Chapter 1509: The So-Called Riddle

Time trickled by.

Four hours later.

After the 177th denial of a hypothesis, the entire meeting room felt heavy.

Thick smoke drifted above the meeting room.

In the huge strategic meeting room, with over a thousand third-rank Awakened Ones and various technical staff frantically reasoning and guessing, one hypothesis after another was raised, and one after another was shot down.

Unable to determine what coordinates Lin An hid in this sentence, everyone felt a tremendous sense of helplessness.

Although a few of the deduced coordinates might be correct, no one dared to be certain.

His complexion was withered.

Standing before the huge conference table, Gao Tian constantly compared the three most likely outcomes in his hand, his lips chapped.

"Which one is it? What will the coordinates be?"

"Is it the coastal port of Antos, or the rarely visited Mexican frontier defenses in the border region?"

As if possessed.

Like him, An Jing Tian, who was constantly thinking at high intensity, also struggled to judge the reasoning results compiled from the wisdom of the entire Faction: Long An.

"Could it be the answer given by Zhuanxu?"

"It's an artificial intelligence! Based on our Memory, he believes Brother Lin is very likely in South America, at the dividing line between North and South America!"

"I don't know!! I don't know!"

"Zhuanxu gave thirteen results, and I feel each could be possible!"

Buzzing sounded repeatedly, red dots flashing.

Even though Zhuanxu could process hundreds of billions of calculations, handling simultaneous cooperation of millions of people, under overclocked operation, it could only output the probabilities of all possibilities.

Six hours and two minutes later.

The meeting room was filled with oppression, deathly silent.

From the initial excitement to the final silence, in just six hours Gao Tian felt the pressure in his heart growing ever greater.

A total of 479,600 possibilities.

From humanities to social sciences, from psychology to cryptography, they obtained vast amounts of coordinates, but...

"Without accurate coordinates, it's meaningless..."

"If we were to investigate each coordinate, just searching through them would take a huge amount of time... and moreover, the Alien Species could completely wait in ease..."

Like Zhang Tie, Gao Tian blankly collapsed to the ground.

Under intense thinking, he, a third-rank Awakened One, actually felt waves of weakness.

Looking at up to sixty coordinates with over fifty percent probability each, and six coordinates with 83.3 percent probability, he had no idea how to choose.

In the extensive reasoning, these seventy-plus answers were the most likely.

But the remaining four hundred thousand or so were just as possible...

However, this is not a math exam; if the accuracy isn't 100%, it's meaningless.

He, or rather they, never expected that when Lin An's message arrived, after all their effort the only thing they could still be certain of was those two points.

The message was sent by Brother Lin, the location being in North America.

Besides that, their progress was nearly zero...

In the oppressive atmosphere, Zhang Tie had shifted from initial excitement and agitation to resembling a hairless black bear.

He looked at everyone's heavy expressions and suddenly missed Chu An terribly.

If that pervert were still awake, maybe he could decipher the message Lin Dui wanted to convey?

For the first time, he began to somewhat hate himself for being so stupid!

"If you don't rest now, you'll break down."

In the meeting room, a cold little girl's voice sounded.

All that could be seen was a red-clad figure, seemingly detached, looking expressionlessly at everyone.

She didn't care whether they could find Lin An, but after such a long association, she still intended to kindly remind them.

As her words fell, Gao Tian strained to turn his head, forcing a grim smile.

"We can't rest... Lin Dui sending a message now means he's about to collapse!"

"Even if we could crack it just one second earlier..."

"No!"

Without waiting for Gao Tian to struggle to his feet, preparing to continue eliminating answers.

In the meeting room, Mo Ling, who had been silent from the start and merely watched everyone quietly, suddenly spoke.

"No."

"All wrong."

"Lin An wouldn't do that."

!?

Her voice was clear and cold.

Holding a stuffed toy of unknown origin, Mo Ling, who had returned from a transfer via Heiyu, exuded an aura that warned strangers to stay away.

"Bang!"

All that could be seen was her leaping down from the tall conference table, her pitch-black eyes fixed tightly on those four characters.

"What do you think... what kind of person is Lin An?"

As her words fell, the entire venue was instantly startled.

Watching Mo Ling step by step approach the projection screen, in an instant Wen Ya also seemed to think of something, a flash of shock crossing her eyes.

Before Zhang Tie could even think of what to say.

The next second, Mo Ling let out a cold laugh, dragging the doll in hand over to Gao Tian.

"I know Lin An too well—I know that arrogant guy too well!"

"He always thinks he can rely on himself; even when he needs us, he just gives orders for us to obey."

"He always believes he can solve everything! He always believes we need protection!"

"Bang!"

He crushed the white paper littering the ground, crushing the deduced coordinates.

Mo Ling's eyes turned red, as if she were stepping on Lin An's head instead of white paper, which she crushed ruthlessly.

"He loves to go all out, and loves even more to settle everything before telling us!"

"So..."

"I don't think he'll leave any riddles for us to solve!"

"You mean...?!"

Suddenly stunned, Gao Tian's heart jumped as he looked at Mo Ling, who seemed to be venting dissatisfaction, full of 'hatred'.

"Exactly!"

Mo Ling snorted coldly again, then raised high the North American war zone map.

"That guy Lin An always thinks he can solve any problem! So how could he possibly let you guess the answer?!"

"According to his nature, even if he needs us, he'll just throw the answer in our faces; tough problems are never left for us to solve!"

"That guy is an arrogant jerk! A straight-as-steel man!"

Hearing Mo Ling curse Lin An, everyone in the hall froze.

"Looking across all of Long An... no, I should say the whole world."

"Besides Mo Ling daring to say that about Lin An, no one else would dare. Especially among Long An members, Lin An's place in their hearts is almost legendary—supreme among humanity!"

"Unlike others who hadn't realized what Mo Ling was trying to say, at this moment Wen Ya, who had been hard at work thinking over the problem, suddenly lifted her head and blurted out."

"She figured it out!"

"She realized where the thing that had felt off from the start actually was!"

"No coordinates!"

"Lin An's message contains no hidden information!"

"Mo Ling is right! Our train of thought is all wrong!"

"Lin An wouldn't do that!"

"Like a woman's intuition, Wen Ya first felt a burst of excited joy, but then, as she subconsciously made eye contact with Mo Ling, a bitterness welled up in her heart."

"She knew why Mo Ling would think of this."

"Just as she had also felt that something was off."

"If we speak of Long An members, including the other squad members, when they think of Lin An they see him as a machine—lofty, near‑omnipotent. Then the problems left behind must be impossible to solve."

"But to Mo Ling, Lin An is just a big idiot."

"She hates how Lin An always takes on danger himself, always shielding them behind him."

"But clearly, they are partners—able to share the pressure!"

"Therefore, in Mo Ling's view, Lin An would never leave them any difficult problems! So his message could not possibly contain an answer hard to judge!"

"Guessing and reasoning are completely wrong!"

"Noticing Gao Tian's stunned look, Mo Ling wrinkled the nose and pointed to the message Lin An had sent:"

"If I were that idiot Lin An, this sentence would have only one meaning."

"Coordinates cannot be sent, and they are not needed."

"As the words fell, Gao Tian's whole body shuddered; he instantly jumped up from the ground, trembling with excitement."

"He suddenly understood, understood exactly what Lin Dui was trying to say!"