Chapter 724: Chapter 723: Seeing Spirits in Broad Daylight

To be honest, the current situation indeed wasn’t part of Luo’s plan for returning home this time—but on another level, it oddly aligns with some of her past imaginings.

This refers to the part where she is escorted back to her hometown by fully armed soldiers from the Boundary Land...

She turned her head to glance at the two soldiers from the Boundary Land who followed her, sighed, then turned to explain to Uncle Barn: "Don’t listen to the rumors outside. I’m now the chief scientist of a major organization in the Boundary Land. These two were sent by the bosses to act as my bodyguards..."

The middle-aged elf across from her cast a somewhat skeptical glance at the two fully-armed soldiers. Years of working near refining reactors had somewhat impaired his vision, and his eyes were no longer as clear and bright as those of other Algredians, but he could still recognize the Boundary Land emblem on the soldiers’ power armor—truth be told, these burly men in powerful armor standing behind Luo looked more like guards than anything else, but before he could voice his question, one of the soldiers took the initiative to nod and break the silence.

"We’re under orders to protect Miss Luo," came a muffled voice from under the helmet, "Her current identity is the chief scientist at a travel agency, and a senior advisor for the Boundary Council and Special Service Bureau."

The humble miner elf was greatly shocked.

These were titles and identities he had never imagined—especially when many young people returning from working abroad said Luo was on a wanted list.

"Really?" Barn looked into Luo’s eyes, as if unable to believe, repeatedly confirming, "What you said is true, huh? Then... then how come you haven’t returned all these years! You left to study and there was no news, transportation here is inconvenient, even if you came back every ten years, it would be great, hardly anyone from here goes to Terra University..."

Luo opened her mouth.

But she only opened it.

Indeed, she hadn’t been back for a long time, with too many things happening, nightmares, dreams, bizarre, incredible things. Where should she begin? With the Black Dot Group?

Looking at Uncle Barn, his waist and back slightly hunched, she thought of those relatives and neighbors who gathered money to send her to study at Terra, of the long rain when she left, and the bright stars above the old observatory outside the town.

It’s all in the past.

"...I worried everyone," she gently sighed, "My previous work was a bit... busy, I couldn’t come home, but recently I’ve changed to a new boss, and the new boss is pretty good..."

The new boss was indeed quite good, Luo thought—he pulled her out from the influence of the Dark Angel, used Special Service Bureau connections to give her a legal identity, and dealt with Old Qiao, her biggest... "problem", the only downside might be not paying wages, she even had to give him a share...

She smiled.

Uncle Barn also smiled.

In the dim morning light and mist of this old hometown, the old miner slowly straightened his body, grinned: "Great, our Terra students have returned!"

His voice was loud, as if intentionally letting someone hear it, repeating it loudly on the empty streets.

Luo felt a bit awkward, but in the end didn’t intervene.

...

Boundary City, deep on Wutong Road.

The early spring wind was still a bit cold, especially in the morning, blowing through the streets of the old part of the city, stirring the freshly sprouted leaves on trees, and infiltrating clothes through collars and cuffs, not as bone-chilling as winter, but just enough to make one shiver and hunch their shoulders with goosebumps.

But if one had a hot roasted sweet potato to eat now, it would be too comfortable.

Zheng Zhi and Li Lin squatted at the doorway of the delivery station, each holding a roasted sweet potato, nibbling as they chatted idly.

"Brother Li, did you see the news on the internal network these past two days?"

"I did, what’s up? Which one are you referring to?"

"The one about the war, what else," Zheng Zhi exhaled hot air, "The main star of the Hidden Monastery and their recruitment planet have been taken... That main star just vanished, damn..."

"Indeed, damn, I heard from Old Xu it was Brother Yu who did it, but he didn’t tell me much more detailed stuff, just heard Lingdang mentioned that some door opened in the middle of the planet and gobbled it up..."

"That’s a bit absurd," Zheng Zhi shook his head and remarked, "I thought the Inference Star Body incident was the peak."

"It’s peaceful here though," Li Lin also agreed, "It’s even quieter now that Brother Yu has left."

"Indeed, in these many days, I’ve only fallen into the Exotic Realm twice, and both times I walked out by myself, overall it’s been peaceful," Zheng Zhi said while smacking his lips, "Phew... this sweet potato is still quite hot."

"Ordinary people would probably live to the end if they fell into the Exotic Realm once in their lifetime," Li Lin’s expression was quirky, "Your standard of peacefulness would leave me performing over three hundred funerals a year."

Zheng Zhi chuckled, seemingly long accustomed to such topics, then stood up with the sweet potato, stretching his body and preparing to go inside for a drink.

Then as he turned his head, he saw a huge white figure with wings floating in mid-air looking at him.

Zheng Zhi: "..."

Li Lin listened to the sudden silence next to him and turned his head slightly: "What’s up?"

"Brother Li, you might be right," Zheng Zhi’s voice sounded a bit airy, "I-I-I, damn it, I might really have reached the end of my road..."

"What nonsense..." Li Lin muttered while getting up and turning to look in Zheng Zhi’s direction.

Then he was also frozen in place with a crack, feeling like he might have also reached the end of his road.

The next second, the two young Special Service Bureau officers simultaneously reached for their waists.

However, the tall white figure with wings moved faster than both of them combined; in a flash of light, it extended its hand with a whoosh—snatching Zheng Zhi’s roasted sweet potato.

Zheng Zhi didn’t even react: "..."

Then the next second he felt that the move was somewhat familiar.

When he looked up again, he saw the hazy, winged spiritual entity with a maiden-like appearance grabbing the roasted sweet potato and stuffing it into her mouth.

The blazing Holy Light instantly turned the food into a wisp of steam, which rose from her head, floating like a brief halo.

Then she extended her hand towards Zheng Zhi again.

In her hand was a handful of semi-transparent Spiritual Body Coins.

Zheng Zhi was still in a daze at this moment, but two seconds later he finally came to his senses, as if realizing something, and looked up, his face carrying a complex and incredulous expression.

"Last time it was at least counterfeit money, this time it’s just a projection?"

"In Valhalla, this stuff is hard currency," a voice suddenly came from behind, "The ’Mourning Angel’s Coin,’ at least an orange item!"

Zheng Zhi quickly turned his head but didn’t see anyone.

The next second he felt a sharp pain in his calf.

"Look down! Where are you looking!" Erin, with her hands on her hips, glared up angrily, "How come you seem dumber than before after just a few days?"

Zheng Zhi finally saw the small puppet standing in front of him.

Next, he saw the door of No. 66 Wutong Road open, and Yu Sheng was pushing the door open and walking out.

"Brother Yu!" A happy expression suddenly appeared on Zheng Zhi’s face, and he immediately ignored the pain in his leg and the eerie spiritual entity floating behind him, limped forward in just a couple of steps, and greeted him, "You guys are back? What’s going on? What about this winged spiritual entity and what Erin just mentioned, ’Mourning Angel’?"

"Don’t worry about the ’Mourning Angel,’ it sounds like a made-up name," Yu Sheng waved his hand, "She’s been gaming too much."

Seeing Yu Sheng come out, the "Artificial Angel" immediately floated over happily, circling around in the air above Yu Sheng.

"Remember that Artificial Saintess who stole your roasted sweet potato before?" Yu Sheng raised his hand and pointed at the white figure floating around him, "It’s a bit complicated to explain, but anyway, she’s back... just in a different form."

Zheng Zhi blinked dumbfoundedly, his brain struggling to keep up with the scene in front of him, but thanks to his rich experience with bizarre events, he grasped the reality of the situation.

His acceptance of strange incidents was astonishingly high.

Compared to him, Li Lin wasn’t as composed; he frowned, clearly still trying to understand the situation from a rational standpoint.

Yu Sheng suggested he check the Special Service Bureau’s database later—after the Hidden Monastery wrapped things up, relevant files would surely be shared with the bureau.

"Is the fighting outside over?" Zheng Zhi looked at Yu Sheng and then at the pure white spirit floating in mid-air, unable to resist his curiosity.

"Not yet, a few key planets have been captured, but the clean-up is the real challenge; stabilizing the entire Star Region isn’t easy," Yu Sheng waved his hand, giving a general account of the situation in the Dark Meteor Domain, "Also, the last remaining forces of the Hidden Monastery have been cornered on a fortress planet, where a group of fanatics are fighting to the death using the fortress’s firepower. It might take a while to take that place."

Zheng Zhi: "And you guys..."

"I can’t fight," Yu Sheng shrugged, "After helping as much as I could, your director found me a nuisance on the front line and sent me back."

"On holiday, on holiday," Erin happily waved her hand on the ground, "Going home for a while—I’m telling you, nephew, those bastards in the Hidden Monastery are truly inhumane; even a casual glance at the planets they’ve occupied shows a mortal world purgatory, and many Marine Soldiers had to undergo psychological counseling after returning to the ship, and even Yu Sheng, with his good temper, was getting a bit irritable in the last few days. If we’d stayed longer, we might’ve all gotten depressed..."

Zheng Zhi probably couldn’t imagine what the scenery was like in those distant illicit Star Domains deep in space, so he just followed the puppet’s chaotic descriptions and tried to imagine it, then casually asked, "Do you guys have any plans now that you’re back?"

"What plans could we have, I plan to just lie around at home for two days," Yu Sheng said casually and then suddenly remembered something, raising his hand to point at the "Artificial Angel" floating nearby, "Oh, right, I need to get her an ID card first."