It shouldn't be like this!

Ave's golden hair spun like helicopter blades, with blue smoke rising above her head.

She just missed one adventure, yet it felt like she skipped several years.

What exactly happened to Ethan and the others in the Far West?

"What's the plan?"

Ethan asked, "Figure out a way to find the Knight Lord and befriend Him? I heard Anzi used to have a good relationship with Him, maybe he knows where His house is."

Unfortunately, Ethan knew the Knight Lord's impression of him must be terrible.

The reason the Other Shore made it to the cleansing list was largely because, during the time in Ximu Town, to help her escape the punishment for oath-breaking, he blatantly defied the Knight Lord's authority. And with the truth of the True God's downfall revealed, the punishment for oath-breaking had become a mere formality for the knights of the Neseriel Sanctuary.

The bad first impression forced him to seek his friends' opinions, "What do you think the Knight Lord likes? Can a basket of fruit help ease the relationship?"

Upon hearing this, Lindong rolled her eyes at Ethan.

"Though those people are not as smart as I am, don't treat them as fools. Think it over, you blew up the God of Truth and completely changed Bazarian's mind. They will absolutely not give you the chance to meet the Knight Lord or any other True Gods again—their true selves are likely in some underground lab in the Holy City."

At this point, she paused, "This isn't entirely a bad thing for you either. At least for now, They can only incite unrest through illusions and can't destroy on a city level like Bazarian, giving you time to solve the problem."

Lindong particularly emphasized the temporality of "for now."

With her understanding of the Holy City Council, once they take action, they wouldn't be satisfied with merely upsetting a few lunatics.

"The first unrest is likely an experiment to collect data. The impact and destruction caused by the illusions will become increasingly severe as the experiment progresses."

She gave Ethan a sidelong glance, "Given the deep impression you left them, the council will no longer give you the opportunity to communicate with those test subjects. The ultimate goal of these data collections is likely to strip the test subjects of their autonomous thinking abilities, extract their powers, and turn them into weapons."

"As expected of you, truly unmatched in talent and beauty!"

Ethan was not stingy with his praise for Lindong, "This is the wisdom of the first chair, their little tricks can't escape your insight! Come and tell us your plan!"

Ethan snapped his fingers, and a hamburger and fried chicken combo appeared on the conference table, of course along with Lindong's favorite iced cola.

Though Lindong maintained her unsmiling demeanor, she accepted everything without refusal. She took a sip of iced cola, and her icy cold brows softened a bit.

"Want a strawberry sundae?"

"Yes!"

A straightforward answer. As Ethan offered the strawberry sundae, he also came behind Lindong and started massaging her shoulders. Lindong's beautiful eyes squinted into slits, and her voice sounded less high-and-mighty.

"They've figured out your style of action. These are all plots targeting you."

Lindong said, "In simple terms, you're the kind who likes to join in the fun. Where there's unrest, you rush there. After this meeting, you should be heading to the Neseriel Sanctuary, right? That's where the Knight Lord's soul returned, and the Other Shore was attacked by the Gray Knights there. 'Maybe you can investigate some clues,' that's what you're thinking, right?"

"You're absolutely right!"

Ethan had already fully grasped the way to communicate with the first chair girlfriend through the information provided by Super Little Lintong—don't be fooled by her usual high-and-mighty demeanor, never sparing a glance for anyone, and her words not pleasant to hear. But overall, she has a sharp tongue and a soft heart. As long as you flatter her, she'll soften up.

He didn't know why Super Little Lintong, the traitorous AI, stored so much information to deal with her true self, but it was indeed useful.

"In doing so, you'll fall right into their trap, giving them ample research time... Leave the matters here to your friends to resolve. Neither the Holy Hall nor the Empire is so fragile that it can't operate without you. The Knight Lord has extracted the gene of Father of War, Kaisaros, so if you really can't rest easy, let Kane replace you."

As it turned out, Lindong had already devised a countermeasure in her mind.

Although she hadn't made up her mind to deal with Messiah, when it came to dealing with her colleagues, she wouldn't blink an eye, "You need to prepare a planar teleportation... Although I don't know how you did it before, right now you're the only one who can open a portal to the Holy City—if you really want to bring a fruit basket to see those test subjects, you need to hurry before they collect enough information."

"A good plan, straight to the point! Although they know my ways of doing things inside out, they wouldn't have expected you've already betrayed them!"

"I haven't betrayed!"

Lindong's eyebrows shot up as she turned around, pointing a straw bent at a ninety-degree angle at his face like a gun, "I've already emphasized, I won't allow anyone to shut down Messiah until we've found an alternative solution."

"Got it! Won't shut down Messiah!"

Ethan immediately stated, "I'll go have a short meeting with the Elemental Elf to discuss the teleportation portal."

Ave listened quietly to their conversation, feeling her head growing hot as if it was about to burst into flames at any moment.

Holy City?

Test subjects?

Messiah?

More and more unfamiliar terms attacked her, conveying the fact that she had fallen behind.

But she finally understood the plan between Ethan and Lindong, "You want to establish a teleportation ritual coordinate. Let me help you contact the Academy and the Astrologer's Guild to provide assistance."

Upon hearing this, Lindong glanced at Ave.

Not bad, it seemed their friend was sharper than a monkey, had she been properly enlightened from the beginning, she might have surpassed many of the researchers under Lindong.

"This is a one-time teleportation magic, with unpredictable damage that the ritual might cause, so it requires a casting site far away from inhabited areas. Moreover, this scale of magic is likely to induce Magic Addiction Syndrome, thus auxiliary casters must have above fourth-level experience in laying out teleportation rituals."

"No problem."

A simple and efficient conversation, as Ethan walked out of the meeting room, time seemed to become urgent.

Lindong followed behind him, also seemingly ready to return to her homeland.

The two of them walked through the busy corridors of the Royal City. After the envoy from the Far West was assassinated, more than half of the Forbidden Guards in the Royal City were withdrawn, and the patrol teams were replaced by members of the Judicial Court, personally selected by Ave and Queen Margaret.

"No additional notes?"

Ethan suddenly asked.

"There, you need to stay alert and happy,"

For anyone else, this would be an almost impossible requirement, "Any negative emotional factor might attract Messiah's attention, and I can't confirm its influence will or will not affect you."

From Lindong's perspective, this hardly counted as an excellent plan.

Too many uncertainties.

But they're racing against time at this moment.

Everything in this world is evolved from the powers and bloodlines of True Gods and Middle-Level Gods. Once they decode the secrets of True Gods and Middle-Level Gods, it would be akin to controlling the core of this world.

Even she couldn't predict what the Holy City Council could do with these powers.

"If you feel you can't hold on, go get the Omega Blocker."

Lindong advised, "It'll keep you alert until you reach Level 173 of Pioneer Technology."