Chapter 400: Chapter 399: The Roar Before Departure

Test Facility, underground Magic Laboratory.

Lying on the chair, Richard’s eyelids fluttered and he slowly opened his eyes.

“Squeak!”

The chair creaked as Richard stood up, squinting his eyes in thought for a moment before murmuring to himself, “Is the action set for three days from now?”

“Tap tap tap…”

Richard strode along the corridor, leaving the underground Magic Laboratory and making his way to the surface, where he found Pandora busy at work in a small room.

At the moment, Pandora was attempting to melt a small iron block to make a nut.

After completing the manufacture, Pandora took the nut and moved towards a mechanical installation. However, due to a precision mismatch, the nut was one size too small, and she was unable to fit it after trying several different angles.

Pandora frowned, absolutely not wanting to redo the work; she blinked her eyes, then in the next moment, she aligned the nut with the intended location, took a deep breath, and with her other hand formed into a fist like a hammer, she struck down hard.

“Bang!”

With a loud sound, the nut was directly smashed into the mechanics, seemingly fitting without a single gap, perfectly–if one ignored the nut’s deformation and cracks.

Richard watched from the doorway and cleared his throat, “Ahem!”

“Whoosh!”

Pandora looked over guiltily, her large eyes fluttering, “Rich… Richard, is there something you need?”

“Uh, nothing much, just to let you know, help me pack up things when it’s daylight, we’re leaving here in two days to head somewhere else.”

“Leaving in two days?” Pandora fluttered her eyelashes and nodded in response, “I understand. By the way, where are we going?”

“To the North,” Richard answered, “to a very far place in the North, called Mo’er.”

“Mo’er?” Pandora echoed with a hint of understanding, “Okay then.” She continued behind her back, sneakily trying to pry off the nut she had just forced into place.

Richard acted as though he had seen nothing and turned to leave, but said, “Leave that vibration machine alone; let it stay as it is for now. I’ll take care of it myself when I have time.”

“Oh–”

Pandora realized her “violent” handiwork had been discovered upon hearing this. She stuck out her tongue, turned her head to glance at the machinery, pursed her lips, and resignedly reinstalled the half-pryed nut back in place.

Muttering softly to herself, Pandora grumbled, “It should have been just right, how come it’s too small, it must be the machine that’s too big. Yes, that’s it, it’s not my fault… not my fault…”

…

On the other side.

White Stone City, subterranean space, the grand hall.

Ji Burlen was surrounded by people as he released his senses to their fullest, feeling everything in the hall. A moment later, Ji Burlen found the sensation of being spied upon that he had felt earlier was truly gone, and he felt slightly relieved.

At this time, someone asked, “Supervisor Ji Burlen, did you just say you wanted to alter the plan?”

“Yes,” Ji Burlen nodded, looking seriously at the speaker, “I am indeed planning to make some alterations to the plan.”

“But why…” someone started to ask with confusion.

Ji Burlen raised his hand to cut off the question, saying, “You do not need to know the reason, just understand that the details of the plan remain the same, but we are moving the timing up by one day.”

“This…”

“That means!” Ji Burlen issued the command, “In two days, we all will engage in an annihilation attack operation.”

With a turn of his head, Ji Burlen looked at Vasily and spoke, “Vasily, when the time comes, you lead the initial distraction operation. After you’ve completed it, send the message back, and the rest of the people will strike in sequence. Do you understand?”

“Understood,” Vasily replied swiftly.

“Do the rest of you understand?” Ji Burlen then looked at the others.

“Understood,” the others said in unison.

“That’s good,” Ji Burlen nodded in satisfaction.

…

In the blink of an eye, two days later.

At the laboratory.

The rooms in the courtyard had become almost empty, all the movable items had been transported by Richard into the world within his suitcase–“Eden.”

The reason for doing this was partly to avoid waste and partly to leave no dangerous clues behind. After all, many items in the laboratory were technological products that surpassed the current era; if discovered by others, it was difficult to predict the consequences.

The power of technology was great but also dangerous. Without knowing the specific applications and without absolute control, its unrestricted dissemination could provoke severe upheavals across the entire world, leading to completely unpredictable outcomes.

It was for this very reason that Richard had always contained the advancement of technology within a certain spatial range, such as within White Stone City, where he hardly ever allowed high-tech creations to leave the laboratory.

In the distant past of the Blue Lion Kingdom, aside from research, he never allowed any astonishing technology to take the stage and overpower everything.

His goal had always been something other than reigning supreme or ruling the world; it was to understand the reason behind the transmigration that had happened to him, to try and find answers.

The more he researched, the more he discovered the unknowns and perils of this world. To say nothing of others, the Mysterious Organization behind Suo Men and Mu Konni alone put a lot of pressure on him. Given the choice, he certainly did not want more contact with them nor did he want to expose himself.

Therefore, in the coming time, hiding like a mole was quite necessary. Should he recklessly push forward with technological development and let any information leak or catch their attention, it could very well bring about his demise.

In any case, he must be careful and cautious.

Perhaps the members of the Mysterious Organization could resurrect after death, possessing many lives, with one death not meaning much. But his life was only one, and a single misstep could lead to irreversible doom; he must tread with utmost caution.

“Hopefully, the less I deal with the Mysterious Organization before I understand this world sufficiently, the better. Yes, the less the better,” Richard muttered to himself.

After he finished speaking, Richard suddenly thought of something and turned to ask, “Pandora, has the carriage not arrived yet?”

According to the plan, he had hired the carriage yesterday to leave White Stone City this morning and head for the coastal port. From there, he would take a ship north following the route once traveled by Heidi, eventually arriving at Mo’er. This way, he could perfectly avoid the Mysterious Organization’s plan and the impending battle at White Stone Tower.

In terms of time, the carriage should have arrived by now, but there was no sound outside the door.

“I’ll go out and check,” Pandora said.

“Alright,” Richard responded.

Then he heard the sound of Pandora’s footsteps, running out the door and onto the street.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes…

Ten minutes!

Ten minutes passed quickly, and Richard furrowed his brows, wondering: Was Pandora’s absence a bit too long?

Just then, a great roar came from the street outside.

“Boom!”

Hm?!

Richard’s eyes suddenly narrowed, and in the next instant, his muscles tensed, and he quickly rushed out of the courtyard.