Ch.510Cold, gloomy, and complicated. (3)

# Chapter 510. Cold, Sinister, and Complicated. (3)

Initially, the Central Base Federation maintained a rather indifferent attitude toward the affairs in Icarus’s territory.

Although they had indeed promoted Icarus as the central leader and engaged in various political machinations…

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<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[I heard users in Icarus’s territory are forming clans]

-[Clans?]

-[Since Icarus wouldn’t tolerate large clans, they must be small-scale]

-[Without large clans, they’re essentially meaningless]

-[Let’s just ignore them]

——————————————

They were merely paying lip service with their praise.

Since Icarus had less desire for power than expected, their initial plan to “create a massive clan exclusive to the central district and manipulate Icarus from behind” fell through.

After that, they became so distant that they simply responded with “Oh, I see” and ignored Icarus even when he was harassed by other forces or invaded by the Xenovia Empire.

Their relationship had essentially become that of strangers.

That’s why at first, regarding these small-scale clans formed by users, they thought, “Without Icarus himself, these are meaningless.”

Even as such discussions kept appearing in galleries and elsewhere, despite some members beginning to think they could use this situation to their advantage…

——————————————

<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[I think we can use this]

-[What do you mean?]

-[Nothing complicated, there must be users docked at their central base]

-[We can persuade those users to form clans, then use those clans to quickly capture multiple bases simultaneously]

-[Oh]

-[Even if Icarus mobilizes defense fleets or whatever, if users deploy superhumans in large numbers to quickly take out the command centers, that’s all we need]

-[Just like we did]

-[Ohhh]

——————————————

In response to these ideas, more than half of the federation users just shook their heads disapprovingly.

Of course, their reasons were quite practical.

——————————————

<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[It’s an interesting idea, but impossible]

-[?]

-[More precisely, it’s meaningless because even if you capture the command center and take control of the base’s defenses and fleet]

-[What’s the point? The Leviathan Fleet is still under Icarus’s control]

-[Ah]

-[At best it’s a level 5 base without fortress cannons, and except for Avalon, it’s not even suitable for defense]

-[That’s right, if the Leviathan Fleet comes with Jormungand and Ouroboros firing their flame cannons, the base would be destroyed instantly]

-[Couldn’t we counter with sheer numbers?]

-[Meaningless when 2,000 of the Leviathan Fleet’s 2,500 ships are battleships or higher]

-[Avalon only has 525 battleships total between security and combat fleets]

-[And among those “battleships or higher,” about 200-300 are super dreadnoughts or above…]

-[Even if all docked users combined forces, they’d be crushed by the Leviathan Fleet’s battleships]

-[That’s true]

——————————————

Beyond all other reasons, the obvious outcome of capturing a base was clear.

So as usual, they were planning to adopt an attitude of “do whatever you want, it’s your business,” but at that very moment…

——————————————

<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[But why do we keep trying to directly capture bases?](Durian)

-[?]

-[Shouldn’t we play to our strengths with political maneuvering?](Durian)

-[Huh?]

-[What exactly are you suggesting?]

——————————————

When a user with the nickname “Durian” brilliantly suggested employing the federation’s specialty—”sinister political maneuvering”—

Users began focusing their attention on this person, wondering exactly what they had in mind.

And right after that…

——————————————

<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[As mentioned above, direct military confrontation gets us nowhere](Durian)

-[Yeah]

-[So we get the village chiefs or other users to form clans, then we manipulate those clans’ decisions](Durian)

-[…Interesting]

-[Tell us more]

-[It’s exactly what it sounds like. Except for that Odeng-tang guy from Arclight who openly rejected us in the gallery, we take control of public opinion in the remaining bases and settlements](Durian)

-[And through that, we completely dominate public opinion within Icarus’s kingdom](Durian)

-[Hmm]

-[That actually makes sense]

-[But what if Icarus ignores it? What if we put effort into grooming clan leaders and Icarus just mercilessly cuts them off?]

-[Who cares? By that point, we’ll already have user public opinion in Icarus’s kingdom in the palm of our hands](Durian)

-[Ah, I see]

——————————————

Even if the “clan leaders” caught up in their manipulated public opinion were purged by Icarus after making mistakes,

By then, public opinion within Icarus’s kingdom would already be under their control.

If over 7,000 users rose up together, even Icarus with his unlimited mercenary corps and Leviathan Fleet would have limits in responding.

By thoroughly exploiting user opinion under their control, since Icarus was still human after all…

——————————————

<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[So you’re going to manipulate user opinion to shake Icarus’s mental state?]

-[Yes](Durian)

-[Of course, we won’t shake his mental state from the beginning, but gradually infiltrate](Durian)

-[Wow, this is going to be intense]

-[Where do we start? Are we going to do it all at once?]

-[First, we need to gently prod the village chiefs or clan leaders in each base](Durian)

-[Good idea]

——————————————

And so, the sinister hand of the Central Base Federation, specialized in underhanded political maneuvering, began reaching toward our Icarus-kingdom.

==========

Anyway, while the Base Federation was implementing their “Hey, you’re a village chief/mayor too, shouldn’t you form a clan for the long haul?” strategy,

Unfortunately for our federation friends, reality unfolded much worse than they had anticipated…

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<Central Base Federation Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s Communicate with Each Other>

-[Seems like we’re screwed from the start]

-[?]

-[Why’s that?](Durian)

-[<Screenshot of Avalon’s village chief “Venom” saying “I don’t care about being clan leader, I’m even tired of being village chief and will soon quit to become a farmer. Bye.”.jpg>]

-[Avalon flatly refused]

-[Avalon too? Arclight also refused]

-[That place rejected us from the beginning, why did you even try there?](Durian)

-[Haha sorry!! lol!]

——————————————

Contrary to their rosy expectations, two bases refused to associate with them right from the start.

Fortunately, the village chiefs of the remaining bases, including Barracuda and Spiralis, all agreed to participate in their plan.

However, the real problem for the Base Federation lay elsewhere.