"So you were negotiating with me, offering up Nikola's Yanxiu consciousness."
It was rare for Ne to be so slow on the uptake, but after working it out a couple seconds later, he could not help but chuckle. After all, before Nikola had departed from the Great Spike horde, though decrepit and near death, it had held the rank of Puta'er—an exalted being in the Great Spike civilization second only to Miwang.
If He Tangtang truly devoured it, humankind would undoubtedly gain another beyond-the-vault powerhouse.
"How about it? Step aside and let me eat it, and we can call things settled between us today. You wouldn't dare kill me in this lifetime anyway, would you?" He Tangtang pressed on with his negotiation.
Ne smiled and shook his head. "That won't do. How do I know you won't launch a sneak attack while devouring it and swallow my consciousness along with it?"
"So that's what's worrying you! You're overthinking it, Old N. I can give you my word on my integrity..." Catching Ne's eye, He Tangtang paused, then corrected himself, "...I guarantee it on my reputation."
Ne looked at him, barely repressing his amusement.
"Fine," He Tangtang said, turning to look around until his eyes landed on Han Qingyu. "How about this: I'll have Han Qingyu vouch for me with his honor and credibility. You know who he is, don't you?"
"Naturally." By which Ne meant, *Of course I know who he is.* He nodded, his gaze shifting to Han Qingyu as well.
From the look of it, Ne seemed inclined to agree. *Might as well try,* Han Qingyu thought. Meeting Ne's gaze with a calm expression, he glanced back at He Tangtang, assumed a solemn face, and pondered for a moment before saying, "Very well."
With that, he rose to his feet, stepping forward like a guarantor prepared to take the floor and preside over justice and fair play.
"..." Ne let out a silent sigh. "Major Qing's solemn demeanor truly is as naturally, flawlessly shameless as the rumors say. Yet so far as I know, you—your entire circle—apart from Lieutenant Wu Xu, who remains relatively unknown to the outside world, not a single one of you has ever cared for integrity or given a damn about so-called reputation."
"Great! Then Xu'er will do it. You vouch for me!" He Tangtang instantly ran with Ne's words.
Ne: "..."
"Mm." Planting his spear against the floor, Wu Xu actually stood up.
Ne cast him a glance. "My apologies. What I meant was, because of the company he keeps, Lieutenant Wu Xu merely looks slightly more credible. In truth, I don't trust him either."
"Oh, what about Chen Buer, then?" He Tangtang persisted stubbornly.
"Even less trustworthy," Ne replied decisively. "Enough. Let us end this topic. In short, there is no way I will ever agree to let you do that. And for now, even if you truly possess that capability, I will do everything in my power to protect it."
"Why? Fuck!" He Tangtang blurted out. "You haven't spent so long sharing a head with it that you've developed feelings, have you?!"
Ignoring him, Ne shifted his gaze toward Han Qingyu and Wen Jifei, speaking slowly. "Because it knows where the Yanxiu skeletal remains are... On the surface of this planet right now, it is the only one that knows."
Among the upper echelons of today's source energy world, the original existence and inexplicable disappearance of the Yanxiu skeletal remains had long ceased to be much of a secret. But this was the very first time it had been spoken of so openly and directly.
With those words, Ne had dropped a revelation powerful enough to shake the entire world—someone knew where the Yanxiu skeletal remains were. And that someone was not Ne, but the other consciousness residing within Alice.
The entire scene fell dead silent.
Because this sudden piece of information had the potential to alter the fate and future of all humankind.
This was especially true for Han Qingyu. Possessing half a set of Yanxiu skeletal remains himself, he understood better than anyone the immense boost they gave to combat strength.
Imagine if those remains were recovered. One day, humanity's source energy armies might simultaneously field hundreds of fully matured Yanxiu.
What a magnificent, earth-shaking scene that would be! How drastically would the scales of power tip between humankind and the Great Spike civilization?
A glorious golden age of human source energy might rose in turbulent, vivid images within their minds.
"I believe that aside from the surface reasons Azure had for launching such a massive expedition to purge the Antarctic Continent, their deeper objective was likely an attempt to locate the skeletal remains as well."
Ne spoke again. Imbued with his poise and bearing, Alice's posture took on the regal air of an ancient Europan queen.
"I once thought the remains would be in Antarctica, but they are not. A Great Spike came to our planet, gathered them, concealed them, and subsequently destroyed every trace of evidence. In the end, I suspect that perhaps only a Great Spike can ever find that place."
So it had been a Great Spike that was exceptionally good at hiding things. Hearing this, Wen Jifei looked toward Han Qingyu thoughtfully and said in their hometown dialect, "The other consciousness inside Alice is the very Great Spike that gathered and buried the remains."
"Most likely," Han Qingyu agreed, nodding.
"So what do we do now?"
"...Leave it be. It's enough if we can protect Rusty Sister and make a clean retreat." Han Qingyu knew they could achieve nothing more today. To him, whether they had a chance of finding the remains was certainly important, but it was nowhere near as important as the people standing beside him.
"Forget it. You should leave first," Ne's voice chimed in at that moment, as though in mutual understanding. "In any case, no further outcome will be reached today."
Saying this, he glanced at He Tangtang.
It was precisely because of He Tangtang's presence that Nikola's meticulously planned operation had to be abandoned today.
"Alright," Han Qingyu agreed crisply.
Moving with cautious synchronization, the group shifted into a formation suited for retreat—keeping Rusty Sister at their core and He Tangtang at the front as their shield, their eyes never leaving Ne for a moment.
"Rest assured, it has fallen into a deep slumber from exhaustion and is being suppressed by me," Ne said with a gentle smile, casting another glance at He Tangtang. "As for me, I have neither the need nor the desire to take such great risks on its behalf."
At such close range, the moment He Tangtang committed suicide, the cowardly creature inside him would surge toward Alice. As a formless consciousness rather than a physical strike, it could not be blocked.
"Prepare to move. Keep close watch on Rusty Sister's position," Han Qingyu said in a low voice from the rear flank of the formation, foregoing any reply to Ne.
"Understood."
"Got it."
"...Shiheng?!" Han Qingyu turned and called out.
Liu Shiheng was standing outside their formation, not far off, but he had made no move to join them. Seeing everyone's eyes turn to him, the young master raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. His feet remained rooted, though his lips cracked into a grin.
"What are you doing? Let's leave together first. We have plenty of time ahead of us," Wen Jifei urged.
"No thanks. I've thought it over, and for the sake of all humankind, I've decided to stay behind and continue my undercover work here." Liu Shiheng spoke in a brisk, breezy tone, making a joke as his gaze drifted toward Alice.
The person before him was not his Alice.
Yet his Alice was right there, unable to leave.
*If I'm not here, Alice will be even lonelier.* Having said this to himself deep down, Liu Shiheng looked straight at Wen Jifei and continued, "Don't worry. Your foreign sister-in-law has quite the stubborn, fiery temper. She'll threaten to kill herself at the drop of a hat... They wouldn't dare kill me."
"If they dared, they would have done it already, wouldn't they?"
"Don't worry about it. The next time we see each other, I don't think it'll take nearly as long."
"Go on."
"Get moving!"
"Stop fucking dragging your feet! It's not like this is some tragic parting of ways in life or death. Spare me the melodrama."
In truth, he was by no means certain of what fate awaited him. For most of his life, the young master had been in the habit of running away. But this time, he truly could not walk away. As he spoke, Liu Shiheng slowly took a step toward Alice.
*Whir! Whir-whir-whir-whir!* The moment the detonations of erupting energy suddenly tore through the air, Liu Shiheng's foot came down in a position that perfectly obstructed Ne's line of sight.
This was the plan the young master and Wen Jifei had agreed upon just moments earlier with a single exchange of glances—a decision made without hesitation or sentimentality.
They did not dare let their guard down even during their retreat; the way they pulled back was executed like a surprise raid.
Because the retreat itself was the most perilous part. The transition from the air down to the ground was the state in which it was hardest to guarantee Rusty Sister's safety.
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* Almost indistinguishable from the roaring explosions, several figures leapt off the warship platform—not in an ordinary jump, but rocketing diagonally toward the ground like cannon shells at breakneck speed.
In midair, each person adjusted their burst of power to maintain an identical speed, consistently keeping He Tangtang positioned to bear the brunt of any incoming attack while keeping Rusty Sister enveloped and protected at the center.
Suspended in the sky—or more accurately, with their formation suspended in the sky—another two or three seconds would bring an end to everything at the South Pole today.
Yet suddenly—*Crack!*
From the empty air below, the sound of a source energy wall shattering like glass rang out.
Without anyone noticing, Ne had erected source energy walls in the empty expanse underneath them.
It was a trap.
When Ne had explicitly expressed his distrust of the entire core team of Stream Vanguard earlier, Han Qingyu and the others had let their own guard down too much; otherwise, they would have been far more vigilant.
This genius from an earlier era had acted with such warmth and natural ease just now, right down to his declaration that they should bring an end to today's events.
Subconsciously, Han Qingyu and the others had assumed that a legendary figure who spanned the history of the source energy world, even as an adversary, would disdain to put on petty acts and resort to such despicable tricks.
Yet the reality proved otherwise: he would.
The very reason Ne trusted no one was that he himself was not trustworthy in the slightest.
"My apologies. She is my experimental subject. Her life belongs to me."
Ne's voice rang out.
"Mine."
Nikola's rasping, grinding voice followed right behind. It had been there the entire time. Perhaps it truly had been exhausted, but it had never fallen into a deep slumber. It had forged an understanding with Ne.
*Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack...*
Source energy walls congealed out of thin air could never stop a group of super-tier powerhouses like Han Qingyu, even if there were several more layers. Yet because it had happened so abruptly, everyone broke through the barriers at slightly different rates. With no time to coordinate, their retreating formation fell into brief disarray.
It was only a fraction of a second of relative isolation, a sliver of an opening.
*Snap!* The fine, crisp crunch of breaking metal armor suddenly erupted.
A faint blue luminescence hung in the air, wrapping around Rusty Sister like a ghostly hand or an immense, powerful cord, snatching her out of midair and yanking her back upward.
"Qingzi!" Rusty Sister's panicked cry rang out from high above.
At the same time, the others were still in the middle of their downward descent.
*Boom!* Left behind on the platform, Liu Shiheng pushed himself to erupt with what strength he had, trying to rush forward and intervene. Yet his power was insufficient to even get close before he was thrown back, coughing up blood.
*Bang!* Wen Jifei fired an impotent shot upward.
*Boom, boom, boom!* Han Qingyu and Wu Xu forced an eruption of power despite their grave injuries, violently reversing their momentum to give chase upward.
"Die?!" He Tangtang wheeled around as well. With time so desperately short, he only managed to squeeze out that single word as he turned his combat blade around, pressing its point directly against his own heart.
Lord He's meaning was crystal clear: *You motherfuckers aren't afraid of me dying, are you?!*
Chapter 858