"Lucas~"
In the evening.
Lucas was hanging out at Jessica's house as usual. The main reason was that Jessica's home was lively with many people.
Jessica asked with a smile.
"It's been almost a month. Are you getting used to Rhodes Island?"
Lucas nodded.
"It's alright. There aren't that many people at Rhodes Island, so I'm already familiar with about eighty percent of them."
"Are there any girls?"
Franka, who was nearby, asked probingly, a sly expression flashing across her face.
"There are."
Lucas was very direct.
"Oho~"
Franka narrowed her eyes, her charming face showing a foxy, bewitching look.
"So direct. Aren't you afraid our little Jessica will get jealous?"
"Senior Franka!!"
Jessica's pretty face flushed, and she puffed out her cheeks.
"However, I'm planning to go to Yan tomorrow afternoon. I'm going with Miss Closure to restock in Lungmen and Yan, and also to take a look around Yan."
Jessica said, "I've been to Yan once, with my father two years ago. In my opinion, Yan is truly the most unique country on Terra, bar none. In terms of both traditional culture and ancient history, few countries on Terra can compare."
"We're just going to restock, not for tourism."
Just then.
Nian, who was nearby making final revisions to her award acceptance speech manuscript, suddenly looked up. In a flash, she rushed over.
"Lucas, you're planning to go to Yan?"
"Yeah."
Lucas nodded.
"Then I'll go too. I was born and raised in Yan, so I'm very familiar with it. I'll go too. I also want to see my sister Dusk. It's not good for her to always be cooped up at home. She needs to get out and see the world. If she's a shut-in all day, she won't be able to get married in the future."
"Huh?"
A thousand question marks appeared above Lucas's head.
"By the way, you Divine Fragments... don't you have infinite lifespans? And you don't age. Do you need to get married?"
"Tsk..."
Nian patted Lucas's spiritual shoulder.
"So blunt, Lucas. Be careful, or you'll never find a wife with that attitude."
Jessica subconsciously retorted, "He will!!"
Then, after saying it, her face instantly turned red again, and she shyly stood up to check on Ceobe's homework.
"Have you never heard of the Legend of the White Snake from Yan?"
"Legend has it that in Yan, there was a great demon who was a divine fragment of another ancient god, in the form of a snake. She had a younger sister who was born with her, a green snake. Their relationship was similar to mine and my sister Dusk's. They cultivated for a thousand years and were quite powerful. Although not as strong as me, they were much stronger than mortals. Then, that white snake met a mortal and fell in love with him."
"And then?"
Franka looked up. As an avid novel reader, she naturally loved to listen to stories.
"And then... of course they got married and had children."
Franka couldn't help but smack her lips.
"By the way, can a mortal and a snake have a baby? Isn't there reproductive isolation? And what if, while in bed, Miss White Snake got too excited and couldn't help but reveal her snake form? Wouldn't that leave a lifelong trauma for that mortal man?"
"Uh...."
Franka's sharp question left Nian silent for a long time.
"I don't know the details; it's just a myth. Besides... it's almost impossible for a divine fragment to fall in love with a mortal."
Nian shrugged. "Putting other things aside, the lifespan issue is a problem in itself. The lifespan of a divine fragment is practically infinite. For example, me—can you tell I'm several thousand years old? Humans are lucky to live a few hundred years. Some powerful long-lived races might live for a thousand or two, but that's still nothing compared to someone like me."
"Oh well, anyway, I'll go with you when you go to Yan."
Nian patted Lucas's shoulder and went back to revising her speech.
"I'll go too... can I.."
Surtr, who had been sitting quietly for a long time, finally managed to utter a sentence.
"Sure."
Lucas did not refuse Surtr's request.
To Lucas, Yan was still relatively dangerous. There were too many extraordinary individuals there, and he couldn't exert much of his combat power in the 'Doctor's' body. But if Surtr was there, Lucas would feel more at ease.
However.
Lucas felt that Nian was hiding something.
Her purpose for going to Yan probably wasn't that simple.
After all.
The Columbia Film Festival awards ceremony, which Nian valued so much, was just over a month away. What if something delayed her in Yan? If she just wanted to share the good news with her sister, she could wait until after the awards ceremony and go back to Yan with the trophy in hand. That way, she wouldn't waste time and could also show off. For someone like Nian, who was thousands of years old, shouldn't a month be just a blink of an eye?
Was she hiding something from him?
Lucas didn't press the issue. Since Nian didn't want to say, he wouldn't ask.
The next day.
Nian and Surtr took Raythean Medica's private jet to Rhodes Island and were even personally received by Kal'tsit. After all, with her millennia of experience, the old lynx Kal'tsit could naturally see the secrets of Nian and Surtr at a glance.
She also hadn't expected two more divine fragments to be with Raythean Medica...
Hiss...
Just how deep are the waters of this Raythean Medica...
Nian and Surtr followed behind Lucas, riding in a Rhodes Island land-runner. They left the landship and first headed for Lungmen.
They needed to purchase a lot of things on this trip.
Basically, every two or three months, Closure needed to go on a procurement trip herself. Some regular materials could be purchased in Lungmen, but some special materials had to be bought in Yan, such as Orirock. This basic material was only available in Yan, but it was very important and used in many metallurgical industries. Although this material was also sold outside Yan, the price was exorbitant, double what it cost in its homeland.
It was also sold in the Lungmen market.
But the price was 30% higher than in Yan.
Given Rhodes Island's current financial situation, they had to consider cost-effectiveness. After all, Rhodes Island was genuinely broke. Closure had asked Kal'tsit for an increase in the Engineering Department's research budget many times, but was rejected by Kal'tsit due to a lack of funds.
If any other company said they had no money, it would be a hundred percent an excuse to refuse.
But when Kal'tsit said she had no money.
Then they definitely had no money.
After all.
Closure knew Rhodes Island's situation all too well.
"Miss Nian, are you from the Yanese imperial family? Those dragon horns on your head seem to only belong to the most orthodox bloodline of the Yanese imperial family."
Closure didn't know Nian's true identity and simply treated her as an ordinary person.
The dragon horns on Nian's head actually looked quite similar to those of the Yanese imperial dragons.
"Uh... no."
Nian shook her head.
"Then are you and the Doctor friends?"
Nian thought for a moment and said with great solemnity.
"We have long transcended the realm of ordinary friends. Mr. Reeve is my dearest confidant, a soulmate made in heaven. We're a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman~"
"Stop misusing idioms!"
Lucas silently retorted.
Meanwhile, Surtr, who was beside them, didn't understand Yanese idioms and naturally had no idea what Nian was saying.
Well...
The disadvantage of being uncultured.
"Ooh~"
Closure laughed. She drove and teased at the same time.
"Doctor, and you say you're not a player. You already have a beautiful girlfriend like Miss Nian, yet you're still habitually flirting with other girls at Rhodes Island."
"Hmm?!"
Nian's eyes lit up, a gossip-hungry expression on her face.
"Miss Closure, give me the details."
As for Surtr, she looked jealous, her grip on Laevatain tightening slightly.
The vehicle first arrived in Lungmen.
While Closure went out to buy supplies, Lucas took Surtr to get ice cream again. After the procurement was done, Closure drove straight to Yan. However, this time they weren't going to a city in Yan, but to a village.
After all, for a rare resource like Orirock, the Yanese government controlled 95% of it, but there was still 5% of lower quality or smaller yield scattered in some villages in Yan. And these villagers, who rarely interacted with the outside world, didn't know the price of this soil, so they could usually buy a small amount of Orirock at a relatively reasonable price by going to the villages.
The village Closure was going to was one she frequently traded with.
————————
Lin Qingyan had felt much more relaxed since leaving Lungmen.
After all, this was Yan. She probably wouldn't run into that divine fragment again. It wasn't that Lin Qingyan was afraid, but she felt a bit annoyed. Lin Qingyan had a righteous and uncompromising personality; she disliked owing people things and was excessively straightforward.
To think she had worn the original owner's soul fragment in front of the original owner...
To use a slightly awkward analogy.
Imagine picking up a piece of clothing on the street, thinking it was ownerless because the material was nice, and then putting it on, only to run into the original owner. The awkwardness of that situation was something the straightforward Lin Qingyan couldn't stand.
Fortunately.
She had left Lungmen.
Lin Qingyan felt.
She probably wouldn't see that red-haired divine fragment again in her lifetime.
At this thought.
She felt a sense of relief.
As a member of the Dali Temple of Yan.
Lin Qingyan had received a report today about a man-eating monster appearing in a village within her jurisdiction. With her personality, she naturally rushed to the scene immediately.
On the lands of Yan.
Besides divine fragments, there were often evil spirits and various demon beasts.
The main cause of these evil spirits and demon beasts was the war back then, when the blood of countless gods was spilled on the land of Yan. The gods were immortal, and after hundreds of years, their chaotic consciousness did not dissipate. Some transformed into evil spirits, and others into demon beasts, wreaking havoc on the people of Yan.
However.
After entering the village.
Lin Qingyan had severely underestimated the power of the demon beast. A simple demon beast, Lin Qingyan would not fear at all, but this one actually had an evil spirit helping it. The evil spirit possessed a villager and attacked Lin Qingyan, forcing her to hold back. Moreover, to Lin Qingyan's surprise, there were actually three of these demon beasts. It was a rare Tri-bodied Demon. The auras of all three were almost identical, which was why Lin Qingyan didn't distinguish them at first and mistakenly thought there was only one. It was because of this that she was injured in the demon beast's attack.
However, even though she was injured.
Lin Qingyan still managed to terminate the demon beasts with her powerful Lightning Arts and pierced the evil spirit's soul to save the possessed villager. But in the battle, she fell down a hillside and was severely injured. Although it wasn't life-threatening, she couldn't move for a short period. If she encountered criminals or ferocious beasts in the forest, Lin Qingyan might have a hard time dealing with them.
"Damn it!!"
Lin Qingyan looked at her leg, swollen and red from a fracture, and couldn't help but curse her own carelessness. She had forgotten her master's advice to be cautious during battle. Being deep in the heartland of Yan, Lin Qingyan had let her guard down slightly and hadn't brought the items needed to contact her master. Although she had fired a signal flare, who knew how long it would take for her colleagues to arrive.
Just then.
The sound of a conversation came from the nearby woods.
"Is this the place, Closure?"
Lucas looked at the dense forest around them and asked.
"Of course, it's the village right ahead."
Closure patted her chest.
The next second.
After passing through the dense forest.
The group suddenly noticed an injured person lying in the woods. When Lucas saw the person's face, he froze.
Conversely.
When Lin Qingyan saw the familiar red-haired girl in the crowd, she couldn't hold it together anymore.
This person!!
Why is she here!!
Isn't this Yan!!