The core goal of this trip was clear: to see if the Furnace's waste could be put to use.
But professional researchers never squandered any resource lightly.
They might never have met in real history, but how could Fu Qian forget the killer brother who had become stranded there?
The mission back then had been rushed, and the Furnace was such a bizarre, uncanny place that a brief exploration probably wouldn't uncover all its secrets.
Fu Qian had always held out a little hope for what an Intermediate Tier fighter struggling to survive might encounter and gain inside.
Though his displayed strength and methods had been rather ordinary, perhaps he could break through his limits in dire straits and offer a pleasant surprise.
What's more, this time there was no meddling from Old Man Feng, that hopeless chess player, with his rigid way of thinking.
All in all, Fu Qian hadn't gone out of his way to do it, but Zhao Ran was like a lab mouse thrown into a vat of viruses.
When he returned to this place, the afflictions on his body would be a vivid record, allowing Fu Qian to learn more about the Furnace's properties.
So it was best if the lab mouse stayed alive. That was one of Fu Qian's supplementary hopes for this trip.
As for Zhao Ran's own wishes, whether he cooperated, or whether he turned misfortune into a blessing and mastered some peerless Divine Skill or the like, none of it had ever mattered.
As it turned out, the killer brother hadn't let him down. He'd brought back some very interesting information, and Fu Qian's thanks for sharing it was sincere.
"You? You can imagine? Hahaha."
Although the reaction seemed to make Zhao Ran rather irritable, Fu Qian immediately burst out laughing.