I Am Extraordinary Alone-Chapter 664 - 662: Collaboration

A few days later, when Adam’s people came again for technical discussions, Lin Yan subtly revealed her intention to collaborate.

The visitor was delighted and quickly drove back to his hideout to inform Mike of the development.

The next day, Mike came in person, not only to confirm Lin Yan’s willingness to cooperate but also to ensure that this collaboration was not a scam.

Lin Yan, of course, was aiming to deceive them, but the other party wasn’t foolish. Truly clever scams, like lies, are half-truths, and sometimes, truth dominates nine out of ten parts, with manipulation occurring only in that last slice.

Lin Yan wanted their system and also planned to take away White King’s half-body. In actuality, achieving this was quite simple; with a more brute force and direct approach, she could just take White King directly to their hideout, then pause time in an instant, allowing her to do anything she wished.

However, since they had long known her hideout, unless she could kill them, they would inevitably come seeking explanations later.

As Lin Yan herself said, she wasn’t an assassin but a scientist. She couldn’t let her actions bring retribution upon the team, so she didn’t plan to resolve the matter using White King’s power.

Professor Li Xianping initially thought Lin Yan had genuinely changed her mind, but after Lin Yan revealed her plan, he became more worried.

"They might have agents, and weapons," Li Xianping said.

"We have White King. White King can serve as a safeguard. In fact, my plan is ninety percent real and ten percent fake. I really intend to do some preliminary collaboration with them, like getting White King out and connecting its brain, constructing worlds to observe. I’m very curious about their technology, and they probably have a large power facility, which might help achieve things we currently can’t," Lin Yan explained.

"Alright, let’s proceed with your idea, but be cautious and don’t resort to killing easily. Pseudo-God is still searching for us; I’m worried your misuse of power might draw Him to us," Li Xianping said.

Lin Yan nodded.

When Mike arrived, the two teams held a brief meeting where Fujiwara Makoto conjured a large table and prepared a dozen cups of coffee, not by showcasing abilities before them, but by preparing them in another warehouse and having the refugee crew bring them over.

In this post-apocalyptic world, such formal meetings seemed somewhat pretentious, and Mike seemed to sense something off here – the refugees and the research team were too clean, appearing to have no worries of food and possessing ample water for cleaning. Because he didn’t know Fujiwara Makoto, he attributed all of this to White King.

"I’m glad you changed your mind, but you know we’re in extraordinary times, and given your relationship with White King... we need to discuss the collaboration details because we don’t want any safety hazards in this cooperation," Mike said.

Evidently, this statement indicated a fear that Lin Yan might play tricks using time-stopping abilities.

"We no longer have time for intrigue, Mike. I think we can leverage White King’s power and simultaneously conduct our experiments; our goals don’t conflict, and the paths can proceed together," Lin Yan said.

"Forgive me for asking boldly, but maintaining a fictional world’s existence requires immense energy. If we initiate two experiments simultaneously, won’t White King be overburdened?" Mike asked.

Lin Yan said, "Only by trying will we know. Mr. Mike, you’re being overly cautious."

"You should understand my feelings; even coming here to meet you puts me at great risk," Mike said.

Lin Yan chuckled and said, "I’m a scientist, not an assassin, nor part of a superpowered special force. Moreover, humanity is on the brink of extinction; I have no desire to play political games."

Mike pondered for a while, looking towards his colleagues. They didn’t have many cards to play either. In times of scarcity, not cooperating would lead to their demise.

He stood up, extended his hand to Lin Yan, and said, "I hope our cooperation is a turning point for humanity’s fate."

Lin Yan also stood up, shook his hand, and nodded, "Let’s reclaim our past lives."

After the negotiation, Lin Yan led her 12-member team, along with 20 armed refugees, on a large bus, heading to their sanctuary with Mike.

Fujiwara Makoto hid within the refugee crew, the bus was her creation, and she personally drove it.

Honestly, the two foundations’ refuges were less than 40 kilometers apart, just as Lin Yan had speculated, the Human Cradle Plan Foundation was indeed located near the city’s abandoned power plant.

It was a geothermal power station supplying numerous nearby research institutes, separated from the civilian grid, and now abandoned.

Mike’s people had restored it and made some concealment arrangements around the nearby research institutes, covering these generally two- or three-story small research sites with reflective cloths to prevent the escape of scent and temperature, the vast sheets hanging down to the ground, even blocking entrance doors. There were agents patrolling the entry, few in number, armed with some outdated ICR rifles.

The bus parked beside three black cars of Mike’s at the open-air parking lot next to the research institute, where several agents arrived, pulling a huge invisibility camouflage cloth over the bus.

This left Fujiwara Makoto quite embarrassed, as she had initially planned to park the bus discreetly in an unnoticed corner and then disperse it. Now, she was stuck inside, maintaining the bus’s existence.

Lin Yan and Li Xianping then led the team into their research institute.

Although the institute wasn’t tall in floors, it was spacious enough inside. However, it was apparent that living supplies were missing here, so everyone wore slightly shabby casual attire and didn’t bother much about appearances, except for Mike himself, who was groomed particularly clean and tidy.

The entire first floor had the semblance of some technical gathering, with everyone holding their laptops and sitting anywhere to work; some were munching on slightly audible bread, and the indoor temperature was somewhat high, making the tech personnel seem to live worse off than refugees.

"Where did you place that big guy’s half-body?" Lin Yan asked bluntly.

"In another larger research institute; it’s a massive thing. I just brought you to see our Fictional World System 1.0, entirely created by the developers here. The server array is on the second floor, as you’ve seen, we’re not lacking electricity, but we lack water," Mike said.

Lin Yan and her group followed Mike to the second floor, where they saw towering black server units, the temperature very high, with dozens of maintenance personnel bustling through, but Mike quickly took them to the third floor.

The arrangement on the third floor startled Lin Yan; dozens of cheap screens had their stands removed and were laid on the floor, almost covering the entire third floor’s space. A few female researchers, holding Bluetooth keyboards, were weaving between the screen gaps; Lin Yan saw in the room’s corner, six mainframes running.

The screens displayed black backgrounds with light green lines of code, recognizable as operational parameters of various worlds.

"We haven’t constructed worlds yet, but we can pre-set conditions and conduct code-level pre-simulation," Mike said.

"Then how do you send people into them?" Lin Yan asked.