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Sorry for the extra lateness… but my schedule should relax from now on, so I can finally return for the normal update schedule c:
Character ListQiao Zhiya: Half-elf, half-dwarf MC.
Chu Yan: ML’s younger brother. Is the same age as MC, currently attending intermediate college.
Yuan Xiu: Chu Yan’s bestfriend.
Lin Zhen: MC’s designated teacher during his stay in ML’s warship.
Ning Kongran: A fifth-grader at intermediate college. Ning family current heir.
The two looked at each other, then at the sky where the ship had completely disappeared.
“To be here at about the same time as ours, Ning Kongran’s team must be very strong.” Chu Yan opened his mouth first, musing thoughtfully, “They even made an appointment in the most dangerous Area… What secret action is the Ning family going to do?”
Qiao Zhiya came back to his senses. Recalling Ning Kongran’s behavior before, he shook his head and said, “I don’t think the Ning family has any secret action; instead, this is purely Kongran’s own plan… Xiao Yan, Kongran definitely isn’t in harmony with the Ning family. I can feel that he has no malice towards the Chu family, and he has helped me many times publicly.”
–On top of that, those “helps” were sincere – he helped Qiao Zhiya purely to show his friendship and goodwill.
“What you said seems to be true.” Chu Yan remembered that Ning Kongran reminded Qiao Zhiya to pay attention to Ning Kongting’s matter in front of his face. Now, he even took the initiative to form a team with Yuan Xiu. Chu Yan seemed to have thought something, he turned his head in surprise. “Wait, why do I feel that he is going to stand in line with the Chu family? What about the Ning family, he doesn’t want to be associated with them anymore?
‘He acted very reassuring and trusting, and even asked us to help cover him up. It’s as if he was very confident that we would help and would not expose this matter.’
‘Where did Ning Kongran’s self-confidence come from? Obviously the Chu family had no contact with him before, but…’
Chu Yan seemed to have a breakthrough. He openly stared at Qiao Zhiya, eyes filled with worry.
‘Ning Kongran should trust Qiao… his trust in the Chu family is just a side-effect.’
Thinking of this, he frowned again, not understanding. Before, he thought that Ning Kongran showed his kindness to Qiao because he had some thoughts about him, but after scrutinizing it, it really didn’t look like it.
‘If Ning Kongran was infatuated with Qiao, why doesn’t he act upon it, even on a subconscious level? In fact, he always keeps his distance on purpose instead…’
Qiao Zhiya knew the turbulent thoughts of Chu Yan. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to say, “Xiao Yan, Kongran doesn’t like the Ning family. He has never concealed this in front of me.”
“So the Ning family is really fighting among themselves?”
Chu Yan pulled back the thoughts that were drifting away, and counted with his fingers: “The President started to approach our house, while the Xiang and Wei families are nesting together. I don’t know what they are plotting. It’s been a bit weird lately, don’t you think? The Ning family is in conflict, the Empire wants to send students here – and we still don’t know what their purpose is… the situation is really going to be chaotic.”
He sighed and retracted his hand, his jovial attitude diminished a lot. His eyes were lowered in thought, before opening it once again. Once Chu Yan was truly focused and serious, his expression became colder and solemn – in fact, there were faint shadows of Chu Rong, looking mature and reliable.
Qiao Zhiya looked at his face in a daze for a moment. His emotions were affected and he fell silent, in complete contrast to his chaotic mind. Looking at this serious Chu Yan made him think of Chu Rong, the Marshal who taught him fiercely. It made his heart suddenly become sore and swollen, while his hand subconsciously touched his communicator.
At this point, Chu Rong should have fallen asleep… the two haven’t been in contact these days, and the other party seems to be very busy…
On top of that, Chu Rong just returned to work after a long vacation. There must be a heap of backlogs he needed to finish. Now, even the Federation’s situation has become unclear…
Lin Zhen glanced at the youth back and forth, feeling helpless. ‘Raising a child is really a headache…’
He put away the tent that he had just taken out, and looked around the boulder circle where there was a danger of escape. He stepped forward and said, “Since you don’t want to sleep, then go ahead and rest when you reach the foot of the mountain.”
This snapped the two youth out of their thoughts. Chu Yan nodded and replied, “Let’s go, the ore-hunter said just now that a group of alien beasts are gathering here. Although this sounds like a scare, we still have to prioritize safety. It’s better to avoid it.”
Lin Zhen glanced at him, a little surprised. Why did this childish third young master suddenly become mature and meticulous?
Qiao Zhiya also felt that it would be better to leave the boulder circle first. Just as he was about to agree, he remembered the hole in the corner of the tent, became anxious, and said, “Wait a minute, Xiao Hei is gone. It bit through the tent and ran away. I didn’t see it.”
“What?”
Chu Yan’s mature appearance immediately burst when he heard that. He sounded shocked. “Bite through the tent and run away? Its teeth are so powerful that it can bite through the tent?” These were specially made tents, it couldn’t even be cut by knife!
“The hole is very small. I didn’t see it before I went to bed,” Qiao Zhiya responded in frustration. He blamed himself, and his ears flattened in response. “It’s all my fault. I slept so hard that I didn’t notice that it ran away…”
“I don’t blame you, I don’t blame you. You are too tired from exploring the road during the day, so it’s normal to sleep a little deeper.” Chu Yan quickly comforted him. His eyebrows were furrowed, and there was a trace of anxiety inside his eyes.
Although Xiao Hei looked stupid and wretched, he was unexpectedly likable. It was still just a baby snake, and yet it ran away in such a dangerous area… Even with its extra-strong teeth, it might not be able to defend itself if it met another predator.
Lin Zhen didn’t expect such an episode. Thinking of the strange little snake, he turned his head and ordered the team members behind him, saying, “Look around for signs of snakes leaving.”
His team obediently fulfilled Lin Zhen’s order.
Qiao Zhiya nodded in gratitude towards Lin Zhen. he hurriedly joined in the search.
His night vision – a racial trait of the dwarves’ – played a big role again. He quickly found traces of snakes crawling in a rock crevice in the corner, and hurriedly called everyone to see.
Chu Yan leaned over, pondered for a while along the direction of the stone crack, and asked in a voice full of doubt, “It’s strange, why does Xiao Hei seem to be climbing towards the direction of the volcano?”
“Probably a coincidence,” Qiao Zhiya replied. He was about to elaborate, but then his ears picked up a sound, and his expression became serious. He turned his head and looked around, his magic power instantly spread out and enveloped everyone, isolating their presence. He hissed, “A bunch of alien beasts are coming, from several directions! I heard their footsteps, hurry up!”
Everyone was shocked. Lin Zhen waved his hand immediately and ordered, “Let’s go, try to reduce our noise as much as possible. Open the protective barrier!”
Everyone acted quickly to erect the barrier. They also managed to leave their previous campsite.
Not long after they left, several alien beasts of different types all rushed to the boulder. They circled around the boulder a few times, sniffed everywhere, and then one of them smashed one of the stones with its tail. Its yellow-green eyes fell on a very shallow crawling mark, and it immediately raised its neck and let out a low growl from a strange frequency.
A few seconds later, there was a faint response from the volcano. The alien beasts suddenly froze as if they had just woken up, and quickly came back to their senses. They glanced at the surrounding environment, and were enveloped by horror and doubt.
Then, they turned around and fled away quickly, screaming.
After hearing the voice from the volcano, the alien beasts in Area D were agitated for a while. But soon, they settled down, huddled in their lairs. Not one of them even dared to walk around casually.
Qiao Zhiya seemed to sense something. He looked up in the direction of the volcano, and frowned. That power fluctuation just now…
“What’s the matter?” Chu Yan noticed that his speed had slowed down, so he slowed down cooperatively. He said in a gentle tone, “Don’t worry too much, Xiao Hei is so small, it’s easy to hide in danger. Nothing will happen to it.”
‘Maybe it was an illusion?’
Qiao Zhiya nodded, even though his heart was full of uneasiness. He simply spread his magic power wider.
After walking for more than an hour, everyone has approached the foot of the volcano.
“It’s almost dawn, let’s rest for a while,” Lin Zhen looked back at the two children who had obviously lost their energy. He found a suitable place for camping, and stopped the team.
After the excitement passed, sleepiness surged up. Chu Yan yawned, as if on cue. Following him, Qiao Zhiya suddenly felt tired too. He rubbed his heavy-lidded eyes.
Physically and spiritually exhausted, Qiao Zhiya fell asleep soon after entering the tent despite his worries. He didn’t mend the hole in the corner of the tent, and he didn’t agree with Chu Yan’s suggestion to change the tent, insisting on sleeping on it.
Subconsciously, he always felt that as long as the hole remained, Xiao Hei might come back.
The two of them slept soundly and didn’t wake up until after nine o’clock in the morning.
Qiao Zhiya’s ears twitched as he slowly stirred up from his sleep. After a few seconds of confusion, he stared blankly at the lump of black object lying on the pillow. He suddenly woke up, sat up with a low cry, and ran back in surprise. He picked up the-still drowsy little snake, and squeezed its noodly body in joy. “Where did you go at night? When did you come back? You can’t be so self-willed next time.”
The little black snake was woken up by him. It stuck its tongue at him, then hung its head to continue sleeping.
Qiao Zhiya was completely happy. He carefully patted the sleeping snake, fed it some magic power, then got up happily, and walked out of the tent.
Everyone showed a pleasant and reassuring attitude towards Xiao Hei’s return. Only Chu Yan viciously took a knife and made threatening gestures on Xiao Hei a few times. This pig didn’t run away from the knife, so Chu Yan pinched the snake’s tail.
The little black snake was moved by his pinch, and it flicked its tail on the back of his hand without hesitation.
Chu Yan howled out, making everyone laugh.
The atmosphere became much more relaxed. After a rest, everyone set off again, this time to climb the volcano.
“Although the star sand is mostly formed underground, it is generally scattered. It can be pushed out by magma. We need to screen the reptile lairs on this mountain first to determine a rough range,” Lin Zhen said as he put away the map. He looked back at Qiao Zhiya, and asked, “Can you still do it?”
Qiao Zhiya threw the absorbed magic stone into the storage ring, nodding in reply. “I can. Let’s go.”
Xiao Hei hung lazily in Qiao Zhiya’s pocket again, and even purposefully rubbed its body affectionately. It glanced at the bottom of the mountain, flicking its tail.