"Where is Priest Qian Que? Tell him to come out and see me."
Priest Li He's voice was imposing and utterly devoid of politeness.
But he certainly had the right to be impolite.
Compared to the other Star Glow Priests present, the Dark Moon Priest Zhu Yao, and Priest Qian Que—who had just advanced but whose path to further progression was essentially cut off—Priest Li He was a Solar Priest on the verge of advancing to a Divine Offspring Priest.
His power was unquestionable.
Although Black Robe Xiao Suo was cunning and ruthless, he never appeared before a Solar Priest.
This was also why most of the other priests had previously assumed Xiao Suo was only at the Seventh Tier.
The leading Star Glow Priest lowered his head. "Reporting to Priest Li He, Priest Qian Que is currently at the bottom of the pool with the Corpse Inscription, searching for Priest Ban's soul."
"He is a newly advanced Solar Priest. Instead of stabilizing his mind, improving his spiritual rhinoceros, and managing the many affairs of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, he is wasting time on a newly advanced Cloud Hidden Priest? No wonder his advancement was so difficult!"
"Send someone to tell him that before I advance to Divine Offspring, I will oversee the Myriad Ancient Pagoda. I will leave in a year at the shortest, or three years at the longest. Tell him to manage his time accordingly."
Hearing this, Zhu Yao suddenly spoke up. "Priest Li He, since you will be overseeing the Myriad Ancient Pagoda, I will go to the Shattered Realm to search for Black Robe Du An."
Li He looked at Zhu Yao, clearly disapproving. "I pulled you off the battlefield to give you time to quietly advance, not to let you do other things."
Zhu Yao shook her head slightly, her voice calm but firm. "This isn't just other things. I was the guide for both Du An and Li Ban, and Priest Qian Que was my guide. The three people currently in trouble are all connected to me. This has already become a knot in my heart."
The White Robe faction cultivated the heart; if a knot in the heart remained unresolved, advancement would be difficult.
Knowing he could not stop Zhu Yao, Priest Li He pursed his lips and sighed softly. "All these years of reining in your heart and tempering your nature... where did all that effort go?"
Zhu Yao lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttering. "It is precisely because I reined in my heart that I haven't formed connections with many people. Therefore—every single one of them is incredibly important to me. I must personally extract Du An's Wizard Embryo Fragment and resolve this karma; only then can I untie this knot in my heart. Otherwise, even if I listen to you and cultivate diligently, I will just end up like Priest Qian Que—stuck at the final step, unable to break through."
Li He's gaze fell once more upon the Shattered Eye.
"Fine."
A moment later, he walked into the Myriad Ancient Pagoda without looking back.
Having asked the Director for intelligence regarding Heaven Beyond Heaven, Li Ban pondered for a moment. "I will go take a look at Heaven Beyond Heaven and see if I can find anything unusual," he said to the Director with pointed meaning.
"That was my thought as well," the Director agreed with a nod.
Chen Dong listened from the side, looking somewhat downcast.
He used to be a General of the Ring World, controlling the vast majority of its intelligence.
Even later, when Du An betrayed them and he suffered a blow that caused him to lose his memories and become a senior assistant, he had still been intimately familiar with the work he needed to do.
But now, he was nothing more than a remnant soul. He did not understand the Recycling Station, he knew very little about the priestly hierarchy of the Wizard World, and with his path of retreat cut off, he was now a homeless wanderer. For the first time, Chen Dong felt completely lost about his own existence.
If Li Ban had not promised that after reopening the Ring World within the necklace, he would help him find a new body in the Wizard World, Chen Dong would not even know what purpose his existence served.
After learning about some of the crises at the upper echelons of the Wizard World, Chen Dong felt even more lost.
Even if he obtained a body in the Wizard World, entered it, and became a Spirit Practitioner, wouldn't he still just become deleted data in the Recycling Station in some completely oblivious, utterly irresistible moment?
Perhaps Du An had taken away all his courage; now, Chen Dong was left with nothing but anxiety and bewilderment.
The matter of Heaven Beyond Heaven concluded for the time being, and their topic returned to the Sea of Monsters before them.
"Director, do you have any good solutions for this current situation?"
The Director had been at the Recycling Station since the first iteration. He had always been silently observing and recording without ever participating in direct combat, so he must have considered many different methods.
"Here are the few plans that get us closest to the rift."
The Director manipulated a holographic projection, showing Li Ban and Chen Dong the methods he had summarized.
"These plans are divided into different categories depending on your goal. If the objective is only for you to leave alone, the first two plans have the highest probability of success. But if you want to take as many people with you as possible, you will need to reference the latter three plans. I will warn you in advance: if you implement the last three plans, the most likely outcome is that not even you will escape."
Li Ban crossed his fingers and rested his chin against them, silently browsing the images hovering in the air.
Almost every single one was incomparably tragic.
Especially the first one. To escort him out alone, it required several priests to trade their lives for his, delivering him through layers of protection as close to the rift as possible. At the same time, someone would have to be responsible for drawing away the most powerful monsters in the sea.
Those monsters that had once been Seventh Tier or even 8th Tier priests!
Li Ban felt like a satellite on a rocket; his ultimate ascent to the heavens would only be possible because of the stage-by-stage boost of sacrificed lives.
Yet his departure was merely an escape from this predicament. In the short term, there was no foreseeable prospect of him bringing any benefit back to the Recycling Station.
"I—" Li Ban lowered his hands and chuckled helplessly. "I am not charismatic enough to make other people sacrifice themselves just so I can escape alone."
He said with absolute certainty, "I want to take as many people with me as possible."
"That is a very naive thought," the Director evaluated bluntly.
Li Ban sighed in resignation. "Ah, I knew you would think that."
Chen Dong defended Li Ban. "But it is the truth. If we can't take everyone with us, who would be willing to risk their lives with us?"
"You could lie," the Director replied, remaining completely calm.
He looked at Li Ban. "If I were making the decision, I would ensure your safety without a second thought. Everyone else could be sacrificed."
Chen Dong was somewhat unhappy. Perhaps because the Director in front of him did not exert as much pressure on him as the Leader had, he actually dared to talk back.
"What about you? Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for Li Ban too?"
The Director looked at Chen Dong. "I am not leaving the Recycling Station."
He then turned back to Li Ban. "I will wait for your news at the Recycling Station. I will wait for the day you fail and re-enter this place. Or I will receive news of your success, and wait until the Recycling Station disappears, until everyone here has left, or I will be buried in the dust of history along with the vanishing Recycling Station."
The Director's calm words contained a future that was almost unimaginable.
Hearing this, Chen Dong, who had been speaking up for Li Ban, fell silent.
After a moment of mental numbness, Li Ban still firmly said, "You are right, but I want to take them out with me.
However, before we act, I will tell them that there is a high probability they will die on the way out. They can decide for themselves whether or not to participate in the operation."
The Director had merely offered a suggestion; once Li Ban made his decision, he did not interfere.
"Understood. Rest assured, if there are people who are unwilling to fight to leave the Recycling Station, I can also give them other tasks to support your battle from the periphery of the Sea of Monsters."
Li Ban was confused. "How are you going to persuade them?
If they aren't willing to risk their lives to leave the Recycling Station, why would they accept a combat support mission?
To be honest, given certain inherent flaws in human nature, when people can't get out themselves, they generally don't want anyone else to get out either."
"I have many ways to let them live better lives within the Recycling Station."
It was just that he had never announced them publicly, holding them back and waiting for the right price to sell.
When the time came, they would be used as bargaining chips to drive countless gamblers into a frenzy.
"So you are saying that if I want to take more people with me, the larger the peripheral support force needs to be, and the more of a price you'll have to pay, right?"
"Li Ban, you don't need to consider me. I have never consumed many resources here in the Recycling Station."
And this time, aside from refusing to brave the Sea of Monsters with Li Ban, the Director was willing to provide all of his resources.
Li Ban opened his mouth. "You, and the Senior Director... why exactly are you doing all of this?"
"The grand and righteous answer is to stop the meaningless cycle of this world and let time move forward."
"And the not-so-grand answer?"
The Director suddenly smiled. He leaned over the coffee table and patted Li Ban on the shoulder. "For myself, of course."
The moment the Director touched his shoulder, Li Ban felt as if a reason that could not be expressed in words had been communicated to him via data transmission.
But when Li Ban tried to comprehend that data, he met with an inexplicable resistance, only faintly sensing a terrifying darkness.
He suddenly realized that the reason the Director could not speak it aloud was the exact same reason his reception of the information was being blocked.
Just as Li Ban struggled to break through the barrier, the cosmos of the Star River appeared before his eyes once again.
It seemed his instincts were telling him that it was not yet time to know.
Then when would it be time?
Great Wizard.
He didn't need anyone else to answer; the moment Li Ban saw the Star River within his consciousness, he already knew the answer.
Whether it was the existence of the Recycling Station, the existence of the iterations, or the secrets of the Wizard Lords—he would have to wait until he became a Great Wizard to know.
And only then would he possess the bare minimum capability to face those dark terrors directly.
Li Ban stopped trying to touch that data, allowing it to sink into his consciousness.
"Alright. For my own sake, I will give it my all."
Suddenly, Chen Dong, who had been silent for a long time, raised his head. The bewilderment in his eyes had diminished considerably.
"Director, let me stay behind and help you."
The two of them looked at Chen Dong in unison.
"If I leave with Li Ban, I will only be a dead object inside his Cubic Space. I will not be able to provide the slightest bit of combat power, and I will only get in the way of him storing other things."
"So I would like to work here, just like you, Director. I might not be as smart as you, but I worked in the Laboratory for 67 years. I can help you with things that are inconvenient to do alone."
Li Ban did not agree. "If you do that, and another mass erasure occurs, the moment the next Chen Dong enters the Recycling Station will be the moment you are completely obliterated. Furthermore, the Director's method of preserving himself might not work for you."
Having made his decision, Chen Dong felt much more relaxed. "There's no need to preserve me. I'll write a suicide note right now. If the next 'me' comes in, just find him and give it to him. As long as his experiences are similar to mine, I believe he will make the exact same choice. Anyway, as long as the Director is here to pass on the legacy, that is enough."
Just as the Director believed that his other iteration selves would rather die than enter the Recycling Station and disrupt the continuity of information gathering, Chen Dong also believed that the other Chen Dongs would be willing to assist the Director.
Li Ban actually found it somewhat hard to understand their behavior.
It was like if another Li Ban suddenly popped out right now, claimed to be from another iteration, and told him to sacrifice himself for some wish—
Li Ban would probably tell that other iteration of himself to go drop dead.
But precisely because he knew he could not do it himself, he admired people like the Director and Chen Dong all the more.
"Fine." The Director agreed readily.
Li Ban could only nod. "I will not interfere with your decision."
"Right," Chen Dong remembered something. "That necklace should stay with you for you to handle. It is very special. I imagine it does not have a duplicate."
That Mobius Ring Necklace that had created the virtual Ring World and could connect to the Wizard World?
"Alright."
The Director clearly knew what necklace the two were talking about.
But from beginning to end, he had never cared about it.
Even if that necklace would not be duplicated in the rebooted world, it did not matter.
After all, by staying in the Recycling Station, he had already used this special method to step outside the cycle of the world's reboots.
Next, the Director explained the latter plans to Li Ban and detailed the preparations he had made for them.
However, just by hearing these conditions, Li Ban couldn't judge which plan had the highest success rate.
After all, even the Director hadn't managed to test a genuinely successful plan up to this point.
"Or, you can go in and try it yourself."
The Director raised a hand, and an empty Experimental Capsule slid over from the periphery to stop in front of Li Ban.
"Experimental Capsule Number 444. This is the most special capsule I kept behind."
"Number 444?" Li Ban stood up, walked over to the capsule, and couldn't help but laugh. "You guys really are worthy of being the Director."
He was referring to the one whose existence he had replaced.
"I strongly suspect that when I came in and entered Experimental Capsule 444, it was also specially prepared by him."
Li Ban raised a hand and tapped his temple.
Is that so?
My mission assistance system?
That half of a Wizard Embryo Fragment from the Ring World... that was the transmigration gift you left for me, wasn't it?
Compared to Li Ban, who was about to test the Sea of Monsters in the cerebral construct platform, Chen Dong seemed far more excited.
He immediately stood up. "Please let me start helping as your assistant."
The Director also stood up and readily agreed, "Of course. I'd like to hear opinions from a different perspective."
But fundamentally speaking, aren't you all the same person?
Li Ban silently roasted them.
Wanghai Cliff, third floor.
Zhu Yao walked to the entrance of the hall, and the sealed doors automatically opened.
To think that even opening a door here at Wanghai Cliff consumed such extravagant energy.
"Fun!" Ed stood off to the side, watching the automatic doors open once again.
He had already been playing around here for quite a while.
Whenever the doors closed, he would take a step forward; the moment the doors sensed him and automatically opened, he would step back.
Seeing Zhu Yao frequently coming to the entrance to look out, he thought she was also playing with the doors.
"Fun," Zhu Yao agreed absentmindedly, though her gaze kept darting down the corridor.
"Are you looking for Li Ban?" Tail asked, squatting next to the coffee table with a stalk of rye clenched in her teeth.
Accustomed to living out in the wilderness, she wasn't quite used to the smooth metal walls and furniture here.