Not much later, Ted walked out again, holding a metal case in his hand and hurriedly left.
Li Ming submerged back into his shadow, not following him any further. The ceremonial offering of a Dimensional Creature was uncertain, and being discovered would be troublesome.
After passing several staff members and winding around for another two or three hours, he finally returned to Thunder’s shadow.
Dark Night... he pondered over this name during his journey. Here, he was unable to connect to the network to search for any related information.
But the information he deduced from the conversations of Theo and others alone was enough to raise his alarm.
Bullets laced with information-state poison didn’t just kill; they erased the existential traces of a target in the universe.
What are existential traces?
Life is a part, as are the memories of others.
Of course, Dark Night’s information-state poison hadn’t reached such a level. A top-tier information-state erasure would remove traces from recorded footage, text records—a total erasure, as if one had never existed.
"This guy, why is he targeting me?"
As he contemplated, Thunder turned a corridor, but his steps faltered.
By the door to Li Ming’s room stood the towering Taipo, and to his surprise, there was someone else.
"Theo..." Li Ming’s expression in the shadow tensed. This old fox was too cunning, surely his own experimentation on him was noticed, and that’s why he was waiting outside his room.
But Taipo would certainly not let him in, and with Theo’s character, he wouldn’t force his way through.
When Thunder noticed him, he also caught sight of Thunder.
His gaze fell instinctively upon the constantly shifting shadows under the changing light, barely perceptible wrinkles forming on his brow.
Theo didn’t believe it, watching as the other got closer, his shadow sweeping across the door gap while Thunder stopped besides the door, motionless.
"When will your master get some rest?" Theo asked with a frown, looking toward Taipo.
"I don’t know." Taipo responded bluntly, "Your Excellency can continue to wait here."
Theo frowned, glanced at the door, and then, shaking his head, decided to leave.
Just as he was about to leave, a click sounded from behind the door. Theo paused and turned back.
Azure Dragon stood at the door, seemingly quite surprised, "Your Excellency Theo? When did you get here, and why have you been standing outside?"
"Master, His Excellency Theo has been waiting here for about four hours," Taipo reported proactively.
"Why didn’t you knock?" Li Ming was even more surprised, "Sorry, I’ve been busy organizing the documents needed to make the Sublimator and wasn’t paying attention."
"Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to be disturbed?" Taipo sounded extremely puzzled.
"...That doesn’t mean that you can’t even knock on the door," Li Ming seemed exasperated.
"No matter." For some reason, Theo felt a sudden irritation welling up inside and left without expression.
Watching Theo’s retreating figure, Li Ming closed the door behind him, shaking his head.
Theo had been quietly observing him, but for the time being, he posed no threat and wasn’t worth much concern.
What he cared about now were those "treasures." Over these few hours, he had roughly figured out the structural layout of the Torch Organization.
His current targets were three Main Ship Gun Barrels. If acquired, his firepower capabilities would take a qualitative leap.
And also the Mutated Energy, or Dimension Crystals, the containers for upgrades.
The barrels would not be very hard to obtain; just a matter of time. Once the remaining two barrels arrived, if he timed it right with Shadow Sting, he could take them.
What he pondered was when the moment would come, since installing the barrels didn’t require waiting for other parts.
In other words, once the new barrels arrived, the first one might have already been mounted onto the main ship, leaving this place.
Thus, timing was critical.
Furthermore, the impact of acting could hinder his chances of acquiring Mutated Energy later, a loss he could not afford.
As for the storage location of the Dimension Crystals, he didn’t know what kind of defensive measures were in place, making it inaccessible.
Li Ming thought deeply, not yet coming up with a comprehensive plan.
If pushed, a forceful approach was an option, even if Connet became suspicious, he couldn’t do much.
"The most important issue, however..." Li Ming’s eyes flickered, "just how strong is the defense force of this Torch Main Base?"
The issue he urgently needed to clarify would affect all his strategic choices. If it wasn’t too strong, he could afford to be bold; if formidable, he would need to proceed with caution.
The Torch Organization openly possessed two Level A Life Forms with uncertain genetic progress, but since Connet had been leading the organization for a while, the progress was surely significant.
The other Level A Life Form remained shrouded in mystery, seldom mentioned by Theo and having taken action only a few times.
Could the base’s defenses counter a Level A Life Form?
Li Ming believed it to be possible; Connet dared to gather so many Level A Life Forms at their headquarters, certainly considering the consequences of not being able to suppress them.
"Without unraveling the hidden forces here, it’s hard to make a move. If only an idiot would leap out..." calculated Li Ming, preferring not to take the initiative to probe himself.
After organizing his thoughts, he could only take it one step at a time and simply continue developing the Genetic Seed.