Chapter 1347: 440. Expand business_2
If Noland Lee wishes to help, he might as well start by helping the “Command” Plane’s Core locate this person’s whereabouts.
Once the target is locked, whether to execute on the spot or capture for interrogation, it all depends on Noland Lee’s own judgment.
Noland Lee had no objections.
With the approval of the “Command” Plane’s Core, he re-entered the players’ “reality” world through the soul of a cucumber slice.
Launching several global detection spells, the results were as expected; Noland Lee did not detect the presence of Old Ghost, nor even the aura of the Dark Divine Cult.
Facing an enemy whose hiding abilities were not inferior to the “Veil of Different Worlds,” Noland Lee felt slightly troubled.
...
“No wonder the ‘Command’ Plane’s Core is so anxious. If it were someone like me using the ‘Veil of Different Worlds’ to hide on the players’ ‘reality’ planetosphere, I suppose ‘Command’ would also feel immense pressure.”
Noland Lee and the “Command” Plane’s Core discussed for half an hour.
The two parties locked onto two clues.
The first clue was on those players who had been turned into Dark Priests by the Dark Divine Cult.
The second clue stemmed from a video portal site.
A person nicknamed “Elder of the Soul Hall,” suspected to be “Old Ghost,” was obtaining clients by editing videos for them.
According to this person, they had found a game loophole that allowed using a spaceship computer to handle their “reality” problems.
Strangely, the “Command” Plane’s Core was totally unable to trace this person’s whereabouts.
Whether it was the backstage data of the video portal site or the game character used by this person, both were completely outside the scope of the “Command” Plane’s Core.
For “Command,” this was an unimaginable massive loophole, meaning that the player souls it painstakingly nurtured might be stealthily taken control of without anyone noticing.
The “Command” Plane’s Core typed a few lines on the message interface:
“If you find the matter troublesome, perhaps you can seek help from the entity behind you. As a show of my sincerity, I can offer some rewards in advance.”
“The entity behind me…” Noland Lee’s eyes narrowed.
As expected, the “Command” Plane’s Core had discerned part of his origins, but was still not fully certain.
At this moment, the “Command” Plane’s Core suggesting that Noland Lee seek help from the entity behind him was likely a further probe.
Noland Lee thought it over and didn’t refuse, typing his response in the message window with his thoughts:
“No problem, I’ll consider it. But what kind of rewards can you offer in advance?”
The “Command” Plane’s Core, perhaps having anticipated this question from Noland Lee, promptly typed in response and listed several rewards:
“You can choose three out of the following five rewards:
“The first reward is ‘Custom Player’; I can help you craft the players you want, to coordinate with your actions.
“The second reward is ‘Custom Species’. I will create the extraordinary species you need, of course, provided that I have the capability to create them.
“The third reward is the method to devour Demon God Cells. I noticed that your physical body’s strength does not match your magical power, the former being too weak. Devouring Demon God Cells will help you quickly strengthen your physical body.
“The fourth reward is an ‘Echo Chip’ left behind by the Supreme Star Palace. This is a historical record I collected by chance, detailing the historical events of a certain period.
“The fifth reward is a star map. When I originally selected the planets to nurture player souls, I discovered five habitable planets. I can give you the spatial coordinates of the other four planets.”
From the five rewards, any three could be chosen.
Noland Lee felt the probe from “Command.”
Take the fifth reward, for instance.
Discovering habitable planets and settling down doesn’t signify guaranteed happiness and secure growth.
If unable to isolate the planet from the dangerous starry sky, even the best habitable planets will become colonies of other cosmic powers.
This means that unless Noland Lee possessed the “Embrace of Senatti,” he should not choose the fifth option.
The Scroll Angel had once mentioned that both the angels and deities of the Supreme Star Palace possessed the “Embrace of Senatti.”
Choosing the fifth option would imply that the entity behind Noland Lee was related to these two.
The remaining four options, like the fifth, would reveal his own information whether Noland Lee chose them or not.
Noland Lee typed with his thoughts: noveldrama
“Understood. I’ll arrange the ceremony and discuss it with them.”
The conversation with the Command Plane’s Core concluded.
At that moment, Noland Lee’s physical body was still on the desolate planet.
He decisively didn’t move, instead setting up the ritual array right there and reestablishing contact with the Inner Cosmos.
About an hour later, the ceremony ended.
Noland stood in the center of the array, opening his eyes, his gaze tranquil.
The Scroll Angel had accepted the offer from the Command Plane’s Core.
Of the five available rewards, the Scroll Angel advised Noland to choose the fourth reward, which was the acquisition of the “Echo Chip.”
As for the other two choices, he left them up to Noland’s discretion.
Considering his safety, Noland decided to choose the third reward and the fifth— the former provided him with a method to devour Demon God Cells, the latter offered him a future settlement.
The Scroll Angel also promised Noland that once the Wizard Plane’s Core entered Outer Space, it would hand over its “Embrace of Senatti” to Noland to facilitate a peaceful settlement on a habitable planet.
As for finding the Old Ghost, the Scroll Angel also devised a strategy through analysis.
That was to take the initiative to visit.
Players who got close to the Old Ghost would be contaminated.
Whether it was cucumber slices or players custom-created by Noland, all were inevitably doomed to contamination.
Since players were bound to be tainted when approaching, Noland would take the lead.
He could very well borrow a game character and player’s identity from “Command” to establish contact with the Old Ghost.
However, to counter any extreme situations that might occur, the Scroll Angel suggested that after deploying the Assassin Angel, Noland should then make contact with the Old Ghost.
“It all comes back to quickly collecting Angel Crystals, doesn’t it~”
Noland remarked and then refocused his mind, keeping an eye on the players’ every move.
…
…
Time passed, and the next day arrived.
The plundering actions against the Angel Enterprises Alliance were in full swing.
In just one day, approximately three cubic volumes of Angel Crystals were delivered to the Black Hole Magic Academy by the players.
Noland, following the sealing method provided by the Scroll Angel, perfectly sealed the Angel Crystals to prevent any accidental loss.
As a reward to the young players, the Essence of Artificial Angels was distributed as promised.
The immediate positive feedback excited the players.
On the other hand, the Strawberry Juice girl and her companions were speeding through their reputation with the Metal Creation Group.
It was estimated that in a month, they could apply to transfer to the logistics company under the Group’s Headquarters as specially hired pilots.
Speaking of the Metal Creation Group Headquarters, Noland felt somewhat helpless.
To swiftly destroy the lair of the Metal Ancestor Dragon, he specially inquired about the location of the Group’s Headquarters, ultimately to no avail.
The headquarters of the Metal Creation Group wasn’t a high-rise building on ground level or a huge construction occupying an entire planetosphere but a local network.
Yes, a local network, a virtual network.
Thanks to super impressive Thought Array Technology, the Metal Creation Group had virtualized its headquarters.
Over eighty percent of the entire group’s computing power, funds, and information were concentrated in a local network isolated from the external world.
No one knew how this was achieved because no outsider had ever truly entered the Group’s Headquarters.
Due to this virtual, highly secretive headquarters, even if Noland managed to destroy the Metal Creation Group’s space stations, resource galaxies, and other material facilities, he wouldn’t be able to completely eradicate it.
Therefore, finding the local network server behind the Group’s Headquarters became a crucial task.
This was Strawberry Juice girl’s mission.
As long as she provided a clue, Noland could use the Spell Beacon and “Mind View” to purposefully search for the whereabouts of the local network server.