Age of Awakening

Under the screen, several analysts were slightly moved.

"The Phoenix Shield Badge?" Lu Shuhang murmured.

Noticing everyone’s gaze shifting toward him, Nan Jiamu scratched his head in embarrassment.

"To make peace, the old guild leader of the Flame Sparrow Cave also ceded the territory to Light-Chaser Garden. Now, the nominal ownership of this map belongs to Her Excellency Dark Gold Rose. Our people are very familiar with the farming process in the Flame Sparrow Cave, so we are helping them sweep it."

"Originally, one-tenth of the output was supposed to go to the Golden Navigator. However, Her Excellency Dark Gold Rose personally raised that figure to one-third, until Light-Chaser Garden can form its own farming team, at which point it will revert to one-tenth for us."

Lu Shuhang held his forehead and shook his head.

This guy had clearly been manipulated by Dark Gold Rose’s 'stick and carrot' routine. Human nature was always about compromise; if she had directly proposed giving only one-third, there would have been resentment. But if your own people proposed taking only one-tenth at the negotiating table and she proactively increased it to one-third, you would not only accept it gladly but also feel grateful to her.

Clearly, before the official negotiations, Dark Gold Rose had privately met with the old guild leader of the Golden Navigator.

"Her Excellency Dark Gold Rose is truly a good person," Nan Jiamu remarked.

The shrieks of the fire sparrows gradually faded as Bai Youyou’s health recovered to halfway. She swung her heavy hammer, the head whistling through the air as it smashed through the curtain of fire. Utilizing the explosive attribute boost from 'Nirvana', she forcibly repelled Jason several dozen meters.

"Don't just stand there." Bai Youyou glanced at Angelina. "Move."

"If you had a trump card, why didn't you use it sooner? Do you have any idea how critical the situation just was?"

"You should ask her," Bai Youyou replied.

At that moment, Angelina noticed that the blonde girl in her arms had woken up at some point, opening her eyes and looking at her calmly.

"I told her to do it."

"Huh?"

Xu Xiaoyou sighed, resting her head gently against Angelina’s shoulder and slightly closing her weary eyes.

"I knew you wouldn't remember the exact timing I told you. The main purpose of saying it was to strengthen your instinctual perception of that timeframe; your instinct would remember it for you."

"Similarly, I knew your instinct couldn't help you forever. My plan was for Youyou to use Paladin's Protection to teleport over right as Jason initiated his fifth Blood Savage Charge—which is now, exactly one minute and four seconds before the train reaches the station."

"We used the Phoenix Shield Badge to block the blow, intercepting this particular Blood Savage Charge."

"How could you be sure this guy would use Blood Savage Charge the very second the cooldown finished?" Angelina questioned.

"If he had intentionally waited a few seconds, wouldn't the timeline be completely off?"

"He wouldn't," Xu Xiaoyou said. "His psyche value is below 30. People with psyche below 30 are no different from beasts ruled by desire; they lack the capacity for thought. He will inevitably use it the instant the cooldown resets. With the reaction speed of a pseudo-grade 5, the margin of error between the cooldown finishing and the activation is negligible."

"Of course, that 'negligible' error was already factored into my planned timeline."

Angelina began to gradually realize why it was said that the commander was the most important role in a team.

There was a widely circulated saying in the Oasis: if you let a top-tier commander lead four grade 3s against a team of grade 4s led by a third-rate commander, the top-tier commander would win easily.

As for why it wasn't grade 4 against grade 5, it was because the power gap between the two was like a chasm. A grade 5 fighting grade 4s didn't even need a commander; they could win even if they were leading a pig.

Unlike a pseudo-grade 5 like Jason, who was propped up by dungeon buffs, a true grade 5 even in the Oasis required personal resonance with 'mystery.' Whether one could harness the power of 'mystery' was the greatest difference between grade 4 and grade 5.

The announcement for the train’s imminent arrival rang out. Jason seemed provoked, his throat rolling with a roar as he charged at them in a fury. Bai Youyou decisively applied various paladin buffs to herself and rushed forward to face him head-on.

The sound of intense fighting echoed through the carriage. Angelina’s expression shifted as a thought occurred to her.

"Wait, what do we do for the next round? His attributes..."

"Next round?" Xu Xiaoyou smiled. "He doesn't have a next round."

"No next round... what are you talking about?"

"Do I feel comfortable to hold?" Xu Xiaoyou turned her head and asked.

Angelina froze, feeling a sudden wave of awkwardness, and set Xu Xiaoyou down.

"With our current attributes, it's unrealistic to hold out until the fifth station, Skyline, while Jason is unsealing his limits through four rounds."

"Not to mention the mechanical officers. At the start of the fifth round, we would be wiped out."

"Our consumables and healing potions are almost gone, and we can't recover to full status. Meijiu, who is the fastest, is unconscious with an unknown condition; she was the only one who could lead those mechanical officers away."

"Therefore, before we reach the fifth station, we must create all the conditions for victory."

Xu Xiaoyou closed her eyes to rest. Her psyche value was very high; as her status began to recover, the crystal clusters all over her body began to fall off with a rustling sound.

When her appearance clearly returned to the livestream screen, except for her slightly dirty clothes, she looked no different from her usual glamorous self, even offering a gentle smile to everyone.

"Look! It’s the great Dark Gold Rose!"

"I told you she wasn't really hurt. How could a mere slaughterer injure someone like Dark Gold Rose!"

"Exactly! Not even Smiling Jazz or Golden Navigator could do that!"

"Dark Gold Rose is so elegant."

Seeing Xu Xiaoyou’s affected posture, Angelina really wanted to throw the image of her earlier shattered and bedraggled state onto the livestream for everyone to see her true face.

One minute passed in anxious waiting. Just before the corridor door closed, Bai Youyou quickly swept out, performing a light flip in the air before landing steadily. Her pure white investigation uniform was slightly dim and tattered, but she had not sustained any serious injuries.

Jason hammered on the corridor door in a frenzy, the loud thuds causing large dents, but no matter how hard he struck, he couldn't break it open.

Under the empowerment of the game rules, all facilities on the train remained in a 'damaged' state but could not be 'destroyed.'

The grueling pursuit had reached its end.

"Arriving at: New Federation Forest Park." Following a cheerful melody, a gentle female voice began to introduce the attraction.

"New Federation Forest Park, established in the year 1068, has a history of 400 years. Following the end of the War of Independence, Skyline City gained a high degree of autonomy and no longer belonged to the territory of the New Federation. The light of freedom and democracy shines upon this land. To commemorate this great moment, New Federation Forest Park was established. It houses many historical relics and heroic deeds from the independence era, collecting the armaments of that time to recount the glorious years of the martyrs. Representing the unyielding spirit of the people of Skyline City, standing like a rising sword, it is a milestone in the city's history."

Passengers began boarding the train from the platform.

Facing the surging crowd and looking at the countless passengers with numb and weary expressions, Xu Xiaoyou opened a small iron box, took out two mint-flavored throat lozenges, and popped them into her mouth. She cleared her throat, walked into the midst of the passengers, adjusted her demeanor, and straightened her bow tie.

"Please, everyone, open your curtains and look at me."

She was so confident and elegant that she seemed like a politician soliciting votes or a foundation chairperson about to speak for children suffering from the hardships of war. All the bionics looked up at her; some opened their curtains, intending to record this otherwise mundane interlude in their lives.

Just as the crowd wondered what Xu Xiaoyou was planning, she revealed her piercing red label.

"As you can see, I am..."

"An Awakened One."