On the huge plaza where the display screen stood, fierce winds blew and sand and dust swirled violently.

Doctor Zhao turned his head to look at Yan Zhichun, his expression panicked as he said: “This kind of scene… I really can’t handle this kind of scene. I haven’t even made psychological preparations… You’re really being too demanding.”

After hearing this, Yan Zhichun frowned, then raised her head to look at the display screen. Her gaze pierced through the sand and dust in midair, roughly scanning the numerous characters that were almost indistinguishable. She quickly frowned.

She didn’t seem to see “Disintegration” on the screen.

Perhaps the sudden huge scene before him had caused Doctor Zhao’s faith to collapse. If that was the case, should she have told him about the severity of the mission last night?

But after all, Yan Zhichun didn’t understand Doctor Zhao. Perhaps after revealing the true mission, Doctor Zhao’s collapse would have come even earlier.

“You’re already standing here.” Yan Zhichun said. “Now everyone sees us as a ‘rebel army.’ Even if you want to run, you’ll probably die. Rather than harbor that kind of unrealistic fantasy, you might as well focus on what’s in front of you.”

After listening, Doctor Zhao looked around at the distance through the gale winds and sand and dust. Because the plaza where the giant bell and display screen were placed had roads leading in all directions, people were beginning to blockade from all the roads.

He knew that even if he started fleeing now, he would encounter enforcers encircling the rebel army on every road. He might become the first target to be killed.

“You people really have gone too far…” Doctor Zhao said. “Must you force me into this kind of desperate situation…”

After hearing this, Yan Zhichun extended both hands and pressed them on Doctor Zhao’s shoulders, then said word by word: “Not just you—everyone is in a desperate situation.”

“What…?”

“Every person standing beside you is facing an extremely arduous test in their heart.” Yan Zhichun said. “Including Baihu who’s blocking us at the very front—his heart is more conflicted than anyone’s.”

After listening, Doctor Zhao paused. He had originally thought Yan Zhichun wasn’t good at conversation, but had never realized she could be so eloquent.

“So I should have straightened out your thinking and regulated your emotions properly, but there’s no time for that now. After all, no one here is having an easier time than you.” Yan Zhichun continued. “If you think you can do it, I’ll shift my focus onto you. If you think you can’t, find a way to save your own life now.”

Doctor Zhao took a deep breath. Although Yan Zhichun’s words were very realistic, in his view, they were also very cold and unfeeling.

But Yan Zhichun’s methods and rhetoric made him feel pressured.

“Little lady… it’s not a question of whether I can or can’t.” Doctor Zhao said. “In this current situation… I can’t find that feeling anymore… You understand? I’m scared to death right now. I don’t dare promise you at all. I’m afraid ‘Disintegration’ is already gone.”

Yan Zhichun was frowning and about to speak when a figure appeared behind Doctor Zhao.

“I can help you.”

Yan Zhichun focused her gaze and saw that the speaker was Lin Qin. She quickly became hesitant.

“You…?” Doctor Zhao turned his head to look at Lin Qin. “How are you going to help me?”

Lin Qin extended her hand and slowly grasped Doctor Zhao’s arm, saying softly: “Everything will get better.”

Doctor Zhao paused slightly after touching Lin Qin’s soft palm, then asked: “You mean…”

“I’m ‘Activation.'” Lin Qin said. “After being touched by me, you’ll more easily obtain an ‘Echo.'”

After hearing this explanation, Yan Zhichun still frowned deeply. She had always been suspicious of Lin Qin’s identity and felt that something like “Activation” was equally unreliable.

This explanation was somewhat abstract. For example, the success or failure of an “Echo” came from whether the person himself believed. But if there was a person who told you she was “Activation,” and that after touching you she would enhance your “Echo,” that would invisibly increase this person’s degree of belief in their own “Echo.”

In other words… whether or not the person touching you was “Activation,” as long as you believed she said this, the effect of “Activation” had already been achieved.

From this perspective, everyone could be “Activation,” everyone could also achieve the effect of “Activation,” and no one could verify whether “Activation” actually played a role or not.

Yan Zhichun imperceptibly turned her head to look at the screen. Unlike just now, Yan Zhichun quickly found the two words “Activation” in a corner.

It seemed “Activation” truly was a genuine “Echo,” but its function made Yan Zhichun feel unable to grasp it.

A “senior Extreme Path member” she had never heard of, plus a dispensable “Echo”—this made Lin Qin’s identity generate even greater suspicion in Yan Zhichun’s heart than before.

She could receive “Demonic Sound Descending from Heaven,” which naturally meant that from the bottom of her heart she considered herself an “Extreme Path member,” conforming to the judgment of “cause and effect.”

But Yan Zhichun still felt there were too many suspicious points about her.

“Just by touching… that’s enough?” Doctor Zhao paused and turned to ask Lin Qin.

“That’s right. Next, just let things take their natural course, and your ‘Echo’ will appear very soon.” Lin Qin nodded at Doctor Zhao. “In any case, let’s complete this mission first.”

Yan Zhichun knew that no matter how suspicious Lin Qin was, she was currently still someone on her side.

“Yan, Yan Zhichun…” Doctor Zhao said. “The giant bell and display screen are really too enormous. Even if I truly ‘Echo,’ to destroy them would still require satisfying some prerequisites…”

“Speak.” Yan Zhichun said. “Even if you want my life, that’s fine.”

“No… it’s not that exaggerated…” Doctor Zhao raised his head to look at the giant equipment standing before him, then said, “I need to touch it. Its size is too enormous. I can’t perform ‘Disintegration’ from here.”

“Touch…” Yan Zhichun looked with a grave expression at the path leading to the giant bell and display screen. Although this path was extremely unobstructed, at the end of the road stood an old man in white.

At this moment, he was single-handedly wielding overwhelming gale winds to battle a crowd of “Extreme Path members.”

To touch the giant bell under Baihu’s very nose?

“Not only that…” A trace of awkwardness flashed across Doctor Zhao’s expression. “To be safe, it would be best if a woman could go with me. Even if she becomes a corpse after arriving, it doesn’t matter…”

“A woman?” Yan Zhichun didn’t understand for a moment. “Finding someone to escort you there is no problem, but the gender needs to be stipulated in advance?”

“This…” Doctor Zhao’s eyes flickered. “This isn’t a matter of ‘escorting.’ It’s that after I touch a female, I can be one hundred percent sure that ‘Disintegration’ will activate normally.”

After hearing this, Yan Zhichun frowned, then said in a low voice: “You’d better not be lying to me.”