Weak in affinity talent? Female ghosts are eager to give hints.

"Um?"

"cell phone?"

"No...this is a dungeon! Who would call you here?"

"..."

An Lan was stunned when she heard Jiang Lai's phone vibrate.

No?

Can you talk to people remotely?

"..."

Jiang Lai did not respond, but glanced at his [Talent] count out of the corner of his eye—"1".

The contact function, which used to offer only three uses per day, now only offers one.

So...

Without overthinking it, it seems there was another mishap in the future, prompting a connection to the past self and the start of a new phase.

Turn on your phone.

really!

A text message popped up: "Hello, past me! This is you from tonight's operation. It's failed again! There's no way out of the cliff, only the Rapunzel Prince and his little hut!"

He can use the "Golden Bead" to contact anyone and trigger the hunter's gun! The hunter's gun can target enemies in the void! Therefore... this operation is canceled! We must search for more clues!

[Remember! Remember! The exit isn't at the top! An Lan seems to have discovered something... but he didn't say anything before trouble struck... Perhaps you can find a breakthrough by talking to him...]

"..."

Staring at the message, Jiang Lai remained in a daze for a long time.

He turned off his phone, his gaze suddenly fixed on An Lan, his expression strange.

"Hey! Let's go!"

"Why aren't you leaving yet?"

The Minotaur and the Goat kept urging him, but Jiang Lai decisively shook his head: "Tonight... I'm not going!"

"ha?!"

"No way! Are you kidding me?!"

"We already kicked out Old Pig, so why is tonight's operation canceled?"

"Are you making fun of my buddy?!"

"you--"

The Minotaur is glaring at you, about to unleash its fury!

An Lan glanced at Jiang Lai's phone, blinked, and surprisingly offered a few words of advice: "Brother Niu, don't be in such a hurry! There will definitely be an opportunity. Brother Hu, there must be a reason for what you're doing, right?"

"reason?"

"There's no reason whatsoever!"

"I think he's just terrified of dying!"

"Damn it! You're not going?! If you're not going, we're breaking up!"

Muttering curses, the Minotaur glared at Jiang Lai before pulling the Goat-Headed Man out of the cave.

"Rustling sound—"

Before long, the sound of them leaving, their black hair swaying, could be heard.

After they left, An Lan casually sat down on a stone bench and looked at Jiang Lai teasingly: "Tell me! Why are you so fickle? Changing your strategy again and again!"

"Oh?"

"As expected of a succubus..."

"You've noticed something, haven't you?"

Jiang Lai smiled, looking at An Lan with surprise in his eyes.

An Lan is no simple character either!

In the time loops he controlled, his thinking became clearer with each iteration.

"Hey—"

Look at this!

Jiang Lai didn't intend to hide it from An Lan; he knew that An Lan would join the "national team" sooner or later, so he simply unfolded his phone and was about to hand it to An Lan.

An Lan suddenly became alert, abruptly removed the collar around her neck, and ended the live stream.

He was well aware of it too.

Jiang Lai's previous live streams were all blocked, and the country is clearly intentionally protecting this person's [talent].

[Old Eight's Secret Recipe Mini Burger: Holy crap! Why did the screen suddenly go black?!]

[A true man: Is An Lan trying to protect Jiang Lai's talent? Is his talent that amazing?]

[Los Angeles superstar: I'm speechless, they even defend against their own teammates?]

【...】

The momentary black screen sparked outrage in the live chat.

An Lan ignored all of that, took the phone, and looked at the screen.

Upon seeing the text message from the "future," An Lan's expression froze, as if she had been frozen for a few seconds.

"Holy crap!"

"Did your future self tell you what happened last night?"

"So, if you change your current decisions, will the future change?"

"this..."

"Your ability is a bit overpowered! Let me put it this way, if you were somewhere in the future, could you call your past self before entering the [instance] and tell him not to come in?"

An Lan realized it.

Jiang Lai's abilities seem to offer a lot of room for maneuver.

"Oh?"

"As expected of you! You really thought of that..."

"In fact, I tried it once, stretching the timeframe to the maximum! I gained this talent a year ago, and if I want to change something a year from now, I can indeed connect it to my past self..."

"In this way, we can rewind the timeline..."

"but!"

"The longer the time span, the fewer times I can use my ability! To change something that happened a year ago, I can only activate my ability once! And I can only go back to the time before I entered the [dungeon]..."

"Standard procedure, only changing the situation for the last three days. I can contact [the past] three times a day..."

Jiang Lai smiled and took back his phone: "You know what? It's because of this talent that the Xixiang team only has me! But... Xixiang hasn't faced a single crisis this year!"

"Ho—"

"You can always find the perfect timeline, right?"

An Lan nodded, then asked curiously, "So, what level is your talent? It should be at least [SSS level], right?"

"No..."

"Just SS-rank! This talent seems impressive, but have you ever considered... even if you went back in time, there are some things you would still be powerless to change!"

"For example, if you put me against Zhao Kuo, even if I could go back in time infinitely, I still wouldn't have a chance to defeat him..."

"Not to mention, I can only go back three times..."

"That's true..."

"Alright... I've finished talking about my business. Now it's your turn!"

"My future self tells me, 'You'll make some other discoveries tonight?' Tell me, if you know that the road ahead is a dead end, can you think of a way out?"

"this..."

Jiang Lai asked a question in return, and An Lan silently rubbed her chin while putting the [Cursed Collar] back around her neck.

[Heh—pretty boy...what? What are you afraid I'll find out?]

Mo Lengxin's teasing voice came from inside the collar, but An Lan ignored it, walked to the edge of the cliff, looked around, and suddenly said, "Actually... I thought of a possibility!"

"What?"

"Jack and the Beanstalk!"

"In fairy tales, peas grow all the way to the sky!"

"Is it possible that the cliff isn't the exit, but rather the open space at the top of the cliff?"

"You mean—we want to imitate Jack?"

"But... there's no way a pea could grow that tall! We've tried, even with constant watering and nourishment, the pea's hair only grows to a few dozen meters at most!"

"wrong..."

"Those are differentiated blue peas. What if we find yellow peas and red peas gathered together, and they grow back into whole peas?"

"this--"

Do you have any other pea clues?

"No!"

An Lan shook her head repeatedly. After pondering for a moment, Jiang Lai suddenly pointed to the ceiling: "I think I've seen the [yellow peas] before... If someone didn't complete a mission, the [hunters] would make them eat [yellow peas]..."

"Then..."

"They exploded into a pile of black hair and were sent to the [leatherworking] layer to be used as thread..."

"As for the [red peas]..."

Do you have any points?

"what?"

"I'm asking you if you have any points?"

An Lan's sudden question interrupted Jiang Lai's train of thought.

He looked at An Lan in surprise. The crocodile scales on An Lan's body had all retracted, and he had transformed into the handsome man with that face.

"What's wrong with you?"

"【Yellow peas】We can wait a little longer..."

"Now I'm thinking... to try a different approach, to get clues from Sleeping Beauty! Maybe, as part of management, she knows something we don't..."

"you--"

"You little brat, you're not going to...?!"

"Sex... seduction, isn't it?!"