"Your Highness, the Prince, we are on the verge of victory." The think tank used mystical Techniques to look at the intelligence that had been relayed back and stated directly.

The Prince breathed a slight sigh of relief. As the main person in charge of this grand expedition, he had faced the bad news of insufficient manpower and internal strife even before the expedition began, with only four teams participating. Although he appeared calm on the surface, he was always very tense inside.

At this moment, looking at the images that had been relayed back, he finally felt a sense of relief.

"Start preparing to publicize this great victory nationwide, and begin printing the corresponding newspapers. By tomorrow, spread this news to every corner of the Empire." He issued the orders to his subordinates without any room for doubt.

"Yes!"

"By the way, how is the situation with child mortality across the nation?" The Prince suddenly asked an inexplicable question.

At this moment, the advisor was taken aback, sweat dripping from his forehead, and said, "My apologies, Your Highness Prince, for a full 12 days, not a single child has been born successfully in the entire Empire, and no embryo has successfully implanted..."

The Prince furrowed his brow tightly but could only sigh and said, "You may leave. It may be that the Empire has been struck by a strange plague, but still, keep this information under wraps and relay it to me as quickly as possible."

"Understood!"

The Prince saw the information relayed back from the Land of Judgment, and a large stone in his heart vanished, but at this moment, another heavy stone began to take over his heart.

It was that, for some unknown reason, 12 days ago, there was a sudden occurrence of a large number of stillbirths among the newborns or soon-to-deliver pregnant women across the Empire.

In fact, this had not been an issue in the previous days, as not too many people paid attention, given that the Empire was still in the budding stage of industrialization, and it took several days for a piece of news to reach the entire Empire.

At most, it was only noticed by those with an interest, who thought some special plague or pollution had appeared, suddenly causing a highly elevated mortality rate among children during this period.

However, as time progressed, for a full 12 days, there were no more newborns in the entire Empire, and even children that had been halfway through gestation turned into stillbirths. Even if a child could be born, it often died again within a few days.

All this intensified as time went on. A few days ago, this situation was overlooked due to the grand expedition, but now, it was the Sword of Damocles hanging overhead.

Even in the Empire's hospitals, a rumor had spread.

That was, "The world is about to end, and we have lost the ability to bear children."

He naturally urgently arrested the rumor-monger and sent them to the military department.

But indeed, while this could suppress public opinion, in more than ten days, not a single child had been successfully born, which was abnormal for a nation of over a billion people.

To the extent that he, the Prince, even had the feeling of being cursed by God.

"Let's hope it is merely a disease or contamination..." he thought, as he dispatched a large number of people to investigate whether there was any unknown disease or contamination in the mothers of those stillbirths.

However, looking at the four teams that were instantly reduced in the ranks of the Demon Race, all of whom were taken down by Xue Dili alone, he also couldn't help but smile.

After all, it wasn't all bad news.

...

"Let's begin. I have a hypothesis; the genetic situation with the Demon Race is exactly the same as ours, and we are all duplicated rather than naturally born children," the real Mad Viscount said to the Golden Emperor.

"But actually, whether we are truly born naturally or created through special means, what difference does knowing this answer make?" The Emperor questioned his collaborator.

The Mad Viscount instantly looked at this founding Emperor of the Human Empire with a gaze that suggested he was a fool, feeling that this Emperor was just a figurehead promoted to the position, without any of the wise and brilliant decisiveness recorded by posterity.

He even somewhat doubted that his lifelong research into stably summoning the Emperor through a Technique was a mistake.

But he was ultimately an ally for now, and he explained, "Actually, it is crucial. We are like copies, so where is the original 'template' that we were copied from? Is it a God? If one day God reclaims their authority, or if God dies, where do we go from there?"

After the Mad Viscount finished speaking, the Emperor fell silent.

"Very likely, if God were to die, the entire world would instantly fall into infertility, and all of us would perish, with no new life being born. Within at most 50 years, the whole world would completely collapse." The Mad Viscount expressed his viewpoint.

The Emperor fell silent again. Although a farmer's son, his political awareness was not high, nor was his vision broad, but he could understand, just from the Mad Viscount's words, what kind of crisis the future of the Empire would face if his guesses were true.

"I also have another hypothesis. Actually, the Empire is already starting to face a fertility crisis, but due to the short time, it hasn't manifested yet." The Mad Viscount continued to share his speculations.

"Therefore, we need to find the Demon Race, or even capture them alive. I want to see if the genes of the Demon Race are the same as ours, ideally capturing a male and a female alive. If the genes are different, then I am thinking whether we can use the genes of the Demon Race to alter our reproductive crisis?" The Mad Viscount had even thought out a research plan for after the Holy Grail War,

"At that time, I will need you to reveal your identity and secure me enough research materials and resources."