“We have four pieces of the statue, head, both arms, and torso. I estimate there are three to four pieces remaining. Two have been confirmed are in the Japanese army and the U.S. navy. Two remains unknown of their whereabouts.” Xuan, whiling looking at the pieces on the table, spoke to the silver plate.

The three pieces on the table were obtained from the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. The two parties finally handed the pieces they had after successfully entered an alliance with team China. The power displayed by Heng and WangXia against the Japanese army, and the lure put forth by Xuan helped the parties made their decisions. Xuan also provided anti-gravity technology and a weapon related technology to each party in exchange.

On the other end of the silver plate was WangXia, who was riding on the Sky Stick above the ocean. His mission was to catch the U.S. navy fleet. The Kuomintang only passed the information to team China yesterday that they gifted a piece of the statue to the U.S. in exchange for a loan and an import of firearms through Burma. This move would support their battle against the Japanese army.

WangXia was rather curious. “Didn’t you send ChengXiao to the Dongbei in the northeast as an envoy? If you are willing to come to terms with or threaten the Japanese, why do you have to burn the bridge with the U.S.? Not that they are a good country but they still are our ally when Japan is involved. I think destroying their fleet on the Pacific Ocean without any communication prior goes too far.”

“They are not fighting Japan with us.” Xuan said. “You still haven’t adjusted your thoughts after I reminded you multiple times. This is not our world. This is a world that follows a similar timeline to our world. Your emotional investment is idiotic. The Japan, U.S. and even China in this world are nothing more than names and words of countries to me. There are two reasons to talk over the Buddha statue with the Japanese and to destroy the U.S. fleet. One, I haven’t confirmed how many pieces the Japanese have and where are they hiding the pieces? Two, the U.S. presents a bigger threat to the rest of my plan.”

“A bigger threat? What’s your plan?” WangXia continued to asked. “I can understand needing to locate the statue pieces before going into action to avoid accidentally destroying them.”

Xuan remained patient with his regular calm tone. “Turning China into our weapons and supplies base. Japan is destined to lose the war. So the U.S. will become a bigger threat in the future. Following our history, the U.S. needs an underdeveloped China for their interest. The reason they are assisting China is to prevent any country from taking over it. If the U.S. becomes the biggest winner in this war as is in our history, they will eventually drag down the output of our supplies base. We might as well defeat them in the initial stage.”

WangXia’s voice panicked. “But they are still an ally with China right now. Aren’t you pushing China into an abyss by going on the opposite sides of both the U.S. and Japan? They might not even make it through the Japanese invasion in this case, not to mention the rest of the war.”

Xuan sighed. “I reminded you again and again that this is not our world. Why do we have to follow our history? You have also not properly adjusted your impression of us. Our strength is tiers above this world. Have you ever imagined destroying a fleet by yourself? My goal is to obtain a peaceful and resourceful supplies base. I don’t care about this world. If the U.S. stands in my way, I will destroy it. If Japan stands in the way, I will destroy it. If the whole world stands in the way, I don’t mind crafting enough tactical nukes to destroy it. Don’t over think. There is no need to when you have the absolute power. Just brute force through your obstacles.”

“I get it. One more thing...” WangXia nodded. “You call us nationalistic youths but your actions are way worse than us.”

Xuan sneered. “A mortal’s wisdom. Speech makes a nationalistic youth, not his actions. If I can do what I say and destroy anyone I want to, then I am not a nationalist youth. The difference is that they can only talk without while not being able to achieve anything. That’s enough. Your mission is to sneak into the U.S. fleet and find the Buddha statue piece. I don’t care how you do it, with the hypnosis device or destroy the fleet. I want to see the piece in front of me by this time tomorrow!”

WangXia replied then folded the silver plate. Xuan picked up the three pieces on the table. These pieces were shiny in comparison to the head’s unremarkable appearance. The material felt like neither metal nor wood. Countless runewords were etched on the surface. A golden shimmer flowed through the runewords. No wonder the warlords and foreign forces took the body of the Buddha statue instead of its head.

Xuan studied the ends of these pieces. The separations did not appear to be cut by a blade or torn by force. They took the shape of gears. These pieces might have been individual pieces when they were crafted, not split up by the people who seized them. Which meant the Buddha statue was designed to be split up.

(If the split of the statue wasn’t caused by the Saints of the West, what is it that they modified? Did they greatly increase Hao 1’s power? Possible but unlikely. They were under the sight of the Saints of the East at all times. They would not allow drastic modifications that will lead to unavoidable deaths. In that case, the second thing the Saints of the West would like to see was...) Xuan caressed the pieces with his hands. He adjusted his glasses, put down the pieces then walked over to the pile of documents.

(The Saints and Cultivators of the East weren’t as unified as the documents mentioned. Both sides have their selfish motives... Sigh. This bonus mission could end up as a waste of time and effort if the Saints of the West modified there. We would obtain none of the valuable Cultivation manuals or documentations. Makes me want to kill those Saints.)

There was only one exception that could break through Xuan’s lack of emotions, the search through the unknown. It drove Xuan into a strange, fanatical mode like he was right now. And it gave him the thought of wanting to kill the Saints. If the rest of the team learned of it, surprise and fear would probably drown their minds, more fear than surprise. The two things team China was scared of most were the unknown future and being in Xuan’s mind.

“Ah-choo!” ChengXiao sneezed. He immediately scanned around.

Heng, who was flying about next meters next to him, yelled, “Are you sick? How can you even get a cold with this body?”

“No. This is not a normal cold.” ChengXiao said. “This chill that runs through the whole body, twitching pineal gland, and my trembling spine -- I can’t be wrong. This feeling... Xuan is probably thinking about me!”

Heng was dumbfounded for a moment before he giggled. He said in a serious tone, “Not going to question how accurate your intuition is, but I want to ask, what is he thinking about you for? Did you do something that he hates? You followed his order to Dongbei already. What else is he trying to make you do?”

ChengXiao shook his head. “It’s not so simple. My sharp intuition can’t be wrong! This has to do with Xuan!”

Seeing that ChengXiao was going to babble on, Heng attempted to change the subject. “We are at Dongbei. Like we have talked over, you go meet with the Japanese army, I will wait from a hundred kilometers away. Contact me through the silver plate if anything happens. Don’t worry, I will keep you safe!”