However, Xu Shi and his apprentice, as well as Lu Baiyan, were still quite shocked—the latter two were shocked because their own city-states did not have such high-tech monitoring methods, while the former... this guy had never cared about these things before.

In addition, this kind of growth happens little by little over time, and it really doesn't attract much attention from people who don't care.

Even if it's something very straightforward, something you can easily find by searching.

But it was precisely this seemingly obvious factor that effectively seized the lifeline of "natural law"—clearly, they were also unable to cope with the increasingly rampant "rust fog," which led to the loss of their original advantage.

Having sorted out the cause and effect, Xu Shi breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly lost in thought.

No wonder.

By reasoning the conclusions back to the process, many things can be explained.

While the "natural law" approach was somewhat lenient, Xu Shi had also been curious about Luo Yu's affairs.

After all, compared to little Shen He, this guy is really too lacking in prestige. Even if Shen He is bad, he has at least tried to fight to the death with me. Even when I had the upper hand, I still maintained a certain winning percentage in Xia Ke'an's future calculations.

In contrast, Luo Yu was ridiculously bad, completely outmatched by himself throughout the entire battle, and only played a supporting role in the final fight. The real protagonist was Xu Ying, the "Observer."

To put it bluntly, he was no different from cannon fodder; he could die at any moment, and his main characteristic was a clean and swift death.

Not to mention that this is because Boss Xu has the dual advantages of experience and technology, Luo Yu himself completely fails to demonstrate the resilience and ability that a "protagonist" should have.

But if the protagonist's halo given to him by "natural law" was originally weak, then it seems to make sense.

Judging from the timeline, the storyline of the Hualan Empire must have started later than that of the City of Night Sin. When Shen He's family was destroyed, Luo Yu was still wearing open-crotch pants.

It is clear that the previous experiment failed, so a new restart was carried out.

This resulted in Luo Yu's protagonist aura being weaker than Shen He's. Xu Shi guessed that even if he hadn't come, Luo Yu's future path might not have been as smooth as he imagined, and he might have had to switch from a wish-fulfillment story to a tragic one.

But none of these are the most important.

The most important piece of information is this: the strength of "Tianli" is not what it used to be!

After realizing what had happened, the others were also very happy, especially Jiang Chengcheng, whose joy was almost overflowing.

Her personality is different from others, and she is not actually that resistant to "natural law", or rather, she doesn't care.

She only cared about Xu Shi, listened to him without question, and was willing to work hard for his goals.

Now that she heard good news for Xu Shi, she was naturally happier than anyone else.

Should we speed things up?

While delighted, Jiang Chengcheng also offered a reminder, "Taking advantage of 'Heavenly Principles' while it's weakened will allow us to accelerate our own improvement and further enhance our advantages."

"certainly."

Xu Shi looked at her and smiled, thinking to himself, "Second Madam, you're quite the smooth talker."

In a sense, what they are doing is still stuck on "narrowing the gap with 'natural law'", and "increasing advantages" is obviously a more boastful statement.

But saying the same thing in a different way can boost morale even more, and it makes him feel more comfortable.

Narrowing the gap is one aspect, but another is that he actually understands that "Tianli" may not have been crippled by the rampage of "Rust Fog." Rather, it is more likely that their development speed is temporarily unable to keep up with the expansion speed of "Rust Fog."

Once they can respond, things will likely become even more complicated – if the bottom line of "Heavenly Justice" returns to normal, he, the rebel, will likely be purged, and he will have little chance of being able to withstand the opponent's deus ex machina attack.

"It seems we need to return earlier than planned; some deployments can only be carried out back there."

He suppressed his smile and said seriously, "The same applies to existing research."

"OK."

Everyone is well aware of this, and it is more prudent to carry out strategic deployments at the base camp. Even though the Hualan Empire is gradually taking on the shape of Xushi, it will still take a certain amount of time.

In contrast, this place might be more like a backup base, or a safety net – as long as “natural law” doesn’t change its decision to abandon this place, it will remain a lawless paradise.

After chatting for a few more minutes, everyone dispersed to rest—the experiment hadn't lasted long, but the lessons learned were worth digesting.

Xie Qingyan and Jiang Chengcheng no longer had any desire to cling to Xu Shi; all they wanted to do now was get a good night's sleep.

Indeed, the two girls were so busy with this experiment that they couldn't even close their eyes. Even if they really had the will, they probably didn't have the energy.

We don't have the energy to do any extra physical work; we're not oxen.

Even if that's true, isn't there an old saying that goes, "There's no land that's been over-cultivated, only oxen that have died from exhaustion"?

snort!

Thinking this, Xie Xiaogou, who was always prone to throwing tantrums, couldn't help but pinch Xu Shi and give him a sharp look.

Faced with her aggrieved little eyes, Boss Xu simply raised his hands in surrender and let her vent her anger.

The end result was that he became a lonely figure for a short time—even his little apprentice Pan Ling had slipped away first, and she sensibly went to take care of other trivial matters for her master.

They're very busy too, you know.

Faced with this outcome, Xu Shi could only lament that his disciple had grown up and was no longer home, while cheerfully walking towards the door.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!