However, if it hadn’t been for himself this time, Yang Zicang certainly wouldn’t have been so determined to leave.
Even though his model was not lost.
But if he himself made a concerted effort to compensate, maybe he could mitigate the threat a little?
In that call to the future, the vague explanation given by her future self about Julia seemed to indicate that within those three years, her future self had already found Julia and knew about her current situation.
Now, information about Julia has emerged.
Morrie looked at the handful of Sequence Coins left in his own hand.
“In another future, I probably had a harder time, wasn’t so happy, and likely didn’t have this many Sequences…”
“Maybe in that future, Boboli also designed something like this, perhaps he’s already met up with Yang Zicang.”
Morrie heard the light sound of footsteps from outside the door.
A buzzing voice came from outside the door:
“Brother Morrie, well… I’ll head over now. Later on, Yang Zicang and I will come out to see you often. That link he has, the Lost Engine of Thought can get from the company back to the Frequency-Loss Lands, just like going home.”
“Alright, you train hard over there too. In the future, you’ll be our big money guy.”
“Haha, I already am.”
Buzzing laughter came from outside the door.
After another quiet moment, the footsteps finally moved away. Morrie heard the sound of packing luggage from next door.
Somehow, Morrie felt a heavy panic in his heart, even though it should have been just the time to meet Julia.
Even that woman—the one he deeply loved—had been tormented by the dangers of this world, scared into a state like autism, unwilling to speak, her gaze dull and vacant.
But as long as I showed up and watched over her, she would get better, right?
In the latter part of the night, a folded beam shot in. The images of Hall and another foreigner appeared before the tunnel of the city wall.
{Mr. Morrie, are you ready?}
[Have you really secured my entry permit?]
{Rest assured, for just five thousand Sequences, you can swap in and take a return spot.}
Morrie nodded; in fact, he had already asked Zhu Yin.
For those who enter the Hub Town but end up unable to return due to prolonged stays or accidents, it takes just five thousand temporal units to have a team from the same city remove a member who has secured a stable A-level space but hasn’t entered the Hub Town, allowing the stranded person to use that spot to return to the city.
But Morrie still asked worriedly:
[Julia, have you really already brought her over?]
{Heh, Mr. Morrie, I wouldn’t dare deceive you. Don’t worry. As you saw earlier, Miss Julia is being well taken care of by us.}
The other person also said:
{Come on, don’t hesitate, Mr. Morrie. Our captain is very much looking forward to your arrival. In this place full of yellow-skinned people, we should stick together. With you joining us, our team will only get stronger.}
[Well… alright.]
To accommodate him, they had even specially stabilized another A-class Intersection Zone this month and arranged for a team member to vacate a spot for his return.
Morrie was somewhat moved.
“Since this is the destined team for the future, I might as well go along with my fate.”
He pulled out the already-packed suitcase from under the bed and glanced at the statue by the bedside.
“Zi Cang, from now on, you will be the one in charge of the Piao Ming Group.”
[I begin to relinquish control over the blood resonance statue.]
[I have transferred the resonance authority to Yang Zi Cang, a member of the team “Piao Ming Group.”]
[I, the Mysterious Triangle, have lost the statue.]
Click. The door opened softly, and Morrie glanced at the extinguished light in the room next door, which belonged to Liang Xi.
After a moment’s thought, he turned back, picked up a pen, and wrote a note.
—Dear young Mr. Liang Xi. Thank you for your care over these past few days. On the phone call toward the future, the “people from the team I will belong to in the future” have found me. And the catalyst for our meeting is my fiancée. Yes, she has already been located by these future teammates of mine.
—Her condition is very grim, and that team’s situation is only moderate; they need me. So, I have decided to heed my future.
—If Yang Zicang returns, tell him that the three years he disappeared on the phone call might be where he is now, and tell him not to resign. Stay there, and focus on developing himself.
—Thank you once again. Farewell.
He set down a Born Treasure imbued with 9999N, letting it weigh down the paper. Then, he gently pushed the door open, quietly picking up his suitcase and heading out.
In the dark room, Liang Xi, who had been staring wide-eyed, heard the door close and immediately got up, opened his door, and rushed to the living room.
Gazing at the dark, empty villa, Liang Xi whispered as he activated the Modal Aura on his chest.
“Just as Brother Li Mi said! This unreliable big brother has made a run for it!”
……
[I have become the Master of the Blood Resonance Statue for the team “Pumo Group.”]
[I saved 100N.]
Yang Zicang, who had been meditating with eyes closed, suddenly shot them wide open.
He stepped close to the transparent glass wall. Occasionally, passersby outside would wave toward him, but they couldn’t see him inside at all.
“What’s going on!”
A circular model emerged on Yang Zicang’s chest.
“I can only talk to myself, at least for now.”
“Hey, is anyone there?”
There was no sound. Yang Zicang pounded hard on the wall, but it didn’t budge at all.
……
A man quickly walked to Li Mi’s side.
“Mr. Li, it seems the person you’re waiting for has appeared.”
Li Mi lifted his gaze slightly; the circular model on his chest was glowing as it connected with Liang Xi.
“Is it that man named Hall?”
The assistant beside him said, “Here are their photos—please take a look.”
{Brother Li, you’re amazing. Brother Morrie really left.}
[He was bound to leave anyway.]
“Help me contact Mr. Luobin,” Li Mi turned to the person beside him. “Tell the celebrity train to pick up a document immediately and deliver it to him.”
Li Mi got up and walked toward a corner of the room, speaking to both people aloud and in his mind at the same time.
“A document?” the assistant dispatched from headquarters asked in confusion, looking at Li Mi.
At this moment, shouldn’t he be trying to stop things? Instead, he was sending a document, and by then, Morrie would have directly left Hubville.
Li Mi walked over to a safe in the corner.
The safe was ancient and worn, although it was the highest-end safe on Earth—it looked as if it had broken down long ago.
In the silver-white circular model glowing on Li Mi’s chest, the triangle enlarged slightly and rotated slowly.
“I have activated, ‘Primordial Form Substance’.”
“Buzz~! Beep, beep, beep.”
The old touch lock of the safe suddenly lit up, emitting a sound as if electricity had just been connected.
The person following him always marveled at this scene, thinking how convenient the ability of the general manager before them was.
Li Mi reached out and pressed his finger on the fingerprint lock. After opening the cabinet door, he took out a document.
“Partial Information on the Park Ming Group”
His eyes gradually scanned over various paragraphs, finally settling on one.
—Morrie is searching for his fiancée named “Julia,” uncertain whether she has entered this world.
But around “uncertain,” there was a circled stroke of pen, and below it, a line of handwriting was noted in the blank space:
—After Morrie’s value was demonstrated, the “Portrait Artist” began to appear.
This was his own annotation and notes.
At the same time, it also contained a photo of Hall.
The figure had repeatedly stopped near that building to activate the model, and this was long secretly recorded by personnel dispatched by the “Monster Hunter Alliance Headquarters.”
In the blank space behind this document file, there were densely packed tiny characters—all of which were Li Mi’s notes.
—After that portrait artist appeared, painters with this ability in other cities were taken seriously, sent into Hub Town by powerful teams from those cities to paint and earn temporal sequences…
—The first portrait artist acquired Julia’s appearance, but no further occurrences were recorded after November/Note: November 2nd.
——The first portraitist has gone missing. As of December, Xiao Yushan’s team had not found any trace of this person in the city/Recorded on December 2nd.
——Hall was first noted to be abnormal in November. It was his second time arriving at the street near Morrie’s residence/Note on Nov. 26, pm5:32.
——Through investigating these people who had contact with Hall, I confirmed that some of them appeared when the portraitist was painting, seemingly to keep watch on him.
Li Mi picked up his pen and quickly wrote down a line, his handwriting flowing swiftly:
Morrie has already begun to prepare to leave Hub Town and follow Hall back to his city. He said this is “following his destiny.”
He glanced at the time.
He dipped his pen again and wrote: /Dec. 28, 02:08 AM.
At the same time, Li Mi swiftly copied the words left by Morrie onto the back of the photo.
Just then, the sound of a howling wind from a train passing through a tunnel echoed out of the void!
BANG! The train instantly stopped inside the room. The assistant, who had dozed off at some unknown moment, awoke with a start.
The doors slid open with a hiss. Luo Bin said angrily,
“Stop writing. I already got it! Hurry up and come stop him with me!”
Li Mi felt from the guilt in Liang Xi’s mind through their Mental Link.
He tossed the documents and the photo to Luo Bin.
“All I have is a deduction. That lady is not Julia, but I can’t be certain. Plus, even if we are certain, if Mr. Morrie refuses to let it go, this matter will eventually create a rift between us, him, and the other two members of their team.”
“Then what do we do? Just watch him head out to court death?”
“My plan is to play the long game and catch a big fish.”
Luo Bin’s expression changed instantly, as if he were looking at an idiot.
The slightly overweight figure leaned against the car door, first looking at the handsome young man with refined bearing in front of him, then at the intelligence he had sold, now tossed into his hands.
The document was covered in circles, lines, and annotations, as if homework being graded.
“Holy cow,” Luo Bin flipped through it quickly. “Manager Li, what was your name again?”
“Li Mi.”
“Alright, play the long game and catch a big fish. Since you dare to say that, what’s your plan? Are you going to find that city’s Xiao Yushan?”
“You contact Xiao Yushan and ask him to lend a hand as the situation demands.”
Luo Bin, browsing through the documents, coughed twice, raised his head, and said:
“With an attitude like that, you must have another plan up your sleeve?”
“I am currently a member of the Hub Town Security Team, and so is Ms. Zhao Xuemei. We could head to City 27, likely arriving even faster than Morrie. So, if it’s possible, Mr. Train, could you come along with me?”
{My name is Ma Chao. But you can also call me Xiao Machao, since I did get a bit smaller.}
After mulling it over briefly, Luo Bin glanced at the earliest recorded notations and suddenly raised his head in disbelief. “Did you have Xuemei join the security team so that you’d be ready for today?”
Li Mi nodded and looked at the train.
“Can we make it there directly?”
The train said:
{You’re not the conductor, so I can’t travel with you to different cities. Not unless you become the third conductor.}
“Then forget it.”
{I wasn’t planning on giving it to you anyway.}
“Quit joking around.” Luo Bin retorted at the train before turning to Li Mi, saying, “So what do you suggest we do now?”
“There are three options.”
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