"Welcome back, brother w.a.n.g Tong!" Li s.h.i.+ming extended a welcoming hand .  w.a.n.g Tong held his hand and pumped it rigorously . "Nice to see you again, Brother Li . "

The two of them both had poised bearings, and the situation filled Li s.h.i.+ming's heart with wistful emotions . Like Lie Jian, he could have risen to power without much consideration for humans' unity, but he had chosen the right but the more difficult path of helping w.a.n.g Tong .

"Why are you two so formal? Men are strange creatures . " Li Ruoer's remark amused the two .  

"Someone needs to teach my bra.s.sy sister a lesson . " Li s.h.i.+ming put in . Over the years, Li Ruoer's affection for w.a.n.g Tong was no longer a secret . No matter how Porten tried to win Li Ruoer's heart, his efforts had all but failed . After getting fed up of Porten's unwanted attention, Li Ruoer told him straight out that she would marry him if he could defeat her in a one on one battle . Porten never showed up at her doorstep again after that .

And now, whatever little chance he might have had in winning Li Ruoer over was gone with the return of w.a.n.g Tong .  

It was the first time in six years that Li Ruoer, Ma Xiaoru, Zhang Jin, Zhou Sisi, and w.a.n.g Tong had sat in the same room . Their friends.h.i.+p went way back, particularly that among Ma Xiaoru, Zhou Sisi, and Li Ruoer . As they caught up with each other about what they had been up to in the six years, memories of their academy life flooded back and bonded them tightly together . The topic of discussions was mainly about Zhou Sisi's escape; however, the focus of the discussion quickly s.h.i.+fted to w.a.n.g Tong .  

"Xiaoru, believe me, you have to be careful with those Martian women . w.a.n.g Tong is a nice guy, but all men are the same . It's true!" Li Ruoer said hotly . She didn't just resent the martian girls around w.a.n.g Tong, but also Zhou Sisi . However, Ma Xiaoru's acquiescence about w.a.n.g Tong and Zhou Sisi's affair seemed to legitimized her own outward affection for him .  

Zhou Sisi knew what had happened between Li Ruoer and w.a.n.g Tong, and only she knew that he liked Li Ruoer deep down . Otherwise, Li Ruoer would have long since given up her pursuit . She lacked the courage of dissing Li Ruoer for doing what she was had done . At any rate, Li Ruoer would have to gain Ma Xiaoru's approval first; without her permission, w.a.n.g Tong would scarcely dare to get near Li Ruoer .

"Good point! He had been reveling on Mars, surrounded by field medics and even princesses . We need to keep a close eye on him . " Zhou Sisi chimed in .

Ma Xiaoru cracked a smile . Six years ago, she would not have to take the two girls' advancements on her man so kindly . But after having experienced so many things while living on the edge, she had changed her perspective . She knew that, with her permission, w.a.n.g Tong would gladly take Zhou Sisi as his mistress . But, she was less sure about what he would do with Li Ruoer .  

Li Ruoer had been her best friend ever since college, and Ma Xiaoru knew that she never lacked male admirers . However, as fate would have it, Li Ruoer had her mind set on only one person .  

The war was coming; Ma Xiaoru realized that it was an inappropriate time for gossips and frivolous sentiments .  

"This is a great plan!" Li s.h.i.+ming nodded as he agreed to w.a.n.g Tong's proposal . Although Li s.h.i.+ming prided himself as an astute strategist, he marveled at w.a.n.g Tong's plan for its simplicity and comprehensiveness . If he had doubts about w.a.n.g Tong's leaders.h.i.+p skills before this meeting, they were gone by then .

"Haha, you would do the same planning if you were me . "

"I bet Lie Jian is feeling kind of down for being out-matched by you . " Li s.h.i.+ming remarked . He conceded that w.a.n.g Tong was the only person who was able to lead the human world, since neither Li s.h.i.+ming nor Lie Jian would be able to force either one into submission .

The power struggle between House Li and Lie had not disappeared even during such a crisis . Deep down, w.a.n.g Tong was with House Li since he was the heir of the Blade Warrior, Li Feng . Although not directly, w.a.n.g Tong was connected to House Li .

"Haha, you know me . I don't care about politics or money . I just want to help others and just be myself . " w.a.n.g Tong smiled broadly . He lived in a completely different, and happier world than Li s.h.i.+ming, without any politics or intrigues to slow him down .

Li s.h.i.+ming paused and then smiled wryly . "I envy you, I truly do . " He felt he finally could open up to w.a.n.g Tong and come to terms with the fact that w.a.n.g Tong, and not he himself, was the heir of the Blade Warrior .

Li s.h.i.+ming was an ambitious man, and he never had the public's interest in his heart . He knew he couldn't change himself into a saint, but he admired w.a.n.g Tong for being able to do what he couldn't .

"What is it so great about being me?"

"Shut up, you a*shole! You are living in many people's dream . " Zhang Jin refuted .  She was pleasantly surprised by how well the meeting had been going . She had been expecting much worse exchanges between Li s.h.i.+ming and w.a.n.g Tong .  

If the world were at peace, someone as complex and multidimensional as w.a.n.g Tong might have never appeared in the world .  During the time of peace, the persons was most likely to succeed were the likes of Li s.h.i.+ming and Lie Jian . Michaux would be out of the picture because of his individual pursuit, and so would Patroclus despite his perfect personal prowess .  

However weird it might sound, it was the rise of the Zergs that had given w.a.n.g Tong and Patroclus a chance to rise with them .  w.a.n.g Tong was a very simple man with simple needs; therefore, without the enormous external pressure to push him forward, he would never have achieved a fraction of what he had so far .

In other words, w.a.n.g Tong and Patroclus were two sides of the same coin; they were both a product of the extreme circ.u.mstances, a self-defense mechanism of the human world .

When the group talked about the hiding spot of the queen, Li s.h.i.+ming agreed with the notion that the queen was on the Ark . "Let me know if you ever need any help . We never stopped looking for the Ark, but so far, we have had nothing . We had suspected that it was hiding in a detached segment of the hypers.p.a.ce . If that is the case, Patroclus must keep the key to the portal very close to him . " Li s.h.i.+ming said . If he were right, then w.a.n.g Tong wouldn't get the key unless he confronted Patroclus, which would defeat the purpose of the operation .  

"The ark is huge, so there must be some traces . I have tracked Patroclus activity over the years, and there is a clear pattern to it . I believe that is where the portal is . "

"You mean you can get through the portal without using a key?" Li s.h.i.+ming asked incredulously .  

"If we can do that, we can separate the Zergs from the Immortals' force . It would be devastating for Patroclus . "

"We would then wage a full-on counterattack on Patroclus . However, we are running out of time . We need to act quickly before he becomes fully committed to the war!" w.a.n.g Tong announced .