This small group of viewers who had been following Zhang Guangmu's perspective for a long time spoke up, leaving the other White Balls stunned. They began asking questions one after another.
"What exactly is going on? Why are you so confident in this Extra? Was he really that strong before?"
"Subconsciousness can change. The you of today and the you of several years ago are definitely very different when it comes to subconsciousness. So I never blindly trust expert evaluations like 'powerful subconsciousness,' but... I will always believe in the power of knowledge!"
"Why did you suddenly start showing off? What does that have to do with 'the power of knowledge'?"
"Wait! There actually does seem to be a connection... Earlier, I saw this minor character called Tian Guang act opposite the Plot Protagonist Lin Xuan. He slightly outplayed Lin Xuan, so I switched perspectives and followed him for a while. I discovered that this 'Tian Guang' was always reading."
"He wasn't just reading! He was also taming beasts, raiding tombs, mining, conducting experiments... In short, Zhang Guangmu had done a great many things."
"Knowledge is power. There's nothing wrong with that, but I still feel that there's something strange about this minor character. He feels different from the other characters... That's right! It's the feeling of being super confident!"
"Front-row reminder! Pay attention to Zhang Guangmu's gloves and that little pouch!"
Fort Master Lin Yan of Wolf Fortress could not hear the audience's conversation, so he still found Zhang Guangmu's performance hard to believe.
He drew a deep breath. After slightly calming himself, he turned around and abruptly waved his hand. "Turn him into ashes. I don't want to see him again."
Although he could not understand Zhang Guangmu's thought process, the world was vast. There would always be one or two lunatics who thought too highly of themselves and did not know when to quit.
Lin Yan felt that his luck had been poor lately. First, he had encountered someone challenging his position as Fort Master of Wolf Fortress, and then he had personally raised a traitor. He decided that after having his subordinates kill Zhang Guangmu, he would learn from this experience and strengthen the loyalty of the war orphans, brainwashing them from childhood.
To Lin Yan, lessons could be learned from every minor setback. By accumulating them over time, he could gradually become a "Fort Master of Wolf Fortress" who was truly close to perfection.
That was why he had never feared failure. Even when his prospective Confidant Wolf Rider had betrayed him, he had not experienced much negative emotion.
Lin Yan merely turned around, clasped his hands behind his back, and half-closed his eyes as he quietly waited for the irritating brat Zhang Guangmu to turn to ash. At the same time, he pondered whom he should send next to eliminate Lin Xuan and that wolf cub with the strange bloodline.
Bang!
Bang!
Flames roared, and waves of heat surged and rolled.
"Awooo..."
"Ah!"
The whines of wolves and the screams of humans reached his ears in succession. Lin Yan vaguely sensed that something was wrong, and his eyelids twitched slightly.
The next moment, he abruptly opened his eyes and turned around, only to see that his two Flame Wolf Guards and their Flame Wolves had already collapsed in pools of blood. Their bodies were charred black, white smoke curling around them as they gave off a foul, scorched smell.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...
A cloud of white smoke curled around Zhang Guangmu's gloves.
With one sweep of his eyes, Lin Yan could tell that the one who had attacked just now had not been Tian Guang's Flame Wolf Bai Yue, but Zhang Guangmu himself!
He had been careless!
Lin Yan's pupils instantly shrank into dangerous needlepoints as he began reflecting. "From the very beginning, this Tian Guang has never shown me the slightest respect. Later, when faced with my threats, he acted utterly fearless. Even so, I still thought he was merely an ant whom I could crush with ease, without needing to act personally."
"Looking back now, I let my guard down simply because he was young and had a childish appearance. I made the mistake of becoming numb to the threat and underestimating the enemy!"
"Fortunately! This young man cares about his reputation and didn't take the opportunity to kill me... No, that's not right! I've seen many self-centered people like him. There's no way he held back because he cared about his reputation!"
"It was because my Wolf King guard was beside me that he couldn't find an opportunity to strike!"
Upon reaching this conclusion, Lin Yan looked at the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf beside him with gratitude in his eyes and sighed, "As expected, you're the only one who will never disappoint me."
Zhang Guangmu looked at Lin Yan speechlessly.
This man was a veteran Subconscious Actor. Like "Newcomer Crusher" Zhao Zhengrong, he even had the title "Emperor of Reflection." It was said that in the early years of his career, he had relied on a role as an emperor of a dying dynasty to turn the tide and gradually stabilize his acting career.
When Zhang Guangmu had just gotten the opportunity to act in "Wolf Fortress" through Li Xiaoxiao's connections, he had been somewhat excited upon seeing the cast list. He had felt that acting opposite veteran actors like Zhu Nanhua should force him to bring out his potential and deliver an even more exciting performance.
Now that he was truly acting opposite one of them, Zhang Guangmu finally realized...
Beauty filters were the worst thing of all!
Even experienced veterans had their own weaknesses.
Take this "Emperor of Reflection" before him. With a powerful enemy right in front of him, he still dared to become distracted by thinking. That was a classic case of acting like he had lived too long.
If not for the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf guarding him, Zhang Guangmu would have beaten him to death long ago.
The two Flame Wolf Guards on either side and their Flame Wolves had died without a sound. Lin Yan's brows drew tightly together, but when he looked at the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf beside him, his state of mind gradually calmed.
If his Golden-Necked Flame Wolf had attacked, it could have won without injury as well, and might even have done better.
The key problem now was...
Zhang Guangmu's Flame Wolf named White Moon had not attacked from beginning to end. It seemed to be confronting the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf.
How had this young boy managed to achieve such a result?
Even if the two Flame Wolf Guards themselves were useless and their combat strength could be ignored, their two Flame Wolves were still considered elites of the wolf race.
Let alone two Flame Wolves—even if he had been killing two chickens, it should not have happened so quickly!
Lin Yan focused his gaze on Zhang Guangmu's strange gloves and said in a low voice, "I more or less understand now."
"Your strength comes from those strange gauntlets, right?"
Judging from the material of the gloves, they seemed to be made from animal products...
Beyond that, Lin Yan could not analyze them.
Lin Yan's gaze cut into Zhang Guangmu like a blade.
"True treasures conceal their brilliance. Though their appearance is nothing special, they can grant humans strength no weaker than that of an ordinary Flame Wolf!"
With the bearing of someone in a high position fully displayed, he spoke condescendingly in an imperious tone. "Where did you get such a Divine Artifact?"
"Hand it over, and I can forgive your offense!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Guangmu pressed his wrist against his forehead, spread the corners of his mouth, and began laughing wildly. "Hahahaha!"
He laughed without restraint, his entire body trembling with it.
"From a very young age, I've always been thinking about one question."
"What exactly caused this Chaotic World?"
"Flame Wolves? Wolf Riders?"
"If we found the cause and solved the root of the Chaotic World, could we usher in permanent peace?"
Lin Yan felt that this neurotic brat was deliberately avoiding the question, and he grew displeased. He gestured for the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on Zhang Guangmu.
While the other side was off guard, he could kill him in one decisive blow and then take the pair of Divine Artifacts. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Unfortunately, the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf, whose intelligence was in no way inferior to that of humans, quietly shook its head, indicating that although the young man before them was laughing arrogantly and seemed to be full of openings, he had actually remained on guard the entire time. There was no opportunity to exploit.
Zhang Guangmu did not answer. Instead, he suddenly blurted out, "Human ability is limited."
"I learned one thing from my brief life...
"When people lack power, the more they think, the farther they move from the truth—unless they possess power beyond that of humans!"
Zhang Guangmu rolled his wrist, tilted his head toward Lin Yan, and said feverishly, "Fort Master, through thought, study, research, and experimentation, I obtained power beyond that of humans from the Flame Wolves!"
"A Divine Artifact? That isn't quite accurate!"
He raised both gloved hands. "They're 'self-defense tools' that I made myself."
"As long as I have enough materials, I can make as many as I want!"
After reading all the books in Wolf Fortress, Zhang Guangmu discovered that a mineral called Explosive Stone was added to the rations of every Flame Wolf.
If some Flame Wolves developed anorexia or became picky eaters and refused to regularly chew and eat Explosive Stone, their ability to breathe fire would decline. They might even become unable to spit flames at all.
At first, Zhang Guangmu thought that Explosive Stone might be a mineral mixture similar to sulfur and saltpeter. But he soon discovered that although this kind of stone could be found everywhere in Wolf Fortress, it was extremely safe. Its chemical properties seemed unusually stable. It would not explode easily, and even when lit with fire, it did not react in the slightest.
Zhang Guangmu firmly believed that a person's reputation had to match reality. In the world constructed by the Real Director, the basic rules of deduction still had to apply to some extent.
Hard work pays off!
After countless attempts, even sneaking into Wolf Tomb to steal Flame Wolf corpses and clumsily dissecting several Flame Wolf bodies himself, Zhang Guangmu finally uncovered the secret of these creatures and seized enough power from it!
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Another two chapters and over six thousand words. Hehe (▽)
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