I created the Bureau of Anomaly Control

The crux of the matter wasn't the current thought, but future actions. Executing such a mechanism without external limitations was nearly impossible unless the user could transcend time and logic, forcefully controlling their future body with their current will.

Probably not many people in the entire world could achieve such a feat.

However, coincidentally, Mann believed he was one of the few who could, because he fully understood the operational logic of this mechanism. He should be able to barely manage to control his future self.

Even if he couldn't maintain this obsession for a long time, he could at least persist until he left the Mind World and sign a forced contract the instant he exited, achieving a countermeasure against Shenxiao.

Perhaps he couldn't destroy the world with his will after several years, or even a decade, but he could at least barely transcend a few hours, forcing his future self a few hours later to sign a contract to destroy the world.

What he truly couldn't do was something else entirely—destroy the world.

Yes, he might be able to enter a state of near-obsessive madness, overriding time to forcefully make decisions for his future self, allowing him to contend with most prophets.

Although, in reality, this confrontation had already ended when he mastered this way of thinking. From that moment on, other prophets would avoid becoming his opponents because they would see the future of losing to Mann.

But when the opponent was Shenxiao, the situation changed.

Because the most severe price for opposing her was the destruction of the world. If the enemy he faced at this moment was truly Shenxiao herself, then he might have been able to resolve to confront her in such an extreme way.

But now, standing before him was merely an avatar of Shenxiao's power. Paying the price of destroying the world in the future to defeat it was like cutting off an entire arm because of an itchy hand.

Of course, Mann also considered that his goal wasn't to kill Shenxiao, but to destroy Shenxiao's avatar's inexplicable attack on him. The price he needed to pay and the future he needed to decide didn't need to be that extreme.

But the decision he had to make also required sufficient courage. Firstly, if Shenxiao's avatar could stop attacking him at this moment, then he would provide sufficient assistance to Salvation in the future.

At the same time, this meant that if the other party didn't stop, then even if he was willing to save the world, he would have to deliberately reduce his assistance to Shenxiao in the future; otherwise, the previous option would be meaningless.

Even in the future, when helping Shenxiao would be of great benefit to him—for example, if doing so could give him allies to fight against the Federation and other forces, or even when the entire world was on the verge of destruction, and his own life and the lives of those he cared about were threatened…

He would restrain and suppress his thoughts, preventing himself from helping Shenxiao save the world, and this thought would ultimately affect whether the world was destroyed; otherwise, such a decision would be meaningless.

Even if doing so would only bring harm to himself at that time.

He had to have this kind of courage to make the decision.

Bang!

Shenxiao shattered another telekinetic wall strong enough to withstand a missile explosion.

"I have made up my mind," Mann said calmly.

Snap.

The fierce and swift Shenxiao avatar suddenly stood still.

She looked at Mann, who had uttered those words, with an extremely serious expression. Her eyes weren't focused on him at all, as if something heavy and powerful had crashed into her field of vision at that moment, forcing her to temporarily divert her attention to observe this sudden intruder.

The future collapsed.

His determination had become reality.

Then she suddenly smiled:

"Very impressive move. If the thing in front of me wasn't so tempting, I would have completely given up the idea of seizing your body at this moment. No, if that were the case, you wouldn't have seen me appear at all."

"The risk of me failing increased a lot the moment you made up your mind. If I surrendered at this moment, the future would be closer to my goal than if I hadn't come, and the price of my failure would be extremely unacceptable."

"This move has a very important premise, and that is that you must be able to truly affect the destruction of the world; otherwise, I wouldn't see any impact on the future at all. And in reality, the impact you can have…"

"Is more than I initially imagined, or rather, more than I saw."

Mann nodded unpretentiously:

"Of course, with the Abnormal Control Bureau, I can change this world. Even if you can really take my body to save the world, it's not a wise decision in my opinion."

"In the end, I will definitely stand by your side, because saving the world is a good thing for me, and I definitely don't want to be enemies with a powerhouse like Shenxiao. At the same time, I believe that my future self will be strong enough, and for Shenxiao, allying with me is definitely better than being enemies."

"That's the 'future' I see, so I really can't understand…"

"Why you would come to trouble me. I can understand you troubling anyone else to save the world, but you coming to trouble me is the only thing I didn't expect."

"What exactly is it that makes you so worried?"

But Shenxiao just smiled, then took two steps back:

"Your countermeasures are indeed very strong, making me afraid to confront you directly, so I can only temporarily avoid the brunt. But that doesn't mean I can only surrender like this, because although you've given me a choice that I can't challenge…"

"I actually have a third option. Actually, you also know that, unlike you, I didn't really think of the existence of this option, but I can see…"

"That is, I can avoid falling into your choices. This is the best decision."

Mann narrowed his eyes slightly:

"So what are you going to do?"

Shenxiao said with a smile:

"You don't have to give up helping Shenxiao and saving the world. I know you don't want to do that, and if you really make this oath, it will become a danger to you in the future, and ultimately…"

"Make you pay a price you'll regret for the rest of your life."

Mann looked at her with firm eyes:

"I won't regret it."

Shenxiao tilted her head slightly, not directly refuting:

"But you will be in great pain."

Mann nodded:

"I don't want to use a contract to bind myself to save the world, but that doesn't mean I won't do it. I've negotiated like this with other people before, and at that time I was bluffing."

"But I'm not now, because you can see it."

Shenxiao nodded slightly:

"Very good, then I formally propose a plan that benefits us both."