Before long, Su Mo hurried to the entrance of the grocery store.
Seeing the store still open, he let out a sigh of relief. He cald his nerves before walking inside.
Inside the dimly-lit store, the old man stood expressionless at the counter.
"Old man."
Su Mo hurried over and called out.
The old man slowly lifted his head, his murky eyes fixed on Su Mo, and asked unhurriedly, "What’s the matter?"
"Old man, isn’t my cha going to be ready in another three months? Can you put in extra hours to finish it sooner?"
Su Mo asked straight out.
"Why?"
The old man scrutinized Su Mo with a cold gaze.
"Isn’t the Royal Order selection happening in a month? Without a cha, what’s the point?"
Su Mo explained helplessly.
"Impossible, the last three months are crucial for various adjustnts and performance activation, it’s not possible to speed it up. If you’d notified earlier, maybe I could have thought of sothing. But now, with just a month, it’s out of the question."
The old man refused outright without even thinking.
"No way? There’s really no solution?"
Su Mo’s heart sank hearing this, unwilling to give up.
"Don’t even think about it unless you want a defective cha."
The old man replied with an unchanged deanor.
"Ugh..."
Su Mo grew more distressed, realizing this path was a dead end. He then suggested to the old man, "How about lending the V-Generation Biological cha, the Light of Sin Abyss?"
The old man heard this, lifted his head to look at Su Mo, and rasped.
"Speaking of this matter, I haven’t settled a score with you yet. Did you fully activate the creator’s power, the Swallower?"
"Uh, how did you find out?"
Su Mo looked at the old man, bewildered.
"Due to your violent usage, the V-Generation Biological cha, the Light of Sin Abyss was subjected to overwhelming power, causing internal biological tissue damage and shrinking, requiring major maintenance and repairs."
The old man coldly inford Su Mo.
"Um, well..."
Su Mo felt a bit embarrassed, unsure what to say.
"But considering it was while you were searching for the Pala Fruit on my behalf, which led to the cha’s damage, I won’t hold it against you."
The old man’s tone softened, suggesting he was satisfied with Su Mo finding the Pala Fruit.
"Okay, old man, do you have any other powerful V-Generation Biological chas or VI-Generation chas I can borrow?"
Su Mo breathed a sigh of relief, but now he could only turn to the old man for help; otherwise, he had no way to compete in the Royal Order selection.
The old man’s murky eyes stared intently at Su Mo, a flicker of oddity in his gaze, before rasping in reply.
"No, you think advanced chas are common goods? Available everywhere? From the V-Generation cha onward, each one is precious, especially the True V Generation cha."
"Uh, really none?"
Su Mo’s heart sank, feeling his last hope was dashed.
"None."
The old man replied calmly.
"Ah, well, I’ll have to think of another way."
Su Mo sighed helplessly and left the store.
The old man watched Su Mo’s departing back, his tense face showing an imperceptible change in expression, and promptly shut the store.
...
On the street, Su Mo walked with a troubled look.
Honestly, if his cha could be ready, he’d be quite confident about the selection competition. But now not only was his cha unfinished, but he also had no cha to compete with.
The Swallower’s deep voice resonated in Su Mo’s mind.
"What are your plans next? With only a month left, where will you find a V-Generation Advanced cha?"
"Let think, who still has spare V-Generation chas now?"
Su Mo said, troubled.
"I rember Xia Weiya has a collection vault."
The Swallower suggested.
"No, Laurel Kingdom definitely has participants too, if Xia Weiya lends a cha, how will she explain it to her own country’s people? Plus borrowing a cha from current Royal Order mbers isn’t appropriate, unless it’s a gift."
Su Mo thought for two seconds before dismissing the Swallower’s suggestion.
"Who do you know, who has a V-Generation cha, and must also have a spare?"
The Swallower asked deeply.
Su Mo filtered through everyone he knew, realizing few actually had V-Generation chas and even fewer who would lend one.
"It’s tough."
"If you miss this selection opportunity, the consequences would be dire. You’ve experienced how much power and convenience a candidate for the Royal Order holds. But becoming a formal mber, it’s even more different."
The Swallower reminded deeply.
"I know, let think, wait...."
Su Mo suddenly rembered sothing.
"What is it?"
"Let’s go find Arles."
Su Mo imdiately headed to the Federation Building.
"What use is there in finding him?"
The Swallower asked, puzzled.
"Isn’t Arles working on the Shenguard Project, planning to send us a cha later?"
"Are you sure that’s reliable?"
"A last-ditch effort, ask anyway, unless you have another solution?"
Su Mo was compelled to be proactive.
The Swallower fell silent upon hearing this.
...
After so ti, Su Mo arrived at Arles’ office once more, knocking on the door.
"Co in."
Arles’ voice echoed faintly from the office.
Su Mo pushed the door and entered.
Spotting Su Mo, Arles appeared sowhat surprised and asked, "Su Mo, why are you here? Anything the matter?"
"Uh, Council President Arles, you ntioned the Shenguard Project to before, I wanted to ask about the cha’s performance?"
Su Mo asked, a bit embarrassed.
"The one you’re talking about, its performance is excellent."
Arles replied confidently.
Su Mo’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he let out a breath of relief.
"Why did you suddenly ask about this, is sothing wrong?"
Arles sensed sothing unusual in Su Mo’s state.
"It’s like this, with the Royal Order of Twelve Knights selection beginning, my cha got damaged and I don’t have one to compete with."
Su Mo explained awkwardly.
Upon hearing this, Arles stood up and said to Su Mo.
"I see, follow ."
"Uh, okay."
Su Mo quickly nodded in agreent.
...
The next day, a small interstellar ship appeared above the endless desert of Earth Star.
The ship hovered in mid-air without descending.
Su Mo and Arles stood on the viewing platform, gazing at the distant rolling sands.
"Where is this?"
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