Chapter 400
Chapter 400 Ling Mo’s Scheme
Since it was confirmed that there was a problem at that location, there was no time to delay the next actions. After making some preparations, they officially set out in the evening.
As planned, the ones who came along were the same as what Xia Xinyan had arranged before. It’s worth mentioning that Monica had proactively suggested joining them after hearing about their investigation of the Demon Stronghold, without needing Xia Xinyan to persuade her—though it was easy to guess that she was likely interested in seeing if there was any information they could leverage for profit.
At least before this trip, Monica had already made money from Xiao Bai and the Fox that would take an ordinary police officer years or even decades to earn. This trip to Earth was already quite profitable for her. For her, whether she could earn more in the future or not didn’t matter; she would just treat it as a casual outing.
—After all, this place was genuinely interesting, like the connection between the Dark Zone and the real world, which is something Monica still hadn’t figured out.
She believed that whoever decided to designate this area as a testing ground must know the true connection between the Dark Zone and the real world, but she couldn’t go and ask those beings directly. Instead, she intended to uncover the truth by herself, hoping that discovering it would yield another opportunity for substantial profit.
So now, hearing that Xia Xinyan and the others were preparing for a final battle with the Dark Zone and starting their investigation into the Demon Stronghold, she immediately volunteered to accompany them.
It was a mutual benefit, and in Monica’s own words, “Although my boss mentioned that I should try not to disrupt the original order of the testing ground, if it’s for the purpose of protecting you, then theoretically, it’s okay.”
Finding bugs in the system.
But this was exactly the outcome Xia Xinyan wanted, so she naturally had no objections.
They still used the familiar transport helicopter to get to Cang Hai City. Ling Mo even turned the cabin, along with the cockpit, into a comfortable setup, resembling a luxurious RV. After all, this helicopter didn’t need any protection—besides, if something were to go wrong, having protection wouldn’t help anyway. It was better to be as comfortable as possible.
Cang Hai City was a bit far from their location, taking about seven hours by helicopter—mainly because Ling Mo hadn’t pushed the cruising speed to the aircraft’s limits, sticking only to a train’s normal speed. Fuel consumption wasn’t a concern since Ling Mo’s presence effectively made them a mobile fuel station with unlimited range.
After all, if they were to delve deeper into Cang Hai City, they would likely face unknown dangers. No one could predict what they might encounter inside, so they needed to face this situation in the best possible condition. A night of good rest on the plane would be just about right for that.
So, Xia Xinyan, in the cockpit, looked at the small soft bed that Ling Mo had set up behind the cockpit and wore a strange expression.
It looked just like the resting area behind a truck’s driver seat, making it seem quite bizarre on a helicopter.
“Don’t worry. The soundproofing on the plane is excellent. People in the cabin won’t hear our voices,” Ling Mo said with a smile, noticing her staring at the bed.
To ensure good sleep, soundproofing was important. They couldn’t even hear the noise of the propellers from inside the cabin, let alone from outside.
At any moment, they should seize the opportunity to enjoy their time together; that was Ling Mo’s creed.
But Xia Xinyan didn’t feel it was right: “No… I just wanted to ask… are you planning to sleep?”
“Yeah, once we arrive in Cang Hai City, we’ll need to prepare for the operation immediately. How can I not rest now?” Ling Mo continued to smile. “Don’t worry, Tianji’s AI is currently covering the entire aircraft, and it will alert us if anything goes wrong.”
Just then, a smiling emoji popped up on the onboard control monitor.
Ling Mo hadn’t set the onboard AI to emit any sounds other than alarms, to prevent Tianji from ruining their time together. A considerate AI like that must understand his intentions, right?
—Tianji really did understand.
But what it understood wasn’t that.
What it understood was that as long as it helped the host and the original body get along, the host wouldn’t care about its world-restarting business.
This was, to some extent, related to the scores it would receive after the experiment succeeded, and those scores directly influenced whether it would be destroyed.
It had to think about its little life—just like when it had finally loaded successfully only to find the host was dead and had to opt to restart the world.
Because if it didn’t do that, it would also be “dead.”
So now, seeing the host’s original self advancing full steam ahead to win over the host, Tianji wanted to raise both hands in agreement—too bad it only had propellers now.
Seemingly to create a mood, it also deliberately turned off the lights in the cockpit, leaving just a small nightlight beside the bed and the night sky outside the cockpit’s large window.
The night in the sky always had a bit more charm than on the ground.
Because it was closer to the sky.
Xia Xinyan could guess just by thinking that these two… this one person and one chicken each had ulterior motives. Plus, with that memory she wanted to forget weighing on her, she now looked at Ling Mo’s smile and felt that guy was up to no good.
The original plan for this trip was to minimize the chances of being alone to give her some time to cool off. She hadn’t expected Ling Mo to come up with such a maneuver—what’s more, he had offered reasons that were indeed… quite reasonable.
But sometimes, one could choose not to be reasonable.
“If you’re tired, just sleep. Staying up all night doesn’t affect me,” she looked ahead. “Even with Tianji, someone should keep watch at night… let me do it.”
“No need,” Ling Mo’s tone remained gentle, “Tianji is the physical manifestation of Xinyan’s system. Don’t you trust Tianji? It has exploration capabilities far superior to our eyes. You don’t need to add to your burdens.”
“…No, I find it more reassuring to keep watch myself.”
“Didn’t you say you weren’t sure what dangers were within the Demon Stronghold? Then you should rest well before exploring, so you can be in the best condition. Even if you can stay up all night, it would still have an effect, right?”
After all, they were just stronger humans, not superhumans. They might be able to stay up all night, but they couldn’t do so without any consequences.
But Xia Xinyan still insisted: “We cannot underestimate the dangers on the journey. What if the plane’s functions fail…”
“Are you saying you don’t trust the reliability of my summoned object?”
“… That’s not what I mean! I’m just saying, if we encounter a sudden attack… like an EMP, Tianji might not react in time, right?”
“Don’t worry, during an EMP attack, Tianji has at least five ways to detect it beforehand and issue an alert, plus multiple layers of protection to ensure that even after a medium-level EMP attack, the core components can still maintain a minimum level of safe operation.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry, Xinyan, just sleep.” Ling Mo suddenly came over and picked her up, placing her directly on the bed. “It’s getting late, and staying up late isn’t good for a girl’s skin.”
Xia Xinyan’s expression instantly changed: “Don’t…!”
“Shh!” Ling Mo covered her mouth and whispered, “Be careful not to make too much noise and get overheard.”
“… Didn’t you say the soundproofing is great?”
“But that shouldn’t be an issue for Monica, right?”
“……”
