Chapter 215: Whether a forced melon is sweet or not, she doesn't know, but it is certainly

"This is the true reason why I do not wish to accept your protection."

"I do not wish to accept the protection of an existence that will inevitably betray me in the face of greater interests."

"I personally believe it would be better for things between us to stop here."

"This is for your own good, as well as mine."

"Otherwise, sooner or later, we will become enemies."

Listening to this series of harsh words, Athena could not help but frown.

"It is impossible for me to betray my own people for the sake of interests."

Given the near-eternal lifespan of gods, the importance of credibility is self-evident; once trust is broken even once, credibility is lost completely.

From then on, no one else will believe you or continue to cooperate with you.

In fact, no matter what kind of scoundrels the Gods and Buddhas of Little Garden may be, they still care deeply about the most basic issue of credibility.

The longer one lives, the more one cares about their own credibility; after all, it represents even longer-term interests in the future.

Not to mention a God King candidate like Athena—if she were to betray her subordinates for the sake of interests, how could she ever gain their loyalty?

Interests are the most reliable yet also the most fragile of relationships; Athena understands this far more profoundly than Su Nian does.

"Oh? Is that so?"

Su Nian raised his head, looked at Athena's calm face, and said faintly.

"What would you say if I told you that the one who destroyed Arcadia back then was a Two-digit?"

Su Nian does not want to end up like Canary, and in this, Ouroboros is an enemy he must face, as well as the biggest stumbling block before him.

An ordinary Three-digit would not have the ability to shield Little Garden Central to violently destroy Arcadia.

And the only Three-digits capable of shielding Little Garden Central are those like Indra, who were once the founders of Little Garden Central.

But even for Indra, wanting to shield Little Garden Central would inevitably leave traces.

Combining the fact that the ultimate culprit's attitude toward the Cadres of Arcadia was exile rather than complete eradication, the person behind the scenes has an extraordinary relationship with Arcadia.

After excluding all interference, there is only one final culprit: Heitian.

If nothing goes wrong, after Su Nian disrupted Heitian's schemes, Heitian should be free to make arrangements targeting Su Nian.

Su Nian's existence is a huge threat to Ouroboros.

But who could blame Su Nian for having good luck? After Azi Dahaka was dealt with, Kalki was exposed, and Heitian's schemes were broken.

Moreover, that person from the Cross Religion was very accommodating, taking the opportunity to beat a dog in the water and seizing Heitian's position as the leader of Ouroboros in one fell swoop.

Both believe that Su Nian's threat level is high, but the ways Heitian and the Holy Son treat Su Nian can be said to be completely different.

The cunning of the guy who could teach a wise person like Canary is self-evident.

Su Nian does not think that his current advantages are enough to do anything to Ouroboros.

On the contrary, the arrogant Holy Son is easier to deal with; at least the Holy Son's moves are open and aboveboard, without the slightest attempt to hide his purpose.

Su Nian does not have the ability to compete with Heitian on the chessboard.

He is very clear about his own standing; he wins by relying on information gaps, and when facing Heitian, Su Nian dares not claim to have any information gap over her.

It would be normal for Heitian to surpass him in intelligence.

Athena's expression changed rarely, even appearing slightly distorted.

"So can you stop acting like everyone in Little Garden wants to harm you?"

You start off talking about Two-digits and Universal Truth—do you really think the Universal Truth is so idle and bored that it wants to target you?

If it really wanted to target Su Nian, Su Nian wouldn't even be able to appear in Little Garden safely.

Athena probably understood: Su Nian is in the late stages of persecution mania.

As for how she knows? Because she was once a severe sufferer of persecution mania herself.

Every single day, it was either Zeus wanting to harm her or someone else wanting to harm her.

As for how she recovered, it was when Zeus confirmed her as the Fourth Generation God King in public that she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She finally understood the attitude Zeus had toward her in the past.

She had the feeling of seeing the shadow of her own past "chuunibyou" phase in Su Nian.

But even when her persecution mania was at its worst, she never thought that Two-digit Universal Truths or Supreme Beings would target her.

Because there is no point; a single word from them would be enough to seal her death sentence.

Unless it is a top-tier Three-digit like Zeus or Indra, other existences are just slightly larger ants to a Two-digit.

"A mere Four-digit, no matter how much potential you have, or even if you are an Original Code Candidate, cannot possibly be worth a Two-digit taking action personally."

Athena took a deep breath, gradually calmed down, and said.

Su Nian's mouth twitched; if she knew what he had done now, she would know why he is so cautious.

Is this persecution mania? This is clearly just knowing exactly what kind of trouble he has stirred up.

If it were really exposed, then perhaps only if the Twin Goddesses personally stood on his side would he have a chance to escape unscathed, right?

But is Athena really targeting him?

Su Nian looked at Athena and sighed.

"Goddess Athena, let me be honest with you."

"We can engage in limited cooperation, or even an alliance to a certain extent. Consider it compensation for your care toward me."

Having said this, Su Nian said with a serious face.

"Between us, it really isn't suitable."

Could it be that your cooperation with Algol is suitable?

Athena looked gloomily at the Demon Star tied to Su Nian's wrist, which was faintly showing a mocking expression toward her.

He would rather cooperate with that Problem Child Algol, who has a foul mouth to the extreme, than cooperate with her.

Inexplicably, she felt as though she had lost a step to Algol.

If she were to retreat here, would it mean she had conceded defeat to Algol?

That, at the very least, was absolutely impossible!!!

"Right, Goddess Athena, I almost forgot about the flag of Perseus; you can return it to Aishiliya now."

"I did not undo Algol's seal."

As he spoke, a flag appeared in Su Nian's hand; this was the flag of Perseus.

As long as one held this flag, one could completely control Perseus and act in the name of Perseus.

Furthermore, the flag was inscribed with the heritage of Perseus.

Although Athena had, in a sense, originally sent the flag used to undo the seal of the Demon Star to him in order to protect him.

But Algol was unwilling to come out; to be precise, she was unwilling to come out through Athena's charity.

Of course, if she were begged by Athena to come out, that would be another matter entirely.

Athena arched her brows sharply and said coldly.

"There is no such thing as taking back what I have given away."

A mere Perseus plus a disobedient and uncooperative Demon Star—how much value could they possibly have?

On the contrary, the value of Su Nian, a Four-digit Boundary Spirit Grid Holder, was higher.

She did not feel pained by the loss of a Perseus, but she felt a trace of irritation at Su Nian's attitude and the faint mockery from Algol.

If she was not mistaken, Algol, who was still under seal, was already rolling around with joy.

"Oh."

Su Nian put the flag away without the slightest hesitation; he was, after all, a technical shareholder in Perseus.

Perseus currently had to pay him hundreds of millions of Thousand Eyes Gold Coins every month, so he was a bit reluctant to discard it just like that.

This action left Athena unable to say the words she had already prepared.

She was silent for two or three seconds, stared fixedly at Su Nian's face, and finally sighed.

"Very well, in the end, I was just too greedy."

She wanted to win over Su Nian to obtain the right to distribute the Merit for Absolute Evil that Su Nian possessed, yet she was unwilling to provide even the most basic protection.

Although she had also said that Su Nian would inevitably become a fourth-generation member of the Twelve Olympians in the future, it was reasonable for Su Nian to look down on that.

Compared to Su Nian's value, her contribution was indeed a bit lacking.

"As for cooperation, let us shelve it for the time being."

Athena was, after all, unwilling to lose a step to Algol, nor did she want to give up such a gold mine as Su Nian.

At the very least, maintaining a relatively friendly relationship with Su Nian was the best possible outcome; she did not want to be kicked out of the game during the upcoming Merit Feast.

So, in the end, it was profit that took the lead.

When did I become like this?

Athena asked herself in her heart.

In the end, I am no different from those Gods and Buddhas.

Is this the loss of humanity?

At this moment, Su Nian breathed a sigh of relief; it was for the best that Athena could give up her designs on him.

"However, I will attend tomorrow's banquet on time."

Athena narrowed her eyes and looked at Su Nian.

In all these years, no one had ever rejected her investment and protection in this manner, instead choosing to cooperate with that foul-mouthed Demon Star.

She, Athena, never admitted defeat; she was the Goddess of Victory!

She didn't know if a forced melon would be sweet, but it would certainly quench her thirst.

And it would surely make that vain creature Algol furious.

Just thinking about this made her feel much more pleasant.

Perhaps even Athena did not realize that, at some point, her reason for winning over Su Nian had shifted from Su Nian's talent and the benefits he could bring to the competition between her and Algol.

Just as Athena was unaware that the anchor maintaining her humanity now was Algol, or rather, the thrill of defeating Algol.

Because of the nature of Three-digit beings in Little Garden, every Three-digit being in Little Garden was equivalent in terms of Spirit Status, which resulted in the upper layers now evolving into a scene akin to a dark forest.

Coupled with the fact that Little Garden did not allow Three-digit beings to wage war at will.

The result was that Athena had never had a true opponent, one that would make her worth bringing out all her wisdom, all her strength, and fighting without scruples to defeat.

It was just like how the more powerful a game breaker is, the harder it is for them to find games and opponents that they can play to their heart's content.

Algol, who had once waged war against Athena, was just such an opponent whom Athena valued, even to the point of using any means necessary.

And then, just when Athena had everything fully prepared and was ready to have a war between goddesses with Algol.

Algol flopped; she was just like that, directly decapitated by Perseus.

The battle between the two goddesses ended in such a stupid way, which was something Athena could not accept.

Algol, you jerk, stand up for yourself; how could you flop so quickly?

Bring out the backbone you used to curse me, and the courage you had when you waged war against all the Gods and Buddhas alone.

Not having defeated Algol in a true, all-encompassing sense had become a mental illness for Athena.

Not to mention that it was the very first battle where she had established her name as the Goddess of Victory.

Therefore, she tried every possible way to defeat Algol in every aspect to make up for that original regret.

While reinforcing the seal on Algol, she was also looking forward to Algol breaking the seal and waging war with her once again.

——

"But speaking of which, Mata, it's been so long, why haven't we seen any information coming from Ares's side?"

Uesugi Kenshin opened a bottle of beer, took a sip, stood by the bridge, looked toward Mount Olympus, and asked curiously.

"I don't know, I'm a bit surprised too."

Mata picked up her beer, clinked it against Uesugi Kenshin's, and said.

"Logically speaking, Ares should have started a ruckus long ago, and Greece should have issued a statement by now."

"Why is Ares so quiet today?"

"Based on past experience, if someone mocked Ares like that, that mad dog would have come out to bite people long ago."

"But now that an Avatar is gone, Ares still hasn't reacted at all."

Uesugi Kenshin was stunned for a moment and asked with some curiosity.

"Was it suppressed? Or was he stopped?"

If Ares were really that quiet, it would be better for everyone to suspect whether something actually happened to him.

"The answer is that there is absolutely no news."

Mata smiled in surprise and said; as the person in charge of the Heavenly Army's intelligence, the extent of her information network was, in a sense, no lower than that of Thousand Eyes or Ouroboros.

Uesugi Kenshin fell silent for a moment and did not continue the conversation.

As for deeper speculations, they were not in a position to speak carelessly; as members of the Heavenly Army, they had to maintain absolute neutrality.

Uesugi Kenshin looked around at the Five-digit Communities who were anxiously discussing the situation and frowned.

"I just don't know when things ferment by tomorrow, and everyone knows that Arcadia killed Ares's Avatar."

"How many of this group of people who came to watch the show will be able to stay?"

"Wait, Uesugi, could this be Su Nian's true purpose?"

Mata was somewhat surprised and said with a suspicious expression.

"Could it be that Su Nian didn't want to host so many people at all, and wasn't prepared with a venue for hosting, so he deliberately caused trouble to drive a batch away?"

"No way, right?"

Uesugi Kenshin said with some astonishment.

"But my intuition tells me that this might be the truth."

(End of this chapter)