Chapter 492 Farewell and Plans (3k)
The sky was still hazy gray, with only a few people scattered outside the station. This was the train heading south, and hardly anyone would brave the severe winter at this hour to catch a ride.
The long rows of seats resembled guarding soldiers. Snowflakes landed on them, yet they stood motionless, quietly watching the station sign and the graceful figure standing there. The figure was dressed in a black and white qipao, holding a small wooden box in her hand.
The small box wasn’t particularly exquisite, but it was decorated with numerous small white flowers. The small white flowers, pieced together, formed a pattern of even smaller white flowers, as if they were individually pasted on, appearing quite thoughtful.
“I bought you some pastries. The breakfast shops weren’t open yet, so I had to go a long way around.”
On this quiet morning, a voice with a hint of a smile suddenly broke the silence. The graceful figure turned, revealing Bai Zhi’s face. Looking towards the source of the voice, her eyes also held a touch of brightness.
Her crow-feather outfit washed and put away in storage, Su Jiu changed into the thick-soled JK uniform she hadn’t worn before. Her hair was re-pinned with two side clips and a large hairpin, with the ends barely reaching her waist.
“How long have you been gone?”
Looking at Su Jiu’s youthful attire, the Little Flower Fairy puffed out her cheeks, her words carrying a hint of playful reproach: “I told you not to go buy me anything. There’s food on the train, and besides, I don’t need human food to replenish my energy.”
“You don’t like that stuff, and it doesn’t taste good either.”
Exhaling a mist of white, Su Jiu smiled and handed over the bakery bag she was holding, along with the warm barley juice in her hand.
Bai Zhi took the food and used her index finger to part the bag, preparing to put the items into her ring. As her gaze shifted downwards, she saw the red velvet cake inside and was taken aback, her mouth forming a small, slight curve before closing. “Silly girl… I brought you a gift too. Can you guess what it is?”
“What silly girl? I’m much smarter than you, alright?”
Hearing this, Su Jiu rolled her eyes, but her gaze inadvertently fell on the small wooden box.
Without even thinking, she knew what was inside.
However…
As Bai Zhi was putting the food items into her ring, Su Jiu tilted her head slightly, pointed at the wooden box, and revealed a charming smile, asking with amusement, “Don’t tell me it’s a souvenir from that Russian souvenir shop next door? So mysterious.”
“What souvenir!”
Hearing Su Jiu’s words, Bai Zhi glared at her and shoved the wooden box towards her, looking askance and huffing, “Open it after I leave!”
“Alright.”
With a helpless smile, Su Jiu took the small wooden box. She could hear the faint clinking of small objects inside, and it felt quite heavy, as if it contained some small stones, which made her pause. She thought to herself: *I thought it was a scarf? What’s inside?*
Shaking off the thought and seeing that it was nearing 8:40, Su Jiu remembered a question and quickly looked up at Bai Zhi.
“Can you go to Huayang? I need you to contact a friend for me. I haven’t been able to get through to him on his phone.”
“A friend? Is it a female friend?”
Hearing this, Bai Zhi eyed Su Jiu suspiciously, glancing left and right, squinting her big eyes, and asked indifferently.
“No… it’s an elder who is both a mentor and a friend. His name is… Lord Liu Yue. This friend of mine wants to break through to the Battle King level. The last time I contacted him was a long time ago.”
Su Jiu then took out a storage bag, fumbled for a while, and pulled out a set of keys, handing them over. She said softly, “This is my house key. My friend sent over some fruit wine. He’s quite well-known in the Huayang military region. If you have a chance, help me find him.”
Looking at the keys, Bai Zhi pouted, snatched them, and grasped them in her palm. Mimicking Su Jiu’s deadpan expression, she said blankly, “You better not ask me to find some little girlfriend for you, or else…”
“Hmph, hmph… Alright, I should head back to Dragon Country now. Take care of yourself.”
With two more hmph-hmphs, she extended her not-so-large fist and gestured in front of Su Jiu before her gaze passed over the platform’s time.
Turning, she walked towards the ticket gate. Amidst the rustling crowd, her figure seemed a bit lonely.
After walking about ten meters, she paused slightly, raised her head, as if looking at the station sign, or perhaps at the shadow cast by the station sign. Her rather cold voice rang out again:
“In the [Frostbreak] plan, Li Ziwei and Spider Grandma can be your chess pieces, and I can be too…”
“They are hidden pieces; I am your final move. Just grasp the wooden hairpin to summon me.”
She understood that with this farewell, Su Jiu would be facing enemies of Cardinal Red rank. Facing a Cardinal Red with the influence of a walker as a semi-king was like walking a tightrope at all times.
Her three lifetimes of experience made Bai Zhi understand that this was an unavoidable path for the strong. Only by becoming stronger against the strong could one take the next step.
With that, she sighed and continued forward…
“I hope this move won’t have to be activated.”
Staring at the receding figure for a long time, Su Jiu clenched her fist, and finally sat on the seat, letting out a bitter smile. She was still too weak.
She could only face weaker demigods. If she had to face a peak-condition demigod like Zhou Liu head-on, she probably wouldn’t last long, unless she activated the third-tier Elegy…
Although she would basically never encounter them.
The immediate task was to clarify Fen Shuangluan’s movements, obtain its feathers, and then cultivate for another ten-odd days to break through to the Battle King level. Finally, with its feathers, she would improve her Fire Domain as well, achieving balance between the two domains!
At that time, demigods…
Would be existences she could easily kill. She would truly enter the ranks of the strong and have the confidence to face the first major climax of the book in the latter half of the month, enabling her to prevent massive casualties in advance.
Thinking this, Su Jiu’s gaze fell on the wooden box. She gently fiddled with the small clasp and slowly opened the box, only to find an irregularly shaped dark green stone inside.
Beneath the stone was a scarf embroidered with a cartoon of a long-haired girl with a silly smile, made of thick yarn.
“Could this be… Dream Cloud Essence? No wonder I thought that old geezer had no rings or storage bags to rummage through. It turns out the little fool got it first.”
Picking up the dark green stone, Su Jiu was astonished to find that the stone emitted an aura similar to that of the Dream Cloud Pool, and there was a profound and mysterious scent within, a very pure breakthrough energy.
She felt that as long as she absorbed it, she could directly reach the Battle King level. However, to avoid dangerous imbalance in her body, she decided to wait until she obtained the feathers.
Putting away the Dream Cloud Essence, Su Jiu’s gaze rested on the scarf. She looked at it for a long time before suddenly laughing out loud and tying the rather unattractive beige scarf with a gray cartoon head.
Even though her strength meant she no longer felt the cold, wearing it felt very comfortable. It wasn’t rough and gave her a warm feeling.
After sitting in a daze for a while, Su Jiu decided to find Li Yi and the other two. Although their strength was average, Chen Jia’er was now the young family head. If she could go through her, and secretly dispatch strong individuals to support the expeditionary force…
It would undoubtedly give those Ancient God Sect followers a great shock. Even if you’re not the protagonist, you can still thwart the Ancient God Sect’s scheme.
Perhaps she couldn’t do it alone, but two people, three people… what about even more people? A single spark could light up this snowy night!
…
In a small town east of Bear Country, on a similar bench, a grizzled man in a green military coat leaned against it, holding a cup of free hot water and taking large bites of a flatbread with a distinctly Dragon Country flavor.
“Hey! Uncle! Why do you sit here every day?”
Suddenly, a girl of fifteen or sixteen approached him, curiously bending down to look at him. Her clear voice rang out.
“Aka, hurry back and pray with Uncle Linka at the church. Don’t provoke strange people! The news says many homeless people in the city have disappeared for no reason. He might kidnap you!”
Her companion, a short distance away, seemed very afraid of this strange person. She suddenly hugged the girl and ran away. Behind her companion was a man in clerical attire, squinting and pondering something.
Hearing this, the grizzled man slowly shook the snow off himself, looked up, and revealed a rather kind smile, scratching his head. He spoke in his not-so-standard Bear Language: “I want to join the church, to earn a living.”
The clergyman’s voice quickly sounded from behind, “Aka, let him over. I am a legitimate religion, and the Lord is merciful…”
Hearing this, the girl glanced at the clergyman, finding it inexplicable, and lead the bearded man, completely bewildered, back towards her companion.
“I must have sensed it wrong. I always feel like this person has a strange aura… but I guess there are enough believers in this city this time.”
He glanced at the grizzled man behind the group, looking at his honest yet cautious smile.
The clergyman shook his head, withdrew his gaze, and muttered to himself as he led a group of children towards the Catholic church at the center.
…
At the same time, in another place – Gunazha City, an aging industrial city in Bear Country. Many of its facilities and factories had been decommissioned early due to environmental degradation and resource depletion, leaving behind mostly residual Alchemy Arrays.
It had transformed from a first-class heavy industrial city to a third-rate city.
The wind and snow were even stronger than imagined, rattling the windows of dilapidated factories. In a large factory, a woman in purple sat on a high platform, scrutinizing the alchemists genuinely building tall pillars below.
“Mei Mei, I’m burying salted duck eggs…”
At this moment, a voice with a hint of roguishness suddenly rang out. The speaker, dressed in a dusty gray suit with his sleeves rolled up, also leaned against the platform and sat down on it.
Lin Mei glanced at him, nodded, and her gaze remained on the tall pillars below. She reached out, emitting a faint fluorescence that covered his hand, and transmitted her voice: “There are monitors in the factory, and someone is even specially supervising us. Don’t talk openly about [Dream Flower]…”
“It’s fine, I just buried duck eggs behind the house. As for Dream Flower… I have an idea, it might even reach the neighboring city—but it will require Mei Mei, the alchemist, to help.”
Feeling the transmitted voice, the youth grinned shamelessly and looked towards the abandoned Alchemy Array on the other side of the factory. It seemed the two were accustomed to such communication, quite familiar with each other.
The woman in purple was slightly taken aback, then quickly grasped his idea. Her eyes narrowed, and after a moment, she suddenly smiled: “You’re quite crazy… but your idea isn’t bad.”
“After all, if I want to become an elder, I can’t just listen to others all the time.”
Li Ziwei grinned, lay down on the dusty platform, looked at the slightly snowy roof, and closed his eyes slightly, feeling the warmth on his hand.
