A few days later—
"Right, here we go again."
"…Why did we have to take that stupid plane again?"
Among the group of five, the only one who looks thoroughly exhausted is Qing Yue alone, who currently has a lifeless look in her eyes.
Similarly to last time, they had taken a high-speed jet, along with a military transport to get to their present location.
In front of the group is a giant serpent's head, which is carved out of stone, and situated between its jaws is a blue portal.
Due to how long this stone sculpture has been here, 90 percent of it is covered in moss.
Turning away from the portal, Ye Chen looks to the thing behind the group, and remarks—
"I wonder how effective that thing even is…"
Positioned a few meters away from the portal is a thick wall of steel—a crude means to prevent an incident like the one that occurred during the second excavation from repeating itself.
The landscape nearby is a lush forest—with much of its trees cut away, to create some space for tents to be plotted down.
"…"
With the gacha interface open, Long Hua does a ten-roll.
"Hmm."
Notable items wise, it's the bullets that stand out among the quality-of-life garbage. Other than those—
(A drone? I guess I'll send it to your doll.)
"Ai. Is an SSR too much to ask for?"
Muttering this, Long Hua shakes his head, to which, Ye Chen asks—
"You actually have reception out here to do a gacha pull?"
Towards this question, Long Hua replies—
"Something like that."
Dismissing the gacha interface, Long Hua moved towards the portal with Tian Cheng behind him.
"…"
"…"
Stepping through the portal, Long Hua and Tian Cheng find themselves within an environment that is practically no different from the one outside.
Moving to the side of the portal, Long Hua throws a glance at a familiar figure, and remarks—
"Why do I feel like your group tends to stalk me?"
"We're here to see what a grade three is like in the outer domain. And if you don't feel like being near us, why don't you stay out of the ruins, Long-laoban?"
Replying as such, Shao Tianming also finds the situation a bit odd. This isn't the only ongoing excavation, so the odds of running into Long Hua shouldn't have been this high.
"…"
Sweeping his eyes across the current gathering, Long Hua notices a group of Moon Guards—dressed in their usual garb of a black body suit with a mask.
"Hm?"
Constricting his eyes, Long Hua also sees a group of military soldiers; however—
"It seems like the Long Yue family has finally started to perform Moon Guard modifications on members of the military, master."
"Indeed."
Different from the usual soldiers, the ones in the distance possessed bestial traits, which should have been unique to Moon Guards.
Attire wise, these soldiers are all wearing identical combat uniforms—consisting of an armored vest over a dark blue body suit.
Other than the armored vest, smaller plates of armor covered their vital regions, and hanging around their necks was a gas mask.
"…"
Turning his attention to the skies, Long Hua thought—
(Now then… I wonder how many practitioners that surnamed Qing had brought with him into this world?)
Although Long Hua hadn't been given a definite time as to when Qing Ming Yang would be bringing in a group of practitioners to investigate the Leng Bing Realm again, he figured that—
(Having crippled his manhood, the enmity between us should be high. He'll be sure to give a report that contains a hint of urgency. If the Ling Yuan family's management were smart, they'd send people in as soon as possible. And as the one who made that urgent report, the odds of him being put in charge of this investigation are quite high.)
Thinking of the marker that is currently in his storage pouch, Long Hua covers his lips, and smiles venomously, while thinking—
(Ai, I wonder what sort of despair-filled expression that surnamed Qing would make if he realized what I did?)
Up to this point, Qing Ming Yang has yet to realize that the marker he placed on Yao Ying had been taken by Long Hua.
"…"
Off to the side, Tian Cheng takes out a black drone with four wings. Attached to the drone's rectangular base is a camera.
"…"
Establishing connections, Tian Cheng has the drone turn invisible—prior to setting it off into the air.
"…"
Standing in front of a statue of Lord Tian She Zi, a woman with light purple hair and is dressed in a brown trench coat—performs a subtle bow.
Coincidentally, Long Hua, who had seen this, thought—
(Hm? That woman… I think she was surnamed Gui? Same office as surnamed Shen? …Belief in this deity, it hasn't been very long since it had appeared in public eyes, it shouldn't be a trend. Hmm.)
...…
Far from the ruins' entrance area, a rift opens, and from within this rift, two small-statured figures walk out.
"So, this is a ruin?"
"Indeed."
The first figure is Yao Ying, who is dressed in a sleeveless blouse with a pair of knee-length black pants and boots.
The second figure is Nuo'er, who is dressed in her usual military garbs.
"…"
Turning to Yao Ying, Nuo'er says—
"Remember, safety first. If you run into a dangerous situation, run as far as possible."
"Un."
Turning to Nuo'er, Yao Ying nods, and replies—
"I got it."
Saying this, Yao Ying clutches the storage ring that she is wearing with a black thread tied around it.
Inside the storage ring, a medallion that is unique to the Ling Yuan family had been given to her ahead of time by Nuo'er.
With this medallion, Yao Ying will be able to use her cultivation base in the Leng Bing Realm, but despite this, Nuo'er still warns—
"Just because you can finally use your cultivation base doesn't mean that you can be careless. Compared to other practitioners, you're still just a soft persimmon. And soft persimmons are quite satisfying to squeeze."
"Uh?"
"It means you're easy to bully."
"Ah…"
Heaving a sigh, Nuo'er says—
"Long-shao is also in this ruin somewhere. If you're able to stick to him, it would be much safer."
Scratching her cheek awkwardly, Yao Ying replies—
"I don't think that will be easy…"
"He's a man who moves for benefits. In preparation for his departure of this world, he's been trying to build a foundation to stand on in the Everlasting Spirit Realm—through the connections that he can currently work with. …Calling it a foundation—from what elder sister had told me, it doesn't appropriate to call it that under the current circumstances, where he seems more intent on just leaving a massive fire behind."
Contemplating for a brief instance, Nuo'er adds—
"In any case, I think you can put some trust into your maternal grandfather; if Mo Tongzi is able to provide some benefits to Long-shao when he gets out of this world, he'd guarantee your safety. Ai, that's all the advice that I can think of."
Nodding her head, Yao Ying says—
"Nuo'er, thank you for the help."
"…Again, don't thank someone who could be sending you off to your death."