Chapter 610: No Watching Watching Qiaoshuya Two

"……"

Watching Li Ang, who had just finished speaking not long ago, bounce right back up on his feet, middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya was genuinely a bit dumbfounded.

This "little Perkins" of unknown origin was practically like someone Heaven had deliberately sent down to disgust him—his own efforts of so many years had been wiped clean in just thirty minutes.

Now this rebel faction he had personally built would not only have nothing to do with him from now on, but judging by the looks in these people's eyes, they were probably already considering whether to take him down. If he delayed any longer, whether he could even leave was uncertain.

……

"Phew… I admit you win!"

Staring at the "little Perkins" across the table, the middle-aged man who had lost utterly gritted his teeth and said:

"But don't think it's over just because of this. Once these idiots hit a wall following you and realize how impractical the things you say are, they'll betray you just like they betrayed me today!"

"You're wrong. Today, in this room, nothing related to betrayal ever happened at all."

Touching his chest that still throbbed with phantom pain, Li Ang held back the urge to grimace, shook his head, and with a solemn face continued to twist the knife:

"You couldn't bring them the results they wanted, you couldn't make them accept your ideals, and you couldn't give them a future worth looking forward to. Of course they wouldn't be willing to follow you."

Or, if you really insist on calling it betrayal, then it's not that they betrayed you—it's that you betrayed them first."

"……"

"I'm not going to argue with you about this!"

Knowing that his skill with words wasn't even fit to shine the other man's shoes, and aware the general trend was already lost, the middle-aged man decisively gave up continuing to debate with Li Ang, took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and as rationally as possible negotiated:

"Little Perkins… whether you're really little Perkins or not, I'll just call you that for now.

If you really are, as you say, preparing to save this country, then you must do as I say—take people to raid the boarding tower, kill those scouts from the Krolok Kingdom, and destroy every last piece of data about the kingdom's mineral deposits!"

"……"

Not expecting that even at a time like this, middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya was still preoccupied with the operation to raid the boarding tower, and knowing he was someone who had come back from the future, Li Ang couldn't help but frown and ask:

"Why?"

"I can't say!"

Hearing Li Ang's question, the middle-aged man couldn't help but darken his face and say:

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

"……"

That insufferable flavor… confirmed, this guy is two hundred percent Watching Watching Qiaoshuya.

Looking at the middle-aged man in front of him who clearly wanted to "ask for help" but still insisted on putting on airs and getting in a jab, Li Ang couldn't help but click his tongue speechlessly.

Yesterday he had felt the man looked somewhat familiar, but hadn't connected him to Watching Watching Qiaoshuya because "Lord Nathan" at the time had seemed to have decent emotional intelligence and was fairly gentle and polite in how he dealt with people.

Someone like that, no matter how you thought about it, couldn't be connected to the Watching Watching Qiaoshuya in the palace whose almond-sized brain would start rattling around inside his skull at the slightest shake of the head.

But looking at it now, after personally experiencing the fall of his country and home in the future, this guy seemed to have grown quite a bit. Even though he would still show his true nature when pushed, at least he'd learned how to put on an act normally.

Hmm… then what he said really needs to be thought over carefully.

After following middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya's words and thinking through what might happen, Li Ang squinted slightly and said:

"You mean those scouts discovered extremely precious mineral deposits, and the Krolok Kingdom, in order to obtain them, would in the future not even hesitate to go directly to war with the kingdom?"

"That's not what I meant at all!"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man snorted and denied Li Ang's guess without hesitation, but then slightly raised his hand to smooth his hair, showing Li Ang his temples that had gone another shade whiter.

Suddenly aged, huh… so does that mean I guessed right?

Facing the intel middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya had given up his lifespan to provide, Li Ang's brow furrowed slightly, and he vaguely understood why he had suddenly wanted to raid the boarding tower.

……

If one were to rank the twelve countries of this world by overall strength, the kingdom could only place around seventh or eighth, while the Krolok Kingdom, which claimed to be the Mechanical Capital, was firmly a lock for second place and contending for first.

That micro-state with only a few million people and an area no larger than half a province of the kingdom, although its territory was extremely small, had a level of mechanical industry that surpassed the other kingdoms by at least a hundred years, with the vast majority of work already replaced by machines.

However, what high-level mechanization brought was a near-pathological thirst for energy. Apart from the most basic coal and petroleum, there was the lightning-strike ore unique to the Storm Kingdom of Vandashton, the concentrated whale oil refined from the whaling ships of the Thousand-Sail Sea Kingdom of Theo, the sunbird feathers of the Refraction Kingdom of Rivulet…

Anything that could provide energy would be targeted by them immediately, and they would forcefully put forward purchase demands. If it couldn't be obtained through conventional means, they wouldn't hesitate to go straight to war.

Even the airships shuttling through the sky and the boarding towers standing on each kingdom's territory were themselves technologies the Krolok Kingdom had directly "freely" shared in order to achieve its goal of seeking energy.

And the only price for bestowing "the power to ascend to the sky" upon the great kingdoms was that they must ensure the unobstructed passage of the scouts dispatched by the Krolok Kingdom, so that it could immediately obtain intelligence on various mineral deposits and energy sources. From this one could see how great their demand for energy was.

But… this still doesn't quite add up, does it?

After mulling over the related situation in his mind, Li Ang's brow couldn't help but furrow slightly.

Although the Krolok Kingdom was extremely overbearing, because its population was too small to easily afford casualties, and it mastered many high-end technologies, earning money through "international trade" was extremely easy, so it was normally still reasonable.

This country was not the type that was barbaric to the point of being completely impossible to cooperate with. It wouldn't choose to resort to force unless necessary, and especially when it came to transactions involving the procurement of energy, it was even generous to a frightening degree.

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

Or to put it more bluntly, the kingdom's muscle mass and the Krolok Kingdom's weren't even in the same league. Over there, probably just a slight flex of muscles would be enough—given the kingdom's consistently weak foreign policy, it would probably immediately cave in. How could it possibly escalate to the point of war?

"Are you sure?"

After secretly grabbing Black Goat's horn, Li Ang asked with a serious face:

"The kingdom of the future will really develop to the point of having to go to war with the Krolok Kingdom over the mineral deposit data in those scouts' hands?"

"I don't know anything."

Saying "I don't know" with his mouth, but raising his hand to point at his graying temples, the middle-aged man said with a dark expression:

"I already told you—guess yourself!"

"……"

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

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

"So why?"

Discovering that middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya wasn't shooting in the dark, and although he didn't quite agree with his rash move to raid the boarding tower and provoke the Krolok Kingdom, Li Ang still opened his mouth to ask:

"What exactly did those scouts discover? How did it blow up so big?"

"You want to know?" Hearing Li Ang glanced at his tightly furrowed brow, and the middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya, who had lost utterly today, let out a cold laugh and said with immense relish:

"If you want to know, then lead people to raid the boarding tower and snatch those mining records!"

"Heh heh, little Bakins, don't think you've ruined my plans just because of how things look now. I believe that after you've read those documents, no matter what's really going on in your head, you'll still end up making the same choice I did!"

The middle-aged man spoke as he raised his hand and pointed at Hearing Li Ang from afar, challenging with eyes full of hatred:

"Just wait! The facts will prove to you which one of us is actually right!"

"..."

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

Surveying the rebels in the room, whose expressions varied and who had even begun to subtly close in around him, the middle-aged man said with disgust in his eyes:

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

"Prince Watching Watching Qiaoshuya."

?!!!

Hearing his own name come from "little Bakins's" mouth, the middle-aged man couldn't help but startle violently. The vicious words he'd been about to spit out were choked back halfway, and he stared at Hearing Li Ang across from him with eyes full of shock.

And the rebels in the room, who hadn't understood what that name meant just a moment ago, upon seeing his reaction, the quicker-witted ones among them suddenly caught on, and turned to stare at their former leader with faces full of astonishment.

"Judging by your expression, I must have guessed right."

Seeing that the middle-aged Prince Watching Watching Qiaoshuya seemed about to bolt, Hearing Li Ang, who lacked any means of holding someone in place, could only open his mouth and expose his identity.

And having successfully achieved his goal and stalled the Prince Watching Watching Qiaoshuya who wanted to withdraw once more, Hearing Li Ang, while secretly reaching out to tap the little mirror to signal Young Ha to go urge Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma along, asked with a calm expression:

"Prince Watching Watching Qiaoshuya, I'm very curious—what exactly did you go through in the future to turn from an arrogant, naive prince into what you are now?"

"..."

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

After a wordless silence for a while, middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya took a silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped off the thin powder on his cheekbones used for concealment, revealing, to the stunned stares of the rebels, those two small, irregular, signature freckles.

"That's right, I am Watching Watching Qiaoshuya... though not that fool of a prince from the present, but Watching Watching Qiaoshuya of the future—the Watching Watching Qiaoshuya who became the kingdom's last king!"

"This... this..."

"How could this be!!!"

"The prince? The leader of the rebels is the prince!"

Facing the middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya who had calmly admitted his identity, the rebels could no longer hold themselves together. The bald woman, a die-hard loyalist of the former leader, clutched her head in utter anguish.

If the leader of the rebels was the prince—if the entire rebel faction had been founded by his own hand—then what exactly had they all been fighting against all this time?

A bunch of fools!

After a contemptuous glance at these former subordinates, middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya shifted his gaze away and looked at "little Bakins" across from him, saying with a puzzled look:

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

"..."

Actually, it wasn't me who figured it out. Another version of you had a nightmare, and then Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma and the Director put their heads together, ruled out other possibilities, and directly deduced your existence. I just hitched a ride on the conclusion they reached.

Of course, these honest truths were naturally impossible to share with middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya.

After slightly curling the corners of his mouth and giving the puzzled middle-aged man across from him a smile that seemed unfathomably profound, Hearing Li Ang spouted nonsense off the cuff:

"Well, that's obviously because you gave away far too many flaws."

"Break?"

"Yes, breaks."

After sneaking a glance at the middle-aged man's wristwatch and estimating how much more time Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma would need, Hearing Li Ang slowed his pace and continued to stall for time:

"Even though you've changed a great deal, and can even speak kindly to a commoner like me, that arrogance in your bones is still something you can't change.

Besides that, there's your obsession with saving the kingdom, and that inexplicable hatred for the kingdom's parasites—all of which set you apart from the others."

After gesturing toward the others, Hearing Li Ang continued to spout nonsense with an earnest face:

"The others also want to save the kingdom, but what they want is to make changes, to move toward a better future. What you showed, on the other hand, looked more like an attempt to make up for a regret;

The others' hatred for those parasites comes from empathizing with the victims' suffering, but your anger felt more like someone destroying property that belonged to you.

Maybe on its own it wouldn't be obvious, but when you're together with the others, showing emotions like hope and anger at the same time, you stick out like a sore thumb."

"..."

Just these small differences, and I gave myself away completely?

Having no idea at all about the nightmare the other version of himself had had, after hearing Hearing Li Ang's nonsense, the middle-aged man, who had already been thoroughly taken in, couldn't help but take a deep breath and, gazing at Hearing Li Ang with a complicated look, said:

"So in your eyes, I have a family environment capable of breeding arrogance, I view the entire kingdom as my own property, and I know what happens in the future and am desperately trying to save the kingdom... that's not enough!

Little Bakins, I can let it pass that you were able to see through the kingdom's situation at a glance and come up with a half-decent plan, but I don't believe you could deduce my identity from these trivial details alone!"

"..."

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

I only snuck in yesterday morning—how would I know any details or otherwise? Everything I just said was working backward from the answer to the question, pure stall-for-time nonsense meant to bluff you. If it doesn't sound reasonable, that's exactly right!

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

After squinting and studying the middle-aged man's expression, Hearing Li Ang, having successfully set the trap, smiled and countered, to the rebels' "awed" stares:

"Well then, Prince Watching Watching Qiaoshuya, now we both have things we want to know. I wonder if you'd be willing to make a trade with me? You tell me what those mineral deposits actually are, and I'll tell you how I guessed your identity. What do you think of that deal?"

"I..."

Unaware that Hearing Li Ang was planning to get something for nothing, the middle-aged man, whose mind was full of questions desperate for answers, instinctively clenched his fists and began an exceptionally fierce internal struggle.

After a moment, his death-gripped fists loosened slightly, and he gritted his teeth and shook his head:

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

Relying on tremendous willpower, after refusing the deal with "Little Baggins," seemingly afraid he might not be able to resist changing his mind, the middle-aged man immediately pulled out a pistol, aimed it at his own head, and prepared to use the crisis to activate the contingency left behind by the Aquarius Director.

However, what the middle-aged man had never expected was that the instant he pulled the trigger, the "Little Baggins" opposite, who claimed to only make people bow, simply raised a hand and clenched it in the void, directly crushing his pistol into a lump of scrap iron!

?!!!

Upon seeing the toad pendant flashing with golden arcs of light inside "Little Baggins"' collar, the middle-aged man couldn't help but shudder all over, nearly popping his eyes out of their sockets!

"You... you are!!!"

(End of chapter)