Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 207 Outline of the Disaster
In the early morning, a soft light shone into the bedroom through the gaps in the curtains, and the warm light fell directly on Louis's open eyes.

He instinctively turned his head and felt a familiar warmth in his arms—it was Sif.

His short, silvery-white hair hung messily over his chest, his small face pressed against his, a satisfied smile on his lips, as he slept soundly.

Emily was supposed to be with him last night to work on creating an heir.

However, she was on her period these past few days and was extremely tired, so Sif kindly took over for her, and she naturally snuggled into his bed.

Although it's nominally a "harem," Sif and Emily get along surprisingly well.

There was no confrontation, no undercurrents; instead, they were more like pillars on the left and right, each guarding its own position and principles.

He has been busy tracking down the mother nest lately, and has inevitably neglected some political affairs. However, surprisingly:
Sif and Emily were both able to handle things very well.

The former is calm and reserved, with precise writing skills; the latter comes from a prestigious family and has strong diplomatic skills.

The two seemed to consciously share the void left by Louis, each guarding the order of this territory in their own way.

"She's so reliable." He chuckled and reached out to tuck the blanket around Sif, which had slipped down.

Next comes the most anticipated moment of the day.

Louis made a light sweeping motion in the air with his right hand.

With a slight resonance, a semi-transparent light screen slowly unfolded before his eyes.

[Daily intelligence update complete]

[1: Weil has successfully broken through and advanced to the rank of Mid-Tier Elite Knight.]

[2: Due to the destruction of her second Mother Nest, the Witch of Despair has decided to move up the execution of her 'Conquer the North' plan to October 10th.]

[3: The Snowsworn leader "Hiro" has suffered a rapid deterioration in his mental state and has been diagnosed with 'deep insanity'. Under the influence of the Witch of Despair, he has decided to launch a full-scale offensive against the Ironblood Empire's northern border.]

Louis was stunned for a moment when the first message came out.

Then, I couldn't help but laugh.

Well... he's broken through again!

This kid is only twelve or thirteen years old, right?
Even at the Imperial Knight Academy, that's top-tier progress.

Moreover, he has only been training for a year or two, making him arguably one of the most talented knights in the empire right now.

This is what is called a "genius".

With exceptional talent and astonishing comprehension, cultivation requires almost no detours.

While others progress through the levels one by one, he directly opens the entire map and teleports.

Louis had done his best, using the daily intelligence system to acquire some top-tier resources to make up for his shortcomings and barely reach the level of "having some talent".

But we still can't see the exhaust fumes of a genius like Weil.

However, with the added boost of magic, his strength has now reached the level of a super knight.

Thanks to the Primal Meditation Technique, his magical power advanced by leaps and bounds, enough to astound all the mages in the Mage Forest.

"So there's no need to be anxious. Besides... it's always a good thing for our own people to become stronger."

Compared to the sense of crisis of being overtaken, the sense of satisfaction of "the people I have nurtured are growing" is actually stronger.

Louis's lips slowly curled up slightly.

But when his gaze fell on the second piece of information, he froze, his smile vanishing:

The Witch of Despair has decided to bring forward the "Conquer the North" plan, with the expected start date being October 10th.

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath, his pupils dilating slightly and his face turning cold.

Destroying the mother hive only brings disaster closer.

"'Devouring the North' is its name."

This was the first time he had seen the full picture and code name of the plan accurately from the intelligence system.

Through the daily intelligence system, he had always known that the Witch of Despair was setting up a huge scheme, and he had roughly guessed that it was related to the Broodmother and the spread of the Zerg swarm, but only now had he been completely certain:
Their goal is to devour and destroy the entire Northern Territory.

"...He's a madman."

He slowly sat up straight, his fingertips lightly tapping his knees, his mind racing.

If this massive insect swarm outbreak gets out of control, even the North may not be spared.

Once humans are infected and turn into insect corpses, the virus spreads extremely quickly and is extremely difficult to eradicate, making it impossible to deal with using traditional warfare methods.

But then he suddenly realized something: "Moving it ahead of time might actually be a good thing for me."

If this war breaks out in winter, the effectiveness of their self-developed thermal weapon systems and the knights' combat power will be suppressed by the heavy snow and cold.

The early outbreak, though a surprise attack, doesn't leave him too vulnerable in the scenario.

He then glanced at the third piece of intelligence: Snowsworn leader Hiro had gone mad and, under the influence of the Witch of Despair, decided to gather all warriors for a full-scale attack on the northern border of the Empire.

A flash of inspiration struck Louis, and he pieced together all the intelligence and clues.

The puzzle is complete.

This is not the delusion of a single madman, but a meticulously planned and progressively advanced abyss-like scheme.

The Witch of Despair has clearly already laid the groundwork for hell in the North.

What does she want? She wants to drag the entire North into an out-of-control insect swarm war, completely causing the collapse of order, paralyzing human society, and turning the entire region into a breeding ground for chaos.

Everything was for a deeper purpose.

And her tool is the "mother nest".

It is a malevolent structure capable of infecting all things and transforming life. It possesses extremely high infection and reproduction capabilities, and can create tens of thousands of insect corpses in a short period of time and incorporate them into the legion.

But that's not the most terrifying part. What's truly chilling is the method she used to manipulate things.

She incited the fanatical Snowsworn followers under the guise of "the imminent resurgence of the ancient gods."

They incited them to capture and sacrifice nobles and knights as offerings to the gods through "blood sacrifices".

In reality, those "sacrifices" that were taken away were not for the descent of some illusory deity, but to nourish the mother nest.

The "primal fighting spirit" in the blood of these people is the source of nutrition that the young mother nest needs most, and is the purest "nutrient".

Their blood and souls will be devoured by the mother nest and transformed into a catalyst for the larvae's growth, causing them to undergo explosive evolution at a certain point, transforming from "hatched" to "complete".

Once the mother nest has completed its evolution, the first to be abandoned by it will be these loyal followers.

Those who swear oaths will ultimately become sacrifices to their own beliefs.

They will be drained alive, their forms twisted, their consciousness reassembled, and they will eventually become an unconscious army of insect corpses, driven by the mother hive, becoming the first blood tide to attack the northern border.

Tragically, they thought they were orchestrating a miracle.

Their corpses, their combat skills, and their fighting spirit will all be instantly recycled and recreated by the mother hive, ultimately being transformed into mindless insect-corpse killing machines.

As Louis thought about this, a cold sweat broke out on his back.

If all of this was already madness, then what followed was a nightmare in itself.

The Witch of Despair had Snowsworn leader Hiro summon all the warriors, most likely for one last big push.

In one fell swoop, all the Snow Oath Warriors were transformed into an army of insect corpses.

And their fighting spirit... will become the sharp blade of calamity.

Even more terrifying is that these elite Snowsworn possess an ancient and terrifying fighting technique:

"Blood Boiling" activates "Bloodline Fury" by burning blood, granting terrifying bursts of combat power in a short period of time.

Louis's heart tightened.

If the insect corpse can inherit this ability, it means:

These insect corpses not only possess fighting spirit and physical skills, but can also activate "Bloodline Fury" in battle, and undoubtedly maintain this enhanced state by devouring living people.

That will no longer be a simple infection, but an evolutionary war with learning and predation capabilities.

If the North were to truly fall into such a catastrophe, it would not merely become a battlefield, but would completely spiral out of control, turning into a filthy land ruled by the Mother Nest.

Moreover, the Witch of Despair... may have a deeper purpose.

After piecing together all the intelligence, Louis couldn't help but shudder.

It was a chill that rose from the depths of my heart, as if witnessing an irreversible destruction quietly taking shape in the darkness.

Just as he was immersed in the terrifying deduction, he heard a slight noise from his side.

"Louis...?"

Sif has woken up.

She was still curled up in his arms, her silvery-white hair cascading down her chest, her eyes still glazed over from just waking up. But she immediately noticed his unusual behavior.

"You don't look well... Did something happen?"

She raised her hand and gently grasped his fingertips, as if trying to grasp the unease in his heart.

Louis blinked, his expression momentarily blank. Then he shook his head, forcing a smile: "It's nothing... I've just been a little tired lately."

Sif looked at him for two seconds, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she just nodded: "Then you should rest more, don't carry everything by yourself."

She buried her head back into his chest, her voice barely audible, "You're not a god..."

"Um……"

He responded softly, but offered no further explanation.

This matter is too complicated and too serious.

He didn't even know where to begin.

More importantly, even if we talk about it... it won't solve the problem.

These horrific realities are the "objective conditions" facing him right now.

This must be resolved! This must be stopped!
But he doesn't have much time left...

Even so, daily practice cannot be skipped.

He has almost reached a bottleneck in his battle aura, with no progress for several days.

Magic cultivation should have been his most focused time of the day, but for some reason, distracting thoughts would always surface during his meditation.

"Sigh, my mind is still in turmoil," Louis murmured, frowning slightly.

He shook his head, paused his cultivation, suppressed the remaining fatigue in his chest, and got up to wash and change.

The moment the water hit my face, its icy coolness was penetrating and brought me back to my senses a little.

The breakfast room was quiet as usual.

Emily hasn't gotten up yet; perhaps she's still resting because she's not feeling well.

Sif was already sitting at the table, sipping her porridge.

She didn't ask any questions, but simply glanced at him and silently pushed a bowl of warm porridge in front of him.

“You’re not eating enough,” Sif whispered.

"Mmm." He responded as cheerfully as possible, to reassure him not to worry.
After the meal, Louis stood up, put on his cloak, and said, "I'm going to find Mike to confirm the defense deployment."

(End of this chapter)