149: cooperate

"A cage from which there is no escape..."

Zhang Huaiyuan muttered to himself.

Things were even worse than he had imagined.

If it were truly as Emperor Luo said, this world was like a commodity...

Then, did it have "after-sales service"?

In other words, even if they were lucky enough to defeat the forces currently controlling this world, would they then go and seek help from the forces that sold them this commodity?

Did they have friends of an equivalent civilization level?

There were too many questions to consider.

"Indeed, a cage from which there is no escape."

Emperor Luo exclaimed with similar emotion:

"My teacher once led the finest fleet and the most powerful Transcendent to try and walk out of this cage. But in the end, it was like a stone sinking into the ocean; there was never any news again."

"Brother, there is one thing I am very curious about."

Zhang Huaiyuan gradually calmed his emotions, hesitated for a moment, and still asked.

"Feel free to speak."

"Since these opponents are so powerful, how did your ancestors and other predecessors survive the disasters ten thousand years ago and six thousand years ago?"

Zhang Huaiyuan had some doubts in his heart.

Logically speaking, even if there was a different Transcendent power system long ago, compared to the strength of the enemy, it would have been completely negligible.

"So that's what it is."

There was no look of surprise on Emperor Luo's face; after a moment of silence, he said calmly:

"I won't go into the specific process. Due to some accidents, my ancestor gave up their human identity and became one of those monsters. Although they lost most of the memories and emotions belonging to humans, fortunately, some instincts remained. Relying on the sensing ability of my bloodline, I can safely enter Relic No. 3 and receive a certain degree of protection."

Relic No. 3!

Although Zhang Huaiyuan had only recently succeeded as Star Alliance Head and had not yet had time to fully understand every relic, he clearly knew that the top five ranked relics were all the most dangerous, where death was almost certain.

More importantly, according to later tracing, that piece of the dead cavity sac fragment had flowed out from Relic No. 3. It was almost confirmed that it was a terrifying civilization containing level five or even higher rule knowledge.

"So that's how it is..."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded and suddenly looked at the other person: "In that case, even if a disaster really descends, you, Brother, could also hide in Relic No. 3..."

"What kind of person do you take me for, Brother Zhang?"

Emperor Luo frowned and interrupted: "As the Emperor of the Empire, I should naturally stand with my billions of subjects."

"How could I be like that rat Morrgan, hiding in a relic to linger on in a desperate struggle."

"My apologies, I misspoke."

Looking at the other person's calm expression, clearly speaking from the heart, Zhang Huaiyuan was slightly stunned and said with some apology.

No wonder the strength of the Star Dome Empire had always been above the Free Star Alliance.

Just in terms of the leader's sense of responsibility, they were not on the same level.

"No matter."

Emperor Luo slowly stood up, his gaze seeming to pierce through layers of obstacles to meet the distant, unknown existence above the dome.

An aura far exceeding that of an ordinary Class 3S Experts was faintly emanating.

"Brother Zhang, in fact, the purpose of inviting you here this time is to see if you are qualified enough to cooperate with me to resist this disaster."

"What does Brother plan to do?"

Hearing this, Zhang Huaiyuan spoke.

He did not ask questions like "Am I qualified enough?"; since the other party had said so, the answer was self-evident.

"I have experimented in various relics developed by the Empire. Even the weakest one among them could almost ignore all attacks except those from a 3S-Class Transcendent and certain special weapons."

"And their weapons, any one of them could threaten the Empire's top-tier experts."

Emperor Luo looked at Zhang Huaiyuan and smiled: "You should be very clear about this point."

"Mm."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded.

The "Phase Weapon" he designed was just like that; even the two 3S-Class marshals of the Star Alliance would not dare to take it head-on, let alone those higher-level weapons inside the relics.

"I ordered people to transport these things back to the Empire, and ten thousand of the top Researchers spent all their energy for a full hundred years, yet they gained almost nothing."

"I once suspected that their level was not enough, so I replaced one batch of geniuses after another. It wasn't until more than thirty years ago, when my strength reached a certain limit and could no longer advance, that I finally felt the helplessness of those Researchers I had misunderstood."

Emperor Luo's hands clenched unconsciously, an invisible force faintly distorting the space around his fists, and a bitter smile that shouldn't have appeared on the face of such an ultimate expert appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"In this world, there exists a kind of real, unbreakable barrier. Whether it is cultivation evolution or technology. It is like a locked door, but the key happens to be inside that door."

"Can you understand... that feeling?"

"I don't... uh, I understand."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at the other person's slightly distorted expression and corrected himself.

Of course, he understood what that was; it was the "Rule Level" displayed by his ability. However, this barrier did not seem to affect him.

"Only power or weapons that cross that barrier can truly harm and threaten those existences. I once thought this was an impossible thing to do, but..."

Emperor Luo suddenly turned around to look at Zhang Huaiyuan, his eyes flashing with excitement.

He pointed a finger, an image descended, and what was displayed in the picture was exactly the "Phase Weapon".

"This weapon you designed, although slightly crude compared to some equipment inside the relics, has indeed broken through that door. Do you know what this means!"

Emperor Luo's eyes became increasingly fervent, and there was a hint of hard-to-conceal joy on his face:

"This means that you might be the only person in this world not restricted by this barrier. You can create weapons that can harm those unknown existences! You can give us the qualification to fight to the death!"

"Brother is overpraising me... I can indeed grasp that knowledge beyond the boundaries, but..."

Zhang Huaiyuan heard this, his expression somewhat helpless:

"The knowledge gap within it is too serious, and many materials do not exist in this world. Just the ordinary application of the 'Phase Weapon' took me a full five years. Not to mention the knowledge of more complex, higher-level weapons."

"Judging from the spread of the Disaster Zone, perhaps our enemies will not give us too much time."

"I understand."

There was no look of disappointment on Emperor Luo's face. He quietly observed Zhang Huaiyuan for a moment, as if he had made up his mind about something, and slowly said:

"If you are given enough time, and all the knowledge reserves, materials, and even the relic items mastered by the entire Star Dome Empire are left for you to use, do you have the confidence to create more powerful weapons?"