Ye Tiancheng carefully noted down everything Qiao Zhanyuan described.
These would all need to be relayed to Nie Chongyang later, so the special operations team could brainstorm solutions together. Ye Tiancheng had already given careful consideration to why Qiao Zhanyuan's descriptions were necessary.
Initially, cultivating sects were not known for being easy to communicate with; they were difficult to get along with.
Who knew if explicitly stating their purpose through that travelogue would alert the other party to their intentions, potentially causing trouble, or even leading to them being manipulated and suffering losses?
Therefore, it was crucial to grasp the key information oneself first. Only when the time came for execution, after weighing the pros and cons, could they decide how to proceed, whether to reveal anything, and how much to reveal.
The leverage had to be firmly held in their own hands.
Later, Ye Tiancheng asked Qiao Zhanyuan for more, listening and taking notes while making brief comparisons in his mind.
A significant portion of the information was what Ye Tiancheng and Nie Chongyang had already collected, or was relatively easy for them to verify. They could retain these records, verify their authenticity one by one, and explore whether any new discoveries could be made.
After this lengthy discussion, the three of them realized as they settled down that nearly a full day had passed, and it was already dark.
Qiao Zhanyuan had arrived in the morning, and they had talked until evening without even eating. At noon, members of the special operations team had specifically found Ye Tiancheng and asked if they needed lunch prepared.
However, Ye Tiancheng and the others had stated that their current matter was more pressing and they would discuss meals later when they had time.
Thus, the matter of lunch was dropped.
Ye Tiancheng took out his phone, checked the time, and said with some emotion, "I didn't expect so much time to have passed. I don't have anything more to say for now, so let's stop here."
He paused, then changed the subject and asked Qiao Zhanyuan, "You've been cooperating with us all day today, and it's been really hard work. You were so busy you didn't even eat lunch. If you don't mind, shall we have dinner together?"
Qiao Zhanyuan heard Ye Tiancheng's words, hesitated for a moment, and after a brief thought, replied, "Then I shall not refuse."
Since Ye Tiancheng had invited Qiao Zhanyuan to dinner, and they were not on their own turf, this being just a rented apartment, there was no reason for Ye Tiancheng to simply have dinner at the rented apartment.
The members of the special operations team, seeing that Ye Tiancheng and the others had finished their discussion after a whole day, inquired about the situation with concern.
One team member stepped forward as a representative and asked Ye Tiancheng, "Mr. Ye, have you finished your discussion? Do you need us to help order dinner for you? You were too busy to eat lunch earlier, you must be exhausted."
"Oh, it's nothing. We've pretty much said what we needed to say," Ye Tiancheng replied to the team member. "However, there's no need to trouble you to prepare dinner for us. You've all been working hard today, so there's no need for more trouble."
"Teacher Qiao has provided us with a lot of help today. To show our gratitude, I've invited him to have a meal together. Why don't we go out to a restaurant? If you don't have any urgent work, would you like to join us?"
The team member thanked Ye Tiancheng for his kind offer. However, at this juncture, the special operations team had a huge workload. Furthermore, the members of the special operations team held considerable respect and politeness towards Ye Tiancheng, and were hesitant to disturb him, so they ultimately politely declined the offer to share dinner with Ye Tiancheng.
Ye Tiancheng did not press them. If the team members did not agree, then so be it; it was fine.
The members of the special operations team knew that there were no major matters left, so they prepared to leave. Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment, then handed over the key information and clues he had organized throughout the day to the team member in charge among them, asking him to pass the items to Nie Chongyang.
While obtaining information from Qiao Zhanyuan, Ye Tiancheng had not only stored the clues in his mind but had also continued organizing them. Thus, he was able to produce something at this time.
The team member carefully acknowledged what Ye Tiancheng had entrusted him with, promising to deliver it to Captain Nie Chongyang intact, before leading everyone else away from Ye Tiancheng's location.
Only after these team members had truly left did Ye Tiancheng beckon Xiao Huli and Qiao Zhanyuan, intending to take them out for a meal.
When Ye Tiancheng had given instructions to the team members earlier, he had done so alone. Qiao Zhanyuan was unaware of what Ye Tiancheng had said to the team members or what instructions had been given, but he did not ask further questions.
However, after being called out by Ye Tiancheng, Qiao Zhanyuan saw that the team members were gone and still asked, "Where are the others? Have they left? Aren't they joining us for dinner? They did spend the whole day with us."
Ye Tiancheng smiled and said, "They all have their own matters to attend to, and they would feel uncomfortable eating with us, so I didn't force them to join."
He simply brushed it off with a brief explanation.
Afterward, Ye Tiancheng, along with Xiao Huli and Qiao Zhanyuan, found a casual restaurant outside, ordered a few dishes, and after dinner, they finally dispersed.
Qiao Zhanyuan returned to school, while Ye Tiancheng and Xiao Huli returned to their rented apartment.
Back in the rented apartment, with only Ye Tiancheng and Xiao Huli present, they no longer bothered with formalities.
They each washed up, and before resting, they discussed official matters for a while. Once the official matters were mostly concluded, they began talking about the day's events concerning Qiao Zhanyuan.
However, it was more of a simple, casual chat, not a topic deliberately initiated to speculate about Qiao Zhanyuan as a person.
Xiao Huli said to Ye Tiancheng, "Speaking of which, Brother, after this whole day, what do you think of Qiao Zhanyuan? How trustworthy is this person?"
Ye Tiancheng heard Xiao Huli's question and replied after some thought, "It's hard to say for sure. After all, we still have too little information. In fact, most of the new clues we've obtained are still just Qiao Zhanyuan's one-sided account, which doesn't mean much."
Xiao Huli then asked, "It is indeed difficult to judge the truth of a one-sided account, so we don't know how credible what Qiao Zhanyuan told us is."
Ye Tiancheng replied, "Regardless of whether this person is good or bad, or if they have any ulterior motives, the things he told us should still have some truth to them. Even if he is intentionally deceiving us, through the situation he described, we might be able to gradually deduce the full picture from the bits of truth."
"After all, even if he's a liar, to gain our trust, he can't say not a single word of truth. No matter what, he is our opportunity and our breakthrough, and it's very worthwhile for us to seize this opportunity and utilize it."
"However, we must be cautious. If he is indeed deceiving us, or if his lack of strength leads him to obtain incorrect information and then pass it on to us, it might lead us astray. Therefore, we must maintain a dialectical attitude towards what he says and not be led by his words."
Xiao Huli understood this principle. One should always guard against others, and cautious verification would never be wrong.
Ye Tiancheng pondered for a moment.
Finally, he said, "I think Qiao Zhanyuan's claim that the university's space is actually a prison is indeed very interesting. I wonder if Long Miaomiao can see through this..."
"Miaomiao is still out investigating the situation. When Miaomiao returns, we should tell her about this. Perhaps Miaomiao will have some new discoveries, or this statement might bring her some new inspiration, who knows?"
Xiao Huli said, "I hope everything goes smoothly."
Long Miaomiao returned the next morning. When Ye Tiancheng discussed the situation with her, Long Miaomiao had already discovered some clues. When Ye Tiancheng mentioned the statement from Qiao Zhanyuan that the space might be a prison, Long Miaomiao thought about it and found it reasonable.
It also broadened her perspective, and she indicated that she would go and verify it further.
However, Long Miaomiao also mentioned that using such a grand formation to suppress a certain existence would likely mean that existence would be quite troublesome.
Even though Ye Tiancheng's side had no shortage of manpower, most of the helpers were ordinary people. In terms of combat effectiveness, they certainly couldn't provide much assistance. Moreover, because they also had to consider the safety of a large number of ordinary people, it would tie Ye Tiancheng's hands and prevent him from acting freely.
Even with Long Miaomiao, a dragon, present, and willing to help Ye Tiancheng at any cost, the matter would not become too easy.
The worst fear was that the entity behind it might have extremely strong combat power, or possess some strange unorthodox methods, which would make it truly troublesome and difficult to deal with.
Long Miaomiao's advantage was that she was a dragon and had been a dragon god for a very long time, having survived in the world for countless years. Her experience allowed her to understand many things. Even though she hadn't deliberately learned them, it meant that Long Miaomiao could only say she knew many things but was by no means proficient.
Some things Long Miaomiao had to encounter and deliberately recall before she could vaguely remember them.
Having lived too long and knowing too much, but also because she knew too much, with memories as vast as the sea, it was not so easy to deliberately retrieve a specific memory.
And while time had naturally accumulated immense strength for Long Miaomiao,
it could be said that it was only that.
In most cases, Long Miaomiao would have no rivals, and if she couldn't win, she could at least escape. However, now she couldn't choose the latter. Even Long Miaomiao's strength was merely a natural accumulation over time.
But what if the suppressed individual was not younger than Long Miaomiao and was also formidable in combat? Then it might become troublesome.
Long Miaomiao was strong, but she was truly not proficient in fighting.
These were two different matters.
Ye Tiancheng had to be mentally prepared and plan carefully to avoid any major accidents.
As for the results of Long Miaomiao's investigation, there was still some useful information, but the direction of her previous imagination was somewhat lacking. Therefore, Long Miaomiao might not have considered many aspects when making deductions, but now her thinking had been opened up, and she just needed to remember to apply it in the future.
Combining the newly acquired information and Long Miaomiao's further investigation results, Ye Tiancheng could at least be certain of one thing.
He probably didn't have much time to resolve the matter of the university. Time had become extremely urgent, and there was no room for delay.