Saying this, Rookie's gaze met Old Wu's, and then he joked lightly.

"Since he's doing so well, you can't deny you had a hand in that."

"You really were pretty farsighted, old man."

Hearing Rookie's words, Old Wu instantly let out a relieved laugh.

Rookie hadn't said it directly, but Old Wu could hear the meaning between the lines.

What Rookie was really telling him, was that he didn't need to keep feeling guilty or blaming himself.

"You brat!"

"Of course I had foresight, otherwise I wouldn't have taken you in back then."

"Just never thought you'd end up like this today…"

Saying that, Old Wu glanced at Rookie, then let out a sigh.

"The way you are now… this is exactly how I imagined a disciple should be…"

"Just don't know why, no matter how I look at it, it still feels awkward somehow…"

As he said this, Old Wu seemed like he wanted to say more, but in the end he held back. He simply patted Rookie on the shoulder and said, "Alright, alright, go on and get busy."

"When you've got the time, take me to see Mo Jiang."

"Once I see him, that stone I've been carrying in my heart… will finally hit the ground."

There wasn't anything wrong with Old Wu's words, but no matter how you heard it, it still had this strange "meeting the parents" kind of vibe.

Just as Old Wu was about to leave, Rookie suddenly remembered something and stopped him.

"Oh, right…"

"About the things happening in the game this time, I want to keep it hidden from Notch for now."

"As for the higher-ups…"

Before Rookie could even finish, Old Wu had already nodded in agreement.

"Alright."

He didn't ask Rookie for any explanation either, since Rookie knew more than he did, there must be a reason for his request.

"That batch of programmers the higher-ups sent, I handpicked them myself. Every one of them is reliable."

"When the time comes, I'll have them report directly to you."

Old Wu was exactly the kind of dependable adult you hear about in stories. When he handled things, he never let people down.

After Old Wu left, Rookie once again entered the game pod.

Then he went into the game, and using data searches, located Entity 303.

The moment he teleported next to Entity 303, deafening thunder cracked against his eardrums.

Rookie glanced at the somewhat exhausted Entity 303, then looked again at the Witherzilla not far away, and was immediately confused.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Fighting it?"

"Are you stupid?! Didn't you yourself say, something of that level can only be handled by the Execution Dragon?"

"Even if you can't die, you can still feel pain, can't you?"

"How did I never notice before that you've got a masochistic streak??"

Rookie's sudden appearance already gave Entity 303 a scare, and then he immediately opened with a barrage of scolding. Entity 303's body was already worn out, and now his heart was just as shattered.

He wanted to argue back with Rookie, but he really didn't have the strength.

Ever since leaving the Nether and finding Witherzilla, Entity 303 had been following it nonstop.

Every time large groups of players approached, Entity 303 would charge straight into the barrage of primal lightning, just to steal some kills.

Though in front of Witherzilla, the chance of actually snagging any kills was vanishingly small.

Even while enduring agonizing, soul-tearing pain, Entity 303 kept at it.

Seeing that Entity 303 didn't even have the strength left to speak, Rookie could only sigh helplessly.

He helped Entity 303 up, flew to a still-intact patch of terrain, and sat him down.

Then he explained everything he'd discovered, and all of his plans, to Entity 303.

"Overall, the situation right now is optimistic."

"I'll send that batch of programmers to the places where players are gathering around the reinforced Withers."

"That way we can at least slow down the Void's power-gathering speed a little."

"The only part that's not optimistic is…"

Before Rookie could finish, Entity 303 forced himself to speak, cutting him off.

"I… I've also… had my family doing the same thing as you…"

"I know… what you're going to say…"

"The part that's not optimistic… is that you can't guarantee my family's… safety…"

Even though Entity 303 and Rookie hadn't coordinated beforehand, both of them had come up with the same countermeasures for the current situation.

Naturally, Entity 303 could understand Rookie's reasoning.

Rookie must have weighed the pros and cons carefully before reaching this conclusion.

So Entity 303 didn't reject his plan.

But when Rookie saw the disappointment written on Entity 303's face, he hurried to explain.

"There's no way to learn to control the subconscious in such a short time."

"But I've already thought of other approaches."

"As long as it's something Notch built, I'll study it, try to improve it. Until then, we just have to control the Void's power-gathering speed as much as possible."

"We will find a perfect solution!"

Hearing this, Entity 303 nodded. "We can't just rely on you alone…"

"I'll pass all this information… to our King…"

"He… will definitely have a way!"

Even though Entity 303 and Rookie hadn't interacted deeply for all that long, Entity 303 still trusted Rookie's character.

And more importantly, Rookie was currently operating fully under his main consciousness, just that fact alone was proof enough that his care for this world was real.

After all, only when he truly cared, only when he was serious, did his main consciousness take over.

That alone was proof of how much he valued the things Entity 303 entrusted to him.

It was precisely because of this trust that Entity 303 could calmly accept Rookie's proposal.

But accepting it didn't mean resigning himself to fate.

Entity 303 could clearly see what Rookie was really saying, that in the current state, it was impossible to learn subconscious control.

Yes, Rookie had offered another plan, but Entity 303 still felt no sense of certainty inside.

Since Rookie couldn't give a definite answer, there was no way Entity 303 could gamble the lives of his whole family entirely on him.

After being enlightened by Peng Peng last time, Entity 303 had figured things out.

No matter what situation they were in, Xu Yuan was always their strongest trump card and pillar.

So Entity 303 decided, he would tell Xu Yuan about everything exactly as it was.

If even Xu Yuan couldn't do anything about the current situation, then it could only be called fate.

Hearing Entity 303's words, Rookie's face was full of guilt.

Because Rookie's current plan was essentially using Entity 303's family to take risks for the sake of the bigger picture.

He didn't want to choose that path, but there was no other way, it was the only one that gave him at least some control over the situation.

"Yeah…"

"You should tell him. All this way, it seems like there hasn't been a single problem he couldn't solve…"

"The more people involved, the more chances there are!"

Rookie's face may have shown guilt, but inside he was firm.

Because he knew very well, Entity 303 had finally found belonging in this world, had finally found family.

To him, they were everything.

And losing them was something he could never endure.

That was why Rookie would also keep racking his brains, no matter what.

"Alright, alright, don't look like you've just committed some crime."

"I understand."

"You just said we need to have the Void entity-form before the Trial Grounds end."

"With the way things are, plus you and those programmers under your command, we probably can control the Void's power-gathering speed."

"But we don't know how much power the Void actually needs to entity-form."

"If that's the case, how can we possibly control the exact timing of it?"

Entity 303 may have been blasted by lightning for so long that he'd gotten a little sluggish, but at least he wasn't stupid.

He immediately spotted the key flaw in Rookie's plan.

The idea of creating a vacuum period was fine, and yes, they could slow the Void's power gathering.

But the real problem was, they didn't know how much power the Void actually needed to entity-form. Which meant they couldn't predict the timing at all.

And if they couldn't predict the timing, how could they make sure it happened before the Trial Grounds ended?

Especially since the Trial Grounds themselves were a variable, no one knew exactly when they would end.

After Entity 303 raised the question, Rookie didn't look troubled at all. Which was enough proof he already had a plan.

"I've already roughly calculated the amount of power the Void needs to entity-form. There may be some margin of error, but it won't be large."

"So the main world here isn't the variable."

"But just like you said, the Trial Grounds are the variable…"

"The situation there is unpredictable. If things go normally, it should end in about three to four days."

"What I'm afraid of is unexpected incidents… if that happens, it could cause butterfly effects…"

Saying this, Rookie looked at Entity 303 and continued.

"You know as well as I do, I can't tell Notch the truth."

"And right now, Notch hasn't joined any faction at all. He's just wandering around with a grass-mud… alpaca… cosplaying as a traveling merchant."

"Even if I did tell him the truth, he couldn't change anything. He couldn't influence the Trial Grounds' progress…"

"So… the pressure falls on your family head."

Rookie had studied the state of the Trial Grounds earlier. Anyone with eyes could see that Xu Yuan's situation there was overwhelmingly good.

The forces and resources under his command had already far surpassed those of the other leaders.

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