A Month Later

Regarding how to deal with the Truth Society, Su Yuan had asked the Grey Mirror plenty of questions.

For example, what if he tried to tell the Truth Society the truth about the Alien Force—

That once the Alien Force arrived, every living thing on Blue Star would face a massacre, and the Truth Society would be no exception.

After all, ten days earlier, Su Yuan had thought that no matter how depraved the Truth Society was, its members were still people from Blue Star. When the Alien Force came, they should side with Blue Star.

But the Grey Mirror's answer had been...the Truth Society Founder simply didn't believe it.

In the Truth Society Founder's eyes, once the Alien Force arrived, he, as its spokesperson, would become the undisputed ruler of Blue Star. With the Alien Force's support, he would live forever and enjoy endless wealth and prosperity...

He had even done more than disbelieve it: he ordered the Truth Society to hunt Su Yuan down. When the hunt failed, he reported the matter to the Alien Force.

That caused an even greater accident and threw everything off course, making the Alien Force's Interstellar Colony Ship arrive on Blue Star two years ahead of schedule.

"Now that things here are settled, I should go check on Qiao Mingyuan..."

Su Yuan's thoughts stirred.

Under the normal course of events, Qiao Mingyuan would flee to Xia Kingdom. There was a sixty percent chance he would fall into the hands of a Black assassin and die.

There was also a forty percent chance the Xia Kingdom Security Bureau would rescue him, after which he would secretly serve Xia Kingdom.

Of course, those two possibilities assumed Su Yuan didn't interfere. They were simply the two futures that would follow from events unfolding normally.

But the moment Su Yuan chose to intervene, every future that didn't meet his expectations would be erased, leaving only the one he wanted—

To take Qiao Mingyuan away without a trace.

Hill Hotel.

Qiao Mingyuan had slept deeply—very deeply.

Ever since the Truth Society began hunting him, he hadn't had a single hour of proper sleep. Whenever he drifted off too deeply, he dreamed that the assassins had found him and woke with a start.

In that state, Qiao Mingyuan had fled to Xia Kingdom.

If this went on for a few more days or a couple of weeks, he would probably suffer a mental breakdown before the assassins even had a chance to act.

After all, everyone had a limit to how much pressure they could bear. Once they passed it, the consequences could be severe.

He had no idea how much time had passed.

Qiao Mingyuan slowly woke from his sleep.

"How long was I asleep?"

Qiao Mingyuan glanced at the time in the room. "Four hours?"

"This isn't a dream. I really made it out alive."

Qiao Mingyuan took a deep breath. He wasn't just staying alive for himself now; he was staying alive for his wife, Anna.

Only by surviving could he find out what had happened to Anna and how he could save her.

If he died, all would be lost. That was the greatest reason Qiao Mingyuan had kept going throughout his escape.

Just then,

the phone on the bedside table suddenly rang.

"Is that person calling me?"

Qiao Mingyuan immediately realized that the phone was the one he'd found in the restroom at South Sea Station. He'd kept it with him all this time as a way to contact Su Yuan.

"I just woke up, and he's already calling. Is there a surveillance camera in this room?"

Qiao Mingyuan wondered to himself as he quickly picked up the phone.

Just as Su Yuan had told him, Qiao Mingyuan wasn't going to run.

He was in Xia Kingdom now, where he didn't know a soul. Where could he possibly go?

"Beep—" The call connected.

Qiao Mingyuan immediately heard a familiar voice.

"How did you sleep?" Su Yuan asked.

Qiao Mingyuan thought there were cameras in the room...

In fact, Su Yuan had known exactly when Qiao Mingyuan would wake up, which was why he'd called at that moment.

"I slept well." Qiao Mingyuan answered honestly, though he still seemed to have something he wanted to say.

"I know what you want to ask," Su Yuan said with a smile. "The Truth Society took your wife, Anna."

"The Truth Society? Why does that sound so familiar..."

Qiao Mingyuan froze. He felt like he'd heard the name somewhere before.

Compared with the tightly regulated internet in Xia Kingdom, the internet abroad was indeed much freer. Many secrets could be posted online.

"Your teacher told you about the Truth Society," Su Yuan reminded him.

"That's right. My teacher did tell me about it..." Qiao Mingyuan suddenly understood.

But then he sensed something was wrong. How did Su Yuan know about that?

"Your teacher is an external member of the Truth Society. He played a major role in helping you escape this time," Su Yuan said.

That was the truth. Qiao Mingyuan's teacher had been instrumental in getting him out of that country across the ocean.

Qiao Mingyuan's teacher was a renowned international tech expert, and the Truth Society had wanted to recruit him.

The Truth Society's members weren't just wealthy people; they included top figures from every walk of life.

As an external member, Qiao Mingyuan's teacher knew that Xia Kingdom was beyond the Truth Society's reach. That was why he'd told Qiao Mingyuan to flee there.

With the Truth Society hunting him, escaping to Xia Kingdom was his only chance of survival.

"Teacher..." Qiao Mingyuan fell silent.

"He won't get into trouble because of this, will he?" Qiao Mingyuan couldn't help asking.

"He'll face some repercussions, but his life won't be in danger," Su Yuan said.

That was the answer he'd gotten by asking the Grey Mirror.

Although Qiao Mingyuan didn't know how Su Yuan had learned what had happened to his teacher, he found himself inexplicably believing him.

After steadying himself, Qiao Mingyuan continued, "Why did the Truth Society take my wife?"

"Because your wife meets the requirements for experimental materials."

Su Yuan didn't mention Androids outright. Blue Star's people would have a hard time understanding and accepting that technology right away, so he used the term "experimental materials" instead.

"Experimental materials?" Qiao Mingyuan's face went pale.

He knew what experimental materials meant. They were expendable—like the white mice, countless numbers of which died in laboratories every day.

"They're using living people as experimental materials, and the government won't do anything?"

Qiao Mingyuan asked angrily.

That country across the ocean had laws prohibiting experiments on living people.

"The government?" Su Yuan gave a mocking laugh. "What makes you think this isn't the government's doing?"

The country across the ocean had long since been infiltrated by the Truth Society. Even the president had to do as it said.

"This..."

Qiao Mingyuan's heart trembled.

He understood what Su Yuan's words meant. If the Truth Society really was that powerful, he could hardly imagine what would happen to his wife, Anna.

"I can save your wife."

Su Yuan paused for six breaths. Only when Qiao Mingyuan was on the verge of complete despair did he speak again.

"You can save her?" Qiao Mingyuan clung to the lifeline in his words and grew excited.

"Yes." Su Yuan nodded. "But it'll take three or four years."

Qiao Mingyuan's wife, Anna, met the standards for a Level 1 Android.

However, manufacturing Androids took the Truth Society a great deal of time. Even a Level 1 Android required five to ten years.

Su Yuan had more than enough time to carry out his plan.

"As long as you can save Anna, I'd even die for you."

Qiao Mingyuan immediately made his position clear, speaking with complete sincerity.

Far away in Magic City, Su Yuan smiled when he heard that.

Through the Grey Mirror, Su Yuan knew that Qiao Mingyuan took promises extremely seriously. No matter how difficult things became, he would keep his word.

Making the rescue of Qiao Mingyuan's wife, Anna, the condition was the method the Grey Mirror had provided for winning him over completely.

Of course, simply telling Qiao Mingyuan he could save Anna wouldn't be enough to win him over.

Qiao Mingyuan also had to believe him.

Su Yuan had been laying the groundwork for that ever since he first contacted Qiao Mingyuan.

At this point, Qiao Mingyuan trusted Su Yuan completely.

Qiao Mingyuan was crucial to many of Su Yuan's future plans.

Establishing a wireless information network that covered Blue Star, remained stable, and couldn't be disrupted was the foundation for many of Su Yuan's plans. He needed Qiao Mingyuan to implement it.

It wasn't that Qiao Mingyuan was irreplaceable. He was simply the best fit—and the easiest to control.

Time passed.

In the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.