Chapter 490 Unascertained Reasons

"I suggest, rather than focusing on the war, we should focus on the cause of such aggression towards us."

Dressed in a white suit, the man was addressing the makeshift war room. Being the President's assistant was challenging, especially in such tense times.

However, Jadyn was doing his job excellently. Unfortunately, the war room or the parliament was more interested in the war than removing the blinds covering their vision.

"I mean no disrespect to you, Jadyn. But what good will wasting our resources do to us?" Barry Denver, the defence secretary, interrupted, "There's a war upon us. If anything, we should be working to strengthen our defences!"

Most of the cabinet supported Barry, who proudly flashed his rotting bald head in Jadyn's direction. Unlike what the rest of the world believed, the undead were cursed by an unquenchable thirst for war. In reality, they would even put the werewolves' warmongering nature to shame.

That's why most of the war room wanted nothing more than to push the agenda of a battle. After all, they had been developing weapons for decades, and a conflict would be the best opportunity to test them in a practical situation.

The undead were confident in their technology. Until and unless alien forces appeared on the battlefield, their success was more or less guaranteed. So what was the point in delaying the conflict?

"It seems like you're forgetting something, Mr secretary." Jadyn asserted, "All the weapons and technology the cabinet is boasting about were present in the facilities that the terrorists effortlessly destroyed. If a mere group could do the unthinkable, what do you think would happen when there are thousands of them?"

Silence had never been louder in the parliament than at that moment. Thirteen top-notch facilities with all their 'revolutionary' equipment were demolished in hours.

Since most of the cabinet had royally invested in those facilities, their destruction was a sore topic among them. Jadyn knew it very well and decided to bring it up to knock the fools off their high horses.

Fixing his eyeglasses, Jadyn stared at the faces of the cabinet members. Not one of them had the look of confidence on their faces anymore. The iron was hot, and it was the right time to hammer the shit out of it. But there was a splinter stuck in the middle.

"Taking down an unprepared foe isn't a sign of strength or bravery." Barry scoffed, "Our enemy is skilled; there's no denying that. But if they were stronger than us, they wouldn't need to use cheap tricks to-"

"Wars are not won by demonstrating strength or bravery only," Jadyn interjected, "A body without a mind is nothing but unprepared dinner for your enemy. Taking down one's enemy when they are most vulnerable requires skills you meatheads will never possess."

Jadyn's words had angered everyone in the room, but none of them dared utter a word against him. After all, Jadyn was one of the President's closest aides, and nothing good will come from unnecessarily angering him.

"By exploiting our weakness, those terrorists have shown they are capable, unlike most freeloaders present here." Jadyn took a shot at the 'warmongers' by referring to them as 'freeloaders'.

"This is the arrogance that led to the destruction of our facilities. When will you learn to acknowledge an enemy's strength and treat them as a proper threat!"

With each word that came out of his mouth, Jadyn was crossing his limits. Ultimately, everyone feared the President and his children, not Jadyn himself. The latter shared the stature of a pawn compared to the rest of the cabinet had it not been for the President.

That said, Barry wasn't like the rest of them. He, too, was quite close to the President; that's why he was the only one who could openly oppose Jadyn.

"Fine, let's do this your way then."

Barry's words came as a surprise to everyone, even to Jadyn.

"What? Did I say something I shouldn't have?" Barry taunted, "Certainly, Jadyn has a plan, or else he wouldn't have suggested to dedicate ourselves to finding out the 'motivation' behind the workings of a terrorist organisation. Am I wrong?"

'So that's how you want to play?' Jayden thought.

Since Barry knew he wouldn't win against Jadyn when it came to a battle of minds, he shifted his tactics to using his words against him and then build up on it. It was a clever move, if not a bold one.

"Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment," All of the attention was now on Barry, "We have made enemies with everyone on this planet. let it be by infiltrating the land of those bloodsuckers or by causing havoc over at the kingdom of those wolves."

He continued, "Do you still think we need to focus on finding a cause? Just ask me; I can name plenty!"

The cabinet began whispering amongst themselves. It was true they were no saints. From attacking Lycania to secretly invading Vania, the undead had employed every dirty tactic to weaken their former allies.

This also meant there were plenty of reasons for someone to attack them. In other words, it was useless to consider finding a 'cause' and start working from there.

"That might be true," Jadyn responded, "however, do you think those primitives would ever be strong enough to destroy not one or two but thirteen research establishments?"

Jadyn's question was met with utter silence from the cabinet.

Barry's logic was sound, but so was Jadyn's. After everything the undead had done to sabotage the other species, there was no chance they could ever pull off something so daring against them. Who else could it be if it wasn't the vampires or the werewolves?

"Something more sinister than we think is happening in the shadows," Jadyn went on, "Although it's a bit of a stretch, I think we shouldn't exclude the possibility of outworldly species involved in this farce. The question is, why would someone of their stature involve themselves with an insignificant planet like ours?"