Void Jigsaw Puzzle

"Advance team?"

Hearing these three words, Zhong Chenmu froze in place.

The discussion in front of the whiteboard in the conference room was still heated, but his heart was full of surprises. These surprises formed a tight barrier, isolating all external noise.

Before meeting Pierce, he inevitably built up some psychological expectations and even made some deductions about what Pierce was going to say to him, but the option of "advance team" was not included.

However, he quickly calmed down and continued Pierce's words, asking, "Professor Pierce, before I answer you, could you tell me how you came into contact with civilizations outside of Nameless City? Although you shared the evidence for your 'incomplete civilization' theory with me last time at the City God Temple, there's no more solid evidence than direct contact with an external civilization, right? Even the so-called 'cracks' wouldn't be comparable to that. Furthermore, if I truly am to lead this 'advance team,' I'll inevitably have to interact with them. Therefore, I'd like to fully understand your contact history and their characteristics."

Pierce smiled and said, "Don't be impatient... young man, I will tell you, but you have to keep it a secret for me."

"Old man, why do you have to keep everything you tell me secret?"

Zhong Chenmu couldn't help but complain.

"Because I have many secrets..."

"Then tell me."

"Actually, my contact with them was a fortuitous occurrence. Remember last time I told you that one day, from afar, I saw a crack appear above a large river from my home, and that a very strong aura of civilization emanated from the crack?"

"Yes, I remember what you told me at the City God Temple. However, I'm curious how you sensed this so-called 'atmosphere of civilization'?"

Zhong Chenmu appeared calm on the surface, but his heart was surging.

He didn't expect that the closed loop of Wuming City's civilization was opened with a small gap because of himself!

At this moment, the green number in my mind instantly jumped from the four-digit "1100" to "11000"!

Zhong Chenmu's heart tightened: "It seems that I will face challenges again. However, fortunately, it seems that the direction is also correct. But why is there never a smooth road in the right direction..."

So he had to concentrate and continue to listen carefully to Pierce's answer.

"On the one hand, it's intuition, and on the other hand, it's simple reasoning. Think about it, if a crack appears in the sky above our heads for no apparent reason, and we know that nothing happened on our side, then the cause of its appearance must have come from the other side? Whatever is on the other side, it means that it has some form of civilization."

Zhong Chenmu wanted to refute: "You are wrong, the crack was caused by the problem on our side! However, I can't control my binary system..."

But pretending to be convinced and nodding in cooperation was the most appropriate way for him to respond at the moment.

"So, after I founded the Prophet Society, I took my twelve apostles to a river..." Pierce smiled slyly, "We held a river worship ceremony there."

"River worship ceremony?"

This was the first time Zhong Chenmu heard this word.

"It's exactly what it says. We were there to call upon the heavens for a manifestation. You've seen the Twelve Apostles, all extremely beautiful women. They danced wildly and freely during the ceremony, but unexpectedly, they attracted a silver-haired man... Honestly, I never expected this to actually happen."

Pierce's expression became playful and frivolous.

Zhong Chenmu recalled the hand that slapped Pu Yue's buttocks last night.

However, he did not expect that Pierce would use such traditional and old-fashioned sacrifices and beauty traps to lure out the civilization outside the nameless city.

Suddenly he thought of something and asked, "What's the name of this silver-haired man?"

Pierce was stunned and looked at Zhong Chenmu meaningfully: "Oh? Is this important?"

Zhong Chenmu immediately realized that he had said something wrong and quickly waved his hands: "No, no, I was just thinking, what if you want to keep mentioning this person later? It will always be more convenient to have a name."

"It's okay to tell you, his name is Qing Ao."

Zhong Chenmu's heart tightened: "Qing Ao? Not Qing Nian! It seems that Pierce has come into contact with more than one person outside!"

He pretended to be calm and nodded calmly: "Okay, then what?"

"Qing Ao must be someone of high status, because he enjoyed a wonderful night surrounded by our twelve apostles, and then designated another person to contact me. After that, he never showed up again. The person he designated—Qing Nian—is my subsequent contact, and the person you will deal with in the future as the leader of the advance team."

"They all have the last name 'Qing'. It sounds like they are from the same family."

"Yes, but I didn't ask them the name of their tribe, and they didn't introduce it. I don't think this is that important. It won't be too late to learn more about it later."

"Okay, I understand now. But, I still want to ask, why me?"

Hearing this question, Pierce seemed to be thinking about it. He stared at Zhong Chenmu with his light blue eyes, and said with a smile: "Do you want to hear the real answer, young man?"

After asking, his extremely sharp eyes swept over Zhong Chenmu, as if he wanted to see through him.

Zhong Chenmu felt a little uneasy, but he couldn't tell where it came from. He answered with a stiff upper lip: "Of course."

"Because it was Qingnian who designated you. He told me to choose you, and it had to be you."

Pierce's tone when he said this was not exaggerated or emphasized, it was just a light remark.

But when it reached Zhong Chenmu's ears, it sounded like a loud thunderclap.

It even drowned out all the noise in the conference room.

"Could he know that Qingnian and I have met? If so, would Qingnian also tell others that he and I can exchange information in real time without having to talk?"

He was thinking nervously in his mind.

So far, he has only told Guo Ling and Fan Ting about his meeting with Qingnian, because these two are his more trustworthy teammates.

He still couldn't see Pierce in front of him clearly. Since he couldn't see the other person clearly, he naturally couldn't let the other person see him clearly.

He gritted his teeth and decided to deny it to the end.

"Am I so unlucky? I was actually chosen by an external civilization to help you do this? You used the beauty trap to lure out the external civilization, so shouldn't you let these beauties continue to play the role of contacting them?"

Zhong Chenmu tried to resolve the invisible pressure in front of him by asking a counter-question.

Pierce studied his expression carefully, but said nothing.

Zhong Chenmu shrugged, pretending to be nonchalant: "Alright, if I'm chosen, then I'm chosen. Who's afraid of who?"

Pierce then said, "I don't know why he chose you, but as far as I know, we are completely transparent to them, with no secrets at all. They see us like interrogators standing behind a one-way mirror in an interrogation room, seeing us clearly, while we can't see them at all. If Qing Ao hadn't taken the initiative to show up and then specifically asked Qing Nian to contact me, I would never have been able to see them at all."

Zhong Chenmu breathed a sigh of relief: "Then... I guess it's because when they were monitoring us, they saw us communicating frequently, and then they thought I looked pretty good."

Pierce blinked and asked, "So, you agreed?"

"Well, I agree, but is there any reward?"

"...You asked a good question. In fact, our breakthrough is related to this. However, it's too late today. Their discussion is almost over, and they're already summarizing it." Pierce pointed to the whiteboard at the front of the conference room. "We need to take various measures to expand the team, recruit more people, and strengthen the influence of our Prophet Society. I'll also like to hear their conclusions later."

Zhong Chenmu followed his gaze and saw that the crowd, which was very loose and messy just now, had now formed a semicircle, surrounding a middle-aged woman in the center. She was pointing at the whiteboard and introducing something to the crowd. It was probably after a brainstorming session that everyone had made a preliminary summary.

“Very enthusiastic…”

While he was thinking, he heard Pierce say, "We'll find time to talk about the reward and the breakthrough alone. But before that, I have to fulfill my promise to you."

"Promise?" Zhong Chenmu was a little confused.

He didn't remember what Pierce had promised him.

"Remember when we first met, I told you I wanted to take you to experience the nightlife of Wuming City? We're in Linjiang Tower right now, and next to it is Leyou Pavilion, the nightlife center of Wuming City. It's going to get dark soon, so I'll take you there after nightfall."