Chapter 208: 207 No End and

"..."

oco

Looking at Li Ang, who stood up full of energy not long after he finished speaking, Middle-aged Joshua was truly a bit numb.

This "Little Bajinsi," who didn't know where he came from, was simply sent by heaven specifically to disgust him. His years of hard work were destroyed by him in just thirty minutes.

Now, this rebel group he had personally established not only had nothing to do with him from now on, but looking at the expressions of these people, they were likely already considering whether to take him down. If he dragged it out, he was afraid he wouldn't even be able to leave.

"Hoo... I admit you won!"

Glaring at "Little Bajinsi" across the table, the middle-aged man, who had been defeated, gritted his teeth:

"But don't think it's over just like this. After these idiots follow you and hit a wall, and understand how unrealistic the things you talked about are, they will still betray you just like they betrayed me today!"

"You're wrong. Today in this room, there hasn't been any behavior related to betrayal."

Touching his heart that was still in phantom pain, Li Ang resisted the urge to wince, shook his head, and continued to stab his heart with a serious expression:

"You can'

Or, if you really want to talk about betrayal, it wasn't them who betrayed you, but you who betrayed them first."

"..."

"I'm not talking to you about this!"

Knowing he couldn't hold a candle to the other party when it came to verbal sparring, and realizing the situation was lost, the middle-aged man decisively gave up on debating Leon. He took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and negotiated as rationally as he could:

"Little Bakins... regardless of whether you are truly Little Bakins or not, I will just call you that for now.

If you are truly prepared to save this country as you claim, then you must do as I say: lead people to raid the landing tower, kill those sniffers from the Kingdom of Krolok, and destroy all the data regarding the kingdom's mineral deposits!"

"..."

Not expecting that even at a time like this, middle-aged Qiaoshuya would still be fixated on the raid on the landing tower, Leon, knowing he had come from the future, couldn't help but frown and ask:

"Why?"

"I can't say!"

Upon hearing Leon's question, the middle-aged man couldn't help but say with a gloomy face:

"The more I reveal about the future, the greater the impact, and the faster I will die! Understand? Also, since you're so smart, why don't you guess for yourself?"

"..."

This punchable attitude... confirmed, this guy is two hundred percent Qiaoshuya.

Watching the middle-aged man who clearly wanted to "beg for help" but insisted on maintaining a high posture and putting on airs to snap at him, Leon couldn't help but click his tongue in silence.

Yesterday, he had felt the man looked a bit familiar, but the reason he hadn't linked it to Qiaoshuya was that "Lord Nathan" at the time seemed to have high emotional intelligence and was gentle and polite in his dealings.

Such a person, compared to the Qiaoshuya in the Wang Gong whose almond-sized brain would start rolling around in his skull at the slightest shake of his head, seemed impossible to connect no matter how one thought about it.

But now it seemed that after personally experiencing the fall of his country in the future, this guy had apparently grown quite a bit. Even if he would still reveal his true nature when agitated, he had at least learned how to put on an act in daily life.

Hmm... then he really had to ponder these words of his carefully.

After following middle-aged Qiaoshuya's words and thinking down the path of what might happen, Leon narrowed his eyes slightly and said:

"You mean those sniffers discovered extremely precious mineral deposits, and the Kingdom of Krolok, in order to obtain them, might even go so far as to declare war on the kingdom in the future?"

"I didn't mean that at all!"

The middle-aged man snorted upon hearing this and denied Leon's guess without hesitation, but he raised his hand slightly to tidy his hair, showing Leon his temples, which had turned white by another fraction.

Suddenly aged, huh... so that means I guessed right?

Facing the intelligence middle-aged Qiaoshuya had traded his life for, Leon's brow couldn't help but furrow tightly; he vaguely understood why he would suddenly want to raid the landing tower.

If one were to rank the twelve countries of this world by overall strength, the kingdom could only rank around seventh or eighth, while the Kingdom of Krolok, known as the City of Machines, was firmly fighting for the top spot.

That micro-nation, with a population of only a few million and an area only half the size of a county in the kingdom, was very small in territory, but its level of mechanical industry was at least a hundred years ahead of other kingdoms; the vast majority of work had already been replaced by machines.

However, the high degree of mechanization brought with it a near-pathological thirst for energy. Beyond basic coal and oil, there was the lightning-strike ore unique to the Kingdom of Thunderstorms, Vandastone; the concentrated whale fat rendered by the whaling ships of the Thousand Sail Sea Kingdom, Saio; the sunbird feathers of the Refractive Kingdom, Riflei...

Everything that could provide energy would be targeted by them immediately, and they would forcibly demand to purchase it. If it couldn't be obtained through conventional means, they would not hesitate to go to war.

Even the airships traversing the sky and the landing towers standing on the territories of various kingdoms were technologies that the Kingdom of Krolok had "gratuitously" shared to achieve its goal of finding energy.

And the only price for gifting the "power to ascend to the sky" to the major kingdoms was the guarantee that the sniffers sent by the Kingdom of Krolok would have an unimpeded path, allowing it to obtain intelligence on various mineral deposits and energy sources immediately. From this, one could see the scale of their energy demand.

But... this still didn't seem right, did it?

After pondering the relevant situation in his mind, Leon's brow couldn't help but furrow slightly.

Although the Kingdom of Krolok was extremely powerful, because its population was too small to afford easy deaths, and it possessed many high-end technologies, it made money extremely easily in "international trade," so it was usually quite reasonable.

This country was not the type to be so overbearing that cooperation was impossible; it wouldn't resort to force unless necessary, and it was even shockingly generous when it came to energy procurement deals.

So if it were ordinary energy deposits, given the kingdom's usual attitude, it should have chosen to hand over the mining rights directly in exchange for large amounts of money and technical support from the Kingdom of Krolok. How could it choose to go to war?

Or to put it more bluntly, the kingdom's muscle mass wasn't even in the same weight class as the Kingdom of Krolok's. They probably only needed to flex their muscles slightly, and given the kingdom's consistently weak foreign policy, it would likely fold immediately. How could it possibly escalate to the point of war?

"Are you sure?"

After secretly grabbing the black goat's horns, Leon asked with a serious face:

"Will the kingdom of the future really reach the point of having to go to war with the Kingdom of Krolok because of the mineral deposit records in the hands of those sniffers?"

"I don't know anything."

Saying "I'm not clear" with his mouth, but raising his hand to point at his graying temples, the middle-aged man said with a gloomy expression:

"I already said just now, guess for yourself!"

"..."

No need to guess, your soul has already given me the answer...

Looking at the middle-aged man's intense but very stable soul flame, and confirming he wasn't lying and had truly witnessed the war from the Kingdom of Krolok in the future, Leon couldn't help but frown and say:

"So why?"

Discovering that middle-aged Qiaoshuya wasn't shooting without a target, and although he didn't agree with his rash act of raiding the landing tower and annoying the Kingdom of Krolok, Leon still asked:

"What exactly did those sniffers discover? How could it blow up into such a big deal?"

"You want to know?"

Glancing at Leon's furrowed brow, middle-aged Qiaoshuya, who had suffered a crushing defeat today, sneered and said with immense satisfaction:

"If you want to know, then lead people to raid the landing tower and get your hands on the mineral records!"

Heh, Little Bakins, don't think that just because you ruined my plans now, I believe that after reading those materials, no matter what you think in your heart, you will ultimately make the same choice as me!"

As the middle-aged man spoke, he raised his hand to point at Leon from afar, provoking him with eyes full of hatred:

"Just wait! Facts will prove to you who between you and me is the correct one!"

"..."

"Also, don't think you can catch me."

Looking around at the rebels in the room, who had various expressions and were even faintly surrounding him, the middle-aged man said with disgust in his eyes:

"Don't waste your effort. As soon as any danger appears, I will be teleported away immediately! You damned traitors will forever only be able to..."

"Prince Qiaoshuya."? ！！！

Hearing his own name from the mouth of "Little Bakins," the middle-aged man couldn't help but be shocked. The harsh words he had only half-finished were choked back, and he looked at Leon opposite him with eyes full of horror.

As for the group of rebels in the room, they hadn't understood the meaning of the name just a moment ago, but upon seeing his demeanor, the few with quick brains suddenly reacted and looked at their former leader with shock.

"Looking at your expression, I must have guessed right."

Seeing that the middle-aged version of Prince Qiaoshuya seemed to want to run, Leon, lacking the means to keep him, had no choice but to point out his identity.

And having successfully achieved his goal and stalled Prince Qiaoshuya, who wanted to withdraw, Leon secretly reached out to tap the small mirror, signaling Young Ha to urge Senior Auntie Ai Ma, while asking calmly:

"Prince Qiaoshuya, I am curious: what did you experience in the future to change from an arrogant, ignorant prince into this current state?"

"..."

"Little Bakins... you truly are a terrifying person..."

After a silent pause, middle-aged Qiaoshuya took a silk handkerchief from his bosom, wiped away the light powder on his cheekbones used for concealment, and, amidst the stunned expressions of the rebels, revealed those two small, iconic irregular freckles.

"That's right, I am Qiaoshuya... but not the idiot prince of the present, but the Qiaoshuya of the future, Qiaoshuya, the last king of the kingdom!"

"This... this..."

"How is that possible!!!"

"Prince? The rebel leader is a prince!"

Facing middle-aged Qiaoshuya, who had frankly admitted his identity, the group of rebels all lost their composure. The bald woman, a die-hard leader-faction member, clutched her head in immense pain.

If the rebel leader was a prince, and the entire rebel faction was created by him single-handedly, then what had they all been fighting against all this time?

A bunch of idiots!

Looking at these former subordinates with disdain, middle-aged Qiaoshuya shifted his gaze directly to "Little Bakins" opposite him, looking puzzled:

"Tell me, how did you figure it out?"

"..."

Actually, I didn't figure it out; another version of you had a nightmare, and after Senior Auntie Ai Ma and the Director put their heads together and ruled out other possibilities, they directly deduced your existence. I just piggybacked on the results they reached.

Of course, it was impossible to tell middle-aged Qiaoshuya these honest truths.

Curling his lips slightly and giving the bewildered middle-aged man opposite him a mysterious smile, Leon spouted nonsense:

"That is, of course, because you revealed far too many flaws."

"Flaws?"

"Yes, flaws."

Stealing a glance at the middle-aged man's wristwatch to estimate how much time Senior Auntie Ai Ma still needed, Leon slowed his speech to continue stalling:

"Even though you have changed a lot and can even speak gently to an ordinary person like me, that arrogance in your bones still cannot be changed.

Besides that, there is your obsession with saving the kingdom, as well as that inexplicable hatred for the parasites of the kingdom, all of which are very different from other people."

Raising his hand to gesture toward the others, Leon continued to spout nonsense with a serious face:

"While others also want to save the kingdom, they think about making changes and moving toward a better future, whereas the expectations you express are more like trying to rectify regrets;

Others' hatred for those parasites stems from empathy for the victims' experiences, while your anger is more like someone is destroying property that belongs to you.

Perhaps it's not obvious when viewed in isolation, but when you are with others and simultaneously express emotions like expectation and anger, you appear out of place."

"..."

Just a small difference in this regard, and I gave myself away?

Having absolutely no idea about the other version of himself having a nightmare, the middle-aged man, already completely fooled after hearing Leon's nonsense, couldn't help but take a deep breath, gazing at Leon with complex eyes:

"So in your eyes, I have a family environment that could cultivate an arrogant personality, view the entire kingdom as my own property, and know what happened in the future, and am trying my best to save the kingdom... that's not enough!

Little Bakins, it was one thing that you could see through the kingdom's situation at a glance and propose a feasible plan, but I don't believe you could deduce my identity based on these trivial details!"

"..."

Indeed, because I didn't deduce it at all.

I only infiltrated yesterday; how would I know what details are what? These words were all just finding problems to fit the answers, purely spouted to stall for time and bluff you. It's only natural that it sounds unreasonable!

"Of course, relying on these alone is indeed not enough; I do have other information."

Squinting to gauge the middle-aged man's expression, Leon, having successfully set the trap, smiled and asked back, amidst the "awe-inspiring" gazes of the rebels:

"Then, Prince Qiaoshuya, now we both have things we want to know. I wonder if you are willing to make an exchange with me? You tell me what those mineral deposits are, and I will tell you how I guessed your identity. How do you feel about this deal?"

"I..."

Not knowing that Leon was preparing to get something for nothing, the middle-aged man, facing the exchange condition he proposed and with a heart full of questions needing answers, subconsciously clenched his fists and engaged in an intense psychological struggle.

A moment later, he slightly loosened his tightly clenched fists, gritted his teeth, and shook his head:

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

Relying on immense willpower to refuse the deal with "Little Bakins," and seemingly afraid he might be unable to resist changing his mind, the middle-aged man immediately pulled out a pistol, aimed it at his own head, and prepared to rely on the crisis to activate the contingency left by the Aquarius Director.

However, what the middle-aged man never expected was that the moment he pulled the trigger, "Little Bakins," who was claimed to only be able to make people bow, simply raised his hand and squeezed the air, directly crushing his pistol into a lump of scrap metal!? ！！！

When he saw the toad pendant in "Little Bakins'" collar, which was flickering with golden arcs, the middle-aged man couldn't help but shudder all over, nearly popping his eyes out of their sockets!

"You... you are!!!"