Chapter 492: Stop Overthinking in the Future
After venting his anger in the council hall for a while, Xu Haolong finally calmed down. He glanced at Zhou Yuan standing beside him, then handed over the secret report in his hand.
"Take a look. This is the intelligence report from the Secret Intelligence Division."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Zhou Yuan quickly took the report and began reading. After only a few lines, his expression grew increasingly serious. "Your Majesty, has the other side truly infiltrated our ranks?"
"I'd say it's very likely." Xu Haolong rolled his eyes. "Those fools ran off to risk their lives just for food, yet they dressed it up so righteously they nearly fooled even me."
Only now did Zhou Yuan understand why Xu Haolong had insisted on sending two additional level-nine spirit engineers to secretly protect the ministers.
If the other side already knew the identities of the court officials, then two level-nine spirit engineers might indeed be insufficient—four would be much safer.
"Your Majesty, I believe we should not inform the other ministers of this matter. If they knew, they would surely behave differently at Han Shi. Since the other side already knows our identities, we might as well pretend ignorance and see if we can turn the situation to our advantage."
"But this information was intentionally revealed to our spy by the owner of Han Shi. By now, they must already know that we know they know our ministers' identities…" As Xu Haolong spoke, his expression suddenly turned strange.
Damn, that's complicated!
Although his words were convoluted, Zhou Yuan understood his meaning.
After a moment of thought, he shook his head. "Your Majesty, I believe the matter may not be that complicated."
"I have interacted with the owner of Han Shi, Qi Han. He is not a particularly scheming person—just a young man in his twenties. Young people tend to be impulsive and like to show off, so it's possible he didn't deliberately reveal the information, but simply let it slip unintentionally…"
Hearing this, Xu Haolong also came to a realization.
The intelligence report had described Qi Han as if he had everything under control, but in reality, he was just a young man in his twenties. How could he possibly possess such intricate scheming?
Perhaps he really had just let something slip, while the spy had been overly cautious—and he himself had overthought things.
Right… I should have a word with the Intelligence Division. In the future, their reports should stick to facts and not include so much speculation.
Xu Haolong's expression softened. "So, in that case, the current situation should be: the other side has somehow learned of our plan and made corresponding arrangements. The owner accidentally revealed something, and now we can turn the situation against them…"
"In short, they think we're on the first level, but in reality, they're on the second level—while we're on the third?"
"I believe that is exactly the case." Zhou Yuan nodded firmly. "As for how to turn the situation to our advantage, we'll need to respond based on their next moves. However, there is another matter that cannot be delayed."
"The other side may have already infiltrated our ranks and bribed certain key individuals. We must promptly adjust our policies and plans regarding Douluo Continent." Zhou Yuan's expression turned grave. "We should prepare on two fronts. On one hand, we must keep a close watch on them and ensure they remain within the Sun Moon Continent for at least four months. On the other hand, we must guard against the possibility that they uncover our plans and gain the upper hand."
"Then how should we adjust?"
"Your Majesty, I suggest we proceed like this…"
…
"This lunchbox… is truly fascinating."
Sitting cross-legged in a messy laboratory, De Hongchen held Han Shi's lunchbox, a gleam of excitement in his eyes.
He had previously suspected that the lunchbox might be related to time.
Though the idea seemed far-fetched, De Hongchen was a meticulous researcher. He still conducted an experiment—using two synchronized clocks, placing one outside the lunchbox and one inside, then checking later to see if their times remained aligned.
Unfortunately, the results showed that the lunchbox had no ability to alter time.
After that, De Hongchen tested the lunchbox using various other methods, and finally began to uncover some of its peculiar properties.
Anything else placed inside the lunchbox would remain unchanged, but as long as food was put in, it could miraculously preserve its state perfectly—whenever it was taken out, it would be exactly the same as when it was first placed inside.
Its inability to be stored in a storage spirit tool must be closely related to this very property.
De Hongchen had originally planned to simply dismantle the lunchbox to see what was inside, but he quickly discovered another rather bizarre trait—
It could not be damaged.
Even with his full strength as a level-ten spirit engineer, he was unable to harm it in the slightest.
It was truly strange. And yet, such a bizarre object was being used by Han Shi as nothing more than an ordinary takeout container.
Grrr…
De Hongchen's stomach began to rumble. He rubbed his belly and glanced at the clock on the wall nearby, then gave a wry smile.
"One downside of working in an underground lab—once you start researching, you lose all sense of time."
"It's already evening? Then I might as well head to Han Shi and take a look, see what other delicacies they have. Yao mentioned at noon that there are twenty or thirty dishes on the menu? That's quite a lot…"
De Hongchen stood up and was about to head out when he suddenly paused.
"Right, I should bring this lunchbox along."
After an entire afternoon of research, he had already confirmed that the lunchbox was completely indestructible. Aside from its remarkable ability to preserve food, it had no other observable functions. Continuing to study it would require significant effort, and without the ability to dismantle it, he didn't even know where to begin.
His curiosity about why it couldn't be stored in a storage spirit tool had mostly faded. Compared to that, the full-body spirit tool armor he was already researching was far more appealing.
In that case, there was no point keeping the lunchbox—it would be better to return it to Han Shi.
What if they refused to serve him delicious food just because of a missing lunchbox?
Holding the lunchbox in hand, De Hongchen vanished in a flash. In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, he arrived at Mingke Street.
"Mingke Street, No. 13?" Although he had always appeared somewhat careless when reading reports before, now that he was actually in the district where Han Shi was located, he immediately recalled its exact address and walked straight toward it.
Soon, a restaurant with a rustic signboard came into view.
He first glanced at the three newly opened shops nearby, a trace of mockery flashing in his eyes.
"Putting on quite a convincing act," he muttered under his breath, just loud enough for himself to hear. Only then did he step into Han Shi.
Inside the dining area, quite a number of customers were seated. These diners were none other than the ministers who had come at noon.
However, unlike earlier when they had arrived together as a group, they had now returned to normal behavior—coming at staggered times. Because of the spread-out timing, there was no queue, but the restaurant still appeared to be doing very good business.
Zhou Yuan sat inside Han Shi, leisurely savoring a dish of Dragon Well Tea Shrimp while waiting for his other dishes to arrive. Suddenly, he noticed a figure entering through the doorway, and the chopsticks in his hand froze midair.
Why is the Imperial Teacher here?
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Latest Chapter: Chapter 505: Qi Han's Choice[1]
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