Chapter 1778: Tacit Understanding

Cultivators often needed to confront their own hearts and the truth more directly.

On this point, Classmate Liushuang obviously did very well.

Regarding her own situation, she harbored no girlish princess fantasies, nor did she plan to engage in meaningless rebellion.

Until she grasped enough power to ignore the rules, protecting what she cherished meant calmly accepting a portion of her fate.

Excellency An Gui's overtures were already quite obvious, and his reasons for adopting such a stance were perfectly sound.

Although Professor Fu had never stated it explicitly, she could guess that An Gui's behavior had a lot to do with Ji Yicheng's death.

So much so that after the identity "Rebirth Club's Lu Ming" appeared at Silver Mist Manor and made those subsequent moves, An Gui had instantly made a firm decision, unequivocally supporting her regarding the Gospel Team.

This was a tacit understanding without words, forged by Ji Yicheng's death.

Under the current circumstances, aside from maintaining her mystique in front of her assistant, it was clearly time to respond to this tacit understanding.

The matter of the Sword in the Stone would be no secret, much like the conflict between Anjing and Siren.

However, letting Excellency An Gui learn the news before anyone else was undoubtedly a gesture of goodwill, just like his advance warning to her.

Besides, come to think of it, all the bargaining chips in her hands seemed to have been created with the help of the man before her.

Her gaze sweeping impassively across Fu Qian's face, Ji Liushuang finally looked at the doodle in his hand.

The shape of an axe, bearing exquisite decorative patterns.

"What is this?"

...

"It might be a transcendent item. It once chopped off a child's hand, and I'm very interested in its whereabouts."

What Fu Qian had casually drawn was exactly the Hand Axe taken after Madam Sissi mutilated herself. During their last meeting, she had sketched it at his request to make it easier to track down later.

Although these lines were much rougher, Fu Qian was confident he had still captured seventy or eighty percent of its essence.

Furthermore, what he said just now wasn't nonsense; he genuinely intended to find its whereabouts. After all, no matter how he looked at it, the item was highly likely to be connected to his predecessors.

But there was a problem. Following the battles in West Plain and Shangjing, although there was no absolute proof that Needle Witch Kelin was the mastermind, one thing was highly probable—the Night Watchers had a certain understanding of the predecessors, and it seemed they were deliberately gathering information about them.

Under these circumstances, he couldn't investigate through Chief Yuan.

After all, if this Hand Axe was truly special and the Night Watchers knew the inside story, exposing himself would be one thing, but Chief Yuan was also keeping his head tucked in the belt of his trousers to investigate the mole.

If that Needle Witch seized the opportunity to implicate them in retaliation, the losses could be massive.

But since he had to search, he couldn't just wander around waiting for clues to fall into his lap. Just like with the Greed Worms, utilizing a large organization's intelligence network was still highly necessary.

And while they couldn't compare to the Night Watchers, the Ji Clan's strength was also quite impressive.

As for the risks Classmate Liushuang would bear because of this?

Setting aside the fact that it was merely gathering a few clues, and doing so indirectly through a crafty Demigod Realm expert.

Even if the Night Watchers really overreacted and tracked her down over it, what was so strange about a mere Tier 5 contestant being duped by a bad guy?

The Academy had a massive bunch of victims just like that.

"Have An Gui help out a bit?"

At this point, Classmate Liushuang clearly caught on as well.

"To be precise, it's giving Excellency An Gui a chance to help."

Fu Qian chuckled.

"There's only this vague clue, so remind him there's no time limit, but he must keep it secret. I believe he'll be more than happy to do it."

"Alright."

Ji Liushuang took the paper.

Since she had decided to accept An Gui's overtures, asking him to do a favor was indeed much more sincere than a verbal thanks.

...

When Jia Keke returned to report that everything was ready, she was clearly a little surprised by the drawing Ji Liushuang handed her.

However, Ji Liushuang's performance these past few days—especially the control she had just briefly revealed—erased any thought Jia Keke might have had of treating her like a little girl. She immediately accepted the drawing with care.

Fortunately, much to Jia Keke's relief, Professor Fu still showed no intention of inquiring about the Gospel Team's affairs. He truly focused wholeheartedly on the fine food, even expressing considerable appreciation for the flavors.

Since she was already here, after a thoroughly enjoyable lunch and Professor Fu's subsequent farewell, Ji Liushuang stayed behind to handle a few work matters.

As for the departing Fu Qian, he didn't linger either. Relying on his memory, he quickly found the tram route and returned the way he came.

This time, outside the Laboratory, there were finally no visitors waiting.

Inside this completely renovated Laboratory, after inspecting everything all the way to the top of the Tower, Fu Qian casually adjusted the clock in front of him and sat down in the darkness.

There was no greater sorrow for an academic than having one's time and energy consumed by trivial matters.

Ever since he was gifted this Laboratory, it seemed he had never actually conducted an experiment inside.

Although all aspects were running smoothly and gratifyingly under his guidance, how could simply tacking his name onto others' achievements be enough? He needed to have his own original ideas.

Like an "outsider among outsiders"?

...

His previous mission with Akons and his party had yielded far more than just the Umbilical Cord that could be exchanged for 99 SAN Value.

There was a very important piece of information: all kinds of people could explore the Mind World to enter that relic of faith deep within the collective subconscious.

And in there, a fundamental difference between administrators and Natives became apparent.

Why?

Specifically, on the Transcendent Tier, what exactly was the fundamental difference between administrators and the Natives?

This was a question he had pondered early on, and Fu Qian didn't expect to get an answer easily.

But this time, a train of thought had been prompted—dreams.

There were many ways to explore the Mind World, but for the outsiders to arrive at a Small Town, ignore all sorts of eccentricities, and peacefully accept the cure of a famous doctor—no matter how he looked at it, the level of bizarreness felt like they were experiencing a dream.

If that was truly the case, it meant the depths of the collective subconscious could be reached through something like self-hypnosis.

Under these circumstances, as the Dream Dominator, there seemed to be no reason for him not to try and see if he could touch that place again.

The only problem here was—it seemed he couldn't dream.

That was right. The most direct harvest of this trip was the conclusion that immediately followed that realization.

It seemed he had never once had a dream in this world.

Despite wielding nightmares to wreak havoc upon the world and thereby becoming the shadow haunting countless people, this kind of involuntary mental activity seemed entirely divorced from him—with the exception of the Lucid Dream.

Could this also be one of the manifestations of that fundamental difference? Let's give it a try.

In the darkness, Fu Qian casually activated the Lucid Dream.