He didn't know. But what he did know, was that someone had been spreading the rumor about the ice crystal being here, in hopes of turning people against each other.
Fortunately, with his current strength and resources, the situation was still manageable.
After all, the people who were coming were all mostly locals from the ancient families.
And within those ancient families, the number of individuals who had reached the first mastery stage was far and few between… so rare, that until now, no one had come here who had reached that level.
So, Christian didn't worry much.
But apparently, Eva had other thoughts.
"So, you don't think people from other worlds will make a visit here too?"
'Is it the experience of coming across that pair of man and woman that's still affecting her?' Christian wondered for a moment.
In the end, he sighed, sat up, held her hands in his, and said, "Eva, you monitor the information Iris sorts out for me constantly, so you should know… on Earth now, there's no place that's a hundred percent safe."
"Take away the strong groups from other worlds that are mostly concentrated in powerful countries, in small zones, and have formed ties with local forces… even then, the danger we can't control is still out there."
"Whether it's the smaller and weaker groups that seem to be newly entering our world, or the incident of people transforming…"
"Everything is heading for the worse. So, we need to try and adapt… not just constantly run away."
As he said that, Christian couldn't help but remember the reports he had read about the situation in the Middle East… the riots that erupted there when the presence of essence and the existence of people turning into abominations became known to the public.
Compared to that chaos, Christian thought their current situation was still better.
To stabilize things there, many countries interfered, and in doing so, they massacred countless people. They didn't allow anyone from those areas to leave, trying to return everything back to the state when essence was still hidden from the world.
And according to Iris, at least two million people had died.
Did things really need to be hidden?
He was constantly wondering.
Especially when he saw the inhuman things that had happened there.
More than once, Christian had thought maybe he should expose everything himself. But, in the end, he always held himself back.
The decision to keep everything hidden was something all the countries had agreed upon. So, if he were to do something like that, then, even if they couldn't trace the leak back to him directly through their technology, they could still rely on their many otherworldly allies to track him down.
While Christian's thoughts ran deep, Eva, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed by what she heard.
The chaotic situation was the least of her concerns. After all, she had only just voiced one possibility.
Now, she just decided to move on to her real reason and said, "You misunderstood my intention."
"It's not just about the danger this place currently holds… but more about the development potential we have here."
"Those coming to this place now are all people with certain motives, and not very strong. They're not worth much, so I didn't care about them."
"So what I want, is for us to interact with the small groups from other worlds… or with the government."
"I want to build more connections with them, and get some benefits."
Eva suddenly paused and looked at Christian's peculiar expression before she chuckled and continued.
"You always seem to link everything to their strength… to the level of danger they pose. But most of the people coming from other worlds aren't aggressive toward us, people from Earth."
"They're mostly aggressive toward each other."
"So if we prove we have something useful to them… like the amount of information we hold, we could gain some allies."
Eva finished talking. And Christian stayed silent for a moment, thinking carefully about her proposal, before he shook his head and said,
"We need to be equal to sit at the negotiation table."
"And while I don't think they're superior…"
"Do you think they'd think the same?"
"They're not aggressive toward us, not out of passion or kindness."
"They just look down on us… even more than the ancient families do."
While Christian felt Eva's proposal had its own merits, he still had other plans in mind.
And so, he said, "Moreover, why do you think I'm making the robots, or…"
Like the Idle System named them, "…or more accurately, fighting androids?"
"It's so they can take this kind of risk instead of us."
"And I've already started accelerating my plans to make them."
"Soon, the first android will be ready. And what you want, any idea you have, we can have them do it."
But that's still soon, right?
While Christian mused over his progress in android-making, it was now Eva's turn to be surprised.
She had thought that a fully functioning combat android would still take years to develop. So hearing this now, from Christian, so casually, she was genuinely caught off guard… and delightfully so.
Everything changed, if that was really the case.
If the androids were truly that close to completion, then maybe there really was no need to move away after all.
Eva had always believed that sometimes, small risks needed to be taken.
That if they didn't move forward now, they might one day find themselves cornered, forced to take much bigger, desperate gambles.
But this… this changed everything.
Just this one piece of information, and all her thoughts flipped upside down.
So, she looked at Christian admiringly, eyes gleaming with hunger. Then, with a sultry smile curling at her lips, she said in a low, heated voice, "My genius lover… really is different."
Instead of continuing to put what she felt, her pride and desire, into words, Eva opted to show her appreciation in a more tangible way.
… That she was already wet, and just wanted to be fucked? She naturally convinced herself that wasn't the case. Of course not.
Without another word, she crawled over to him, her hands finding his chest, her lips already brushing against his neck, her breath warm and trembling with hunger.
And on the receiving end, Christian naturally didn't shy away from Eva's advances.
That they were in the central sitting room… a space so large and open that everyone would pass through it at some point?
That was naturally not on his mind.
He simply wrapped his arms around her as her body pressed against his, and began to meet her heated advances with even more heated ones.