Chapter 2028: Wrap-up and Plans

A deep blue light flashed between Lin An and Qing Kai and then vanished.

Upon signing the system contract for up to thirty points, a cold system notification sounded immediately.

"Beep, the redemption space will disappear in 60 seconds; please redeem your rewards quickly."

"After closing, the protective function disappears; all mission participants return to their respective areas."

"Huh? The redemption space is closed?"

Hearing the system's cold countdown, the Fifth Stages who had prepared to act were stunned, then all turned to look at Lin An.

Everyone looked strange, yet despite the crowd being full of sharp-witted people, not a single person voiced their doubt.

They all noticed that Lin An and Qing Kai had exchanged a few words.

Judging from their reactions, the earlier 'buying lives' incident was likely just Lin An's means to threaten Qing Kai.

Although they clearly realized they might be used by Lin An, the Fifth Stages present didn't care; receiving a large reward for free was already enough for them.

Even if Lin An still had some left, it wouldn't matter; with a life to spare and no money to spend, Qing Kai might even turn around and 'protect' Lin An.

His train of thought was nothing if not clear.

Seeing everyone's clear understanding, Lin An smiled and simply nodded with a smile.

Dealing with Fifth Stages can sometimes be easy; one only needs to consider interests, and no extra talk is needed.

These old foxes, each better at guessing than the last.

At the same time, Jin Niu, who had been standing behind Lin An, glanced at Lin An and then at the grim-faced Qing Kai.

"Lin An, it seems... you don't need our help anymore? If so, I, Jin Niu, thank you here, and hope for a chance to cooperate."

"You closed the redemption space, right? It seems the system still favors you."

While speaking, Jin Niu gave a meaningful smile, his gaze sweeping unnoticed over the ring on Lin An's hand.

Without waiting for Lin An's smiling nod in response, regardless, Jin Niu guessed his reward was not just two thousand; meanwhile, Gu Si Man quickly stepped behind Lin An and gave a solemn warning:

"Lin An, don't let your guard down on some things. Being kind-hearted and soft-handed... is a major taboo!"

"What agreement did you reach with Qing Kai? No matter how confident you feel, any Star Destroyer is no simple role! Even a Divine Archer like that cannot be taken lightly!"

Ignoring the Divine Archer's unsightly expression, Gu Si Man finished speaking and directly stepped in front of Lin An, his war hammer aimed at Qing Kai, eyes blazing.

He wasn't afraid Qing Kai would hear these words; in his view, Lin An should have considered the risk to his own civilization and ultimately given up on attacking Qing Kai. Once the news leaked, the Creator Alliance could crush Earth as easily as squashing an ant.

Were it him, he would also choose to give up, after all the risk is indeed considerable!

And this is the advantage of having a civilization behind you!

Hearing Gu Si Man's earnest reminder, Lin An felt a faint warmth in his heart.

Although Gu Si Man guessed wrong, he could feel that Gu Si Man genuinely worried for him, afraid something would happen.

"Gu Si Man, don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing."

"If he's really pushed to the edge, you might not even be able to protect me. Some things require stepping back; who let me be a Fourth Stage?"

Lin An, half-truthful and half-false, let out a forced bitter sigh.

It looks like he could really spend money to crush Qing Kai.

But the risk is extremely high.

A Star Destroyer fighting desperately, especially one like Qing Kai, aside from Gu Si Man who would fight with all his might, everyone else would only try to outrun each other.

By then, he could only unleash the Shen Yuan Bone, which would instead expose his trump card!

"Fine, I won't waste words either. As long as you know what you're doing."

"This is the communication method of our Giant Demon Civilization; never mind, I'll give you mine. If you ever need help, contact me directly!"

Having returned to his top-tier Star Destroyer identity, Gu Si Man seemed like a different person.

All they saw was him handing over a card, then saying nothing more.

To be honest, he initially stepped forward to repay Lin An's favor, but maintaining this attitude, he genuinely admires Lin An.

In his view, Lin An's future won't be bad; a Fourth Stage capable of pushing Qing Kai to the brink of death—such courage and mindset are simply heaven-defying!

"Good! If the chance arises, I will definitely visit the Giant Demon Civilization!"

"You all as well—I'll remember you. If I have time, I'll visit each of you!"

Without further pretense, Lin An smiled at everyone present and silently committed them to memory.

Unaware of the meaning behind Lin An's smile, the Fifth Stages present merely gave a casual laugh, thinking Lin An was just trying to curry favor.

Unlike Gu Si Man, who had the deepest contact with him, everyone's impression of him merely stayed at bold and careful, with decent luck. For a Fourth Stage to give them this feeling is already a high evaluation.

"Interesting kid..."

"Anyway, thanks for the points."

"Let's go, everyone get ready. Next mission, who knows what difficulty it will be..."

"I really don't know what a ghost skull is; this mission truly is the most bizarre I've ever experienced."

"Who knows... as long as we survive!"

"Ten seconds until the redemption space closes; please prepare for transmission!"

"10.."

"9..!"

Nothing unexpected happened.

Accompanied by swirling transmission vortices slowly unfolding above everyone's heads, this extraordinarily bizarre special mission for the participants also drew to a close.

Seeing the Fifth Stages in twos and threes preparing to return, Gao Tian and a few others who had nervously followed behind Lin An felt as if they had just walked out of the gates of hell, nearly exhausted.

Once Lin An appeared, they dared not speak, fearing to interfere with his resolution of the crisis.

Gao Tian in particular had sweat dripping from his palms, his heart only now settling.

"Lin Dui... too dangerous, really too dangerous..."

"After Fifth Stage, is it always like this? This difficulty is too great...!"

If he weren't forcing himself, Gao Tian would rather sit down on the ground right now and not think about anything.

Although Lin An was at the front, constantly scheming with these Fifth Stage opponents, he kept putting himself in Lin An's perspective.

Mental strength exhausted, what seemed a simple situation was actually fraught with danger at every step!

It seemed that Lin Ge just needed to split the reward to resolve this crisis, but he knew full well that in that moment, if Lin An had misspoken a single word, or even shown the slightest weakness, they would have died without a burial place.

Lin An was like a baby holding a piece of fatty meat, needing not only to avoid being eaten by the pack of wolves but also to feed each wolf to fullness!

And that last bit of meat had to be used to make the fiercest wolf send them back!

"It's okay. There's nothing we can do about the difficulty—who let us be so weak and lack any background?"

Lin An smiled, gently comforting the team members.

He knew Gao Tian was a bit shocked.

The mission's difficulty was fine, but after coming out they still had to face threats from other Fifth Stage beings. Even one or two would be tolerable, but while there isn't a single Fifth Stage on the whole earth, they're up against hundreds of Fifth Stage!

There's no fairness to speak of; looking at it openly, their strength is zero. Their only capital is the hot reward in their hands.