Revive Rome: Wait! Why not make the empress fall in love with me first?
Chapter 161 - 65 Behind-the-Scenes Communication

Chapter 161: Chapter 65 Behind-the-Scenes Communication

On the rooftop, Apilius had already put away his smile, his gaze returning to the distance, re-entering a state of icy, rigorous rational calculation.

The addition of the Undead Illusion Sword undoubtedly added a lot to his confidence in his plans.

However, as a ruler, one must not put blind faith in probability; even a 99% chance of success still held a 1% risk of losing everything.

As a city lord, he had to make good use of every ace in his hand.

He took out his phone and dialed a special number. The mobile signal ascended through the atmosphere, reaching the Church Court’s space-based communication satellite base station, then passed through special trans-coding and encryption before descending back down to Solomon City on the Apennine Peninsula.

Inside the Sistine Chapel, a slender hand picked up the phone.

"Lord Apilius of the City."

"Your Majesty, Pope Innocent."

"Your Crusaders have brought me some troubles."

"Have they? The Church Court had already fully assessed this, which should not be damaging to your Olympia City."

"Even so, the nightly bombings are still troubling, especially while we are also preparing to deal with the Magic Tide."

"I understand, you wish to request assistance from the Church Court."

"The Church Court desires negotiation, hence this call. The mortars are just a nauseating tactic; the important matters we need to discuss next are the key points."

"Indeed. What assistance does Olympia City require?"

"Orbital tactical nuclear bombs."

The voice of the pope on the other side fell silent, "Leviathan?"

"Has the Church Court not detected the massive life signal at the bottom of the Aegean Sea? I thought you were monitoring the entire world all the time."

"Of course, this is precisely the reason for my concern. Raphael is monitoring that Leviathan with over 300 processes; we believe there is no possibility of it awakening in the short term."

"Can the Church Court guarantee 100% that it won’t be awakened by the upcoming Magic Tide?"

"No, the word ’100%’ does not exist in science, only in theological propaganda."

"Your seamless switch between science and theology is surprising, yet I am not an ignorant believer," Apilius said gravely:

"I am a politician, not a scientific researcher. If there is over a 50% chance, perhaps a scientific researcher would think based on mathematical expectation that it could happen."

"However, even at a 99% success rate, a politician must still eliminate the remaining 1% of potential risk."

"Even if that greatly increases your costs in the negotiation?" Innocent chuckled lightly, "Well, after all, it’s harmless and beneficial for the Church Court."

"What is your price?"

"We require Olympia City and Emperor Otto to sever all ties, including withdrawing all Transcendents from within the borders of the Holy Solomon Empire."

"You should understand, Olympia City does not hold the same transcendent position in the Extraordinary Realm as the Church Court does in the scientific community. I can promise to do so, but please don’t hold unnecessary additional expectations."

"That is natural. However, the Crusader’s bombardment will continue, which will help intensify your force’s hostility towards Emperor Otto."

"Towards the Church Court as well."

"The Church Court is indifferent to worldly hostility," Innocent said indifferently. "The Church Court’s sole all-out adversary has always been only the Anti-Christ."

"Is the Anti-Christ referred to as Chaos?"

"That is a broader term. You may understand it that way."

"That explanation doesn’t account for your guard and apprehension towards Otto."

"Let me put it in another way, less rigorous but more comprehensible." Innocent considered his words, "Emperor Otto is destined to lose in the coming battle, just as the Crusaders are destined to lose in their next battle."

"However, Olympia has never been concerned about the Crusaders; the Church Court is not worried about Emperor Otto, but about the Chaos lurking behind these events."

"You preach that the supercomputer can calculate everything, so how can there still be Chaos?" Apilius stated coldly.

"The original intent of creating Raphael was never to calculate everything. Infinite information requires infinite energy to be accessed, which is considered scientifically unfeasible."

"Difficult to achieve? I think it’s impossible."

"You see, this is the divergence between the Western Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox." Innocent sneered, "Despite both believing in science, we firmly believe that the laws of the universe can be known, whereas you Orthodox believers are mostly agnostics."

"Once you fall into the trap of agnosticism, you start to waver in your faith in science, and eventually succumb to the hidden and unknown."

"It was you, the Church Court, who first hoisted the flag of theology." Apilius spoke indifferently.

"We disguised ourselves to maintain order; reality has proven this to be viable. What about you?"

"The original definition of the Anti-Christ was ’mortal becoming a god.’ Your Transcendents are obsessed with upgrading and advancing, but ultimately the only path is becoming a god."

"However, this path has proven to be a dead end; reaching its conclusion means losing human sanity. Are there not enough demi-gods beneath Hippocrates University who tried to become gods but fell into madness instead? Why not bring them out for your Transcendents to see?"

"They chose that path voluntarily; everyone should have the right to choose." Apilius said.

"People can be responsible for the consequences of their choices, but who can be responsible for the collapse of human civilization?" Innocent’s tone became stern, "Constantinople has already fallen, how far do you still plan to wander on this deadly path?"

"With the Magic Tide on the horizon, should the Church Court not focus on Solomon City first?" Apilius did not mention the fact that "it was the Crusaders who captured Constantinople," but coldly shifted the topic.

"We are already prepared," Innocent stated coldly, "As for Olympia, as a condition of the exchange of interests, we will provide two space-based neutron bombs, should Leviathan truly awaken."

The communication channel fell silent.

Every interaction between the Eastern and Western Churches almost always erupted into quarrels over doctrinal differences. The West thought the East was playing with fire; the East thought the West was too conservative, and there was no chance for mutual understanding in the short term.

Yet, they could still reach an agreement on interests, which had almost become an unspoken understanding between the two sides.

"Where are the hands of Giotto Bell now?" Apilius asked.

"6 o’clock," Innocent replied, "After the next Magic Tide arrives, it is expected to reach 6:30."

Giotto Bell, located in the Church Court’s famous bell tower, only has an hour hand.

According to Revelations, once the hand reaches 12 o’clock, a terrible apocalyptic punishment would come, hence hordes of believers always devoutly prostrate themselves in prayer under Giotto Bell Tower.

However, Apilius was aware that the hands of the clock were not moved by an unseen divine hand, but controlled by the super artificial intelligence "Raphael."

The countdown isn’t for the world, but for technological civilization.

The closer it gets to 12 o’clock, the closer technological civilization is to the brink of collapse, and the actions of the Church Court become increasingly frenzied.

"At least our goals are the same," Apilius said.

"At least for now," the other side responded.