Ningguang has never been a short-sighted merchant.
Don't forget, she was once the Tianquan of the Liyue Qixing, controlling the economic lifeline of Liyue Harbor and balancing all its various factions. She was long accustomed to examining problems and setting rules from the perspective of centuries, even millennia.
Just now, the immediacy of the desperate fighting outside the city walls and the crisis at hand had momentarily disrupted her thinking. With Little Herta's perfectly timed prompt, all the pieces instantly clicked into place.
Ganyu, standing beside her, maintained her gentle and serene posture, simply nodding slightly. Her light blue eyes remained calm.
Clearly, the incredibly experienced half-Adeptus Qilin, who had served as secretary to the Liyue Qixing for thousands of years, had detected the cool, almost ruthless, underlying logic of Lu Jingming's overall plan even earlier than Ningguang.
Little Herta's words merely confirmed her own conjecture.
"Good that you understand~"
Little Herta seemed satisfied with Ningguang's enlightenment, a sly and quick-witted expression appearing on the puppet's face.
"On the surface, it looks like that young man is 'suffering the consequences of his own actions'—a Holy Grail War he organized has created two 'big daddies' he can't easily control, placing him in a passive position. But that's not the case. All of this is likely within his expectations, or at least a situation he's happy to see unfold."
She paused, raising a slender arm and pointing toward the city wall, where the sounds of continuous gunfire suggested a place where humans and Soul Beasts were still grinding each other down in the most brutal way. Lives were vanishing every second.
"Humanity, these complex carbon-based lifeforms, exhibit a very interesting phenomenon in their social structure."
Little Herta's voice took on a slightly academic, investigative tone.
"Normally, they fight fiercely over profits, territory, and ideology, constantly engaging in internal friction and strife. Blood feuds can last for dozens of generations. But once they face a powerful, common external enemy capable of destroying the foundation of their entire existence, they often explode with astonishing unity, instantly setting aside all internal conflicts and generational blood feuds to stand together against the outside threat."
"The most classic example is the Douluo Continent four thousand years ago. The original three kingdoms—Heaven Dou, Star Luo, and Dou Ling—were constantly warring, their conflict lasting centuries, with hatred deeply etched into their very bones."
"Yet, when the Sun Moon Empire arrived across the sea with its revolutionary Soul Tool army, attempting to conquer the entire continent, these three mortal enemy nations barely hesitated. They immediately set aside all grudges and formed a unified army to resist the foreign enemy."
"This is the survival instinct deeply embedded in the genes of intelligent races: a 'shared, lethal threat' is the quickest and most effective adhesive for mending internal divisions."
Little Herta's analysis was spot-on. Her gaze returned to Ningguang, with a hint of guidance.
"Now, consider this: that young man's ultimate strategic goal is to 'completely unify the Douluo Continent' and establish a new, efficient order."
"But the four empires have been established for millennia. How many die-hard nobles are there, loyal to the Imperial Houses for generations? How many old, loyal officials are determined to uphold the traditional concept of 'nation and home' and would rather die than serve a second master?"
"Even if he crushes all the imperial regimes with absolute power, achieving a formal unity, the resistant forces, lurking in the shadows and nostalgic for their former countries, will sooner or later breed like weeds, sparking endless turmoil. The cost of governance would be unimaginably high."
"Furthermore, the hundreds of millions of ordinary people in the major empires are already accustomed to their identities as 'Heaven Dou people,' 'Star Luo people,' or 'Sun Moon people.' This concept has been formed through millennia of civilizational accumulation."
"To make them sincerely accept the new, unified identity of 'Sea Abyss City Citizen' in a short period would require a massive expenditure of time and resources on cultural output, educational assimilation, and the binding of interests."
"Conservatively estimated, this process could take decades, even centuries. Any slight misstep during this time could trigger large-scale social unrest."
Here, Little Herta stopped, saying no more.
She knew that, given Ningguang's intelligence and political experience, the remaining deductions needed no explicit explanation from her.
By simply presenting this logical starting point, Ningguang herself could fully deduce the vast and profound scope of Lu Jingming's grand plan.
"So, the Douluo Continent needs a 'common enemy' strong enough that no single empire can resist alone."
Ningguang smoothly took over the conversation. Her smoking pipe unconsciously tapped against the white jade railing, making a crisp tack-tack sound. Her eyes grew brighter, as if she could already see the chessboard covering the entire continent.
"This enemy must be powerful enough to inspire despair, powerful enough to genuinely threaten the survival of all humanity, and perhaps even all intelligent races on this continent."
"It must force all factions and all races to clearly realize that if they continue to engage in internal strife and division, the only thing that awaits everyone is complete, equal destruction."
"Only by being pushed to such an absolute dead end can they be forced to abandon the divisions between nations, the class differences between nobles and commoners, the disparity between Soul Masters and ordinary people, and even force the Soul Beasts to give up their generational hatred of humans and choose to cooperate... Ultimately, driven by the instinct to survive, all these forces will have no choice but to rally behind the only 'Savior' who can lead them to a glimmer of victory."
"At that point, 'unification' will no longer be a 'conquest' forcibly imposed by Sea Abyss City's military, but the inevitable choice of all survivors to stay alive, the only life-saving straw they can grasp in despair. Everything will become logical, resistance will be minimized, and masses of factions will even proactively surrender."
She had finally and completely grasped the profound intent behind Lu Jingming's seemingly ruthless actions.
Allowing Phantylia to seize the Golden Tree, and even tacitly permitting Star-Wail (Celenova) to stir up chaos in Mingdu, was not strategic negligence or loss of control at all. It was an intentional, proactive push for the two Lords of Annihilation and their Anti-Matter Legion to become a genuine, world-ending threat suspended over the heads of every living being on Planet Douluo.
And Lu Jingming himself would play the role of the Savior who steps out at the last moment to save the world from this meticulously planned apocalyptic crisis.
As long as the fear and destructive power brought by the Anti-Matter Legion and the Lords of Annihilation could penetrate the bones of every creature on Planet Douluo.
Making everyone, from the imperial emperors down to the common people, understand that without uniting under Lu Jingming's banner, the only path left is the complete end of civilization.
Then, whether it be the traditional nobles of the Three Great Empires, the Soul Engineer corps of the Sun Moon Empire, or even the Ferocious Beasts of the Star Dou Forest, all will have to suppress their internal grievances and be forcibly, yet actively, drawn toward Lu Jingming and Sea Abyss City—the only power that has demonstrated the ability to counter this disaster.
At that time, the old identity tags—Heaven Dou people, Star Luo people, Sun Moon people, Soul Beasts—will become pale and powerless in the face of survival, replaced by the new, sole identity of Douluo Planet Citizen, or the citizen of the new empire Lu Jingming is building.
—This is the classic case of 'No construction without destruction.'
Using overwhelming external pressure of destruction to forcibly smash all stubborn old conventions and, upon the ruins, establish a new order that conforms to his will.
"And, even more subtly..."
A complex smile, mixing admiration and playfulness, curled at Ningguang's lips. The smoking pipe spun nimbly between her fair fingers.
"Judging by the movement of this chess game, what he intends to do is likely just to repel the Anti-Matter Legion's offensive, or control their threat within a certain range, not completely eliminate them."
Her gaze grew deeper, seeing the even more profound subtlety in the plan.
Only by keeping the Sword of Damocles that is the Anti-Matter Legion perpetually suspended over everyone's heads, allowing the threat of doomsday to persist, even if only potentially, can the tension and cohesion of this 'survival community' be maintained.
As long as the major factions are not confident in fighting the Anti-Matter Legion alone, they will never dare to harbor disloyal thoughts. They will be utterly reliant on Lu Jingming, who can protect them, and will obey the new order established by Sea Abyss City. This tactic of 'feeding the bandit to enhance self-importance' is truly... both ruthless and brilliant.
Throughout history, across myriad planes and endless star rivers, there has never been a shortage of antagonists in any era or civilization.
Just as light and shadow coexist, black and white always complement each other, and order and chaos counterbalance each other in a dynamic equilibrium, the concepts of good and evil are always interdependent and mutually defining—this is the most fundamental balance of the cosmos.
There is no absolute, eternal light; light illuminating everything will also give rise to shadows. Similarly, there is no total, infinite darkness; a faint light will always emerge from despair.
Only by allowing a moderate threat to coexist with a clear hope, and by making civilization constantly perceive external pressure, can it maintain the necessary vigilance, unleash its internal potential, gather scattered power, and thus survive and thrive more resiliently and enduringly in a universe fraught with crisis.
What Lu Jingming seeks has never been an empire forcefully cobbled together by absolute military might, riddled with internal problems and resistance.
What he desires is a civilizational community united by a shared perception of destiny and bound by a common belief in survival.
In this community, the identity of the Douluo Planet citizen, or the citizen of the new empire, will transcend all old national borders, races, and classes.
And the Anti-Matter Legion and these two Lords of Annihilation are precisely the most crucial and most effective tools for him to achieve this grand objective.
The shadow of destruction they bring will be the optimal forge for tempering the new order.
"Alright, enough chitchat, it's time to go."
Little Herta clapped her hands. A pale silver, wave-like spatial glow began to shimmer around the puppet's body. Precise spatial coordinates were being rapidly locked down.
"If we delay any longer, once Phantylia has settled her battle and assimilated those two Divine Senses, she might detect the presence of us bystanders."
"While we don't fear her, there's no need to create complications. Interfering with that young man's plan wouldn't be good."
Ningguang nodded slightly upon hearing this.
She took one final, deep look out the window at the ancient city, which was gradually succumbing to destruction amidst fire and screams. The faint regret in her golden eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a calm scrutiny and an expectation for the new future order.
She turned neatly, her high heels clicking on the polished floor, and walked toward the stairs leading down, her skirt swishing in an elegant arc.
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