Chapter 1869 - 1868: The Power of the Coffin of Time

"Old man," Anke asked curiously, his hand on the steering wheel, "so you said that girl looks familiar. Do you know her?"

"No," He Ao replied slowly, "she just looks like an old friend of mine, an old friend I met while traveling across the continent."

"Perhaps it’s the ancestor of this girl or something?" Anke speculated, "Was she as pretty?"

"Much prettier than her." He Ao remarked casually.

"Were you not on good terms?" Anke pondered and asked, "I feel like you didn’t hold back against that girl either."

"Feeling sympathetic now?" He Ao laughed.

"Not at all," Anke quickly shook his head, "to be honest, if you hadn’t acted, those kids and I would have certainly been killed by her."

"At first, my ’old friend’ and I got along well," He Ao’s tone paused slightly, as if caught in some recollection, "we shared many commonalities, like old acquaintances seeing each other after many years. Unfortunately, later she insisted I have a child, and I could only leave."

"Sounds like some sort of a sorrowful, short-lived love story," Anke spoke softly.

"Indeed," He Ao chuckled, "it would’ve been better if she hadn’t arranged people to hunt me down, nearly killing me."

"That horrifying?" Anke suddenly came back to his senses.

"You can’t trust what witches say." He Ao shrugged.

"By the way, old man, what did you mean by ’Witch Cultist’?" Hearing this, Anke immediately remembered something and asked.

"It’s the cultists who worship the Witch of Desire, an Evil God, the Evil God who governs desire," He Ao remarked casually, "knowing too much won’t do you any good."

"Will knowing too much bring danger?" Anke was somewhat curious.

"When you’re studying Divine Beings, they’re also watching you," He Ao calmly said, "the more you know about them, the closer you get to them. Related things will naturally find you. Perhaps one day, you’ll become a Dry Corpse in your dreams."

"Better not then." Anke shook his head, driving the off-road vehicle up a hill.

He Ao silently sensed the surrounding mountains and wilderness.

As the fusion continued, his perception became clearer, and his sensitivity to the thoughts of surrounding life increased.

Furthermore, he could also mobilize some powers from the Coffin of Time.

The power that just influenced the ’cognition’ of that Witch Cultist came from the Coffin of Time.

At present, it seems that the Coffin of Time’s abilities mainly manifest in influencing cognition, especially influencing the ’self-cognition’ of ’observers.’

Most of the time, the environment of the observers affects their judgment and behavior.

For example, people in a moving car are in motion relative to the road but stationary relative to the vehicle.

For that Witch Cultist just now, from the perspective of the Witch Cultist, killing those kids was just a trivial matter.

But He Ao just slightly shifted her perspective, aligning her self-positioning more towards that of a mother protecting her young.

This shift made her want to remove any forces that could threaten the children first, like those mercenaries.

This Talent Sequence’s power gives He Ao a very abstract feeling; using and understanding it is a bit difficult.

Of course, Angel-tier abilities are quite abstract.

Using these abilities is still challenging for him, usable only against ordinary Transcendents.

Finally, when the higher power inside that Witch Cultist activated, the Coffin of Time’s power that He Ao could mobilize fell short.

So he used some strength of Super Memory, slightly nudging the lines of fate, slightly ’covering up’ part of the Witch Cultist’s cognition, leading her to subconsciously overlook that thrown spear.

Of course, He Ao could also directly attempt to interfere with that Witch Cultist’s thoughts to achieve the same effect, but that would consume more power and be detected by the higher power carried by the Witch Cultist.

Moreover, the outcome of fate, in many cases, is ’predetermined.’

At the moment He Ao nudged fate, as long as there was no intervention from other Higher Beings, the result of the Witch Cultist’s death was destined.

After integrating Martial Arts, especially after experiencing affecting the time and beings in the newly created world, He Ao gained deeper insights into fate.

These insights fed back into the Super Memory Talent Sequence, greatly improving his mastery of Super Memory and making his influence over fate more subtle.

His recent tweak in fate cost very little, almost incurring no side effects, but was incredibly effective.

Of course, even so, his use of the Coffin of Time’s power and Super Memory’s power slightly affected the fusion progress with the Coffin of Time.

It was only just now that he recovered the fusion progress.

"Whoa, is there a camp here?" Anke’s exclamation woke He Ao from his trance.

He raised his head, looking at the hill ahead, its top flattened and surrounded by a metal wall, faintly seeing automatic turrets fixed onto this wall rotating.

"How do we get in there?" Anke looked at those turrets and couldn’t help but ask.

"You’ve got the crystal card, right? Just drive straight in." He Ao said calmly.

Anke was slightly surprised but nodded, bravely driving forward.

Soon, he reached the metal wall’s gate, where a special scanner blinked red lights, seemingly scanning something.

After a moment, with a ’squeak—’ sound, the tightly closed gate slowly opened.

"It just opened?" Anke glanced nervously inside the gate, slowly driving the off-road vehicle inside.

The surroundings seemed to be some simple tents, and at the center of the entire area, on a broad flat land, a giant silver Floating Warplane emerged into the view of the two.

"The Floating Warplane is really here?" Anke cautiously looked at the tents around, "Isn’t anyone on guard here?"

"There is." He Ao said calmly.

"Ah?" Anke instantly grew tense, placing his hand on his waist.

"They’re still asleep, no rush," He Ao said casually.

Upon hearing this, Anke heaved a sigh of relief, placing his hand on his chest, touching the crystal card dropped by the Witch Cultist inside his clothing, slowly driving to the Floating Warplane.

"Didn’t anyone react as we got here?" Anke asked curiously.

"Is the discipline and alertness of your Mercenary Corps very strict?" He Ao asked casually.

"Strictness isn’t exactly how you’d describe it," Anke nodded, "The Mercenary Corps almost has no alertness, rules are strict, but almost none of us really follow. Enemies could sneak in unnoticed."

As he said this, he vaguely reacted, looking back at his surroundings, "I thought their elite would be better than us, but then again, we haven’t triggered any alarms."

He parked the vehicle in front of the Floating Warplane, seemingly sensing the key approaching, the Floating Warplane automatically opened its door, deploying a folding ladder.

Anke opened the car door, touching the single-shoulder bag, then looked to the back seat.

Whereupon, a pile of Gauss Rifles was neatly arranged.

He had just turned back.

Though the rescued believers were somewhat surprised, they enthusiastically helped him pick up some equipment, including grenades and Gauss rifles.

Anke didn’t take too much, only picking up what was easy to carry.

However, these pieces of equipment didn’t have packaging boxes.

Anke had tied them together beforehand and was now carrying them directly.

He walked cautiously toward the floating warplane ahead.

At this time, on a higher watchtower not far away.

A mercenary rubbed his eyes, glanced at the open floating warplane, and the off-road vehicle parked in front of it, along with Anke wearing a mercenary uniform.

"What’s that woman up to again?" he yawned, leaning back in his chair and continuing to watch surveillance elsewhere.

Anke moved all the items into the floating warplane. Subsequently, he looked at the aircraft’s control stick somewhat bewilderedly, "Old man, how do I operate this?"

"Do you think we had such things back in my day?" He Ao said casually.

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward.

"So, are we leaving with this?" Anke asked cautiously.

He had planned to drive away, but He Ao mentioned the floating warplane, making Anke think it was good too, so he specifically came over.

And now he was stuck here.

"Maybe there’s some kind of automatic control system here." Anke lowered his head, carefully searching through the aircraft’s interface.

"See if there’s any manual or something?" He Ao suggested.

"Let me see," Anke quickly checked, soon finding an electronic manual and opening it.

"Alright, just like that, let me see the contents," He Ao’s calm voice echoed in his ear, "Turn to page 156 first, start-up and control."

"Okay." Anke quickly navigated to the page.

"Just keep flipping through it, page by page." He Ao’s calm voice echoed in his ear.

"Are we going to be okay doing this?" Anke slowly flipped through the pages, eyeing the open cabin door nervously.

"Don’t rush, let me see, keep going." He Ao’s voice was calm and natural.

Thus, after half an hour, Anke finally finished going through the entire manual.

"Alright, listen to me now," He Ao spoke softly, "Sit at the control panel, press the green button on the right first."

Anke sat at the control panel and pressed the green button.

Click—

With a slight vibration, the open cabin door slowly closed, the screen displaying the motor start interface.

"Then, wait a moment, let the motor get up to speed." He Ao’s voice echoed in Anke’s ear, "Then, pull the control stick in front of you, pull it back slowly."

Anke pulled the control stick.

Whoosh—

The entire floating warplane suddenly shot upwards, and Anke, sitting inside, almost got thrown out.

"Too fast!" He Ao quickly said, "Slow it down a bit."

Anke obediently slowed down, and the warplane slowly rose, floating into the sky.

"Wow, it really took off," Anke excitedly glanced at the panoramic display inside the warplane, "Old man, did you really just learn this in half an hour?"

"I told you," He Ao said offhandedly, "I’m an ancient person, not a primitive one. Now, continue to pull the warplane’s control stick back, pull up further."

"Alright, alright." Anke followed He Ao’s instructions and operated slowly.

"Routine inquiry, flying a warplane away still requires a report, do you have the authorization given by the lord?" Just at this moment, a communication chimed in, and a somewhat lazy mercenary appeared on the screen. He glanced at Anke’s face and suddenly paused, "Have I seen you before?"

This voice startled Anke, causing his hand to shake, and the entire warplane to shudder violently.

"See the pedal on the right side?" He Ao’s calm voice echoed in Anke’s ear, "Step on it, press it all the way down."

Anke glanced at the pedal on the right and slammed his foot down.

A massive force surged from the back of the warplane, as though it were a kick straight to Anke’s back, propelling his body forward.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy-e-e-e—" At this point, the mercenary on the communication finally realized what was happening and shouted in a panic, but by this time, the communication link had already started breaking up, dragging out his voice with a crackling sound.

Boom, boom, boom—

Intense cannon fire sounded from behind, yet it faded into the distance.

Anke raised his head, looking at the windows on both sides. Beyond the narrow glass, shadows of mountains swiftly swept by, blending into a continuous stretch.

"We really did take off." Anke said, still slightly in disbelief, "Old man, in the Mercenary Corps, flying vehicles like this are only handled by young masters from conglomerate families, those who have gone to college. If we as much as touch them, the officer might shoot us dead on the spot."

As he spoke, his hand trembled slightly, and the whole aircraft vibrated violently again.

"If you lose focus again," He Ao’s calm voice echoed in his ear, "You might end up ’crash-killed’."

Anke chuckled awkwardly, stabilizing the flight with his hand on the control stick.

"Shift your gaze to the left," He Ao’s voice sounded again, "There is a yellow button, press it."

Anke reached out and pressed the button.

Rows of green light displays appeared on the screen.

"Automatic cruise system activated." A gentle mechanical voice rang out inside the aircraft.

"Now, let go." He Ao said again.

Anke nodded and released his grip.

The aircraft started to fly smoothly.

He looked around in surprise, "Wow, it’s flying on its own now!"

Then he glanced down at the screen in front of him, noticing a simulated navigation display, "Old man, it seems the aircraft’s power is running low, where’s our next stop?"

He Ao pondered for a moment and said softly, "Ilotan."