Chapter 208: 207 No Final Two and…

「……」

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Watching Li Ang, who had just spoken and now stood up bouncing with energy, the middle-aged Joshua was genuinely stunned.

This mysterious "Little Baggins" was clearly sent by heaven itself to annoy him—his own decades of effort had been wiped clean in just thirty minutes.

Now, this rebel faction he had personally founded would have nothing to do with him going forward; judging by the way these people looked at him, they were already considering whether to take him down—if he delayed any longer, he might not even escape.

……

"Heh… I admit you've won!"

Glaring across the table at "Little Baggins," the middle-aged man gritted his teeth, utterly defeated:

"But don't think this is over. When these fools follow you and hit a wall, when they realize how impractical your ideas are, they'll betray you just as they betrayed me today!"

"You're wrong. Nothing resembling betrayal occurred in this room today."

Touching his still-phantom-painful chest, Li Ang suppressed the urge to grimace and shook his head, his expression grave as he pressed further:

"You brought them no results, you couldn't make them accept your ideals, and you offered them no future worth pursuing—of course they wouldn't follow you."

"Or if you insist on calling it betrayal, it wasn't them who betrayed you—it was you who betrayed them first."

"……"

"I'm not arguing this with you!"

Knowing he was utterly outmatched in verbal combat, the middle-aged man, aware his fate was sealed, decisively abandoned further debate with Li Ang. He took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and tried to reason calmly:

"Little Baggins… whether you're truly Little Baggins or not, I'll call you that for now.

If you really intend to save this country as you claim, then you must do as I say—lead a strike on the Airship Docking Tower, kill all the Krook Kingdom scouts, and destroy every scrap of data on the kingdom's mineral deposits!"

"……"

Unexpectedly, even now, the middle-aged Joshua still clung to the idea of attacking the Airship Docking Tower. Knowing he was from the future, Li Ang frowned and asked:

"Why?"

"I can't tell you!"

Hearing Li Ang's question, the middle-aged man's face darkened:

"The more I reveal about the future, the greater the impact, the faster I die! Understand? And since you're so clever, why don't you guess yourself?"

"……"

That annoying tone… confirmed—he's 200% Joshua.

Watching the middle-aged man, who clearly wanted to beg for help yet insisted on putting on airs and talking down to him, Li Ang couldn't help but click his tongue in disbelief.

Yesterday he'd felt something familiar about him; he hadn't connected him to Joshua because the "Lord Nathan" then had seemed emotionally intelligent, courteous and gentle.

Someone like that could never be linked to the Joshua in the Wang Palace, whose almond-sized brain rattled around inside his skull at the slightest shake.

But now it seemed that after personally enduring the collapse of his kingdom, this man had grown considerably—even if he still slipped into his old nature when enraged, at least he'd learned to pretend now.

Hmm… his words deserve serious thought.

After considering the possible consequences implied by the middle-aged Joshua's words, Li Ang narrowed his eyes and said:

"You mean those scouts discovered an extremely valuable mineral deposit—and the Krook Kingdom, to seize it, might even wage war on our kingdom in the future?"

"I never said that!"

The middle-aged man snorted, instantly denying Li Ang's guess—but he subtly raised a hand to adjust his hair, revealing his temples, now whiter than before.

Suddenly aged… so I guessed right?

Facing the middle-aged Joshua's self-sacrificing clue, Li Ang's brow tightened slightly—he now faintly understood why he wanted to attack the Airship Docking Tower.

……

If the twelve nations of this world were ranked by overall strength, the Kingdom would barely make seventh or eighth place, while the Krook Kingdom, known as the Mechanical Capital, firmly held second or first.

This micro-nation, with only a few million people and an area barely half the size of one of the Kingdom's prefectures, had a mechanical industry level a full century ahead of all other kingdoms—most labor had already been replaced by machines.

Yet this extreme mechanization bred a pathological hunger for energy: beyond basic coal and oil, they sought Vandasong's lightning ore, Seo's whale-lip oil from its whaling fleets, and Reifley's sunbird feathers…

Anything capable of supplying energy was immediately targeted, and if conventional means failed to obtain it, outright war was not out of the question.

Even the sky-ships and the Airship Docking Towers standing across every kingdom's territory were technologies the Krook Kingdom had "freely" shared to achieve its goal of locating energy sources.

The sole price for granting "the right to ascend to the skies" to other kingdoms was ensuring Krook's scouts moved freely, allowing them to obtain intelligence on mineral and energy deposits instantly—demonstrating their insatiable demand.

But… this still didn't add up.

After pondering the situation in his mind, Li Ang frowned slightly.

Though fiercely dominant, the Krook Kingdom had too few people to afford casual losses and held many advanced technologies, making profit in "international trade" effortless—so they were usually reasonable.

This nation was not the kind that was utterly intractable; it avoided violence unless absolutely necessary, especially regarding energy procurement, where it was shockingly generous.

So if it were a common energy deposit, given the Kingdom's usual stance, it would have simply handed over mining rights in exchange for vast sums of gold and technological support from Krook—why would it lead to war?

Or put more bluntly: the Kingdom's military strength was nowhere near Krook's level; Krook would only need to flex its muscles slightly, and given the Kingdom's consistently weak foreign policy, it would immediately surrender—how could it possibly escalate to war?

"Are you certain?"

Secretly gripping the black goat's horns, Li Ang asked seriously:

"In the future, will our kingdom truly reach a point of war with the Krook Kingdom over the mineral data those scouts hold?"

"I know nothing."

Though his lips said he didn't know, his hand rose to point at his streaked temples, and the middle-aged man's expression turned grim:

"I already told you—figure it out yourself!"

"……"

No need to guess—your soul has already given me the answer…

Observing the middle-aged man's intense yet utterly stable soul flame, Li Ang confirmed he wasn't lying—he had truly witnessed war from the Krook Kingdom in the future—and frowned:

"So why?"

Realizing the middle-aged Joshua wasn't speaking without cause, though he still disapproved of his reckless attack on the Airship Docking Tower, Li Ang asked:

"What exactly did those scouts discover? How could it have escalated so far?"

"You want to know?"

Glancing at Li Ang's furrowed brow, the defeated middle-aged Joshua smirked, relishing his moment:

"If you want to know, then lead your men to attack the Airship Docking Tower and seize the mineral records yourself!"

"Heh, Little Baggins—don't think you've ruined my plans. I believe that after you read those records, no matter what you truly feel inside, you'll ultimately make the same choice I did!"

As he spoke, the middle-aged man raised his hand, pointing at Li Ang from afar, eyes brimming with hatred:

"Wait! The truth will prove to you who was right—me or you!"

"……"

"Also, don't even think about capturing me."

Scanning the rebels around him—some with varying expressions, others subtly closing in—the middle-aged man sneered:

"Don't waste your effort. The moment any danger arises, I'll be teleported away! You damned traitors will forever…"

"Prince Joshua."？！！！

Hearing his name spoken by "Little Baggins," the middle-aged man froze, his half-spoken threat choked off, eyes wide with shock as he stared at Li Ang across the table.

The rebels in the room, still unsure of the name's meaning, suddenly understood upon seeing his reaction—several sharp-witted ones snapped to attention, staring in stunned disbelief at their former leader.

……

"From your expression, I must have guessed right."

Seeing the middle-aged Joshua appear ready to flee, and lacking any means to detain him, Li Ang had no choice but to reveal his identity outright.

Having successfully achieved his goal and once again halted Prince Joshua's escape, Li Ang subtly tapped the small mirror, signaling Little Ha to urge Elder Emma, then asked calmly:

"Prince Joshua, I'm curious—what did you experience in the future that turned you from an arrogant, naive prince into this?"

"……"

"Little Baggins… you're a terrifying man…"

After a silent moment, the middle-aged Joshua pulled a silk handkerchief from his robe, wiped away the light powder concealing his cheekbones, and revealed the two distinctive irregular freckles before the stunned rebels.

"Yes, I am Joshua… but not the foolish prince of now—I am the Joshua of the future, the last king of the Kingdom!"

"This… this…"

"Impossible!!!"

"The prince? The rebel leader is the prince!"

Facing the middle-aged Joshua's open admission, the rebels completely lost composure—the bald woman, a die-hard loyalist, clutched her head in agony.

If the rebel leader was the prince—and if the entire rebellion was his creation—then what had they been fighting against all this time?

A bunch of fools!

With contempt, the middle-aged Joshua turned away from his former subordinates and looked at "Little Baggins," puzzled:

"Tell me—how did you figure it out?"

"……"

Actually, it wasn't me who figured it out—it was another version of you who had a nightmare, and then Elder Emma and the Director pieced it together, eliminating all other possibilities and deducing your existence. I merely rode on their conclusion.

Of course, these truths were never to be told to the middle-aged Joshua.

Slightly curling his lips, Li Ang gave the confused middle-aged man a cryptic smile and lied casually:

"That's because you left far too many clues."

"Clues?"

"Yes. Clues."

Sneaking a glance at the middle-aged man's wristwatch, estimating how much time Elder Emma still needed, Li Ang slowed his speech to buy more time:

Even though you've changed a great deal—even showing kindness to someone like me—you can't shake off that inherent arrogance.

Beyond that, your obsession with saving the kingdom, and your inexplicable hatred for its corrupt elements, set you apart from everyone else.

After gesturing toward the others, Li Ang continued with a serious expression, spinning lies:

"Others want to save the kingdom too, but they seek change, a better future; yet your expressed hope feels more like an attempt to undo regret;

Others hate those corrupt elements out of empathy for the victims, but your anger feels as if someone is destroying something that belongs to you.

Individually, these traits might not seem obvious, but when you display such emotions alongside others, you stand out as utterly out of place."

"..."

Just because of this tiny difference, I've already blown my cover?

Unaware that his other self had been plagued by nightmares, the middle-aged man, completely taken in by Li Ang's lies, drew a deep breath and stared at Li Ang with a complex gaze:

"So in your eyes, I come from a family environment that bred arrogance, view the entire kingdom as my personal property, know what's coming in the future, and am desperately trying to save the kingdom... that's not enough!

Little Bajins, you could see through the kingdom's situation at a glance and propose a workable plan before—but relying solely on these trivial details, I don't believe you could deduce my identity!"

"..."

Indeed, I didn't deduce it at all.

I only slipped in yesterday afternoon—how could I possibly know any details? These words are all answers searching for questions, pure nonsense to buy time and fool you; if they sound unreasonable, that's exactly right!

"Of course, these alone aren't enough—I do have other information."

After studying the middle-aged man's expression with narrowed eyes, Li Ang, having successfully set his trap, smiled and asked in return, amid the rebels' awestruck gazes:

"Then, Prince Joshua, now that we both have things we want to know, would you be willing to make a trade? You tell me what those mineral deposits really are, and I'll tell you how I figured out your identity. What do you say?"

"I..."

Unaware that Li Ang intended to pull off a complete con, the middle-aged man, desperate for answers to his mounting questions, instinctively clenched his fists, locked in a fierce internal struggle.

After a moment, his tightly clenched fingers loosened slightly, and he gritted his teeth, shaking his head:

"You devil... I won't trade! If you want to know what it is, go see for yourself!"

Having resisted the trade with "Little Bajins" through sheer willpower, fearing he might change his mind, the middle-aged man immediately pulled out a pistol and aimed it at his own head, preparing to trigger the backup plan left by the Water Bottle Director.

But to the middle-aged man's utter shock, the instant he pulled the trigger, the so-called "Little Bajins," who was said to only make people bow, reached out and clenched his hand in midair—turning the pistol into a twisted lump of scrap metal!?!?!

When he saw the golden-glowing toad pendant flickering beneath "Little Bajins's" collar, the middle-aged man shuddered violently, nearly popping his eyes out!

"You... you're!!!"