I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

"You can rest assured that you'll leave it to me."

Guangbao patted her disappointed chest, which made Duke look at her with a bit of pity. This immediately broke her defenses, and she shouted angrily, "Where are you looking?!"

"Thanks for the invitation. I'm at the research institute, admiring your beautiful collarbone."

"Nonsense, do you have no idea where you're looking?"

Cecil said angrily.

After she put on this Cinderella dress, she never changed into any other clothes, not even the high heels she hated so much. Not only did she not change this beautiful dress, she also constantly gathered a ray of holy light around herself to ensure that she always remained spotless and radiant—Guangbao, who was always as carefree as a wild child, had never been so fastidious before. She must have had her own little schemes.

Duke saw through her little gestures and was so moved he almost cried.

My goodness, my child has finally come to his senses and knows how to care about his appearance! That's amazing!

Oh dear, when has my Guangbao ever been this girly before? Really!

It evokes the complex feelings of an old father watching his daughter clumsily learn to apply makeup for someone she likes—and when the person his "daughter" likes is himself, the father's feelings become even more complicated.

In short, you should have remembered all the precautions, right?

Duke pulled the insect arrow from his pocket, handed it to Cecil, then took the World Watch from her and casually stuffed it into his pocket before starting to ramble on:

"Remember to envelop your soul with holy light beforehand. Even if it doesn't work on your soul, it's okay, there won't be any major problems... If something unexpected happens, drink the potion I gave you before. It's a premium potion made by Eve, specifically for treating soul damage. I've used it and know it's really effective. If all else fails, we'll abandon the plan to save the world and quickly evacuate from the alternate dimension. Go find Eve for treatment, understand?"

He had used insect arrows before and knew what it felt like after they took effect, as well as what side effects they would have, so he knew how to treat the symptoms.

"I know, I know." Cecil rolled his eyes and waved his hand impatiently. "Why are you so nagging? Are you my dad?"

Upon hearing this, the old father, Duke, immediately perked up. He glared at him and said, "This is no joke. You'd better listen to me, son."

"...You don't really want me to call you Dad, do you?" Cecil gave Duke a strange look, then asked curiously, "Do you and Amber usually play this kind of game?"

Duke: "?"

"It's father-daughter play! I heard Amber say that some couples like to make each other go 'super double' during sex, which gives them a kind of immoral pleasure. Not only can they call each other 'Dad,' but they can also call each other 'Mom'!"

Cecil recited the words as if they were second nature, but from her innocent eyes, Duke could clearly see that she didn't actually know what she was saying; she was simply repeating what she had heard from Amber.

So you think that since a certain lewd elf hasn't appeared for a long time, the concentration of dirty jokes here is too low, so you need to do something interesting?

Duke rolled his eyes and glared at Guangbao, who instinctively shrank back and stubbornly retorted, "Don't just worry about me. As for you, are you really confident you can shoot down a star?"

“I didn’t,” Duke said frankly. “I’m not you, not a hero-level professional with one foot in the legendary realm. I can’t do what you can do. In fact, I’ve gotten this far entirely by luck. My lack of skill has always been my Achilles’ heel.”

"Huh?"

Cecil didn't expect Duke to be so candid in admitting his shortcomings.

"But that's why I've learned to play to my strengths and rely on my partners. The core of this plan is you, and the only element for success is whether you can advance to the point of shooting down a star." Duke smiled. "So don't worry... even if we can't shoot down a star, I'll do everything I can to stall until you get back."

"You mean dragging an asteroid?"

"Asteroids, of course."

Duke snapped his fingers.

"Don't worry, I'll tell it a bedtime story to lull it to sleep and wait for your return."

Chapter 219 Sixty-Five Million Years Later

Cecil left, looking puzzled.

Guangbao now trusts Duke completely, but this trust can sometimes cause problems. For example, right now... when Cecil left, he kept thinking about how Duke would tell stories to the asteroid and how to lull it to sleep.

How did you do that?

Could it be that the asteroids in this godforsaken place, like dinosaurs and ants, can understand human speech?

Filled with questions, Cecil, guided by the navigation device Zun had designed for her, set off for another research institute on the other side of the planet. Despite her extremely high speed, the vast distance meant that she disappeared naturally after half a day's journey.

"However, we were supposed to wait 25 anyway... now there are only 23 hours and 54 minutes left."

Duke watched Cecil's departing figure, seeing her off as she left.

Once Cecil is away from the research institute, the Dinosaur Empire might launch an attack, perhaps with air-to-air missiles or tactical nuclear weapons, but such "clumsy" weapons pose little threat to Cecil.

Meanwhile, Duke wasn't worried about the research institute being bombarded by the crazed dinosaurs. They had no idea he had destroyed the control center; the dinosaurs would only send troops to try and break in, not use nuclear bombs to swarm the area. As for the Zunlong guarding outside, holding out for 24 hours wouldn't be a problem.

Especially when the dinosaurs lost the support of the ants.

"Dr. Ye Qiao, what do you think of my plan?"

“You’re a crazy guy too, human!” Dr. Night Joe emerged from the gaps in the machinery. Almost all of the dinosaur’s mechanical creations had the same effect on the ants. Every ant could walk freely in the dinosaur’s mechanical creations. Carrying a translator and a remote communication device, he said to Duke, “The President wants to speak to you directly.”

"no problem."

Duke smiled.

On the surface, he reneged on his promises to the Dragon Ant Civilization at the Dragon Ant Summit and stubbornly launched the Ultimate Deterrence, which should have put him at odds with the world. But in reality, he secretly contacted Dr. Nightjoy, through whom he made contact with the Ant President and plotted something in secret.

"Mr. Duke!"

"Mr. President, it's been a long time." Duke greeted the small screen, which was actually quite large for an ant. "How's your utilization of waste materials for the Final Judgment going?"

"We have destroyed most of the factories of the two major dinosaur empires. They are now in a state of water and power outages, production has stopped, and the entire society has fallen into chaos. Moreover, because there are no working ant doctors, the medical system has also shut down," the ant president said calmly. "But my advisors believe that even in such a critical situation, they will organize a large force to take back the research institute. The dinosaurs have been secretly planning and accumulating for nearly a century to decouple from the ant federation. Our lukewarm actions cannot completely paralyze them."

“I understand, but my goal is to save the world, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to destroy the dinosaur empire for that purpose.” Duke shook his head. “Using this method to decouple the dinosaurs from the ants is already a huge effort… Actually, I don’t agree with it, but it’s your ant civilization’s choice. Since you’ve made up your mind, I’ve really given you a push.”

“I understand that, of course.”

That's right, Duke secretly made a deal with the Ant Federation. He activated the Ultimate Deterrence, and the Ant Federation tried to temporarily paralyze the Dinosaur World to reduce the pressure on Duke. In return, Duke would provide Talia and the Tarpai Aphans with the biotechnology (artificial human technology) left in this world.

The destructive power of an asteroid impact is indeed enormous, but for the ant federation, whose main cities are all underground, it may not be an insurmountable winter... Compared to the ultimate deterrent, they are even less willing to continue living with the monstrous and insane dinosaurs.

“That’s right. I share the same view as your advisors. The Dragon Ant Civilization’s pathological, brain-and-hand separation civilization will drag the dinosaurs and ants to their doom if it continues to develop like this. Without our intervention, this ultimate deterrent would have been the end of the civilization.”

"The decoupling of the two civilizations is inevitable sooner or later. The dinosaurs will have to find a way to grow their own hands, perhaps by making up for their deficiencies through mechanical ascension, while the ants will also have to find their own brains. Perhaps the biotechnology left behind by Talia can help you... But no one can be sure whether now is a good time to decouple."

"From now on, ants and dinosaurs will no longer be inseparable partners. You will no longer be subservient to dinosaurs, nor will you enjoy the ingenious ideas that burst forth from the dinosaurs' highly developed brains. And they will no longer enjoy the benefits of your labor, nor will they allow the lifeline of civilization to be controlled by others."

"From now on, dinosaurs and ants will be two equal and independent species."

Duke stared at the ant president, his voice somewhat detached from this era and this world. As an outsider, a person from another world, he posed a question to the ant civilization:

Are you prepared for this?

“We have been preparing for this for 65 million years.”

The call has ended.

Duke shook his head, stretched, and waited for the storm to begin in the next twenty-four hours. Dr. Nightjoy, however, showed no intention of leaving. He tossed aside the massive long-range communication device, used the translator, and asked somewhat bewilderedly, "Are we really doing the right thing?"

“I don’t know either.” Duke shook his head, then casually comforted him, “But at least he’ll be remembered in history… as for whether it’ll be a good reputation or a bad one, we’ll see.”

"Ha, you're so easygoing, you just pack your bags and leave. You don't care about the future of our world."

"That's a heartless thing to say." Duke rolled his eyes. "Your life and death are your own fate. What does it have to do with me, a person from another world? Besides, I've already done more than enough—after all, I'm prepared to stay and risk my life to solve this historical problem for you."

He pointed to the sky, referring, of course, to the ultimate deterrent, referring to the legacy of history.

Dr. Nightjoy lowered his head, and a sigh came through the translator:

"Okay, thank you, stranger."

“You’re welcome. I’m not doing this to help you, but rather…” Duke stopped abruptly because he felt the building tremble slightly. He turned to look at Zun. “They’re here?”

“That’s right, Mr. Duke, the dinosaur army has arrived.”

"Alright, Zunlong, prepare to engage."

Chapter 220 Countdown

From the day the dinosaurs bombed him with bombers, Duke had been planning to fight the dinosaur civilization. Originally, his tactical focus was on Cecil, whose individual combat ability was invincible. However, after Zun demonstrated his advantages, Duke's preparations shifted to improving the Zun Dragon.

This preparation, which began on the eve of the Dragon Ant Summit when they allowed Zan to massively modify the Zanlong through a process of devouring, has been underway until now, transforming the Zanlong into a true mobile fortress. In fact, at the time of the Dragon Ant Summit, the Zanlong was merely a showpiece, all show and no substance. Although it was large enough and capable of unleashing twenty consecutive lightning bolts, many of its designs remained in the planning stages and were never actually implemented.

However, the overall framework for the future of the Zunlong was already set at that time.

Several days have passed since the end of the Dragon Ant Summit. During this time, Zun has been filling in and implementing various functional designs within the overall framework established at the beginning of the Zun Dragon design.

Duke and Zun's preparations were put to use in the war against the dinosaurs, but a few days of preparation time was far from enough to withstand the all-out attack of an entire world. The magical technology of the ancient magical empire was not out of sync with the dinosaur technology of this world; they simply couldn't understand each other due to the differences in their worlds.

Just as dinosaur scientists couldn't understand how the Zunlong could move, Zun also couldn't understand how the dinosaur's machines could operate freely without any magical fluctuations.

Tanks, artillery, and missiles can cause real damage to the Zunlong.

How easy is it to hold the research institute for 24 hours under such circumstances?

Duke had already prepared to run away if things got really bad. At worst, he could run away and secretly see if the dinosaurs could repair the research institute. If they couldn't, he would directly take action against the fallen asteroid. If they could, he would then plan his next move.

But Zun gave him a big surprise.

When the countdown reached 9 hours, the Zunlong was destroyed by the dinosaur army, but in the past 15 hours, Zun has actually created something incredible at an incredible speed.

Using the spare parts stockpiled by the Zunlong, the research institute itself, a large number of dinosaur tanks salvaged from the battlefield, and the wreckage of airplanes, it handcrafted a mini floating city and carried Duke and the research institute into the sky, leaving the dinosaur tanks present dumbfounded as they watched everything that was happening.

The moment Zun took off with Duke, Duke stared at the baby dragon in astonishment and questioned, "Zun, do you really remember nothing? What do you mean by the birth of the floating city and its maintenance over the next thousand years?"

“Mr. Duke, there really is no information in my memory bank, but my logical analysis function tells me... there may be other reasons for the lack of memories over the past thousand years, and the birth of the floating city is very likely closely related to me. Your guess is perfectly reasonable.”

Perhaps, Zun is actually the "spirit" of the floating city, but due to some accident, he was temporarily separated from the core of the floating city and was picked up by Duke in this amnesiac state... If that's the case, then saving Zun's life from Norton can be considered an important contribution to the floating city, right?

Duke let his mind wander for a while before finally focusing on the task at hand. He handed over all the tasks related to fighting the dinosaur world to Zun, while he began to concentrate on preparing for the mission to be completed after the 24-hour countdown ended.

The core of his plan was whether Cecil could shatter the star; only if she could shatter it could the entire plan proceed smoothly. But besides that, there were several other crucial details, such as whether he could stop the asteroid in its descent.

Duke is not a near-legendary or legendary professional, but he possesses abilities similar to those of a legendary destiny.

Soul Requiem.

It allows Duke's soul to resonate with the world and seize a portion of the power and seed of the "essence of the world." It once stole the power of the Cinderella Game's all-powerful wish-granting machine and the power of the "clothes-bursting world" to directly attack the soul. After snatching the Soul Requiem back from Talia, Duke realized that it contained an additional power.

The "world essence" of the Sleeping Beauty game is similar to the legendary destiny of Talia's "slumber".

Duke planned to use this power to stop the asteroid.

He possesses fragments of Talia's memories, containing her techniques and experience in using legendary destiny. Although the rank of "World Essence" is higher than that of ordinary legendary destiny, Talia's legendary destiny originated from the World Essence of her homeland, and her techniques and experience can provide Duke with sufficient assistance.

The conditions are sufficient.

Duke just needs to hold on until the countdown ends.

The appearance of the floating city directly disrupted the strategic command rhythm of the dinosaur commanders. They obviously did not expect such a bizarre development as "the strategic target to be captured suddenly flew into the sky". The tanks, which occupied an absolute main position in the dinosaur army, suddenly became useless. In addition, the strict order from above not to directly bomb the research institute caused the dinosaurs to cease fire for a full hour before they could regain their momentum and start fighting again.