Armor: I'm in Nava, but I'm Oxer?

"Uh... of course I am..."

Zhang Zhao did not answer immediately. He slowly stood up, put his hands behind his back, and paced a few steps in the futuristic command room.

He lowered his eyes slightly, his brows sometimes relaxing and sometimes furrowing, as he mentally reviewed everything he had experienced at the beginning.

From the very beginning, when I accidentally traveled through time, to now.

Not a single detail was overlooked.

The air in the room seemed to thicken and become filled with invisible pressure as he pondered.

Su Xiaoxiao held her breath, her bright eyes fixed intently on Zhang Zhao's every subtle movement.

Finally, Zhang Zhao stopped. He turned around, looked up, and met Su Xiaoxiao's inquiring gaze.

"Of course... I can't crack it either."

He spread his hands, a slightly apologetic yet matter-of-fact smile on his face, his tone relaxed.

His expression showed no sign of frustration or helplessness.

"what?"

Su Xiaoxiao was completely stunned. Her expectant eyes widened instantly, her mouth opened slightly, and her face was filled with disbelief.

She had considered countless possibilities.

A shocking deduction, an unbelievable truth, even an answer she couldn't comprehend at all... but she never expected such an answer.

"We've exchanged enough information; I'm only hiding some."

Zhang Zhao looked at her, his eyes still calm as still water. "Even if I try to solve it with the mindset of a super detective, I will only end up like you, trapped in the same dead end of thinking. As for some information that I can't share with you, it won't save me from this dead end either."

"So... everything we did before was a waste of time?" Su Xiaoxiao's voice revealed a hint of disappointment.

"How could it be a waste of effort?" Zhang Zhao said with an encouraging smile.

"The first step in solving a problem is to find the problem itself. Now that we've identified so many points of contention, how could our efforts have been in vain?"

We are actually very close to the truth, but we still need some work.

"What are you planning to do?" Su Xiaoxiao was very clever and immediately understood what was going on.

"correct."

Zhang Zhao's eyes gleamed. "I need to find more real-world evidence to corroborate our theory, and then connect all the evidence to uncover the ultimate truth."

"So, you're leaving?" Su Xiaoxiao's tone was somewhat complicated; it seemed there really were no more clues here.

"more or less."

Zhang Zhao nodded.

Having talked with Su Xiaoxiao for so long, he has compiled enough information, making this experience trip well worth the price.

"Isn't it a lot of trouble for you to come all this way? I mean, traveling through the world..."

Su Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask a question, which revealed her anxiety about whether she could get any more clues.

"Yes, it is indeed a bit troublesome, so some work needs to be done here."

Traveling from Nangong Xinyi to Su Xiaoxiao in the future is quite simple, after all, the technology has advanced to the point that even the Weiqi horse can travel to the Qin Dynasty.

But if it weren't for the trial card, Zhang Zhao didn't think he could penetrate the barrier between those worlds.

We can't possibly gamble that after dealing with Xiaotian's matter, we'll leave here, can we?

Zhang Zhao nodded, but didn't finish his sentence, saying, "Let's test one of our ideas first."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Zhao had a sudden thought.

"The Mighty Horse!"

"Roar--!"

A majestic and sacred roar of a Qilin suddenly resounded in the closed command room!

A dazzling golden light exploded out of thin air beside Zhang Zhao, and countless golden particles, as if they had life, rapidly swirled, converged, and recombined into shape!

As the light faded, a stunningly beautiful, streamlined golden sports car, brimming with futuristic technology and classical mythical beast aesthetics, floated silently in mid-air.

"Let's go."

Zhang Zhao skillfully opened the car door and invited Su Xiaoxiao to get in.

It should be soon and won't delay things here.

Su Xiaoxiao hummed in agreement with Zhang Zhao's words.

She knew that Zhang Zhao possessed the King Capture Armor.

The car door closed, and Zhang Zhao gently placed his hands on the technologically advanced steering wheel.

"The first stop, 2014, was the confirmation of the benchmark."

As soon as he finished speaking, the vehicle was instantly enveloped in a layer of light membrane that distorted spacetime, and the next second, it disappeared silently from the command room.

The process of traveling through time was incredibly magical. Su Xiaoxiao felt as if the world outside the window had transformed into countless streams of dazzling data, and the concept of time became blurred here.

After just a moment of weightlessness, the Weiqi Qiju was already hovering steadily above a city she knew very well, Nandu City, from more than ten years ago.

Zhang Zhao did not land; instead, he brought up the map database of this era on the holographic screen inside the vehicle.

Search: Nambo City.

On the screen, a cold electronic notification sounded: "No such location found."

Search: City D

"No such location found."

Search: Hope City.

"No such location found."

"If we go to see them, we might even see Shinichi and the others again."

This is roughly the time before Su Xiaoxiao's car accident.

"Hold on tight, we're going to check out an earlier time." Zhang Zhao's tone remained calm.

He started the Viking again, and this time, the light outside the window surged even more violently, as if it were going against the rushing river of time!

When the vehicle stabilized again, Su Xiaoxiao clearly felt that the world outside the window had become... somewhat different.

The cars on the streets are older models, and people's clothing has a strong retro feel. The air seems to be less restless and more simple and honest.

The current year—2007—is clearly displayed on the holographic screen.

"Search again," Zhang Zhao ordered.

Su Xiaoxiao stared nervously at the screen.

With a soft "ding," a clear place name appeared on the map next to Nandu City—[Nanbo City]! Immediately afterwards, in the far north, the coordinates of [D City] and [Hope City] were also lit up!

They're all here!

At this time in 2007, they were still alive and well in this world!

Looking at this world, Zhang Zhao felt a little dazed. If he were to search around in this world at this moment, he might be able to see Xin Nan and the others again.

But he didn't.

"As expected..." Su Xiaoxiao's breathing became rapid. Her scientist's blood, which was dedicated to the pursuit of truth, was completely boiling at this moment.

She had considered this verification method before, but unfortunately, no one remembered it, so she couldn't discuss it with them.

Now she has found it, she has found the most direct and irrefutable evidence that proves "the world has been altered"!

“It seems that the ‘incident’ occurred between 2007 and 2016.” Zhang Zhao looked at the map on the screen, a knowing glint in his eyes.

If we narrow down the scope little by little, we might be able to pinpoint the exact day the event occurred.

However, this exhaustive method is really too tiring.

"Let's go, we should go back." Zhang Zhao turned the car around and took one last look at this "complete" world, which was about to undergo tremendous changes.

The Mighty Horse transformed into a golden ray once more, carrying the two of them and that groundbreaking discovery back to the cold command center in 2072.

The whole process was very quick, taking no more than five minutes from start to finish.

…………

After confirming her long-held theory, Su Xiaoxiao felt much more relaxed, as if she had unloaded a mental burden that had troubled her for many years.

After calming down a bit from the excitement of traveling through time, Zhang Zhao continued to ask questions.

"By the way, what's the outside world like? Is the entire planet under the Federation's control?"

Zhang Zhao's gaze traveled through the one-way transparent porthole of the command room to the eternally gray sky, fragmented by the steel jungle.

The scene had an indescribable sense of oppression.

"It should be..." Su Xiaoxiao followed his gaze, a hint of sadness flashing in her eyes, and replied somewhat uncertainly.

"Should?" Zhang Zhao keenly caught the uncertainty in her words.

"After being betrayed by the Federation, I was actually placed in Nandu City and forbidden to leave."

I endured for a long time before slowly developing a little power and gaining a precious bit of freedom.

A hint of shame appeared on Su Xiaoxiao's face, and she gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"Although they called me 'the last hope for all mankind,' in reality, our activities never even extended beyond this city."

"After all, we haven't been able to do much over the years."

“But the Federation is indeed a federation of the entire planet, that’s beyond question,” she added, her tone heavy.

"I see..." Zhang Zhao's expression shifted, a realization dawning on him. So, even in 2072, the story of this world still hadn't surpassed that of a single city...

Is it possible that Su Xiaoxiao's story is limited to the story of the constable?

“Because of the Federation’s oppressive rule, coupled with the omnipresent surveillance of the ‘Zombie King,’ the cities are like isolated islands, and the people have no right to move freely. Information is also strictly blocked,” Su Xiaoxiao explained.

"Do you feel pressured when you fight against them?" Zhang Zhao asked.

"There was before you defeated the 'Zombie King'. Now... there shouldn't be."

Su Xiaoxiao turned her head, her bright eyes quietly looking at Zhang Zhao.

There was gratitude, admiration, and a sense of relief.

"Although so much time has passed, the core technology of this super artificial intelligence may no longer belong exclusively to me. The Federation is fully capable of creating a new 'King'."

However, achieving the level of integration with the entire online world, as seen in the 'Zombie King,' will still require a considerable amount of time. After all, artificial intelligence... also needs to learn.

"That's good."

Only after understanding this could Zhang Zhao truly leave with peace of mind.

He had originally planned to explore this world more thoroughly, but a feeling was urging him on; he should leave.

This feeling was very mysterious, and Zhang Zhao couldn't explain it. Was it because the purpose of this simulation experience had been achieved and he had lingered too long? Or was it the power of the Earth's origin reminding him? He wasn't a stubborn person, so he really had to leave.

"I can leave in peace now," Zhang Zhao said calmly, looking at Su Xiaoxiao.

Hear this.

Su Xiaoxiao remained silent for a moment, seemingly making an extremely difficult decision.

Finally, as if she had made up her mind, she strode to her main control panel and her fingers danced rapidly across the virtual keyboard.

With a soft "beep," a hidden compartment on the side of the control panel slowly slid open, revealing a memory chip, entirely silver-white, only the size of a fingernail, shimmering with a soft blue light, lying quietly inside.

She carefully removed the chip, walked up to Zhang Zhao, and solemnly handed it to him.

"This is……"

Zhang Zhao looked at the chip in her hand, somewhat puzzled.

"This contains the fruits of my life's work."

Su Xiaoxiao's eyes were incredibly clear and unwavering. "Including the complete manufacturing technology of the Capture General Armor, the underlying logic source code of 'Daji' and 'Ark', and... all my analytical data on that 'Ares' cube."

Zhang Zhao's pupils suddenly contracted.

Such a precious thing.

"you……"

"I don't know what your world is like, nor do I know what you will face when you return to your own world."

Su Xiaoxiao interrupted him, a relieved smile on her face. "But I believe you. You're not a bad person, and you're closer to the 'truth' than any of us."

Perhaps, these technologies could be of greater use in your hands than they are in mine, perhaps even... able to help you find the culprit who has torn the world apart.

She paused, her tone pleading: "If possible, I hope... you can use it to create a better future than what we have here."

Zhang Zhao looked at her, at this woman who had single-handedly shouldered the fate of humanity and fought in despair for decades, and who was now entrusting everything to him, this "visitor from another world," without reservation.

He didn't say anything more polite, but nodded solemnly, reached out and took the heavy chip that seemed to carry the hopes of a world, holding it tightly in his palm.

"I promise you."

This is a promise, a man's promise to another woman who bears the same heavy fate.

The moment of farewell finally arrived.

Zhang Zhao summoned the Mighty Kirin once more, and under Su Xiaoxiao's watchful gaze, it transformed into a golden light and disappeared from the command center in 2072.

This return was faster than ever before.

Soon, he returned to the somewhat dilapidated martial arts gym from 2016.

Nangong Xinyi, Lin Zhikai, and Su Xiaoxiao (Yifei) and Chala of this era are all looking at him with concern, as if he had only disappeared for a moment.

"Senior! You're back!" Nangong Xin was the first to rush up, looking him up and down as if afraid he was missing a single hair.

"Well, I'm back."

Zhang Zhao dismounted from the majestic Qilin, which then vanished in a burst of golden light.

"Have things been... all taken care of?"

"Lin Zhikai stepped forward and asked in a deep voice. His eyes were filled with inquiry, clearly showing his curiosity about the brief disappearance just now.

"almost."

Zhang Zhao nodded, glanced around at everyone present, and gave a farewell smile. "It's time for me to go now."

"Leave? In such a hurry?"

Nangong Xinyi's smile instantly vanished. "Senior, didn't you just arrive? You haven't taught me that powerful fighting technique yet!"

"There is no never-ending feast."

Zhang Zhao patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly, "You have a long way to go. Remember what you said today, keep your original intention, and you will definitely become the 'number one hero in the world' that you want to be."

"Definitely!" Nangong Xin pounded his chest, making a promise.

"How is Xiaoxiao doing over there?"

“Great, you can still contact each other anyway.”

Zhang Zhao replied to Lin Zhikai.

"That's good."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xu Zhancan isn't coming back?"

"I'm not coming back. You guys will take care of things here."

After a few casual words, we finished.

Zhang Zhao tossed the Alois Summoner to Nangong Xinyi.

He held the war commander's seal in his hand.

"Experience over..."

He silently recited it to himself.

His entire body began to gradually become transparent...

There was a "click" sound.

The war seal fell to the ground.

Zhang Zhao has completely disappeared.