"Speaking of which, that outfit really suits you! I'm pooping from excitement!"
Mengming curiously eyed the pattern on Stelle's clothes. Stelle was about to speak with a grin when March 7th quickly covered her mouth.
"Mmmph!"
"Hehe, it's a surprise! You'll all find out soon enough."
While covering Stelle's mouth, March 7th turned and smiled at the group. Watching the two people interact, Welt couldn't help shaking his head.
Aside from the show-worthy Mengming, the rest were in the middle of a journey.
----------------------------
Halfway through the voyage on the Star Skiff, Welt suddenly turned toward Qingque, who was leaning on the edge.
"Miss Qingque, you just left like that—what about the task that Lady Fu entrusted to you?"
Qingque chuckled. "Already taken care of! I messaged Lady Fu just now, said that our distinguished guests needed a guide, and I was the closest one. Naturally, this difficult mission should fall to me."
"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"
A Vidyadhara Preceptor pounded his cane on the ground in fury, his face red with rage.
"To disregard the Vidyadhara's opinion for a mere beast—Jing Yuan is getting more and more insolent!"
Thinking of Jing Yuan's recent attitude and the excuses he gave them, the man felt like he was about to suffer a heart attack.
"If Jing Yuan is like this, how should we deal with the giant beast in the Scalegorge Waterscape? Force it out? Or try to negotiate?"
Someone asked.
Hearing such a foolish question, the Vidyadhara Preceptor shot him a look and snapped,
"Jing Yuan clearly doesn't want to resolve it. He placed a being powerful enough to fight an Emanator in the Scalegorge Waterscape—this is a sign of distrust! He's monitoring and suppressing us with force!"
Lots of words, but one meaning.
A being powerful enough to clash with an Emanator—who would dare to expel them? Whoever goes, dies!
Luofu would never risk conflict with an Emanator-level being over them.
And they themselves couldn't afford to risk a bad relationship with such a powerhouse.
More importantly, he had never even heard of such a being in the universe!
Destruction? If it were Destruction, why stop Phantylia's actions?
Remembrance? How could a beast like that be created by Fuli of Remembrance?
Hunt? Doesn't fit at all. If the Alliance had someone like this, they'd have announced it already. The third abundance was from three eras ago was still fresh in their minds, the alliance couldn't have hidden such a figure.
Erudition? Ha! If such a clumsy creature caught Nous's attention, then he might as well join the Genius Society himself!
Abundance? Least likely of all.
The remaining Paths made no sense either. This complete lack of understanding made his expression even uglier.
"Master Preceptor, what should we do now?"
He glanced at the man and said coldly, "Return!"
Just after he said that, he noticed a strange look on the man's face.
"What is it?" He suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Master Preceptor, just got word—The little High Elder has run off again… and she hasn't been found yet."
"Pfft!"
...
"Ha~, Scalegorge Waterscape. Been a while."
Looking at the scenery ahead, Bailu skipped forward cheerfully, spreading her joy to the rest of the group.
But there was someone even happier than her.
"Hehe, Operation Slacker Success!"
Click click click
To celebrate the victory, Qingque held up her phone and flashed a peace sign at the camera, looking as smug as could be.
"So, where's that big bro you talked about? Where do we find him?"
Bailu looked left and right, but didn't see the "big brother" everyone was talking about. According to each of their descriptions, that person should be extremely eye-catching—so much so that one would recognize him at a glance.
March 7th exchanged a glance with Stelle and smiled.
"Come with us."
...
"T-this is the person you were talking about?"
"I-I just remembered Master Diviner needs me for something, I'll be going now."
The rhythm of their stammering voices was strikingly similar.
So were their trembling legs.
"T-this is the one you were talking about?"
Qingque forced a smile that was supposed to be friendly, but looked nothing like one.
"Didn't we tell you? Big brother is just a little bit different from regular people."
Stelle giggled and used her thumb and forefinger to gesture "a little bit."
"This is completely not human!"
What the Healer Lady and the Head of the Library of the Divination Commission saw before them was Godzilla, lazily sprawled on a bed of glittering crystals.
They had seen the sudden appearance of a black mountain range in the Scalegorge Waterscape, but didn't pay much attention. After all, they barely visited the Scalegorge Waterscape once every decade. Something unfamiliar showing up wasn't all that surprising.
But no one told them there was a giant beast in that mountain range!
The shock of the scene nearly made them flee on the spot.
"Oh come on, big brother's really nice."
Stelle walked up, waved to them with her back turned, then ran to Godzilla and waved at him.
"Big brother, I'm back again!"
Godzilla still didn't open his eyes, but his thick, long tail automatically moved in front of Stelle. She reached out and tightly hugged the tip of the tail, gave a grunt, and used the movement of the tail to swing herself up.
With a nimble spin, she stood on one foot on the tip of the tail, raised both hands high, and shouted:
"Look!"
Godzilla was all too familiar with the aura of Stellaron essence—after all, there were two of them chatting in his stomach right now, assuming they hadn't been thoroughly entertained by the atomic furnace.
"Huh, he really doesn't seem that scary."
Seeing Stelle perform various moves on Godzilla's tail, the two people's fear slowly diminished.
More importantly, everyone else seemed completely used to this, and Stelle's goofy manner didn't exactly inspire terror.
"I heard that the Lord Ravager named Phantylia was suppressed by the General and you guys with the help of some reinforcements called by the Nameless. Could this be...?"
Qingque's intellect kicked in as she put two and two together. Her gaze toward Godzilla began to sparkle.
She knew very well what kind of entity a Lord Ravager was—that was a genuine Emanator!
Even the General would have a tough time dealing with such a foe.
But based on Master Diviner's description, with the reinforcements' help, they subdued Phantylia almost effortlessly.
As someone who knew Master Diviner best, analyzing the many layers of meaning behind her words was a basic skill.
And from her recounting of the battlefield, Qingque accurately deduced that the real power on the field was the reinforcement summoned by the Nameless.
Which meant...
Qingque's eyes shone even brighter, almost to the point where the whites of her eyes could reflect starlight.
"Uh, Miss Qingque, are you okay?"
Qingque's expression was a bit intense, prompting March 7th to ask instinctively.
"Hehe, I'm fine." She wiped the corner of her mouth and declared righteously, "With such a great hero who saved Luofu right in front of me, how could I not be excited? Oh dear, we can't just let a hero sleep alone. Stelle, scoot over!"
Before she even finished talking, Qingque's feet were already rushing forward.
The scene left March 7th dumbfounded.
"Uh... is she okay?"
March 7th recalled Qingque's terrified reaction to seeing Godzilla earlier, and now this... Could Xianzhou people have some kind of mental disorder?
"Ahem, this is just a working woman's fantasy, perfectly normal."
Welt cleared his throat, trying to smooth over the awkwardness. As a former working stiff and now someone recruiting them, he understood Qingque's change of attitude all too well.
He could only hope she still had some sense left and wouldn't provoke Master Diviner too much.
Looking at the carefree behavior of those around her, plus March 7th's encouragement, Bailu hesitated for a moment, then finally walked forward, nervous but curious.
As she got closer, she found that though Godzilla's skin looked rough, it was only due to his massive size. If he were human-sized, his skin would actually be among the best.
Looking at her small hand, Bailu swallowed nervously, then slowly, very carefully, reached out her hand.
A cool sensation followed, and the comfort made Bailu's tail rise involuntarily and sway gently.
March 7th and Welt, still at some distance, could clearly see that Bailu and Godzilla's tail were swaying in perfect sync.
"Phew!"
Just then, a blast of hot breath whooshed out, making Bailu's body reflexively freeze.
The next second, a pair of vertical pupils opened.
An overwhelming pressure surged forth. Even without directly seeing the eyes, Bailu's instincts screamed at her:
A top-tier predator was watching his territory.
And was watching the little animal that had intruded into it.