#177 - Chapter 177 Muddy Waters
Each settlement had essentially deployed a miniature Queen Bee. Under these circumstances, the Red Coats had no way of achieving their goal of controlling the settlements by using controlled zombies to cause destruction.
But here's the problem.
Dongfang Chen understood that if the Red Coats discovered this method was ineffective, they would definitely change their plans.
During the last interrogation, Saint Envoy Number One inadvertently revealed this point. He said that the Red Coat higher-ups might collectively eliminate their entire line. What does this indicate? It's highly possible that the controlled zombie plan would be completely abandoned.
This definitely wouldn't work!
If the Red Coats didn't launch zombie attacks time and time again, how could Dongfang Chen quickly gather enough crystal cores for branch construction? At this time, he was hoping that the Saint Envoy could live a little longer. Without the Saint Envoy actively sending zombies to his door, the speed of acquiring crystal cores would be much slower.
Besides, without external threats, how could the people in the settlements have a sense of crisis, and how could they have the urgent desire to build underground bases?
If there was no urgent desire to build underground bases, how could his countdown mission be completed on schedule?
He couldn't possibly act like a nanny, doing everything for them and building the underground bases himself. That would only breed a group of lazy people who waited for death while living comfortably.
Therefore, the settlements had to want to build underground bases themselves, they had to spend their own money and resources to build them.
He could only blame the Red Coats for being such weak opponents and for acting too slowly.
That's why Dongfang Chen came up with this plan that killed three birds with one stone.
He had Wan Peng establish a new cult called the Red Lotus Sect. He also sent 18 sleepers to act as protectors of the Red Lotus Sect.
And the purpose of establishing this Red Lotus Sect was to oppose the Red Coats.
With such an opponent appearing out of nowhere, the waters would be muddied.
He told Wan Peng that the members of the Red Lotus Sect should only absorb Red Coat followers, not civilians.
If the Red Coats learned that the members of the Red Lotus Sect, from the sect leader down, were all defectors from the Red Coats, what would their reaction be? They would definitely spare no expense to eliminate the Red Lotus Sect.
The appearance of the Red Lotus Sect would inevitably stimulate the Red Coats. With conflict, there would be opportunities to harvest crystal cores.
The Red Lotus Sect would also spread the doomsday theory, bringing some chaos to the settlements. Of course, the performance couldn't be too exaggerated, as long as it prevented those settlements from being peaceful. Once people had a sense of crisis, the Chamber of Commerce's undertaking of underground base construction would proceed smoothly.
It weakened the Red Coats' power, diverted their attention, provided another way to obtain crystal cores, and created conditions for completing the plan. What else could you call it but killing three birds with one stone?
In peacetime, it would definitely be wrong to deliberately create chaos. But this is the apocalypse. No matter what method is used, as long as the starting point and the ultimate goal are good, then it's fine.
… …
When the soldiers of the Southeast Military Region rushed to the Suiyang Settlement, Wan Peng and the others had already left. Before leaving, they also left a mark on the city wall.
It was still those words: Heaven and Earth are ruthless, all things will perish. Only the Red Lotus can redeem all living beings.
The soldier reported the situation to Zongzhen Yue.
After hearing this, Zongzhen Yue was both angry and annoyed. He mistakenly thought that the words were deliberately written for him to see, with the purpose of humiliating him.
But the fish had already entered the sea, and it was not easy to catch them. At the moment, he could only order the soldiers to return temporarily.
… …
The Red Lotus Sect was newly established and not yet enough to become a threat to the Red Coats, nor was it enough to threaten the safety of the settlements.
Therefore, Dongfang Chen's first step was to build momentum.
He had already designed and printed a large number of leaflets and built a secret stronghold for them in Mozhou City as the Red Lotus Sect's base camp.
So, in the following period, the various settlements were in an uproar.
Leaflets were scattered all over the sky.
The people spreading the leaflets were elusive, and no one could catch them.
The content of the leaflets mainly conveyed the following information to the public:
1. The Red Lotus Sect is the predecessor of the Red Coats.
2. The slogan of the Red Lotus Sect: Heaven and Earth are ruthless, all things will perish. Only the Red Lotus can redeem all living beings.
3. Why will all things perish? Because the apocalypse is coming, all lives will die, and no one can escape. If you want to live, you can only join the Red Lotus Sect.
4. The people of the Red Coats are thieves. They plagiarized the teachings of the Red Lotus Sect and are traitors to the Red Lotus Sect. And openly warn those Red Coats to quickly rein in their horses and return to the embrace of the Red Lotus Sect.
5. They have a method to treat the side effects of the medicinal pills and can save them.
Because the leaflets revealed a lot of information against the Red Coats, some settlement leaders specially gathered to do a research discussion.
Some people think that the enemy of the enemy is a friend. The Red Coats are the common enemy of mankind, and the Red Lotus Sect and the Red Coats are mortal enemies, so they should be friends of the settlements.
Some people held opposing views. The doctrine spread by the Red Lotus Sect is the doomsday theory, which will threaten the peace and stability of the settlements and should be regarded as a cult organization.
The two views were evenly matched, and everyone could not discuss a result for a while.
