“There will be an evening ball tonight, and a Disaster Relief Drill tomorrow. The day after next, we will be sending over supplies to the poverty-stricken areas in the mountains.” Cheng Ming Xuan summarised. “You’re not needed tonight and tomorrow night, do whatever you want, just don’t make any trouble. We’re heading off together the day after the next. According to the original plan, we will be visiting three villages, one per day. If you add the travel time, it’ll probably take around five days in total, before we head back. The entire trip will take around seven days. We’ll wait for you at the pickup area. If you’re not there on time…”
“We’ll handle it ourselves.” Zhao Jing Lei finished.
“No.” Cheng Ming Xuan shook his head. “If you don’t arrive on time, we still have two other villages outside our plan that we can visit. We can spend at most two more days outside.”
“Everything will last around ten days, shouldn’t be an issue.” Zhao Jing Lei hummed. “We don’t have a lot of people with us. If the mission goes as planned, we can finish it before the foreign powers mix themselves in. If things don’t turn out well… even though we’re in the mountainous area, we can’t go up against them in broad daylight, we might be seen.”
“Why am I getting a the-slow-needs-to-start-early vibe…” Ai Er Ge mumbled, “and I’m getting a flight-if-we-can’t-fight them message.”
Zhao Jing Lei froze before he glared at Xuan Mo: “Xuan Mo! Where’d you get yourself such a joker?!”
To his surprise, Xuan Mo nodded: “I actually have to agree with him.”
“The heck!” Zhao Jing Lei was left in an awkward situation, and turned to mumble to himself. They could vaguely hear him saying if they were from Y country he’s gonna OOXX them, if there were from M country, he’s gonna YY them and KO them and whatnot…
Cheng Ming Xuan laughed: “Let’s not make things difficult for Ah Lei, things are tough as it is, we’re not familiar with the area either, and yet we need to sort out something as complicated as this. He’s got to source for funding, talents, and sort out everything under the pressure from the higher ups, he’s only three years your senior.”
“Oh.” The most powerful alien in the last two hundred million years was very calm and collected. At that, she stood: “We’re done?”
“…”
“I’m leaving then.” At that, she turned to leave.
Ling Yun and Ai Er Ge quickly tagged after Xuan Mo’s retreating silhouette. When the door closed, there was a vague inhale heard.
Even though Henan had the word “South (Nan)” in its name, it was in fact it was the north, therefore it was a cold and dry place. Xuan Mo was not a single bit curious, neither was she interested in heading out. And so, she only requested a copy of the mission details and other related documents and returned to her room to look through the information.
She was used to being on her own, she could stand solitude, and she was always an indoors person to begin with. This wasn’t the case for the other two guys that came along. Ling Yun and Ai Er Ge made a few rounds outside on the first day before they lost interest. They spent their second day nestled in Xuan Mo’s room chatting instead.
After learning about Xuan Mo and Ai Er Ge’s identity, Ling Yun had been quite afraid of them, and so he’d never asked about it before. Afterwards when he found his way over to Xuan Mo’s place to seek asylum, he didn’t manage to satiate his curiousity due to Lu Yu Chen’s constant death stare. Now that it was just the three of them, and after making sure there was no one eavesdropping, he couldn’t reign in his curiosity anymore.
“Xuan Mo, where are you from?”
“City H.”
“…as in where in the galaxy.”
Xuan Mo understood what he was getting at — he’s tryna figure out her background. There’ll be an endless stream of questions after this, she reckoned. And so, she quickly pointed at Ai Er Ge instead: “He knows me better than I do — even more updated and detailed than what I know.”
Ai Er Ge had been incredibly bored. At that, he sat down confidently and declared: “Ask away!”
“Oh oh! Are you guys from the same race?”
“No!”
“You guys…”
Ling Yun spent the entire afternoon asking questions. The more he learnt, the more flabbergasted and frightened he got, and the more he sweated. In the end, his questions died down to a tiny whisper in Ai Er Ge’s ear: “No way, she’s that merciless?”
“Duh! During that war, she made a military order just before the war itself, that there will be no prisoners of war! What does that mean? That means annihilation! Leave no soul alive!” Ai Er Ge exclaimed in protest. “That was the most merciless bloodbath ever witnessed by the Galaxy, none other was as insane as this one. The entire planet was moaning. What was more cruel was that the majority of the Great Coalition union was made up of Scorpions, so they naturally could sway the decisions made. The Great Coalition had only issued a tokenistic admonition and didn’t bother with the war. But this Marshal was as shameless as she could get, when she saw the announcement, she’d exclaimed for the stinky bugs to get their asses out if they dared! Even if they didn’t, she was gonna hunt all of them down!”
“Goodness, that’s insane!” To Ai Er Ge’s surprise, Ling Yun was starry eyed. “What a powerful Marshal!”
“Don’t you think that’s too merciless?! She’s annihilating an entire race!”
“Didn’t you say the Autrians were the ones that provoked the Scorpions first, and that they melted the Hui Xing Clan with weapons; as the Marshal of their planet, her anger is understandable.” Ling Yun was in admiration, “if only our country was as unwavering and supportive.”
Ai Er Ge was speechless, and even tried to give more examples to prove how wrong Ling Yun was, and that the person he’d pursued once upon a time was actually a bloodthirsty demon. Ling Yun registered none of this, and instead made a remark that left Ai Er Ge floored and speechless: “Ai Er Ge, you’re so familiar with all the things she’d done, you even remember the things she said before the war, you must have very strong feelings for her!”
An amused Xuan Mo who had been busy gaming turned to look at the flabbergasted Ai Er Ge: “Wha—what?”
Ling Yun patted him with a knowing expression: “Aye, inter-racial relationships is difficult, all the best!”
“Oi oi, I just, it’s just that I’ve researched the Spirit Monument before. Hold up, the entire Coalition can recite her feats asleep! Hold it! Whatever you’re thinking of, stop it!”
Ling Yun had already confirmed his suspicions, and had no intentions of changing his mind.
“We’re freaking arch-enemies!” Ai Er Ge’s howl reverberated in the room.
Bright and early on the third day, together with Cheng Ming Xuan’s team, thirty or so people boarded the bus and started their journey. There were two more lorries and jeeps carrying goods tailing after them.
The staff following Cheng Ming Xuan were all very tired. There were two distinct types of people after everyone got on, the twenty-two staff members, including Cheng Ming Xuan himself, sat at the front of the bus and napped; the remaining fifteen were the action team, and all of them were very spirited.
They were dressed casually. There were eight people among them that had on a cameo jacket that they’d bought from some random stall around here; most of them had a sturdy physique — in other words, fit and tan. The remaining seven of them were characteristic in their own ways, and were dressed according to their age and personality respectively. The most conspicuous out of everyone was probably Xuan Mo, Ai Er Ge and Zhao Jing Lei.
One was a pretty girl, one was a Eurasian guy, and the last one a mixed guy.
When Cheng Ming Xuan got on the bus, he joked: “You guys are really not suited for jobs like these, you’re too attention-grabbing.”
At his words, the three of them pulled their caps even lower in silence.
Against the sound of the news playing in the background, the bus drove into the mountainous area. The entire journey was silent. When they reached their destination, the fifteen members of the action team got off the bus. The people in the two jeeps alighted first, followed by the last jeep that drove out behind the lorry, and the last five people got off. The three groups of people did not converse. Each team went off in their own direction.
Xuan Mo, Zhao Jing lei, Yi Fei, and two other soliders were seated in the first jeep. Seated in the shotgun, Zhao Jing Lei sighed lightly: “Let’s go, stick to the route!”
The moment they got down, Xuan Mo’s mental net had already accurately engulfed the entire five kilometre radius. She looked at the mountainous area and squinted her eyes.
She looked backwards. Ai Er Ge was still seated in the other vehicle, staring blankly at her, before he nodded.
“There are three forces here, they’re all dispersed in different locations, and all of them have a big piece of the golden stone each.”
“We’re not surrounded.”
“Neither are we the first to make it here.”
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