Chapter 643: Chapter 512: Exploiting Value

After several turns, the Fine Gold Golem led the two to an empty room.

"Whose place is this?" Long Yi asked as he watched the Fine Gold Golem expertly open the door, feeling curious.

"Mine. I bought it for convenience during one of my trips." The Fine Gold Golem answered.

"Fancy."

Long Yi said as he walked in with the assassin.

"Now, let’s talk about your situation." The Fine Gold Golem said to the assassin.

"The point in time you chose for the assassination attempt has already passed, meaning you cannot return to this time point again. You’ll also have difficulty blending into this timeline, and will soon be expelled. However, I’ve just carved some new runes on you. These runes will make it impossible for you to find any time exits. This means you’ll be stuck in the flux of time forever, watching various time points pass before your eyes, yet unable to enter any of them. You’ll be granted eternal life, but you will be unseen within the flux of time. As a time assassin, you should understand what this means, right?"

While the Fine Gold Golem was not done speaking, the assassin started to tremble.

"Eternal torture."

The Fine Gold Golem spoke directly.

"Alright, now it’s my turn to ask some questions. The answer to the questions will directly determine whether you can safely return to your time."

"I... I understand..."

The assassin caved in right away.

"What time are you from?"

"The thirty-seventh year of the final war."

"Who sent you?"

"General Zerlindor."

"Where did your time travel technology come from? Don’t tell me you developed it yourselves."

"Yes, a spy stole it from the Giant’s laboratory. But it’s incomplete. We can’t open a time tunnel ourselves, but we can travel through your time tunnels."

"How many times have you time-traveled?"

"As far as I know, only twice... The first time the tunnel closed unexpectedly, and the traveler died inside. This is the second time."

"What’s your purpose in assassinating Tyl?"

"I don’t know... I’m just a lucky assassin who passed the time-space test. I only know things from what I overheard from the researchers. I’m just a lowly foot soldier... Please, let me go."

"I’m done with my questions. He’s all yours. But don’t ask questions about yourself, he will immediately forget the answers to those questions."

Actually, Long Yi was curious why the Fine Gold Golem’s questions got answers. Yet his similar attempts got him nowhere. However, he felt that if he were to ask the Fine Gold Golem about this, he might get ridiculed.

The Fine Gold Golem stepped aside, and Long Yi approached with a cruel smile.

"Alright, any secrets you want to tell me?"

"I... I forgot..."

The assassin looked like he was on the verge of tears. Even though he was a skilled assassin, traveling through time and space, facing various dangers, arriving in the Human Realm where his power was limited, and getting caught red-handed was too much. He wished to divulge all he knew to these two formidable time travelers in hope of securing his freedom. But, he had forgotten everything...

"Wait a moment! According to the Time-Space Rule, there’s only one scenario where I would lose my memories... Are you Long Yi?"

The assassin was totally stunned.

"Huh? You ventured into my timeline, and you don’t know who I am?" Long Yi looked surprised, realizing that the opponent knew nothing about him.

"I... I... am willing to give this to you in exchange for my freedom!"

With that, the assassin’s intact arm inexplicably fell off.

"What’s this?" Long Yi didn’t pick it up. It had fallen from the enemy—no one knew whether it was dangerous.

"It’s a Splitting Crystal. It can turn all Light Cannon attacks into a splitting attack." The assassin desperately explained.

"That’s originally our technology which you stole." The Fine Gold Golem disdainfully said.

"Yes, but the current Long Yi doesn’t have it!" The assassin said, even more urgently.

"Anything else?"

"..."

The assassin fell silent, then said with a trembling voice, "I really have nothing else!"

"Alright, you’re no longer of any use." The Fine Gold Golem declared.

"No, please let me think more. I’m still valuable!" The assassin yelled out.

"Don’t worry, you have all eternity to think."

That was the whole process of this journey. The assassin was thrown into eternal chaos, never to escape. Of course, the Fine Gold Golem didn’t intend to leave him there forever. When the Golem returns in the near future, he would take the assassin back to their timeline. At that time, the assassin will continue to prove his worth.

Long Yi took out the severed arm from his personal space, removed the metal surface, and revealed the crystal inside.

"A Splitting Crystal. If this is future technology, would I be changing history by using it now?" Long Yi asked the Fine Gold Golem with a smile.

"Not exactly," the Fine Gold Golem replied seriously. "For you, this is an ongoing event; whatever you do, you’re shaping history."

"Forget it, I can’t keep up." Long Yi shook his head, and then handed the Splitting Crystal to Belle, who was standing there staring blankly.

"Belle, can you take a look at this?"

Belle, upon receiving it, appeared to be taken aback.

"The array in here is extremely ingenious and intricate. It seems to be the work of us Crystal Demons, but I’m unaware of anyone capable of creating something like this."

"Don’t worry, it’s yours now and you’ll figure it out soon," Long Yi said, smiling.

Even when leaving the Crystal Demon’s realm, with Xiaoyou as his mode of transportation, Long Yi was constantly preoccupied with one question. Eventually, he couldn’t resist asking it. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Does that mean that in the future, the Giants are at war with their enemies?"

"Yes, that seems to be the clear answer," the Fine Gold Golem replied.

"Huh? Since when could you tell me that?"

"Because you’re very certain of it in your heart. I’m only here to confirm it for you."

"So, the rule of time is not to tell me what I don’t know, but to confirm what I already knew?"

"Yes."

What a pain.

"But the Giants are so powerful. Do they also have enemies?"

"Do you remember the God who was infected and killed by the Crystal Poison that he had invented himself? Was he not powerful enough?"

This question caused Long Yi to come to a sudden realization.

"So, what role do I play in the future?"

"Don’t ask me that, it only leads to me losing more of my memory."

"Alright, let me change the question. Do you keep traveling through time to help me, or to assist the war effort?"

The Fine Gold Golem paused a moment before answering, "I don’t know, but my guess is the latter. Because you would absolutely never have me risking the odds of time travel for your personal issues."

"Is time travel dangerous?"

"Yes, the chances of success and failure are fifty-fifty."

"My god... that’s... too risky..." Long Yi was not feeling so composed anymore.

"Relax, you just traveled through time along your own timeline; the success rate was 100 percent."

"I was worried about you!"

"I know, you’ve always been that kind of person."

At this point, the Fine Gold Golem’s voice softened, it was noticeably gentler.

"I’ll give you some advice, Long Yi my master. Let bygones be bygones and stop thinking about it. All you need to focus on now is winning every one of your battles. After all, if you lose here, there won’t be a future."

Long Yi nodded in full comprehension.

The appearance of the Fine Gold Golem surprised everyone, especially Ai Lin and Little Zi, who generally got along well with it. However, Ai Lin and Little Zi always felt something strange about the Golem. Long Yi told them that the Golem was indeed somewhat related to Suolin, but he had no idea exactly how.

This was Suolin’s first time meeting the Fine Gold Golem. She was obviously filled with questions about the Golem’s likeness to her current form. With such confusion, she turned to Long Yi for answers, only for him to shrug in response, unable to clarify the situation.

With the arrival of the Fine Gold Golem, the hierarchy within Long Yi’s Legion was instantly rattled. Previously, Ruosha and Isrile had vied for leadership, but upon joining the team, the Golem immediately announced that she would henceforth be the head of the Legion.

Consequently, both Isrile and Ruosha, unhappy with the turn of events, challenged her authority. To everyone’s surprise, both Isrile and Ruosha lost to the Fine Gold Golem!

The position of the leader, which had been in contention for quite some time, was finally settled that day! And shockingly, both Isrile and Ruosha, who had been defeated, seemed to accept the result wholeheartedly!

Their duel was conducted in secret, so even Long Yi had no idea what exactly had transpired. Those involved, including Isrile and her three sidekicks, along with Ruosha, all kept their lips sealed. When asked, Ruosha merely shook her head, telling Long Yi that the Fine Gold Golem was practically unbeatable.

Long Yi didn’t understand the specifics, but it seemed to be quite impressive from what he could tell.

As the war continued, the entire White Dragon Empire was in a state of seriousness, even the number of drunkards in the taverns had decreased. The number of pedestrians on the streets lessened, many people were thinking about their families during this time. In this war, which could potentially decide the fate of the entire continent, the common people had no power. All they could do was stay together with their families, which were, in their eyes, their most precious treasures.

Following their last successful defense against the Undead Army, the Black Dragon Empire entered a dormant period once more. However, activity along the border was frequent, with various supplies constantly being transported in and out. Every day, stacks of reports, sent over from scouts and spies, piled up on the War Committee’s tables. As a member of the War Committee, Long Yi had the authority to read these reports.

Clearly, the Black Dragon Empire was preparing for full-scale warfare. What was surprising though was that the number of Undead soldiers was still increasing! Moreover, a large number of exceptionally powerful Undead had emerged.

Meanwhile, the White Dragon Empire had also made progress in its research on the plague.

When the first Undead soldier appeared, Long Yi had attempted to work on a vaccine. Now that he had the ability to manipulate genetic material, vaccine development seemed simpler. However, the plague carried by the Undead wasn’t that easy to combat. It comprised various viruses and bacteria, which became highly virulent once infected by Hell’s power. Most surprisingly, when these transformed viruses and bacteria completely ravaged a being, they would then serve as the energy that sustained an Undead’s existence.

Long Yi would bet any money it was Rongka, that old bastard, who had invented this thing.

But Long Yi wasn’t without solutions.

Although combating a myriad of pathogens would be difficult, it would be easier if you considered the pathogens as a collective entity. Following this line of thinking, Long Yi conducted a series of experiments, with further testing being done at the Biological Research Institute. Disease research was the Institute’s forte, and its dean, the lady known as Nor, once proudly claimed that the White Dragon Empire had the highest disease cure rate on the entire continent.

Therefore, after a series of tests, preliminary results for the vaccine were achieved. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to qidian.com and vote for it. Your support is greatly appreciated! And if you’re on mobile, visit m.qidian.com to read.)