"Dr. Zhang, did Brother Guan do sothing wrong?"
In the dormitory area of the Counterasures Research Office base, Wang Yan looked at Zhang Minglu with so worry and asked.
"No, just trying to find out more about the situation," Zhang Minglu replied.
Wang Yan's eyes showed a hint of suspicion.
If nothing serious had happened, why would the big doctor in this base suddenly co to ask her about Guan Tong?
"Ms. Wang, you don't need to worry. Just tell
everything you know about him," Zhang Minglu said.
Wang Yan thought for a mont and replied, "There's nothing much to hide. My daughter Xiao Na and I t Brother Guan during the June Snow rule..."
She recounted how she t Guan Tong, and Zhang Minglu listened carefully while his portable recorder recorded everything.
"...After that, we returned to Yunhua. Where Brother Guan went after that, I don't know."
Wang Yan explained how the three of them had run into each other at the foot of Mingdao Mountain, survived the blizzard rule together, and only went to Yunhua for dical help after the rule ended.
Zhang Minglu pondered for a mont and asked, "The distance from Yunhua City to Mingdao Mountain is not short. When you arrived, Guan Tong was already there, and he had even set up a small camp."
"Yes."
"That suggests Guan Tong left Yunhua City in the early phase of the rule, maybe soon after the rule was released. Who, under a blizzard, would have the guts to leave the city alone and head for an uninhabited wasteland?"
Wang Yan said, "Guan Tong isn't like ordinary kids. He's much bolder than others his age."
Zhang Minglu nodded, but doubts bubbled in his mind.
Was Guan Tong simply daring and ticulous, or had he learned the secret correlation that blizzard density is positively related to population density early on, which gave him the confidence to do this?
Zhang Minglu organized his thoughts and continued, "So you didn't exchange contact information, and after you went to the hospital, you two didn't keep in touch. How did you reconnect later?"
"What a coincidence," Wang Yan said. "When we ca back, the city was blocked by heavy snow and the authorities wouldn't let large vehicles in, so my truck was left in a suburban parking lot. Later, Brother Guan passed by, saw my truck, and found a card with my number inside. That's how he contacted us again."
Wang Yan added, "After that, my daughter was taken by that scam organization for treatnt to help . I already told you about those things."
Zhang Minglu nodded. The matter between Chen Na and the Qingi Organization had already been docunted when Wang Yan and Chen Na first entered the base.
"Ms. Wang, one more question. Do you know anything about Guan Tong's Mind Power items, or his abilities?"
Wang Yan shook her head. "I don't know. Brother Guan never ntioned them, and during the blizzard rule I never saw him use any items or abilities. But..."
"But?"
"But Brother Guan is amazing, that I know," Wang Yan said. "He killed a wild boar that ca down the mountain by himself. That's not sothing an ordinary person could do."
While Zhang Minglu spoke with Wang Yan in one room, Silver Fox sat with Chen Na in another room talking.
"Sister Silver Fox, does your arm still hurt?"
Chen Na looked at Silver Fox's right arm, wrapped in bandages, and asked.
After the Falling Petals Plan operation ended, Silver Fox was treated imdiately. Official dical staff with special healing abilities reattached her arm.
Although the arm was reattached, it would be largely unusable for a while, and full recovery would likely require a long period of rehabilitation to regain its forr dexterity.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Silver Fox smiled. "They reattached it, after all. Your Brother Longhun's injuries are much worse than mine, but he's stable for now. He'll recover."
Chen Na nodded. She normally wouldn't call Longhun "Brother Longhun." For the stern Longhun, she still used "captain."
"Besides, compared to those teammates who sacrificed themselves, we're already lucky," Silver Fox added.
Chen Na's mood grew heavy as she rembered teammates who died at the hands of Jiang Lanying's death warriors and those who fell to Lucifer.
"Alright." Silver Fox cupped Chen Na's small face. "I'm here today to ask you about that 'Brother Guan' of yours."
"Brother Guan?" Chen Na was puzzled. "What's wrong with him?"
"Nothing wrong, we just want to learn more about him," Silver Fox replied.
Chen Na grew anxious. "Sister Silver Fox, don't get the wrong idea. Brother Guan is a good person!"
"Who said he's a bad person?" Silver Fox said helplessly.
"But... isn't detailed investigation usually done when people suspect soone is bad?"
"..."
Silver Fox was montarily speechless. It was true that in dramas, investigations follow that logic.
"Relax, Xiao Na. We don't think he's a bad person, just want to know more," she explained.
Chen Na nodded, though she remained skeptical.
Silver Fox then questioned Chen Na about how she t Guan Tong and pressed for details about how they reconnected after the hospital visit.
Chen Na answered obediently but sowhat vaguely.
Her descriptions of detailed calls were general and not particularly informative.
After hearing this, Silver Fox ford so suspicions and left the room.
She then went to Zhang Minglu's office, where he had just returned from interviewing Wang Yan.
"Dr. Zhang."
"Silver Fox, sit down. Tell
what you learned from Xiao Na so we can compare notes."
They had interviewed Wang Yan and Chen Na separately, not together, precisely so they could cross-check information.
After comparing notes, everything matched up; there were no contradictions in the mother and daughter's accounts.
Zhang Minglu shook his head with so regret. "It seems Guan Tong covered his tracks well, or he's highly cautious. He stayed with Wang Yan and Chen Na for nearly a month, yet neither of them ever saw him use any ability or item even once."
"Hmm..."
"Well? Did you discover anything, Silver Fox?"
"I think Chen Na hid sothing and didn't tell us everything," Silver Fox said. "She tried to hide it as much as possible, but she's still young. She couldn't fool my eyes."
"Oh?" Zhang Minglu asked curiously. "Do you know why?"
"I suspect she trusts Guan Tong more than she trusts us. Or rather, Guan Tong ans a lot to her, so she doesn't want to reveal everything about him."
Zhang Minglu stroked his chin at that. "Chen Na hasn't known Guan Tong that long. For her to trust him more than our official organization—that's childlike sentint."
Silver Fox nodded. "When her mother fell ill, she had no one else to rely on. Only Guan Tong helped. He must have treated her well, which explains her behavior."
"This shows we haven't done enough," Zhang Minglu sighed. "Our base should give her a sense of ho. Only then can she fully trust us."
"...Her incomplete trust in the organization might also be related to what she experienced at the Yongzhou base," Silver Fox accurately pointed out. "A little girl deceived once will have lingering insecurity."
In the dorm room, Chen Na replayed her talk with Silver Fox and felt she hadn't said anything harmful to Guan Tong.
Silver Fox's judgnt was correct; Chen Na had withheld so things.
In her heart, aside from her mother Wang Yan, the person she trusted most was Guan Tong.
Even the official organization ca after him.
She had not forgotten what Gu Fei said at the Yongzhou base during the World Number One rule, when the base was assigning first places for squad mbers.
Gu Fei had said, "These organizations are the sa. They steal people's things under the pretense of helping them. Even the official teams aren't any different. I'm telling you, they're all trash."
Though Gu Fei said it in frustration, Chen Na took the words to heart.
So even if she now felt the organization treated her well, she would never do anything harmful to Guan Tong...
She even missed the simple days at Mingdao Mountain.
Back then, snow fell everywhere and the world was white. Though they ate poorly and slept badly, she, her mother, and Guan Tong were together and life felt simple and pure.
Now her treatnt was good, but she had to train daily, coordinate with assigned teammates, and execute missions that could get people killed—this life wasn't what she liked.
If one day...
Chen Na thought, I wish I could go back to that simple life.
...
"Vertical—hook."
By a small creek at the bottom of the canyon, Guan Tong held the Wordless Book and finally finished the last stroke of the character for "space."
It had been more than twenty days since he decided to add the character for "domain" to the sixth page. During that ti he hadn't used any reserve Mind Power, relying only on daily natural recovery to write bit by bit. Today, after steady progress, he had completed it.
Looking at the three characters on the page—"space domain"—he couldn't wait to try it.
"If I can really open a small spatial pocket and form a true domain, its usefulness would be far greater than before..."
Guan Tong thought as he began injecting Mind Power into the page.
At first it was no different from before, but in two or three seconds the page began to voraciously absorb energy!
Guan Tong tried to control it but failed completely; his flowing Mind Power was instantly drained.
He hesitated and tried to use ten thousand points of reserve Mind Power, but in less than three seconds it was all consud. After devouring so much Mind Power, the Wordless Book only ford a shoebox-sized "cube" in front of him—this was the "spatial domain" he had hoped for.
"Spent over ten thousand Mind Power to form just a 'cube'?" Guan Tong frowned. The cost was enormous and he couldn't afford it.
At this rate, to form a true spatial domain big enough to trap a person would require six figures—over one hundred thousand Mind Power.
Guan Tong's current reserve didn't exceed two hundred thousand. Using it all at once would drain him completely.
As for creating a vast shadow domain like before... the expenditure would be unimaginable, likely in the hundreds of millions.
"Still... such a huge cost bought a genuine independent space."
Despite his worry, Guan Tong felt so excitent.
This character-adding experint was, in a sense, successful—he had created a true "domain."
Although it couldn't produce a sweeping coverage like his previous shadow domain, this small cube could still be used offensively.
For instance, as a "cutting" weapon.
No matter how sharp a blade is, it can't compare to the cutting capability of a piece of space.
No defense is immune: when it collides with a piece of spatial domain, it would collapse instantly.
If he could slam this small space onto an enemy during battle, whatever area it struck would be "cut out" by the space—brutally effective.
Guan Tong's mind raced as he tried to manipulate the space cube to touch a stone by the creek.
He discovered two effects under his ntal control.
One was "cutting." When the black space cube touched the stone, it neatly sliced the contact surface in an instant. The process was soundless and smoother than cutting tofu.
The other was "imprisonnt." The black space cube could "swallow" whatever it touched into its internal space. Once swallowed, the contents would move along with the space.
This reminded Guan Tong of his shelter experints.
He had long tested putting objects, even living creatures, into the shelter, then retracting the shelter into the Wordless Book. After moving elsewhere and summoning the shelter again, everything inside remained.
This granted him short-term, long-distance transfer capability for supplies and even personnel.
But the shelter's size was limited. Though it could change with Mind Power, it couldn't expand indefinitely, so its capacity was constrained.
The current spatial domain was different. Guan Tong thought that if one day his Mind Power grew enough to enlarge the space cube, he could transfer far more...
He judged that exploiting its utility as a transport tool belonged to future possibilities. For now, it would serve as a "super weapon."
Its unparalleled cutting power, though costly, was worthy of that title.
Moreover, with such a weapon, he would partly compensate for his lack of instant-kill options.
Previously he had relied on items like the Corpse Whistle to summon living dead, the Greataxe Warrior Hoodie to summon a warrior, and the Silver Hunter with various ammunition. That was adequate for a ti.
But as enemies grew stronger, the first two beca less effective. The Silver Hunt's different rounds were used less often; only the Type 5 Electromagnetic Pulse Round remained functionally useful.
Other rounds—regular buckshot, single-head rounds, high-explosive rounds, smoke, and even the grappling hook—were used increasingly rarely, and Guan Tong had long stopped stockpiling bullets.
There was still room to develop more through adding characters: stronger bullets could be designed. But for now the demand wasn't high.
Now, with a "space cube," Guan Tong's offensive options were clearer.
In most fights he could rely on the Silver Hunt or the versatile Shadow. But against powerful foes or when an instant kill was needed, using the space cube up close—so long as he didn't miss—could seal the deal.
"This should prepare
well."
Guan Tong closed the Wordless Book, rose, and dusted the dirt off his clothes.
"Rest one more day. Once Mind Power fully recovers, I'll officially set out to collect debts and settle accounts."
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