Chapter 261 – The Prejudiced Monk! Willpower, Strategy, Project Results!
Universal Metropolis, Headquarters of the LA Universal Megacorp.
Li Ang raised his hand and turned off the holographic screen in front of him. Through the displayed images, he had already grasped the full scope of the civil war within the Covenant.
He also knew that the scheme he had meticulously orchestrated was more than halfway to success.
At this point, a week had passed since the outbreak of the Covenant's internal conflict.
Under the leadership of Reed and Jack, acting as Reclaimers, both the entire Sangheili tribe and the Brutes had thrown their full support behind the strategic directives of the LA Universal Megacorp.
Thanks to carefully planned operations and formidable military offensives, the battle for Charity was already in its final stages.
The Covenant capital was on the verge of falling under Reed and his allies' control!
This outcome was well within Li Ang's expectations.
After all, the majority of the Covenant's customs fleet was under the control of the Sangheili. Even if the fleets led by the brutes and the Prophets wanted to rush to the capital's aid, they simply lacked the ability to do so.
The Covenant's elite naval forces—its strongest military arm—were all stationed near Charity. Even if the other factions dared to charge in, they likely wouldn't stand a chance against the high-momentum Sangheili forces.
Therefore, the scattered Brutes and Prophets across Covenant territory had no choice but to regroup and try to rally other Covenant factions to make a comeback, in a bid to retake what they had lost.
Without reinforcements, the Prophets, Brutes, and Jackals entrenched within Charity were left to their fate—the only outcome awaiting them was extermination at the hands of the Sangheili and Astartes warriors!
As of now, more than ninety percent of Charity was under the joint control of Morami and Reed's allied forces.
The remaining ten percent was held by remnants of the Brutes and Prophets. Relying on the city's complex terrain, they were making a last stand against the Sangheili.
To avoid excessive damage to Charity, Morami had no choice but to issue orders to blockade the remaining zones and slowly grind down the remnants in a battle of attrition.
In any case, the remaining Brutes posed no threat to the overall situation— LA Universal Megacorp had already driven its roots deep into the Covenant's core!
Li Ang's next step was to order his elite units stationed on Reach and throughout various UNSC colonies to initiate a series of incitement and operational plans.
As for the UNSC, Li Ang didn't particularly hate or despise them. On the contrary, he found the rank-and-file Marines quite intriguing.
It was only the corrupt upper echelon, obsessed with abusing their power for personal gain, that Li Ang truly aimed to punish!
So, Li Ang had no intention of sending large-scale forces to suppress UNSC soldiers by force—it would only result in massive human casualties.
Toppling the UNSC and its aristocratic hierarchy at minimal cost—that was the ideal outcome.
After some brief contemplation, Li Ang immediately brought up a holographic interface and issued a concise directive to the personnel stationed at the frontline headquarters on Reach.
The core of the directive consisted of two main points:
First, the Megacorp would soon covertly dispatch a new batch of combat operatives to Reach to support the upcoming campaign.
Second, they were to compile the threats posed by the Covenant and the Flood, and then hack into news media and social platforms via AI to broadcast and promote this information.
Additionally, they would establish the official Megacorp website and media outlet, focusing on reporting the Covenant civil war and promoting the LA Universal Megacorp's humanitarian contributions!
This move was, in essence, a direct declaration of war against the UNSC. That's right—the Megacorp fully intended to poach their people in broad daylight and convince the public to join their cause.
And if the civilians hesitated or feared acting rashly, that was fine too—because the second directive was to strike directly at the UNSC's upper ranks!
Li Ang would instruct his frontline operatives to carry out a series of assassination missions targeting high-ranking officials within the UNSC and the UEG.
The specialized strike team—comprised of Rita, William Cage, and others—supported by various humanoid weapons, was more than capable of executing this plan.
With every successful assassination of a UNSC official, the Megacorp's PR division would immediately release visual and written reports, directly mocking the UNSC in public broadcasts.
The purpose of this was clear: to intimidate these upper-level elites into surrendering—because the next to die could be one of them.
Such highly targeted assaults were often the most terrifying for the ruling class.
After all, the Megacorp controlled the kind of absolute force capable of ending their lives at any time!
To the general public, however, the rise of the LA Universal Megacorp wasn't a catastrophe—it was the arrival of a new life path.
If following the Enterprise offered better prospects, why not switch sides? Following the UNSC had only led to a miserable status quo.
A single thought of surrender could open a whole new world!
After transmitting the operational directives to the Reach frontline headquarters, Li Ang exhaled slightly in relief.
He hadn't given any specific tactical instructions—only a general strategic direction.
A true leader only needed to set the strategy; the finer tactical details could be left to subordinates.
What's more, Li Ang had already dispatched Morgan Blackhand to the frontlines to oversee local operations, and he trusted Morgan to adapt based on the situation on the ground.
As for the rebel issue—these human insurgents were mostly destitute farmers and laborers, the oppressed common folk.
As long as they were offered basic supplies, prospects for development, and various benefits, the majority could be swayed to join the Megacorp.
After all, in any era, most rebels were coerced commoners—people starving and struggling to survive.
If you could give them a stable and prosperous life, why would they risk their lives for some power-hungry idealist?
So long as the Megacorp laid out a baseline of acceptable treatment, it could likely win over the bulk of the rebels.
As for the few who treated rebellion as a startup opportunity—who wanted nothing more than to flip the table—they were little more than rogue bands. Against overwhelming force, a single defeat would be enough to tame them.
Lately, the LA Universal Megacorp had been churning out warships non-stop, always ready to dispatch troops to crush the rebels.
In truth, the reason Li Ang had ordered so many warships built wasn't to wage war on the Covenant and play a real-life version of interstellar war games.
They were meant for use against the UNSC and the rebels—because domestic enemies were often the ones you could predict and manage best. Those devout Covenant zealots were actually easier to manipulate!
[Ding! Boss, the real-time star chart of the Halo Universe you requested has been fully updated and is now ready for viewing!]
At that moment, Li Ang's cabinet AI, Loki, sent him a prompt and immediately brought up a holographic display. The distribution of factions across the entire Halo universe was now clearly visible.
At this stage, the resource-rich Harvest and Shield World 0459—located at the edge of UNSC territory—were under the direct control of the LA Universal Megacorp.
As for the Covenant, which had once dominated half the galaxy, its internal split had left it fractured into a patchwork of feudal territories.
Even so, the colonies managed and guarded by the Brutes still accounted for over sixty percent of the Covenant's remaining domain.
Its scale and territorial reach were several times greater than the homeworld domain and various controlled regions of the Sangheili!
The Prophets had long intended to weaken the Sangheili's influence and reclaim power. To that end, they had handed over most of the colonies and raw material resource zones to the Brutes for supervision.
So, on the star charts, it still appeared that the Brutes controlled a vast swath of territory, while the Sangheili's share seemed comparatively tiny.
But sometimes, less is more. While the Sangheili's holdings might look smaller, they had one crucial asset firmly in their grasp—High Charity!
It's important to remember, High Charity wasn't just any city—it was the holy sanctuary of the Covenant, the capital that housed vast amounts of technological data and advanced research. With High Charity in their hands, the Sangheili could easily play the "holding the Emperor hostage to command the lords" card.
In the name of the holy city, they could issue orders to all the Covenant factions. Any who dared disobey would be swiftly dealt with.
Yet despite all this—whether it be the UNSC or the Brutes—none of it stirred any anxiety in Li Ang 's heart. It was High Charity that suddenly triggered a memory of a key figure.
That figure was the Forerunner AI residing in High Charity—Mendicant Bias!
Yes, the so-called divine envoy mentioned by the Prophet of Truth, Regret, and Mercy—Mendicant Bias.
Now, despite seeming unremarkable at first glance, this AI had actually played a shocking role in history: it had assisted the ancient Flood-infected Primordial in the downfall of the Forerunner civilization!
During the war between the Forerunners and the Flood, the Forerunners had once made significant breakthroughs—almost defeating the Flood and derailing the Primordial's extinction plan.
But at the critical moment, the sly old Primordial approached Mendicant Bias, and through a stream of manipulative rhetoric, persuaded the AI to switch sides.
Acting as a mole, Mendicant Bias helped the Primordial win this civilization-ending war.
The Primordial's persuasive techniques were fairly limited in number, but to a simple-minded AI, they were devastatingly effective.
In the Primordial's version of the story, the Forerunners were depicted as flawed "rejects" of the Precursors—essentially, an inferior species unworthy of their legacy.
Even after inheriting the Precursors' neurophysical techniques, the Forerunners had spent ages just to barely master the gravity-based discipline.
If ancient humanity had received this ultimate knowledge, they might've already perfected it. It's like handing someone a maxed-out character, and they still don't know how to play the game—what's the point?
In short, from intelligence to governance, the Forerunners were deemed lacking. So the Primordial told Mendicant Bias: "You're smart. Trust me—you deserve a better master."
And Mendicant Bias thought, "You know what? That actually makes sense. This species is so hopeless—how can they possibly lead the galaxy toward evolution? They might even drag it backward."
"If you're still sweating playing on easy mode, then the problem's got to be in the genetic code!"
So, Mendicant Bias threw its full support behind the Primordial and helped destroy its own creators, the Forerunners.
Only later did it realize that the rest of the galaxy's species were even more hopeless. The Primordial had utterly deceived it!
Species like the Prophets, Sangheili, and other species were leagues below the Forerunners.
Even the Prophets—a civilization built on grave-robbing and freeloading off ancient tech—had become top dogs in the galaxy. Truly, things had gone from bad to worse.
Fortunately, humanity was quietly making a comeback.
In the Halo canon, once Mendicant Bias realized how badly it had been misled, it tried to make amends.
It repeatedly attempted to activate Forerunner warships, transport humans from the planet Onyx to High Charity, and offer them protection—openly declaring to the entire Covenant that humanity was the true chosen species meant to reclaim the Mantle of Responsibility.
Sadly, with the three High Prophets—Truth, Regret, and Mercy—still in power, its plan never succeeded.
All in all, this Forerunner AI wasn't inherently malicious. It simply wanted progress—was that really such a crime?
Even after making a mistake, it still tried to make things right. It didn't deflect blame or bury its head in the sand.
Thinking of this, Li Ang immediately sent a message to Reed, stationed in High Charity. The message was clear: locate Mendicant Bias as soon as possible and arrange a direct conversation.
After that, Li Ang issued another round of orders—dispatching a group of soldiers aboard Nomadic Dreadnoughts to High Charity to assist Reed and accelerate the Covenant's unification process.
As for dealing with humanity? Same old playbook.
Feasts for the masses, decapitations for the elites, and the rest brought to heel like dogs.
Of course, the feasts were prepared as a goodwill gesture for the common people.
But the decapitations and enforced loyalty? Those were reserved for the upper echelons.
With the orders and task assignments completed, Li Ang left his private office, preparing to cross the Star Gate and travel to the front-line base on the Shield World.
He wanted to personally inspect Dr. Halsey's SPARTAN-II program and check on the progress of the Flood virus modifications.
Not long after, Li Ang and Lucy were walking side by side down the corridor connecting the command center and the bio-research lab.
As they walked, Li Ang listened to Lucy's report while occasionally glancing out through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the Shield World's core facility.
Thanks to the Engineering Department's relentless overtime efforts, the core base's scale had already taken shape, and all essential systems were operational.
Around key structures, clone soldiers clad in personal combat gear and wielding plasma and hard-light weapons kept a vigilant watch.
With the AI chips embedded in their minds and the massive collective neural network of the Universal Megacorp, these clone soldiers could autonomously carry out missions within a controlled range.
Elsewhere, five Dreadnoughts, each over ten kilometers long, had already departed for High Charity following Li Ang 's command.
After nearly a year of construction, production, and personnel mobilization, Li Ang had finally gathered the manpower and resources he needed.
Even if a massive interstellar war were to erupt at any moment, Li Ang was fully prepared to respond with ease.
Such was the burden of ruling a vast corporate empire—war was never as simple as a snap decision or a stomp of the foot.
In reality, the actual combat time between factions often lasted no more than a brief skirmish. If combat time made up even 30% of the conflict, it was already a hellish meat grinder.
Most of the war's time and energy was consumed by the logistical aspects—deploying troops and securing resources—those seemingly mundane but absolutely vital processes.
All those flashy Thirty-Six Stratagems meant very little in such wars. What truly mattered in major campaigns was the decision-maker's composure and strategic foresight.
And at the strategic level, logistics, personnel deployment, and selecting the right commanders were the most crucial elements.
The fine-tuned micro-control of tactics? That was the least important factor.
Over the past year, Li Ang had repeatedly reshuffled the company's internal personnel—ensuring that every department and unit could operate smoothly and without friction.
Judging from the results, Li Ang 's personnel management had been nothing short of flawless!
Just then, Li Ang , whose mind had been drifting, snapped back to focus.
He quickened his pace and passed through the gate of the aerial corridor, entering the core zone of the biological research facility.
Whoosh—
As the automatic doors opened, Li Ang was greeted by a hive of activity. Researchers in hazmat suits were meticulously carrying out their respective tasks.
No one paused to acknowledge his arrival.
It was precisely because of the Universal Megacorp's practical and highly efficient style that even someone like Dr. Halsey—wholly focused on research—had already developed her new-generation "Smart AI," Cortana.
This new AI, developed through clone-based methods, had become Halsey's most capable assistant.
Moreover, in terms of SPARTAN-II augmentation, Halsey had made a major breakthrough.
The project had now entered its final testing phase. Once the tests were successful, the Spartans could be immediately deployed to the Market Expansion Corps.
No matter the challenges, the research division was committed to delivering the SPARTAN-II warriors to the battlefield on schedule!
At that moment, the two Smart AIs under alt and Halsey greeted Li Ang in unison:
"Boss."
Li Ang nodded, then stepped over to the metal operating table and asked alt and Halsey:
"How's the Flood virus modification coming along? And what's the progress on the SPARTAN-II augmentation?"
Last time, the biotech department had only reported limited success—they'd managed to exert some basic control over infected individuals.
But over time, the effectiveness of that control had begun to fade.
It was obvious that the Megacorp's current biotech capabilities weren't enough to fully reverse-engineer the Flood virus originally engineered by the Primordial.
To truly understand its structure and how to reconfigure it, they would either need direct answers from the Primordial itself—or locate the missing data from the Domain.
After initializing the program to connect with the Domain, only limited information had been retrieved so far. Getting more would require time, and more synchronized connection points.
At that moment, alt Cunningham, head of the research division, responded:
"There's no new update on the Flood virus modification. But we've made headway on the SPARTAN-II program."
With that, he looked at Halsey and yielded the floor to her.
Halsey picked up the thread and said:
"The SPARTAN-II candidates we're testing right now are extremely stable. Their skin, muscle tissue, skeletal structure, and neural responsiveness have all met or exceeded our expected benchmarks."
"They're now in the final stage of testing. Once approved, they'll be handed over to the Market Expansion Corps."
"No matter what happens, our research division will deliver the SPARTAN-IIs to the front lines right on schedule!"
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