Final Ending

After seeking opinions from the other disciples, Lu Yuanming agreed to Alfred's request, making him the only one who became a disciple without having heard Lu Yuanming's first sermon and, in fact, he also became the de facto deputy leader of the organization.

If going by the ancient history of Z-country that Lu Yuanming was familiar with, Alfred would be considered the equivalent of a Prime Minister, and specifically, the kind when the Prime Minister's powers were not curtailed.

On that day, Alfred convened all the disciples as well as Charlie and his gang. Firstly, he inquired about the disciples' areas of expertise and their professions in the material world. After some casual discussions about political small talk and jokes that only Americans would understand, with Lu Yuanming's consent, Alfred began distributing tasks on the spot.

The most important was the military system, divided into the Standing Defense Army and the Guard Squad. At present, there was only a framework. To Lu Yuanming's surprise, Alfred assigned Peter and Charlie's minions to the Standing Defense Army, while Charlie became the captain of the Guard Squad. In Lu Yuanming's opinion, it should have been Charlie and his minions joining the Standing Defense Army, and Peter, who was skilled in shooting, becoming his personal guard.

Then came the religious system. Alfred put six of the disciples into it, with Father Edward acting as the Pope of the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth, and all the personnel decisions within the religion were made by Father Edward himself.

Private tutor Marsha was responsible for diplomacy in the future and for accepting refugees at the current stage.

Keson was in charge of logistics and legal affairs.

Ang was tasked with tool repair and construction, as well as the future scientific domain.

Tom... this was the most astonishing to Lu Yuanming. After learning about Tom's situation from Father Edward, Alfred did not put Tom into the religious system as a puppet, but instead gave Tom a significant appointment.

Tom was in charge of anti-corruption and intelligence work, and he would bypass everyone, reporting directly only to Lu Yuanming.

Apart from controlling the overall situation, Alfred personally took care of agricultural affairs.

Furthermore, after consulting Lu Yuanming (who had no objections), Alfred established the organizational hierarchy, with the highest officials in each department being designated as ministers, followed by division-level positions, department-level positions, section-level positions, and then clerks, along with staff employed by the organization. Anyone below the rank of clerk was not considered a public official within the organization.

This was one of only two official duties Lu Yuanming received, namely the right to appoint and promote, or dismiss all public officials, including ministers.

The second duty Lu Yuanming obtained was command and control over the army. He had the authority to declare or end wars. In addition, military ranks were set, comprising both rank and position. Currently, Lu Yuanming was a Second Lieutenant, while Charlie and Peter were Sergeants, and Charlie's other minions were Corporals. The soldiers recruited later would all start as Third-Level soldiers, with the possibility of promotion to Second Level, First Level, and Private. As the number of troops increased, everyone, including Lu Yuanming, would automatically rise through the ranks, with future additions being rated based on their contributions and experience.

The military positions were simpler. Currently, with likely a recruitment of just over ten to twenty people, there was only enough for an enhanced squad. Hence all leaders were collectively referred to as commanders. As numbers grew, the positions would expand to include platoons, companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, divisions, etc.

After making these arrangements and explaining the details of these positions and ranks to everyone, Alfred said to them, "Father Edward is aware of my political family background. I belong to a political family, and you might say I have been a bureaucratic official for many years. Institution-building and politics are almost instinctive to me, but that's about it. In Earth's current conditions, I could live very well, as long as there is business, politics, personnel, public opinion, and conspiracies; I would thrive regardless. It's merely a matter of having a higher or lower starting point. However, in the turmoil of the apocalypse, I would just be drifting along, just like the first time you saw me, either slaving for some criminal group or ending up as a monster's prey."

Everyone listened thoughtfully, and Alfred pointed to the sky, saying, "That is the resemblance — for the sake of argument, we'll assume the material world is above — of almost all government officials from nations around the world. We are the so-called bureaucratic officials. This is not a derogatory term, as we are suited for modern, mature human civilizations, but once the environment drastically changes, we are by no means... sovereign rulers."

Alfred pronounced the last two words "sovereign rulers" in Chinese. Not caring whether anyone other than Lu Yuanming understood, he continued on his own, "So I boldly predict that if within three years the entire Earth comes crashing down, bringing billions of people here, after the initial chaos like inertia, the officials leading their respective nations and peoples, will still plunge humanity and civilization into infighting, truly turning this collection of human civilizations into a tomb of civilization. Because we are incapable of transitioning from fighting amongst ourselves to leading humanity holding torches in the darkness. The more people there are, the more complex the ethnicities and components, the more pronounced this situation will become."

Then Alfred addressed Lu Yuanming, "Master, I built this organization for you, took care of the logistics, and eliminated backstabbing within the organization. All other major directions are for you to decide. I believe you will be the one to bring us light in the darkness!"

Lu Yuanming's face showed bewilderment and disbelief as he pointed to his own face and said, "But I also don't know what to do next."

Alfred bellowed sternly, "Then ask more questions, ask yourself, ask me, ask all disciples, ask every member within the organization, even your enemies. If all else fails, trust your intuition. Remember, when you look back, countless people are silently following you. Even if a sheer cliff lies ahead, as long as you keep the torch raised high, bringing us light, we will follow you off that cliff without a second thought!"

Lu Yuanming, silent and awkward, scratched his head and then said to everyone, "Am I... the chieftain?"

Lu Yuanming did not use Chinese.

Without any hesitation, including Charlie, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

With power (miracles) and justice (food supplies) in his hands, along with a sense of civilizational identity (religion), he dealt with others honestly and was willing to lead the way in saving and finding a way out of this dark, apocalyptic world. This was what it meant to be a chieftain!

Seeing the disciples' unhesitant nods, Lu Yuanming could only say, "Then may I give it a try?"

Smiles appeared on everyone's faces, and right then, Lu Yuanming said, "So may I start deciding our organization's direction now?"

Alfred made a slight bowing gesture to invite, and Lu Yuanming said, "Currently, I can think of two things. First... the organization's official language shall be Chinese, and everyone shall learn Chinese."

Several disciples opened their mouths as if to speak, but in that moment Father Edward glared at them with eyes so threatening as if to take physical form, while Alfred immediately exclaimed in approval, "Good, the official language of the organization shall be Chinese, and the script shall be Chinese characters. However, the organization will not cut off the rest of human civilization's languages and scripts, as they are treasures of human civilization. They will simply not be used as official languages. This decision will be a permanent national policy for the organization!"

The previously unsettled disciples quieted down, but what they did not see was Alfred and Father Edward exchanging a look, seemingly communicating something with their eyes. It was only a moment before their gazes drifted apart again, a level of understanding developed over decades of acquaintance.

Lu Yuanming continued, "For the second point, I don't know what the future holds, but besides planting food, I think we should focus on eradicating the monsters in our surroundings and throughout the city. I've found that when I kill those monsters, there seems to be some change in the vegetative bodies when I return to my original form, and my soul also appears to strengthen. I'd like to help my body in the real world recover first."

This was actually Lu Yuanming's final concern. He had been open and honest about everything else, but the strengthening derived from killing monsters and gaining White Light Particles was unique to him alone, so he had previously chosen to conceal it. However, it was still a hidden danger, and he now planned to gradually resolve this issue in stages.

Once again, Alfred applauded, "Indeed, if we are to start large-scale farming, we must have a secure environment. However, Lord, these monsters cannot be completely annihilated. They actually stem from ourselves. I don't know exactly how they come into being, but according to the reports from the group of scientists, as long as humans continue to descend into the Dark Matter World, these monsters will keep being born from dark places. They just won't appear where a large number of dark matter humans reside. Therefore, I fully support the Lord's second decision. We need to establish an absolute defense circle for our organization!"

Aside from Alfred, other disciples naturally had a vested interest in security, and this time none opposed the idea; they all cheered in agreement.

Only then did Lu Yuanming breathe a sigh of relief, because the area around the bank had actually become safe and there were so many firearms. He was genuinely worried these people might no longer want to kill the monsters. If that were the case, his soul could not continue to strengthen.

Lu Yuanming looked at the many disciples before him. Led by Alfred, followed closely by Father Edward, and then the rest of the disciples—although Charlie was not a disciple in the literal sense, he also followed closely behind Father Edward. This effectively formed a hierarchy among the disciples.

Lu Yuanming spoke again in a soft voice, "Everyone... then I shall give it a try."

Alfred was the first to kneel, followed by Father Edward, and then the others. In unison, they chanted, "May the Lord's way be done on Earth..."

"As it is in Heaven!"