Chapter 123 Inner Palace - 1 No sooner had Pei Zhishu left than Lu Yi...

No sooner had Pei Zhishu left than Lu Yi carried the suitcase he had packed into the room.

"What does he want with you?"

Tang Bufan sat back down on the bed and folded clothes, then told them about how the information about Penglai in the South had been erased from the entire internet.

Lu Yi pondered: "So this matter might be related to Miss Fang Yue?"

"Anyway, it's related to the education and culture group," Tang Bufan said, putting the clothes into the box.

Lu Yi thought for a moment and suggested, "Shall we go to the inner hall to look for her? The entrance is halfway up the mountain, which is just in time for us to drive down."

"We still need to see Mr. Guo Wen, is there enough time?" Tang Bufan asked.

"Then let's stay here." Lu Yi was planning to take a closer look at the ecological facilities of the Eastern Federation anyway.

Tang Bufan thought to himself that he hadn't had enough of living on the flying vehicle yet, and now he wanted to live in the inner palace. However, seeing Lu Yi's concerned expression, he gently complied with him.

"OK."

After packing their things and having a meal, the two of them moved their belongings to the RV, with the twins helping to carry the boxes.

The RV hadn't been lived in for a while, and the smell was a bit stuffy, so Tang Bufan opened the curtains to air it out and climbed onto the roof to bury the rotten vegetable leaves in the ground.

"Did Madam and Mr. Louis used to live in this vehicle?" This was He Xing's first time in a motorhome, and he couldn't help but feel that the vehicle was too old and too cramped.

Although the interior was decorated in a fairly cozy way.

“Yes.” Tang Bufan smiled nostalgically: “This car has been modified. Before Lu Yi came, the bed and the frame inside were all made of rusty iron.”

He Xing couldn't help but sigh upon hearing this, finding it hard to imagine what it would be like to live here.

After placing the boxes in the RV, Tang Bufan glanced at the time; it was already past 2 PM. He then called Lu Yi to go see Guo Wen.

Guo Wen doesn't have the habit of taking a midday nap. When the two of them went to find him, he was sitting at the table carving a little rabbit with a hand knife. His grandson was sitting next to him, and they both seemed to be in good spirits.

My throat was cut open, and my voice has become much hoarseer than before.

"Zhi Shu told me that you're moving to live on the aircraft." Guo Wen looked at Tang Bufan gently. "The courtyard is reserved for the two of you. You're welcome to come and stay here again."

Tang Bufan no longer felt disgusted by his gaze, but he was still a little embarrassed. He thought that Guo Wen probably had never experienced love in his life, and he also thought of Pei Zhishu and Guo Shen, who didn't seem to have any love between them either.

He couldn't help but feel very lucky to have met Lu Yi.

So after leaving Guo Wen, he reached out and took Lu Yi's hand. The young orc was a little surprised, while Tang Bufan smiled gently at him.

“If being transported here was my greatest misfortune, then meeting you here is my greatest fortune,” Tang Bufan said to him, mimicking how Lu Yi used to kiss the back of his hand, and then lowered his head to kiss Lu Yi’s hand: “Thank you, Lu Yi.”

Lu Yi's face flushed instantly. Tang Bufan's hand was hot as he held hers, and her heart was surging with uncontrollable emotion.

"I am the one who should be thanking, and I am also the lucky one." Lu Yi's throat suddenly felt a little sore: "I used to be very tired of this world."

Before meeting Tang Bufan, Lu Yi did have a misanthropic attitude. Watching his mother fall to her death in front of him was a huge shock to him. Even though he later chose to face the world with a smile and deal with people and things gently under the treatment of a psychologist, he still felt tired and disgusted deep down when he saw the constant conflicts between humans and beastmen.

So he chose to leave the Federation just before he turned eighteen, partly to see the outside world and partly as a form of escapism.

Anderson berated him for being irresponsible, and he couldn't refute it. He also found him a bit annoying, as if people like him really couldn't have freedom. But strangely enough, when Tang Bufan offered to help him return to the Federation to deal with his father and brother, Lu Yi felt exhilarated for the first time.

“With you, teacher, I feel like I can do anything.” Lu Yi grabbed Tang Bufan’s hand, then apologized to him with slightly red eyes: “I know you’ve always wanted to see Zero, but I still ordered the spacecraft you were on to be captured. It was actually a selfish act on my part. I don’t want to lose you. I’m sorry.”

"..." Tang Bufan had more or less guessed it. He could feel Lu Yi's strong dependence on him. After hearing what he said, he was silent for a moment, and then smiled with relief.

"It's okay." Tang Bufan looked at him gently: "Because... I love you too."

Lu Yi's eyes reddened even more. She lowered her head and kissed Tang Bufan's hand. Just then, a patrol of orcs passed by. Tang Bufan blushed and hurriedly led Lu Yi away under their gaze.

The two returned to the SUV. Kai Ge controlled the RV and followed behind them. Lu Yi asked Evelyn to send the location of the aircraft to Kai Ge. He was going to the inner hall with Tang Bufan to find Fang Yue, so Kai Ge had to go there first.

The public entrance to the inner palace was halfway up the mountain, not far from the summit, only a ten-minute drive away. Pei Zhishu had already made arrangements, so the orcs guarding the gate let them through as soon as they arrived.

Considering they might stay in the inner palace for a day or two, Lu got out of the car, went back to the RV to get two sets of clothes for himself and Tang Bufan, packed them in a suitcase, and returned to the off-road vehicle. Tang Bufan sat in the passenger seat and watched Kaige leave unhurriedly, somewhat worried about whether it could find the aircraft smoothly.

After all, Kai's hardware was inadequate; without the network connection with Evelyn, he couldn't use the location system.

"Let's upgrade the RV later," Tang Bufan said to Lu Yi, "so that Kai can connect to the internet independently."

"Okay." Lu nodded and drove into the open mountain tunnel. The Western Federation's aircraft had arrived, and he had originally planned to upgrade Kai Ge as well.

In terms of being nostalgic, Lu Yi is even more so than Tang Bufan.

Once the off-road vehicle entered the tunnel, the massive alloy door slowly closed, blocking out the outside light.

As a place to house humans, the inner sanctuary is a closed ecosystem that exchanges very little matter with the outside world, so the water and air inside are very clean.

"Is there any difference between the ecosystem of the Western Federation and that of the Eastern Federation?" Tang Bufan asked curiously in the car.

"They are very similar in functionality, but the construction and maintenance costs are much higher than in the East." Lu explained while driving: "Closed ecosystems are very fragile and require constant monitoring of the environment inside. Sometimes a tiny crack can cause the collapse of the entire ecosystem. The East has mature technology in this regard, and its maintenance and management only require one-tenth of our funding and manpower."

After Lu Yi finished speaking, he earnestly praised, "In terms of good quality at low prices, Easterners have always been very strong."

Tang Bufan understood, then retorted, "Isn't it because labor is more expensive in the West?"

“Right now, all the federations and dungeons are short of people,” Lu Yi said. “It’s not like a thousand years ago, when the East did have a larger population.”

The off-road vehicle traveled for more than a thousand meters in the tunnel when another large iron gate appeared in front of the two. This time, there were no guards orcs at the gate, only an electronic camera.

The electronic camera scanned the two of them and automatically opened the door for them.

Behind the gate was a large parking plaza with nearly a hundred buses parked there. Some were RVs, some were transport vehicles, and some were clearly prison vans used to detain criminals. It was obviously the underground city's convoy.

Next to the parking plaza was a rest area where a few sub-orcs could be seen. After Lu Yi found a parking space and parked their SUV, a sub-orc in uniform came to their car.

“Mr. Louis, Mr. Tang, welcome to the inner sanctum.” The well-trained orc politely gestured for them to proceed: “Please follow me to the bathing area.”

Tang Bufan was slightly taken aback. Lu Yi, who was standing next to him, explained, "You need to take a shower and disinfect yourself before going in to minimize the impact on the environment inside."

Tang Bufan suddenly realized what was happening and got out of the car with Lu Yi.

The two followed the orc. The rest area built against the cave wall was divided into two floors. The first floor was probably used by criminals. Tang Bufan glanced inside and saw that it looked like a public bathhouse.

The Naya orcs led them up to the second floor. Unlike the large bathhouse below, the second floor consisted of individual rooms, each marked with a sign indicating the location of the Peacekeepers, the New Merchant Alliance, and the Academy of Sciences.

The three walked inside, and then the orc politely gestured with his hand for the two to enter an unmarked room.

"Please, gentlemen, simply place your clothes in the laundry basket. We will clean them and hang them in the wardrobe, which you can retrieve when you leave. There are also some new clothes in the wardrobe that fit one size fits all; please feel free to use them."

The hospitality was excellent. Tang Bufan nodded gently to the orc.

Lu Yi opened the door, and the two went inside. They found it to be a large suite, with a large bathroom, a bed for resting, and an open-plan kitchenette.

"It's so luxurious," Tang Bufan exclaimed. It was like a five-star hotel suite.

"After all, it's a place to entertain important people." Lu Yi was used to it; the buildings in their Western Federation were also very well constructed.

After he finished speaking, he walked up to Tang Bufan and reached out to unbutton his clothes.

“…I can do it myself.” Tang Bufan’s face flushed slightly, and he took a step back, feeling a little embarrassed.

Lu Yi couldn't help but glance at Tang Bufan. The two had clearly already had an intimate relationship, but Tang Bufan was still quite shy, just like his slightly old-fashioned personality.

Although Lu Yi thought Tang Bufan was quite cute even like this.

“I actually really enjoy the feeling of serving my teacher.” Lu Yi then started taking off his clothes and said gently, “It’s like taking care of a beautiful doll.”

"Are you treating him like a doll?" Tang Bufan thought to himself, blushing as he stepped into the bathroom first.

The two of them took almost an hour to wash before coming out. Tang Bufan helped Lu Yi wash his hair, and Lu Yi then pulled him over and rubbed him again. After that, they comfortably soaked in hot water together.

"This kind of large bathtub is great; the bathtubs on our aircraft are still too small," Lu Yi said.

"But the scenery there is beautiful." Tang Bufan recalled yesterday with emotion, never expecting that one day he would be able to enjoy a bath by a panoramic floor-to-ceiling window.

"Too."

After soaking for a while, Tang Bufan patted Lu Yi on the arm, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and left the bathroom.

Instead of wearing the standard-sized clothes in their closets, they changed into the ones they had brought themselves. Lu Yi put on his favorite white vest and military pants, while Tang Bufan wore a light, moon-white long gown.

After the two left the house, the Naya beastman led them, who had just bathed, into a passage with an alloy door.

The passage was made of glass, through which one could see the mountain rock layers, gradually transitioning to a layer of gravel, then a layer of soil, before finally the metal door at the exit opened, revealing a bright and open space before the two of them.

Tang Bufan saw a patch of green, covering the entire huge spherical space, all covered with fine moss.