Li Tianming and Qian Wenzhao were at their limit.
If they kept going, they'd probably pass out just from answering calls.
Both of them had already reached their breaking point.
Especially Qian Wenzhao—he looked like he had just undergone liposuction, completely transformed.
If it weren't for the enhanced physical fitness granted by their Sequence abilities, Qian Wenzhao would have already gone to Chen Fenghe for treatment.
Now that Qin Siyang, the "culprit", had returned, they could finally be freed.
Qian Wenzhao let out a long sigh, "Xiao Qin, you have no idea how much I missed you these past few days."
"Yeah, we really did. We were counting the days, hoping and praying for your return."
Now, whenever a problem arose, they could just push it onto Qin Siyang, and no one would have any objections.
Even if the sky collapsed, it would be Qin Siyang—the one holding the Vine Core—who had to bear the burden.
One was just a deputy director, and the other was a small-time headmaster. Why should they be held accountable?
Even better, Qin Siyang was an orphan with an incredibly powerful background. He could afford to ignore everyone.
A perfect scapegoat.
Sure enough, Qin Siyang immediately took on the role of the bad guy.
"Old Qian, Old Li, both of you turn off your phones today and rest properly. If anyone complains, tell them it's my order. Otherwise, I won't discuss anything about the Vine Core with them."
"Alright."
"Ah, now that's music to my ears."
Qian Wenzhao and Li Tianming shut off their phones, grabbed a quick bite, and collapsed in their office, too exhausted even to wash up.
The three men squeezed onto the foldable double bed in Li Tianming's office—it was a bit cramped.
But they slept soundly.
A snoring trio echoed through the office.
Meanwhile, Qin Siyang had another strange dream.
In the dream, he, Qian Wenzhao, and Li Tianming were having a candlelit dinner, feeding each other food, all affectionate and deeply immersed in the moment.
The sheer beauty of it woke him up.
Once he came to his senses, he was utterly disgusted.
'What the hell is wrong with me lately? If I'm gonna have a dream like that, it should be with Wen Shu! With those two?'
.
.
.
The next day at noon, Qian Wenzhao and Li Tianming finally woke up fully rested.
When they turned on their phones and saw hundreds of messages in their inboxes, they slightly regretted listening to Qin Siyang.
"This is a bit of a mess."
"It's fine. If there's trouble, I'll handle it."
Qin Siyang sipped some hot water, lounging on the sofa, browsing legal discussions in the Godslayer Camp forums.
"You're up early."
Qin Siyang's mouth twitched, but he didn't respond.
After waking up from that dream last night, he was so disgusted that he tossed and turned, unable to fall back asleep.
He wasn't that tired anyway, so he just got up and studied—brushing up on law and reading the god materials Florence had sent him.
Qian Wenzhao sat up, rubbing his temples to wake himself up, "Xiao Qin, if you have any ideas, spill them now. I've got a bunch of higher-ups waiting for my report."
"My situation isn't as urgent as Old Qian's, but it's close."
Qin Siyang said, "I only have a rough idea. Since the Vine Core is in such high demand, why don't we hold a bidding conference?"
"Bidding?"
"Like an auction. The party with the best conditions gets the development rights for the Vine Core."
"Since we're the ones in charge, and the Vine Core is a rare treasure, it's a seller's market. I think we can freely raise the price during the bidding and squeeze as much profit as possible."
"No way."
"Absolutely not."
Qian Wenzhao and Li Tianming immediately rejected the idea in unison.
"Why not?"
Li Tianming said, "Xiao Qin, if you do this, you'll offend a lot of people."
"So what? It's not like I have any dealings with them anyway."
Li Tianming sighed and patiently explained.
"I know you have backing and aren't afraid of making enemies. But there are some things you might not fully understand."
"You cannot afford to offend researchers."
"Why? They're just a bunch of guys writing papers. What's the big deal?"
Li Tianming put on his jacket, sat on the sofa, and spoke seriously, "This is the apocalypse. Humanity can only survive within safe zones. Logically, the combat factions and the military should be the most powerful forces."
"That's right."
"But have you noticed that researchers hold extremely high status? Take last time, for example—even Governor Jonathan was willing to cooperate with Florence, a researcher who wasn't even a full professor yet. You have to understand, Jonathan is a true power player."
Qin Siyang nodded.
He had also found it odd that Jonathan treated Florence with such respect.
He was starting to sense that even in the apocalypse, the safe zones were still ruled by knowledge, not brute force.
Shouldn't the strong rule the world? Shouldn't Sequence users hold absolute power?
Then there was District 7.
Harrison was just a university professor, yet he could interfere with the Sequence Ability Bureau's investigations.
That had genuinely surprised him.
Seeing Qin Siyang's confusion, Li Tianming poured some tea and explained further.
"It's because the strongest Sequence users in the safe zones are most likely inside research institutes and university labs."
"What? How is that possible?"
Researchers were just people who played with theories and experiments, publishing papers of varying quality.
Strongest Sequence users?
That didn't add up at all!
"You think the world is already stable?"
"Not even close."
"The apocalypse only started ten years ago. The Sequence awakening has only been around for five years. In that short time, Earth has undergone drastic changes."
"Everything is still unknown. The unknown fills the entire world."
"Why did Sequence abilities awaken in humans? Why did Earth's creatures mutate so drastically in just a few years? Why do gods exist?"
"Human civilization is at a dead end, but research is an uncharted goldmine."
Li Tianming poured himself a cup of hot tea and handed one to Qian Wenzhao as well.
"So, the people who understand Sequence abilities the most are the researchers in the safe zones."
"But so what if they understand it better?", Qin Siyang frowned, "Sequence research is just about studying its existence, right?"
"No. The deeper their understanding, the more hidden knowledge they possess. You have no idea how advanced their research has become. Even among researchers, they don't fully know each other's progress."
Seeing that Qin Siyang still didn't quite grasp it, Li Tianming gave him an example, "Do you know why Harrison holds such high status, to the point where even the United Government respects him?"
"Because of his high-level research papers?"
"Like hell. Do you think Governor Jonathan respects Harrison's students because he's a research paper fanatic?"
"Then… Old Li, tell me."
"Four years ago, a radical faction of the God's Wrath Cult sabotaged the safe zone's anti-air glass, trying to expose everyone inside to gods and force them to accept 'God's Punishment'."
"Because of the widespread damage to the anti-air glass, numerous gods lurking near the safe zone began swarming toward it. If they had broken through, they would have massacred everyone inside. The United Government evacuated civilians, rushed to manufacture new anti-air glass, and assembled the strongest Sequence users to defend the safe zone."
"At that moment, Harrison—just a regular professor at Nanrong University—took out a seemingly low-level God-Slaying Weapon… and solved the entire crisis."
[T/N: Hey everyone! If you're into mystery, magic, and a whole new twist on the wizarding world, check out my new fanfic "Harry Potter: Transmigrated Detective Link." A sharp-minded detective finds himself in the world of Hogwarts, and things are about to get interesting. Give it a read and let me know what you think!]
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