Chapter 348: 4 Goals (3)

At the moment, my Spiritual Level had already reached seventy year-units, and my Spiritual Activity had hit 83%.

And this was just the initial value. My potential was clearly not yet exhausted, and it would continue to rise over the next few days.

‘Is the fission technology Lu Neng mentioned the reason for this?’

Meeting everyone’s gaze, Lu Neng continued, “And to get back to the question you all just raised: how do we deal with those guys who, admittedly, seem really powerful right now?”

“It’s quite simple, really!”

“We just need to grow until we’re strong enough to take them on, don’t we?”

“And in the Mysterious Circle, if you want to grow, there are two things that matter most…”

“Resources, and…”

“…”

This time, Wei Lan jumped in, whispering, “Knowledge!”

Lu Neng nodded with a grin, raising his glass to her in a silent toast from across the room. Then, he chuckled. “So what are you all still worried about?”

“When it comes to knowledge…”

Wei Lan couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement. She murmured, “Our greatest advantage right now is Stealing knowledge…”

She looked up at Han Su. “I don’t know how you did it, but frankly, ever since I discovered we could travel to another timeline, a great deal of the despair I felt during Qinggang’s annihilation has faded.”

“I came to Giant Horn City and met its Emperor, Miss Fatih. I learned many secrets from her.”

“We even made a verbal agreement that if I’m willing to pay enough gold coins, I can obtain some of the hidden knowledge and secret intelligence held by the Queen’s Organization in Giant Horn City…”

“When we return to our original timeline, the gold coins will be back in my possession, but the intelligence will remain.”

“We can travel between timelines, accumulating useful knowledge…”

As she considered this, her face took on a composure that couldn’t quite hide her girlish excitement. “I can hardly imagine… if I Master enough intelligence and knowledge, what my chances of becoming an Alliance-level Empress will be when I compete for the next level.”

Han Su could Understand her excitement and nodded slightly.

Beside them, Lu Neng also nodded along with a friendly smile, though inwardly he was thinking, ‘What are they talking about?’

‘Aren’t we just supposed to be scouting locations and gathering intel in this timeline, then going back to our familiar one to make a score?’

“If we’re going by that logic, then setting up my lab should be a piece of cake…”

Rong Qiyue’s gears began to turn as well. He said blankly, “I could just steal everyone’s research findings in this timeline, then go back and claim I did it all myself. If anyone notices a resemblance, I’ll just deny it, right?”

A sudden possibility lit up his face, and he looked at Han Su in excitement. “Can’t you try to send us further back in time? That way I can steal other people’s achievements and pass them off as my own…”

“?”

Han Su instinctively glanced at Rong Qiyue. “Isn’t that a little too shameless…?”

Rong Qiyue gave a dry laugh. “Just kidding, we have principles…”

His eyes darted about, his thoughts unreadable.

“Ideas like that are more than welcome!”

As the discussion reached this point, Han Su felt some of the gloom in his heart lift. He looked up and said, “Everyone, the battle that annihilated Qinggang was certainly enough to show us the gap between ourselves and those people, but in a way, we’re also quite lucky…”

“At least we have some breathing room now, don’t we?”

“But I have to be honest with you all—we don’t have much of it.”

“For my part, escaping the Ancient Castle time and again has given me more experience. To a certain extent, I can even control how long I stay in the present. However, the intervals before the Ancient Castle pulls me back are getting shorter and shorter.”

“If we calculate based on the interval shortening with each Flash…”

He paused, then offered a number. “In two months, at most, the interval will shrink to zero!”

“I don’t know what will happen when it does!”

“So, everyone, let’s cherish the time we have and gather as many bargaining chips as possible!”

“…”

‘This was a problem that had been weighing on his mind. He could now use the first Mechanical Fragment to delay or advance the onset of a Flashing, but the interval itself was undeniably shortening. His time in the present was already down to less than eight days.’

‘And if this trend continued, the interval would inevitably shrink from eight days to seven, then from seven to six and a half, six, five and a half, four, three, two, one…’

‘And finally, to zero!’

‘When that happened, something unexpected was bound to occur.’

“Only two months?”

This answer made everyone, who had just begun to feel a stir of excitement, freeze with a jolt of horror.

It felt like a period of time that would pass in the blink of an eye…

In the Mysterious Circle, an Investigator sometimes needed more than two or three months just to look into a single incident. An archeology specialist from a Hidden School would plan their experiments in terms of months, or even years.

What could possibly be accomplished in just two months?

“That’s more than enough time…”

Amid the oppressive silence, Lu Neng picked up the wine bottle, topped off everyone’s glass, and smiled. “We rebooted the entire world, brought the dead back to life, and made the destroyed Qinggang reappear—all in the blink of an eye.”

“And now, we’re the only ones who know about this incredible power. With over two months, what is there that we *can’t* do?”

“So tell us!”

He said, turning to Han Su, “What do you need us to do!”

‘Looking at Lu Neng’s smiling face, Han Su couldn’t help but relax. It was the same back in the Ancient Castle,’ he thought. ‘This guy isn’t the best fighter, nor is he the smartest. He isn’t even the most obedient of the top-tier companions I chose.’

‘But he always seems to be the most relaxed, no matter the situation. Looking at his smile now, I feel a little of it rubbing off on me.’

Nodding slightly, he slowly held up four fingers. “First, we need to improve ourselves, by any means necessary!”

“Second, Understand our enemies, but also find our friends.”

“Third, we need clues related to the Emperor—all of them. Our hope for fighting back against those nobles may lie there.”

“Fourth, conduct a hunt. Help me verify something. If the verification is successful, then investigating the Knight bloodline will also become a key mission for us…”

“…”

RUMBLE!

As Han Su’s fourth finger fell, the air in the night sky outside suddenly seemed to compress. The windows began to hum, and an inexplicable pressure filled the room.

Everyone mulled over the four paths Han Su had laid out, their minds instinctively branching out as they considered which one suited them best.

Among them, Wei Lan’s expression was the most relaxed. She gave Han Su a smiling glance before sweeping her gaze over the others.

‘These boys, who only know how to fight and kill, are finally learning how to divide labor and use their heads.’

‘Because she was the first to be awakened, she had used the resources of the Queen’s Organization to contact every one of the “children” from the Ancient Castle. She knew each of their strengths.’

‘Back in Qinggang, they had all relied on brute force, which was fundamentally the wrong approach. You couldn’t expect every single person to possess terrifying combat strength. Finding the right path was the true key to victory.’

‘She, for instance, quickly realized which of these problems she could help solve.’

Rong Qiyue also pondered for a moment, and his eyes lit up. That familiar air of confidence and arrogance returned to his face.

Only Lu Neng remained silent, slowly swirling the liquid in his glass. He didn’t rush to speak, but instead looked at Han Su and said slowly, “Before we divide up who’s responsible for what, I have one more question for you…”

“You said it yourself—those ancient nobles created this plan to stop the arrival of the Tide. If we resist and cause their plan to fail, then what about the Tide that’s supposed to destroy civilization? What’s the plan for dealing with that?”

“…”

Han Su turned to look at Lu Neng, sensing a faint challenge in the other man’s eyes.

Even Wei Lan and Rong Qiyue sensed the shift and turned to look.

Han Su was silent for only a moment. Then he looked coolly at Lu Neng and said flatly, “Like I give a fuck?”

Lu Neng froze for a second. Then he suddenly set down his glass, slowly rose to his feet, and placed a hand over his chest in a light bow toward Han Su. He grinned and said, “Impressive, boss. Whatever you need, just say the word…”