Bai Xiaowen continued flipping through the journal. What followed concerned the journal's author, Malgao, and his master Farga after they arrived on Earth.
"Radiant Calendar, June 12, 1153."
"Hunger, thirst, exhaustion... In this plane called 'Earth' (Latin phonetics, transliteration), my master and I trekked for ten whole days before we finally saw signs of human habitation."
"Heavens, how could there be so many towering, magnificent palaces? Any one of them was more imposing than the imperial palace of the Lionheart Empire. The civilization of this plane called Earth far surpassed that of the Aaron Plane, where the Lionheart Empire lay."
"My master and I slipped into a human city on Earth, intending to exchange some gold coins for Earth currency and buy supplies. But what was an 'internet account' (Latin phonetics, transliteration)? And what was 'online payment'? Why did exchanging gold coins require identification and an 'account'?"
"Perhaps our clothing was a little too unusual. Many people looked at us as if we were lunatics. Anyone would stink like this after going months without bathing or changing clothes."
"Radiant Calendar, June 13, 1153."
"Someone gave us a few coins. Praise the Lord of Light, my master and I would finally no longer go hungry."
"However, my master's pride as the royal chief alchemist would not allow him to become a beggar. Within his nearly mad mind, a new plan had already taken shape, and as before, he told me about it."
"Heavens! My master actually wanted to rob a bank in a plane as powerful as Earth!"
"I did everything I could to stop him. I did not want to live a life of being hunted again. Being a beggar was better than being a fugitive."
"Perhaps our argument became too animated and drew the attention of a patrol officer. Damn it, I could not understand a single word of the Earth humans' language, and neither could my learned master."
"The patrol officer had clearly noticed that something was wrong with us. He took out a black box and loudly began reciting mysterious incantations."
"We had no choice but to use Lesser Invisibility Potion, flee the patrol officer's sight, and escape the human city on Earth."
Bai Xiaowen's eye twitched as he read. After a long while, he finally forced out a sentence:
"Ignorance is truly terrifying."
First, there was the issue of exchanging gold coins. If the first stop for this master and servant after crossing the Spatial Rift had been that wicked capitalist America, exchanging gold coins would have been easy—the American federal government's control over its citizens had always been weak, and it had become even worse since the Psychic Energy Era began. For profit, powerful guilds that dared challenge the government were everywhere.
Even if they had found an ordinary American civilian, as long as the gold coins were confirmed to be genuine, that person would probably have gladly exchanged some American dollars for them—not to mention the collectible and practical value of Spirit Realm gold coins, the "Spirit Realm gold and silver" used to mint them was itself something valuable that Awakened ones needed.
Most importantly, the master and servant spoke Old Latin. In America, where English was the native language, finding a few people who understood Old Latin would not have been difficult, so communication would have been easy.
But this master and servant had the worst luck imaginable: their first stop after crossing over was China. In terms of the state apparatus's degree of control, China was arguably the greatest in the world. Although the Awakened Guild enjoyed certain privileges, it absolutely did not dare oppose the state apparatus.
As for the language... Chinese was Hell-level difficult. A single piece like The Story of Shi Eating Lions had made countless foreigners weep. What, foreigners said that did not count because it was classical Chinese? Fine, modern Chinese could teach you a lesson too.
For example:
A conversation between Little Ding and his leader when he gave the leader a red envelope.
Leader: What do you mean by this?
Little Ding: It doesn't mean much, just a little something.
Leader: You're being rather inconsiderate.
Little Ding: Just a small token, just a small token.
Leader: You're quite an interesting person.
Little Ding: There's really no other meaning behind it.
Leader: Then I'd feel embarrassed accepting it.
Little Ding: I'm the one who should feel embarrassed.
Question! What did each instance of "meaning" in the above text mean?
Bai Xiaowen's thoughts had wandered a little far. Getting off topic easily was an unavoidable side effect of having a Super Brain.
In fact, if all those words were converted into thoughts, they would take less than 0.1 seconds to pass through Bai Xiaowen's mind.
The encounter with the patrol officer later on made Bai Xiaowen want to complain even more.
A black box? It was probably a walkie-talkie. As for the mysterious incantation, everyone knew what that meant.
(For underachievers like us, the English listening section of the National College Entrance Examination also sounds like someone chanting spells.)
"Radiant Calendar, June 21, 1153."
"My master and I wandered through the wilderness while trying hard to learn the Earth humans' language. I had to admit, it was difficult."
"Radiant Calendar, July 2, 1153."
"The nightmare had returned! That royal knight called Goliya was as crazed as a fly chasing dung—she had actually come to Earth as well! The soul-sensing potion my master refined could not be wrong. The instant Goliya stepped onto Earth, we learned this terrible news."
"My master had grown tired of endless flight. He wanted to conduct the forbidden ritual and completely absorb the power of the Soul Stone!"
"My master said that as long as the Soul Stone's seal was completely undone, he would be able to kill Goliya as easily as crushing an ant!"
"Was the Soul Stone really that miraculous? For an instant, I even had a bold thought..." (The rest was crossed out and difficult to make out.)
"Radiant Calendar, July 4, 1153."
"We selected an underground cave as our hiding place."
"The cave's original inhabitants, a group of Plague Rats, seemed quite unhappy about our arrival and attacked us. My master could easily have crushed them, but he did not. Yes, he needed these Plague Rats as materials for the forbidden ritual."
"After some effort, my master captured the Plague Rat Boss Tier. The other Plague Rats finally submitted to my master's power and stopped attacking. We used a large number of stones to seal the original cave entrance, thereby avoiding pursuit from outside."
"A rat burrow was far too cramped for us. We could not even set up a site for the ritual. Under my master's orders, I, thin enough to be little more than skin and bones, began digging with great difficulty."
"Damn it, why was all this dirty, exhausting work left to me? Just because he was the master and I was the servant? What if I possessed greater power?"
"Ambition and desire sprouted in my heart like weeds..."
These two lines documenting his ambition had been crossed out several times in black ink. Bai Xiaowen had to exert considerable effort before he could barely make them out. He could tell that Malgao's mind was already on the verge of collapse and delirium. As for his master, Farga, he was probably mad long ago.
At this point, a large stretch of dates was missing from the journal, with only occasional scattered entries remaining. Clearly, Mr. Malgao, the journal's author, had been miserably working all these days and had failed to maintain the good habit of keeping a diary.
"Hmm... I can probably guess what happened next." Bai Xiaowen muttered as he continued flipping through it. Before long, he reached the final page of the parchment journal.
Before you continue