In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

It's impossible to team up with her to control Xu Shi. It seems the white-haired older sister has forgotten who personally delivered her into Xu Shi's arms.

It's a case of remembering the good but not the bad.

Fortunately, the two of them hadn't really forgotten her as their "elder," and after a short while, the three of them happily started playing cards again.

"It feels so good to lie down."

Leaning lazily against the bed, Xia Xiaomao let out a sound of resignation.

"When did you become a lazy dog?"

Xu Shi could only laugh when he saw this.

"Just during this period of time."

Xia Wuyou said confidently, "My aunt used to be the one lying down, but now that I've been lying down for a while, I've realized that this kind of life is actually quite nice."

That's true. It seems that the roles of the Xia family aunt and niece have been reversed without anyone noticing. Xia Xiaomao is now lying on her sickbed, while Xia Ke'an is now full of energy every day.

"Not bad my foot."

The white-haired girl wiped the note off her face and snorted, "I was almost dying back then, okay? Xia Wuyou, don't you have even a shred of conscience?"

Xia Wuyou ignored her and just laughed to herself.

Seeing this scene, Xu Shi couldn't help but laugh, not only because of Xia Wuyou's sudden abandonment of life, but also because of her attitude towards herself.

The kitten always acts tough in front of strangers, and even when facing other girls, it often takes advantage of its seniority to naturally exude a serious demeanor.

But in front of me, she becomes soft and coquettish, like a spoiled little girl. This contrast is just too interesting.

This isn't an act; it's because he genuinely relied on Xu Shi to switch so smoothly.

"Waaah, it hurts here, Xu Shi, can you rub it for me?"

She can also act coquettishly like a green tea b*tch, grabbing Xu Shi's hand without warning and placing it on her heart while crying.

Xia Ke'an was dumbfounded. Shouldn't this be something she's better at? How come you seem to be more skilled than me?

That's enough.

So she immediately lost her temper, threw the cards in her hand onto the bed, and started to act serious, "I still have something important to say. What are your plans next?"

The Hualan Empire's year-long journey has come to an end, but the fight against "Heavenly Justice" is far from over.

"There's so much to do."

While roughly massaging Xia Wuyou's chest, Xu Shi said, "The first thing we'll do when we get back is interrogate He Yuxia and see if we can still get any secrets about 'Heavenly Principles' out of her."

Xu Ying was dumbfounded. Now she could only be used as combat power, but Xu Shi also learned more from her. He naturally wanted to know as much as possible about "Heavenly Principles".

In retrospect, the interrogation of He Yuxia was completely inadequate. We lacked experience at the time, and the other party was cooperative, so we only asked a few basic questions before stopping.

In retrospect, this may not have been a treacherous scheme of hers; she used information asymmetry to conceal many things.

It's probably still possible to uncover some secrets about her.

"Apart from that, it's all about doing scientific research."

He continued, "Now that we have so much liquid 'Rust Mist' ore, it's natural to upgrade the entire city again."

While developing and improving individual weapon components was no problem in the unfamiliar territory of the Hualan Empire, large-scale operations were not feasible. They could only carry out such projects back home, and then the technology would spread back to the Hualan Empire, creating a virtuous cycle.

Even something as simple as clearing away the "rust fog" can only be done in the City of Night Sin—its superior technology is an undeniable fact.

"And then there's our own level of capability..."

Xia Wuyou continued his words, adding a further explanation.

Becoming stronger is a never-ending pursuit, but it is undeniable that everyone's progress has stalled somewhat this past year since we went to sea.

The main problem is that once you leave your familiar environment, it's not so easy to engage in systematic training.

Take herself for example. She used to spend a lot of time in the training room. Now that she's out, she doesn't have that option anymore, and her focus has shifted quite a bit.

But her battle with Cheng Gujian ignited her competitive spirit. Losing once was acceptable, but she couldn't lose without realizing it. Catching up with and even surpassing her opponent was what she wanted to do.

Not to mention that this was even with Cheng Gujian holding back, which made her feel incredibly frustrated.

Only Xu Shi and Xie Qingyan encountered some extraordinary events; as for the others...

Or perhaps Xie Qingyan was the only one who had a fortuitous encounter. Xu Shi spent time inside the Sea God's belly, but he only managed to open up his Ren and Du meridians and use "United We Stand," without significantly improving his own ability level.

Xu Shi remained noncommittal. He was originally a proponent of the "planting medicine" faction, and if he wanted to actively improve his abilities, he had to rely on planting seeds for others. Unfortunately, he had only gained one such person, Dongfang Xiao, during this period. He could only say that he had improved, but not much.

I will naturally make up for it twice as much when I get back.

As for what else...

"Hey, ma'am, why don't you come and take a look?"

He urged Xia Ke'an to use her abilities to fill in the gaps and make up for any deficiencies.

"it's useless."

Xia Ke'an shook her head. "If you're talking about short-term things, you can do whatever you want with your abilities. But as for the long term... I can't predict things that are 'natural'."

This is something that everyone discovered a long time ago. Prophecies related to "heavenly principles" would fail, and all that could be seen was pitch black. It seems that the other party used some kind of method.

If she can't solve it even at her SS level, she probably needs to break through to SSS level to have any chance.

But this is an extremely difficult task. Throughout history, no one has ever been known to have truly reached the level of SSS. Even the most sophisticated AI can only estimate it to be "possible," as there is absolutely no sample data available.

To be fair, the older woman is actually quite lucky; she still has the potential for a breakthrough after recovering.

On the other hand, the other two are quite different. Mr. Wen is too old, and even if he were to receive a self-healing transplant, the probability of him making another breakthrough would not be very high.

Cheng Gujian brought this upon himself; the near self-destruction effectively ended that path for him.

Even so, this is still a long way off. Breakthroughs to such high levels require a catalyst, not medicine or cultivation. During the time when the cat was teaching the saintess, the old lady used her powers countless times a day, but it didn't seem to help her at all.

The experience bar is too long; this method won't work and will only exhaust you.

Xu Shi expressed his understanding and comforted her, telling her not to be anxious.

"I'm not in a hurry. I was going to die anyway, so I'm already very satisfied with how things have turned out."

The white-haired, mature woman seemed quite philosophical about it, but instead asked about something else, "Speaking of which, are you planning to go out to sea again?"

"Of course we should."

Xu Shi nodded.

His initial voyage wasn't solely for the Hualan Empire; his goal was to become the Pirate King... cough, that's a bit off-topic. It was more about trying to establish connections between various experimental areas.

only.

"We can't do everything ourselves forever."

He said seriously, "Therefore, the next overseas expansion plan will need to be adjusted."

I'm just asking honestly, do you guys like... fantasy/xia (fantasy/martial arts) settings? (Not this one, though, I'm planning for a new book.)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 320 What to eat tonight?

2023-11-17

"If I don't go to sea myself..."

Hearing Xu Shi's words, Xia Ke'an blinked and said thoughtfully, "So you're planning to send people out to explore?"

She didn't want to play those "What is it?" or "You're so amazing!" games with Xu Shi; those little tricks to satisfy a man's vanity were for children.

But she's in her mature, sophisticated form now, so she has no interest in doing that kind of thing.

Regardless of what she thought, Xu Shi simply smiled and nodded.

His trip to the Hualan Empire was more about being a pioneer, setting an example for future development. He himself would not be willing to spend the rest of his life on continuous overseas expansion.

This person is inherently lazy, and no matter what, he is a ruler of a region. It's not a problem for him to personally lead an expedition once or twice, but it's not quite appropriate to always leave the rear base empty.

Now that we have experience, we naturally need to adjust our methods and approaches.

While stabilizing and improving navigation technology, we should continuously send out fleets to explore overseas.

He only needs to oversee and command from headquarters, which is much more efficient.

"really."

Xia Wuyou echoed her sentiment, knowing that everyone had gained a lot from this voyage.

At least this model has been established, from setting up signal nodes along the way to building overseas bases, then establishing diplomatic relations with other regions and conducting trade according to needs... If it can continue, a global network can be developed in just a few years.

But.

"One issue to be aware of is how to determine the overall strength of the other city-states?"

Xia Xiaomao reminded her again, "We must be vigilant about this."

This is a major problem that cannot be ignored.

In other words, this is the embodiment of the Dark Forest Theory.

Each experimental area is an independent entity, and they are all different from one another. It cannot be guaranteed that all places will be as friendly as the Hualan Empire.

Or rather, the Hualan Empire did not initially have a friendly attitude towards the arrival of outsiders—it was Silver Pine Island that had a friendly attitude, and that was only because everyone had saved Pan Cheng's family's life by chance.

The empire was initially quite resistant to these outsiders. Although the obstacles they faced were not enough to truly stop Xu Shi's progress, they still provided resistance.

This was to be expected, since "natural law" itself separates each region very much and hopes to see city-states operate independently.

Put yourself in their shoes: if someone had landed in Night City before Xu Shi set sail, their reaction probably wouldn't have been much better.

Under such circumstances, sea exploration is inherently a risky endeavor. The relatively smooth journey of the Hualan Empire was mostly due to their superior technology, or rather, their overwhelming overall strength, which allowed them to thoroughly defeat the primitive people.

But what if other regions are stronger than them? Then the outcome might be different.

Taking the risk of exposure and letting the other side know that there are other forces besides themselves could very well backfire on them, just like what happened to the Hualan Empire.

Conquest, establishing diplomatic relations, and being conquered are all possibilities. We cannot always plan for the best; we should always plan for the worst.

Thinking about it, Xia Wuyou felt a little scared. Luckily, her first voyage was on easy mode, otherwise she didn't know what would have happened to her now.

Xu Shi neither confirmed nor denied it, but he only offered some words of comfort to the other party.