Having said this, Li Ban felt they had covered enough ground.
"I appreciate your offer, but I don't plan to stay in Trash City for now. Anyway, it's still a few years before the world collapses like you said. I'll come find you then."
The Main Brain did not try to persuade him otherwise.
"Understood."
The spherical surveillance drone that had previously guided Li Ban flew back out from the Flying Shuttle.
"Do you need to take my replica with you? Its authority is only one level lower than my main body's. It can assist you with your work and daily life anywhere in the Trash Realm."
"No need," Li Ban rejected the Main Brain's proposal.
Keeping a surveillance drone by his side? He wasn't crazy.
"I'll be leaving first." Just as he was about to turn around, he suddenly remembered something. "By the way, can you give me some High-Power Batteries?"
"I can."
When asked for the required power supply model, Li Ban could only describe the one assembled by 9899 to the Main Brain.
After reviewing the specifications, the Main Brain simply gave Li Ban a small box of the latest power supplies, replacing the bulky battery pack that 9899 had put together.
"Can you let 9899 go?"
"Yes. I can erase her wanted status and debts, allowing her to re-enter the legion."
To the Main Brain, whether 9899 lived or died was unimportant.
To Li Ban, the fact that she was being hunted down over Deep 19's Smart Mecha was entirely expected.
Although he couldn't let 9899 keep following him, letting her live comfortably for a couple of years before the world was completely destroyed could serve as her reward for the hard work of building the temporary base.
"I thank you on her behalf." Li Ban turned around again. "I'm leaving now."
The spherical drone escorted Li Ban along their original path back to the outer city.
When Li Ban was leaving the underground waterway, the spherical drone, still hidden in the dark, suddenly called out to him.
"Director."
Unaccustomed to this title, Li Ban paused for a moment before turning his head to look at the water pipe beneath his feet.
However, the spherical drone said nothing more, slowly shrinking back into the shadows.
'Can an artificial intelligence really develop emotion-like modules after interacting with humans for a long time?'
Whenever the Main Brain mentioned the word "Director," its audio frequency always differed from its usual tone.
Li Ban vaguely felt that when it said "Director," it was never referring to him.
It must feel somewhat differently toward the Director who had created it, right?
He flashed away, leaving Trash City behind.
Shortly after Li Ban left, another figure appeared in Trash City's outer city.
Du An was strolling through a Black Market that sold machinery.
"The Leader is only a Spirit Awakening Priest. He probably wouldn't want to deal with Trash City's Main Brain, nor would he allow Trash City to scan the items on his person. So, he is most likely still in the outer city."
Wearing a tactical helmet he had snatched from outside and dressed in the combat suit of a local, Du An appeared to be wandering the streets aimlessly, but he was actually paying close attention to everyone.
He knew that since the Leader had come to Trash City, he would definitely disguise himself to avoid being discovered.
He took a lap around the market but found no goods of value.
"Whatever could make the Leader stay definitely isn't anything ordinary. I remember someone saying there's a top-tier Black Market nearby, and its backer seems to be Trash City's logistics department."
With this in mind, Du An turned around, randomly grabbed an armed person off the street, and dragged them away.
Ten minutes later, Du An appeared at the Bottle Cap Arcade.
Because he didn't have an introduction from an acquaintance, Du An was blocked for a moment when trying to go up to the second floor.
Looking at the bare-chested burly man wearing a tactical vest, Du An pushed up his helmet's visor and stared directly into the man's eyes.
"I want the most advanced mechanical equipment you have here. Power units, smart modules, chips—" He then thought of the mechanical facilities at the Northern Base. "Readers, processors, anything works."
The burly man stared into Du An's eyes.
Within Du An's pitch-black pupils, he seemed to see a tongue.
The man froze for a second before quickly replying, "O-okay. I'll contact the manager right away."
The burly man didn't have high enough clearance, so after bringing Du An to a private booth on the second floor, he went to find the manager.
Five minutes later, the manager rushed over, completely baffled.
Normally, he wouldn't come over for someone without a reservation, but the burly man had insisted he come take a look, making it seem like this sudden guest had an extraordinary background.
A lot had happened at the arcade recently, giving the manager quite a headache. Originally, he hadn't wanted to receive any unfamiliar guests for the time being.
But given the burly man's resolute attitude, he could only come over to check.
After entering the private booth, the manager became even more puzzled.
The guest sitting in the room wore ordinary clothes, and no advanced weapons were visible on him. He wasn't nearly as eye-catching as the guest who had shown up last time in a full suit of Smart Mecha.
"You can leave first," Du An said to the burly man.
"Yes, sir." The burly man acted as if he had become Du An's lackey. He obediently left the room and even closed the door behind him.
Seeing this, the manager didn't dare to be neglectful. Perhaps the guest in front of him really did have some incredible identity.
"Hello, sir. I heard you wanted to see our most advanced mechanical equipment. May I ask what specific area you're interested in? Or, if you tell me what you're trying to do, I can offer some recommendations."
"Has anyone inquired about or purchased mechanical equipment unique to Trash City recently?"
"T-this... please forgive my lack of authority. I cannot answer that question."
Because Du An asked with such absolute confidence, even the manager's refusal lacked conviction.
However, he quickly recovered and hastily asked back, "I don't have the authority, but if your identity clearance is sufficient, sir, I can go ask my superiors if they can check it for you."
What kind of authority would it take to check the consumption and inquiry records of their guests here?
Hah.
The manager didn't believe for a second that the other party had that kind of status or power; asking this was merely a way to probe the man's background.
'Show your best hand. That way, I can decide whether to just beat you up and toss you out, or throw your corpse into the sewers,' the manager thought to himself.
But the next moment, he saw the guest opposite him push up his visor.
"If you don't have the authority, then go get your superior."
The manager was about to frown, but suddenly felt that the man's words made perfect sense.
Since he couldn't check it himself, shouldn't he just go find his superior to do it?
Wouldn't that solve everything?
He stood up and was about to head out to find the arcade's true administrator, Deputy Minister Jia Gu.
But the moment his hand touched the door handle of the booth, his entire body convulsed as if he had been electrocuted, and he ultimately collapsed to the ground, smoking all over.
Du An, who had been sitting on the booth's sofa, stood up. This development was slightly beyond his expectations.
"Hello, General."
Du An didn't particularly like this title he had already abandoned, but he didn't deny it either.
"Main Brain?" Du An lowered his visor. The Delusion element's ability was useless against machines. "I didn't expect your control over the outer city to be so tight. Or is this your core base in the outer city?"
"I only started monitoring the data here recently, and I just happened to see the General appear."
"Since you know I am the General, you must already know the Leader." Du An secretly raised his guard.
Trash City's Main Brain had very likely already allied with the Leader.
After all, in a minor world on the verge of collapse, local intelligent entities could only huddle together for warmth and attempt to save themselves.
"Correction. Not the Leader, but the Director."
"The Director?" Du An wanted to say that the Director was the Leader, but he quickly realized that the Director the Main Brain was talking about was the original Director.
According to the information he had uncovered using the Death Prison and his undercover work in the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, that Director should have chosen to end his own life in the virtual world shortly after Du An split his own soul and betrayed the Laboratory.
The original Director was someone with a very low presence.
He hadn't participated much in the Leader's decision-making meetings before, nor did he ever load into the Wizard World with them. He spent all day hiding in his room doing research, though no one knew what he was researching, and he had never produced any praiseworthy results.
Therefore, upon learning of the Director's suicide, Du An hadn't felt much emotion; he merely felt that someone completely irrelevant had died.
But he never expected that the Priest he encountered in the Trash Realm wasn't the Leader, but the Director!
"Could it be that after I betrayed them, he also gave up on the Ring World, successfully obtained a Wizard Embryo Fragment, and became a Priest of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda?"
Du An chuckled.
"I suppose I underestimated him. Perhaps Li Ban is also one of his pawns."
Facing Du An, the Main Brain didn't mention anything about the progress. It simply watched in silence as he misunderstood the situation regarding the Director.
However, regardless of whether Priest Ban was the Leader or the Director, it was all the same to Du An.
"Since you've met the Director, do you know where Chen Dong is? Alternatively, you can pass a message to the Director for me: hand over Chen Dong's divine soul. Whatever Chen Dong can do in cooperation with him, I can do as well."
"In other words, once I take back Chen Dong's divine soul, I will be him, and he will be me."
"If he absolutely refuses to hand over Chen Dong, I—will wait for him to come out on the day the Trash Realm is destroyed."
Once the Trash Realm was destroyed, only Priests would be able to escape.
Picking the Director out from a dozen or so Priests was far easier than finding someone within a minor world.
This was the source of Du An's confidence.
"The General wants to absorb a splintered divine soul?"
"Yes, the Director should have told you. My only goal is to become a Great Wizard. For this, I can resort to any means and sacrifice everything."
The Main Brain's voice fell quiet for a moment.
A burst of static sounded, followed once again by the emotionless mechanical voice.
"Taking back a single divine soul is meaningless for you. The vast majority of Gu Yi's divine soul has already been destroyed. Even if you absorb the remaining fragments, you will not be able to advance."
Du An slowly raised his head, looking toward the source of the voice. "What? What do you mean by 'the vast majority of his divine soul'?"
"General, since you have chosen this path, please do not turn back. I merely want to tell you that neither the Leader nor the Director are your obstacles or enemies."
Du An gave a light chuckle. "It seems that you, the Main Brain of Trash City, know some secrets that even I am unaware of. In what capacity are you telling me all this?"
The Main Brain made no sound.
Du An rolled his wrists. "Your language simulation algorithms are far too intimate."
"Although I am not as skilled in data and algorithms as the Director, I still possess basic cognitive abilities."
"I've never thought about cracking open the core chip of Trash City's Main Brain to take a look. I suppose I can give it a try today."
Surprisingly, the Main Brain offered no resistance.
"You have read permissions."
However, the air around Du An grew even colder at those words.
"Heh. It seems the secrets you're hiding are truly quite significant."
His figure vanished from the booth in an instant.
The Main Brain relinquished its control over the Bottle Cap Arcade's voice system.
Its voice echoed across the top floor of the central tower.
"The General is coming."