It's the cyber age now, and you're still playing traditional villains?

In this case, if you want to get the most benefit, there are only two best ways.

The first is to join forces, where the two parties work together to eliminate one of the two first, and then slowly wear down each other.

The second method is to steal the home point, taking advantage of the fierce fighting between two parties and stealing the fruits of victory unexpectedly in the chaos.

If I have to say, the previous situation was more inclined towards the first one. I reached a cooperation with the royal family and first pointed the finger at the Holy See.

There is no need to worry about anyone secretly colluding with him. When he first came to the main city, he knew how hostile the royal family and the Holy See were. Cheng Gujian himself had a strong personal inclination towards the Holy See. It was a dream to expect them to cooperate, even if it was impossible for them to join forces to deal with an outsider like him.

Xu Shi also had his own reasons, and of course he would not have anything to do with the Vatican.

but.

This situation changed from the moment today's events began.

Gu Yi said before that Cheng Gujian was using them, which was absolutely true. After all, when they were fighting a life-and-death battle with the Holy See just now, Cheng Gujian didn't do anything to help. It was obviously a case of killing someone with a borrowed knife, hoping to use this opportunity to make both himself and the Holy See suffer losses.

It would be great if one of the parties were completely destroyed, but even if not, at least one of the parties would be seriously injured.

According to the theory of relativity, if others become weaker, it is equivalent to my becoming stronger, so he is of course the biggest beneficiary.

However, although this is the truth, Cheng Gujian can't really do nothing. He can maximize his benefits by intervening when both sides are suffering losses. It would be best if he can eliminate both competitors in one fell swoop, so that he can be the only one in the future.

Anyway, if the roles were reversed, Boss Xu would definitely do the same. He didn't believe that Cheng Gujian didn't understand such a simple truth.

This is where the weird part comes in. If he knew about this, why didn't he come to the palace to seize power? Instead, he turned around and went to the palace to seize the throne?

This operation is confusing. Even if the Hualan Empire has its own inherent self-confidence, this is definitely a bad move. Wouldn't it be better to solve other threats first and then rebel with peace of mind? After waiting for so many years, why do you care about this time difference?

Not to mention that he only started raising his army after the dispute between him and the Holy See was settled - Xu Shi was very clear that Cheng Gujian had definitely been paying attention to him, and of course he knew exactly what the situation was between him and the Holy See.

Without being modest, we were almost suppressing the Holy See. If we go by the data, the casualty ratio was almost in double digits.

Such exaggerated data also means that once he has dealt with the Holy See, he will be fully capable of continuing the battle with Cheng Gujian.

Not to mention that Cheng Gujian is a SS and has nothing to fear. The Holy See also has an old pope who is a SS. Wasn't he dealt with as well?

Well, since everything is so clear, and Grand Duke Gu Jian still wants to do this, there is only one possibility left.

He did it on purpose.

Intentional means that his ultimate goal is not to rebel and become emperor. Instead, he wants to take the initiative to give himself, or Dongfang Xiao, a chance to get rid of him with good reason.

In other words, he never wanted this so-called rebellion to succeed, and even if it succeeded, he would find a way to make it fail.

"If my idea is correct, even without an outsider like me messing things up, you will still decide to cut yourself off from Her Majesty the Queen, right?"

Xu Shi exhaled deeply and said calmly, "But considering that I am also a potential threat in your eyes, I'm afraid your actions will be even more extreme."

"For example... self-destruction?"

"..."

Cheng Gujian's face had been getting worse as Xu Shi's analysis went on, and after hearing him say the word "self-destruction", he finally let out a sigh as if accepting his fate.

Obviously, what Xu Shi said was not exactly the same as what he thought in his heart, but it was at least 80% to 90% correct.

He never thought of replacing Dongfang Xiao, but had always been following the late emperor's will, doing his best to help the little empress become successful, and finally took sole power to consolidate the country.

However, Dongfang Xiao was too young when he succeeded to the throne and could not make any decisions, so he had to show his swift and decisive skills and control the government to clear away obstacles for him.

There is certainly nothing wrong with this approach, but the bad thing is that his ability is a little too strong, and over time he will be in a very embarrassing situation from which he cannot extricate himself.

At least a smooth transfer of power is unlikely - the royal family, or the entire empire probably recognizes Cheng Gujian more than the little empress. If he simply returns the battle, he will still be grilled by his supporters.

By then, even if he didn't want to, he might be forced to rebel - it's not that he couldn't suppress his subordinates, but once such a situation occurred, the Hualan Empire would inevitably fall into turmoil, and all his previous efforts would be destroyed.

Under such circumstances, he must use his own life to exchange for the stability of Dongfang Xiao's throne - the new empress can even overthrow Grand Duke Gu Jian. Not to mention all of them, but she can definitely convince and respect most people.

Especially Dongfang Xiao, who suppressed and resolved his own rebellion, was even more persuasive.

However, there is still a lot of resistance to this plan.

The first is the Holy See. It is easy for it to want to die, but once there is no me as a restraint, given the Holy See’s ambitions over the years, it will definitely take the opportunity to start a war.

So before dying, you must find a way to destroy it completely.

His original plan was to support another force to fight against himself while also allowing the Hualan Empire to enter a three-way confrontation.

Then let this new force, which can be called the royalist force, destroy the Holy See, thereby establishing more prestige for Dongfang Xiao.

In the end, they will get rid of themselves, which is the perfect ending.

The arrival of Xu Shi was like a pillow thrown into the air - in his opinion, Xu Shi had ambition and was strong enough, and more importantly, he also stood on the opposite side of the Vatican, which was perfect.

Xu Shi did not disappoint his expectations. He not only brought newer and better technology, but also really eliminated the biggest threat, the Holy See.

The only drawback is probably that he is out of his control and may very likely become a second self, or a more threatening second self - after all, he has no intention of seizing power or usurping the throne, but this outsider may not.

Therefore, he had to go one step further and die with him, not letting him affect his plan.

Self-destruction is his choice - as an SS-level "Chosen One" with destructive power, self-destruction would be like a human nuclear bomb, and the consequences are self-evident.

It was just right for him to take his supporters with him - the existence of these people was also a threat to the imperial power, and he never expected that his death would make these people loyal to the little empress, so no matter how loyal they were to him, they could not be left behind.

In short, it is enough to just keep Dongfang Xiao and her supporters. There are still many ministers in the court who are loyal to the royal family. He did not choose to kill them before, but just temporarily controlled these people. This is his intention. He needs these people to support and assist her after his death.

But in the end, he failed - Xu Shi failed to make him get what he wanted. Now he is in this state and is suppressed by Wen Shengkui. He can commit suicide, but it is unlikely that he will self-destruct.

Not to mention that Xu Shi brought all of this to the surface, which was even more contrary to his plan.

He didn't need, nor did he want Dongfang Xiao to know his plans. Only in this way could she lead the empire further without any worries.

“…How could this be?!”

Looking at Cheng Gujian in front of him, Dongfang Xiao was so shocked that he couldn't recover for a long time, and kept muttering, "How could this be!"

She really couldn't accept it. After all, she had positioned the other party as a "traitor" many years ago. While she was wary of him, she also always wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.

If you tell her now that the other person is actually the most loyal to her, or even the most loyal one, doesn't it mean that you have been living in error for all these years?

She subconsciously didn't want to believe this was true and tried hard to find reasons to refute it.

But she just couldn't find it, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this was the truth.

The most intuitive one was probably the fight between Cheng Gujian and Xia Wuyou just now. If you think about it carefully, is it really impossible for him to kill the other party with his strength? Obviously, he could, but he didn't. Instead, he really did what the other party wanted and had a fight with Xia Wuyou.

The purpose is just to wait until Xu time arrives and catch them all in one fell swoop.

As for the other party's words "just one step away", of course he didn't mean that he was just one step away from killing Dongfang Xiao and usurping the throne, but that he was just one step away from completing the plan.

But as the saying goes, a miss can lead to a huge mistake. The appearance of Wen Shengkui, or Xu Shi's arrangement, was still a step ahead.

The same is true in reverse. If it weren't for the fact that Mr. Wen was strong enough, Cheng Gujian's plan would definitely succeed.

The sudden reversal even made the little queen a little overwhelmed.

"So I won't let you have your wish."

Xu Shi ignored her thoughts and continued coldly, "At least it's impossible for you to kill me, and I want your death to be meaningless."

Yes.

As long as he could get rid of Cheng Gujian while he himself was safe, the opponent's plan would be half-failed.

Or it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a total loss, because without the Holy See and Cheng Gujian, the one who would dominate would certainly not be Dongfang Xiao, but Xu Shi.

By then, the entire Hualan Empire will be completely under his control, and the little empress will still be a puppet without real power. This is naturally completely contrary to Cheng Gujian's expectations.

But even so, Xu Shi still felt a little unhappy.

After all, he was tricked by the other party. Not only was he used by Cheng Gujian to destroy the Holy See, but he almost became a stepping stone for the other party to support Dongfang Xiao.

Although such a thing is unlikely to actually happen, it is still unpleasant.

That's why he chose to reveal everything when the other party was about to fail, in order to kill him and destroy his heart.

"Xu Shi...Xu Shi!"

Cheng Gujian roared unwillingly. Compared to death, this was really a bigger blow to him. Who made him unable to recover now?

"Li Hou, why are you so loud?"

Xu Shi looked down at him and said, "If you want to take advantage of others, you have to be prepared to fail, right?"

"Die with regrets, Brother Cheng."

He chuckled and gestured to Dongfang Xiao, "You can start now, Your Majesty, or do you want me to help you?"

"I……"

Knowing everything, Dongfang Xiao certainly couldn't bring herself to kill Cheng Gujian - she couldn't say that she could completely let go of the shadow of the other party oppressing her all these years, but it was obviously not possible for her to kill such a loyal person with her own hands.

To be honest, if it weren't for his loyalty to the royal family, he would have had countless opportunities to kick me out and replace me.

But he didn't do that, and that alone says a lot.

"…Can you not kill him?"

The little queen gritted her teeth, looked at Xu Shi and asked tentatively.

"No, do you have the right to choose?"

Xu Shi didn't buy it and looked at her jokingly.

To be honest, she really didn't. Who had planted the seeds in her mind long ago? Although she didn't completely obey his orders, under the instigation of Xu Shi's words, her desire to kill Cheng Gujian became stronger and stronger.

As for Cheng Gujian himself, after seeing this scene, he instantly understood that Xu Shi's control over Dongfang Xiao seemed to be even deeper than he had imagined.

"…Your Majesty, please do it."

His face became paler and paler. The saying "nothing is more sorrowful than a dead heart" probably means this. "If my death can keep your cooperation intact, it would be a good thing."

Although it was not the result he expected, it was the best result at present.

Xu Shi remained silent, silently appreciating it all.

"...Alright, little bastard."

At this moment, Wen Shengkui on the side slowly spoke, "I'll make the decision and spare his life, how about that?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 302 Are you still calling him dad, huh?

2023-10-27