New Player on the Chessboard

The atmosphere in Light of Truth's highest conference room was so oppressive it felt as though water could be wrung from the air.

"I propose the establishment of the Far North Exploration Plan."

Xu Qingsong's voice was not loud, yet it exploded beside the ears of every core member like a heavy bomb.

He slapped a proposal onto the table, its contents built around Huo Yuhao's revolutionary theory of the "life core."

"Absurd!" An elderly man with graying hair abruptly rose to his feet. He was Vice President Mo Li, leader of the conservative faction. "The bloodline fusion experiments have been underway for decades and are on the verge of producing results. You want to stop them just because you say so?"

"Just because of a few ridiculous words from some kid of unknown origin, you want to throw all our resources into that bottomless pit in the Far North? Xu Qingsong, have you gone senile?"

Mo Li's words instantly lit the fuse.

"That's right! That kid is far too young. He talks a big game, but what can he possibly accomplish?"

"What kind of place is the Far North? It's a place where nine out of ten die! Sending our people in would be throwing their lives away!"

The waves of opposition rose higher and higher.

Xu Qingsong kept a cold face and said nothing, allowing them to vent.

Only after the noise in the conference room gradually died down did he slowly speak. "Are you finished?"

He turned toward the door and said in a deep voice, "Huo Yuhao, come in."

The door opened, and Huo Yuhao walked in calmly, as though he had not felt the tense, hostile atmosphere inside at all.

Mo Li snorted. "Kid, don't think you can fool us just because you played a few clever tricks. Your theory is full of holes!"

"Oh?" Huo Yuhao asked with interest. "I'd like to hear the details."

"You say the 'divine legacy' is a life core that requires resonance. Then why does it have to be the Far North? There are plenty of places on the continent with unusual energy. Why not say it's the Star Dou Great Forest?" Mo Li demanded.

"Good question." Huo Yuhao walked over to the enormous map of the continent and picked up a pointer.

"You only know that the Far North is cold, but you do not know why it is cold."

He tapped the Far North Icefield on the map. "This place is not merely cold. It is more like the massive 'cooling zone' of a supercomputer."

"A cooling zone?" Another new term.

"That's right." Huo Yuhao's voice was not loud, but every person heard it clearly. "That so-called 'life core'—or, as I would prefer to call it, the 'main server'—has continued carrying out enormous amounts of data processing throughout its billions of years of dormancy. And processing generates heat."

"The extreme cold of the Far North exists to cool this 'main server' and prevent it from overheating and crashing. So, that place is not where the ruins are located. It is the 'key node' closest to the server, the entrance to its maintenance channel!"

"What we are looking for is not treasure, but the administrator access point in the backend!"

The entire room fell deathly silent.

Server? Crashing? Backend access point?

Those words were like heavy hammers, shattering their established understanding. They could not understand them, but they sounded incredibly impressive!

Mo Li opened his mouth, yet he could not utter a single rebuttal. Huo Yuhao's theory was logically self-consistent and could even explain many abnormal energy phenomena they had never understood before.

"Enough!"

Xu Qingsong slammed a hand onto the table and rose to his feet, unable to suppress the fervor in his eyes.

"The prophecy said that when the old path reached its end, a new key would appear to guide us forward!"

He pointed at Huo Yuhao, his voice trembling. "He is that key! The bloodline experiments have failed countless times. We cannot keep charging down the same dead end! I've decided—we'll gamble on this!"

"All resources will be prioritized for the Far North Exploration Plan! Huo Yuhao will serve as the plan's chief technical consultant and possess supreme command authority!"

No one dared object to Xu Qingsong's decision again.

The exploration team was assembled at an astonishing speed.

For the first time, Huo Yuhao's name appeared on Light of Truth's list of core personnel.

"Lord Consultant, these are your team members."

A black-robed man with an expressionless face handed over a list.

Huo Yuhao glanced over it. Besides the logistics personnel, there were three unusual names on it.

"Shadow, Mystic Serpent. Who are these two?"

"They are the president's personal guards, responsible for protecting your safety," the black-robed man replied flawlessly.

Protection? More likely surveillance.

Huo Yuhao sneered inwardly.

[Thought Palace]

[Mission: Analyze accompanying core members]

[Target: Shadow. Soul power level: unknown. Martial soul: Ghostly Charm. Personality: taciturn, absolutely obedient. Danger level: high.]

[Target: Mystic Serpent. Soul power level: unknown. Martial soul: Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. Personality: vicious and ruthless, skilled in poison. Danger level: extremely high.]

[Target: Mo Li (accompanying overseer). Personality: stubborn, suspicious, strongly hostile toward me. Threat level: medium.]

"Heh, they really paired me up with a couple of 'Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix.'"

Just then, a slender figure rushed in.

"I'm going too!"

Lin Mu ran up to Huo Yuhao, panting heavily but looking utterly determined.

"Don't be ridiculous!" the black-robed man in charge of the handover immediately rebuked her. "Is the Far North a place a little girl like you can go?"

"I'm not going there to play!" Lin Mu glared at him. "I'm Huo Yuhao's assistant. He needs someone he can trust to help handle the miscellaneous work!"

Seeing how anxious she was, Huo Yuhao felt warmth rise in his heart.

He turned to the black-robed man, his tone calm. "She's right. I need an assistant. She'll do."

The black-robed man wanted to say more, but seeing Huo Yuhao's unquestionable expression, he eventually shut his mouth.

Late at night, Huo Yuhao's private laboratory remained brightly lit.

Rather than resting, he was preparing some "private supplies" for himself and Lin Mu.

"What's this?" Lin Mu curiously examined the small metal box Huo Yuhao handed her.

"High-energy compressed biscuits, along with self-heating packs," Huo Yuhao explained. "In the Far North, heat is life."

He then took out something that looked like a compass. "This has been specially modified. It can block the Far North's magnetic interference."

He had cobbled all of these things together using laboratory materials and Earth's knowledge of physics and chemistry.

While the others at Light of Truth were still using soul power to make fires, he had already begun putting chemical energy to work. This was nothing less than a dimensionality-reduction strike.

Staring at these things she had never seen or heard of before, Lin Mu felt as though her brain was no longer enough.

Huo Yuhao did not explain much further. He walked to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the sleeping city.

Within the Thought Palace, the route map to the Far North, every danger they might encounter, each team member's response plan, and the plan for using Shadow and Mystic Serpent to counter Xu Qingsong...

Countless streams of information intertwined, collided, and underwent deduction, eventually forming a flawless web.

He was not a chess piece. From the moment he sat at the table, he had become a new player.

Huo Yuhao lightly tapped the cold glass.