In this cyberpunk era, why are you still playing the traditional villain?

Seeing that he remained silent, Xia Ke'an spoke up to remind him.

"Of course not, it's already been arranged."

Xu Shi's tone was heavier than ever before, "They must have already called for backup. I just sent instructions to the nearest SS, telling them to get there first and help them as much as possible."

He did make some preparations, namely the joint defense arrangements he had been making for the past few years—in addition to regular troops, special forces like the SS would also be deployed, in order to deal with this kind of emergency.

To be fair, the SS-rank "Ascensioners" are all arrogant and not so easy to command... Fortunately, many of them have a good sense of the big picture, so the plan has been implemented relatively smoothly.

Some SS members, in particular, who enjoy traveling around, even took on this task voluntarily.

Xia Ke'an's prophecy would take some time, so he naturally wouldn't be idle and made arrangements as much as possible during those few minutes.

"I don't know if it's enough."

It was rare for Xia Ke'an to say something discouraging; it was clear she was genuinely worried about the safety of Su Lin and her group.

"Don't underestimate your older sisters."

Xu Shi twitched the corner of his mouth. "Besides, you should know better than me whether it's enough or not."

"They should probably call me 'older sister,' right?"

The white-haired loli pouted, but her tone remained unchanged, "To tell you the truth, their future... is a bit uncertain."

Her prophetic abilities are so overpowered that it's rare for such a situation to occur.

If even she can't see it clearly, then it means one thing—the situation of the person being prophesied is too unstable, and anything could happen.

Furthermore, Su Lin and her group were dealing with people who believed in "heavenly principles," so it would be a miracle if they could see things clearly.

"Not to mention, if I remember correctly, the SS currently near the Azure Cloud Immortal Realm... seems to be that guy, right?"

"It's not good."

Xu Shi sighed, "Fortunately, all we need to do now is buy time. If that's all, then it's enough if it's him."

"Have you figured out how to deal with 'Heavenly Principles'?"

Xia Ke'an asked in disbelief.

"At least some arrangements were made."

Xu Shi nodded slightly. "I sent messages to all the regions within the Federation, informing them of what's happening and telling them to be prepared."

"Faced with 'Heavenly Principles' 'Purge Plan,' the priority now is to protect the A-level city-states, and then proceed downwards. As for how to allocate those SS-level city-states, they naturally know how to handle that themselves."

Xia Ke'an nodded. These words sounded a bit heartless, as if the initial ranking was just for the purpose of this selection... But she also understood. Between two evils, choose the lesser, especially when the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves is too great.

Regions with greater strength and higher value naturally deserve more resources for protection.

"But this can only be considered a temporary measure... Hundreds or thousands of SS, this..."

The older woman agreed with Xu Shi's approach, but this would only delay things temporarily. In the long run, they would still be dragged into a losing streak. Oh, no, they weren't in an advantageous position at all.

Ironically, this is the part that is hardest to deal with—SS is not so easy to solve, it's not something that can be solved just by saying so.

Unless it's someone like her who's purely supportive, but to be fair, there really aren't many SS-level characters with such a high level of ability who have absolutely no ability to protect themselves.

In a sense, she is truly a rare species, one in a million. (Proud)

SS-level beings aren't something you can just train them out of thin air. Even quitting smoking for three years is a stretch, let alone getting an S-level "ascendant" promoted... No matter how hard Xie Qingyan and Jiang Chengcheng try to force them to grow, that amount of time is still not enough.

unless……

"Unless we find an SSS-level one."

Xu Shi said decisively, "There is a world of difference between SS and S, and the gap between SSS and SS will only be greater."

"you're right."

The white-haired loli didn't object to this statement, but the plan involved a very crucial issue.

Where can I find an SSS?

Yes, at least SS has some traces, but SSS is something that no one has ever seen, and even in the system of Night City, it is always "data missing".

"I know."

Xu Shi remained noncommittal, saying, "Therefore, this method is not feasible."

"so."

"So...we can't rely on this method anymore, and we should resort to some unconventional means."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 341 Even among sisters, there is competition for favor (not really).

What constitutes "unconventional methods"?

Xia Ke'an was always speechless at Xu Shi's hobby of being a riddle teller, and when she heard him keeping her in suspense, she just kept asking.

"To be precise, it's a concept."

Xu Shi pondered, "If we couldn't determine who was behind the hacker attack on Night Sin City before, this incident in the Azure Cloud Immortal Realm has made me completely certain."

If it weren't for the interconnectedness of "natural law," no one would believe it. The headquarters had an accident, and the people they sent out were also caught in the crossfire. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it?

These bastards didn't even bother to hide anymore. The top codename of "Invader-T" was "α", and the codename of the person who attacked Su Lin and her group was "β". It sounded like they were brothers and sisters.

Now everyone knows that the members of "Tianli" are basically artificial humans. He Yuxia and Xu Ying, who are "observers", are, and so are the so-called "eliminators". However, as they said, they have different roles and therefore different ranks.

But this is not the point.

The key question is what to do when faced with their proactive attack and overwhelming force. In any case, according to Xia Ke'an's prediction, our side is still undoubtedly the weaker party.

"You wouldn't be thinking of taking the initiative...?"

The older woman was getting impatient and started making random, nonsensical guesses.

"Are you crazy?"

Xu Shi glanced at her.

Taking the initiative is indeed unlikely. When Su Lin and her team face a single strong enemy, they can certainly try to gain the upper hand in this way, but the principle is different when it comes to the entire battlefield.

With our limited high-end combat strength, launching an offensive would essentially mean wiping out our entire force. Dozens against thousands would be like a drop in the ocean, a completely futile effort.

"Then you should tell me."

The white-haired loli knew this idea was unreliable, but who told you, you bastard, to keep her in suspense?

"One word, wait."

Xu Shi sighed, "We need to wait for Little Rabbit's feedback from Night City, and we'll have to wait for us to arrive in Qingyun Immortal Realm."

"Moreover, to be honest, although the situation in Night Sin City doesn't seem that serious, it's actually more serious in reality."

He continued, "Approaching it from the internet, or rather, from a spiritual perspective, is slightly easier than confronting it head-on."

"Ah, so you mean..."

Xia Ke'an wasn't stupid after all, and she instantly understood his thoughts.

To my shame, we've arrested a whole truckload of people who are trying to capture "Tianli" in the past few years, but we still have no clue where their headquarters are. Those prisoners are all very stubborn, and their minds have been pre-implanted with some prohibitions. Asking them superficial questions is no problem, but if they can't tell you a single word about the deeper issues, we'll consider it a loss.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is very difficult to track down, or at least very difficult to track accurately. It's too easy for them to avoid being exposed. Even now, they are still using a carpet search method, which is definitely not very efficient.

But this hacking attack was an opportunity—the previous top three "Invader-T" companies were just background figures, but they took the initiative to attack the world's network, and no matter how well they kept it secret, they eventually got exposed.

As long as we trace the investigation back, we will definitely find something. Then we won't be like headless flies anymore, and we will be able to make further arrangements and plans in a more targeted manner.

"In short, believe in Gu Yi, the hope of the 'Star River' Federation, my hope."

Xu Shi nodded, indicating that she was right. "However, she can't handle anything more than this on her own; she needs someone to help her."

"Who? It's you?"

"Of course it's me, or is it you?"

Xu Shi cupped her slightly chubby face and vigorously rubbed it.

The old lady rolled her eyes. If she could, she would certainly like to help the little black rabbit, but unfortunately, although her mental strength was strong enough, it was not compatible with this kind of uploading ability and could only be used for passive defense.

The truth is that this kind of ability is extremely rare, even on a global scale. Currently, only Gu Yi and Xu Shi stand out from the crowd. The rest are either like her, willing but unable to achieve it.

Two years ago, they also discovered one, but the other party's ability was merely to upload consciousness to the mental space they created, and then hone themselves in it to form a virtuous cycle... They couldn't even pull people in.

This is already an extraordinary level; one can only imagine what the level of others is like.

"Hopefully, Xiao Gu can act quickly."

Having sorted things out, the white-haired girl subconsciously urged, "Gu Yi's abilities are impeccable, but things are stuck at this point, so she can't help but be anxious."

"As long as she does her best, there won't be any problems."

Xu Shi said calmly, "The situation isn't as serious as you think. After all, the large-scale operation of 'Heavenly Justice' hasn't even begun yet."

When Xia Ke'an activated his ability to prophesy, he had already communicated with other relatively important city-states. The result was that, apart from the City of Night Sin and the Azure Cloud Immortal Realm, no other regions had yet seen the outbreak of war. At most, some SSs had a vague premonition that something big was about to happen.

Perhaps in the eyes of "Heavenly Principles", these areas are not important. What is important is to deal with Xu Shi, this troublemaker. Once he is eliminated, the remaining people will be leaderless and at the mercy of the authorities.

However, in Xu Shi's view, this seemed more like some internal arrangement, such as how to do things in a certain order, like a predetermined procedure... After all, the past actions of "Tianli" gave him this feeling.

But in any case, this is good news, at least it gives him some buffer time... better than nothing.

"No wonder you were silent just now, it didn't seem like you at all."

The old lady also breathed a sigh of relief. She knew how much pressure Xu Shi, as the leader, was under in the current situation... He had to organize so many things in just ten minutes. Just thinking about it would give her a headache.

"What's the point of thinking about these things?"

Xu Shi's tone was incredibly arrogant, "What I'm worried about is Su Lin and the others."

"Damn it, if I'd known it would turn out like this, who would have let them go on that damn vacation? If they're going to die, it should be after I first [censored] them, then [censored] them, and then [censored] them to death, okay? Otherwise, which one of them would have done right by me? Hmm?"

The white-haired loli fell silent.

She knew that Xu Shi was very upset, and his constant use of crude language was a testament to that. To be honest, although he was usually unserious, Xu Shi was still relatively restrained in his speech.

If he weren't genuinely concerned and confused, he wouldn't have spouted such vulgarities like a thug...

Xia Ke'an admitted that she had her own thoughts. After all, they were all Xu Shi's women. Who wouldn't want everyone else to go far away and leave her alone to stick by his side?

But even these little schemes have their limits. Given the relationship between the girls, none of them would be willing to let someone else die. They can just bicker and play little tricks on each other normally. But if someone really gets into trouble, not only Xu Shi, but they would also be very distressed.