This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 307 Between Two Points
Just as Nie Weiyang quietly departed into the night, transforming into a streak of light and flying towards Pingdu, Pingdu entered an unprecedented state of emergency due to the information he had delivered in advance.

A formal meeting with Administrator Number Two! A formal contact that was announced in advance and prepared in advance!
This could concern all of humanity and the future direction of the world!
The command center was brightly lit, with all departments operating efficiently, discussing reception plans, security levels, and communication topics... The atmosphere was tense yet orderly.

However, a practical problem was soon raised.

"We need to contact Kushui Town immediately to confirm Comrade Nie Weiyang's current location and status!" said an official in charge of liaison. "He is the person who has had the most contact with the second administrator so far, and his experience and judgment are crucial!"

There was silence in the conference room for a moment.

Immediately afterward, another older official, who knew Nie Weiyang's style better, rubbed his temples, looking somewhat helpless: "Looking for Nie Weiyang?"
"He's hung up now, so he's definitely no longer in Kushui Town. How are his men supposed to find him? Are they going to run all over the wilderness and rely on luck to bump into him? Isn't that too difficult?"
"They don't have any real-time remote communication methods!"

This deduction was reasonable and won the silent approval of most people present. Given Nie Weiyang's resourcefulness, it would be strange if he stayed quietly in Bitterwater Town at a time like this.

...They were half right.

At this moment, high in the sky, beneath the clouds, a figure is silently flying towards Pingdu at a speed exceeding the sound barrier.

The cold red goggles reflected the vast earth, everything shrouded in the eternal polar night, rushing past his eyes.

It was indeed 'Administrator Number Two'.

However, inside this body that exudes inhuman majesty, Nie Weiyang's mind is racing.

Instead of focusing on flying, he diverted some of his attention to take something out of his backpack—the [Heart Crystal Type 7] that had attracted the covetous eyes of the Returning Cult.

The crystal lay in his red-gloved palm, emitting a steady and pure glow, like a star falling into a sea of ​​blood.

In fact, the vast majority of the Heart Crystal formed by the power of Administrator Number Two is with him—how could he not have discovered the materialized core left after the energy dissipated from something he created himself?
That spot in the manor ruins was one he deliberately left for fishing. Based on his understanding of the Returning Church, they couldn't possibly not covet such an energy crystal.

Now, the bait has not only been bitten, but the white feathers have also successfully lured out a large fish heading towards the main mountain.

Mount of the Lord's Message………………

The largest mountain on the planet.

Moreover, 'Sun Master'?
Well... it seems that for the Sky-Crossing Demon, the Sun Lord can also be replaced.

Nie Weiyang's gaze fell on the crystal through his goggles, but his thoughts drifted far away.

He had pondered this before: if the essence of mind crystallization is to transform the abstract into the concrete, then it is to gather the power of thought that should have been scattered into a stable material form.

Therefore, the function of the Netherworld Crystal, which can be transformed with it, may be to turn the real into the virtual, reactivating the energy and information condensed in the material world, in order to connect and penetrate the solid spacetime barrier.

Nie Weiyang had already determined that the fragments of the Mind Prism, or rather its complete form, the Mind Prism, were creations of a pre-civilization.

The underlying logic of their operation is consistent with the transformation of Heart Crystal and Netherworld Crystal.

Previously, however, he was not entirely clear about the origins of the twins, Heart Crystal and Netherworld Crystal.

But now, he's certain.

Mind crystallization is a product of mind prism!
But is it a byproduct or the target product?
Moreover, was the purpose of creating the Mind Prism to mass-produce Mind Crystals/Netherworld Crystals, or for something else... such as serving as a core component of a larger system?

And what exactly is this so-called [ritual machinery]?
The Return Sect wanted to use it to communicate with the Heart Sea, or... to contact the administrator? Nie Weiyang seemed to be deep in thought.

The prism fragments of the mind-image felt to him like pure origin. While the mind-image crystals shared the same origin, they were more like a processed, stable product, lacking the almost active creativity and growth potential of the prism fragments.

Is there some kind of purification or activation step involved?
Is the Heart Prism, which can create Heart Crystals and convert spiritual power into actual energy, a kind of ritual machine created in a pre-civilization era with high spiritual power?

He will surely find the answer to this problem if he can obtain a physical example or complete blueprints of a ritual machine, manufacture it himself, and conduct comparative studies.

As long as that thing shares even the slightest technical similarity with the Mind Prism, given his current understanding and control of the power of the Mind Prism, it's impossible for him not to discover it.

However... one question still lingered in Nie Weiyang's mind.

Why must the crystallization of the mind be transformed into the crystallization of life?

How much of the technology in the pre-civilization system actually came from those extinct beings from outer space?

……

These issues are now impossible to trace back. Nie Weiyang could only pull his thoughts back, carefully put the Heart Crystal back away, and glance at the Heart Prism fragments.

Unfortunately, the fever outbreak has not yet been determined to be over by the system.

Although the source statue has been destroyed and the Manor of Life has been ruined, the disease is still spreading and will take time to completely subside.

Therefore, Nie Weiyang has not yet received proof of trust.

However, based on his pivotal role in this incident, especially with his healing skills, he is almost certain that he is the individual who contributed the most in this public hazard incident and one of the individuals most trusted by the survivors.

If something unexpected really happens... then the problem will most likely lie in his increasingly inhuman red eyes.

As time went on, his connection with the human mind deepened, and his eyes became increasingly inhuman and terrifying, which invisibly diminished his affability.

Nie Weiyang himself once analyzed: Humans are visual creatures. If his purpose is purely to gain trust, then the optimal solution is not to do things personally in his real form, but to act as the second administrator for a long time, while using illusion magic to create a perfect illusion of 'Holy Knight Nie Weiyang' - a hero with gentle eyes, full of determination and compassion, a role that meets people's expectations, a trustworthy messiah who is guilty of others.

In that case, even if he could save fewer than one-tenth or one-twelfth of the people he currently saves, he is almost certain that the perfect illusion would gain far more trust and followers than it does now... making it easier to meet the conditions for obtaining the proof of trust.

but……

The second administrator, in flight, had his cold red goggles flicker slightly, as if he had unconsciously let out a silent sigh.

Never mind. If he really did that, then he probably wouldn't be himself anymore.

His true self might make him less efficient, but that's who he really is. He chooses to bear all the consequences of this power, including the possibility of not being fully trusted.

You can't have it all.

A streak of light pierced the sky, and the outline of Pingdu came into view.

The clouds churned and rolled incessantly.

(End of this chapter)