"Han Xiaozhan applied white lipstick to everyone."

"The ladies all had blissful smiles on their faces..."

Han Zhan put down the reader and glanced up at Li Lingzhen, whose fingers were dancing on the computer, leaning back with a tactical posture.

After the last incident, Han Zhan began to catch up on Li Lingzhen's serial novels and bestsellers.

Not being able to outdrive the Old Priestess was something unacceptable for a man!

Li Lingzhen's books were hard to get through official channels, so Han Zhan had no choice but to sacrifice himself and ask Li Lingzhen in person for a bunch.

"Is this the serialized novel you've been updating recently? Isn't the male lead's name a bit too careless? If the Great Xia people saw this, they would track you down through the internet."

Li Lingzhen made a big, goofy face at Han Zhan, taking a break.

"By using this name, males can substitute themselves as the male lead, and females as the female lead — it's totally a hit for both genders!"

"This novel has quite the market among Great Xia women!"

"No wonder it's you." Han Zhan couldn't help but twitch his face after hearing Li Lingzhen's words.

Thankfully, the female lead in it didn't have a real-world name.

Han Zhan held Li Lingzhen's head, studying it closely to see if there was any green glow emerging from it.

Li Lingzhen struggled free, flashing sharp little tiger teeth at Han Zhan.

"For eating alone behind our backs last time with Siteng, this is punishment, punishment! From the Great Demon Lucifer's punishment!"

"But Siteng was the one eating alone, why punish me?" Han Zhan spread his hands.

Li Lingzhen sighed. "She's now the entire Great Xia's Strategic Headquarters as well as the head of the Great Xia Research Institute, up against a rock with an egg — I'm not foolish."

Since Han Zhan returned, half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Jingxuan temporarily retreated for solitary training, entrusting all matters to Shang Siteng, acting as the Strategic Headquarters. These past ten days, Shang Siteng was busier than a spinning top.

However, her tough days were soon coming to an end.

With the help of Nuwa Stone's talent and the full resources of Great Xia, Shang Siteng started from scratch, elevating Great Xia's overall technological level.

By now, the North County Cities have been elevated to a Level 3 Civilization.

Don't underestimate Level 3; it is fundamentally different from Shang Siteng's Level 4 on Nuwa Continent.

On Nuwa Continent, Shang Siteng abandoned some redundant technologies to focus entirely on the development of combat starships, hence achieving the skewed Level 4 Civilization upgrade.

But in Great Xia, Shang Siteng's focus shifted more towards governance, leading to extensive foundational construction in civic technology.

In just ten or so days, the mechanized construction in Great Xia North County was undergoing earth-shaking changes at a visibly swift pace.

External chips have been redeveloped.

Many trivial matters were delegated to other subordinates under the Strategic Department, allowing Shang Siteng to finally catch a break.

Han Zhan looked up towards the window.

The snow had completely melted away, turning Julu Pass warm as spring, with no more wind and snow.

The road was specially repaired, paved with uniformly flat stone materials, looking neat and appealing.

Residential, commercial, and industrial zones were restructured, and precision-calibrated according to the coverage of the Ancient Array, enhancing each array's coverage efficiency by fifteen percent.

Each city handling different aspects of production and research significantly improved their coordination.

Though technology products like shuttles and starships were not yet seen, robots could be seen everywhere maintaining city order.

Just fifteen days.

"Technology changes the world." Han Zhan couldn't help but genuinely sigh.

"In terms of internal city governance, it must be handed to such professionals."

"Fourth Senior Brother Shen Zheqi has been traveling tirelessly among the cities, assisting with the maintenance and replacement of the Ancient Arrays, and who knows how Second Senior Brother is progressing with the interpretation of the River Map and Luo Book."

In this case, hosting a few mega cosplay events seems to have rendered him the most idle person for now.

…

Outside Julu Pass.

Minute particles, tiny and indistinguishable to the naked eye, were gradually approaching.

The Spirit Contract Masters responsible for guarding did not notice.

As these subtly small particles were about to enter Julu Pass, a transparent membrane suddenly appeared, blocking them all out.

Simultaneously, the alarm at Julu Pass went off sharply.

"Tsk."

Countless nanorobots gathered like a silver stream, revealing a gentleman with a black top hat and black tailcoat.

He leaned on a cane, a playful smile on his face.

"Electronic barrier."

"You've managed to develop it so soon; truly worthy of the second most talented of the Shang Family. I'm starting to regret letting you off."

"Tsk tsk."

Shang Jianyue looked at the transparent membrane before him, murmuring to himself.

The electronic barrier could fend off the infiltration of low-tier mechanical spies and alert during high-tier mechanical enemy invasions, fully loaded with functions.

This barrier was specifically developed to resist mechanical product invasions.

For Shang Jianyue, with his strength, he naturally could ignore this barrier and continue into North County.

However, he was already detected at this point, and he wasn't here to officially launch a war against Great Xia for the time being.

Soon, Han Zhan's figure appeared at Julu Pass.

"You should tell that my visit this time lacks malice."

Shang Jianyue raised his hands with a carefree expression.

"Of course, if you did have malice, you'd be facing not me but my Senior Brother, the head of the First War Zone of Great Xia."

"Must we converse in this manner?"

Shang Jianyue looked up, gazing at Han Zhan standing on the rampart.

Han Zhan chuckled coldly.

"I prefer being above."

As he spoke, countless nanorobots suddenly transformed under Shang Jianyue's feet, stacking and stretching his legs upward indefinitely.

In the next moment, Shang Jianyue turned into "Giant" Shang Jianyue, looking down at Han Zhan.

"Coincidentally, I like being above too." Shang Jianyue's voice came from beneath the clouds.

"…"

The peculiar competitiveness between men.

Back to business.

"Tell me, what matter is worth you, the City Lord of Titan City, the resurrected first-generation Patriarch of the Shang Family, coming all this way."

Shang Jianyue repositioned his hands on the silver cane.

"Aren't you curious why, amidst the rampant Alien Race, several major Human Race forces still scheme and stab each other?"

"With Human Race in chaos, enabling Alien Race to exploit vulnerabilities, what's the benefit for them?"

Shang Jianyue's words made Han Zhan's eyes narrow slightly.

To claim no curiosity would be false.

The death of Teacher Li Shutong was still fresh in memory. Great Xia was forced back to North County, struggling to survive.

All these stemmed from the backstabbing by major forces.

But the reason for the backstabbing, Han Zhan only understood those on the surface.

Deeper matters were mere speculation, unverifyable.

"You mean you know?"

"How would you know?"

Shang Jianyue gently tapped his temple with his right index finger.

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