Chapter 413: Plan

The beginning of the fourth cycle was perfect. Daily reading novels -> ttks. tw

Relying on Gao Jie Ming's near-"prophetic" intelligence, the first engagement ended within an hour.

The Wizard Legion inflicted negligible losses while annihilating the Scythe-Head clan's meticulously prepared counterforce, even destroying three critical geopulse transmission nodes in retaliation.

Gao Jie Ming remained throughout in the secure zone designated by Commander Frost.

He did not participate in direct combat but instead seized every moment to sink his spiritual sense into his inner dantian, rapidly reviewing the vast records left by his "previous self" from the last reincarnation.

The timeline of the war's progression, the Scythe-Head clan's main force movement patterns, methods to counter new tactics, characteristics and weaknesses of various variants—

And more importantly, preliminary summary reports on "time ripples" and their synchronization with aberrant development.

A flood of information surged into his consciousness, meticulously organized and digested by Gao Jie Ming's formidable spiritual power.

By the time the cease-fire order reached every unit, Gao Jie Ming had a clear understanding of the entire two-month war from the previous reincarnation.

He went straight to Frost and unhesitatingly handed over all the crystal records containing the vital intelligence and research findings from the last reincarnation.

The sheer volume of crystal records piled into a small mountain inside the command center.

The speed at which a seventh-rank Wizard processes information is astonishing.

Frost did not read each entry individually; he scanned them at high speed with his spiritual sense, extracting key data.

As runes flickered, the contents of thousands of crystals flashed past his awareness like flowing light.

Just fifteen minutes later, he had "reviewed" the entire crystal mountain.

"—Issue orders: All combat units reposition according to Intelligence Package 1–7 through 1–12. Prioritize Research Sequence tasks to War Level." Frost first issued clear directives through the Magic Web.

But he did not let Gao Jie Ming leave.

The commander stood in place, gazing at the battlefield being cleared, his fingers idly tapping his waist staff, lost in thought.

After a moment, he turned to Gao Jie Ming, his voice calm yet probing: "In the last reincarnation, according to the timestamps, we crushed the Scythe-Head clan's resistance in under two months after gaining intelligence superiority, bringing them to the brink of civilizational collapse?"

"Yes, Commander. The records confirm it." Gao Jie Ming nodded.

"I just noticed—" Frost's gaze sharpened, "many studies—especially those on their deep entanglement with time reincarnation—have barely begun and remain unfinished. Many critical experiments were interrupted prematurely due to the war ending too soon, resulting in lost samples and incomplete data."

Gao Jie Ming already understood what he was getting at and nodded: "You're right. Once the war entered its mopping-up phase, research priorities were forced to shift."

"Then." Frost made his decision, "this reincarnation, we change the pace. Slow down our frontal assault and extend the war as long as possible."

"Don't rush to destroy them. Instead, create a 'sustained, controllable' high-pressure situation. The goal is to force them into constant reactions, exposing more information, while securing for ourselves the maximum time and richest samples for our research."

Gao Jie Ming asked beside him: "Are you planning to use the war as a pressure source for an experiment—to observe their developmental changes, societal restructuring, and—their interaction with the reincarnation mechanism?"

"Precisely." Frost nodded. "Your crystal records are our dashboard for controlling this experiment's progress. We must apply just the right pressure or relief at every critical node, keeping this war simmering just below boiling point."

Frost fixed Gao Jie Ming with a piercing gaze: "I hope your storage space is sufficient!"

"Rest assured, my lord." Gao Jie Ming bowed slightly. "My storage space is more than adequate."

"Good!"

The fundamental shift in strategy was immediately reflected in the battlefield over the following months.

The Wizard Legion remained powerful, its assaults still fierce, but no longer sought total annihilation.

Initiative remained firmly in the Wizards' hands; with exhaustive intelligence, every engagement felt like fighting with a full-map view—any large-scale Scythe-Head movement escaped no surveillance.

Leveraging detailed intelligence, the Wizards continuously raided Scythe-Head resource sites and gathering points, acquiring vast quantities of live specimens.

As more live specimens—especially individuals at varying developmental stages—were continuously delivered to rear laboratories, research progress surged forward.

More crucially, since most targeted spells and technologies for direct combat had already been largely developed in the last reincarnation, this reincarnation freed many logistics Wizards from weapon development.

Large numbers of logistics Wizards devoted themselves entirely to deep research into the Scythe-Head clan's civilization, social structure, and especially their relationship with the time reincarnation.

The concentration of research power produced a qualitative leap.

Within just a few months, breakthroughs were made in deciphering the Scythe-Head clan's pheromonal language.

Their social hierarchy and division of labor were preliminarily mapped, and several prototypes of predictive models for "time ripples" were established.

To obtain the highest-tier specimens, Frost personally intervened.

In a meticulously planned decoy operation, he successfully captured two eighth-rank Scythe-Head leaders alive.

When these colossal beings, radiating terrifying pressure and whose carapaces bore naturally inscribed complex runes, were sealed in layers and transported to the highest-security research lab, every Wizard involved in the research erupted in excitement.

Gao Jie Ming immediately participated in preliminary scans; the energy fluctuations and genetic data extracted from them might directly reveal the extent to which high-rank Scythe-Heads retain memories across reincarnations.

Yet, not long after, the "boiling frog" battlefield the Wizards had deliberately cultivated finally alerted the Scythe-Head clan's highest echelons.

Time slipped away. A year passed.

The Wizards immersed themselves in increasingly profound research, with revolutionary discoveries emerging constantly.

The battlefield appeared calm, yet beneath the surface, currents churned violently.

Until this day.

A shrill, full-region alarm erupted without warning across the entire Wushi encampment, drowning even the deepest underground labs in deafening hums and flickering crimson runes.

Gao Jie Ming had just peeled off a tissue fragment from an eighth-rank Scythe-Head specimen, containing fragments of time laws, and was preparing for deep analysis.

The instant the alarm sounded, his heart sank.

The Magic Web terminal automatically popped up the highest-priority emergency report, the crimson text jarring:

【Enemy Alert: Scythe-Head remnants launched their entire remaining force. Consolidated one day ago in the forward monitoring zone. Confirmed: three eighth-rank life signatures. Estimated total strength: nearly a trillion. Formed in full-scale assault formation. Vanguard units have breached the seventh and ninth buffer zones. Current distance to main camp defenses: under one thousand kilometers. Judgment: Civilization-survival total offensive.】

Nearly a trillion troops!

Three eighth-rank leaders commanding personally!

A distance of under one thousand kilometers was, for a force of this scale and energy level, effectively face-to-face.

After a year of silence, they had amassed such terrifying power—and chosen the most desperate form of counterattack.