The sky outside the window was gradually brightening, the clouds and the horizon were suffused with the white of dawn, a new day was about to begin. He Ao sat at the desk in the East Capital Hotel, looking at the computer files related to Liu Zhengyun. The information was very sparse, merely a brief overview of Liu Zhengyun’s deeds, his basic resume, and his contributions to the Research Institute. Just like He Ao remembered, there wasn’t any detailed introduction, not as detailed as in He Ao’s memory. He Ao shifted his gaze towards the phone beside him. At this moment, the phone displayed the last message sent by Wu Ganglie. He Ao gazed at the name and message on the phone, slightly furrowing his brows. Liu Nan was Liu Zhengyun’s daughter, and Wu Ganglie had also found a childhood photo of him with Liu Nan, which he sent along. He Ao stared at the picture and name, faintly feeling that the name sounded familiar, and the facial features of the little girl in the photo were somewhat familiar too, he might have met this girl. But he couldn’t recall at the moment. He rubbed his brow, glanced again at the sky outside, and exited the phone’s message interface. In the Research Institute’s chat software interface, he still had a few unread messages. These included reports from Lin Chichi and Yan Yue, mostly indicating that the establishment of the ’Church of K’ encountered some issues, but was generally proceeding smoothly, with the first batch of ’Church Knights’ personnel entering the selection phase. Besides Lin Chichi and others, there was also a new friend with an unread message, that being ’Ye Ying.’ The content of this message was very simple: ’Minister He, good night.’ The message was sent in the early morning when He Ao had just brought her to this hotel and got her a room. He Ao placed a mark on her, enabling him to sense that she should now be asleep. This girl’s physical fitness wasn’t strong enough to do without sleep, considering the time, she should have just entered the room, finished bathing, and sent He Ao a message before falling asleep. In fact, judging by age, she was about the same age as He Ao, both had just started university, and following He Ao out meant taking leave from school. While on the plane, Ye Yun also communicated with him about whether to apply for suspension on the girl’s behalf. He Ao casually replied ’Good night’ to the girl, then exited the Research Institute’s software. He placed the phone on the desk, leaned back against the chair, and stretched lazily. As a child, he sometimes fantasized about the days when he’d grow up, during which his grandfather would smile sitting beside him, saying he would definitely get into university and become a successful and happy lad. Grandfather actually couldn’t distinguish between good universities and bad ones, he just occasionally gazed at Xidu University next to their home, feeling that the school was big and spacious, probably good; studying there should be joyful. Although he said this, grandfather never forced He Ao to study hard, valuing happiness over achieving lofty goals. Still, he could be strict at times, insisting that no matter what, He Ao should have a personal skill, as regardless of how times change, craftsmen wouldn’t starve, even if one attended university, having a skill was essential. In a way, ’university majors’ are also a type of skill. He Ao glanced at the ’Mysterious Academic Introduction’ on his personal attributes panel. Transcendent, could it also be considered a ’skill’? After stretching, He Ao lowered his hand. Though only a few months had passed, it seemed he hadn’t returned to school in ages. Upon this thought, his mind unexpectedly paused. He recalled where he’d seen the name ’Liu Nan’ before. Now that he mentioned it, he seemed to have seen this name at the Xidu Research Institute too. He picked up his phone, reopening the Research Institute’s software, and searched for ’Liu Nan.’ Soon, over a dozen pieces of information with the same name popped up, most lacking photos, as Research Institute’s photo management for researchers wasn’t very strict. Special Appointed Researchers didn’t need to upload photos, nor did interns awaiting formal confirmation, even after confirmation, as long as the photos were uploaded within three months, their status wasn’t affected. He Ao found the information originating from Xidu, which was simple. This person named ’Liu Nan,’ female, Talent is ’Reader,’ F-level, and there was no other information. He Ao vaguely felt this might be Liu Zhengyun’s daughter. Despite Liu Zhengyun’s fondness for controlling his emotions and rarely showing them, the few B-levels in the Research Institute generally had one trait in common: they were emotional, perhaps also the reason the few from the Research Institute came together. Liu Nan might not know much, but might also provide some information. He Ao put away his phone, stood upright, tidied his clothes, opened the window, glanced at the scene under the night sky, confirming no cameras around and that no one was awake, then leaped out the window. The whistling wind brushed past his hair strands and ears, with faint and elusive whistles drifting in the air. The Velora caught his body, taking him deep into the void. Just then, he paused slightly, and after brief contemplation, he swiftly set the target point for Velora, resting his whole self on the dining car seat, and closed his eyes. In this instant, his soul detached from his body, transcending time and space. The main soul descended onto ’Hao Yi,’ and He Ao slowly opened his eyes from the darkness. The distorted and surging pollution roared into his mind. The scattered radiance spread over his eyes like flickering snowflakes on an old television. He turned his head, wanting to check Li Cheng’s condition beside him, but there was only a void of snowflakes. The originally electric light held up to protect them both by Li Cheng was now completely vanished. Only the mark he just placed during the fall onto Li Cheng told him Li Cheng should still be alive, though not in good condition. Coupled with the faint connection from the soul. In fact, the reason He Ao descended his soul was due to detecting severe instability in the connection with ’Hao Yi’. If left unchecked, this instability could completely sever his connection with ’Hao Yi’. While the soul remains in the body, the connection to the clone comprises merely soul-based control, where the bond between the clone and the main body isn’t as close. But when the soul descended to the clone, the bond between the clone and the main body turned into the bond between ’the soul’ and ’the body,’ which was a strong connection, better resisting invisible impacts. Of course, doing this entailed certain risks; if the link between the soul and body were torn apart, He Ao might face real life-threatening danger. However, after numerous times of soul descent, He Ao possessed some understanding of his soul’s strength and soul-body linkage; such ’disturbance’ levels weren’t adequate to affect his soul-body linkage, and even if they could, he was confident in recalling the soul to the body before the bond got ruptured. Moreover, besides the inherent soul and body connection, his soul and body were also being ’linked’ by something else. That was the angel-tier Eye of Truth, and the Wheel of Stars indirectly controlled through the Eye of Truth by He Ao. These two things were bound not only to He Ao’s soul but also to his body. They each connected with his soul and body, forming a ’transfer station’, stabilizing He Ao’s soul-body connection, so in the worst-case scenario, He Ao could still use this layer of connection to return his soul to the body. Taking a deep breath, He Ao turned his head to look at the scattered radiance around him. In fact, his soul-body connection seemed even stronger than he imagined, and the forces that nearly tore apart his connection with his clone were not even enough to ’move’ his soul-body connection. He carefully gazed at the radiant surroundings. Within this brilliance, there was a faint sense of twisted oppression, but not strong, seemingly suggesting an angel’s presence. He extended his hand, his fingers gliding through the beams of light, a faint orange-gray light flickered in his eyes, as he attempted to trace the source of this brilliance with the power spread by the Eye of Truth. He brought his soul here not only to ’save’ the clone but also because he vaguely perceived some sort of ’peculiarity’ in the region where the clone currently was. Based on what he had seen in the hall just now, coupled with the sensed ’sense of danger’, he believed this place might be related to a certain ’angel’. And it’s very likely it’s an angel he is ’familiar’ with. But strangely, after entering this space, his ’sense of danger’ actually subsided. This wasn’t because that angel lacked ’aggressiveness’; rather it seemed more like the angel didn’t possess targeted ’aggressiveness’. As if the previously focused light speed had turned into aimlessly scattered brilliance, the angel itself lost its constraints over its own power, becoming more like a kind of obsession. He Ao faintly sensed that this might be related to that angel’s ’madness’. He might have a chance to encounter an angel, ’true madness’, perhaps it could aid him in his future transcendence journey. With the power of the Eye of Truth, He Ao could faintly see some diffusing lines, as well as some scattered, twisted lines. These lines grew increasingly dense from the outside in. In contemplation, He Ao lifted his foot, slowly moving forward along the direction where those twisted lines extended. Simultaneously, he tensed his nerves, carefully sensing the surrounding soul impacts, so if the impact got too strong, or a trap situation occurred, he could immediately respond. He wouldn’t underestimate the opponent just because this angel lacked ’aggressiveness’ now. Angels are angels after all, truly transcending mortal flesh, higher beings. Having possessed angel-tier extraordinary items, dealt extensively with angels, and controlled angel-tier powers, He Ao had gained a deeper understanding of the strength of higher beings. He reached to touch the pocket on his chest. He had actually prepared several pieces of ritual items for K, which he could use to pray to himself during necessary times, summoning his projection to explore deeper paths. Yet the status of these ritual items seemed somewhat strange, lacking strong physical entities, always exuding a sense of illusion. Pushing down the chaotic thoughts in his mind, He Ao glanced at the scattered brilliance around him, unknowingly he walked deeper into the light. Now, the radiance surrounding him seemed less chaotic, starting to form some fragmented, continuous light shadows. These shadows seemed to outline certain structures or perhaps human-shaped silhouettes. They appeared like still, fixed doodle drawings, unmoving there. As He Ao continued forward, these silhouettes gradually grew fuller and three-dimensional, their figures ceased to be motionless and rigid, instead displaying some small movements. Soon after, some fragmented sounds started appearing beside He Ao’s ears. They seemed to be some sort of intense cheering sound, initially scattered, like chaotic background noise. Gradually, they grew louder and more distinct. At this point, He Ao also realized that the pollution impact in his mind seemed to be getting more intense. If the pollution impact he just faced was like fluctuating tides, now it resembled a surging tsunami, the pollution even exceeded a normal angel’s intensity, faintly mingling with some higher-tier power. Meanwhile, an invisible pressure began to spread in these beams of light, pressing down He Ao’s throat. Under the impact of this overwhelming pollution and pressure, He Ao had to slow down his pace a bit. Yet he still moved forward slowly. The cheering sound around him grew increasingly lively, initially He Ao thought this cheering was merely ravings carried within the pollution, but upon listening closely, it seemed like genuine cheering, he could even discern different voices within. But these voices were sporadic, mingling with tones he couldn’t understand. Soon, He Ao realized there were tones from the First District among them. This cheering seemed to come from a civilization of ruins, from the ’Original Federation’. As He Ao moved forward, tall buildings began to appear around him, along with dense shadows of people, these figures cheering excitedly. He Ao gazed at those skyscrapers, he seemed to have seen similar buildings in relics of the bygone days. Only the buildings in the relics of the bygone days were richer, and taller, prosperously towering. Was this a scene from the relics? And earlier than the fixed time of the relics? Judging from the situation of the three major angels, the fixed time of the relics should be not long before the ruin civilization’s destruction. He Ao observed the surrounding shadows. These scenes, originating from an earlier era of the ruin civilization? In contemplation, he advanced. Faintly, he saw a blurred platform appear in the distance, standing on it was a person announcing something, He Ao could vaguely make out his voice. He initially recited it in the language of the First District, but scattered, He Ao’s own First District language proficiency was inadequate, in such circumstances, he could barely understand. Soon, that person repeated it in the language of the Second District, yet He Ao could only faintly discern a few words: "... elected as... governor..." In the midst of heated clamor and applause, a blurred figure walked onto the platform. The pollution around flickered like a tsunami, then suddenly, those illusions rapidly collapsed before once more unfolding gradually, repeating the previous event. He Ao bowed his head, slowly passing through these shadows. As he moved forward, the illusions surrounding him became fewer, until eventually, only an empty hall was left. Several blurred figures stood in this hall, gazing at a similarly blurred figure standing in the center of the hall. He Ao watched as he picked up a Secret Silver Test Tube, slowly bringing it towards his mouth. At the same time, a message surfaced in his mind, ’Talent Sequences 240: King’