323: Chapter 323 Since I'm idle anyway

The departure time was set for early morning.

There was no true sunrise in the microscopic world, but the light filtering down from above the ice would grow slightly brighter at certain times.

Lin Yuan called this "daybreak."

Ling Shuanghan called it the "optimal combat window for visibility."

The difference in their terminology was essentially a microcosm of how they approached problem-solving.

The expeditionary force of 5,769 people finished assembling on the ice field.

Ling Shuanghan's 800 survivors from the other world were lined up neatly, fully armored and armed, with the words "prepared to die" written on every face.

Of the 800 people, the majority were men.

These men had followed Ling Shuanghan for as little as thirty years and as many as seventy or eighty.

And Ling Shuanghan—even after being soaked in the frost and wind of the Apocalypse for a century, she still possessed a beauty that one dared not look at directly.

Ice-blue long hair, skin that was nearly transparent, and features so exquisite they seemed like the Creator's final masterpiece.

Not one of the 800 men dared to harbor even a single improper thought toward her.

It wasn't that they didn't want to.

It was that they didn't dare.

In the early years, it wasn't as if no one had entertained such ideas.

It was the third year after Ling Shuanghan had become leader; there was an A-level powerhouse whose strength ranked in the top five of the team at the time.

He felt that in the Apocalypse, rules were bullshit, and the strong were entitled to everything.

He didn't even have time to touch the hem of Ling Shuanghan's clothes.

Ling Shuanghan shattered his sternum with a single palm strike.

Right in front of everyone.

No trial, no nonsense, she didn't even give him a second glance.

When the body was dragged out, Ling Shuanghan only said one sentence:

"Next."

There was no "next."

From then on, there never was again.

The 800 people's loyalty to Ling Shuanghan was real, as was their awe.

But at the very bottom of those two things, something even more primitive was suppressed—

Fear.

This was no exaggeration.

In their world, every expedition meant a casualty rate of at least 10%.

Writing a suicide note before departure was standard procedure.

Huo Yan had even handed his list of personal effects to his deputy—

A blade he had used for 60 years.

An ice stone engraved with his late wife's name, and half a piece of dry rations that had been stored for who knows how long.

"If I don't make it back, give the blade to the most talented recruit, burn the ice stone, and the rations..."

He thought for a moment.

"Burn the rations too. They've been kept for too long; I'm afraid someone will get diarrhea if they eat them."

The deputy took the list expressionlessly.

They had done this sort of thing far too many times.

Meanwhile, the vibe on the Blue Star side was completely different.

Ye Qingyue was arguing with her sister about whether to bring an extra coat.

"Sis, I'm cold."

"Lin Yuan said there are thermal insulation devices on the way."

"What if the device breaks?"

"Then wearing ten coats won't help you either."

Ye Qingyue thought about it and felt her sister had a point, but she was still unwilling to give in.

"Then can I bring a hand warmer?"

Ye Qingxue glanced at her, her eyes basically saying, "Do you think things like hand warmers exist in the microscopic world?"

Ye Qingyue shrunk her neck and stopped talking.

Luo Qinghan stood in the middle of the group, arms crossed, expressionless.

She was actually a bit nervous—

This plot point didn't exist in the memories of her past life; everything was unknown.

But she glanced at the man at the very front of the group, hands in his pockets, looking as if he were just going downstairs to pick up a package.

Most of her nervousness vanished.

It wasn't because of blind trust.

It was because that man had never let her down.

"Before we leave."

Lin Yuan's voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it.

He turned around and said one thing to the people behind him.

"Take a look at the gear first."

Then he had someone open the storage compartment at the back of the carriage.

The so-called "carriage" was a transport vehicle assembled by Ling Shuanghan's people using the bones and carapaces of Frost Evolution Beasts—

In the microscopic world, this counted as a heavy armored personnel carrier.

The moment the storage compartment door was swung open, Ling Shuanghan's expression changed.

It wasn't shock.

It was that "I thought I was mentally prepared, but clearly I wasn't enough" kind of expression.

The storage compartment was crammed full of things.

It wasn't the "a few things were put in" kind of full.

It was the "stuffed so much the door almost wouldn't close" kind of full.

Various devices, modules, tools, and materials were packed tightly together, stacked from the floor of the compartment all the way to the ceiling.

Every single item was secured with ice crystal fibers.

They were arranged neatly, like the masterpiece of someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Ling Shuanghan walked a few steps closer, her gaze sweeping over the supplies.

She recognized some of them—insect repellent sonic generators, miniature heat source modules, energy shielding devices, communication relay nodes...

But there were even more things she had never seen before.

"These are..."

"I put these together over the past five days."

Lin Yuan's tone was as casual as if he were saying, "This is the package I bought online that arrived yesterday."

Ling Shuanghan was silent for two seconds.

"Five days?"

"Yeah."

"These... all of them?"

"All of them."

Ling Shuanghan was silent for another three seconds.

She began to mentally calculate the quantity of these supplies.

Sonic nodes—she counted the visible portion, at least several hundred.

Heat source modules—even more, possibly over a thousand.

energy interference devices, packed separately in a box—over forty.

And a large amount of things she couldn't name.

The total amount...

She couldn't calculate it.

But she knew one thing—in her world—

Even if the entire civilization exhausted all its resources and spent a year, they couldn't produce this many things.

And this man said he had put them together in five days.

Five days.

Huo Yan stood behind Ling Shuanghan, his mouth slightly open, unable to close it for a long time.

He had lived for nearly 100 years and seen countless outrageous things.

But he had truly never seen something like "one person putting together a civilization's year-long output in five days."

"Old Huo," Ling Shuanghan said in a low voice.

"Here."

"Take back the suicide notes."

Huo Yan was stunned for a moment. "Huh?"

"Take them back."

Ling Shuanghan's tone was very calm.

"They won't be needed."

Huo Yan looked at the storage compartment filled with supplies, then at Lin Yuan's face, which was calm to the point of being bored.

Then he silently took back the list of personal effects from his deputy.

The dry rations didn't need to be burned either.

Though they really had been kept for too long.

Lin Yuan ignored the commotion behind him and began explaining the uses of these supplies to the core members.

"This batch is the repellent sonic nodes."

He pointed at a pile of silver spheres about the size of a fist.

"Place one every fifty paces along the road, and they can form a safety corridor. The sonic frequency is specifically targeted at the sensory organs of frost mutated insects; they'll automatically avoid it when they hear this sound."

Ling Shuanghan asked, "Effective range?"

"A single node has a coverage radius of about three meters."

"How many have you prepared?"

"Enough to cover the entire route."

Ling Shuanghan didn't ask for a specific number again.

She had already learned—it was meaningless to ask this man "how many."

Because the answer was always "enough."

"This batch is the miniature heat source modules."

Lin Yuan continued, pointing at another pile of even smaller devices.

"In a miniaturized state, the rate of heat dissipation is several times faster than normal; ordinary people wouldn't get very far before suffering from hypothermia. These modules placed along the corridor can maintain the temperature at a level where people won't freeze to death."

Ye Qingyue asked Luo Qinghan in a low voice from behind:

"What does he mean by 'a level where people won't freeze to death'? Is it warm or not?"

Luo Qinghan thought for a moment:

"Probably... you won't die, but don't expect to be comfortable."

Ye Qingyue: "...Fine."

"This batch is relatively important."

Lin Yuan picked up a palm-sized black device with faint blue light patterns on its surface.

"energy interference device. It can cut the energy connection between the Vanguard and the Rift Core—equivalent to pulling out its charging cable. Use it once we're near the core."

Ling Shuanghan's pupils contracted slightly.

Cut off the Vanguard's energy supply?

She had fought the Vanguard for 100 years and had never thought of such a method.

It wasn't that she couldn't think of it.

It was that she didn't have the ability to do it.

Cutting off the energy connection of a cosmic-level existence...

The technology and resources required were far beyond what her civilization could provide.

Yet this man treated such a thing as a mass-produced consumable.

Forty-seven.

He had made forty-seven of them.

"Last thing."

Lin Yuan didn't take anything from the storage compartment.

He raised his hand, and a layer of faint golden light appeared in his palm.

"The energy body inside the Rift Core shares the same source as the power in my body. Once we're in front of it, there's no need to take it by force—it will come over on its own."

The golden light pulsed twice in his palm and then vanished.

The entire process took no more than three seconds.

But in those three seconds, everyone present felt an indescribable sense of pressure—

It wasn't a threat, but an instinctive reaction caused by the pure difference in power levels.

Ling Shuanghan's fingers clenched involuntarily.

She was an SSS-level powerhouse, and her actual combat ability far exceeded the upper limit of that rank.

But in that moment just now, she clearly felt—

The gap between her and this man was larger than the gap between her and an ice ant.

The ice cave remained silent for a long time.

Finally, it was Ji Wushuang who broke the silence.

"So..."

She raised her hand like a student asking a question in class.

"For this expedition, we basically just have to follow along?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment. "Pretty much."

Ji Wushuang turned to look at Ling Shuanghan's 800 fully armed warriors of a century, who all looked ready to die.

Then she looked at the Blue Star survivors on her side, who were wearing thermal suits and looked like they were going on an outing.

"Then did they prepare all that for nothing?"

A muscle in the face of Ling Shuanghan's adjutant, Huo Yan, twitched.

He had just taken back his suicide note.

Now he felt that not only had he written his suicide note for nothing, but even that "last supper" before departure had been eaten for nothing.

He was stuffed.

Ling Shuanghan ignored all this; she walked up to Lin Yuan and remained silent for a long time.

100 years.

She had fought the cleansers' Vanguard for 100 years.

Every operation required being prepared for sacrifice. Every expedition required calculating the acceptable casualty ratio. Every decision had to be a choice between "who dies" and "who lives."

For 100 years, she had thought this was the only way to fight the cleansers.

Trading lives for lives.

Trading sacrifice for survival.

And now, this man was telling her—

No need.

No need for people to die.

No need for sacrifice.

He had enough supplies to pave a safe path.

He had enough devices to cut off the enemy's energy.

He could solve the final problem himself.

From beginning to end, there wasn't a single step that required anyone to fill the gap with their life.

"You've been preparing since you became small?" Ling Shuanghan asked.

Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"I was just keeping busy."

Ling Shuanghan smiled.

It wasn't a bitter smile, nor was it a smile of relief.

It was a very complex smile.

It contained admiration, helplessness, a bit of heartache, and an indescribable emotion.

She thought of all those who had died in the past 100 years.

If they had met this man a bit earlier—

She didn't continue that thought.

Because it was meaningless.

Those from the past wouldn't come back.

But those in the future wouldn't have to die anymore.

"Let's move out." Ling Shuanghan turned around to face her 800 warriors.

Her voice regained the steadiness and majesty of a century-old empress.

"Whole army, hear my command—stay close to the team in front, do not fall behind."

She paused and added a sentence she had never said in her 100-year military career:

"For this expedition... no suicide notes are needed."

The 800 century-old warriors looked at each other.

No suicide notes needed?

These words had more impact than any pre-battle mobilization.

Because in their memories, there had never been an expedition that "didn't need suicide notes."

Never.

Huo Yan stood at the very front of the group, crumpled the list of personal effects he had just taken back into a ball, and stuffed it into the deepest part of his pocket.

He muttered to himself in a low voice:

"Still have to throw away the rations. They really have been kept for too long."

The expeditionary force set off.

The group of 5,769 people moved slowly across the ice field of the microscopic world.

Ahead was a distance of 50 meters—which, on a microscopic scale, was equivalent to 50 kilometers.

The Rift Core was waiting for them there.

The Vanguard was waiting for them there.

But the man walking at the very front of the group had his hands in his pockets, his pace as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll.

Behind him was a transport convoy filled with supplies.

Inside his body was power from the same source as the Rift Core.

On his face was his usual calm.

Ye Qingxue walked beside him and glanced at him.

"You just said you were 'just keeping busy'."

"Yeah."

"Did you really prepare so many things over these five days just because you had nothing better to do?"

Lin Yuan thought about it.

"Not entirely."

"Then what was it?"

"...I'm used to it."

Ye Qingxue didn't ask further.

She knew what this man meant by "used to it."

Used to carrying everyone's safety on his own shoulders.

Used to silently preparing everything where others couldn't see.

Used to using a casual remark to cover up all the effort he had put in.

She reached out and gave Lin Yuan's sleeve a light tug.

Lin Yuan looked down.

"What is it?"

"Nothing."

Ye Qingxue expressionlessly withdrew her hand and looked straight ahead.

The tips of her ears turned slightly red.

Lin Yuan looked at her for two seconds, said nothing, and continued walking forward.

Behind them, Luo Qinghan observed this scene expressionlessly.

Her inner thoughts were roughly as follows:

Here we go again.

It's like this every time.

One tugs a sleeve, the other pretends nothing happened.

Then both of them pretend nothing happened with red ears.

She had been single for her entire past life.

Now that she was reborn, she still had to be forced to watch this kind of thing.

Did the Heavens have some kind of grievance against her?

The wind on the ice field howled past, carrying fine ice crystals.

The expeditionary force moved slowly through the ice mist toward the Rift Core.

No one wrote a suicide note.

No one prepared to die.

Because the person walking at the very front had already cleared death from this path.

All they had to do was follow.