Chapter 2: The Queen of the Wasteland Fishes for a Dragon
"Ash!"
As soon as she entered the room and saw Beichen, Jialina shouted with joy and hurried to meet him. Xiang Ying, Hei Huo and Su Jie, who were beside Beichen, made way and stood behind Beichen with Gu Yinyue. Beichen immediately closed the book in his hand and looked up:
"...Carina, are you okay?!"
"Yeah—thanks to you guys."
The two people who hadn't seen each other for a long time immediately held hands affectionately.
"Fierello said that you helped me get the formula to cure the plague. Thank you so much—"
Jialina said as she turned to look at the people behind Beichen:
"Hey, I heard from Firello that Darim is here too, so why can't I see him?"
"Hmm... this..."
Beichen's eyes dimmed. He took out the crystal core containing Yagard's weapon (transformed weapon) from Xiangying's storage space and touched it lovingly.
"He's here, but his body is dead."
"...Huh." Karina was stunned for a few seconds. "He's so powerful, how could he... Is there any hope now?!"
"Yes, yes. We must save him."
Beichen nodded firmly. Then, suddenly, he glanced at Carina with a puzzled look. Strangely, Carina addressed King Sazam as "Fierello"?
Could it be that there really is some international affair?!
As if she understood Beichen's guess, Jialina turned her head, her cheeks slightly flushed and she coughed lightly.
"Ahem... Actually, it's like this. Sylvia County recently became independent."
Hey, hey──Why are you saying something so scary with an expression like “Actually, I’m in love lately”?
Not only Beichen, but Heihuo and Sujie behind her also rolled their eyes.
"In other words, now Sylvia Territory, um... and the wasteland to the east, are all mine. I learned this from you—though, we can't sweep across the wasteland in a few days like you did. It took us over a month to slowly take it over."
"Oh, that's impressive! --That's because I have the golden finger of Xiaxue, so that doesn't count."
Beichen nodded and congratulated.
"So now Carina has gone from being a prince to a queen? That's great—but if that's the case, why is Carina here... This is the capital of Sazam?"
"Ahem—since we've just established our government, we lack experience in many areas, so we came to Filello for advice. Since our two capitals are adjacent, it shouldn't take long for us to fight back and forth."
What's with this brotherly feeling?! If a country lost territory, wouldn't the king be furious?! Why are these two bosses still so affectionate with each other?! They even have their capitals in neighboring cities?!
Seeing that Beichen and his group's eyes were becoming more and more horrified, Karina quickly shook her head to clarify.
"It was Firello who felt the territory was too large to manage, so he assigned it to me to help! Even the Kingdom of Sylvia can actually be considered a brother country of Sazam—but the Elysion Alliance Agreement still needs to be signed with you again, Yaxiu."
King Sazam, don't treat your country as a building block and give it away casually. This is indeed an international romance. You are treating your country as a prop to pursue women, right?
Beichen complained in his heart feeling a little exhausted.
──But since it's Carina, it should be able to do very well. Although it may not be as powerful as Sazam, being a citizen of Carina must be a very happy thing.
So she nodded to her seriously and shook the hand in her hand vigorously. Sensing Beichen's encouragement, Karina smiled happily and shook hands in return.
"Okay, enough about me," Carina said, her expression growing serious. "What's going on with this plague? ... And that fake witch, Yaxiu? Have you figured out what's going on?"
"I've checked it out."
Beichen nodded, then briefly told Jialina what had happened.
"...A virus and vaccine from ten thousand years ago?" Carina tapped the edge of the table thoughtfully. "Yash, how much do you know about what happened ten thousand years ago? I always feel...if we don't fully understand what happened during that catastrophe, we won't be able to actively fight it."
"That's what I thought."
Beichen smiled wryly and shook his head. Previously, it was because of his half-understanding of the situation that he fell into Su Mo's series of plots. It all started with the emergence of the projected personality on his birthday. First, Sai Yan's country was destroyed, followed by the theft of the Soul-Killing Sword and Fang Ai's frame-up. Then came the attack of Ragnarl the Star-Killer. Just after his victory, he was ambushed by the possessed Moon Messenger and fell into suspended animation. Then Pandora's Box began to roam. Less than a day after waking up, he heard news of plague and war.
Su Mo, you're really working so hard as the Great Demon King. If all Demon Kings were as dedicated as you, the heroes wouldn't even have time to level up. They'd be hacked to death by your men before they even leave the Novice Village, right?
"First, we need to understand why the Red Moon had to cause such a disaster. We need to find their most vulnerable point and strike back."
As she spoke, she shook the book in her hand.
"So, I've been reading the diary of a certain celebrity warrior these past few days—but unfortunately, it's just a bunch of meaningless, trivial notes and complaints. Xiaxue, why did you give me this meaningless diary and specifically tell me to wait until I'm skeptical before reading it? There's absolutely nothing in it."
"Eh... It's Kasumigyu's diary!? Does Kasumigyu know something?! But—why would he show it to you? Is he a suicide maniac?"
As Karina was complaining here, Xiaxue, who was thousands of miles away, sneezed violently.
Beichen also twitched his mouth helplessly and pressed his forehead, indicating that he had no idea about Xiaxue's intentions.
"Master—"
Xiang Ying interrupted quietly from the side,
"Could it be that Xiaxue—actually, he just wanted to exchange diaries with you?"
The twins immediately attacked together:
"Stupid Kage, do you think he's you?! He's already over a thousand years old and still so innocent, isn't that disgusting!?"
"That's right, who wants to read an old man's life record? Don't read it, little loach. You'll turn into an old man if you do! You'll have smelly feet and a beer belly! You'll be tempted to run to a dingy little bar and drink while crying and complaining about your boss!"
"...Xiaxue doesn't have a beer belly or smelly feet." Three black lines hung down from Beichen's head.
"And I didn't even think about exchanging diaries with Master!" Xiang Ying complained aggrievedly, "I wouldn't do such a stupid thing! The notebook I keep of Master isn't counted by days, but by hours! Hourly notes! It would be too embarrassing to show Master that. I'll just review it slowly by myself!"
"..." Beichen's face suddenly turned green.
"...Xiang Ying, don't you think every word you said just now was too weird?" Gu Yinyue glanced at Beichen's green face and shook his head helplessly.
"Complaint! Xiang Ying's words are too perverted! So perverted that even the monk Gu Yinyue complained about it!"
Su Jie took out a piece of paper from somewhere and rolled it into a microphone, held it to his mouth, raised his little finger and started narrating.
Xiang Ying immediately retorted with a serious face:
"No, no, it's not surprising! The master is so cute, if you don't write it down, you will definitely regret it! I won't lend you a notebook even if you ask me to borrow it in the future!"
Black Malice was so amused that he almost gave the middle finger: "No one will ask you to borrow it! And when did you learn the word 'moe'?!"
Beichen's face turned even greener.
But Gu Yinyue on the side was stunned for a moment, then coughed lightly: "Then... can, can you lend it to me to take a look?"
"Ginyue, don't start writing a diary for yourself too!!"
“Ha, hahahaha—”
Carina, who was watching from the side, laughed so hard that she was out of breath and hit the arm of Luo Hou who was standing next to her.
"Every time I see Ash, I feel happy. And then I think, ah, even if the world is coming to an end, if we face the disaster with this kind of heart like you guys, maybe we can really resolve it safely."
After hearing what Karina said, Beichen and his group stopped fighting and quieted down. They looked at each other, then nodded and smiled at each other tacitly, as if they had made some kind of decision.
"Well, even if it's the end of the world, we have to face it with a smile and then repel it."
Beichen patted his face lightly.
"Having endured so many disasters, the opponent's available methods should have gradually dwindled—no, perhaps they're almost exhausted. So, considering that I was able to withstand such a terrifying series of attacks, I'm actually quite impressive!"
"Wow, the little loach is starting to become conceited."
"When I can be this confident about my bust size, that would be perfect."
Heihuo and Sujie were laughing and joking, but Beichen gave them a few dissatisfied looks.
Then the Wasteland Queen curled her lips and chuckled:
"So the first thing to do now is to bring back our most important knight!"
""Whoa whoa! ""
"Yes, of course, Master!"
"As you say."
Gemini, Xiang Ying, and Gu Yinyue all agreed with a smile, but Karina on the side tilted her head in confusion.
"By the way, speaking of this—Ash, you just said that Darim—no, Agard's body is dead, and his consciousness is in—that thing that looks like the crystal core of the weapon?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"So we need to find him a new body?"
Beichen nodded.
"...But..." Karina frowned seriously. "That consciousness—being taken out of the body and moved into the crystal core—wouldn't be damaged or changed, right? Also, if it were moved into another body, even if it contained Agard's consciousness, the thinking medium would be another brain—in that case, while it would have Agard's memories, it wouldn't be Agard himself, right?"
Beichen immediately thought of Feibai, and then cast a questioning look at Xiangying with a serious expression.
But Xiang Ying smiled and shook her head, patting Beichen's shoulder soothingly.
"Don't worry, Master. I also thought of Fei Bai at the beginning, so I was also worried about this problem. Therefore, I have already done some research in Chita."
"That……?"
"The transfer of consciousness is harmless. Chita possesses technology that can digitize and compress the human brain—not just memories and common sense, but the entire brain structure, including the memories it stores. Digitization—if I understand correctly, this is the form of data in Chita, right?"
"Yeah. And then."
"And then... uh..." Xiang Ying was not from Feinheim after all, so it was already remarkable that he could familiarize himself with Chita's operations and some basic concepts so quickly. So he scratched his head as if he didn't know how to express himself.
"Anyway, I understand the general idea. This technology not only transfers the other person's memories, but also transfers the entire brain, including thinking patterns, thinking habits, and all other details, from the old carrier to the Chita terminal."
"I understand." Beichen nodded, "But it's a bit strange. How did they do that? Where is the connection between Chita and Yagad?"
"It's said that there's something called a 'Red Cone' that was implanted in him after he was born. Once inside, the Red Cone splits into two parts: one for the armor drive that manages his strength, and the other for the wisdom drive that manages the knowledge transfer within his brain.
"Armor Drive can be sensed and controlled by Agard himself, but Wisdom Drive cannot be sensed or controlled by him. And then... through that Wisdom Drive, consciousness can be transferred. Although, uh... I don't know what 'Drive' is."
Xiang Ying didn't understand what the drive was, but Beichen had some idea.
When Yagad was dying, he put something into her mouth, and then she naturally gained the ability to summon the Red Moon Armor. Presumably, that thing was the armor drive of the Red Cone.
"And then—if it's transplanted into a human body, the brain that thinks will become someone else's, right? There might indeed be some personality differences, but since we've chosen a transforming weapon, there's no need to worry about that. The celestial ore will, based on Agard's crystal core, recreate a thinking vessel identical to the original Agard."
After hearing Xiang Ying's explanation, Beichen's anxious heart finally calmed down.
That's great. ...Agard, you're back safe and sound.
……Very good.
Beichen frowned and chuckled.
"Well, now all that's left is..."
Just then, the door opened. Longyun and Naraka walked into the room with a hint of excitement. Longyun saw Jialina and immediately greeted her with a smile. Then he went to Beichen's side - and was patted on the back of the head by Gu Yinyue.
Naraka rolled his eyes as usual, then nodded to the few people.
"The altar is clear. Shall we proceed?"
"altar?"
Karina raised her hand to ask a question, while Beichen tilted his head and chuckled evilly.
"Hmm, the altar of the Red Moon Priestess—that's the large platform where the selection exams are held. I killed the old Red Moon Priestess a few days ago, so I'm here to take her place."
"...Huh? Any plans?"
Behind Beichen, Heihuo and Sujie suddenly revealed a sinister and cunning smile, and placed one arm around her shoulders:
"Of course...it's the big plan of fishing for a dragon."
Then, not long after the fake witch incident had subsided, it was said that a real witch appeared in the Sazam Empire.
After she appeared, the astral energy near the altar gathered into a vortex, converging towards the center—like Pandora's Box being opened. After Gu Yinyue had called Beichen back from that opening, she had learned how to open the box and absorb a large amount of astral energy.
Of course, she didn't really want to drain all the star power. The nearby weapons had already been quietly moved under Firello's arrangement. She just wanted to put on a more realistic show to tell others that the real villain - the Red Moon Priestess had really started to act.
She was sure the other party would believe it.
Because—perhaps, Agard's death and her subsequent rampage were all calculated actions.
Using a fake witch to force Beichen's most important knight to die in battle, and then inducing Beichen to lose control - plus Ling Shuang who will lead the situation to the worst - resulting in the birth of a new, real witch. This may be Su Mo's real plan.
What's wrong with that? Then she can just continue to run wild.
Sumo himself wouldn't show up until the very last moment. "The One Who Laughs at Everything" hasn't appeared yet, so perhaps he's a hidden assassin! So the most likely and powerful messenger left is Ragnarl.
Sure enough, on the second day after the extraction of star power began, a huge black dragon silhouette appeared in the sky above the altar. Ragnarl slowly descended from the sky, and the strong airflow pressed the trees on one side into a mess.
Seeing this scene, Beichen's mouth curled up in satisfaction - then her heart moved, and the star spirit power that she had been absorbing just now was released again like a punctured balloon. The energy vortex was so fast and huge that it actually brought up a gust of air to fight against the wind pressure of the dragon.
Got cheated.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but when Beichen looked up and met the dragon’s gaze, he found that—
A helpless cold sweat seemed to slide across the dragon's head.
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