When the group walked out of the meeting room, the first person they saw was Lin Chaoyu, who had been standing at the door the entire time.
Given that even Chen Tianwu was allowed into the meeting room, Lin Chaoyu, or rather, any of the Seven Swords of Taixu, could have joined Fu Hua in this meeting.
But at this moment, only Lin Chaoyu and Qin Suyi were at the martial arts school. Although the others were still in Sapphire City or nearby cities, they all had important duties and could only gather in the evening.
Lin Chaoyu had just been coordinating with all parties to urgently request leave for her junior martial brothers and sisters.
This was no easy task. The Seven Swords of Taixu all held extremely important positions. Cheng Lingshuang was at a research institute, Ma Feima was a special forces instructor, and Su Mei was a strategic advisor hired by the military region—positions they absolutely could not leave at will.
Even Qin Suyi had a professor's position. She was only temporarily away from her post because she had a family, and still needed to return to her duties from time to time.
Of the Seven Swords of Taixu, only Lin Chaoyu, the eldest martial sister, held no position, but no one would disregard her status.
It wasn't that the military region wouldn't grant leave, but the matter was of great importance. Lin Chaoyu had to contact another military strategic advisor and have them voluntarily fill in.
The military also needed to readjust its entire deployment based on the person Lin Chaoyu found, in order to coordinate with that strategic advisor. This was by no means a decision that could be made in a short time, but a necessary compromise between both sides.
The military was willing to expend manpower to accommodate Su Mei's leave request, so communicating with the others was Lin Chaoyu's responsibility.
Fortunately, Su Mei's term of office happened to end today. Even if she handed over her duties immediately, it would just be a formality, getting off work a few hours early.
Thanks to Lin Chaoyu's series of actions, the Seven Swords, who were originally supposed to gather in the afternoon, were now expected to meet at noon. This was what Fu Hua wanted.
In the plan that followed, everyone had a role to play. Fu Hua's task was the simplest, yet also the most difficult.
She would lead the Seven Swords of Taixu to face the Honkai Emperor in Sapphire City!
The descent of the Honkai was irreversible. Even if they knew in advance, there was nothing they could do. With less than twelve hours, what could they accomplish?
If they wanted to do something in this irreversible Great Eruption, they would have to exert all their strength to do so by inducing chaos.
But this meant they would be directly opposing the Sapphire City government, and even the entire government of the Chinese mainland.
This was no longer Joachim's hero game of playing house. To put it simply, this was spreading rumors and unsettling the public.
To put it more seriously, this was a diplomatic incident, an interference in the internal affairs of the Chinese mainland by Future City, an act of treason.
Joachim believed them, believed in the existence of the Honkai because he believed in the Kaslanas, he believed in Kallen.
But the government of the Chinese mainland could not believe. Even if every individual in the government believed, as a collective, they could not and should not believe in such an ethereal "disaster."
Mobilizing resources and making preparations within twelve hours was already the limit of what the government could do within the bounds of reason.
To go all-in, to risk everything on the words of a few people who might have time-traveled and even found their original selves to prove it?
Do you really think the great nation of the Chinese mainland is the Far East of the previous generation, fond of gambling on the fate of the nation?
They bore the safety of over a billion people on their shoulders. They were the ones responsible. If the future was a choice between heaven in an instant or hell in a moment, or to face challenges as they come, then they could only choose the latter.
So, communication would achieve nothing, not even save a few lives. Yet they would have to spend almost all their time proving they were right, proving that the Honkai really existed, and the best result would be just that.
Then why waste time on peaceful negotiations? It would be better to directly challenge authority, cause a commotion in Sapphire City, and then be suppressed by the enraged officials, creating nothing more than a small ripple.
They might not even have time to throw the stone that would create the ripple.
The police needed evidence to arrest Joachim as Alahato, they needed to know his motive, they needed to see his identification.
But the government only needed a coordinate to suppress a group of people trying to stir up social unrest.
How many of them were there?
One person against an entire government, holding out for over twelve hours until the Honkai descended to prove their actions... only Shu could do something like that. They, a few small fries, should just forget it.
It was better to honestly think about how to preserve the survivors to the greatest extent after the Honkai descended, and to build the most solid foundation for the future Fire Moth.
This had to be done, even if...
Even if there was no Shu who had traveled through time in this world, they still had to do it.
This was a secret hidden in the hearts of Himeko, Fu Hua, and Kallen. Only the three of them knew of Shu's "transmigrator" identity.
There was no need to publicize this information. The idea that "Shu might not exist" would only shake everyone's resolve.
Because such a future was too dark, even hopeless.
Before the battle on the coast of Sapphire City, the entire Fire Moth, and even the embers of the entire human civilization, had been resting on Shu's shoulders. Without Shu, Himeko dared not imagine what the future of humanity would become.
This secret weighed on them like a stone, making them afraid to think, afraid to speak.
They did not lack the courage to continue marching towards a bleak future. Even if there was not a single ray of light ahead, they could still advance with songs, never flinching because of a slim hope.
What they lacked was their own ability. They were by no means arrogant people, and did not think they could walk in someone else's shoes.
They were well aware of how hard they had worked, how lucky they had been. So they knew their limits, and understood even more what a height Shu had reached.
It was a height they could only gaze at from afar. So far, only Kiana and Bianca had barely caught up to Shu's footsteps.
It was the same thing again.
What kind of nobodies were they? Even someone as confident as Kallen thought that perhaps Shu hadn't even noticed she hadn't participated that day.
She had always felt it was normal for Shu to overlook her. After all, she seemed to have made almost no contribution.
...The last time she had played an important role was in ARC City, when she had thrown a few people into a car, right?
The three of them buried this information, which only had negative effects, in their hearts, and decided to follow Joachim's plan.
"Then I'll head back to Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical first," Natasha said to the others. They all nodded, and Joachim added another instruction.
"If your... brother... no, if the Herrscher of Evolution notices anything, contact us immediately."