21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 860 - 854 Freemasons

Chapter 860 -854 Freemasons

Deciding to sell life to the Skull and Bones was a decision Chen Yu made after careful consideration.

Previously, Chen Yu was reluctant to engage in such dealings because he understood the lengths these powerful elites would go to once they discovered he could both extract life from others and extend it for them. Their desperation to prolong their existence could lead to actions that defied morality and ethics.

But after thinking it over, Chen Yu realized he was too narrow-minded.

Indeed, human greed and selfishness drive people to commit acts that violate moral principles and even the very boundaries of humanity, all for a few more years of life. But that premise only holds if they can obtain life through such means.

However, with Chen Yu controlling the source, ensuring these elites could only acquire life directly from him, as long as he himself refrained from unethical actions, there was no harm in it.

Moreover, the life Chen Yu extracted and refined didn’t necessarily have to come from humans.

For instance, of the two bottles of life he’d brought out, one was indeed extracted from the previous U.S. Special Envoy, but the other had been taken from a cow he’d found.

To a Necromancer, the essence of life was fundamentally the same. Humans could provide life energy just like animals could, and in terms of sheer size, larger animals could offer far more life energy than humans.

So, once he reasoned this out, Chen Yu no longer resisted the idea of selling life. Instead, he saw it as a weapon he could wield.

After all, compared to curing cancer, directly extending life—or granting immortality outright—was an irresistible temptation for those elites who had lived long but still hadn’t lived enough. freewebnoveℓ.com

Chen Yu could even use this as leverage to control these elites, since their lives would be entirely under his command.

As he entertained these thoughts, Chen Yu couldn’t help but feel a sense of evil—or perhaps, for the first time, he truly embodied the traditional image of a Necromancer.

But upon deeper reflection, Chen Yu found that it didn’t seem problematic at all. The morality of an act often depended on its purpose. If the goal was just, even inherently “evil” methods weren’t truly evil as long as they weren’t wielded to cause harm. At least, that’s how Chen Yu saw it.

Besides, this approach would enable him to achieve the otherwise impossible modernization upgrades for the Ship-girls’ hulls. Why shouldn’t he embrace it?

As for the strife and casualties that might emerge from people fighting over the life he sold, or the turmoil it might cause—what did any of that have to do with Chen Yu?

You couldn’t blame someone for selling kitchen knives just because someone else decided to use them to kill, could you?

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The two representatives from Skull and Bones didn’t receive the two bottles of life directly, but they had already obtained what they came for. Their next task was to relay their success back to their domestic base, where the true decision-makers—the ones who truly needed the life—would finalize the transaction.

After all, at the end of the day, they were just messengers. Their purpose in coming was solely to negotiate and convey goodwill. If Chen Yu had handed the two bottles directly to them, this would have raised suspicion.

Besides, the two men didn’t believe they could resist the temptation of gaining an additional twenty years of life. Yet they were keenly aware that using those two bottles might mean they wouldn’t survive past three days.

Still, the allure of living an extra ten or twenty years—who could resist that?

At the very least, after they delivered the news back home that life could be purchased from Chen Yu, the high-ranking elders of Skull and Bones had plunged into utter madness. Without even attempting to negotiate, they directly agreed to the price Chen Yu had set and expressed a desire to buy even more life.

When Chen Yu requested their help in modernizing two World War II-era Aircraft Carriers, these true decision-makers within Skull and Bones agreed without hesitation.

Concerns about whether this would lead to leaks of U.S. military technology or harm the nation’s interests had completely fallen by the wayside for these aging elites desperate for a few extra years.

To them, the United States was merely a tool for their personal gain. If that tool ever interfered with their interests, they wouldn’t hesitate to exchange it for a more useful one.

Besides, wasn’t the interest of the United States simply their interest?

With this shared understanding, even though Skull and Bones hadn’t determined who within their ranks would use the life, their collaboration with Chen Yu was already solidified. In fact, professional technicians from their affiliated shipyards had already boarded private planes bound for Japan to evaluate the upgrades Chen Yu wanted for the warships.

However, such significant moves by Skull and Bones, no matter how secretive, were still detected by another equally powerful secret society: the Freemasons.

Given the comparable levels of intelligence held by both organizations, the Freemasons quickly deduced that Skull and Bones had reached a deal with Chen Yu. This enraged the leaders of the Freemasons, who simultaneously increased pressure on their own emissaries while pondering how to address this new development.

They had considered sabotaging the deal between Chen Yu and Skull and Bones to seize the goods for themselves. But this idea was swiftly dismissed right after it was proposed.

After all, the life Chen Yu provided wasn’t something they could use just once. If they wanted to continue purchasing life from Chen Yu in the future, they clearly couldn’t afford to offend him.

If their actions to disrupt the deal caused Chen Yu to view the Freemasons negatively and refuse to engage with them, it would be the last thing these aging elites would want.

As for coercing Chen Yu—this was entirely out of the question. Setting aside the question of whether the Freemasons even had the power to threaten a Demigod, these elders were too terrified of death to take such a risk. What if Chen Yu tampered with the life they purchased and they died immediately? Who would bear the consequences then?

Money and power were abundant, but lives were singular. Compared to infighting with Skull and Bones, securing access to life from Chen Yu was far more critical.

Moreover, no one had claimed this transaction was a one-time affair. If Chen Yu could consistently supply life, it made more sense to simply buy it outright. Why resort to robbery?

For the elders within the Freemasons, the notion of eliminating Skull and Bones to monopolize power had long been abandoned. In today’s world, cooperation was the key to mutual success; organizations hell-bent on ruling alone were destined for short-lived reigns.

Over the years, despite being rivals, the Freemasons and Skull and Bones had maintained a strange coexistence. Their opposition wasn’t rooted in the desire for each other’s complete annihilation, but in a mutual effort to survive side by side.