"......"
In the valley.
Looking at the mysterious red egg resting in his palm, Lin Yi was momentarily unsure whether he was the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li holding his sacred pagoda or a 0-21-7 feeding Yasuo with missing pings flooding his screen.
Countless questions bubbled up in his mind.
Why had this red egg been buried deep underground?
Where had it come from?
By Earth standards, Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts fell squarely into the class Mammalia. Their reproduction was normal viviparity—bearing live young—which had nothing whatsoever to do with oviparous demon beasts.
Even if one of the beasts had developed a demon core prematurely, that couldn't possibly rewrite such a fundamental biological reproductive mechanism.
Just like cultivators: even the peak powerhouses in the Way of Dominion realm had never been heard coughing up an egg with a "ptooey" like a Namekian from Dragon Ball...
Yet if it had no biological link to the beasts, why had the two Golden-Eyed Crimson-Scale Beasts happened to linger here of all places?
In all honesty, out in a desolate wilderness like this, the odds of the two having zero connection were slim to none...
There were countless similar questions.
For now, the only thing Lin Yi could be sure of was that this thing was extraordinary. His eyes and hands clearly perceived the egg's presence, yet when his divine sense swept across his palm, the feedback reported absolutely no physical trace at all.
One could say that since stepping into the cultivation world and mastering divine sense, Lin Yi had only ever encountered this phenomenon with the light ring.
He then spent some time searching the surroundings.
Once he confirmed there were no other items like the red egg, he carefully put it away, filled in the pit, and swiftly left the valley.
***
The valley was not far from the Guihua Sect; in less than half a shichen, Lin Yi reached the sect gate.
Passing through the sect-protecting grand array, Lin Yi first sent a Flying Bird Talisman to Su Qing and Zhao Ping to let them know he was safe and told them to await his word. Then he headed straight back to the back mountain forbidden ground.
Landing, he walked over to the gravestone he had carved for himself not long ago and retrieved his phone from the base.
*Whoosh—*
A burst of the Charging technique instantly topped up the battery, and he dialed the number.
A moment later, the handset vibrated faintly, and Zhou Jianmin's voice came through the receiver: "Comrade Lin Yi, this is Zhou Jianmin. How are things on your end?"
Though Zhou Jianmin did his best to stay restrained, Lin Yi could still detect the suppressed tension in his voice.
After all, according to their original agreement, Lin Yi was supposed to have made his third contact with the home world yesterday.
While today still fell within the home world's margin of tolerance, it was pushing the limit. Half a day longer, and they would have had to consider holding a memorial service for him.
"My apologies, Director Zhou. I'm a bit late in calling back," Lin Yi said, clearly aware of his own importance, though unlike certain stiff-necked pros in the LPL, he did not stubbornly refuse to admit fault. "Don't worry, though; I'm completely fine. The main reason I couldn't reach out on schedule was that I heard some news in Jiuwu City, and I spent some time verifying it on my way back..."
Although the cameras on his body had recorded everything, Lin Yi still patiently recounted what he had seen and heard in Jiuwu City to Zhou Jianmin.
"So that's how it is..."
Zhou Jianmin remained intently focused the entire time, speaking only after Lin Yi finished: "I didn't expect you to run into so many situations on this trip, Comrade Lin Yi. Truly... well, as long as you're safe, that's what matters."
He paused briefly to gather his thoughts. "Comrade Lin Yi, about your relationship with that Tower Master Shen..."
"More than friends, less than lovers. There was a chance once, but it wasn't meant to be."
In front of a true fellow countryman like Zhou Jianmin, Lin Yi saw no need to hide anything and answered frankly, "Early on, we were just business partners. Over time, we developed feelings for each other. But the Shen Family only ever recruits matrilocal sons-in-law, and I couldn't just abandon Brother Wu, Professor Xu, and the rest. On top of that, being a transmigrator was an awkward barrier between us... A lot of reasons, basically. In the end, we simply couldn't make it work."
Lin Yi was telling the truth.
In the beginning, he and Shen Danruo had indeed just been friends. At most, he had been more willing to interact with her because she was pretty, and that was all; it had never escalated beyond that.
Only after working together time and again had they developed feelings for each other—after all, tracing the development of the Drunken Moon Tower and the Guihua Sect, they were comrades through adversity.
Yet reality was too complicated.
Individually, many of the obstacles weren't insurmountable, but stacked together, they formed an unyielding wall. Thus, right up until his impending demise, they had remained star-crossed.
It certainly wasn't an ill-fated curse, but there were inevitably regrets.
Clearing his throat, Lin Yi suppressed the ripple of emotion in his chest. "Director Zhou, that's pretty much the situation with Tower Master Shen. As for that Profound Frost Golden Palace Talisman..."
"Keep the talisman with you for now. The home world isn't in a rush to study it," Zhou Jianmin replied, guessing Lin Yi's thoughts and stating their stance immediately. "We don't yet have the capability to analyze third-rank items in depth. Even if you sent it back, it would just sit in a vault. Rather than that, it's better kept in your hands just in case."
Lin Yi nodded as he listened.
He thought the same.
Replicating the destructive effect of a Profound Frost Golden Palace Talisman with technology from the home world was easy enough, and producing firepower far exceeding it was no challenge either. But the crucial issue was that those weapons required considerable space and preparation time. In terms of portability and responsiveness to sudden emergencies, they couldn't compare to a Profound Frost Golden Palace Talisman.
With this talisman on him, the survivability of Lin Yi and the entire Guihua Sect against unforeseen threats would increase substantially.
"Then there's the rumor of a beast tide..."
Zhou Jianmin paused, seemingly conferring with experts, before continuing: "Regardless of whether the rumor is true or false, Comrade Lin Yi, you need to make preparations on your end."
"Preparations?" Lin Yi blinked, assuming Zhou Jianmin was referring to the beast tide, and asked curiously, "Director Zhou, does the home world believe the beast tide rumors are true?"
"No, no. There are far too few clues about a beast tide right now, making it hard to judge truth from fiction," Zhou Jianmin quickly clarified. "I mean you need to prepare for the Dao Protection Department to come knocking."
Lin Yi froze. "The Dao Protection Department?"
Zhou Jianmin gave a solemn hum of confirmation.
According to Lin Yi's description, the Dao Protection Department was similar in nature to a domestic security department back home. Zhou Jianmin and his colleagues knew the operating style of such agencies all too well. Either they didn't get involved, or they conducted an exhaustive investigation.
The Guihua Sect was one of the survivors of the demon beast attacks. According to the Think Tank's analysis, the probability of the Dao Protection Department paying a visit was over ninety percent. A few scholars in the advisory group had even made more radical hypotheses, though those still required further verification, so Zhou Jianmin had withheld them for now.
Of course, if the Dao Protection Department didn't come, that would be even better—it would simply mean that in the Qingzhou region, the competence of the enforcement authorities left much to be desired.
"All in all, Comrade Lin Yi, you need to be prepared,"
Zhou Jianmin paused and summarized: "Over the next couple of days, you must coordinate a unified narrative for everyone in the sect, prepare an explanation for how you dealt with the demon beasts, and devise a cover story to conceal the light ring's existence. The beast tide rumors are secondary; just keep an eye on them for now."
"As for that red egg you found..."
Chapter 46