An Informal Meeting

The alarm clock on his wristwatch went off; it was a log message set by Su Ming, reminding him that the agreed-upon meeting time on Earth was approaching.

Su Ming used one eye to scan the area and found Miao Xin standing on the rooftop of a small building on a mountaintop.

Surrounded by rolling green hills, the lush forests gleamed with a verdant sheen under the sunlight, creating a tranquil and pleasant environment.

"Where is the meeting located?" Su Ming asked.

Miao Xin pointed to the mountainside, where a group of buildings were nestled among the trees, and a narrow road stretched up from the foot of the mountain. Further away, there was a highway that passed through a tunnel on the side of the mountain.

This is clearly a mountainous area, sparsely populated, surrounded by mountains and forests except for these buildings, offering a very open view.

[Miao Xin, don't you have a phobia of rooftops?] Su Ming asked.

"It's quite nice. I often enjoy the scenery like this when you're not around," Miao Xin replied.

Su Ming noticed that there was a semi-transparent spirit next to Miao Xin, emitting a wave that was very similar to hers.

Who is this?

"[Its Little He.]" Miao Xin replied, patting Little He's head lightly. "[I searched very hard to find this suitable spirit, and then, following the method in that book, I erased its original fluctuation characteristics and modified it to be mine.]"

A few days ago, when Su Ming visited Galio's stronghold, he passed on this method, which he had obtained from the "Spirit System Handbook," to Miao Xin.

After several days of repeated attempts, Miao Xin finally succeeded.

But Su Ming felt that something was not quite right. He carefully observed the spirit Little He and quickly discovered the problem.

[Wait, this Little He... isn't a human soul, is he?]

"[It's the soul of a hippopotamus,'" Miao Xin replied. "[Human souls are always filled with all sorts of chaotic thoughts and fluctuations.]" she said with a hint of pride. "[Since I couldn't find a suitable one, I tried a different approach and went to the zoo. This hippopotamus was perfect; it didn't release its own fluctuations even once all day."

Since her control improved, Miao Xin rarely unconsciously emits energy fluctuations anymore. To perfectly impersonate her, the spirit acting as bait naturally needs to have as few distracting thoughts as possible.

Will it cooperate obediently?

[Little He has almost no independent consciousness,] Miao Xin reached out and gently touched the spirit body; a ghostly blue spirit flame danced at her fingertips.

[My negative energy can slow down its dissipation, so it will instinctively obey my commands.]

[Fine!]

[However, transforming it into this shape is quite a challenge.] Miao Xin began explaining the limitations of this plan, [If it's not maintained continuously, it will start to collapse in an hour or two, gradually reverting to the original hippopotamus shape and wave-like characteristics.]

"This duration is sufficient," Su Ming said. "Let's begin."

Miao Xin took out a pendant she had found somewhere and unleashed the power of the Nether Sea. Pale energy flowed in her palm.

It forms a miniature vortex.

"Spirit Binding Technique!"

The power of the Nether Sea enveloped Little He and was quickly engraved onto the gemstone of the pendant. The spirit-binding technique obtained from Galio's notes was also put to use.

Miao Xin shook the pendant, causing the spiritual flame to flicker and emanate energy fluctuations that shared the same origin as the Nether Sea. "[How about it? This substitute is perfect, isn't it?]"

[Very impressive!] Su Ming nodded in satisfaction. [Let's proceed to the conference room now, according to the plan!]

Miao Xin hummed a song as she left the rooftop.

****

Ten minutes later, the Little Spiky Head, whose appearance had changed a bit, appeared in front of the building halfway up the mountain. Ling Wen was already waiting at the door and hurriedly came forward to greet her.

"Miss Qiu, this way please!" Ling Wen approached her, made a guiding gesture, and led her up the stairs.

Miao Xin and Ling Wen walked together through the bright and spacious lobby to the conference room on the first floor. Five attendees were already seated. Su Ming quickly scanned the room but didn't recognize anyone.

Miao Xin sat down opposite them, while Ling Wen Miao Xin sat down behind her.

"Let me introduce myself," the person sitting on the far left spoke first, his voice steady and firm, "I am Jin Rongjia, the head of the internal affairs department."

Su Ming nodded.

"Time is limited." Jin Rongjia glanced at his watch. "For security reasons, today's meeting will be limited to 30 minutes. The topic is technological collaboration, so let's make the most of our time."

The talks went straight to the point, without any unnecessary pleasantries or endless questions.

Miao Xin had already revealed a lot of information to Miao Mu, and Ling Wen had also asked them various questions in the past few days. As long as it didn't touch on core security secrets, Su Ming gave honest answers.

This information has already been compiled and distributed, so everyone is skipping it.

Two meetings were scheduled for today. The first was a meeting and communication with the person in charge of providing support.

The woman next to Jin Rongjia then spoke up, "Miss Qiu, I am the head of the newly established ' Silk Thread ' group."

The other party did not introduce their name.

Ling Wen leaned closer to Miao Xin, "You can just call these people in charge by their code names."

"Hello, Miss Silk Thread!" Miao Xin greeted her.

"Our team was formed urgently to provide 'soft' support. For example, we will be responsible for coordinating and promoting the ' Cultural Torrent ' project for the Temple of Light."

"What about the printing press?" Su Ming interjected.

"Connect with me for everything." Silk Thread answered crisply. Su Ming nodded. Contacting only one person for each task would simplify the process on his side.

"We can develop contingency plans and provide strategic advice," Silk Thread continued. "The information we've gathered about the otherworldly realm has been carefully compiled and archived by our analysts. However, to fully utilize our team's capabilities, we still need to acquire more firsthand information."

"Understood." Su Ming did indeed have some matters that required Silk Thread's assistance, but the first thing to address was the efficiency of information transmission. The current communication method was too slow, only suitable for assigning tasks, not for real-time strategic consultation.

The next speaker was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

"I'm the head of the Millet Studio," the man introduced himself, "Primarily responsible for technical support."

"Thank you so much for your quick calculation of the White Bone Mark. I am deeply grateful," Su Ming said sincerely.

Ling Wen's explanation made Su Ming realize that behind the seemingly simple project lay resources on a scale far exceeding what ordinary people could imagine.

In two cities, power rationing was even implemented in parts of the city to make way for the supercomputing system to operate at full capacity.

"If we didn't show some serious determination, we wouldn't deserve to be sitting here today." Jisu chuckled. "Mr. Su, although you conveyed through Ling Wen that you didn't want us to conduct too much in-depth research on this Little Spiky Head, could you allow us to perform some non-invasive scanning tests?"

"They've arrived as expected, "Su Ming thought to himself.

[Miao Xin, you handle this.]

[OK!]

Su Ming lowered the connection depth, handing over control of the Little Spiky Head to Miao Xin.

He sighed softly, his thoughts drifting back to yesterday and his conversation with Miao Mu.

****

Twenty-four hours ago, by the river, Miao Xin and Miao Mu, wearing hats and wearing fishing nets, each held a fishing rod.

The early spring sun shone on the river, creating shimmering ripples. Anglers like them were scattered in twos and threes along the riverbank, each maintaining a comfortable distance.

Miao Mu tossed more than a dozen spoonfuls of the well-stirred rice wine in Miao Mu, creating tiny ripples.

"Uncle Miao, won't this baiting method just feed the fish to their hearts' content?" Su Ming couldn't help but complain.

Finding Miao Mu wasn't difficult. In his final message, he left Miao Xin a clue that only the father and daughter could understand, pointing to this small town. Upon arrival, Miao Xin activated her Nether Sea Perception and quickly locked onto his mental fluctuations.

Su Ming controlled the Little Spiky Head to chat with Miao Mu, but Miao Xin ran off to the kindergarten to see her younger sister He Ran in ghost form.

He told Miao Mu about his current situation.

"How should I deal with this group of people?" Su Ming asked, voicing his curiosity.

He truly had no experience in this area.

"The Rim of the Pacific Ocean is not insured; they only care about the bill and have no liability," Miao Mu said, gently tugging at the fishing line and bending the rod to cast the hook baited with bloodworms. After a graceful arc, the rig plunged into the water with a splash.

"It looks like this." Su Ming imitated him, but only cast out an empty hook. The fishing line spun once in the air.

Finally, it fell helplessly onto the nearby water.

Miao Mu, oblivious to Su Ming's slacking off, pondered for a moment and said, "There are indeed many things to be careful about when dealing with these people. But there's no need to be too tense. Overall, my daughter's current state is beneficial."

Miao Xin is both unstable and incredibly powerful. As the most powerful landmine-type girl in history, anyone who tries to communicate with her must tread carefully.

This is a natural advantage for Su Ming's side.

"But the problem is also obvious." Miao Mu found the right water depth, retrieved his hook, adjusted his rig, and cast again. "It's because your value is too great, attracting too many fish."

"I cannot send items back from another dimension." Su Ming extracted the "order" of matter from the Earth side and reconstructed it using local materials on the other side, relying on Su Ming's spatial power.

Miao Xin is merely an anchor point for extracting "order" in this process; the reverse is impossible. Su Ming even suspects that this matter is inextricably linked to the Myriad Symbols Prism on the Little Spiky Head's body.

As for Miao Xin herself, with the development of the power of the Nether Sea, she was able to explore using some spell-like techniques. However, it was clear that her power and spatial concepts were fundamentally different, and there was no possibility of exceeding the boundaries.

"Your very existence is priceless," Miao Mu said. "These Little Spiky Head represent entirely new areas to explore. Even the slightest discovery we make from you could lead to a major breakthrough."

Su Ming sighed. He knew perfectly well what to do. "So what should we do?"

"You'll be dealing with both a tightly organized group and the individuals within it," Miao Mu replied. "There's a collective will, but also the interests and demands of different groups." He paused. "That's why you need skill."

I'd like to hear the details!