Looking Forward to the Next Arrival

Xu Shan's Room

"Why did you keep him here?" Xu Shan slammed his hand on the table, furious.

Ma Hongyun rolled his eyes and sneered, "Do you think we had a choice just now? The other party is very likely a Spirit Profound expert. Who knows what would have happened if we defied him? It's better to go along with his wishes and observe the situation before discussing countermeasures."

In truth, he had other ideas. He wanted to see if he could establish a connection with Zhou Hao. Although it carried some risk, the opportunity was rare and had to be seized.

Xu Shan snorted coldly, "What are you afraid of? At worst, we die."

Ma Hongyun shook his head helplessly. "It doesn't matter if you die, but what about the three hundred brothers in the stronghold? Do their lives not matter? They've all followed Big Brother faithfully until now."

"This..." Xu Shan opened his mouth, unsure what to say, then closed it again. He slammed the table hard to express his anger.

Ma Hongyun sighed softly and continued, "Besides, this person appeared out of nowhere. He must have used some kind of teleportation equipment. People like that are either rich or noble. We can't afford to offend him; we can only serve him with courtesy."

"So you're going to willingly become his dog?" Xu Shan asked indignantly.

However, after Ma Hongyun's explanation, he actually understood.

Ma Hongyun smiled and retorted, "Isn't it better to be proactive than reactive?"

"..." Xu Shan had nothing to say. Indeed, if they became reactive, it might be more than just being a dog.

He paused and asked, "Then what do you want to do?"

"Of course, we need to serve this distinguished guest well and manage the people in the stronghold. Don't offend him over minor details. Whatever he needs, we'll prepare it. Absolutely do not send anything without his explicit instruction, or it will only backfire," Ma Hongyun warned.

Without understanding Zhou Hao, every action required careful consideration, as they didn't know in what aspect they might offend him.

Xu Shan nodded and looked at Ma Hongyun, asking with a pout, "You're telling me this, aren't you?"

"These are requirements for everyone, including myself," Ma Hongyun said, patting his chest.

Xu Shan was silent for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. I won't act impulsively."

"That's good." Ma Hongyun let out a light chuckle. He paused, looking at Xu Shan with a flicker of an unreadable light in his eyes, and asked, "By the way, what did you and Big Brother talk about the night you were drinking?"

Xu Shan's eyebrows shot up. He gave Ma Hongyun a deep look, then calmly replied, "Nothing much, just chatted about our gains in the Tomb of Opportunities."

"Right, I still don't know what you obtained in the Tomb of Opportunities. Can you tell me?" Ma Hongyun's gaze was fixed on Xu Shan as he asked.

Xu Shan smiled and sighed, "We only got one High-grade Mortal Artifact. It's useless."

"Is that so?" Ma Hongyun looked at him suspiciously.

"Of course," Xu Shan replied affirmatively.

Ma Hongyun smiled and said, "Alright! Let's not talk about it anymore. I need to get back to work."

"Okay." Xu Shan smiled and nodded. After Ma Hongyun left, his smile immediately vanished, and he fell into deep thought.

When Ma Hongyun returned to his room, he snorted, "He's hiding something."

He could tell that Xu Shan definitely had a secret.

Zhou Hao's Room

"Oh, this is comfortable." Zhou Hao said with a smile as he lay on the bed.

He hadn't slept in a proper bed for a long time.

Zhou Yuanbao and Mu Jinyin were flying around the room. They were temporarily maintaining their miniature forms.

Zhou Hao glanced at the pillow next to him, and Murong's image involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

The corners of his mouth curved upwards as he thought to himself, Next time I come, it should be on this bed!

He rolled over to test its stability. He also planned to clean it every day to prepare for Murong's arrival.

Even though he and Murong had been separated for less than an hour, he was already looking forward to their next meeting.

After testing the bed, Zhou Hao looked around the room.

To his surprise, there was a large bathtub in a separate compartment of the room. It was made of wood and had a faint woody scent.

"Jinyin," Zhou Hao called out, "come here for a moment."

Mu Jinyin and Zhou Yuanbao both came over and asked, "Dad, what is it?"

Zhou Hao pointed at the wooden tub. "Heat it up a bit, but don't burn it. Just sterilize it slightly."

"Oh~" Mu Jinyin didn't quite understand but still obeyed Zhou Hao and heated the tub.

Zhou Hao nodded in satisfaction. Now he could take a bath with peace of mind.

Afterward, he examined the rest of the room. Overall, it was quite good, much more comfortable than the secret chamber.

Zhou Hao sat by the window, watching the people come and go in the stronghold. He wondered, Why would they teleport me to a place like this? Shouldn't it be somewhere more secluded?

Little did he know that Du Tianhong had set up the teleportation array thousands of years ago. Back then, this wasn't a stronghold; it was just a forest with no human inhabitants.

"Dad, everyone here is so weak!" Zhou Yuanbao flew to Zhou Hao's side and said.

Zhou Hao nodded in agreement. "They are a bit weak."

Du Tianhong had told him he could only leave after reaching the Spiritual Consciousness Realm. He had thought the people outside would be much more formidable, but upon arriving, he found them all quite weak.

It's understandable that this place is probably just a small area and doesn't have any powerful individuals.

"Let's go, we'll take a walk outside," Zhou Hao said with a smile as he got up.

Since there was nothing going on for the moment, he might as well get a feel for the situation here!

However, when he strolled through the village, he noticed that everyone he encountered bowed respectfully before quickly scurrying away as if they had seen a ghost.

Zhou Hao scratched his face and muttered to himself in disbelief, "Am I that scary?"

Of course, he wasn't scary. It was just that the villagers had received orders from Ma Hongyun and Xu Shan to be respectful to Zhou Hao. However, they had overdone it, leading to the current scene where seeing Zhou Hao was like seeing a ghost.

Just then, a boy of about eleven or twelve years old walked up to Zhou Hao. He looked up, his big, dark eyes fixed on Zhou Hao, tears welling up in them.

Zhou Hao was bewildered. He looked around, wondering what was going on. Had he bullied a child?

He hesitated for a moment, then half-crouched down to meet the boy's gaze. He asked as gently as possible, "What's wrong?"

"Shi... Uncle Shi Po was... was killed by someone, sob sob sob~" The boy sobbed, tears flowing freely.

Zhou Hao immediately became flustered. He looked around, and seeing no one coming to help, he hesitantly reached out and gently patted the boy's head to comfort him. "Don't cry for now. If you cry like this, people will think I'm bullying you."

He was truly terrible at dealing with children like this!!!

The boy wiped away his tears, sniffled, and looked at Zhou Hao with his innocent, big eyes, asking pitifully, "Uncle, c-can you help me find the real killer of Uncle Shi Po?"

"Huh?" Zhou Hao was taken aback. Such a sudden request? Besides, he didn't even know who Shi Po was, so why was the boy coming to him?

Also, the address "Uncle" felt a bit...

Zhou Hao wanted to say something but stopped himself, ultimately deciding not to correct the boy's way of addressing him.

His age was indeed at the point where he could be an uncle.

Zhou Hao glanced at the boy. Seeing that he was about to cry again, he quickly said, "I'll help you. Can you explain the situation first? You're making me a bit confused like this."

The boy sniffled twice and nodded, "Okay."

Zhou Hao looked at his runny nose and couldn't stand it. He beckoned to a young man in the distance.

The young man was startled and looked around. When he realized Zhou Hao was calling him, he nervously approached Zhou Hao and asked tremblingly, "M-Master, did you call me?"

"Do you have any paper?" Zhou Hao asked.

"Yes, yes," the young man quickly pulled a wad of paper from his pocket.

Zhou Hao took it and waved his hand, letting him go.

The young man was greatly relieved and quickly ran off.

Watching his rapidly retreating back, Zhou Hao's mouth twitched. He once again wondered if he looked terrifying.

He shook his head with a wry smile, then turned to wipe the boy's nose and asked softly, "What's your name?"

"Ye Zi," Ye Zi replied in a soft voice.