Chapter 173

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The queen didn't need to say anything more, Lian Yun knew what was going on.

No one would believe it if it wasn't Xincheng's doing.

"The drying up of the water source isn't a big deal. As long as I can connect with the mermaid leader, we can quickly open up another waterway. The most serious problem is that our elves' guardian beasts have disappeared as well."

Lian Yun understood that the guardian beast was the core of the elves and the stability of the tribe. Its disappearance was comparable to the withering of the tree of life, and both were terrifying.

"Could it be that someone in the new city did this?"

The Queen denied this possibility: "They cannot possibly have such great power."

Even the Elf Queen herself cannot control the guardian beast of her tribe, and seeing it is even more difficult. Even if the people of the new city have supernatural powers, it is impossible for them to steal the guardian beast without the Queen noticing.

"Do you remember what the guardian beast gave you?"

The Elf Queen suddenly mentioned it, and Lian Yun quickly remembered the water droplet-shaped thing.

"I remember."

Lian Yun kept it in his backpack until the greenhouse was built. The mushroom chicken and mushrooms moved into the greenhouse together. Lian Yun thought that simulating the environment of the Elf Forest might help the little thing wake up, so he took a box and put it in a corner of the greenhouse.

"At that time, I couldn't understand why our tribe's guardian beast would give you something. Now, perhaps I can understand a little."

"As the ruler of the elves, I cannot leave the forest."

The guardian beast possesses a mysterious and unfathomable power, and perhaps it had already foreseen what would happen later.

The drying up of the water source may have been anticipated.

Therefore, it gave the key to solving this problem to Lianyun, a girl who could change the world. Only she could take over the queen's responsibility and change the elves' plight.

The Elf Queen continued, "We all know that our next common enemy is the New City. Neither you nor I know how many secrets the New City holds, and I don't want to take any risks."

"I also know that you are a cautious lord. I believe you will do everything you can to minimize casualties."

"To be absolutely sure of success, you need to know yourself and your enemy, and you also need the help of allies."

Lian Yun already understood the queen's implication.

"You want me to find the mermaids?"

"That's right." The queen said straight to the point, "I have some friendship with the mermaid leader, so this is at least a stepping stone. And you, Lord Lianyun, you are different from other lords. I think that when the mermaid leader sees you, he will also believe in the infinite possibilities you are about to create."

"Please be sure to take the gift given to you by the guardian beast. I think it will be useful."

Having one more ally would naturally be a great thing, but Lian Yun did not have much confidence at the moment.

"I remember you said before that the deep hatred between the mermaid leader and humans can't be resolved by one or two people or a few words. Just because you think highly of me doesn't mean the mermaid leader is willing to communicate with me."

The Queen was silent for a long time.

"Don't you have Lanna?"

Lian Yun:?

"That old guy is a tough guy. If he starts to act arrogant, let Lana fight him first. Only then can we talk to him."

Lian Yun: "...Is this really okay?!"

She even began to doubt the Queen's "friendship." Was there really no enmity?!

"You'll know if you try it," the Queen said lightly. "You won't suffer any loss anyway."

"...Thank you for your advice." Lian Yun held back his complaints.

"I will do my best to heal Luo's eyes, but his eye disease is a bit strange. I have to treat it slowly, and it will take some time." The Elf Queen, afraid of being mistaken for deliberately slowing down the process, took the initiative to explain: "It will be almost time by the time you return from the ocean."

Although the more she explained, the more it seemed like she was deliberately delaying, fortunately Lian Yun understood her and knew that she would not joke about her family.

The queen seemed to realize that her words were a little wrong and continued to explain: "When you come back, I will definitely give you a complete Luo."

Lian Yun suppressed a smile and said, "Okay."

"By the way," the Queen paused, "you should tell Lina about Ian's affairs. She has the right to know. A daughter of the royal family will not be depressed by this."

Lian Yun responded softly, looked at Lina beside him, and chuckled: "Lina is very powerful now. She will be promoted to an intermediate trainer in a few days."

"When this is over, remember to bring Lina back to stay for two days." The queen's voice finally had some relief in it. "I miss her."

After the connection was cut off, Lina came over, her smart little deer eyes blinking again and again: "Sister, were you talking to grandma just now? I heard your sister praising me!"

"Yes, the Queen invited us to stay there for a few days in the future." Lian Yun responded with a smile.

"Why not just these few days?" Lina looked at her expectantly with starry eyes.

However, Lian Yun slowly shook his head, took Lina's hand and went back to the house, and told her about Ian.

After hearing the whole story, Lina sat there in a daze, and it took her a long time to blink again.

"Ian didn't really rebel, did he?"

Lian Yun didn’t speak, Lina immediately shook her head, her tone firm, as if she was talking to herself: “Ian won’t.”

Lina raised her head and smiled brightly: "After something like this happened, I don't need everyone to believe him. As long as I believe in him, that's enough."

"He must have his own difficulties. When I see him, I will help him calm down and tell him that I believe in him."

Lina nodded while muttering to herself.

Lian Yun suddenly felt very fortunate to have a little sun-like presence like Lina by his side.

"Sister, when are we leaving?" Lina couldn't wait to find Ian.

Lian Yun pondered for a moment, then looked up and met Lana's gaze at the door. The other person nodded slightly at her.

"We'll leave tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" Mogo, who was outside the door, half-poked his head out, a stack of documents in his hand, his face full of confusion. "Didn't we just send Luo to the forest? Why are you leaving again?"

"Look, I want to take a few people with me to the other side of the sea. There are some things that need me to handle personally..."

"Ocean?" Mogo couldn't help but ask.

He took a few quick steps, spread out the documents in his hand on the table, and picked out a few of them and handed them to Lian Yun.

"What a coincidence. I was just about to report the problem over there."

Lian Yun took the information, which showed the names and current conditions of some towns close to the sea and under the jurisdiction of the main city.

As she read, Mogo explained, "I received the news yesterday, too."

As per custom, Mogo issued a notice to all the towns and cities under his jurisdiction, announcing the renewal of the ruling class, and distributed some of the town's existing advanced resources to each town.

Responses from various towns were quickly sent back to Mogo.

In the past, when gods fought, mortals could only suffer. This time, their actions did not hurt a single soldier, nor did they use the lowest-level people as human shields. It also brought many benefits, so they were very willing to accept it.

The only problem was that many of these towns believed in the Nobility and the Magicians' Guild, the First and Second Sons of God. However, Lian Yun didn't directly eradicate these two deeply ingrained beliefs, but instead intended to subtly instill in everyone the futility of these beliefs.

Therefore, Lian Yun did not choose radical measures, and there were no reports of riots in the town.

In the final analysis, what Lian Yun really weakened was the "supreme" privileges of the nobles and magicians.

This has no adverse impact on ordinary people, and even reduces the pressure of high taxes for them.

In the end, what was delivered to Mogo were only the specialties of each town. Those who did not have any specialties would write a letter expressing their sincerity, submission to the New Era and gratitude for the resources sent.

"Only these towns are different." Mogo pointed to the names above.

"They sent out a distress signal."

Mogo easily found the letters from these towns on the table.

"It includes a second-tier city with a relatively large territory and several small third-tier towns. However, these third-tier towns are actually part of the second-tier city mentioned above—Yuewan City."

Under normal circumstances, if a third-level city wants to report information to the main city, it can only submit it to the second-level city, and then the second-level city will summarize it to the main city.

Any unauthorized overstepping of authority would be considered a challenge to the authority of the secondary city.

What kind of reasons would make these small towns submit applications to higher authorities at the risk of being hated by their superiors?

"Look, sir."

Mogo laid out several letters, and Lian Yun glanced at them roughly, feeling even more confused.

The questions asked for help in these letters are exactly the same.

The letter said that the same sea level drop had recently occurred at the coast as in the forest, but people at the coast were experiencing much more than that.

As the sea level dropped, monsters lurking in the shallows emerged and attacked the homes of people living on the coast.

Because the mermaids are truly self-sufficient, they live in the deep sea, far away from land, and have no communication with humans at all.

Most of the monsters in the sea exist in the deep sea.

Therefore, as long as people living by the sea do not go into the deep sea, they never have to worry about the appearance of monsters.

They lived by the sea and made a living by occasional fishing and farming. Because they had never seen monsters in the shallows, there were no walls on the seaside of these towns.

This time a monster suddenly appeared in the shallows, and they were caught off guard. Even though they had experience dealing with monsters, they didn't know how to deal with one coming out of the water.

"Dear new lord, we await your arrival with the utmost piety and eagerness."

Even the signature is exactly the same.

"It seems that sending a few more letters in an emergency situation indicates that the situation is critical." Lian Yun said.

Mogo stroked his chin and asked, "Do you think it has something to do with the mermaids?"

Seeing Lian Yun raise an eyebrow, Mogo coughed and explained, "After all, it's the sea, and the mermaids have always disliked us humans."

Mogo thought this view was a consensus among everyone, but unexpectedly no one responded.

Mogo touched his nose: "...Did I say something wrong?"

"You're wrong." Lian Yun was merciless, looking at him with an extremely serious look. "It's easy to make mistakes if you judge things based on your subjective emotions before a conclusion is reached."

"And my sister always told us not to be blinded by stereotypes," Lina added softly, "What we know is only what the original people in the main city wanted us to know. Those are the ideas of the First and Second Sons of God. We haven't seen the elves and mermaids, so we created our own imaginary images based on their ideas."

"But the elves are not timid, nor are they xenophobic."

"The orcs aren't just strong but empty-headed."

Lina pointed at herself and said, "I am a hybrid of elves and orcs. Brother Mogo, do you think I have those 'traits'?"

He was deeply concerned about racial stereotypes, but when people who actually belonged to those races stood in front of him, he realized his narrow-mindedness.

Mogo was stunned for a moment, speechless for a moment, hesitant for a long time before lowering his head and looking at Lina sincerely: "I'm sorry."

Lina shook her head and smiled: "I know Brother Mogo didn't mean it."

"There are people of all races in the town. Now they don't have to worry about being discriminated against because of their background. I think this is my greatest role," said Lian Yun.

"You're right," Mogo said with a self-deprecating smile. "Alicia clearly has succubus bloodline, and I didn't want her to be discriminated against because of it, but she didn't think of this."

It's funny that he couldn't do it himself before.

"I'll be leaving for the beach in the next few days. Write a letter first and tell them not to panic."

Mogo took the order and left.

Hearing that they were about to set off again before they could settle down for much longer, Gerry rushed to the residence and sat at the entrance of the hall stairs. He squinted his eyes and blocked their way upstairs to pack their luggage: "Each trip is getting farther than the last. Good job!"

After being together for such a long time, Gary has become both a teacher and a friend to Lianyun. When he thinks about Lianyun, he always hopes that her safety is greater than her success.

Every time Lian Yun took a risk, Gary would try to dissuade him.

But Gary also knew that he couldn't really persuade her.

"I'll let you go." Gary stood up slowly and held the handrail of the stairs.

Lian Yun breathed a sigh of relief.

Before she could be happy, she suddenly heard the second half of Gary's sentence: "I'll go with you too."

Lian Yun: "You?"

Gary shook his collar. "Why? You think I'm too old? I'm telling you, I can still run for a few more years."

"Then I wouldn't dare..." Lian Yun muttered softly.

"Come on, I won't embarrass you. I'm not going with you this time to hinder you." Gary finally revealed his true intention: "Aren't you going to the beach? Do you know who's there?"