Sonia’s Plans

"But a hallucination would be fine too."

Then Sonia muttered as she flew toward Harvey’s figure and reached out to touch his mask.

"It’s solid…"

Feeling the real sensation beneath her fingers, Sonia murmured in disbelief.

As she looked at the figure standing so close before her, her mind seemed to short-circuit.

Seeing that Sonia’s first reaction was not anything else, but to think she was hallucinating—and even reach out to touch his mask—Harvey was somewhat speechless.

However, as the Void Cult’s review requirements had grown increasingly stringent, he now only contacted Sonia roughly once every three months.

"Sonia, go get yourself sorted out, then prepare breakfast for me."

With that in mind, Harvey did not fuss over Sonia’s current appearance and simply gave her an instruction.

"Mr. Kassadin, please wait a moment. I’ll be ready soon."

Sonia had initially thought she was hallucinating, but upon hearing that voice—one she could not have known more intimately—she quickly backed away several steps. Two clouds of red rose on her beautiful face as she spoke embarrassedly.

She had truly made a fool of herself just now, letting Mr. Kassadin see such an unbecoming side of her.

"It’s fine. Take your time."

Rarely seeing Sonia looking so embarrassed, Harvey gave her another glance and spoke casually.

Then Harvey’s figure left the basement.

How embarrassing… Mr. Kassadin actually saw me like that…

When Sonia saw the Void Black Hole appear, she knew that Mr. Kassadin had truly returned. Recalling what she had just done, her heart pounded wildly with embarrassment.

However, knowing that her work was important, Sonia took deep breaths to steady her heartbeat as she left the underground training ground.

After Sonia bathed, changed into another outfit, and lightly dressed herself up,

in less than half an hour, Sonia brought dish after dish of food before Harvey.

"Mr. Kassadin, welcome back. Please forgive my earlier impropriety."

Sonia gave a slight bow and directly apologized. Though she was embarrassed, she still had to acknowledge her reckless actions.

"You’ve managed Void Island very well. There’s no need to dwell on such a trivial matter."

Harvey knew Sonia’s serious nature. If he did not make it clear, she would certainly keep agonizing over it, so he offered her a word of praise before speaking.

"Thank you for your tolerance, Mr. Kassadin."

Hearing Mr. Kassadin’s words, Sonia finally felt at ease and stood quietly at the side.

As Harvey ate, he noticed Sonia stealing glances at him from time to time, looking as though she wanted to speak but hesitated.

"If you want to ask something, then ask."

Harvey felt somewhat helpless and spoke up.

"Mr. Kassadin, did something happen on Blue Star?"

"I heard that Mr. Tony Stark asked Mr. Renoli and the others for help."

After hearing that she could ask, Sonia voiced the question that had been troubling her.

She knew that Mr. Tony had a closer relationship with Mr. Kassadin. It was unlike the simple relationship of faith between a believer and a god; it was more like friendship.

Moreover, Mr. Tony was also extremely important to Void Island. He had brought Void Island enough money to develop and construct all kinds of facilities.

"It’s nothing major. The Chitauri are attacking Blue Star."

"Blue Star’s technological civilization has yet to enter the interstellar age, so it is difficult for them to deal with it. That’s why Tony found some helpers."

Harvey spoke as he ate the food.

"Why would the Chitauri dare attack Blue Star?"

"Could some major figure be backing the Chitauri?"

Sonia asked thoughtfully.

Since she knew that Mr. Kassadin had gone to Blue Star for leisure, Sonia had investigated Blue Star as well.

Thus, she knew very clearly that while Blue Star’s technological civilization was still very underdeveloped and in the early stages compared to the various civilizations of the universe,

Blue Star was protected by powerful god-level figures.

The Chitauri were rumored to be somewhat insane, but the planets they had attacked in the past lacked god-level powerhouses. They had simply chosen soft targets to bully.

Now that they dared attack Blue Star so confidently, they must have something to rely on.

And there were not many beings in the entire universe who could rival god-level powerhouses like that.

"You guessed right."

"But they won’t be able to cause trouble for the time being."

Harvey nodded faintly at her words.

"For the time being? Does that mean you intend to stay on Xandar longer this time, Mr. Kassadin?"

Sonia had originally been considering who the Chitauri’s backer might be, but hearing Mr. Kassadin’s words, she caught the implication and asked.

"Yes. I’ll stay for at least a year. As for exactly how long, I’ll see when the time comes."

Harvey glanced at Sonia, who seemed somewhat happy, and replied.

"That’s wonderful. With you stationed on Void Island, the Void Cult members will feel much more at ease as well."

Upon hearing that it would be at least a year, Sonia revealed an undisguised, sincere smile.

"What is Void Island’s current situation?"

Harvey asked.

"Since you did not give any particular instructions and instead allowed me to allocate the funds as I saw fit,"

"I gave it some thought and bought all twenty-seven islands across this vast stretch of sea near Starfall Harbor."

"Because…"

Sonia immediately brought up a projection, displaying the overall size of the islands as she explained her future plans to Mr. Kassadin.

The Void Cult had only been established for a few years, and Mr. Kassadin had no intention of directly conquering other worlds.

Naturally, the Void Cult members, Sonia included, had no intention of rashly sounding the horn of conquest.

However, since they could not conquer directly, they certainly could not catch up with some of the universe’s famous major powers in such a short time.

Such as Asgard, Olympus, the Xandar Empire, the Kree Empire, and so on.

However, Sonia deeply understood that towering buildings rose from flat ground, so she planned to gradually expand their territory and use gentler methods to strengthen their influence.

Moreover, expanding their territory was inevitable for Sonia.

That was because every Void Cult member consumed an enormous amount of food every day. Although they all traveled to different planets and were not always on Void Island,

when they returned, they still consumed huge amounts of food.

Therefore, only with a larger territory could they engage in farming and animal husbandry.

The foundation of becoming a true major power was establishing a cycle capable of internal production and consumption.

Although others stockpiled grain while they bought guns, and they could simply take things by force, endlessly plundering was not a solution.

Setting aside the Void Cult’s reputation—which was not something they needed to care about too much—there was the issue that it could easily breed the Void Cult’s dark side.

It would cause them to gradually lose their original humanity and become monsters who only knew slaughter, plunder, and devouring.

The third update is here.