Chapter 848 - 345: One Wave Unsettled
"Sigh..."
This plan sounded easy when we talked about it, but why is it so troublesome to execute?
Yang Ming looked at the dense array of avatars before him, feeling like his head was about to explode.
Lady Mag, the Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, turned out to be just a minor figure in these systems.
It makes sense though, military, politics, diplomacy, and economy are considered the most important sectors of a regime, and the Imperial Foreign Affairs Bureau bears the heavy responsibility of diplomacy. Although it is not valued by the Old Emperor, it is still one of the top power departments of the Empire.
Moreover, in this system, there are many hidden big shots, and Lyu hasn't gathered all the information, only able to use some grey avatars as placeholders.
Once the assassination operation is initiated, a comprehensive attack on this system must be achieved in the shortest time possible.
This means that they must strike multiple key targets.
The ultimate goal of the plan is to prevent or delay the Foreign Affairs Bureau's plans against Wind; if the trouble cannot be resolved, then resolve the individuals who are causing the trouble.
Now, they must solve several problems.
First, they cannot let people suspect that Wind is behind this. — The solution is to frame the New Federation CIA.
Second, they must ensure that after the target of the assassination is dead, the functions of the Foreign Affairs Bureau will be paralyzed. — This requires intelligence involving the Foreign Affairs Bureau's secrets.
Third, all of this must be completed before the Foreign Affairs Bureau begins a full-scale crackdown on Wind. — They optimistically estimate that there's only a few months to a year.
Fourth, ensure that the new officials taking over the Sherman Foreign Affairs Bureau are swamped with official duties and cannot immediately continue pressuring Wind.
Achieving these points... is almost as difficult as assassinating a few young princes on the Emperor Star.
026 and Darbij, who came to the meeting, fell into contemplation after hearing these conditions.
"The assassination operation is actually relatively simple," Lyu said slowly, "We are now working on technical supplements. It may only take about two months to complete the production line of terminator TXXX. If cost is not an issue, twelve high-performance assassination robots can be produced within the next three months."
Darbij also said: "Father, you can rest assured, the warriors trained by Dark Star possess excellent abilities, and with such advanced bodies, infiltrating the New Federation or the territory of the Sherman Empire isn't a problem."
026 softly asked: "What if these current senior officials of the Sherman's Imperial Foreign Affairs Bureau and their backers live on the Emperor Star? What then?"
Lyu and Darbij were momentarily speechless.
Yang Ming chuckled and said: "Then attack other targets, as long as we can temporarily paralyze the Foreign Affairs Bureau, it will also have a good effect."
"But," Lyu countered, "Boss, why would the New Federation target the Empire's Foreign Affairs Bureau?"
"How would I know? Isn't that your responsibility? Just make something up."
"Make... alright," Lyu said, feeling a bit of a headache, folding his arms and pondering deeply.
Darbij whispered beside him: "What if it's not just targeting the officials of the Foreign Affairs Bureau, but also the Military Department, the Political Affairs Department, the Great Nobles, and the officials of the Foreign Affairs Bureau?"
Lyu said: "In that case, we would need to prepare dozens of high-performance robots. These robots, after completing their missions, will have little chance of returning alive. If they are surrounded, they must self-destruct quickly, essentially making them martyrs... the cost is too high!"
026 raised his hand to speak: "I think, matters that can be resolved with financial resources are not considered costs for Wind right now."
Lyu rolled his eyes in exasperation.
That's easy to say from a bystander, not knowing how costly running a household can be!
The three of them continued discussing for a while, with Yang Ming listening quietly without much to say.
After they had roughly settled on a basic action plan, Yang Ming finally spoke up to make a brief summary and extend the topic.
"Dealing with the Foreign Affairs Bureau actually has another significance."
Yang Ming spoke slowly:
"I previously discussed with Lyu about a powerful, Divine-level Mechanical Thought Body imprisoned deep within the Emperor Star. Her name is Li, considered Lyu's half-sister."
"She has been trapped for tens of thousands of years by the founding Emperor Levi."
"We currently cannot determine her state, nor can we determine if she is loyal to the Sherman Empire or filled with hatred towards the Sherman family. If it's the latter, then if we unseal her, we could detonate a massive Energy-gathering Bomb within the Sherman Empire."
"If it's the former, the Sherman Empire will restore to its peak, reminiscing the era of Levi Sherman."
"What do you two think?"
Darbij asked: "How can we unseal her?"
026 also asked: "Boss, was Li voluntarily trapped?"
"This matter is somewhat complicated, and I only know a rough outline..."
Yang Ming briefly recounted what Levi Sherman did to Li back then, leaving 026 and Darbij both a bit speechless.
After all, the living examples of Yang Ming and Lyu were right in front of them.
Lyu whispered: "She is most likely harboring resentment towards the Empire. If we unseal her, it would be a devastating blow to the Empire. However, I must remind you... since Levi Sherman was able to trap Li back then, he surely left some countermeasures behind."
"Moreover!"
026 raised his hand to indicate:
"You mentioned that Li is gradually being unsealed, but the Empire has existed for tens of thousands of years. During these millennia, there must have been situations where the top powers in the Sherman Empire couldn't transition smoothly. So why hasn't Li escaped yet?"
Darbij also said: "We must gather more intelligence about Li."