Strategist

Since becoming Lin Yu's Summoned Creature, Old Zheng has increasingly felt that his role is similar to that of an ancient "strategist".

His main function is to advise Lin Yu —or, to put it in more modern terms, Old Zheng feels that his main job now is to collect information and provide feedback to Lin Yu, while also adding his own analysis to provide Lin Yu with ideas.

This is very different from what Old Zheng used to experience in the "Psychology Society".

When he was in the "Psychology Society", Old Zheng initially hoped that the five members of the "Council" would be equal, and that even the "Professional Committee" would have the same say as the members of the "Council", so that everyone could express their opinions when making decisions.

But in reality... an organization, especially one formed by "Player" in a "Death game," simply cannot operate in this way.

Ultimately, despite never emphasizing this point, Old Zheng became the "President" and the one who made the final decision.

But to be honest...

Old Zheng didn't enjoy it.

Many people in this world relish power, and there have always been stories of how humanity has been alienated in its pursuit of power.

This has almost become a default "universal Values"—in a film or literary work, the villain's evil deeds in order to seize power are almost a very easy-to-understand, even popular, motivation.

But...

There are indeed people in the world who dislike power.

As the Founder and leader of the "Psychology Society," if Old Zheng were to look back on his role as the First Generation "Freud," he would not recall a single trace of the sweetness that came with power and leadership.

He might feel a sense of accomplishment to some extent, but more than that, he felt a heavy, suffocating sense of responsibility.

Old Zheng couldn't enjoy this.

For him, becoming the leader of the "Psychology Society" was much like when he was running his own clinic in Yanjing.

The feeling of having to take responsibility for everything and make all the decisions himself... actually brought a lot of psychological pressure to Old Zheng.

Although Old Zheng doesn't particularly like using his Psychology Society knowledge and clinical skills to analyze himself.

He doesn't consider whether his personality was shaped by his overly domineering adoptive mother or by the high expectations he received from teachers and classmates due to his good grades in school.

Every mentor he encountered said that the most important thing in learning clinical psychology is not to apply psychological analysis to oneself.

However, even without careful analysis, Old Zheng could intuitively sense that he was not suited to the working style of running a clinic in Yanjing.

On the contrary... it was when he was abroad that he had a "mentor" and a "boss" who could make decisions for him and make long-term plans, which made Old Zheng feel that he was in a more comfortable environment.

Although he was indeed very tired during his studies abroad... but compared to his state after gaining "freedom" later, Old Zheng belatedly realized that he was probably more suited to a work environment where "if the sky falls, someone taller will hold it up."

And the situation within the "Psychology Society"...

Almost entirely contrary to expectations.

Old Zheng didn't understand why he had become the "highest person"—he didn't understand what had happened, but he truly had nowhere to retreat.

Even after he realized what was happening, the entire "Psychology Society" had already placed him on a pedestal and weighed heavily on his shoulders.

And now...

Having died once, it has now become Lin Yu's right-hand man in the form of this [Summoned Creature Item]...

On the contrary, it gave Old Zheng a long-lost feeling of...

Relax.

He was finally free from bearing all the responsibility and making all the decisions—in Old Zheng's world, the information once again became pure information that could be objectively analyzed.

Even during this period of time...

Old Zheng feels he's becoming increasingly adept at playing the role of a "strategist" offering advice and suggestions.

Without needing to make decisions, he is not only able to come up with practical solutions to problems faster than before, but he is also able to anticipate the concerns that the person ultimately making the decision might have.

For example...

The plan that Old Zheng just mentioned to Nightless Sky Fire Apricot is one that Nightless Sky Fire Apricot has almost no reason to refuse.

"Wow... so not only can I continue moving these Alchemical Equipment while helping Arthur, but I can even start right now, right?"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot spoke, her eyes practically shone.

Upon hearing Nightless Sky Fire Apricot's words, Old Zheng nodded firmly once again.

"Yes, and... you'd better empty out this entire underground section, Lord Nightless Sky Fire Apricot."

"Not just the Alchemical Equipment over there, but also the firearms, fitness equipment... If possible, you'd even better take those Arena and such."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot was even happier. "Yay! Don't worry, I'm quite good at this kind of thing. I'll definitely empty this place completely, leaving not a trace."

"I could even call Pipi strapper with two screwdrivers and take all the glass panels out of this cave."

Upon hearing what Nightless Sky Fire Apricot said, Lin Yu looked at Old Zheng.

"I understand the benefits this will bring to 'Omia Boson.' After all, Tennyson's properties are now owned by the Three Great Corporations. No matter how well this underground chamber is hidden, it's almost inevitable that it will be discovered—because the people from the Three Great Corporations will search this place repeatedly... Even if it's a low-probability event, after a period of time, they will stumble upon the secret door due to various coincidences."

"But the people from the Three Great Corporations don't need to worry about 'stealth' when hacking... If they use brute force, the security measures left by the Supervisor Tennyson or that 'Player' who was the Previous Generation owner here probably wouldn't even be able to stop them for half an hour."

"To put it bluntly, all the hidden designs here never considered the possibility of the property being 'seized'; they all assumed the house still had an owner and were designed to deceive potential visitors or investigators as much as possible."

"If Omia Boson doesn't want Supervisor Tennyson's identity as 'Dark Rock' to be exposed, and to drag him, 'Mr. Candle,' into this again... it would indeed be a good thing for him if we cleaned things up for him."

"However... Old Zheng, the difficulty now is that 'good deeds' may not necessarily be interpreted as 'good intentions'."

Even goodwill doesn't always guarantee goodwill in return.

How can we ensure that Omia Boson won't prioritize silencing us once he knows we've done this?

"After all, you said it yourself... this guy might also be connected to the Previous Generation 'Player,' so he's definitely not a simple character."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's question, Old Zheng immediately spoke up.

"That's easy... Boss, don't forget what happened last time he investigated the 'Fairy Queen' —he found nothing."

"Mystery and the unknown breed fear."

"And fear will make his behavior more conservative."

"So... we can definitely use his known identity as the 'Fairy Queen' to contact him," Old Zheng said, looking at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, "Provided that Lord Nightless Sky Fire Apricot has no objections."

"Of course I have no objection," said Nightless Sky Fire Apricot. "I've already received so many benefits, so using my identity as the 'Fairy Queen' is no big deal—I'm not a stingy person."

"Besides, Arthur and I are very good friends. You can use my title of 'Fairy Queen' as you please," said Nightless Sky Fire Apricot. "You can do whatever you want—whenever you need this identity, you can say you are the Fairy Queen!"

Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Fire Apricot, somewhat surprised. "Oh, really?"

"Real!"

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot nodded and emphasized again.

She didn't seem to care about her promise at all, and looked at Old Zheng after she finished speaking.

"But if I'm going to use the identity of the 'Fairy Queen'... how should I convey to him that I've cleaned this place up? If I deliberately leak the news, it might attract the attention of the Three Great Corporations first..."

"The only solution I can think of is to wait until 'Candle' reappears on the black market and then contact him as soon as possible—but that's too much of a matter of luck, especially since Supervisor Tennyson just died not long ago, and I'm not sure if Omia Berson will ever resurface."

"So, finding this 'Candle' is also a problem."

Old Zheng had, of course, prepared for this.

"This is simple... this should be the simplest one."

"Although we now know that 'Candle,' 'Omia Bosen,' and 'Mr. Candle' are probably the same person, there's no need for us to contact 'Candle' and 'Omia Bosen' right now."

"We can try to contact the identity that is most useful to us directly— 'Mr. Candle'."

Nightless Sky Fire Apricot tilted her head and said, "Isn't this mysterious identity even harder to contact? The only person we know of who is connected to this identity is Supervisor Tennyson, but he's dead."

"The dead can't send messages!"

Old Zheng shook his head. "No... even the dead can transmit messages, at least this time it's possible."

At this moment, Lin Yu understood what Old Zheng meant.

"Yes, Supervisor Tennyson is dead... but his means of contacting Omia Boson haven't disappeared."

Lin Yu pointed to the terminal.

"We can contact Mr. Candle. Mr. Candle just the way he does!"