It's an Air Conditioner, a Refrigerator, a Fire Extinguisher, and the Imitation Spirit Blade: Ice Epiphyllum! (Continued)

"Yes, we're about to land."

Mei gave an affirmative answer.

Along the way, she had been observing this enigmatic man and had unknowingly lost track of time.

In her eyes, Zhao Bai was an utterly ordinary man.

His hands bore calluses from gripping a blade for years. Practicing with a sword or cutting meat could both leave such marks.

He might have been a chef, or perhaps a swordsman.

Or perhaps he was both, with accomplishments in each field. Mei could not yet tell.

As Mei pondered, the passenger plane descended lower and lower. With a slight tremor, its wheels touched the ground, and it began a deceleration roll that stretched for several hundred meters.

At last, the plane came to a steady stop. They rose, grabbed their weapons, and got into a car. After a brief bumpy ride, Zhao Bai and Mei arrived at the largest cattle ranch in the world.

Schicksal's Anna Creek Ranch.

It was located in southern Australia. The ranch covered an area slightly larger than all of Israel, and because there was an Anna Creek Mountain within it, it had been given that name.

Black flags fluttered in the wind, bearing Schicksal's bright yellow emblem as though proudly proclaiming sovereignty.

This was a ranch spanning more than twenty thousand square kilometers. Naturally, it could not have been used for raising cattle alone.

It was not merely a missile testing ground either. Zhao Bai had no desire to think about what else it was used for.

They drove their off-road vehicle beneath the office building, where Zhao Bai and Mei met the client for this assignment.

He was actually from Shenzhou?

Zhao Bai was somewhat surprised, but then he reconsidered. Australia had no indigenous people, so there was nothing particularly strange about someone from Shenzhou running a ranch here.

Chen Sicheng. That was his name.

Mr. Chen was a gaunt middle-aged man. His skin was somewhat chapped from the grassland winds, and the dark circles beneath his eyes were severe, as though he had not slept for days.

When he saw Zhao Bai and Mei, he tried to force out a hint of joy, but failed. Prolonged exhaustion had long since drained him of his ability to manage his expression.

The moment Mr. Chen spotted their car from afar, he immediately came over to greet them.

"Mr. Zhao Bai, Miss Raiden Mei?"

Mei stepped forward with a professional smile and asked, "Mr. Chen, were you the one who submitted a report to headquarters requesting combat personnel to protect you?"

"Yes, I'm Chen Sicheng, the one who submitted the application. Thank you both very much for coming."

Mr. Chen was overwhelmed with gratitude, but then his tone abruptly changed. "But I didn't apply for protection. I wanted combat personnel to help kidnap the chairman of the Fire Commission and order those firefighters who don't do anything to put out the fire!"

Uh...

Zhao Bai was dumbfounded. A mission like this required submitting a report to headquarters, and there were even people specifically assigned to handle it?

Was this a joke?

Something must have gone wrong in the relay of information. Zhao Bai had come to put out a fire; the Imitation Spirit Blade: Ice Lotus Sky in his sheath was clearly radiating cold air.

And yet it turned out to be a kidnapping?