Li Ban sat perfectly still, his expression unchanging, but Priest Zhong Ye was clearly concerned about the Ash Alliance's situation.
"What happened?"
Priest Huangzhi looked regretful. "The strategic bases in the west were suddenly hit by a massive, concentrated strike from Trash City. Many alliances suffered heavy casualties. Some had their entire squads wiped out, and even priests were killed."
"Hiss—" Priest Zhong Ye drew in a sharp breath. "Trash City has been reducing its combat energy consumption these past few years. Why would they suddenly launch a concentrated strike?"
Priest Huangzhi gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I have no idea. Fortunately, they stopped after a single barrage. Otherwise, the entire western strategic base probably wouldn't have survived."
"What's even more heartbreaking is that the severe damage caused many alliances to start fighting among themselves over the remaining resources and supplies. As a result, even more people died. We migrated here specifically to avoid that infighting."
He spread his hands. "Even now, my companions and I have lingering fears about the people from those alliances. That's why we absolutely didn't dare let your entire team in before confirming your stance."
Sadness surfaced on Priest Zhong Ye's aged face. "Ah, we originally intended to go west."
He remembered that the team had only detoured to this sparsely populated Northern Base to find a more advanced Reader for Li Ban.
Standing behind Priest Zhong Ye, Luca didn't have much sympathy to spare for alliance members slaughtering each other.
He merely recalled that they had indeed been heading west initially. After meeting Li Ban and witnessing his technique for controlling Mechanical Dogs, they had changed course toward the north to curry favor with him.
As a result, the Mechanical Dogs had now been upgraded to counter Li Ban's abilities, and their original destination had suffered a concentrated strike.
It was hard to say whether Trash City was targeting Li Ban.
Li Ban was thinking the exact same thing.
Although he didn't know Luca's group had originally planned to go west, he felt that Trash City's sudden movements were connected to their upgrade of the Mechanical Dogs.
Fundamentally, this had to do with him.
Li Ban remained perfectly composed. Not wanting the others to bring the matter up in front of Priest Huangzhi, he asked, "Then why are you willing to have a proper chat with us now? As a 5th Tier priest, you surely wouldn't be afraid of two 4th Tiers."
Li Ban wanted to know if the other party had suddenly changed his attitude because of some other inside information.
Priest Huangzhi wasn't quite used to Li Ban's phrasing.
Among priests, they referred to each other by ranks like Spiritual Initiation and Cloud-Hidden. What was this talk of 4th Tier and 5th Tier? Wasn't that a ranking system from the Wizard World?
Besides, it didn't sound very elegant.
He smiled and said, "I am indeed not afraid of fighting two Spiritual Initiation priests, but I alone cannot protect over a hundred allies. Especially since Priest Ban knows such a powerful mystic art as Shrinking Ground to an Inch."
"However, despite having two priests, you still chose to talk with me first. I feel that you two are true allies we can get along with amicably."
Perhaps because it had been a long time since he had last spoken with other priests, Priest Huangzhi was a bit chatty.
"Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer true members of the Ash Alliance. More and more people are dying, and an increasing number are defecting to Trash City, allowing the Main Brain to control their lives. Meanwhile, those who still persevere fight endlessly among themselves. At this rate, when will we ever reclaim the glory of humanity?"
Priest Zhong Ye sat up a little straighter. "Human nature is inherently complex. We still have faith and hope."
Priest Huangzhi's somewhat dispirited mood was broken.
He broke into a smile. "Yes. For our faith and hope, we should definitely drink a cup of wine."
He looked back, seemingly intending to ask the female warrior behind him to fetch some wine. Li Ban hurriedly interjected, "No need for wine. My health is poor; I don't drink."
Priest Zhong Ye also quickly added, "I haven't had a drink in a long time either."
Priest Huangzhi raised an eyebrow.
In the Trash Realm, human life was hard enough. There were very few things left to enjoy, yet these two had actually refused.
"You're probably just on guard against me."
He smiled, skimming over the topic and seamlessly bringing up another matter.
Looking at Li Ban's youthful face, he spoke with the tone of an elder. "Sigh, I just saw you cast a mystic art. To be honest, as priests, we must be cautious when using our power. This world has no spiritual rhinoceros. Priest Ban, if you continue to use your power like this, and then rely on those harmful energies to replenish your spiritual rhinoceros, you'll soon end up like Priest Zhong Ye and ruin your body."
He then added to Priest Zhong Ye, "Apologies, Priest Zhong Ye, I mean no offense. I merely wanted to give him a reminder."
Priest Zhong Ye wasn't offended; he merely nodded lightly. "Yes, I'll also advise Li Ban to be careful with his abilities."
Because Li Ban spent most of his time in a deep sleep, their relationship with him wasn't very close yet, so there were some things Zhong Ye found difficult to say directly.
Now, he took this opportunity to have the warning delivered through someone else's mouth.
As for being used as a negative example? Priest Zhong Ye didn't really mind.
His body was indeed failing.
He was already trying his best to reduce the number of times he used his mystic arts.
However, in order to protect his companions, he often had no choice but to frequently use and replenish his spiritual rhinoceros.
Fortunately, he had found a suitable successor before his death.
Faced with Priest Huangzhi's deliberate lecturing, Li Ban couldn't be bothered to explain. He merely smiled and said, "Thank you for the reminder. I had no choice. In order to meet Priest Huangzhi, I had to resort to some special methods."
"Haha, my mistake." Priest Huangzhi finally steered the conversation back on track. "I haven't asked yet—what business does Priest Ban have with me?"
"We came to the Northern Base not just to set up a temporary camp, but mainly for the electronic equipment here."
Huangzhi asked, "Oh? What kind of equipment? As long as it doesn't affect the alliance's livelihood, it will absolutely not be a problem."
"It shouldn't," Li Ban said. "We have some information here that needs to be encrypted and recorded. Therefore, we might need to use an Information Import and Export Device, along with some memory chips, a Reader, and the like."
Li Ban's true target was naturally the last item, but he felt that Priest Huangzhi was neither as simple nor as hospitable as he appeared. Thus, he had thrown in a bunch of useless items to hide his actual intent.
Priest Huangzhi thought for only a moment before agreeing.
"Alright, we don't normally use those things anyway, so if they can help you out, that's great. Do you need to use them right now? I'll have Chen Yue take you over."
Li Ban smiled in gratitude but declined. "That won't be necessary. We still need to organize the information on our end. Once we go back outside and finish our preparations, we'll come looking for Priest Huangzhi."
Listening from the side, Luca tightened his grip on his wheelchair.
Although the ruined houses outside the base were barely habitable, they definitely weren't as safe and warm as the interior.
Sitting across from them, Priest Huangzhi seemed to see right through their thoughts. He suddenly offered, "How about this? Why don't you all just move in?"
Both Li Ban and Zhong Ye looked at him in mild surprise.
"Of course, to protect our mutual privacy, you can move to the West District, which is closer to the electronic equipment. With a firewall separating us, we won't have to worry about unnecessary conflicts arising among our subordinates due to unfamiliarity."
"That way, you can use the electronic equipment in the West District at any time. What do you say?"
Priest Zhong Ye looked at Li Ban. He felt that Huangzhi was only making such a concession because of the abilities Li Ban had displayed earlier.
Li Ban nodded. "Of course. Thank you very much."
Being able to use the Reader anytime was naturally for the best.
He wouldn't read Gu Yi's Testament right now; he had to confirm that Du An had left the Shadow World first.
Once the team entered the West District of the Northern Base, Luca arranged for everyone—except the priests—to take turns keeping watch.
Although the other party had let them in, it was still necessary to remain vigilant.
A few days later, when Li Ban saw Priest Zhu Yao communicating with others using the Self-Seeking Mirror, he brought up the Shattered Realm and pretended to casually ask about Du An's current situation.
Priest Zhu Yao told Li Ban that Du An had actually been back for several days.
He was supposedly in secluded cultivation.
Presumably, he had gained nothing from his first time entering the Shattered Realm and had suffered a setback.
Upon hearing this, Li Ban immediately knew his chance had come.
He excused himself and returned to his carriage to cultivate. However, after only a brief moment of cultivation, he closed his eyes and entered the Shadow World.
Waking up in the Shadow World again, he saw that the person guarding him had changed to Ah She.
Ah She was nearly ten years older than Nana and far more steady. Whenever any of the mechanical facilities in the alliance broke down, people would look for Ah She to repair them.
Before Li Ban came along, she had been the third highest-ranking person in this alliance team.
Now, she was tied for fourth with Nana.
"Priest Ban, do you have any orders?" Seeing Li Ban sit up and look at her, Ah She immediately dropped into a crouch.
Li Ban stood up. "I need to use the Reader now."
Ah She immediately stood up as well. "Understood. We've finished tuning all the machinery and have been keeping a close eye on the people across from us so they can't come in to snoop."
Ah She was also sharp. She hadn't let down her guard just because the other party had directly allowed them to move in.
The two left the room where Li Ban had been resting and turned into the long corridor, where they saw their companions on patrol.
Whenever they saw Li Ban now, they would stop and bow sincerely in greeting.
As they walked, Ah She spoke softly from behind Li Ban, "Priest Ban, I secretly observed the situation like you asked. The lifestyle of the alliance members on the other side is indeed quite different from ours."
"Oh? How do they seem different?"
Ah She thought for a moment. "I can't see their internal daily life, but in the areas where we occasionally cross paths, I've found that they are extremely strict in executing orders. Furthermore, many of their orders are somewhat... unfeeling."
She had even heard a soldier order two old men to do the most strenuous manual labor.
And the two old men were completely subservient, as if they were used to it.
Although the elderly in Ah She's team also required fewer supplies because they couldn't participate in combat, they still received care in other areas out of respect for their past contributions.
Ah She felt that if they had been in Priest Huangzhi's team and someone had picked up Priest Ban, they definitely wouldn't have stubbornly carried him forward on their backs the way Nana did.
They would have been far more likely to sell Priest Ban along with his Experimental Capsule.