files that had long been buried, they would discover a distinct, prominent name on the list of past defeatists: Geyehe. Geyehe was one of the three scientists who had invented the original source energy apparatus, which made him one of the three sacred founding leaders of Azure... and he, too, believed humanity was doomed to lose. This seemingly jarring paradox was not actually contradictory in logic. Under the definition established by early Azure, these individuals were believed to fundamentally love humanity and cherish their species just as deeply; they merely held a different judgment regarding humanity's destiny and future. And the underlying logic for tolerating their existence was this: If the overwhelming probability of humanity's fight against the Great Spike invasion was total extinction, then the existence of these escapists and the efforts they made might very well be the final thread of hope for the continuation of their species. Like the window God left open after shutting the door. In the early days, the disparity in strength between humanity and the Great Spikes was so colossal that the defeatist faction once wielded a powerful voice within Azure. For someone like Geyehe, no one could question his righteousness or his monumental contributions to mankind, but precisely because his research into and understanding of the Great Spikes ran deeper than anyone else's at the time, he felt all the more despair. "Hope is the beginning of ruin; conviction is the most perilous harbinger. Blind optimism and short-sighted impulsiveness will utterly doom human civilization." Like scripture, these two sentences had guided successive generations of defeatists for nearly a century. They repeated them constantly, striving to keep that window open for the spark of human civilization. Yet across the march of history, their influence had steadily waned, their voices growing fainter and fainter. For throughout this process, humanity was growing progressively stronger, winning victory after victory. This conviction of resistance and victory reached its zenith after the Zenith War. Now, almost all of humanity had begun to believe: *We will win.* This filled the few remaining defeatists within Azure with even deeper dread. In their eyes: This was precious, yet it was also dangerous. For according to their worldview, when a five-year-old child was emboldened and filled with conviction to fight a ferocious dragon, that conviction was itself evil and ignorance. *The Council's decision is dooming mankind,* they said. …… As they spoke, the group had arrived at the airfield, preparing to board an airship to leave Maple Leaf Nation for their next stop, South America. Along the way, they also planned to make a trip to the City of Sin. The City of Sin still stood, retaining a substantial degree of independence. It was now the breeding ground for countless unofficial rumors and secrets. "So that means it might not necessarily be Sister Zhe?" Rusty Sister felt noticeably relieved by the emergence of this alternative possibility. Subjectively, she was still quite reluctant to accept that Zhe Qiuhong would send people to assassinate Qingzi—even knowing that such an attempt couldn't possibly kill him. Wen Jifei smiled and nodded. "Bullshit. It's still her," the Little Prince said coldly. "Because those defeatists within Azure have always adhered strictly to principle and protocol, you understand? This isn't a method they would ever employ. It's far too extreme." That single remark dragged everyone straight back to reality. "So what do we do now? There's bound to be a follow-up to this, right?" Yang Qingbai asked worriedly. "Most certainly. The chubby doctor paid such a heavy price," Wen Jifei mused, pausing for a moment. "Still, now that the opening move is in her hands, you all know what kind of tactics and intellect she possesses... I suppose we can only wait and counter her moves as they come." Zhe Qiuhong was no ordinary person. Once she set aside personal feelings and stood on the opposing side of interests, she would be no easy opponent to deal with.