Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 79: The Temptation of Power

Chapter 79: Chapter 79: The Temptation of Power

After hanging a plantation owner who played too wildly, Perfikot felt her thoughts had cleared considerably.

This era is too dark, and there are indeed too many ghostly fiends. In the past, she was just an ordinary noble lady, without power or influence, and the only title in her family was coveted by others who even wanted to kill her to obtain it, a title she considered worthless.

She wanted to resist, wanted to overthrow all this, but in the end, societal discrimination and oppression only yielded her the commentary "what do women understand."

Perfikot heard such remarks more than once, during her studies, during her growth, and while she independently supported the Brandlis Clan as its direct lineage’s orphan. She had heard this kind of evaluation from others far too many times.

Eventually, she became weary and gave up.

She wasn’t the kind with a firm enough mind to leave her name in the annals of history. Though not considered mediocre before traveling through time, she was also not any top figure and lacked the resolve and perseverance to change the entire world.

Therefore, after predicting the apocalypse and warning the government proved futile, she chose to give up.

No longer thinking about saving all living beings, only about surviving herself, as for the others? After my death, who cares if floods ensue!

But fate always loves to play tricks. Just when Perfikot gave up the effort to save the world, preparing to build a Flying Airship to head to the New Continent to focus on her survival, the appearance of Eldest Princess Annie completely changed the course of events.

The Royal Family showed her full support.

This was a very ridiculous matter. The full support of the Royal Family could accomplish so many things and create such great impacts.

To the point that Perfikot’s original plan turned into chaos, and she had no choice but to take on the responsibility of saving the world, or in other words, saving more people on her fourteen-year-old shoulders.

This put immense pressure on Perfikot.

She knew clearly what kind of price she would have to pay to take on all this.

Wanting to save the majority means having to premise it on exploiting the minority, just like the classic trolley problem, choosing to crush one to save five or watching the train go ahead to crush more?

For Perfikot, she faced such a difficult choice.

Even in her original world before crossing over, wanting to save more people in such an apocalyptic-scale disaster meant sacrificing at least millions, not to mention this world still in the first industrial revolution period.

If there were only Perfikot alone, building a shelter would be very easy.

Her Philosopher’s Stone is a miracle of alchemy, able to break the principle of equivalent exchange to perform alchemy.

Using it to build houses or dig underground shelters is no more difficult than eating and drinking water; the only need is to plan the structure of the underground shelter, otherwise, it would just be digging tunnels.

If Perfikot truly wanted, she could build an underground city alone.

After all, it’s just manipulating soil to change its shape, then making the soil into harder stone, and these are basic skills of material conversion for an alchemist.

Compared to turning iron into gold, merely changing the shape of soil and turning it into stone is really not that difficult.

In fact, for Perfikot, if she wanted, she could even fully unleash the power of the Philosopher’s Stone to build a Golden City.

But that is pointless, gold is worthless.

Although it is indeed a precious metal, only when it has monetary value can it serve as a universal equivalent; otherwise, it’s just a rare metal.

When the whole world is about to be destroyed, even having a Golden City, what significance does it hold? Building yourself a luxurious tomb?

Moreover, wanting to save more people isn’t a problem solvable merely with money.

Money can indeed accomplish many things, but sometimes many things aren’t solvable just by having money.

However, now Perfikot not only can have money, she also has power, the power to arbitrarily decide the life and death of countless beings, the power to leverage the entire Victor Empire.

The taste of power is so sweet. Even though Perfikot hadn’t meticulously experienced it, previously in New Shaker City, she was preoccupied with killing and feeling nauseous, without pondering the extent of the power she held.

Yet, when she left the blood and rot of New Shaker City behind, the fresh sea breeze not only cleared her mind but also let her tangibly experience the allure of the power in her hands.

With a single command, a pirate who had once dominated the seas, now a tyrannical plantation owner, gets hung on the flagpole.

This feeling of deciding life and death of an individual with a single word is an enormous temptation for anyone.

It’s just that Perfikot exercised her power mostly in emotional outbreaks, thus she didn’t truly perceive the taste of power.

Yet even so, she got a taste of power, sampling the feeling of commanding executions with hundreds of heads rolling.

This is a captivating feeling, even Perfikot had an irresistible urge to seize more power.

Because power is mesmerising, and also because power is the best soil for nurturing ambition.

Even if Perfikot wasn’t greatly interested in these things, she clearly knew that with more power she could better realize her ideas and thus save more people.

This made it seem as if there was a little person inside her heart constantly persuading her to gain more power, enabling her to mobilize more resources and better execute her plans.

Though unable to save everyone, she could allow more people to survive, granting her greater power in the world after the freeze.

Even if Perfikot desired, she could even become humanity’s savior, or even ruler after the apocalypse!

But Perfikot was scared; she feared being corrupted or even devoured by power.

The experiences of the past few days terrified her that she might become a murderous tyrant.

After all, merely to assert her dominance in the New Continent, she had orchestrated a horrendous massacre in New Shaker City, executing captured criminals in such a ruthless manner. Though this was a necessary evil, it also somewhat reflected Perfikot’s true character from the side.

Once power is in hand, one acts on one’s commands. If one day Perfikot truly grasped immense power, wouldn’t she become a tyrant?

She was afraid, afraid she’d turn into a ruthless tyrant, but ambition, like weeds, once rooted and sprouted is difficult to eradicate.