Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The meal with old friends lasted until late into the night.

 Although Fatty was the head chef, he only prepared a few dishes before he handed over the kitchen to a hired chef and joined in the chitchat.

 Lin Huang had also obtained a general understanding of everyone"s situation this year.

 Leng Yuexin had also entered the Genius Union right after Yi Zheng and his sister. However, she had joined the Hong Alliance instead. Since she had used the Flawless Card, her talent and potential were not in any way below Yi Yeyu. Since Yi Zheng and his sister had joined the Heaven Alliance, the Hong Alliance had immediately made Leng Yuexin their main protégé for training.

 Like Yi Yeyu, Leng Yuexin also rose rapidly in the ranks, becoming one of the Three G.o.ddesses of the Genius Union.

 After the Five Princes and the Genius Emperor, Leng Yuexin and Yi Yeyu took the position of two of the Three Queens.

 Although Yi Zheng and the other super geniuses were not weak in their abilities, they were still slightly inferior to the Three Queens.

 However, the Three Queens did not maintain their name for very long.

 Among the Three Queens, Leng Yuexin took the lead and broke through to imperial-level, leaving the Genius Union. Yi Yeyu followed hot on her heels, breaking through to imperial-level after half a month, and leaving the Genius Union as well.

 Lin Huang had not expected that the two women would have such fruitful experiences this year.

 Apart from the two ladies, everyone else also seemed to have experienced a lot over the last year.

 Chan Dou had traveled in search of his memories during this time, cultivating as well. It might have been the follow-up effects of using a Flawless Card in addition to the aid of familiar scenes, but the memories that he had previously lost were now over 90% recovered.

 He had even taken the initiative to visit old friends such as Tan Lang and Shen Tao.

 Chan Dou also mentioned something strange. The Bug Master named Li Jia had gone missing. He appeared to have vanished without a trace after leaving the Genius Union.

 Senior Brother Liu Ming"s progress this year was similar to that of Xiao Mo. He had either been hunting monsters or retreating into closed-door cultivation, so his combat strength had soared.

 Not only had his combat strength advanced to imperial-level purple gold-rank, but the increase in his Sword Dao had also improved dramatically. He had now reached the limit of level-6 and was half a step away from achieving Sword Dao true meaning.

 With his current ability, he would be able to put up a fight even if he encountered a Virtual G.o.d rank-1.

 Fatty opened his restaurant this year; cooking every day made him happy beyond belief.

 With the help of the people in Dynasty, his increase in combat strength and business was smooth sailing—not only that, his life was greatly enriched. Apart from being a little busy, there was nothing else wrong with him.

 However, the strange thing was that despite being so busy every day, he had not lost any weight at all.

 In comparison, Li Lang probably spent his year more leisurely than the rest.

 After using the Flawless Card, his talent and potential had also reached that of a super genius, but his combat level was only at immortal-level rank-7, which was far removed from Yi Zheng. Obviously, his mind had not been very focused on cultivating.

 After some small talk, Lin Huang learned that Li Lang had fallen for a girl, but right from the start she had not been very interested in him.

 To win this girl"s heart, he had changed a lot this year.

 The girl had said that she did not like men who wore fancy clothes so he had thrown away all of his clothes from before. The girl had also said that she liked buzz cuts, so he had shaved his hair…

 Every day, he would shower various attentions on the object of his affections to try and win her favor. This lasted for a few months but she had finally dumped him regardless.

 For around six months after that Li Lang had been in a state of dejection. He slept until at least noon every day, sometimes even until the next night. All along, he had been something of a neat freak but now he gave up completely on keeping his house clean. His bed sheets would be slept on for months without being changed and he did not care when the fruits in the refrigerator were all rotten…

 In the end, Yizheng and the others could not take it anymore and forcibly dragged him out of the house…

 His state of mind had only just returned to normal over the last two months.

 As far as this kind of personal emotional issues were concerned, Lin Huang did not feel it was right for him to express his opinion, so he could only provide a few words of comfort. He encouraged Li Lang to devote himself to cultivation and keep himself busy so that he would not think too much.

 By the time everyone left Fatty"s restaurant, it was almost the wee hours of the morning.

 Lin Huang was slightly intoxicated from drinking a lot of wine, so he fell asleep until the next morning.

 He had just woken up at around nine in the morning when Mr. Fu sent him a message.

 “Let"s have breakfast together and catch up while we"re at it.”

 Lin Huang freshened up quickly and headed out immediately.

 When Lin Huang arrived at Mrs. Fatty"s Soup Dumplings, Mr. Fu, hair up in a small ponytail, was already seated at an open-air table. When he saw Lin Huang, he waved at him.

 Lin Huang immediately sat opposite Mr. Fu.

 “Now that you"re back this time, do you think their dumplings are more delicious?” Mr. Fu asked with a smile.

 “Now that you"ve mentioned it, it does seem that they are.” Lin Huang was stunned for a moment after Mr. Fu"s words, recalling the taste of the dumplings from before. In comparison, they really did taste better. “I thought it was because I hadn"t come back for a year and I"d finally gotten to eat them again.”

 “I taught the couple a few little tricks,” Mr. Fu explained with a smile.

 “Oh, so that"s why.”

 For a top food hunter like Mr. Fu, optimizing the preparation of common ingredients was a piece of cake

 “After all, I do come here to eat occasionally. They had some flaws in their previous preparation processes so there were always some small regrets whenever I ate their dumplings.” Mr. Fu did not make concessions in his expectations of excellence when it came to food.

 The two chatted for a while, then Brother Fatty came with the dumplings.

 “Mr. Fu, if the dumplings need any further improvement, please do let me know again.”

 Mr. Fu picked up a dumpling and tasted a mouthful, then nodded, “Using ordinary ingredients to achieve such a result is already the peak of culinary standards. It seems that both of you have been hard at work practicing the method that I"ve taught you.”

 “The main thing is that sir teaches well!” Brother Fatty hastened to flatter Mr. Fu, “I"ll get back to what I"m doing so I won"t bother you.”

 After Brother Fatty had left, Lin Huang and Mr. Fu both ate the dumplings quietly.

 In no time at all, after eating two small steamers of dumplings, Mr. Fu put down his chopstick and set a soundproof barrier around the table.

 “At the meeting the day before yesterday, you didn"t elaborate on any information about the invaders. Were you really not able to investigate this properly, or did you deliberately not bring it up?”

 Lin Huang also put down his chopsticks and fell silent for a moment before he spoke again.

 “It"s true that I was not able to investigate it properly, but I also concealed some information.”

 “Can you tell me now?” Mr. Fu asked, staring intently at Lin Huang.

 “Previously, we"ve always thought that the world rules of the gravel world are incomplete, and the strength of the dimensional gateway is limited. We a.s.sumed that even if the gateway was fully open, at most only low-rank True G.o.ds could come through.

 “In fact, this is not the case. When the great world invades the gravel world and its incomplete rules, it will suppress the world will through special means and strengthen the s.p.a.ce tunnel. The maximum limit for transmitted combat strength can be increased to ninth-rank true G.o.d-level…”

 When he heard that, Mr. Fu"s right hand trembled slightly, and his brows creased in a tight frown.

 “You"re saying that when the time comes, there will be not only low-rank True G.o.ds but also middle and high-rank ones? There might even be peak-stage ninth-rank True G.o.ds?!”

 Lin Huang nodded helplessly.

 “Then what should we do now? At present, we have no True G.o.ds at all. Even with the ten Virtual G.o.d rank-9s that you brought back, at most, they can only conduct battle formations against the low-rank True G.o.ds. Battle formations are useless if we encounter middle-rank True G.o.ds, much less the high-ranks.”

“I brought back more than ten people; there are two-hundred and sixty-eight of them in total. They are not actually Virtual G.o.d rank-9s, but True G.o.ds. However, their abilities are currently sealed.”

 “Two hundred and sixty-eight True G.o.ds?” Mr. Fu"s eyes brightened slightly. “What rank?”

 “Currently they"re all third-rank.”

 “Their combat strength is a bit low…” Mr. Fu could not help sighing, “However, it"s better than nothing.”

“Teacher, you don"t have to worry too much; there"s always a solution. Instead of worrying about what hasn"t happened yet, it is better to focus on the matters at hand. I didn"t tell Tianfu and Zhi Ji about this matter because I was also afraid that they were under too much pressure and the news might cause their mental health to suffer a breakdown.”

 “You"re definitely right to handle things this way,” Mr. Fu agreed after hearing what Lin Huang had to say, “If our enemies are only low-rank True G.o.ds, everyone will feel that if we work hard, we might win. But if they find out that our enemies are high-rank True G.o.ds, I am afraid that many people will immediately give up on resistance because they can"t see any hopes of winning.”

 “I won"t say anything about this, don"t worry.”

 “What are your plans after this?” Mr. Fu asked again.

 “I"m going into closed-door cultivation to enhance my combat strength!”