Infiltrator

On the night before his departure, Huo Yuhao found Lin Mu practicing her soul power control in a secluded corner of the academy.

"I'm leaving." Huo Yuhao got straight to the point without a word of nonsense.

The glow of soul power in Lin Mu's hand instantly dissipated. She spun around sharply, her face full of disbelief. "Leaving? Where are you going? Didn't the decoding work just make a breakthrough?"

"To the Sun Moon Empire. Mingde Hall."

"What?!" Lin Mu's voice abruptly rose. She instinctively looked around before lowering her voice, speaking with both urgency and anger. "Have you lost your mind?! What kind of place is that? The technological heart of the Sun Moon Empire! A dragon's pool and tiger's den! Are you going there alone to die?"

Huo Yuhao's expression did not ripple in the slightest, as though he were merely commenting on the pleasant weather.

"This is the decision of the organization's higher-ups, and my own choice as well."

"Why? For that bullshit 'divine inheritance'? Is it worth gambling your life?" Lin Mu could not understand. She felt that Huo Yuhao had been brainwashed by those lunatics.

"Lin Mu." Huo Yuhao called her name. "Do you think what we're doing now has any meaning?"

Lin Mu froze.

"Every day, staring at a pile of incomprehensible scribbles, guessing, fumbling, hoping for some illusory 'divine revelation'?" Huo Yuhao's tone was calm, yet his words pierced like needles. "And then what? Even if we succeed, all we get is something others have already chewed up and fed into our mouths. We will forever be chasing after others, forever imitating them."

These words left Lin Mu completely silent.

Indeed, though she was filled with longing for the ideals of the Light of Truth, had she not harbored such doubts deep down as well?

"So I have to go." Huo Yuhao continued, "I have to see what a real 'hammer' looks like. Only then can we forge our own hammer and smash open this world's shell."

He looked at Lin Mu, his tone turning solemn. "After I leave, you're the only one here I can trust."

Lin Mu's heart gave a violent jolt.

"I need a pair of eyes and ears to remain here." Huo Yuhao's voice carried a strangely bewitching power. "Help me keep watch on them—on Xu Qingsong, on every move the Light of Truth makes. Record all important intelligence."

"I... can I do it?" Lin Mu lacked confidence. She was only an ordinary researcher.

"You can." Huo Yuhao gave her a firm answer. "You're the only one who, from the very beginning, saw me as 'Huo Yuhao,' not 'Advisor Huo.' That is enough."

He patted Lin Mu on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll meet again soon. By then, we won't be pawns anymore."

There was a confidence in Huo Yuhao's voice that Lin Mu could not resist.

"We'll enter the game ourselves, overturn this chessboard, and show everyone what true 'truth' really is!"

Lin Mu's breathing quickened, as though a blaze had been ignited in her chest. She nodded forcefully, without another trace of hesitation.

The atmosphere of the "secret conversation" with Xu Qingsong was far more oppressive.

The location was the central office. There were only the two of them.

"The plan has already begun. Your identity documents have been forged—a commoner youth from a remote small city with considerable talent in soul tools." Xu Qingsong pushed a sealed file folder toward Huo Yuhao. "This is your 'life script' in the Sun Moon Empire. Memorize it."

Huo Yuhao accepted it without opening it.

"Once you get there, your first priority is not stealing technology, but 'sensing.'" Xu Qingsong's tone was incomparably grave. "Use your 'intuition.' Like a magnet, seek out technological fields that 'resonate' with our rune tablets. Once you find one, figure out a way to relay the information."

"Understood," Huo Yuhao replied.

"These are several covert contacts we have in the capital of the Sun Moon Empire." Xu Qingsong handed him an even smaller token made of special metal. "Do not use them unless absolutely necessary. Every one of them has been undercover for years and is worth a fortune."

Huo Yuhao put away the token, sneering inwardly.

Within the [Thought Palace], the information on these so-called "covert contacts" had already been scanned, copied, and marked as "resources available for use."

Serve me?

No.

[Analysis complete. Loyalty assessment for this batch of "covert contact" personnel: 85%. Controllability: 70%. Risk assessment: medium-high.]

[Preliminary plan: Select targets that can be recruited or deceived and use them as my first group of subordinates in the Sun Moon Empire. The rest may be used as expendable pawns when necessary to divert Mingde Hall's attention.]

All of this was the "startup capital" the Light of Truth had gifted him.

"Before leaving, I organized some new ideas regarding rune decoding." Huo Yuhao, like a diligent model worker, handed another thick stack of documents to Xu Qingsong.

"Oh?" Xu Qingsong was somewhat surprised as he accepted them.

Within the documents, Huo Yuhao used his theories of "frequency," "resonance," and "high-dimensional compilation," combined with a fabricated "wave model," to write tens of thousands of words.

The content was detailed, the logic self-consistent, and the formulas so complicated they made one's scalp tingle.

Xu Qingsong skimmed a few pages and already felt as though his brain's CPU was about to burn out.

This thing would be enough to keep those researchers busy for quite some time.

That was exactly the effect Huo Yuhao wanted. He was giving them a dead end that looked utterly correct yet could never be traversed. He would let them madly compete and exhaust themselves down this crooked path. By the time they realized they had been deceived, he would already have established himself firmly in Mingde Hall.

"Very good." Xu Qingsong nodded in satisfaction. "The organization will remember your contributions. Go. Prepare to depart."

Huo Yuhao turned and left without a single unnecessary pleasantry.

A simple pack, several changes of clothes, and that forged identification.

He walked out of the dormitory, past the laboratory where he had witnessed a vision of hell, and out of the Light of Truth's secret base.

When he stood once more before the familiar yet unfamiliar gates of Shrek Academy, it was already dawn.

The sunlight was dazzling.

He looked back. Above the towering gates, the five characters "Shrek Academy" gleamed brilliantly.

This had once been the place he believed held hope.

Now, it was merely a waystation on his journey through life.

From the cage of White Tiger Duke's Manor, to the stage of Shrek Academy, then deep into the abyss of the Light of Truth—now, he was about to embark on a new journey to the Sun Moon Empire.

Link after link, the chains of fate seemed to be tightening around him.

But this time, he felt that he had quietly grasped the key that could unlock them.

"Woohoo! Takeoff!" In his sea of consciousness, Sky Dream Iceworm had held it in for so long that he finally howled, "New map! New dungeon! Kid, are you ready to begin your legendary life?"

"Be quiet." Huo Yuhao's consciousness replied coldly. "This is an infiltration mission, not a sightseeing trip."

"Tch, what a bore." Sky Dream Iceworm grumbled. "Still, the Sun Moon Empire folks are damn good with soul tools. I've also heard the girls over there are especially hot, hehehe..."

Huo Yuhao could not be bothered with this million-year soul beast whose mind was full of filth.

Within his [Thought Palace], a vast, intricate network diagram slowly unfolded.

At the center of that network was "Mingde Hall."

And he was the probe that was about to pierce into it and throw everything into chaos.

He turned around, faced the rising sun, and started walking.