Shrouded Seascape

Chapter 776: Weakness

In response to Charles' teasing, A2 pushed up the bridge of her glasses with her middle finger and revealed a meaningful smile.

"In our eyes, transforming one's body beyond recognition depends entirely on whether there is a need for it or not—it's done not for the sake of altering one's looks but for the sake of a greater good.

"I assume the same applies to you, Mr. Charles. I believe you didn't make yourself look neither human nor a monster out of boredom, did you?"

Charles' current appearance was reflected in A2's glasses.

Charles' head was covered with intertwining tentacles riddled with black scales, and Fhtagn's Divine Mark had crawled up from his neck to his face. His face was also covered in scars of a variety of sizes.

In other words, he didn't look much better than the other GK Council members.

A2's riposte that was neither offensive nor defensive told Charles that the former wasn't as weak as her appearance showed, but Charles didn't really find it strange.

As a GK Council member, there was no way A2 could be weak or an ordinary person.

A2's status as a GK Council member was a good thing for Charles, as the former was on his side. Her high status meant that she was a valuable weapon against the Foundation.

Charles chuckled and let go of A2's hand. "Let's talk business. As a core member of the Foundation, you must know a lot about them, right? In your opinion, what weaknesses does the Foundation have? I'm talking about fatal weaknesses."

A2 sized up Charles for a long time before saying, "It can be said that the Foundation has no weakness whatsoever. Any weakness had long been fixed through hundreds of millions of simulations using the central computer.

"As for me, the moment I was imprisoned in the restricted zone, I'm sure the central computer had generated a clone of myself with memories from three months ago to handle the work that I left behind."

"I don't think so," Charles replied with his arms crossed in front of his chest, "If you guys had zero weaknesses, would you have canceled Plan Three?" Charles replied, crossing his arms.

The light in A2's eyes beyond the round-frame glasses dimmed, and her clear voice softened to a whisper. "Yes, the gods. We can harness power equivalent to a YESOD6 God[1], but…

"But it's a different story for HOD-level Gods like 003. The Light God, the Eye of Truth, the Giant Bird of Suffering, and the Feaster are nothing before 003.

"The gods… the Foundation has been wrestling with them for thousands of years now. We've tried many things in an attempt to make humanity surpass the power of the gods, but…

"But when I really felt His power… I realized just how ridiculous our efforts have been and just how wrong we were all this while. It turned out that it is simply impossible to conquer the gods."

A2 looked up and stared at Charles. "You managed to intimidate the Foundation, but it doesn't mean much. You were playing with fire at the time. Don't forget the fate of the Foundation's previous generation. The day of Fhtagn's awakening is the day of our extinction."

The unmistakable implication within A2's words took Charles by surprise. A2's words weren't something a true Fhtagn follower would say. After all, a true follower of Fhtagn would want Him to awaken.

"Of course, I want to witness His awakening, but this isn't the best time for it. The sacrificial rituals of those lunatics are completely useless. Fhtagn can't receive them at all. We must perform sacrifices in a scientific way!

"We have to let the great Fhtagn accept our offerings and feel our wholehearted loyalty to Him, or we will not have even the slightest chance of surviving the day of His awakening."

"What damned scientific sacrificial ritual are you talking about? Do you really think that the words 'scientific' and 'sacrifice' mesh well with each other?" Charles asked. He couldn't help but stare in astonishment at A2.

His mind couldn't comprehend A2's train of thought. Then, he realized that the minds of those under Fhtagn's influence would all give birth to their own unique but bizarre logic.

A2 looked to be the most rational member of the Foundation, so Charles assumed that Fhtagn's influence wouldn't have such a tight grip on her, but it turned out that A2 had simply been hiding her fanatic side behind a cool and intellectual facade.

"Why wouldn't they mesh well with each other? Science is not as complicated as you think. As the name implies, it's a study of many different disciplines, so I don't believe that everything can be defined by a single value, a single perspective, or a single definition.

"Philosophy can't do it, science can't do it, and even T6 mathematics can't do it. In other words, science can't explain everything, but it is highly efficient, which is very helpful to us.

"We can create an orderly system of knowledge that allows for testable explanations and hypotheses about objective phenomena, including sacrificial rituals. That way, sacrificial rituals will eventually be systematized and formulated."

Charles' head started hurting in the face of A2's words. He then discovered that he had unknowingly lost control of the conversation, allowing A2 to speak a bunch of nonsense to him. A2 was so eloquent that he almost forgot why he was even here.

"Enough!" Charles interrupted, taking back control of the conversation. "I don't want to listen to those. Just give me a direct answer—what are the weaknesses of the Foundation? Give me an answer, and I'll judge it myself!"

A2 pushed up the bridge of her glasses with her middle finger again. "The central computer in SITE 2 is the Foundation's biggest weakness. It operates all the database work and operates the cellular printing of the Foundation members.

"Once destroyed, every single clone that dies from then on will truly be dead. It is impossible to make more clones by then. The collapse of the central computer means that the other sites of the Foundation will be isolated from each other.

"Every single device in the Foundation's network, including physical bodies, will shut down. Unfortunately, this is impossible. The central computer is absolutely secure in every sense of the word, and nearly half of the Foundation's firepower is here.

"In addition, the central computer itself is the brain of a god, and it is as powerful as a BINAH3 God."

"The brain of a god?!" Charles was greatly shocked. "Whose brain is it?"

"You've come across Him. I'm talking about Dr. Pede's corpse suspended above SITE 6. The central computer is his brain. Upon his death, we pulled his brain out, and we've been using it as a computer since then.

"It has the power to distort reality within a certain distance around it. Even an atomic bomb can transform into a cotton candy once it's close enough to it. If you want to resist its ability to perform reality distortions, then you need to use the power of the gods."

The power of the gods? Charles stared deeply at A2 before falling into contemplation. As far as he could remember, even though the power of the gods was rare, they had some of it. Of course, they didn't have much of it.

The information that A2 had revealed was highly valuable, but it also put a ton of weight on Charles' shoulders. His assumption was correct. The Foundation was far stronger than it seemed. In fact, they had shown only a fraction of their true power.

If Charles hadn't decided on coming over here, he wouldn't have known that the Foundation was actually hiding so many cards up their sleeves.

The Foundation's control over information was truly airtight.

Charles made a mental note of everything he had heard so far before turning to A2, asking, "Then, what exactly was Plan Three? Was that black wall related to the darkness of the Subterranean Sea?"

The Foundation had used that black wall to annihilate the humans of the Subterranean Sea, and it would be great if they could somehow use that black wall against the Foundation. It sounded difficult, but could it be more difficult than destroying the brain of a god under the Foundation's impregnable protection?

1. Previously translated as YESOD-level Divinity rather than God ☜