Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 185 - 105: Cosmic Locusts

Chapter 185: Chapter 105: Cosmic Locusts

Duan Mingyuan seemed to have figured some things out, after power and wealth, the Universe Company had sent a brainwashing ship.

It would implant belief in the Sun King into people’s consciousness, eventually turning everyone on the planet into believers.

This was a tactic of the Ashen Consortium.

Duan Mingyuan searched through his good friend Western Wind’s memories and found this company’s most mysterious and oldest consortium.

"I have indeed heard of the faith in the Sun King, in the Chamber of Commerce I was invited to, one quarter of them were followers of the Sun King."

After being attacked by the Nine Nether White Bone Claw, the evil side of the Third Prince was eradicated, and he spoke of serious matters, "In my memory, this is not an extremist sect."

There would be no one shouting "Long live the Sun King" and turning themselves into solar-powered bombs to launch devastating attacks on public facilities.

In dealings with these followers of the Sun King, the Third Prince felt it was more like a certain status background. There were no dietary or dress code restrictions for the followers of the Sun King, nor was there a need for any form of asceticism. The only commonality was the belief that the Sun King was the origin of the universe, and after life headed toward obliteration, it would return to the Sun Palace, eternal and blazing.

This was the sanctum mentioned in the chanting lyrics.

Of course, if you refused to recognize the existence of the Sun King or even raised objections, followers of the Sun King wouldn’t smash your head. They would simply refuse to continue the discussion with you.

Those of different paths do not seek to plan together, and the Third Prince thought the aggression of the followers of the Sun King was far less than that of netizens.

Netizens would not only spray you with words, but they might also use hacker techniques to find your personal information.

His penchant for maid uniforms, his frequent browsing of maid forums, was exposed by an Internet troll during an argument. The troll even made a collection of his postings on the forums and spread screenshots everywhere.

"In any case, there are many followers of the Sun King, and the sect is spread across the universe."

The Third Prince felt the main reason the Sun King Church was not present on Blue Star was likely that the Cosmic Relations Coordination Department did not welcome them. Falang had warned him not to get too close to those followers, as it was of no benefit to him.

And now, with the flagship of the Cosmic Relations Coordination Department destroyed and Qing Hua made a prisoner, without their restraint, followers of the Sun King seemed to have set their sights on Blue Star as well.

The Third Prince had no animosity toward proselytization, but he did not support the practice of forcibly recruiting people into the faith.

After some undercover investigation, he was still unclear whether the Second Prince and his devotees had sincerely converted to the Sun King or had been brainwashed.

But judging by their behavior and demeanor, they all seemed quite normal.

After a gathering in the auditorium, everyone went their separate ways, and many emerged from their gloom no longer lost about their future.

"When I invited members of the Chamber of Commerce for a visit, they made a joke: ’When a Sun King Church appears on your planet, it will soon become a religious civilization.’"

This was to say the spread of the faith in the Sun King was faster than a locust plague, and perhaps because of this, despite the faith not exhibiting much aggression, many planets explicitly prohibited the spread of the Sun King belief.

"If I were you, I would not allow the faith to spread on this planet."

After a refreshing soak in the fish spring bath, Fu Ling felt clear-minded and invigorated, returning to the Royal City feeling her timing was impeccable. She presumed Duan Mingyuan had just witnessed the birth of the Sun King followers.

A royal heir on this planet had become a steadfast Sun King devotee.

In the time to come, he would spare no effort in spreading the faith far and wide.

"It is precisely because it seems harmless on the surface and hardly affects daily life that it spreads so efficiently," he said.

This was also a form of latent industry competition.

Fu Ling would not overshadow her guests, but that did not mean she couldn’t offer some suggestions to her "friends."

For the Life Science Department, the faith itself was a source of pollution, "Once the belief has spread across the planet, the Ashen Consortium will send missionaries to teach the people of this planet the strength of the Sun King, which they call Scorching Sun Power, one of the few energies known to cause severe damage to corruption."

As an energy researcher, Fu Ling had no intention of concealing the benefits that Scorching Sun Power brought, "More than eighty percent of the people on this planet would be able to use this energy, and for some civilizations that were on the verge of being overwhelmed by disaster, the arrival of missionaries was a lifeline."

"So, what’s the cost?"

The experienced Duan Mingyuan saw right through this as a tactic to first praise then depress.

"The cost is that everyone on this planet will take on the form of Sun King devotees, the life energy in your bodies will be gradually replaced with Scorching Sun Power, until all that’s left is Scorching Sun Power."

In the field of energy research, Scorching Sun Power was much more aggressive than it seemed in society; so far, they had not found any other energy in the universe that could maintain its identity after merging with Scorching Sun Power.

Life Energy is deemed a first-class energy by the Life Science Department, and Blue Star is one of the very few sources of it; both publicly and privately, Fu Ling did not want this planet to be polluted by the Ashen Consortium.

"Considering that your goal is to sign a non-interference treaty with the company, you absolutely cannot allow the Church to take root in this land. One of the prerequisites of this treaty is that the planet must be a sovereign planet, not subject to any faction’s influence. Once the Sun King Sect’s popularity on the planet exceeds 50%, the company will classify the planet as a religious civilization belonging to the Ashen Consortium."

Fu Ling paused, then added, "So, this is also your test, the inspection officer’s flagship is not specifically targeting you, they call that kind of device ’the Sun King’s Afterglow,’ wherever the flagship goes, that spiritual pollution will follow, just like cosmic locusts... The above reviews are all seen by you accidentally online, and have nothing to do with Fu Ling."

"The Second Prince has taken on the form of the Sun King, how can we cure him?"

Jiuyue asked.

"All I know is that the planets that strictly prohibit the Sun King Sect are governed with an iron fist, all devotees of the Sun King are arrested and imprisoned, and some are even executed."

"That’s tyranny."

The Third Prince always felt that executing someone based solely on belief was against justice.

"It is indeed tyranny, but it is also the conclusion drawn by countless people. Those planets that adopted lenient policies ended up without exception becoming religious civilizations."

The propagative power of the Sun King Sect was just that strong, which is why the Ashen Consortium rarely actively recruited devotees yet was still able to become one of the powers with the most devotees in the universe.

The Third Prince asked, "Is there no other way?"

"In theory, there is one."

Fu Ling looked at Duan Mingyuan, "Make the devotees question the existence of the Sun King, thus abandoning the faith on their own accord. So far, no one has ever done it, but since you claim to be a doctor, I don’t know if you would treat psychological issues."