"Don't worry, we can take it from here. Thanks for your service, we'll be sure to compensate you for all the trouble."
The Scandinavian navy showed up shortly after the skirmish and firmly took charge of the situation. They were polite and grateful, to be sure, but I understood why they were insistent on chasing us off their beach. This was their territory. I was pretty sure the People's Navy wouldn't be too keen on foreign warriors and mages fighting our own wars on Hua Xia soil. And I knew for certain that they would be far ruder and much less civil.
Many of the people in Hua Xia tended to be…arrogant. There were a few humble people, of course, but unfortunately, web novel and manhua influence had promoted ruthlessness, arrogance, toxic masculinity and misogyny. No wonder the global audience had such a bad impression of us. They read all these cultivator stories filled with arrogant murder hobos and "strong eat the weak" mentality, and concluded that this was all "Chinese culture."
Ugh.
In any case, dad assured them that we wouldn't be overstepping our boundaries and gestured for us to return to the laboratory. Mom was waiting anxiously over there, and she ran over the moment we stepped into the main hall where she and her staff resided in.
"You guys!" She cried. "Stop doing such dangerous things!"
"They're fine," dad assured her. "You should believe in them more. They are pretty competent, and they are no longer children. They are fully grown warriors with a lot of experience under their belts. We should trust their abilities."
"Even so…I was so worried." Mom sighed and shook her head. She sank back in her seat at the huge table in the center of the hall, and one of her assistants passed her a mug of coffee, which she accepted gratefully.
"Your mom was working on a way to seal Jormungandr forever," dad explained when we all found couches to sit on or lounge about. He took a seat at the center, also accepting a can of beer from one of the lab assistants. The other staff members were also handing out drinks, but for us kids under twenty, we couldn't drink alcohol, so they offered bottle tea or canned soda.
"I don't think it's possible, though," mom said with a sigh, resting her head on her hands as she leaned on the table. "In the end, we just conducted a survey of the Scandinavian Sea and kept tabs on the slowly awakening Jormungandr. But I think we've provided all the consultation and help that we can, as well as research on the heightened activity of the marine spirit beasts in the region. They have been growing in aggression, but today is the first time they actually launched an invasion wave. We suspect it's going to be the first of many."
"We'll be cancelling further research field studies from this point on, for the safety of the marine biologists and other scientists," another staff member said. He was wearing a long white lab coat like mom, which marked him out as a senior researcher. He sighed and shook his head. "I personally would like to collect more data, but clearly, it's very dangerous to dispatch scientists to the sea in the current climate. We'll have to study the samples we have collected within the labs themselves."
That was way over my paygrade, so I didn't bother to ask what the hell they collected or what they intended to study. All I cared was the fact that mom said that she had already provided whatever aid she could. Reading between the lines, it could only mean one thing.
We were going home.
Before that could be confirmed, dad was called up to speak to the naval authorities in Scandinavia. Once he was done speaking to an elderly guy in a starched uniform who wore the stars of an admiral, he returned to brief us.
"The Scandinavians will be dispatching their navy and their own warriors, mages and other adventurers to guard the coast. They did give us an offer, but I declined it if you guys don't mind me making the decision for you. Unless any of you intend to stay in Scandinavia for the long term?"
We all exchanged glances and shook our heads.
"No," Myria said. "We have to return to Divine Path University soon. I think our mission window is about to end soon. We've accomplished the Yggdrasil mission, after all. Originally, we should have returned earlier, but we took a week of vacation. And even that is coming to an end."
"As much as we love this place, we wish to return home," Sylvie added. Silvia groaned and clasped her hands behind her head.
"Honestly, I would love to explore the place a bit more, but I would rather hang out in the forest or return to Yggdrasil. The sea isn't really the place for me. Playing in the beach once in a while is nice and all, but I don't want to be permanently stationed here."
"Okay." Dad nodded. He glanced at Jun Hai and me. "What about you boys?"
"Anything lor," Jun Hai replied with a shrug. "Up to you."
"…dude," I muttered with a roll of my eyes. Turned out that our, uh, Singaporean origins trumped our upbringing in Hua Xia. When dad glanced at me, I sighed and shook my head. "I'm in the same situation as Myria. I've to return to Divine Path University soon, otherwise they'll fail me. I would rather not have to repeat the semester because I took too long a leave of absence."
Frankly speaking, there was a way to increase the time window for missions if it was necessary, as long as we submit the relevant applications. However, given that Yggdrasil was officially saved by all the adventurers, and we didn't have a legitimate reason to continue hanging out in Scandinavia, it really was time for us to return home.
"It's decided then." Dad nodded in satisfaction. "Once your mom has settled all the paperwork in this lab, then we'll return home."
The journey back to Hua Xia was relatively uneventful. We rode on the plane, and as usual, Sylvie and Silvia marveled at the view from above. This time, their mood was more subdued because the initial excitement had worn off and they were slowly getting used to human technology. For example, the novelty was already gone for Myria, who simply spent most of the flight asleep or watching a movie. If anything, she was more interested in the movies filmed in the surface than she was about staring at the endless sky and clouds for hours on end.
Obviously, this was nothing new for me and Jun Hai, who watched the newer movies that we didn't manage to catch in cinemas a few months ago. Dad, on the other hand, chose the classic Hong Kong films from the 1980s and 1990s, not liking the modern films. Perhaps it was nostalgia, but he had always been a fan of martial arts films with swordfights, wire type flying, and…uh, old school special effects that would look absolutely terrible today. But hey, there was a certain charm to the cheesiness. And he got to see Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Sammo Hung and all the major martial arts stars in their youth. It was such a time to be alive.
Mom, on the other hand, spent most of the journey asleep. She was exhausted after the constant weeks of research, studies, consultations and discussions. I wasn't sure what she did, but apparently she had to come up with working hypotheses, get her colleagues to pick holes in them, refine the theories and hypotheses, and…I don't know. It wasn't just study and observation of captured spirit beast specimens or tissue samples under a microscope. She was also tasked with finding a way to seal Jormungandr, and they had to run computer simulations and other programs while formulating new spirit arrays and spell formulae.
I wasn't going to pretend that I understood any of that.
Before I knew it, the plane touched down while I was half asleep, having watched like two movies or so in between. And then we were at the airport, waiting for our luggage. We moved as a family, which was kind of funny when you thought about how Sylvie and Silvia were recent additions, yet they were already behaving like real sisters. And then there was Myria, who was basically the daughter-in-law. It was kind of surreal.
"Wait here, I'll call a cab." Dad held up a hand and began using an app on his smartphone to book a taxi. Since there were seven of us and quite a bit of luggage, we were going to need at least two cabs. Thankfully…
"Since Sylvie and Silvia are following me back to my apartment, we can book it separately." Myria raised a hand to stop dad before he could double book. "You don't have to worry about us, uncle. We'll handle our own ride."
"All right. Let me know if you need any help." My parents were aware that Myria was old enough to look after herself. They also knew that she came from a wealthy family, though I doubted they had been told that she was a princess. It wasn't that Myria didn't trust them, but she had sworn an oath to keep Atlantis a highly guarded secret. The less people who knew about the existence of Atlantis, the better.
And so, after over 60 chapters…cough, I mean after over two months, we finally returned to Hua Xia from Scandinavia. That was quite a long trip. It was almost one-third of the entire story so far. Cough. Never mind, ignore that gaping hole in the wall between reality and the fourth dimension. I had no intention of fixing it.
Walls exist to be broken, even if they were the fourth ones. Once again, I could hear the screams of rage from the existences beyond the fourth dimension, but I ignored them. If they hadn't gotten the clue the first time around, then I didn't know what to say. Other than to ask them why they were still hanging around to spectate when they already realized this wasn't for them.
"Wake up, Jun Wen. We're home."
I started, realizing that I had drifted off in my own monologue while in the taxi that my dad had booked. Before I knew it, we were back home. I helped to carry the luggage, but I wasn't able to stop myself from staring at the house. It really had been a while since we were home. Nothing looked out of place, the door was locked and the windows closed, with the curtains drawn and lights off. Somehow, I had this uncanny feeling.
I couldn't place a finger on this unsettling feeling, so for now, I followed my family through the door and began unpacking. Shortly after that, perhaps because of jetlag, we all ended up going to bed early. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to spend the entire flight watching movies instead of sleeping. That was why I had dozed off in the cab earlier.
The next morning, we woke up as usual, had breakfast together as a family, then went to school or work. Mom had a few days off from work, especially since she had spent two months overseas, and so her marine biology department had given her a week or so worth of vacation. Too bad she couldn't spend that break overseas, but she said she was fine with staying at home and catching up on what she missed. She probably would go shopping with dad or watch television. I didn't know. That was entirely up to her. Dad went to the office to brief his subordinates, but he said he would go home early.
Jun Hai and I, on the other hand, returned to school as per normal. Jun Hai headed to his high school while I went to Divine Path University. Just like home, I couldn't help but feel weird when I set foot into the campus. It had been two months since I had last come here, and the sensation of disconnect was pretty thick.
Nonetheless, I went to look for Myria, but instead, I ended up running into two old friends I didn't expect to see.
"Jun Wen! Song Jun Wen! You're finally here!"
"Where the hell were you all this time, man? We were looking for you! And you haven't been replying to our text messages! They keep telling us that our messages are unsent! And you've not been online at all for the past couple of months!"
It was right after classes were done for the day. Like I said earlier, I decided to look for Myria because, well, she was my girlfriend. And I wanted to check if everything went okay yesterday, if she got home fine and unpacked everything. I mean, I sent her a text message by phone, and she had replied, but I would be remiss in my duty as her boyfriend if I hadn't checked on her in person.
Unfortunately, it appeared that I wouldn't be able to fulfil my responsibilities as her boyfriend because someone else was looking for me.
"Tong Xue! Hao Ren! It's been a while. What's up?"
"Don't you what's up us! Where have you been?!" Tong Xue glared at me. I sighed and shook my head, resisting the urge to tell him that it was none of his business.
"Overseas. I took a mission in Scandinavia."
"Oh, right! I think I saw you on the news. You were one of the cultivators who volunteered for the mission to save Yggdrasil from demonic mages and dark elves!" Hao Ren nodded. "No wonder your phone was off and you were offline all this time. I guess you don't have data roaming or a data plan. Especially when you're out in the field."
"Yeah. I'll tell you guys more next time." I frowned. "But I'm sure you're not looking for me to socialize or catch up on what I've been doing. What's up?"
"That's right! We don't have a lot of time!" Tong Xue was pale as he grabbed my arm. "Qin Ying is in trouble! We need your help to save her!"
"What? Qin Ying?" I still recalled her as one of my few friends from my high school days. "What happened?"
Hao Ren's grim expression was enough to tell me how dire it was, but his words still shocked me.
"She's currently under assault by a demonic cultivator…and I think you're the only one who can save her right now."