The Hidden Deadlock: Victory on Both Sides

"Congratulations! You've triggered a Talent Reward! You've successfully obtained an S-Rank Skill Upgrade Card!""S-Rank Personal Skill Upgrade Card": This card allows you to upgrade one of your existing skills to S-Rank, provided the skill is at least A-Rank.""Big prize!""Wait, what?! Damn it! This luck didn't kick in!"

Mike felt as if he'd just ridden a rollercoaster. When he saw the S-Rank symbol, his heart soared with excitement, only to realize the next moment that it was just an upgrade card."This isn't a new S-Rank skill, just an upgrade card…"

"Plus, the upgrade comes with a big limitation—it can only upgrade A-Rank skills. Overall, this 'big prize' is just slightly better than a regular A-Rank reward."

Mike muttered to himself. Nearby, Lin Yue, who hadn't slept the whole night, noticed Mike's expression and asked with concern, "Commander, is there anything I can do for you?"She had been anxious all night, but Mike hadn't made any inappropriate moves.That fact relieved her, though a subtle sense of disappointment lingered."No, just stay by my side."Mike shook his head. Lin Yue lowered her gaze. "Yes, Commander."

The mascot hadn't worked today, but Mike wasn't relying on just this one talent reward. With enough chances, he was bound to hit luck eventually.Mike took a deep breath and started to consider how best to use the S-Rank Skill Card."Let's see, which A-Rank skills do I have..."

Mike opened the shelter's information panel to check. Due to his unique talent, he rarely ventured outside, so many of his skills were seldom used.He currently had six A-Rank skills, but four of them—Shadow Mirage, Damage Transfer, Instant Teleportation via Will, and the Mighty Bull—were virtually useless. These were combat-focused skills, but Mike wasn't in a position to fight right now.

As for the Good Fortune A-Rank skill, it was a bit iffy. Mike couldn't quite determine its true value—it was a skill with a large variance in effectiveness."My luck and Lin Yue's luck shouldn't conflict, right?""Never mind... this skill is too unstable to consider for now.""The last one, Overlord's Gaze, is an exploration-type skill... but that doesn't seem like the right one to upgrade."

Mike furrowed his brow.Overlord's Gaze was an A-Rank skill he got from a talent reward, more for entertainment than utility.Its distinctive feature was that it provided high functionality within a specific area.But it had a glaring weakness: it was limited to urban areas, relying on the regional leaderboard to operate.If Mike wanted to explore a target outside his current Jinling city, the skill couldn't access the target's information.For example, this time when Chen Dafeng led his team to Xinchang, Mike couldn't use the skill to check on the survivors there. Even though Chen Xun claimed that his shelter's talent was A-Rank Seeker, Mike couldn't verify his words.

"My A-Rank skills aren't ideal for upgrading, but who knows? Maybe one of them will turn out to be useful after the upgrade."Mike thought carefully, his expression thoughtful. After a moment, he made his decision: he would upgrade Overlord's Gaze.

From a skill-type standpoint, upgrading this exploration skill to S-Rank seemed the most appropriate. Mike was betting that the S-Rank version could provide critical information about Liu Wenbo.As long as he could gather vital intel about his enemy, combined with Jiang Xiaozi's strategy, it would go a long way in preventing a tragic outcome.

"Upgrade skill!"Mike spoke decisively and used the Skill Upgrade Card."Congratulations! Your 'Overlord's Gaze' skill has been successfully upgraded to S-Rank!""You have gained a new skill: S-Rank - Let Me See You!""Let Me See You": S-Rank entertainment skill; nationwide, you can freely explore the basic and some hidden information of any shelter you see (including the shelter owner), provided the shelter's level is lower than yours. If the opponent's shelter is of a higher level, the skill still works, but the information you gain will be reduced accordingly. Using this skill consumes survival skills."...

"That's it!"

Mike's eyes lit up when he saw the upgrade notification.He'd struck gold! The S-Rank exploration skill had indeed removed the regional limit! It could now be used on the survivors in Xinchang too!"Is this luck kicking in? Even though the talent reward didn't give me a finished skill, at least it opened up a new direction for me.""Well... good thing I chose the right skill. Though, now that I look at it more closely, there are still some limitations."

Mike carefully reviewed his new skill. The S-Rank exploration skill had lost the regional restriction but gained a new "visibility" restriction.This meant that Mike could only check on shelters or their owners if he physically saw them, not just by looking at the shelter ID in the leaderboard.

"Doesn't matter—at least I can use it now!"Mike took a deep breath. He was no longer hesitating. He connected to the viewpoint of a talent unit in the Xinchang region.

Today was the day of Xinchang's official rescue operation. Most of the rescue team members had already gone out, leaving only a few talent units behind at the Brave Alliance base. These were about a hundred people—soldiers from the Tech Legion, led by a few squad leaders.The rest of the Brave Alliance's combat members were also participating in the rescue, leaving the base temporarily defenseless. This was a strategic move by Jiang Xiaozi, who intentionally left the Brave Alliance vulnerable to test the various armed forces in Xinchang, as well as to probe their commander, Liu Wenbo.

At that moment, Liu Wenbo was working hard alongside a group of non-combatants and hundreds of soldiers, clearing the flesh-eating fungi around the Brave Alliance's territory.Thanks to the countermeasures developed by Chen Qiuren's team, the flesh-eating fungi no longer posed a significant threat in Jinling, but they remained a major problem in Xinchang.Fortunately, Xinchang's armed forces were all strong, with various functional talent users in each faction, and their core territories hadn't been overrun by the fungi.Of course, they weren't concerned about the fungi threatening outdoor or civilian survivors.

Mike watched Liu Wenbo energetically wielding his weapon, cutting down the fungi on a building wall, then spraying a counter-agent on the wound to make the fungi retreat.

"Impressive!" Liu Wenbo commented, genuinely impressed by the counter-agent. "Jinling is incredible! They've developed this stuff!""If we had more of this, distributed nationwide, we could save so many people!"

"Do you think so, Mr. Liu?"

A soldier wiped his sweat and smiled, saying, "I think so too, but we don't have the resources yet. We can only take care of ourselves and the nearby cities for now."Liu Wenbo was puzzled. "With Jinling's strength, shouldn't they be able to cover the entire Yangtze River region? If they wanted to, they could save all the survivors in southern China!"

"Unless..." Liu Wenbo furrowed his brow. "Is there something we don't know?"

The soldier shook his head. "We don't know. We just follow orders."

"True, we just listen to the higher-ups." Liu Wenbo smiled, though his expression flickered for a moment.

Mike noticed something strange about Liu Wenbo's behavior. It seemed like he was deliberately making himself stand out to draw attention."Could he be trying to catch my eye, to get me to investigate him further?"

Mike's gaze hardened. He was about to use his skill to check on Liu Wenbo when he suddenly froze."Wait a minute!"

According to Xiaozi's analysis, Liu Wenbo might be deliberately baiting him, trying to provoke an in-depth investigation.If Mike used his skill to check Liu Wenbo, wouldn't that count as an intrusive probe?

"What if Liu Wenbo is expecting me to do this, or has a countermeasure ready?"Mike broke out in a cold sweat. He suddenly realized that anything he did out of curiosity about Liu Wenbo could be used against him."Damn it! This is a deadlock!""To deal with Liu Wenbo, I need to understand his background! But if I try to dig into his background, I'll fall straight into his trap!"

Mike's eyes widened in realization: "This mastermind is playing both sides, ensuring they win no matter what!"