“Our men have been cleared out.”
Over at Cheng Yunze’s side, someone reported back.
“So fast, not even three days have passed.”
In this disused, tidied-up meeting room, everyone was murmuring.
Cheng Yunze gestured for everyone to calm down.
“Though it’s a pity about the pages, at least we now know what that spiritual illusion attack is. They’ve got a fine treasure.”
“And it’s controlled by a disabled man—hah, really making the most of their people over there.”
……
As the last Beyonder chief fell, the ground sank heavily, and the edges of the void extended outward, like a solid land taking root in the boundless nothingness.
This A-grade Cruxspace was thus declared stabilized.
“Yeah! We actually did it! So fast!” A little shorty in the team cheered, waving his sword.
Tong Wenqi cast an envious glance at the Timeline Weapon in Liang Xi’s hand.
When Li Mi applied to HQ to send him to help stabilize this A-grade Cruxspace, Tong Wenqi, barely two years older than Liang Xi, had secretly wanted to compare—whose model ability or elemental secret art was more powerful.
But just after stabilizing the second scene this month, he felt something off—that kid’s sword was suspicious.
The moment he touched that sword, all of Tong Wenqi’s battle spirit hearts cracked into fragments along with his petrified expression.
“So this… is what it’s like… to have big shots backing you?”
“Heh, my sword’s just okay.”
Realizing that the speaker was a friend of Li Mi’s, Liang Xi boasted, “Xue-jie’s is way better. But don’t you dare get ideas about looting her weapon. Otherwise, when Zhao Anlong comes back, he’ll definitely beat you up.”
Tong Wenqi looked at Zhao Xuemei’s longsword, and suddenly had a thought — could it be that beyond the new Fate Track, there were treasures “far surpassing” what lay here?
The team of about a dozen people passed through the gate, appearing under the stable city wall arch of the Hub Town.
Chu Qiang gazed at the sparse sunlight here and said with open relief:
“Ah, it’s been over a year, and I’ve finally returned! Come on, I’ll take you all to rent a place to stay.”
Tong Wenqi curled his lip: “Why put yourself out? Don’t worry, our people here have already made arrangements.”
Amidst footsteps, a tall girl emerged from under the wall arch, wearing dark crimson scale armor with gemstone epaulets at both shoulders that resembled eyes, her steps full of vitality.
“Is this the Hub Town that Anlong used to mention?”
“Yeah, this is the Hub Town of our model.”
Li Mi nudged Liang Xi out, standing beside the woman whose temperament had become more noble, aloof, and elegant.
Zhao Xuemei’s lively eyes slowly took in the leisurely buildings under the setting sun. Three people from City 41, who had been waiting nearby, ran out from under a tree with a large canopy.
“General Manager Li, and Deputy Captain Xuemei.”
Zhao Xuemei nodded slightly.
Li Mi looked somewhat strangely at the three individuals, who differed in height, weight, and build. “General Manager?”
“Headquarters has promoted you. It was just as you were about to enter here that we received the news.”
“What’s going on?”
These few people stealthily exchanged glances, and the tall one said, “It seems General Manager Li still has a sharp sense for knowing something’s up, hahaha. Here’s the thing.”
He glanced at Liang Xi, who was slowly chewing while looking over, then leaned in to whisper in Li Mi’s ear.
“Mr. Yang Zicang has entered City 11.”
At the whispered words, the corners of Li Mi’s eyes twitched slightly.
“This time, headquarters hopes Mr. Li Mi—no, General Manager—can figure out a way to secure two or three entry slots.”
Li Mi said softly, “There are three types of Book Pages. You’re not even willing to trade the type with the fewest pages for entry slots, yet you expect me to handle this?”
The three people before him looked a little awkward, and one said quietly:
“Well, isn’t this just the time to prove your worth, General Manager Li? Besides, headquarters isn’t unwilling—they just want to save resources when possible. After all, those Book Pages seem tied to something very important. Word has it that City 11 has some formidable weapons. Mr. Yang Zicang is originally from our city, so for the Ranking Battle, they should be allowing us to get more of those weapons too.”
Li Mi remained silent.
Liang Xi, chewing bubble gum, slanted his eyes and looked upward toward the speaker, who happened to glance his way and immediately averted his gaze awkwardly.
A bent line shot into his mind, and Liang Xi, who had been harboring some doubt, instantly brightened.
{Are you Liang Xi? I’m finally going to see you!}
“Boppoli, I’ve been missing you for ages, hahaha—do you have any game consoles over there?”
{How could I not have any? I’m coming to pick you guys up; we have plenty of big rooms.}
Fulrry Zhao, holding her longsword cradled in her arms, looked at Liang Xi with a smile and said, “I’m finally going to meet Yang Zicang’s teammates. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a shame I can’t meet Mr. Morrie.”
Li Mi turned his head and said, “Morrie told me the general area. Let’s just head there on foot.”
“Okay.” The few team members behind him lifted their luggage and followed, walking into the lively town.
……
After get off work, as soon as Zorro exited the gate, he saw a youth wearing a matte leather-textured workwear jacket, leaning against the wall by the entrance.
“Not heading off to your beloved camp today?”
Yang Zicang turned his head to look at this young man, whose scar had faded a bit more, and straightened up.
“My friend is busy with something, preparing a big surprise for those bastards who were plotting against me. Ha, I’ll stay away and not bother them for a couple of days. After all, those people wouldn’t waste the ‘Core’ to snoop on intercepted goods. Might as well go play some chess with you.”
Zorro guessed that Yang Zicang might be trying to pump him for more information about that bookshelf.
“Going is a waste of time anyway. There’s no way my chess skills will have improved enough to beat the stewards in just a few days.”
After finishing, Zorro glanced at Yang Zicang, who showed no reaction, then turned his head and looked at the colleagues leaving around them before continuing:
“Still, it beats hanging around with nothing to do. Let’s just go take a stroll. For now, let’s grab some food.”
After dinner, the two of them arrived at the pavilion laden with a stone chessboard.
Zorro’s hand touched the stone-carved flower on his right side, a carving formed by a transformed magical pattern, showing that the carver’s skill in magical patterns had reached an extraordinary and ethereal level.
[I have obtained the authority to use a black stone.]
As he touched it, a familiar voice appeared in Zorro’s mind.
A phantom of a hand emerged over the chessboard, holding a white stone made of light between its index and middle fingers.
Snap!
Faint ripples of air echoed in the very center of the chessboard.
“Even if I place the first move in the center, I still can’t win.”
Zorro gave a rather unruffled chuckle and placed his stone—automatically formed by the pattern creases on the model—in a grid near the lower left “Flying Star” point.
The glowing hand hovering above the chessboard quickly landed somewhere without any hesitation.
Zorro asked, “How many days are left on your ‘ether channel’ photo?”
“Not many days. Aren’t you going to use yours yet?”
“Well, I don’t know what I’d do if I went out either, so I might as well save it.”
Within less than ten minutes, Zorro sighed and said into the void above the pavilion, “I lost again.”
The white stone on the hand rapidly dispersed, and the hand disappeared as well.
“It seems even when pocketing time-sequence logs, that steward does so with dignity,” Yang Zicang remarked with a hint of jest. “It seems spending these ‘hundred-year opening fees’ isn’t that easy after all.”
Zorro turned his head to look around his surroundings.
“That person who hijacked you last time—the place they manifested was a simulation of this spot, right? I’ve been wondering, why would someone like that come looking for you?”
A smile appeared on Yang Zicang’s face. This guy in front of him really was… But then again, the fact that he had inexplicably brought him here today probably made this the first thought that crossed his mind too.
After thinking it over briefly and organizing his words, Yang Zicang said:
“A friend of mine obtained certain intelligence that changed the future. That’s landed him in trouble, and at the same time…” Yang Zicang rose from the stone bench, pacing around the edge of the round table before finally turning his gaze to the chessboard and speaking solemnly, “when he acquired that future information, someone also gave him a piece of information from a much farther-off future. That information was buried in the ‘Complete Stamp Emblem’ world, which I still have one chance left to enter.”
Zorro watched as Yang Zicang leaned over the chessboard, both hands pressing against its surface as he stared at the grid lines, while he himself rested his head on his elbow propped against the stone table.
“Oh. So you were planning to tell me a story all along today, huh.”
“Heh.” Yang Zicang shot a sarcastic glance at the young man opposite him, whose words carried hidden meaning. “Didn’t you ask first?”
“Mm-hmm. Fine, go on.”
“After that, it was pretty simple. Anyway, that guy named Han Mingxiao seemed to know before I did that something was buried deep inside that Sage-level psychic field. I only found out about it after going out this time and specifically seeking out my friend to ask.”
“Ooh—so that’s how it is.”
Zorro nodded emphatically. “From this perspective, Han Mingxiao, who is rumored to have been in the document room all along, must have had a way to learn about this intelligence. Are you suggesting that there might still be his hidden undercover members mixed in some of the observation rooms within the company?”
“The officers are sure to be aware of that, so I assume it’s not my concern to worry about.” Yang Zicang also touched the stone petals, activated his psychic hand, and then spoke as his own model formed stone pieces at his fingertips from broken lines:
“I’m just curious about what valuable content is concealed in that buried information, attracting such attention. That information seems to hold considerable worth, or else this person, who has been hiding for years, wouldn’t have reacted so strongly to it.”
“Well, that is indeed a question.”
Smack!
The stone piece landed.
Yang Zicang glanced at it, placed it next to the Flying Star with an official demeanor.
Zorro rested his head on his hand, thought for a moment, and looked at Yang Zicang, saying, “Why don’t you go in and have a look recently?”
Yang Zicang’s brow furrowed even more, placing a stone piece on the board as he spoke, “I’m afraid I might uncover some earth-shattering information. If I alter the future too strongly at this point in time, my friend might truly meet with mishap. But for my friend to be completely safe from the backlash of disturbing the spacetime continuum, it won’t be for another three years.”
“If it’s about approaching the officer…” Zorro stroked his chin, “Just in case, I’m saying just in case, the cleanup isn’t complete. And you’re planning to resign in about three and a half months, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So, to sum it up, you don’t intend to go in and check that information? Want to hand it over? But you’re afraid it falls into the wrong hands.”
The chess piece rolled between Yang Zicang’s fingertips, paused for a few seconds, and then he nodded.
“So, what advice do you think Steward would give me if he were here?”
He set down his piece.
Clack! This time, a piece from the levitating arm dropped directly onto the center of the grid that now pressed tightly against Yang Zicang.
Yang Zicang let out a sigh of relief.
Good, he had passed along his words. Whether the other was interested or not was no longer his decision.
Zorro’s eyes sparkled. “Oh man, you gave me another move! Haha, let me take over. Let’s see if we can pull this game together.”
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