Mi Feng seemed to know what Zhang Hao was thinking. "Bridgeheads have collaborators... I need a collaborator, and most importantly, I have even greater collaborators."
"There are more bridgeheads in time and space than just mine. In the future, you'll have your own bridgehead in time and space. When that happens, we'll go from being collaborators to being allies."
Zhang Hao was shocked. "You have allies?"
"I do. Two of them! One of them and I were collaborators from the beginning. Now we're allies. She's an incredibly powerful woman."
"A woman?"
Holy crap, that was scary! Zhang Hao couldn't help swearing inwardly.
"Yeah, a woman. The moment I got back to the bridgehead, I sent her a message, but she still hasn't replied. She's probably out exploring the world."
"Her soul-crystal robot is still stored in my bridgehead. She can come over anytime. As soon as she returns to her own bridgehead, she'll get the message I sent."
"This unexpected mishap forced me to find a collaborator. You're one very lucky person."
Hearing these secrets made Zhang Hao realize just how lucky he was to have become a collaborator out of the blue.
"Still, this desperate ordeal wasn't without its rewards. The bridgehead I reopened is stocked with a vast amount of supplies, and I obtained a large number of soul crystals on the Slaughter Planet. Soul crystals used to be hard to come by, but this time I brought back quite a haul."
Zhang Hao thought that once he built his own bridgehead, he absolutely couldn't make this mistake. No matter how many supplies it took, he'd need to keep plenty of backups! If Mi Feng had even one backup robot body back then, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state.
"Can souls only be stored in soul crystals?"
"Of course not. Other things can store souls too, but soul crystals are the most suitable. They're treasures that can be combined with intelligence, while the others are far less effective. There might be something better, but for now, soul crystals are the best! And we're the only ones who have them!"
Zhang Hao asked, "What era is best for building the Main Bridgehead?"
"At first, I thought the era of the First Industrial Revolution was best. Now I think Ancient Times is best. All kinds of temporal branches will appear. You just need to let your bridgehead drift with the current and provide various technologies. That way, you can change the entire timeline and create temporal branches, allowing you to establish Branch Bridgeheads."
Zhang Hao hadn't been taught this knowledge because his soul wasn't strong enough to handle such vast amounts of technology. But Mi Feng could tell him about it. Once Zhang Hao's soul was strong enough, he might be able to receive the knowledge needed to build a bridgehead through their collaboration.
In fact, Mi Feng could clone a body, but that would be useless. His soul was too vast; any body he entered would collapse. There was, however, a workaround: clone a body and put a soul crystal directly inside it. After some time, he'd be able to take full control of the body.
But Mi Feng was unwilling to do that. A physical body was incredibly fragile. If he encountered danger, like a massive explosion, not only would the body be destroyed, the soul crystal might shatter too. That would be tantamount to suicide.
He was willing to show himself now for two reasons. First, this era on Blue Star was very safe. It had been seven or eight decades of peace, with no threat of war. Second, he'd obtained a robot from the Slaughter Planet, and robots from that era were incredibly powerful. It was almost impossible to destroy one, which was why he'd followed Zhang Hao back to the villa. Otherwise, he would've gone into hiding long ago.
"I've got some things for you." Mi Feng handed Zhang Hao a black block, a rectangular prism one meter wide, two meters long, and one meter high. A hammer-shaped mark was stamped on one corner. It was the emblem of the Secret Workshop.
"Press the emblem."
Curious, Zhang Hao looked at the rectangular prism. It reminded him of the storage space. Indeed, it was one of the items Mi Feng had brought back from the bridgehead on the Slaughter Planet.
He reached out and pressed the Secret Workshop emblem. In an instant, he understood: it was another soul-bound item. He also learned what the rectangular prism contained.
Holy crap! This was incredible!
Ten robots, one set of power armor—the same kind Zhang Hao had used on the Slaughter Planet—various spare parts, a complete set of repair equipment for the armor, and assorted tools.
A thousand beetle-shaped scout machines, snake-shaped attackers, and ant-shaped attackers. Zhang Hao had seen those before: on the Slaughter Planet, he'd watched the Secret Workshop's ants hunt Crystal Life.
All kinds of intelligent machines.
Most importantly, Zhang Hao saw ten soul crystals. Three were deep blue, four were pale red, and the last three were transparent. He knew transparent soul crystals were top-quality—better than any others. The pale red crystals were also top grade, just a little inferior to the transparent ones.
As for the deep blue soul crystals, they were decent, but not top grade—only mid-grade. However, they could be used to cultivate subordinates, such as soul warriors, who were essential to top-tier mecha warriors.
Zhang Hao immediately understood that these were meant for Zhang Yihu, Zhang Erhu, and Zhang Sanhu.
There were other things inside as well. Zhang Hao was impressed by how spacious the storage space was. It could hold an astonishing number of items.
"Take out three robots and three of the blue soul crystals."
Since Zhang Hao was bound to the storage space, taking things out required only a thought. Three robots appeared beside the rectangular prism in the storage space, and three deep blue crystals appeared on its surface.
Mi Feng had already placed the three guards' souls inside the deep blue crystals. After several days of nourishment, their souls had grown much stronger. Of course, they still couldn't control the blue crystals. Unlike Mi Feng and Zhang Hao, they couldn't make the crystals float.
Zhang Hao deftly stuffed the crystals into the robots' mouths. About five minutes later, the three robots saluted and said,
"Reporting in! Zhang Yihu present!"
"Reporting in! Zhang Erhu present!"
"Reporting in! Zhang Sanhu present!"
A four-wheeled utility cart slowly approached, carrying three luggage bags. Zhang Hao said, "One bag each. Your clothes and personal items are inside."
The three robots wore only nano shorts. Skin covered their hands, feet, and heads, while the rest of their bodies exposed their metal frames, making them look incredibly strange.
They opened their bags and began getting dressed.
Mi Feng had ordered these items prepared: each man had a branded suit. Once dressed, the three put on sunglasses and quickly took their places behind Zhang Hao. They needed the sunglasses because their eyes didn't look quite human. Their catlike pupils contained sensors that emitted a faint glow.
"With them around, very few people in this world will be able to hurt you. Now take out one of the pale red ones... pink, I mean. Take out a pink soul crystal."
With a single thought, a pink soul crystal appeared.
Before you continue