Lacus stood gracefully with her swan-like neck held high, poised like a pristine lotus as she gazed at Wang Hu.
Wang Hu didn't rush her either, quietly watching and waiting for her response.
For a moment, the Archangel's hangar was filled with a tense, murderous atmosphere. The clash of auras between the man and woman made all onlookers feel suffocated.
"Is peace not good? Is it worth it just to determine right from wrong?" After a long silence, Lacus decided to take a risky gamble.
As the saying goes, one can exploit a gentleman's principles. If Wang Hu were a soldier of the Atlantic Federation, or at worst the Eurasian Federation, after he uttered such terrifying threats in such a calm tone, she would have weighed whether to simply go along with his words.
Politicians—their bottom lines are always flexible.
But wasn't Wang Hu a soldier of the East Asian Army?
A soldier of the East Asian Army with high moral character.
And she was a woman—a beautiful, harmless woman. This gave her an illusion: even though he had spoken the classic warning, "do not say you were not forewarned," Lacus still wanted to bet that his upbringing would prevent him from bullying a weak woman like her.
"Ha." Wang Hu laughed. Li Chengzhi, who knew Wang Hu well, was certain this laugh was one of exasperated amusement.
"Brother Wang Hu?" Kira awkwardly forced a smile, thinking his elder brother Wang Hu had cooled down.
Just as he was about to say something to ease the tension and quickly send Lacus away, Wang Hu suddenly threw a fierce punch into Lacus's belly, where her clothes were tucked.
"Ah." Lacus groaned in pain.
"Thud." The force from Wang Hu's punch sent her crashing against the hangar's hard wall.
"Let's keep it simple—we're all intelligent people here."
The sturdy soles of his shoes creaked against the floor as Wang Hu coldly strode over to where Lacus knelt on the ground, her pitifully beautiful face lifted toward him.
"The answer I want is simple, isn't it?"
Holding up two fingers, Wang Hu spoke coldly to Lacus.
"One, we fight to the death until one side is completely defeated."
"Two, one side surrenders unconditionally. Don't bother arguing about who's right or wrong. After the April Fools' Crisis happened, the door to peace talks was welded shut by PLANT and the Atlantic Federation working together."
"Coordinators have a small population base. The blood debt of over 200,000 lives has become a nightmare hanging over your heads."
"But for us, with our vastly larger population, the debt of one billion lives isn't something we can just forget."
Staring blankly at Wang Hu, who showed no mercy and hadn't hesitated to punch her, Lacus felt a pain that cut deep into her bones—not physical, but spiritual.
The exceptionally clever Lacus realized one thing: the saying among people, "don't push an honest person too far, or they'll do anything," was indeed true.
But faced with the two options Wang Hu presented, she was unwilling to choose either—and couldn't choose either.
Because regardless of which answer she chose, once the decision was made, Lacus and her father would have no place left to stand in either PLANT or the Earth Sphere.
Looking back at the actions of Lacus in the original history—the so-called Klein Faction—and seeing through the fog to grasp the essence, the entire Klein Faction was nothing but a group of sanctimonious fence-sitters!
During the First War, the Klein Faction loudly chanted slogans of peace, spouting politically correct rhetoric that no one could refute on moral grounds.
But what did they actually do in practice?
The April Fools' Crisis involved indiscriminately launching Neutron Jammers across the Earth Sphere, causing over a billion casualties and incalculable material losses.
Don't even try to argue that it was due to public fervor or that it was Patrick who single-handedly pushed for it, and that Chairman Clyne couldn't stop it.
At that time, although the old international organizations had collapsed due to the Copernicus Tragedy on February 5, CE 70, and the newly formed Earth Alliance by the Atlantic Federation had declared war on PLANT, followed shortly by the Junius 7 Tragedy, the fact remains that the East Asian Alliance and the Eurasian Federation had not actually deployed troops at that point.
As the one who suspiciously avoided the Copernicus Tragedy, Clyne did not choose to exclude the East Asian Alliance and the Eurasian Federation from the scope of the attack targets.
First came the "Black Clothes (Mourning) Declaration of Independence," followed by "Chairman Clyne's Active Neutrality Advice." Yet, the attack targets within the Earth Sphere even included the neutral nations he had urged to remain neutral.
As the top authority in PLANT at the time and a seasoned politician, was Chairman Clyne really incapable of making such a basic choice?
Or perhaps he underestimated the actual destructive impact of the Neutron Jammers on the Earth Sphere?
Alright, let's set that aside for now.
When the lethality of the Neutron Jammers finally dragged the East Asian Alliance and the Eurasian Federation into the war, the Klein Faction's subsequent actions were equally baffling.
Once the war started, everyone should have united to fight. Politically, calling for peace and seeking negotiations as a tactic is acceptable.
But without reaching any tacit understanding with the factions within the Allied Forces—whether the East Asian Alliance or the Eurasian Federation—nothing substantial could be guaranteed.
Just as PLANT's new round of elections was about to begin, the Klein Faction continued to spout empty slogans and, as expected, lost the chairman's seat.
Then came the masterstroke: Clyne, the former top Coordinator, suddenly transformed into PLANT's foremost underground anti-war figure!
He even became a wanted criminal and a traitor!
Oh, and the reason for this?
It was because Lacus handed over the nuclear-powered mobile suit secretly developed by the ZAFT Forces, equipped with an anti-Neutron Jammer, to Kira Yamato, who at the time was still a member of the Allied Forces.
Just think about it. Ponder it carefully.
Putting aside the perspective of PLANT, from any standpoint, the Klein Faction's actions were undeniably treasonous.
Even the Earth Alliance Forces couldn't make sense of what the Klein Faction was trying to achieve.
Were they opposing just for the sake of opposition?
If the Freedom Gundam piloted by Kira had fallen into the hands of the Allied Forces, unlocking the power of nuclear energy earlier than in the original history, didn't the Klein Faction consider the danger that an enraged Atlantic Federation Army would pose to PLANT itself?
Of course, if we consider that Clyne, as the former foremost Coordinator, aimed to achieve strategic parity through deterrence, this move might make sense.
But another question arises: the construction of Genesis began even earlier, before Clyne fell from power.
For strategic deterrence to be effective, both sides must be aware of each other's capabilities.
However, until Clyne's death and until Patrick launched Genesis, the Allied Forces remained completely unaware of its existence.
Could it be that Clyne, then Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council, remained ignorant of Genesis's construction until his death?
Such a massive project, with enormous resource investment.
PLANT, being a cluster of Satellite Colonies with limited scale, was in a state of war—resource and personnel allocations should have been under the strictest oversight.
Could Chairman Clyne really have been kept completely in the dark about such a significant undertaking?
Thus, the absurdity of the First War unfolded.
The Klein Faction had the capability to deliver the Freedom Gundam, the ability to seize the battleship Eternal, yet they failed to warn the Earth Alliance in advance.
The Three Ship Alliance first rushed to intercept the nuclear missiles launched by the Allied Forces toward PLANT, then turned around and destroyed their own Genesis, which could have secured victory.
To put it in extremely harsh terms, whether the Allied Forces wiped out the Coordinators or the Coordinators annihilated the Naturals, the war between Naturals and Coordinators could have ended right there.
But due to the actions of the Klein Faction, without resolving any fundamental issues, the war came to an abrupt halt.
Lacus's Three Ship Alliance inexplicably became the heroes who ended the war.
In reality, both sides were exhausted, and in the face of stimuli like nuclear weapons and Genesis, neither could guarantee what might happen next. So they cooled off and decided to wait and see.
The general public, unaware of the details, only saw that thanks to the Three Ship Alliance's efforts, the Allied Forces and ZAFT Forces ceased hostilities.
Little did they know that, reasoning backward from the outcome, if the Klein Faction had exposed the inside story early on, these extreme events might never have occurred.
Reveal the Allied Forces' nuclear arsenal and expose ZAFT's Genesis—the iron curtain of Cold War would descend, with neither side daring to take the first step toward mutual destruction.
Over time, a grudging reconciliation might not have been impossible.
Yet the Klein Faction refused to take this optimal course of action!
Precisely because the world is not short of clever people, Lacus and her companions, despite receiving unprecedented acclaim, ultimately had to take refuge in the Kingdom of Scandinavia.
Their actions in the Second War were even more perplexing.
Regardless of the feasibility of the Destiny Plan, just as Durandal had found scapegoats and was about to clear all obstacles—at the peak of his popularity—what was the fatal flaw Lacus first attacked?
It was Durandal's use of Mia, the imposter.
But one point is undeniable: Lacus had known about Mia's existence as an imposter for some time.
So why didn't she come forward earlier?
Lacus hadn't just begun her activism when she exposed Mia as an imposter. Long before that, under her direction, the Archangel had been attacking both sides in the conflict under the pretext of ending the war.
Where there is war, there is the Archangel, indiscriminately attacking both sides of the conflict regardless of reason or right and wrong.
Its goal is to forcibly end wars by rendering both sides incapable of fighting.
Who do they think they are?
Deities presiding over humanity's destiny?
It should be noted that later, Lacus criticized Durandal on one point:
She said Durandal saw himself as a deity on a high platform, dictating humanity's fate, and that humans should not stifle their own future.
But then, isn't Lacus' attitude toward both warring factions also treating herself as a deity?
A deity powerful enough to judge all of humanity!
In the end, did she not ultimately use overwhelming violence to suppress all opposing voices in the world?
Using Kira's Strike Freedom and Athrun's Infinite Justice to silently threaten the entire world.
Ultimately, the Klein Faction represented by Lacus lacked the ability to solve problems from beginning to end.
Or to seriously shoulder all responsibilities and bravely face the risks those responsibilities might bring.
And thus attempt to solve problems regardless of whether the outcomes would be good or bad!
"We can't delay any longer."
After a long silence, when Kira almost mistook the standing Wang Hu and crouching Lacus for stone statues.
Li Chengzhi stepped forward and broke the deadlock.
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