Chapter 323

"You really like this hotpot restaurant?"

Li Cheng sat down in the private room, glancing at Yuan Zhixia across from him with slight confusion.

According to him, the Mobile Task Force of the Special Affairs Bureau had a daily meal allowance as high as a staggering eight hundred yuan, enough to feast on rare delicacies until full.

The alleys were filled with top chefs, some of whom were themselves transcenders, capable of preparing glowing meals using special ingredients from the Grand World—such as dragon liver, phoenix marrow, behemoth meat, and blue silver grass.

Eating them left people utterly addicted, exclaiming, "Damn, icy!"

Some players, after consuming too many fine foods, would rather chew on emergency biscuits than return to roadside restaurants or Guochao delivery.

"I got used to it back then."

Yuan Zhixia offered no further explanation; like last time, she took a soundproofing talisman from her bag, stuck it on the table, then turned on the private room's TV to play a dull variety show as background noise,

and got straight to the point: "In the 【Anchor Link】 mission, was it you who made the final decision to teleport Gao Ta into the real world?"

"Hmm." Li Cheng thought for a moment. "Are you asking this for yourself, or on behalf of the Special Affairs Bureau?"

"Seventy percent for myself, thirty percent for the Bureau."

Yuan Zhixia picked up her chopsticks and said: "I reported to the Bureau that I know you, but once the organization learned you didn't want your true identity exposed, they decided not to require me to elaborate further.

So the Special Affairs Bureau only knows you as Master Pi Fu."

"Huh?"

Li Cheng hadn't expected this reply: "I thought the Special Affairs Bureau always dug to the bottom of every matter."

"It used to be like that. In the first one or two years after the Killing Field descended, anomalies kept emerging; back then, the Bureau's policy was to crush every threat at its root—even if they couldn't recruit lone-wolf players, they'd at least force them to wear GPS trackers 24/7,

and register with local agencies for regular reports.

In times of chaos, harsh laws prevail. The Special Affairs Bureau was the first to quell the chaos, and naturally, it also made some mistakes."

Yuan Zhixia picked up a slice of fatty beef and placed it in her bowl, speaking calmly: "Now the Bureau has more experience and more mature methods.

If you want to cooperate, the door is open. If you can't cooperate yet, you can still build goodwill first.

By the way, after you and Zhao Zijing delivered the battery last time, your Bureau rating was upgraded to A.

It's now been adjusted to S. We believe you'll definitely survive to Lv35—or higher."

Li Cheng picked up a stalk of Gongcai and asked curiously, "Is S-level high? Is there SS, SSR, or UR above it?"

"Are you playing a mobile gacha game?"

Yuan Zhixia rolled her eyes. "S-level is third-highest. Above it are SS and SSS—only a handful of Lv40s."

After Lv33, nearly every mission is maximum-difficulty nightmare-tier, so some transcenders stockpile many 【Emergency Escape Cards】; upon seeing the mission briefing, if it's too hard, they just force-exit immediately.

And epic or legendary-grade items often have level requirements—Lv35, Lv37, for example.

This means the farther you climb, the wider the gap between players of each level."

"I see."

Li Cheng thought. The only absolute top expert he knew was 【The Side of Truth】—who no longer stayed on Earth, either residing in the Killing Field's physical realm or managing his own small world.

"In short," Yuan Zhixia brought the topic back, picking up pen and paper casually, "the Bureau listened to Dr. Noah's statement and wants to confirm it from you again."

"No problem." Since the Special Affairs Bureau had shown sincerity, Li Cheng wouldn't conceal anything—he briefly described the final phase of the 【Anchor Link】 mission: "I told Dr. Noah the tower must stand upright on the ground, not laid sideways. He followed my instructions and pressed the teleport button. That's how it happened."

"..."

Yuan Zhixia rolled her eyes but still diligently took notes. "Don't you suspect Dr. Noah lied?"

Li Cheng spread his hands. "First, I don't think in that world—without hope or future—he had any reason to lie.

Second, I have an item that can forcibly read information, regardless of whether he lied or not."

"Alright." Yuan Zhixia nodded, closing her notebook. "You don't have any private channel to contact Dr. Noah anymore, right?"

"No. He's not a player—he has no friend communication function."

Li Cheng had long known that Dr. Noah—or rather, the Gao Ta AI possessing Noah's consciousness—would be immediately monitored by GOC after landing, so there was no need to keep a contact channel.

He noticed the subtle expression on Yuan Zhixia's face and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"... The Bureau has a judgment: Gao Ta's arrival is both a beginning and a landmark event."

Yuan Zhixia said: "This is the first time a highly advanced alien civilization has massively interfered with Earth's reality.

No one, not a single word, not a single line, not a single detail, not a single thing!

Even though Dr. Noah is a genius scientist who has been interfered with by a planetary-level supernatural entity and possesses super-intelligence,

above him, there must still be higher-tier sci-fi, fantasy, and xianxia worlds.

In some cosmologies, there are transcenders on par with our Lv40s.

If Noah could build a Gao Ta and teleport it here, other worlds might have the same possibility..."

Yuan Zhixia didn't spell it all out, but the implication was crystal clear.

Human civilization on Earth is extremely powerful—nuclear arsenals can plow the planetary surface clean.

Yet human civilization is also extremely weak—a single epidemic, a single memetic virus can plunge the globe into chaos. Not to mention celestial emperors, demon kings, and star gods from higher worlds.

Under a toppled nest, no egg remains intact. In a few years, Gao Ta's arrival will become a historical dividing line.

The atmosphere grew heavy. Li Cheng and Yuan Zhixia in the second-floor private room silently gazed out the window—at bustling streets, countless lanterns, peace and tranquility.

In any era, peace is a luxury; those living within it don't realize it, mistaking peace for something as ordinary as air.

"It's not all bad news."

Yuan Zhixia forced a smile. "Your decision to teleport Gao Ta to Earth has objectively given us some understanding of cross-dimensional technology—at least now we can prepare for the future."

"I hope so."

Li Cheng made no comment, dipping a slice of fatty beef into the broth.

Objective laws don't shift with human will. Facing a cataclysm like cross-dimensional alien invasion, ordinary people and low-to-mid-tier transcenders are fundamentally no different—they cannot control their own fate.

The only thing they can do is grow stronger—no matter what it takes.

Grow stronger, as life has evolved over millions of years,

Like an AI program that keeps killing itself and self-optimizing to grow stronger,

Like a bodybuilder protected by beastly drugs, pulled by nine dragons carrying a coffin. Cough, cough, better skip that.

(End of Chapter)