377: Chapter 378 Thirty-seven days become seven days, limited-time clearing begins

Instructor Su Qing noticed the change in Lin Qi's expression.

Having followed him for so long, she knew very well that the things that could make this man's expression change were few and far between.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Qi didn't answer immediately, continuing to use Dao Source to analyze the data within the crystal.

Zhang Wei poked half his head out from the underground passage, only crawling out after confirming there was no danger and jogging all the way to Lin Qi.

"Boss, what was that thing just now? I felt the ceiling shaking from down there. That bald guy Shi Gu almost cried."

Lin Qi ignored him, remaining silent for about ten seconds before putting the crystal in his pocket.

"Instructor Su Qing."

"I'm here."

"The buffer period is no longer thirty-seven days."

Instructor Su Qing's brow twitched.

Lin Qi turned around to look at her, his tone flat, like he was reading a weather report.

"Before the Prophet retreated, he remotely activated the acceleration program for the Ice Rift Valley. Eternal Frost's side is forcibly ripening the Container."

"How much time is left?" Instructor Su Qing asked.

"Seven days."

The smile froze on Zhang Wei's face.

Instructor Su Qing's expression didn't change, but her knuckles turned white as she gripped her command token.

Thirty-seven days and seven days were completely different concepts.

Thirty-seven days meant sufficient recovery time, meaning all the Silent Leopards could be built, and a complete offensive plan could be deployed with composure.

Seven days meant everything had to be compressed.

"How much of your Dao Source was consumed by that strike just now?" Instructor Su Qing asked the most critical question.

"Over half," Lin Qi said frankly.

Instructor Su Qing pursed her lips.

Over half of his Dao Source, plus a seven-day countdown.

No matter how fast Lin Qi's recovery speed was, it was impossible for him to return to his Peak state in seven days.

And on the other side was the Church of Calamity's strongest High Priest, Eternal Frost, plus a half-step Law-level disciple, Frost Thorn, and an entire underground ice fortress managed for thirty years.

"Can we wait?" Instructor Su Qing asked tentatively.

She knew the answer, but she still wanted to ask.

"We can't wait," Lin Qi shook his head. "Once the Container's ripening is complete, that thing won't be Eternal Frost's problem anymore; it will be the Prophet's. You saw it just now—the Prophet can paralyze the entire base's defenses just by tossing down a projection."

"If it's allowed to descend in its complete form, even I will have a hard time fighting it."

This was the first time Lin Qi had used the words "hard time fighting."

Instructor Su Qing understood the weight of those words.

Zhang Wei, standing nearby, also understood. The merchant's smile on his face vanished completely, replaced by a rare seriousness.

"Then we fight," Instructor Su Qing said, her tone devoid of hesitation. "Tell me how we're fighting, and I'll coordinate accordingly."

Lin Qi glanced at her, then at the Law Creatures that were resuming operation, and finally at the base riddled with holes from the conceptual erasure.

"The Ice Rift Valley is on the northern border, four thousand kilometers from here. Eternal Frost has retracted all defenses, reinforced the underground to two hundred meters, and sunk the Container by fifty meters."

"I'll use Stealth to go through the underground, just like I did with the Rotten Wood Forest."

Instructor Su Qing frowned. "Stealthing four thousand kilometers underground—can your current state hold out?"

"I don't need to make it in one go," Lin Qi thought for a moment. "The trip to the Rotten Wood Forest was two thousand kilometers and took twenty-four hours. The Ice Rift Valley is twice as far, but I can go in segments and recover my Dao Source along the way."

"The problem is time," Instructor Su Qing said. "Stealth plus recovery will take at least three days. Once you arrive, you'll still have to face Eternal Frost and Frost Thorn, plus a two-hundred-meter ice layer defense line. Your Dao Source won't be at full capacity."

"I don't need it to be at full capacity."

Lin Qi patted the deep purple crystal in his pocket.

"The Prophet left a grand gift. Besides the countdown information, this contains structural data for part of the Ice Rift Valley's defense system. It was transmitted through the conceptual body when the Prophet activated the acceleration program; he left in too much of a hurry to clean it up properly."

Instructor Su Qing's eyes lit up.

"That's equivalent to giving you a map."

"Half a map," Lin Qi corrected. "The defense details of the core area aren't there, but the paths of the energy pipelines from the outskirts to the middle layers are all there. I can bypass the thickest ice defenses and cut in through the joints of the energy pipelines."

"The Dao Source I save will be enough for me to have a head-on fight with Eternal Frost."

Instructor Su Qing was silent for a few seconds before nodding.

"When are you leaving?"

"Acquired," Lin Qi said. "I'll use a day and a half to recover my Dao Source and make final preparations."

He looked toward Zhang Wei. "Fatty, how many Materials are left for the Silent Leopards?"

Zhang Wei immediately switched back to work mode. "More than half of the Chaos powder is left. Building five units won't be a problem."

"Build them all and incorporate them into the Base D-3 core defense. Nothing can go wrong here while I'm away."

"Understood." Zhang Wei nodded and turned to head toward the workshop.

He took two steps and stopped, looking back at Lin Qi.

"Boss."

"Yeah?"

"Is going to the Ice Rift Valley alone really enough?"

Lin Qi looked at him, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.

"You want to go too? Sure, you can carry my bag on the way. Four thousand kilometers underground at eighty kilometers per hour—if we don't stop, it'll take about fifty hours. You should weigh whether that fat on you can hold out until we get there."

Zhang Wei's face instantly slumped.

"I'll handle logistics."

"Good self-awareness."

A sense of post-disaster relaxation permeated the courtyard.

Shi Gu and Ji Mie finally walked out of the underground passage. Seeing the void areas all over the ground and the Law Creatures resuming operation, their expressions were very complex.

Shi Gu walked to the edge of a void area and tentatively reached his hand forward. When his fingertips touched the boundary of "nothingness," a sharp pain shot through him, and he hurriedly pulled back.

"When can this stuff recover?" he asked.

"It can't," Lin Qi said as he passed by him. "In areas erased by concepts, the rules of this world no longer recognize their existence. I have to rewrite them using Dao Source."

Shi Gu shuddered.

An attack that could even erase the rules of the world—Lin Qi had withstood it alone?

He looked at Lin Qi's back, then at the gray-white dome in the sky that had returned to normal.

What on earth was this man made of?

Lin Qi returned to the command center, closed the door, and sat down at the table.

He took the deep purple crystal out of his pocket, placed it on the table, and began to analyze the high-dimensional data inside more carefully.

The layout of the Ice Rift Valley's outer energy pipelines gradually took shape in his mind.

Seven days.

Subtracting the day and a half recovery period and the two-day Stealth journey, there would be at most three and a half days of margin left after arriving.

It was enough.

But the margin for error was very low.

He had to kill with a single strike.

He closed his eyes and began to meditate to recover his Dao Source.

Only one image kept revolving in his mind.

The Prophet's mass of constantly shifting high-dimensional light and shadow—the moment the Gaze Channel was stuffed with a Dao Source bomb, its flickering frequency changed abruptly.

That wasn't anger, nor was it fear.

It was more like curiosity.

A kind of curiosity a high-dimensional lifeform felt toward a low-dimensional ant.

It hadn't been beaten back; it had left voluntarily because it felt there was no need to waste time.

This realization made Lin Qi's gaze turn a few degrees colder.

It didn't matter.

If you won't come to me, I'll come to you.

Ice Rift Valley, see you in seven days.