Chapter 698: Chapter 385: The Great Wind Emperor’s Escape (2)
At this Realm, by gathering everyone’s power into one, they could immediately crush a Post Realm entity like the Great Wind Emperor.
This could be considered another major advantage that Gray Mist Space brought to the various Shen Yus.
However, it was at this time that the Association suddenly received crucial intelligence from a spy embedded within the Great Wind Empire.
The Great Wind Emperor is suspected to be planning an escape!
And even attempting to take the entire Great Wind Empire with him!
"Is this information accurate?" Shen Yu asked.
Quickly, the relevant intelligence was compiled and presented to the various Shen Yus.
Although the Association no longer had high-level spies, such a large-scale movement like taking an entire civilization and fleeing was hard to conceal.
First of all, there is no way to take everyone with them.
Currently, the Great Wind Empire is striving to gather the core assets of the entire civilization as fast as possible.
For instance, certain talents that have already shown clear potential.
Or some crucial research bases and production facilities.
Even personnel from certain remote small worlds were accounted for and listed again.
Overall, with the accumulation of intelligence, the news that the Great Wind Emperor is preparing to flee has become almost certain.
"We must come up with a plan now."
Looking at this compiled intelligence, Shen Yu didn’t show any sign of anxiety but rather appeared thoughtful.
He looked at the other Shen Yus and slowly said, "Would you say that these people, items, and assets left behind by the Great Wind Emperor are being abandoned by him?"
This statement lit up the eyes of many Shen Yus.
Given the Great Wind Empire’s loyalty to the Great Wind Emperor, trying to completely take over these people or resources without his consent would indeed be difficult.
But at this moment, isn’t the Great Wind Emperor actively abandoning this portion of his assets?
The Association’s many Shen Yus are also confident that the Great Wind Emperor would not destroy these assets or order the abandoned personnel to commit suicide at the last moment.
After all, he has already reached the point of needing to flee.
Angering the Association further would not benefit him at all.
Leaving a portion of the assets for the Association to take over and increasing the difficulty of pursuit gives him a real chance to escape.
Ultimately, the Association is only after profits and not hell-bent on eliminating him.
"However, while this remaining portion is presumably quite large in scale, its quality will definitely not be high," interstellar world Shen Yu suddenly said. "If you calculate by overall profit, the core benefits taken away must constitute a much larger portion."
Indeed, that is inevitable.
For such a powerful force within All Heavens, as long as the truly core items are undamaged, the remaining assets can be quickly replenished.
It might not even take ten thousand years.
"So you mean..." Shen Yu looked at interstellar world Shen Yu, seemingly guessing his intention.
"We need to ensure that the core assets are secured and, only then can we ignore them, waiting for that portion of benefits to fall into our hands," interstellar world Shen Yu explained, "We can use the Gray Mist to guarantee this."
This revelation made the eyes of the other Shen Yus brighten.
Indeed, using the Gray Mist for tracking.
Then waiting to seize this non-core portion of the benefits.
This way, victory could be entirely in their grasp, acquiring enormous gains without any cost.
"Let’s proceed with this plan," Shen Yu nodded slightly.
However, although they plan to ignore, they cannot show it directly.
Some operatives within the Great Wind Empire quickly reacted.
Unhesitatingly exposing themselves, they began to spread the word that the Emperor was defeated at the frontline and decided to withdraw the entire Empire, with over ninety percent of the population falling into the abandoned category.
At the same time, the Association also began its deployment.
Mobilizing legions to advance toward the capital of the Great Wind Empire, and numerous strong individuals analyzed the barriers and Laws of its capital world.
They appeared to be preparing for a massive offensive to stop the Great Wind Emperor’s retreat.
This directly drove the high-levels of the Great Wind Empire to accelerate their retreat, abandoning even more benefits initially intended to be taken.
Even until the Association’s legions arrived, the Great Wind Emperor used his name to issue a final order to the remaining citizens.
It was a lengthy declaration.
The essence was that the Empire is facing an unprecedented crisis, the enemy’s strength greatly exceeding his expectations. Although he still has faith in victory belonging to him, as it has in past crises, a temporary retreat is necessary, and he ordered the remaining citizens not to resist the enemy, even to surrender voluntarily, to minimize meaningless loss and sacrifice. When he returns, he will certainly bring ultimate victory and liberate all citizens trapped by the enemy.
It must be said, in such a civilization, the Emperor’s significance is immeasurable.
Even a declaration almost identical to an official surrender and escape could still garner massive support.
When the Association’s legions arrived, they found these remaining people of the Great Wind Empire, though fearful, anxious, even somewhat in despair, truly offered no resistance.
Everyone chose to surrender and obey the Association’s arrangements.
They seemed to sincerely believe that their great Holy Emperor could indeed return one day.
Nonetheless, this considerably reduced the efficiency of the Association’s takeover of this portion of assets.
Moreover, it greatly preserved the integrity of this portion of assets.
When the asset inventory was finally presented to the Association, all Shen Yus could not help but be amazed once more.
Just based on the quality and scale of the civilization, even the portion left behind already surpassed any civilization or world within the Association.
This includes the Primordial World where main body Shen Yu belongs.
Evidently, this is a massive asset.
"We can divide them," Wizard Shen Yu suggested with a smile, "We have extensive experience dealing with such situations. Even if this generation truly is die-hard loyalists of the Great Wind Emperor, with some minor manipulation, the next generation will mostly forget the Great Wind Empire and the Great Wind Emperor."
Indeed, the final message left by the Great Wind Emperor was utterly deceptive.
For a force within All Heavens, a delicacy already swallowed cannot remain indigestible.
There are many ways to digest it.
Dividing is one such way.
However, Shen Yu had another idea.
"The Great Wind Empire has actually formed a complete social order, even one that is in rapid development. If we were to divide it, it would be akin to slaughtering or destroying it," Shen Yu said. "Rather than killing to feast on its meat, we might as well ranch it, making the Great Wind Empire directly subordinate to the Association as a direct force of the Association, rather than dispersing it as food for various Association Worlds."
Shen Yu’s proposal essentially aimed to transform this portion of the Great Wind Empire into a force of the Association.
Much like the various Pet Beasts recruited from the Beast Taming World previously.
In reality, this force was initially quite powerful.
All worlds could utilize this portion of force at a minimal cost.
It would be faster, cheaper, and guarantee more autonomy for some small worlds than seeking assistance from any individual Shen Yu.
However, as the Association’s level advanced rapidly, this portion of power also started becoming somewhat insufficient.
Those Pet Beasts, at most, were at the Daluo Golden Immortal level, which indeed falls short in some worlds today.
But if leveraging this opportunity, the Great Wind Empire could supplement this force in a relatively complete way?
