Translator: CinderTL
Seeing the Lord of the Mist's serious expression, Feng Qi couldn't help but laugh.
"The power of ancestors? Dead ancestors?"
The Lord of the Mist glared at him. "The abilities of miracle items cannot be predicted by our current cultivation system. Any effect that seems unreasonable could be a miracle item's power."
"Let alone summoning the power of dead ancestors, I know of a miracle item that can summon the consciousness of ancient ancestors who died millennia agoโwhat humans call souls."
"These miracle items are truly absurd," Feng Qi nodded in agreement.
On second thought, the Lord of the Mist was right.
He had seen his fair share of absurd miracle items.
Among the known miracle items, Little Black was the most absurd.
Beyond that, Qin Shikong's "Inference Fragment" was also absurd, allowing him to deduce others' fate lines and glimpse the future.
Compared to the first two methods, summoning the power of deceased ancestors to empower oneself wasn't particularly outrageous.
As they continued chatting, a video call invitation box popped up on the Lord of the Mist's tablet.
Seeing the invitation, the Lord of the Mist immediately shot Feng Qi a meaningful glance.
Feng Qi understood instantly and resolutely fell silent.
At that moment, the Lord of the Mist pressed "Accept."
A bald man with a respectful expression appeared on his tablet.
"Commander Wang Yi, I'm a representative from the Technology Research Institute. We'd like to formally invite you to our upcoming exchange conference."
The Lord of the Mist nodded expressionlessly. "I understand."
With that, he ended the video call.
"What's up? Did the Black Shadow Faction behind the Technology Research Institute summon you for a meeting?"
"Yes. I'm now one of their core members, so it's normal for them to call me for a meeting after all this time. Might as well go and gather some intelligence."
"Go ahead. Stay safe and don't die."
"Do I look that weak?" The Lord of the Mist couldn't help but roll his eyes, but then he noticed Feng Qi's crimson-red left arm and abruptly fell silent.
Feng Qi had saved him three times. The first time was in the snowy forest where they first met, but the other two times he had risked his life to fight for him.
These words sounded perfectly natural coming from Feng Qi.
Sensing the Lord of the Mist's guilt, he stood up, patted the man on the shoulder, and smiled. "Remember your promise. When you stand at the peak, make sure I have a place by your side. I'll take my leave now."
The Lord of the Mist didn't reply, but he watched Feng Qi's retreating figure and nodded solemnly.
Late that night, the Lord of the Mist left the Garrison Manor of the Death Star Third Battle Group and boarded a plane to Future City.
He remained away for the next two weeks, without any contact with Feng Qi.
During this time, Feng Qi took full charge of all the battle group's affairs.
When not handling battle group matters, Feng Qi dedicated his time to physical adaptation training.
Through this training, the compatibility between his Crimson Left Arm and the Demon Dragon Rune Crystal steadily improved.
Now, apart from being slightly less coordinated than his right arm, his left arm surpassed his right in both recovery and durability.
Most notably, the explosive power of his left arm was more than three times greater than that of his right.
One morning, after his training session, Feng Qi arrived early at the Group Commander's Office.
He habitually brewed a pot of tea, then picked up the latest intelligence files laid out on his desk and began reviewing them.
At that moment, the door burst open, revealing a familiar figure with a black backpack and a mask.
"You're back?" Seeing the familiar figure, Feng Qi set down the documents in his hand.
The Lord of the Mist removed his mask, closed the door, and walked straight to the desk to sit down. With a grave expression, he said, "Guess what I discovered at the Technology Research Institute's core meeting this time?"
"I'm not guessing. Just tell me," Feng Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes.
The Lord of the Mist seemed slightly bored by this response, but continued anyway: "At the core meeting, the Black Shadow Faction behind the Technology Research Institute had me participate in a plan currently underway called the Black Reaper Project. In the coming days, 90% of the Institute's resources will be diverted to this project to accelerate its development."
"I don't get it. What does that mean?"
"I don't know the specifics myself. It's a massive plan composed of countless smaller projectsโlike the Eternal Project, the Spirit Energy Nanoworm Project, and so on. Essentially, a collection of projects forming this grand initiative."
"As for the project's objective, the black shadow didn't explain in detail. They just told me I'll be responsible for a sub-project within the Black Reaper Project focused on resource acquisition. In simple terms, I'll be in charge of securing spiritual resources for this grand plan."
Feng Qi's heart sank as he listened to the Lord of the Mist's explanation.
If his guess was correct, this plan was clearly designed to create Little Black.
When he first saw the information Mo Fei gave him, he thought the project was called the "Spirit Energy Nanoworm Project."
When he entered the second tier of the core circle on the Sacrifice Line, he still believed the project was the Spirit Energy Nanoworm Project.
But the Lord of the Mist was in the first tier and clearly had access to more information.
This was the first time he had heard of the "Black Reaper Project."
If the Spirit Energy Nanoworms were only a part of this larger plan, he was almost certain that "Black Reaper" referred to his old acquaintance from 1,500 years in the future: Little Black.
Just then, the Lord of the Mist interrupted his thoughts.
"This plan is clearly not normal. The Black Shadow Faction is willing to allocate 90% of the Technology Research Institute's resources to it and is even increasing its acquisition of external resources to push it forward. I'm now very curious about the purpose of this plan."
"What's the point of being curious? To the Black Shadow Faction, you're just a hired hand. You'll never get access to the core research."
"So, I was thinking, should we cultivate a research talent to infiltrate the core circle of the research community and uncover the secrets of the Black Reaper Project?"
Feng Qi was stunned by the Lord of the Mist's solemn expression.
He realized the timeline had corrected itself once again.
Initially, he'd assumed the Tiger Soul Research Institute had discovered the Technology Research Institute's secrets and sent agents to infiltrate it.
During the Sacrifice Line incident, he'd even shielded the Tiger Soul Research Institute's spy with his own spear.
Yet, it turned out the Lord of the Mist had conceived this idea long before infiltrating the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
"What do you think? If this project proves profitable, we might be able to plan and position ourselves in advance. When they finally succeed, we can seize it..."
Feng Qi found himself nodding along to the Lord of the Mist's proposal.
But the next words made his eyes widen.
"The Black Shadow Faction behind the Technology Research Institute is truly cunning, using a human institute to serve their own ends. Perhaps we could try something similar?"
(End of the Chapter)
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