The strongest intermediary in all realms

Zhou Ming was woken up by Gulu licking him.

To be precise, it was the wet, transparent newt's tongue that poked the tip of his nose, and the cool, moist touch made him sit up with a start.

"Squeak—" Gulu bounced on his chest, rolled onto the chair, and turned belly up.

"When did you learn to lick people...?" Zhou Ming rubbed his nose, picked it up and put it back on the windowsill. He turned his head and saw Xiao Qi floating in front of the computer screen with frighteningly dark circles under its eyes—the system spirit actually had a dark circle function.

"Analysis complete." Xiao Qi's voice was hoarse. "All night."

Zhou Ming immediately perked up: "Speak."

With a wave of her hand, Xiaoqi projected a three-dimensional image onto the system panel, which floated in the center of the office.

The pattern is a disassembled model of the patterns on five wooden boxes, and a reconstructed sketch of the "array room" described by Ma Laosan. Xiaoqi used blue lines to mark the correspondence between the two—there are several connection points where the sealing marks on the boxes and the array in the room have completely matching structures.

"The sealing marks on the wooden crates are essentially the 'receiving end'," Xiao Qi explained, pointing to the image. "And the array room in the warehouse is the 'transmitting end.' Together, they form a complete interdimensional material transport system. The black-robed man packs the materials from the twelfth dimension, locks the contents with the sealing marks, and then uses the array's teleportation function to send them directly to the warehouse on Blue Star."

Zhou Ming's pupils contracted slightly: "So the black-robed people don't need to be as primitive as human flesh time travel? They can directly teleport supplies?"

"Yes. But the core of the teleportation system has limitations." Xiao Qi pulled up a set of data curves. "Based on the wear and tear of the patterns and the density of the attenuation runes, I deduced that this system has been used approximately eleven times in total, and its current lifespan is only one last teleport. The black-robed man's statement last time that it 'can last for two more' was a conservative estimate; according to the system's calculations, it only has one more left."

"Only one more time left... So what will they send this time? The last batch of supplies must be the most important or the largest in quantity."

Xiao Qi nodded: "That's my guess too. If you want to stop them from getting these supplies, you have to do something before they complete their final teleportation, but the problem is—"

She paused, then continued, "Based on the fragments of the formation, I deduced the approximate coordinates of Plane Twelve. Theoretically, you could enter Plane Twelve ahead of time and cut off their loading process at the source. However, Plane Twelve is a 'medium-level magical plane,' teeming with dragons, orcs, and mages. If you, a disguised rogue cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining, went in, your survival probability would be 50% lower than my previous calculation."

Zhou Ming remained silent for a moment. Entering the twelfth dimension ahead of time to cut off the source was extremely risky, but if successful, the effect would be devastating.

If you choose to destroy the formation room on the Blue Star side, and the other side has already finished loading the goods and started teleporting, destroying the formation will at most affect the teleportation process, and some of the supplies may have already been delivered.

"To plane twelve." He stood up. "But I need to be prepared. How complete is the data for this plane?"

Xiao Qi pulled up a report: "The system database has very limited records about Plane Twelve. All we know is that it's a continent called 'Elderland,' with a moderate level of magical civilization, multiple races, and a loose political structure of city-state alliances."

"There are very few records of transmigrators entering, because the barriers to passages in magical dimensions are even thicker than those in fantasy dimensions, making it very difficult to open them naturally without a systematic approach."

"So that means no one other than the liquidators might have been there?"

"You can understand it this way: the Liquidators have operated at least eleven teleportations over there, indicating they have stable bases or partners on the continent of Elderland. Your primary task after you arrive is to conceal your identity, and only then should you cut off their supplies."

Zhou Ming looked at his equipment: a protective jade pendant, two attack talismans (with limited effect), the invisibility talisman was used up, and the half bag of broken silver and Ganoderma lucidum he got from Xu Ling's medicine money had not yet been converted into cash. He only had thirty universal points left, and he couldn't afford to buy any new talismans.

"You're going to a fantasy world with just this little bit of stuff?" Xiao Qi put her hands on her hips.

"That's enough." Zhou Ming zipped up his backpack. "These two attack talismans are products of the immortal realm. The magic resistance mechanisms of the fantasy world may not be able to completely withstand spiritual attacks. These are my trump cards."

"A protective jade amulet can block one physical or spiritual attack, saving your life in crucial moments. The rest depends on your strategy."

He recalled Gulu to the system space and did one last check of his backpack—a fully charged phone, two power banks, three highlighters, two bags of compressed biscuits, bottled water, and a roll of medical gauze. Then he straightened his collar in front of the mirror.

"Let's go."

A silver-gray corridor tore open in the center of the office.

This journey took longer than any previous one. The visual distortion inside the passage was far more intense than in the Divine Condor and the Azure Sky Realm. Silver-gray light streams were mixed with dark purple lightning. Zhou Ming felt as if he had been stuffed into a washing machine and spun around at high speed ten times.

When he staggered to the ground, his knees buckled and he knelt down, his stomach churning.

The air in the magical world has a different smell.

The air was warm and humid, carrying a mixture of floral scents and the smell of some kind of animal droppings. Zhou Ming knelt on a soft patch of grass, taking several seconds to raise his head.

The sky was deep blue, adorned with two suns—one large and one small, one orange and one gold—hanging side by side on the horizon. The clouds were dyed a magnificent purplish-red, casting a warm, golden glow upon them.

In the distance, there is a range of rolling hills, with stone houses and towers faintly visible on their peaks.

The flowers on the grass are pale purple, with tiny fluorescent glimmers on the edges of their petals, like stardust.

"Elderland..." Zhou Ming stood up, supporting himself on his knees, "is more beautiful than I imagined."

Xiao Qi's voice came from the system, carrying a slight signal noise: "The dimensional barrier is too thick, causing some weakening of my connection with you, but the basic functions are fine. I've already locked onto the 'starting coordinates' of the Cleaners' eleventh teleportation—about thirty miles northeast of you, there's an abandoned watchtower, and the core of the teleportation array is beneath that watchtower."

Are there guards?

"The distance is too far for a clear scan, but according to common sense in this magical world, such a strategic facility should be guarded nearby."

Zhou Ming turned and walked northeast. The evening sun, with two suns hanging in the sky, bathed the entire grassland in a golden-orange hue, and his shadow was stretched into two lines—because there were two suns.

This detail made him feel that the magical world had a rugged yet romantic beauty.

After walking for about ten miles, a dirt road appeared ahead. A group of merchants were driving camels slowly along the roadside. The camels carried cargo boxes on their backs. There were humans wearing coarse linen clothes and several humanoid creatures with pointed ears.

Zhou Ming's T-shirt and jeans stood out in the crowd, but the vendors were in a hurry and only glanced at him before continuing on their way.

Zhou Ming followed the caravan for a while, then heard people chatting in Common Language ahead—Xiao Qi's translation function activated automatically, and he understood every word. The conversation made him slow down.

"...I heard the people at the northern watchtower have been dealing with the 'Grey Cloaks' lately," a camel trader whispered. "The Grey Cloaks are big spenders, but nobody knows what they want. My cousin works at the watchtower, and he said a lot of large crates have been moved into the basement, sealed tightly."

"Grey cloak?" Zhou Ming's heart skipped a beat. The black-robed man's attire was called a grey cloak by the locals in the fantasy world—a description that was close.

The caravan continued onward, and Zhou Ming slowed down, falling behind the rest of the group.

He has confirmed that there is indeed activity at the watchtower, and the locals know that the watchtower is transporting boxes. If they can find the "cousin who is helping out," they might be able to learn more about the specific situation inside the watchtower.

He sped past the caravan and headed north alone along the dirt road. As dusk fell and the sun dipped below the horizon, the sky transitioned from golden orange to deep purple, and the first star shone in the heavens.

As they approached the watchtower, Zhou Ming slowed his pace and hid in the roadside bushes.

Under the moonlight, a stone watchtower about three stories high stood atop the hill, its body covered in moss, but light shone through the windows at the top. Around the base of the tower were several rows of low stone houses where people lived.

"System scan..." Xiao Qi activated its full power. "There are indeed strong energy fluctuations at the base of the tower, consistent with the frequency of the array room in the Blue Star warehouse. The number of guards... two patrolling outside, at least three inside, all ordinary humans or low-level warriors, none with the aura of mages."

With no magician present, Zhou Ming breathed a sigh of relief. This meant that the other party was relying on the teleportation array's own energy to operate, and did not need a spellcaster to be present at all times to maintain it.

If he can sneak into the basement, he'll have a way to disrupt the teleportation array.

As he pondered how to approach, he suddenly heard a commotion coming from the direction of the stone house.

Several guards in leather armor emerged from the building, one of them shouting, "...The men in gray cloaks say they'll be here tomorrow morning to collect the last shipment; we need to get all the boxes moving tonight!"

Zhou Ming lay motionless in the bushes.

Tomorrow morning. The last batch of goods.

There's only one night left.

He took out his phone, turned off the backlight, and took several photos of the watchtower and the exterior structure of the stone house in night mode. Then he slowly backed away to a safe distance and sat down under a low tree.

"Xiao Qi, if I directly storm into the basement and destroy the teleportation array's core, what are the feasibility scenarios?"

"The feasibility is 30%. Your Qi Refining Level 7 disguise offers no combat power boost in a fantasy world, your two attack talismans can only handle low-level enemies, and the teleportation array core itself may have defensive restrictions."

"Thirty percent..." Zhou Ming closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, "But I don't need to destroy the core. I just need to make the teleportation array 'temporarily unusable' tonight. If they can't deliver tomorrow's goods, they'll miss the window of opportunity. Once they repair the array, I'll know their operating procedures and can think of another way."

He stood up and brushed the grass clippings off his clothes. "I'll try a different approach. If there's a teleportation array in the basement, there must be an 'energy core' to power it. If I steal that core, or hide it, the teleportation array will be useless tonight."

Xiao Qi paused for two seconds: "The risk is still high, but lower than directly destroying the core. The system scan shows that the energy core is located at the top of a stone pillar in the very center of the teleportation array, roughly at your chest height. It can be manually disassembled."

How do we get in without the guards?

"Climb up the outer wall on the north side of the watchtower; there's an abandoned ventilation shaft leading directly to the basement. It's wide enough for one person to squeeze through."

Zhou Ming glanced at the dark night sky. After the sun set, the moonlight in the magical world was pale blue, spreading across the grass like a ribbon of light.

He took a deep breath and silently crept towards the outer wall of the north side of the watchtower.

The walls were covered in moss and cracks, making climbing easy. He clung to the wall like a gecko and found the ventilation shaft near the base of the tower—sealed by rusted iron bars, but the bars were rotten and he broke them with a couple of pryings.

He squeezed in sideways. The passage was narrow and dark. He turned on his phone's flashlight to light his way and crouched down to crawl through the stone ventilation duct.

After climbing for about five minutes, the view suddenly opened up ahead.

He peered out from a vent, taking in the entire view of the basement.

The space was about the size of a classroom, with intricate light patterns engraved on the ground. At the center of the array was a chest-high stone pillar, with a fist-sized pale blue crystal ball floating at its top, shimmering softly.

The basement was empty.

Zhou Ming's heart began to pound.

He pushed open the exhaust vent baffle and landed lightly on the ground. When his foot touched the light pattern, the surface of the array lit up slightly. He immediately withdrew his foot—there was a sensor trigger, but it didn't seem to have an alarm function; it was just a natural reaction of energy flow.

He strode to the stone pillar, where the blue crystal sphere hovered three inches above the top, its surface warm and emitting a soft light. Zhou Ming held the crystal sphere in his hands—it felt smooth as jade, and was not heavy, weighing about two pounds.

"Take it." Xiao Qi's voice was kept to a minimum. "The formation will lose power in ten seconds."

Zhou Ming pulled sharply. The moment the crystal ball detached from the stone pillar, the light patterns on the ground dimmed considerably, and the buzzing sound suddenly decreased to almost no sound.

He stuffed the crystal ball into his backpack, zipped it up, and turned to run towards the exhaust vent.

Just as I climbed back into the ventilation duct, the basement door was pushed open from the outside.

"Why are the lights off?" someone shouted.

Zhou Ming climbed desperately, hearing footsteps and shouts behind him, but he was already inside the pipe, and the people couldn't find the exact location of the ventilation shaft for the time being.

He climbed over the iron fence and slid down the outer wall. His knees went numb when his feet landed, but he didn't care.

He ran wildly for two miles in the darkness before stopping, bending over and panting heavily. The blue crystal ball in his backpack was still warm against his back, like a beating heart.

He succeeded.

The teleportation array in Plane 12 will be unusable tonight. Tomorrow morning, the man in black robes will not receive the last batch of goods, the array room on Blue Star will be idle, and the supply will be cut off.

Zhou Ming leaned against a tree trunk, looking up at the pale blue moon, his chest heaving like a bellows. The crystal ball in his backpack emitted a faint glow, illuminating a small patch of grass in the night.

"Boss," Xiao Qi's voice was tinged with laughter, "you managed to pull off something with a 30% probability."

"...We were lucky," Zhou Ming said, panting, a smirk playing on his lips. "And besides, none of them were monitoring the ventilation shafts, which was a defensive loophole."

"What do we do now? We've taken the crystal ball back; they'll find out it was stolen sooner or later."

"Then let them find out." Zhou Ming tightened his backpack strap and straightened his posture. "Anyway, we only have one last teleportation opportunity left. Now that the energy core is gone, they won't be able to repair it in the short term. With this crystal ball in my hand, I've essentially seized control of the lifeline of the supply line to Plane Twelve."

He walked toward the silver-gray passage, the pale blue moon hanging overhead, dyeing the entire grassland a soft silver-blue.

The backpack felt heavy.

After returning to Earth tomorrow, there's a scene I need to perform.