Chapter 295

"Report to His Majesty," Lin Sui said, "Along the border of Ze State by the river, more and more people have responded to Li He's call for rebellion; he has now raised a rebel army of about ten thousand, which seems to have attracted the attention of the Ze State king."

Xiao Qidi chuckled, "Not bad, kid, you've caused quite a stir so quickly."

A minister proposed, "If we attract the Ze State king's attention, he will surely send troops to suppress it; although Li He is brave and resourceful, he is still young and likely lacks experience to resist. Should we secretly give him some support?"

Regarding this proposal, some agreed, while others were still pondering.

On the surface, it does make some sense.

Ze State is currently quite unsettled.

Originally, there were multiple places hit by natural and man-made disasters, especially in remote areas where the people could not make a living.

The elderly Marquis Xing and his son, General Xing, seeking to benefit the Ze State populace, tried to emulate Daxuan by abolishing the aristocratic class; although they gained the people's support, they threatened the interests of Ze State's royalty and nobility and, lacking the Ze State king's backing, ended up with their whole family exterminated.

This incident caused a huge uproar among the Ze State populace, adding fuel to the fire of an already troubled Ze State.

In response, the royalty and nobility coerced their king into implementing measures to silence and suppress.

Anyone who dared to speak up for the Xing family would be lightly thrown into prison, heavily exiled to the army, or even beheaded; while these tactics seemed effective, they only made the people's resentment boil over.

The lives of Ze State's common folk grew even harder.

Otherwise, Li He's rebel army would not have developed so rapidly.

But Ze State is inherently strong; its army is numerous and formidable. If the Ze State king dispatched a large force to attack the rebels, it would surely pose a grave threat to Li He, possibly wiping them out entirely.

As many ministers were deliberating and preparing to endorse the support proposal,

Lin Sui slowly spoke four words: "Absolutely not."

"Oh? Why?" Xiao Qidi asked.

Lin Sui explained, "His Majesty once told us that I am no ordinary mortal but possess extraordinary talent, destined for great responsibility. If, at the outset when facing a possible Ze State military crackdown, we needed to support him, he would not be worthy of His Majesty's expectations; it would be a test. If he truly cannot hold out, we can help later without delay."

A nearby minister teased, "Minister Lin, could it be that you, having gone alone on a mission to You State and failed to earn our trust, suffered greatly, and now you want Li He that lad to suffer too?"

Lin Sui didn't take the joke to heart, and candidly said, "True gold must be refined in fierce fire."

Xiao Qidi smiled and nodded.

Lin Sui added, "Moreover, Li He has also received aid from the Jinli Fairy; provisions, supplies, and weapons should not be lacking. If he has this advantage yet still cannot command ten thousand rebels well, cannot manage the territory he occupies, and cannot withstand a Ze State army several times his size, then he is not extraordinarily talented but simply unfit for great use. What do you think, colleagues?"

The ministers all agreed, saying Minister Lin was right.

But when Xiao Qidi heard the four words "Jinli Fairy," a dull ache suddenly rose in his chest.

These days, he has desperately tried to keep himself busy, filling his mind with state affairs so he wouldn't think of her, yet he cannot avoid the ministers often bringing it up, after all, the situation between him and Ning Jinli must not be known to everyone.

Naturally, he couldn't get angry at the ministers over this, so he kept himself pent up in agony, and still had to conceal his emotions before everyone.

Being a monarch of a state is no easy task…

"You've all worked hard," Xiao Qidi secretly pinched his palm, calmly said, "It's late; please retire."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The ministers bowed and took their leave one after another.

Lin Sui was the last to move his feet; after the other colleagues had left the room, he suddenly turned back, "Your Majesty, it seems I haven't seen the Jinli Fairy for some days."

Xiao Qidi feigned composure and gave an affirmative hum.

Lin Sui added, "The Fairy left her governance strategies with the cabinet; while studying them, we encountered some points we don't understand and wish to consult her— I wonder… when will the Fairy be available?"

Xiao Qidi's eyes narrowed slightly, "Are you truly confused, or just making excuses? With your intellect, plus the detailed data and annotations she gave— even including relevant historical information from her world— how could you not understand?"

Lin Sui scratched his head and chuckled, "Hehe, sometimes speaking face‑to‑face with the Fairy lets one grasp things more deeply."

Xiao Qidi slowly exhaled a turbid breath, "You think it's been over a month since she last came— could there be something wrong between us, right?"

Lin Sui said, "Your Majesty, I am indeed worried about this. First, for Daxuan's sake; second, it's also for your consideration."

Xiao Qidi rested his hand on his forehead, "What do you mean by 'for your consideration'?"

Lin Sui laughed, "Don't you want to marry her, Your Majesty? You even had the cabinet directly amend Daxuan's marriage law, taking the king as a model to implement monogamy— isn't that also an expression of your affection for her?"

Xiao Qidi felt another indescribable pang of pain, lowered his gaze, and said softly, "For now the realm is not unified; let my personal matters wait. Don't worry needlessly— the reason the Jinli Fairy hasn't come to the Royal City is… because she is in Lin Xian Cheng."

"I see, then I'm relieved, Your Majesty, farewell." Lin Sui then departed.

Seeing him leave, Xiao Qidi felt as if a great weight had been lifted.

No matter what, the situation between him and Ning Jinli remained concealed.

As for when we will have to disclose the truth to everyone, we'll discuss it then.

"Marrying her… heh, affection… in the end, it's all just my one‑sided wish." Xiao Qidi's finger joints cracked as he clenched them, his face grew grim, and a pained, self‑mocking look appeared in his eyes.

That night, after Xiao Qidi returned to his palace bedchamber, washed up, and lay in bed, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

The attending eunuch brought him a calming tonic, but it had no effect whatsoever.

"In my view, Your Majesty has been overly busy lately, to the point that neither mind nor body can relax," the attending eunuch suggested, "Perhaps Your Majesty should take a proper rest."

Xiao Qidi sat on the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "How to relax? You know I don't enjoy listening to music and watching dance, nor do I like touring mountains and waters or playing with rare treasures."

The attending eunuch lowered his head and said, "This Royal City doesn't compare to Lin Xian Cheng in prosperity, nor is its food as good; I think Your Majesty might be craving something tasty, or perhaps you could go to Lin Xian Cheng for a stroll and check on the situation there."

Xiao Qidi involuntarily swallowed.

Indeed, Lin Xian Cheng has grown larger now, with a permanent population exceeding five hundred thousand, its overall development approaching that of an ordinary county in modern Huaxia Guo, with industry, agriculture, and all aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transport nearing completion.

Speaking of food, many modern crops and livestock farming were first scaled up in Lin Xian Cheng before the technology was promoted to other pilot areas, meaning that Lin Xian Cheng offers the greatest variety of foodstuffs.

Now that he and Ning Jinli have fallen out, he naturally can't count on her sending food; the only option is for him to go to Lin Xian Cheng himself.

Thinking of that, another idea uncontrollably surfaced.

That is…

The Spacetime Portals linking the palace to Ning Jinli's side have both been sealed by him and her, but other Time-Space Gates remain unsealed.

For example, the Xianzi Temple in Lin Xian Cheng.

Ning Jinli needs to transport petroleum, coal, iron ore and the like from Lin Xian Cheng to her factories.

So she definitely still needs to go to Lin Xian Cheng.

This means……maybe I'll run into her.

Hmm, the oath I swore in my heart back then was that if I ever set foot there again, I'd be a dog.

But if I go to Lin Xian Cheng and Ning Jinli happens to come over, and we meet there in Lin Xian Cheng, then it wouldn't count as breaking the oath.

"No no……" Xiao Qidi suddenly came to his senses, furrowed his brows and muttered, "I really don't want to see her."

"Your Majesty, who don't you want to see?" the attending eunuch asked.

Xiao Qidi gave a dry cough, "Nothing, go arrange the carriage and guards retinue; I'll set off for Lin Xian Cheng tonight and bring back some food from there for you."

The attending eunuch's face lit up with joy, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

——

A few days later.

Ning Jinli followed a top-tier special forces rescue unit into the heart of the northwestern desert, driving along a secretly constructed highway straight toward that large comprehensive experimental base.

Under normal circumstances, the researchers in the comprehensive experimental base could evacuate on their own.

But as abnormal energy interference grew more frequent, some equipment in the base failed to operate, trapping some personnel in the labs, many modern instruments malfunctioned, and electronic signals such as satellite communications and positioning often cut out.

In this situation, both the researchers and the base's armed protection team find it hard to self‑rescue; if they rashly leave the base, they're likely to get lost in the uninhabited desert.

The sky blazed with scorching sun.

Dozens of rescue vehicles rolled forward on the road where heat waves surged; yellow sand stretched endlessly in every direction, the interiors were stiflingly hot, and the exterior scenery was dull and monotonous.

An ordinary person couldn't endure even an extra minute in such conditions.

Ning Jinli sat in one of the rescue vehicles, eyes closed, resting her spirit.

Suddenly, she sensed an indescribable energy fluctuation, so faint that she wondered if she was hallucinating.

But the next second, the lead vehicle's navigator's voice came over the walkie‑talkie inside the carriage: "All units, note that the positioning navigation system has been interrupted; a sandstorm lies ahead, all vehicles halt."

The convoy then came to a stop, and the special forces quickly used specialized tools to reinforce all the vehicles in place.

Ning Jinli also got out of the vehicle, lifted her gaze, and saw that the road ahead a few hundred meters was already buried under a layer of yellow sand over half a meter high; farther off, a yellow‑gray "wall" of smoke stretched, with no edge visible to left or right.

That was precisely the sandstorm lunging toward them.

She walked up to the lead vehicle and asked the navigator, "Has contact with the base also been cut off?"

The navigator's expression grew grave as he replied, "Yeah, it's cut off. Our satellite communications were normally strong—even the recent frequent abnormal energy could hardly affect them—but… that energy triggers resonance in certain nuclear materials in our base, causing all sorts of strange problems we've never seen before. Our rescue team now not only has lost contact with the base, but the closer we get to it, the more our carried electronic gear fails completely and becomes unusable."

Whoosh——

A strong hot wind blew over.

The air already carried the irritating smell of sand and dust.

Ning Jinli then returned to the vehicle, patiently waiting for the sandstorm to pass.

In less than half an hour, the sky quickly darkened; a sky‑blanketing sandstorm swept in, the specially reinforced rescue vehicles were shaken incessantly, the outside filled with the scraping sound of flying sand and rocks and a wind howl like ghosts wailing and wolves howling—it felt as if the apocalypse had arrived…

……

Meanwhile.

In the central Pacific, an island extremely far from any landmass, belonging to no nation, was completely shrouded in black clouds streaked with strange, electric‑current‑like energy light.

As the light‑energy surged, even visible shockwaves radiated outward from the island's center in all directions, making the nearby space seem to warp.

Meanwhile, in the deep ocean surrounding the island, the originally frigid seawater began to boil, and countless dense bubbles were mixed with that strange energy light.

Now, the interior of this island has been completely hollowed out.

Inside lies the new base of M Guo's Time‑Space Traversal Project, built to replace the original experimental base; the original base, meanwhile, has been converted via the Time‑Space Gate into an enormous transfer depot for sending personnel, materiel, and energy to the new base.

Because sustaining the Time‑Space Gate requires enormous power, the original base, limited by its environment, could not be expanded further, and heat dissipation had become a major problem; therefore, at Ning Hai's request, the base was built in the Pacific, using the endless cold deep‑sea currents to perfectly solve the land‑based heat‑dissipation issue.

Ning Hai employed M Guo's most advanced nuclear‑fuel power technology; with this support, the terrifying energy generated every second even exceeded M Guo's total annual national consumption.

Although it comes with extremely high risk, the benefits are also enormous.

Now the Time‑Space Gate opened on this island base transports massive quantities of various resources daily from the ancient American continent; one month's haul equals the sum of M Guo's previous year's domestic mining plus global imports.

Boom!

Suddenly, an explosion appeared out of nowhere near the island.

The already chaotic energy fluctuations collided, and at the blast site they tore open a several‑meter‑long strange black rift.

Countless dark clouds and electric‑current‑like energy were immediately swallowed by that rift.

Inside the island's base, a piercing alarm sounded.

Tens of thousands of experimental personnel instantly went on high alert.

"Mr. Ning! This is the third time‑space rift today!" someone shouted, breathless, bursting into Ning Hai's office.

Ning Hai stared fixedly at the huge screen on the wall before him.

The screen was filled with dense streams of all kinds of data.

A soft click.

On this electronic screen, currents flickered, turning much of the data into gibberish.

Ning Hai frowned and muttered, "Looks like the anti‑interference equipment still needs to be beefed up…"

"Mr. Ning!" the person reporting the situation yelled urgently.

Ning Hai came to his senses, calmly sipped his coffee, and said, "It's fine—only three time‑space rifts so far, within controllable limits; as long as the island base's deep‑sea nuclear power station doesn't fail, there's nothing to worry about."

No sooner had he spoken than the alarm light on the office ceiling flashed a piercing red, and the alarm grew even sharper and more urgent.

Ning Hai startled, jumped to his feet, and exclaimed, "Has the undersea nuclear power station gone wrong?!"