The permanent +5 to all attributes was undoubtedly a tremendous boon for any contractor who became a Colonist, effectively amounting to a boost of at least fifty base attribute points.

Regrettably, when Fang Senyan and his crew intercepted the enemy, they had to leverage official government resources. Had they managed to achieve the maximum mission completion rating without external aid, the rewards might well have been a permanent +7 or even +10 to all attributes for everyone involved.

However, every seemingly audacious adventure Fang Senyan undertook was, in reality, preceded by careful and meticulous internal assessment.

In his judgment, the Ace Squad absolutely required the backing of official power to even qualify for a fight against Loki and his faction; otherwise, regardless of any low-probability events or sheer luck, it would simply be a suicide mission.

After completing the task, the group waited less than an hour before Mr. G arrived with a contingent of his own men. He honored his promise, bringing the three national treasures Fang Senyan's team needed to collect: the Along the River During the Qingming Festival, the Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain vase known as Guiguzi Descending the Mountain, and the He Shi Bi Imperial Seal.

Mr. G then produced a classified file to inform Fang Senyan and the others:

The genuine manuscript of the Preface to the Poems Composed at the Gathering of the Orchid Pavilion is rumored to have ultimately been interred within the tomb of Li Shimin. However, after a popular novel ignited a craze for tomb raiding, this original work resurfaced and fell into the hands of a very discreet tycoon named Mr. Gu in Taiwan; the copy held by the Palace Museum is merely a reproduction.

The Ramayana Relief, an Indian national treasure, has already been crated and is scheduled to be transported to the Ark within thirty-six hours. Its current location is the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, though the security surrounding it is exceptionally tight.

Although Fang Senyan and his team were pressed for time, a major figure like Mr. G needed to schedule his time precisely down to the minute. Given this existential crisis, once the exchange was complete, a few requisite pleasantries had to be exchanged before parting ways.

But just as they were about to separate, Mr. G suddenly remarked:

“Mr. Sailor, your origins are mysterious, and you possess various unique abilities; your individual power has indeed reached the pinnacle of human achievement—it is truly breathtaking. However, previous superpowered individuals we encountered displayed intense hostility towards us. Only you have been willing to communicate with us. Therefore, I was hoping you might assist us with a small favor?”

Fang Senyan smiled:

“Sectioning, blood drawing, research?”

Mr. G also laughed heartily:

“We would never resort to such methods on our own brethren. We are all descendants of the Dragon. But you both clearly understand the current hardship of the times. We are constantly receiving news of our secret bases being attacked, so the state cannot simply stand idly by. We have adopted some unconventional means to forge a batch of specialized soldiers, and we’d value your expert critique.”

A flicker of curiosity appeared in Fang Senyan’s eyes, and he immediately shifted his gaze toward the soldiers who had accompanied Mr. G inside. He had sensed something amiss earlier and now realized what it was:

When these soldiers walked, they lifted their legs quite high, yet their footfalls made almost no sound. The distance covered with each step was so precise it seemed measured with a ruler. The pace of the twenty-plus men was maintained at a perfectly uniform speed, machine-like in its exactitude, almost to the millimeter!

Under normal circumstances, even the most highly trained individuals could never achieve such uniformity during movement. Fang Senyan glanced at Zi; her mental energy far surpassed his, meaning she had access to more intelligence on matters like this. Thus, Zi quickly relayed through the team channel:

“These people have likely been injected with some kind of compound in their brains, allowing them to continuously secrete adrenaline. Furthermore, their muscles and bones have been reinforced. Their breathing is noticeably twice as fast as a normal person’s. They must have undergone biological modification. Simply put, they are continuously overdrafting their life force to sustain this ‘mechanical’ state. Of course, this kind of intense exertion inevitably shortens their lifespan.”

After Mr. G finished speaking, a burly man standing beside him stepped forward. He kept his head bowed, not speaking, until Fang Senyan nodded slightly. Then, he took a step forward, stood directly in front of Fang Senyan, uttered a cautionary “Be careful,” and immediately launched a punch toward him.

Fang Senyan reached out to intercept, and caught off guard, his body lurched, almost causing him to stumble half a step. The sheer power contained in that burly man’s fist far exceeded anything Fang Senyan had anticipated!

However, Fang Senyan’s disadvantage lasted only that single punch. Once he took it seriously, even maintaining a purely defensive posture, the burly man unleashed four rapid punches that cracked audibly in the air. Yet, after those four blows, the man’s face immediately turned ashen, sweat streamed down him, and he was gasping for breath, looking as if even raising his hand was a struggle.

“They possess strong burst power, but their internal energy reserves are too low, preventing sustained combat. Furthermore, they cannot utilize their strength rationally; it’s like giving a child a million dollars to go shopping—most of the money is wasted.”

Fang Senyan delivered his assessment with serious attention to detail, adding:

“Of course, the most critical flaw is that their physical robustness is utterly incomparable to the power they wield. If the Major who just punched had aimed at a wall or a tree, I believe his arm bone, or even his pinky bone, would have snapped immediately.”

Mr. G glanced at the soldiers beside him and couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration. Fang Senyan’s critique hit the nail on the head with devastating clarity.

Those currently undergoing these biological experiments were already handpicked, all possessing prior martial arts foundations, making their adaptation significantly better. The first batch of subjects, during speed tests, had frequently suffered broken leg bones simply from kicking too hard.

Despite his internal sigh, Mr. G was decisive:

“Mr. Sailor, we have already begun addressing the issues you raised. The current solution is to outfit them with a set of specialized combat suits. However, in terms of research, we still hope to gain some direct data from confrontations with superpowered individuals like yourselves.”

Upon hearing this, Fang Senyan suddenly smiled:

“Actually, I have some expertise regarding human enhancement. This knowledge could bring immediate, tangible results for you right now. If I were to write down these insights, and simultaneously disclose the precise time the Armageddon disaster will strike, what kind of compensation might I expect?”

To bolster his credibility, Fang Senyan immediately demonstrated his unique ability to cultivate life, causing a formidable organism to grow rapidly from a single seed in a short span, leaving everyone stunned speechless.

Mr. G, being a politician at heart, immediately grasped the unspoken meaning behind Fang Senyan’s proposition. Clearly, Fang Senyan and his team did not need money, power, or women. Having interacted this long, their fixation on those rare artworks made it obvious that the trade-off would revolve around precisely those items.

After some negotiation, both sides finally reached an agreement. Fang Senyan’s team, including acquisitions from the European sector, still needed seven more artworks to achieve the title of Grand Collector. The government could facilitate five of them, leaving the remaining two that they would have to retrieve themselves.

However, this arrangement still greatly simplified matters for Fang Senyan’s group. Retrieving just two artworks was something they could treat as a mere extended holiday, meaning it didn't take long before Fang Senyan and the others rightfully earned the title of “Grand Collector.”

At this juncture, Fang Senyan’s Main Quest: Protection! received an evaluation score of roughly 110 team points, which was mediocre. The only issue was that the time spent acquiring the Grand Collector title was too long, leaving insufficient time afterward to continue accumulating points. Meanwhile, the advent of the world-ending disaster loomed like a nightmare, drawing ever nearer!

Fang Senyan understood the principle of losing the major for the sake of the minor; thus, he didn't pursue extreme point farming, knowing that the tighter the schedule, the more likely mistakes were to occur. Their greatest vulnerability remained the protagonist, Jackson Croston (the writer). Although he had been safely situated within the base, how could legendary figures possibly take such a person seriously? If a malicious entity—say, one who had seized an opportunity specifically to eliminate him—were to strike, it was far from impossible.

Therefore, Fang Senyan rushed back because time was scarce; not much more could be gained by grinding for points. It was better to use this limited time to reinforce defenses. If the writer were eliminated, all the accumulated points would become meaningless. They needed contingency plans for the enemy seizing any chance.

Beyond that, Fang Senyan also needed to monitor the progress of the airship project. Although the Space had not explicitly stated what benefits would be awarded for saving these ordinary people, Fang Senyan knew, based on the path he chose, that saving lives was definitely the right decision—it would, at the very least, yield extra bonuses on the final clearance evaluation.

Upon returning to New York, Fang Senyan first visited Professor X and received startling news. Stimulated by China’s parallel development project, the airship initiative near New York City had unexpectedly entered the government's purview. On the eve of the apocalypse, the government began attempting a semi-public partnership with this local endeavor.

Currently, the base was only fabricating the core mothership; the remaining fleet of subsidiary vessels was already being completed by two peripheral branch factories. Consequently, the personnel capacity plan would be further expanded, and with the government releasing resources, the internal conflicts among superpowered individuals over resource scarcity had subsided.

Faced with the overwhelming pressure of impending global survival, all internal squabbles were forcibly suppressed. Those capable of action began wholeheartedly preparing for survival, silently awaiting the moment of arrival. RQ