Chapter 2425: Seeing One's True Nature, A Pilot Project

Two days later, Xia Duo woke from his deep sleep. Looking at the bedroom that was both familiar and strange, he could not help but feel a sense of loss.

He could not return to the Red Heart Alliance; even if he could find it again in the chaotic ruins of the Astral Plane, it would no longer be the era he had lived in, and he would never see those familiar friends again.

But regardless, Xia Duo did not regret his decision. Whether to leave or stay was a choice he had made after careful deliberation. Now that he had returned to the Main Plane, he should look forward rather than dwell on the past.

Just as he was lost in thought, Niya, having been notified by the Tower Spirit, flashed directly to Xia Duo's side. Although the Tower of Time was currently parked in the Research Zone of the Floating City, the interior of the Mage Tower was still controlled by the Tower Spirit.

In other words, within the Mage Tower that was the Tower of Time, the Permission Level Xia Duo possessed was not as high as Niya's.

It was only a short while ago that he had decided to leave Niya behind in the Red Heart Alliance, and now, seeing Niya's concerned gaze, he still could not help but avoid her eyes.

At this moment, a full twenty years had passed since he last saw Niya. He could not even say how much affection he still held for her, but his sense of guilt was significant.

"Xia Duo, you—" Noticing Xia Duo's evasive gaze, Niya's heart tightened instantly. The thousands of words she had prepared could not be spoken, leaving only a trembling, expectant—

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine."

But regarding Xia Duo's proposal, everyone's reaction was unanimous: surprise followed by firm expressions. Clearly, it was a rejection. After all, just the 【Chang'an City】 had not yet been finished; building a new city seemed entirely superfluous.

"If we must build a new city, what about Chang'an City?" Niya raised a very realistic question.

Such great power clearly could not have left behind overly obvious weaknesses.

……

With the location of the Control Center already known, the Dragon Madness Mythallar should not face the worst-case scenario of being controlled by Elves to create a terrifying threat, as had happened in the Red Heart Alliance Projection Plane.

Such a small number of people wouldn't even be enough to fill Chang'an City, let alone the surface Territory. Once the new city was built, there would always be some place that would become a ghost town.

Gradually, Xia Duo felt that familiar self returning, though he did not abandon the self-shaping he had undergone during his life in the Red Heart Alliance; he merely lowered the weight of his past personality slightly.

What Niya worried about most was that after the new city was built, Chang'an City, which had been built with massive investment, would be abandoned; that would be too wasteful.

Xia Duo did not want to wake up one day to find the whole world unrecognizable, so the threat of the Demon Descendants had to be resolved as soon as possible—it was even more urgent than the Dragon Madness Mythallar crisis.

Only someone like him, capable of fully analyzing the subconscious, could so meticulously and actively shape their own self. Without special circumstances, other people's self-personalities almost always lived in the passive shaping of the external environment.

Xia Duo saw such expressions in the eyes of everyone, including Niya, but his experiences in the Red Heart Alliance were too incredible, and he could only explain it by saying he had gained something from the Projection Plane.

Perhaps one day he could achieve the "mind never retreating" that only the immortals and Bodhisattva of his hometown legends could attain, but until then, it still required constant maintenance.

The one who made this suggestion was Saville, though his words sounded somewhat petulant. Xia Duo naturally understood Saville's meaning; it was nothing more than blaming him for not discussing it in advance and for being too restless.

Besides this, Xia Duo also prepared to conduct a divination in the near future. He did not seek to fully perceive the movements of the Darkness Society, but at least he needed a rough understanding of the future development of the Main Plane. "Everyone, I intend to build another Floating City in the near future, and I will need your assistance when the time comes."

After soothing Niya, Xia Duo walked around the Tower of Time and the Floating City, finding back the familiar feelings of those scenes, and only then did he summon the high-level members of the Tower of Time (organization) to announce a plan—

It was Chang'an City. As a magical building, it required regular maintenance, which was an even greater trouble for the Tower of Time, which was already stretched thin for manpower.

Back when he was in the Projection Plane, Xia Duo had thought about returning to improve the current 【Chang'an City】, but as his understanding of the Red Heart Alliance increased, he felt more and more that the current 【Chang'an City】 was not worth modifying.

"Xia Duo, if you are certain that building a new city is more appropriate than modifying Chang'an City, then why not sell Chang'an City and exchange it for resources to build the new one?"

After all, too much had already been invested in Chang'an City—at least over ten million Gold Coins. Now that it was only half "renovated," if they were to build a new one, what would happen to this Chang'an City?

But there was still one absolute crisis on the Main Plane that even the Red Heart Alliance might be powerless against: the threat of the Demon Descendants covering the Time Line.

Xia Duo stopped Niya and pulled her into his arms. While feeling the real, warm body of the person in his arms, he continued to backtrack through the memories of their past time together.

It was very necessary.

In the past, he had been too optimistic about the threat of the Demon Descendants, thinking that as long as he controlled specific Nodes, he could stabilize the current Time Line. But in reality, after his trip to the Red Heart Alliance, he understood how powerful a force it was to replace the current possibility with some other possibility from history—so powerful that even the Red Heart Alliance could not achieve it.

"Niya, I... I was gone for a bit long this time. I'm sorry for making you worry."

A few who could realize their own tendencies and have the consciousness to actively shape themselves could be called "seeing one's true nature." Xia Duo had the advantage of Bloodline Awakening; it was not true "seeing one's true nature," but he was indeed moving in that direction.

In other words, the specific Nodes Xia Duo thought he could control would, in all likelihood, not work. Furthermore, the Nodes he identified might not be the true Nodes.

Currently, with Chang'an City on the Main Plane, it was not to say it was invincible, but at least it could be called an absolute killer weapon. Since that was the case, why build a new city?

The new Floating City, or rather, a pilot project applying the new technologies of the Red Heart Alliance, was prepared for this.

And to achieve this goal, one could not expect the Darkness Society to surrender; overwhelming force was indispensable. No matter how much one overestimated those Demon Descendants from different Time Lines, it would not be an exaggeration.

"After careful consideration, I found that the cost of modifying 【Chang'an City】 is far greater than rebuilding a new one. Didn't the Tower side build a new Seventon? It is very normal for us to build a new Chang'an as well."

Xia Duo quickly traced the scene of his last meeting with Niya in his mind, repeatedly experiencing the thoughts and feelings of that moment, which allowed him to regain some sense of reality.

The true plan to change the Time Line was known only to those Demon Descendants from the Elan Kingdom of different Time Lines within the Darkness Society. Only by capturing members of the Darkness Society could one understand the true details of this plan; all other possibilities were likely just smoke bombs.

Looking at the pairs of confused eyes around him, Xia Duo could not help but let out a long sigh. He was not the type of person who had to use new technology just because he had it; it was because he had seen the power of the Red Heart Alliance that he understood the troubles of the Main Plane even better.

Rather than racking his brains to carry out modern modifications on a foundation that was already very backward, it was better to start from scratch and rebuild a new one. Doing so was actually more time-saving and labor-saving!

One must know that the current Great Xia Territory, including the Savile Territory, only had a total population of 170,000. Even counting the Mulan people just bought from Yimaska not long ago, it was only around 200,000.