"Success. This was a beautiful operation."
After having his first clone leave Okhema, the excited expression on Derick's face still wouldn't fade.
Looking at Castrum Kremnos from a distance, Derick had his clone head towards Styga. Since there were people from Castrum Kremnos over at Janusopolis, he couldn't stay there and wait to be discovered.
It was better to go to Styga; it was safer there.
When the first clone arrived in Styga, Derick cleaned up the new Black Tide creatures that had appeared there. The Black Tide was still ongoing, and the monsters emerging from it were endless. It hadn't been long since he was last in Styga, but the abandoned city already had many more of them.
After another cleanup, Derick had his first clone find a safe environment. Once found, he quickly entered it and took out the Core Flames of the Ocean Titan, Physis, and the Earth Titan, Gaia, and swallowed them.
The absorption began.
Four clones: one absorbing Titan authorities, one experimenting with Ruan Mei, one carrying out its duties in the underworld, and one acting as a vigilante with Boothill in the sea of stars.
As for his main body, it continued to stay on the Xianzhou Luofu, waiting for his new weapon to arrive.
Derick's perspective returned to his main body. He looked at the time on his phone. After all that trouble, seven or eight hours had already passed.
Well, no time to rest in this situation. Derick did a carp-flip out of bed, put on his white shirt and long boots, tied up his hair, patted his very flat stomach, and walked outside.
Arriving at the main hall of the Spices-of-Life Inn, Derick ordered a fruit-wood roasted moa wing and a portion of beef tripe in chili oil. He urgently needed to replenish with enough meat, not just for the energy deficit, but also because his stomach was telling him it needed a large amount of it.
He also ordered a stir-fried seasonal vegetable, a bowl of rice made from locally grown Xianzhou rice, and an "Immortal's Delight Tea" from The Sleepless Earl. A simple meal was thus prepared.
The service at the inn was swift, and they soon brought all the food to him. Derick picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a wing, and put it in his mouth, letting the fatty juices fill his oral cavity.
After eating for a while, Cipher came in from outside. Seeing Derick eating, she immediately flew over, reached out, and grabbed a wing, stuffing it into her mouth.
"Tastes good." Cipher's eyes lit up, and she reached out to grab the next one. But just as she was about to grab it this time, Derick tapped the back of her hand with his chopsticks.
"Ouch! Do you have to be so protective of your food?" Cipher complained, rubbing the back of her hand.
Derick was speechless. "You come back from outside, don't wash your hands, don't even grab chopsticks, and just reach for the food on the plate. Next time I'll just go eat Jiaoqiu's nine-squared hot pot, and see if you still dare to grab it."
"Of course I can." Cipher sat down across from him nonchalantly and ordered two more dishes from the inn owner. "You still don't know how fast my hands are. Before the heat from the hot pot can even reach my hands, I would have already snatched the ingredients out."
Only then did Derick remember her identity as a thief. With her extremely high professional standards, she really could snatch ingredients from a hot pot.
No longer continuing this topic, Derick then looked behind Cipher and saw a large pile of things that looked like medicinal herbs.
"Are you helping Bailu get her medicine?"
"Mhm." Cipher nodded. "But it's not just medicinal herbs, there's also luggage and such. While you were sleeping, General Jing Yuan sent a message saying that the situation with the Vidyadhara is not peaceful recently and asked us to take care of Bailu for a while. So I went over and not only brought back the Healer Lady's medicinal herbs but also her daily necessities. She might be staying here for a while."
"That's great. It's a good opportunity for Hyacine to have more exchanges with her."
Don't be fooled by the game, where Hyacine's healing output throws Bailu several streets behind. In reality, Bailu, a Healer Lady with the power of the Dragon-Soothing Method, had a level of healing and medical skill far superior to that of the physician from the Twilight Courtyard, Hyacine.
"It's not just about exchanging ideas." Cipher couldn't help but laugh and pointed outside.
"Don't you forget, there are many people on the Xianzhou who need treatment every day. Now Hyacine can get a lot of healing experience. Just now, the Spices-of-Life Inn has been cordoned off by the Seat of Divine Foresight. Besides us, the members of the Astral Express, General Huaiyan, and his granddaughter, no one else will be staying here."
Derick hadn't been eating for long when sick Xianzhou natives began to come looking for Bailu for treatment. Hearing that someone needed treatment, Bailu immediately came down from upstairs and began to treat the patients. Hyacine also followed beside her, and seeing some illnesses she could treat, she also quickly lent a hand.
Amphoreus only had a few people, while the Xianzhou Luofu had a population of over a billion. Plus, with the physique of the Xianzhou people, they really didn't need to see Bailu for common illnesses. Those who came to her all had peculiar ailments.
The improvement of medical skills required a large number of cases to cultivate experience.
Seeing that the two of them were a bit overwhelmed, Derick said to Cipher, "Let's go, let's go help too."
Hearing this, Cipher subconsciously wanted to slack off and make an excuse. "Um, Derry-boy, you see how tired I am from helping move things. Shouldn't I go and rest?"
But unfortunately, Derick had already grabbed her by her cat-ear hoodie one step ahead.
"You brought Bailu here. Even if others don't help, you have to," Derick said to her.
"Alright, alright." Cipher didn't really want to be idle, she just subconsciously wanted to argue with Derick for a bit.
While helping with the medicinal herbs, Derick asked Cipher, "By the way, how is Miss Firefly's situation?"
His first clone needed a lot of time to absorb the two Titans. Derick temporarily let it stay on standby in a safe place. Finally, he took another look at his third clone. Seeing it still diligently carrying out its duties in the underworld, Derick was completely at ease.
"She's alright. She's recovered some of her condition for now. It's just that Entropy Loss Syndrome… neither Bailu nor Hyacine has any good solution for it. On the Luofu, perhaps only Lady Ruan Mei can solve this problem. But… that Ruan Mei is a bit scary. I don't really want to have any contact with her," Cipher said with some regret.
At the same time, she also whispered to Derick, "Also, Derry-boy, I feel that something is not right with that Firefly. She seems to have some secret, not like a simple Xianzhou tourist."
Firefly thought her cover was quite good, but who was Cipher? A master thief of over a thousand years, her mind was not ordinary. At first, she didn't see any problem with Firefly, but after more than a day, she also sensed that something was amiss.
Thinking this, she looked up, wanting to see Derick's shocked expression. But when she looked up, she found that his expression was as usual, with no change at all.
"You didn't have your suspicions from the start, did you?" Cipher said, covering her mouth.
"What do you think? But for the specific details, you'll still have to investigate. If there are any problems, you can tell me," Derick said to Cipher.
He knew Firefly was Sam of the Stellaron Hunters, but what she was doing here, he was still unclear about. So it was still necessary to have Cipher investigate.
"Don't worry, you just watch. I guarantee I'll strip her down to her underwear."
"Mhm." Derick nodded, then, as if remembering something, he said to Cipher, "By the way, that stripping down to her underwear thing is a figure of speech. Don't actually do it!"
Cipher was really capable of stealing someone's underwear.
"Hey, am I that kind of unreliable person?" Cipher rolled her eyes at Derick. "Besides, even if I wanted to steal underwear, I wouldn't steal Firefly's."
When Derick wasn't looking, Cipher patted his butt.
"It's your underwear that I'm interested in."
Derick immediately patted her back in retaliation.
After the pat, both Derick and Cipher froze for a moment.
What's wrong with me? I wouldn't have done such a frivolous thing so easily before, Derick thought to himself.
And Cipher, after a moment of stun, had a faint hint of a smile in her eyes.
Something's not right with Derry-boy. What on earth happened to him? Why did he change in this way? He used to be so well-behaved.
A sense of curiosity appeared in Cipher's eyes.
A cat's curiosity is strong enough to kill it. Conversely, a cat's curiosity is not ordinary.
Derick hurried over to help Bailu and the others, and after a few seconds of thought, Cipher also went over to help.
Upstairs in the Spices-of-Life Inn, Firefly, whom Cipher and Derick had been discussing, was currently using her exclusive communication device to contact the other Stellaron Hunters.
This special device was an encrypted one made by Silver Wolf. Unless it was someone of Screwllum's level, no one nearby would know what they were talking about.
Firefly told the other Stellaron Hunters her location and what had happened.
"What did you say?! You've fallen into the hands of that student of the Sky-Shattering General? Where are you? We'll come and save you now," Silver Wolf said loudly to Firefly after getting the news through the communication device.
[I'm fine for now. And Derick and the others are very strong. You all don't come over yet. They haven't discovered me. I can wait for a while and leave on my own.]
Firefly couldn't speak conveniently, so she had to type with her thoughts.
"Are you sure there's no problem?" Blade also asked from the side.
[Yes, no problem.] Firefly replied affirmatively. But then, she asked Blade with some confusion, [By the way, why do I keep hearing the sound of hammering from your side?]
"My hands have been itching lately."
Blade was too embarrassed to tell the others that he was currently forging a weapon for Derick.
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