Chapter 98

Of course, when Luo Zhengdao mentioned everyone, he did not mean to call all the thousands of people in the pirate fleet to a meeting. After all, the number of people and efficiency are inversely proportional. It would be good enough to call those qualified to participate in decision-making.

About two hours later, Drake Jin, who was supervising the construction of the fortress inland, the farthest from the venue, hurriedly returned. The meeting was officially declared to begin. Sitting behind the round table, Luo Zhengdao scanned the various expressions of the attendees, coughed to get everyone's attention, and began by saying:

"There's no time to go into details. Is anyone here familiar with the situation in Blood Coral Port?"

Putting on the air of a boss, Luo Zhengdao rarely showed such a serious expression. The pirates, however, whispered to each other without any qualms. After waiting for a while and seeing that no one else was going to speak, Brandt Fiamma stood up and said:

"Lord Earl, I spent some time in Blood Coral Port. If no one is more familiar with the situation there, please allow me to say a few words. Blood Coral Port was once a colony of the Elven Federation. The port fortifications are extremely solid, and attacking it head-on would be very difficult, with casualties that we cannot afford."

Upon hearing this, Luo Zhengdao, with his hand supporting his chin, asked in return:

"Are you saying that with our current military strength, we cannot capture this port at all?"

"Lord Earl, it's not that we cannot break through, but it would be very difficult. The gains would not justify the heavy cost."

At this point, Luo Zhengdao fully understood Brandt Fiamma's underlying meaning. He was saying that the number of casualties would definitely be high, and such a hard bone that could break our teeth at any moment is not worth the risk. Luo Zhengdao lowered his head to think for a moment, then suddenly smiled and nodded, saying:

"Alright, then let's discuss how to solve these practical difficulties!"

Choosing to attack Blood Coral Port was a decision with special significance for Luo Zhengdao. It was not just a routine pirate raid. Rescuing the human exiles who were about to be massacred by the goblins was of extraordinary personal significance to him. Since he had crossed over to the new world, Luo Zhengdao had been burdened with the curse of the Wasteland God and the legacy of the Light Dynasty, two thorny problems that followed him like shadows. He had yet to come up with a way to resolve the former crisis, and even if the Seven Seas Overlord's Proof, which was said to grant any wish, were truly effective, it would be a long and uncertain process to gather them all. For now, he didn't need to consider it too much, so the latter became the difficult choice he had to face.

Influenced by the ancient prophecy, the Second Goblin Empire was determined to kill all human exiled nobles, even if it meant mistakenly killing a thousand. No matter where Luo Zhengdao went, he could not escape their pursuit. Therefore, the only way out was to face the challenge head-on and crush the Second Goblin Empire. If he didn't want to die, he had to keep fighting. This was the destiny Luo Zhengdao had to bear!

The rise of the Second Goblin Empire was due to many accidental factors, but the corruption of the Light Dynasty was undoubtedly the inherent and inevitable cause. If Luo Zhengdao were to lead a group of incompetent allies to overthrow the Second Goblin Empire, he first needed to place himself on a moral high ground, which was crucial.

It cannot be denied how significant a good reputation is for a political figure. The importance of this cannot be overstated. Just as the famous novelist Mark Twain sarcastically pointed out in his story about seven or eight children of different skin colors hugging his legs and shouting "Dad," the tricks used by competitors to tarnish a political figure's reputation can be despicably ridiculous. The later scandal involving IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a female hotel employee seemed like a reenactment of this story.

If despicable means can temporarily affect someone's reputation, using such childish tricks is worth it. However, it is extremely difficult to tarnish someone's reputation over a long period.

As an old saying goes, you can deceive all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot deceive all the people all the time. The truth will eventually come to light. No matter how sophisticated the manipulation, it will eventually be exposed. Falsehoods can never become reality. A typical example of this is the pop music king, Michael Jackson. During his lifetime, he was defamed and insulted by countless tabloids, but after his death, many people learned that he was a shy and kind philanthropist who donated countless sums to charity. The false news reports about his skin whitening were all fabricated.

The man who was always at the forefront of the opposition to Michael Jackson, accusing him of child molestation, mysteriously died a few months after the pop king's sudden death, under suspicious circumstances.

Everything has a reason. If asked what was suspicious about the death of this fraudster, the fundamental reason might be that he knew too much. If Michael Jackson were still alive, this despicable man would have been useful to some people with ulterior motives. Since the target was already dead, the value of this troublemaker was over, and what would happen next, everyone could guess. His death was just a way for the幕后黑手 to eliminate a witness.

To rally the hearts of the human exiles and gain their support, Luo Zhengdao planned to create an image of himself as a human savior. This shining halo would undoubtedly attract countless cannon fodder to fight and die for him.

In many cases, the difference between reality and illusion is as thin as a sheet of paper. Whether Luo Zhengdao could save all of humanity was still unknown, but this strategy was more than enough to save himself.

After a heated internal discussion, all participants had fully exchanged their opinions. The long meeting had left everyone exhausted, and Luo Zhengdao could no longer afford to waste time. He sternly said:

"Enough, I have decided to immediately dispatch scouts to Blood Coral Port to gather information. Dismissed!"

Whether they genuinely believed in the dog-eat-dog prophecy that the descendants of the Light Emperor would ultimately destroy the goblin empire, or whether they were just pretending to be concerned, the Second Goblin Empire had always been relentless in hunting down human exiles, even sending large numbers of pursuit forces. For those small groups suspected of containing noble children, the goblins were determined to root them out, no matter how far they had to go. The attacks Luo Zhengdao had faced were just a few of the larger-scale incidents among countless similar events on the Seven Seas. He had gathered a group of strong pirates around him, and the goblins needed to muster a significant force to take him down, so the frequency of their attacks on him was relatively low. For the weak and defenseless human exiles, who fled like rabbits before predators, the goblins found it much easier to deal with them.

The usual solution of the Second Goblin Empire was simple: kill! This time, however, the decision to send the captives back to the mainland for execution was particularly unusual.

Luo Zhengdao, stationed at Wick Reef, listened to the reports of several waves of scouts. He entrusted the supervision of the construction of the Wick Reef fortress to Foul Chopin and led a large group of pirates to set sail for Blood Coral Port.

After so much time playing cat and mouse with the goblins, Luo Zhengdao was not particularly afraid of prophecy magic anymore. This method had many limitations. For example, if you wanted to know whether something would happen, it was hard to know when it would happen. Predicting when and where someone would appear was relatively easy, but the prediction period would be very short, such as two days. Gathering forces in time to intercept them within this limited period was another matter.

Luo Zhengdao stood on the spacious deck of the Avenger, enjoying the warm sunlight and fresh sea breeze of the starry sea, which was much more comfortable than staying on Wick Reef, where it was scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night.

To Luo Zhengdao, the new world was full of wondrous and indescribable natural landscapes. The red sun hanging high in the sky, according to the research of mages, was a projection without a physical form. The new world itself was a nearly flat, layered ring structure. However, the sun here followed the daily habits of the inhabitants of the old world, rising from one direction and setting from another, with weather changes like clear, cloudy, rainy, and snowy days following a regular pattern, just like in the old world. The coincidences between the two vastly different worlds made Luo Zhengdao wonder if there was an invisible hand manipulating the world's operations, or if there was a power higher than the gods in this world.

Of course, for the native inhabitants who were already accustomed to the miracles around them, they would not find it surprising that the sun rises from one place and sets from another in a flat world. Just as in the old world, before people realized that the Earth revolves around the sun, they firmly believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, which was considered a natural and self-evident truth.

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Starry Sea, Blood Coral Port Dock

The golden-red sunset shone on the shallow green sea near Blood Coral Island, the shimmering warm waters resembling a sea of gold. This enchanting and fantastical scene was the last meal for the human captives who were about to meet their end. Under the threat of the goblins' sharp weapons, the human captives walked woodenly from the pier onto the narrow wooden gangway. The goblin guards on the ship's deck roughly shoved the humans into the already crowded, sardine-can-like hold. At this moment, apart from the faint sound of the waves below, there were only the weak cries of infants in the hold.

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