CHAPTER 199: CHAPTER 197: THE THEFT

In the face of this issue, Perfikot was, of course, aware that this was an omen of the impending apocalypse.

After all, the apocalyptic winter doesn’t suddenly drop the temperature by dozens of degrees; there’s a gradual process involved.

Though this gradual process is only relative—in reality, it compresses what should take hundreds or even thousands of years of climate change into less than a decade.

For the whole world, this change is still instantaneous.

But for humanity, it’s already considered a relatively long time, although it’s unfortunate that humans didn’t notice this change in time, resulting in a lot of wasted time.

Now, Perfikot has no choice but to try to single-handedly make up for lost time.

So, when faced with the crowd’s concerns, Perfikot could only confidently say, "No worries, I will solve these problems."

Hearing Perfikot say this, everyone took it as a matter of course.

No one would doubt that an alchemy genius at the peak of the Empire couldn’t solve mere blizzard issues, and if anyone did, it was only due to their lack of insight.

Everyone thought this way, naturally making the atmosphere suddenly lively.

The vast Northern Territory is like an unexplored blue ocean for the New Continent colonists. As long as the Empire develops the Northern Territory, they can take advantage of their geographic position to earn immensely.

Everyone believed this and had such confidence, which made them even warmer toward Perfikot, surrounding her and trying to make a deep enough impression so they could get the biggest share in the upcoming Northern Territory development plan.

However, for Perfikot, this was extremely torturous; she really disliked such aristocratic socializing.

Everyone wore false masks, and their enthusiasm and flattery were just put on to gain more benefits from her.

This made Perfikot feel disgusted and annoyed, but she had no choice but to maintain a similarly false expression to deal with these people whom she believed had no chance of surviving the apocalyptic catastrophe.

Yes, Perfikot didn’t think they would survive the apocalyptic winter.

Though they were big businessmen and industrialists theoretically possessing more opportunities to survive than ordinary people, to Perfikot, they were only useful to her now. When the apocalypse arrived, their usefulness would not even compare to a worker.

When the apocalypse truly hits, the old order will collapse, and money, power, and status will all become meaningless.

The Empire might retain its current framework post-apocalypse because of its initial investments, and some of the Royal Family, nobles, and new capitalists might survive, but clearly, it would favor the native real nobles and large capitalists more.

To put it bluntly and harshly, the so-called big businessmen and industrialists of the New Continent colonies in front of them don’t have high enough status, nor are they important enough to the Empire. What they currently own cannot help them survive this apocalyptic catastrophe.

Perfikot was fully and clearly aware of this.

Without her help, not many in the entire Empire would survive, let alone the colonies.

Perfikot was certain that as temperatures continued to drop, the New Continent colonies would soon face riots and unrest. Although her previous interventions suppressed the independence movement, it didn’t mean the social issues of the New Continent colonies were resolved.

They were just temporarily suppressed, and when the right opportunity arose, everything would erupt again.

And the apocalypse crisis was undoubtedly such a fuse capable of igniting everything, making it even more explosive.

Because, at that point, the Empire’s homeland, usually pressuring the colonies, would also collapse, and without the deterrence of the homeland, the suppressed contradictions and issues of the New Continent colonies would emerge.

Theoretically, after foreseeing all this, Perfikot should think of ways to solve the problems so that more people could survive.

Riots and unrest during the apocalypse, even rebellion and war, would kill many people, far more than under normal circumstances.

But Perfikot chose not to interfere.

The reason was simple: she couldn’t save so many people.

According to her plan, the Northern Territory in the future could keep only a few hundred thousand people alive, which was the maximum. Under the extreme cold of the apocalypse, neither food output nor living conditions in the Northern Territory could support more people.

Moreover, these hundreds of thousands might have to be dispersed across various settlements; otherwise, a large concentrated population would under extreme cold become a hotbed for disease and riots.

So to avoid putting herself under intense pressure and the Northern Territory as a whole, Perfikot could only choose to abandon more people.

This was something clear as day the moment she decided to save as many as she could. To save the most people, she had to abandon more people, even as she watched them die.

For Perfikot, this matter was unchangeable, and she wouldn’t waver in her belief over this small issue, but it still made her feel terrible, and she didn’t want to continue pretending with these people.

So casually mentioning she was tired from the journey and needed rest, Perfikot left the venue of the reception dinner held specially for her, found a guest rest room, and prepared to take a breather.

However, upon arriving at the rest room, she collided with a clumsy servant at the door.

Perfikot didn’t mind; her companion Claudia quickly came forward to pull the servant away without affecting Perfikot.

After the terrified servant apologized profusely, Perfikot had no intention to pursue the matter further, waving her hand to dismiss him.

However, after sitting down in the rest room and resting for a moment, she casually reached into her pocket only to find something missing—both her Golden Touching Rod and Flying Stone.

This immediately changed Perfikot’s complexion drastically, and she said to Claudia, "Go catch that servant, he’s a thief and took my things! Get the Governor to assist you!"

Upon hearing Perfikot’s words, Claudia’s eyes sharpened with a boundless fury rising in her heart. A thief daring to steal in her presence was a great insult to her.

And as Claudia sought out the Governor, the entire New Summer city descended into chaos once again.