Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'

"I don't deny your statement. I don't care if you want to launch a war of annihilation against the People of Sky Ring."

Ninety-three-year-old President David Lyn hardly looked aged, not a wrinkle on his face. Holding his pipe, he spoke almost indifferently:

"All I care about is that my citizens continue to survive, that the existence called Frost Plated can endure, nothing more."

"The People of Sky Ring have committed countless crimes against our citizens. To be precise, Zhengxu, Sky Ring, and Frost Plated dealt heavy blows to our nation that have never been accounted for."

Rudolf said coldly:

"My family has been born generation after generation in hatred and humiliation. My brothers and sisters were raised and educated from childhood: 'If you wish to be a king, you must abandon humanity.' We fought and killed each other, and finally, a vessel carrying sin and hatred was placed on the throne. No joy, no pleasure, only endless rage and hatred burning in the heart."

"Young man, if you intend to justify your sins by recounting a painful past, then you need to think clearly: before you is President David Lyn, a lonely old man whose wife and daughter have perished, home destroyed, and people lost."

David Lyn took a puff of his pipe and said calmly:

"Some always think: I have endured pains I shouldn't have, so it's only natural to be mentally abnormal, to go mad—but your personal suffering cannot be a reason for you to take revenge on Society."

"And what about my family, my people, my country, and my citizens?"

Rudolf clenched the golden handle, eyes blazing with anger, and roared slowly and deeply:

"Those brutal crimes the Great Powers inflicted on us, dropping nuclear bombs recklessly on our land, raping our daughters, slaughtering our children, plundering our resources—if we hadn't been fortunate enough to unlock the technological heritage of the old era, we would've long been swept into the dustbin of history!"

"Do you think we crave war? Do you think the Red Arrow People are a bunch of murderous madmen and bloody butchers? No, we loved writing poetry and pastoral life. We were fishermen near the North Pole glaciers, unable to even produce a thermos ourselves. Of course, we also thought about that simple life of a small country with few people."

"But what did you do to us?"

"You now denounce the Red Arrow Empire's army for ignoring the crisis of human survival and seeking revenge on fellow beings—yet when the Ersha crisis arrived, it was you who committed numerous war crimes against the Red Arrow Nation. The ocean rose, exposing a mineral-filled seabed—you used nuclear bombs and treaties to take away the wealth that should have been ours."

Rudolf laughed coldly:

"Let me tell you, President David Lyn, what you are doing now is precisely what the Red Arrow Nation did to the Great Powers centuries ago."

"We have repeatedly compromised, repeatedly hoped to make peace or even submit, and the Red Arrow People were willing to follow the world order of the Great Powers. What did you give us?"

"You plundered our cultural artifacts, claiming you were protecting them for us."

"You raped our women, claiming it was genetic improvement."

"You interfered in our government, saying it was to bring us civilization and enlightenment, constantly erasing the legitimacy of our nation, branding us as the low ground and saline-alkali land of world civilization, while ignoring our step-by-step technological innovations! Our antiquity was seen as decay, and our rise was seen as provocation! We planted trees, and you said we destroyed natural systems; we developed industry, and you accused the Red Arrow Nation of polluting the entire world—so much, so much, your discrimination and disdain for us have never stopped!"

He took a deep breath, tears glistening at the corners of his eyes. When decades of humiliation and hatred fell upon him as an emperor, he became an ordinary human, closing his eyes, breathing deeply, chest heaving violently, fists clenched, whispering something that sounded like both pain and redemption:

"...From the moment the People of Sky Ring's nuclear bombs fell on us, we knew: submission and weakness only lead to death. Only strength is the foundation of everything."

"Even if I could start over hundreds of times, I would still choose this path. We must become strong, dominate all fields, and completely obliterate those who humiliate us, just like the crimes you once committed against the Red Arrow People!"

"To defeat the Great Powers, we're willing to give up everything, even if it means becoming worse Great Powers than they are. Survival of the fittest—that's the law of nature!"

"A so-called hegemon is merely proof of survival."

David Lyn gently set down the pipe, pressed the mute button, turned to his subordinates, and said:

"Allocate 400,000 to General Sallyan, and give her whatever she needs afterward. I don't want casualty numbers; I want Geisha Alley."

"Yes, your Excellency."

He turned back up the volume and spoke to Emperor Rudolf:

"Your Majesty, you are a pitiable man. This hatred, intertwined with bloodline and history, has persisted to this day. I can understand the resentment in your heart."

"I can't be bothered to persuade you or guide you. Frost Plated has a saying: When you are unarmed, no matter what you say, it's wrong. I believe every civilization in this world has a similar saying."

"Do you call this cruel? I don't think so; this is the essence of life."

The flashes of nuclear explosions churned continuously in the sky, with radioactive dust drifting alongside Frost Snow.