Natasha took a deep breath and nodded solemnly.
Excluding the unknown Herrscher of unknown location, the Herrscher of Evolution was currently the closest Herrscher to them.
And it was the only one that could be proven to have been born before the Great Eruption.
The distance between ARC City and Sapphire City was not long. Whether by vehicle or by the Herrscher's own means, it would only take a short time to travel from one city to the other.
If a "Herrscher-level" variable were to suddenly appear in their plan, to put it nicely, their entire plan would need to be revised. To put it bluntly...
Whatever they wanted to do would depend on whether this entity was willing to grant them face.
However, the Herrscher of Evolution wasn't a guaranteed game-ender. What Joachim truly feared was it jumping out at a critical moment and catching them off guard, further unbalancing the already unequal power dynamic.
If it really dared to reveal itself before the Great Eruption, things would actually become much simpler.
This was the Chinese mainland's territory, Future City was still at its peak, and the White Cell Array in the sky was still functioning normally. In this prosperous era, this entity was nothing more than a big spinning top.
Most importantly, if the Herrscher of Evolution revealed itself, they could seamlessly switch to the "persuasion" plan, directly involving the governments of various countries and Future City to preserve their forces to the greatest extent.
This seemed to be the best path, but why didn't Joachim take the initiative to do so?
Come on, they only had twelve hours.
And according to Natasha, before meeting Shu, this entity could feign ignorance for a whole month without her seeing through it. This showed how much patience it had.
The only way to make it break and expose itself was to provoke it. But what if it held back? It only had to endure for twelve hours to be able to settle scores with all of them without any pressure.
When that time came, every single one of them would be thrown into the sea and turned into fish by the Herrscher of Evolution.
Try to make an old artist break character? An interesting challenge.
Bet the hope of all humanity on such a challenge? Are you crazy or is he?
Believing in the existence of the disaster and preparing for post-disaster response and rescue in advance was already the most radical choice.
If Joachim, or anyone present, lacked the youthful spirit to step into the unknown, then the best choice now would be to hoard supplies like in those apocalypse web novels.
Posting a message online, or even warning a neighbor or friend, would be their conscience causing them trouble.
It was their radicalism, their spirit, that made them decide to do everything possible to rescue those survivors who should have been able to live.
This wasn't caused by kindness, but by the fact that they could do more. They knew they could do more, and they knew they should, that only they could.
Someone had to be the hero, unless this world was filled with only baseness and a corruption already destined for its end.
Natasha nodded with a serious expression. She was returning this time to use her position at Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical to mobilize equipment and supplies from its headquarters.
The weapons Himeko had scavenged from the tavern weren't even enough to equip everyone. And the Honkai beasts born from the Sapphire City Honkai were far more than just that one Honkai Emperor.
They needed enough equipment, even Titan mechs, to fight the scattered Honkai beasts.
It would be best to eliminate them as soon as they were born.
This was the first thing Himeko had to do.
As the frontline personnel of Fire Moth stationed in Sapphire City and the supreme commander of the entire Sapphire City battlefield, Himeko knew the distribution of zombies and the coordinates of Honkai beasts in the city like the back of her hand.
What she had to do now was to replicate the distribution map in her mind and, together with Ana, analyze the most likely landing spots for these Honkai beasts.
Then, at the moment the Honkai descended, they would deliver a head-on blow to these beasts, nipping the greatest threat to Sapphire City in the bud. Only then would they slowly deal with the massive number of zombies.
Of course, the first priority was still rescuing survivors.
The first person they needed to contact was the builder of the shelter in Sapphire City—Yun Feng.
The hundred or so people there were a fundamental base that had to be won over. Their initial rescue plan also needed these people as a starting point to analyze the patterns and distribution of the survivors.
This was Joachim's task. Himeko and the others had already given him a list of the people in that shelter.
He not only needed to contact Yun Feng and these survivors and gather their information, but also investigate what was wrong inside the Sapphire Pearl along the way.
As the place where Kallen and the others had "traveled," the Sapphire Pearl itself was a serious problem. The Herrscher might even be hiding there.
The only suitable candidates for this mission were Joachim and Natasha. Kallen was not suited for infiltration, and the same went for Himeko and Ana, who were only suitable for the frontline. Only he and Natasha had the ability to investigate these matters in secret.
And if Natasha were to carry out this mission, then the matter of mobilizing equipment would fall to him.
...Mobilize armed equipment from Future City to the core area of the Chinese mainland in twelve hours?
He had the ability to do it, and the government of the Chinese mainland had the ability to string him up and turn him from a fresh piece of meat into a piece of old cured bacon.
This could only be done by Natasha, arranged quietly.
Then the remaining task fell to Joachim.
Now, only Kallen was left with nothing to do. So what could she do?
Joachim extended his fist to Kallen, his words sincere, his expression a mixture of a smile and tears.
For the future of humanity, become Alahato once more!
That's right, Kallen would be taking Joachim's place as Alahato for the next twelve... no, the next eleven hours.
She would do good deeds throughout Sapphire City with all her might, at any cost. The bigger the better, the more famous the better!
Kallen had to become a hero within eleven hours, a superhero with enough influence and cohesion to be a spiritual pillar!
Until they found Shu, Kallen would temporarily take his place as the core of all survivors.
This was the long-term plan. And for now, such a high-profile superhero was also the best cover for their actions.
No matter how low-profile their actions were, in the time before the Honkai descended, they would eventually be exposed. And with the reaction speed of the Chinese mainland's police and military, they might arrive even faster than the Honkai.
And at that time, Alahato would be the best way to attract fire!
It was definitely not because Joachim was pulling strings behind the scenes, wanting everyone in the near future to believe that Alahato was the true hero.