Chapter 79

Well... he does understand, it's a safe house!

Zuo Jian turned his gaze away from the floor and then looked up at the wall.

At that moment, a huge map was hanging on the wall, its area covering the entire known Terra.

He squinted at the location marked with thumbtacks, indicating the location of the safe house along the Victoria coast.

According to the intelligence obtained from the judges, the map-making skills of the various nations of Terra were far from satisfactory.

Before seeing this enormous map drawn by Aegir, Zuo Jian, or rather the Terra Guide he held in his hand, or rather the one now in the Doctor's hand, contained a summary of the geographical locations of various countries from twenty years ago, which was almost the most accurate description.

However, compared to the topographical map drawn by Aegir in front of us... it is still quite inferior.

And...

Zuo Jian narrowed his eyes slightly.

Looking at the top of the map, there's a place called the "Endless Icefield".

That area had no markings whatsoever; the only thing there was was two lonely words written in a corner.

"Demons."

He slowly uttered the two words, pondering their meaning as he did so.

This is the information marked on the map drawn by Aegir.

This is not a folk tale or legend.

This means that in the face of a nation with almost the highest level of reconnaissance technology on Terra, a certain species inhabiting that ice field does indeed fit the definition of "Demons" from a materialist perspective, which is why it was officially printed on the map.

Moreover, this is not the whole story.

Beyond the ice sheet lies an even larger impact crater, resembling a circular pit. That area is dark and lacks any markings.

However, on one side of that piece of information, there seemed to be traces of a hunter's handwriting?

Zuo Jian leaned closer and discovered that someone had once written something on it with a pen that had run out of ink.

He squinted, barely managing to decipher the meaning of the words written on it.

'Demons are equal to Catastrophes.'

'However, this is only the tip of the iceberg... the Aegir' self-righteousness and arrogance...'

'Sooner or later...'

The words that follow seem a bit blurry.

Zuo Jian stroked his chin while looking at the first sentence in handwriting.

"Demons are equal to Catastrophes..."

"Catastrophes..."

"This land holds far more secrets than I imagined... if this description is correct..."

He might need to find an opportunity to actually visit that area called the Endless Icefield.

At the same time, it is also necessary to verify the existence of that individual called the Demons.

Of course, Laurentina absolutely cannot be brought along.

If the description matches, then he will find a way to... get rid of those abnormal creatures.

For some reason, even he himself couldn't realize it.

When he saw other clearly abnormal creatures described as "Catastrophes," he felt a deep-seated...

Disgust.

And irritability.

The flesh and blood cells in my arm began to stir slightly, and the bones turned into sharp spikes.

Tearing through flesh and blood, it is transforming itself in a grotesque and ferocious direction.

"Catastrophes..."

He kept repeating those two words, completely unaware of the changes happening to him.

"Zuo Jian ~ I've been staring at that map the whole time--"

Suddenly, Laurentina's voice interrupted his thoughts, quickly calming his restless flesh and blood, and instantly halting the changes in his body, restoring it to its original state.

He felt a sensation as if someone was pinching his shoulder.

Then, Laurentina braced herself against his shoulders with both hands, leaning against his back, while simultaneously lifting her feet off the ground with her hands, and resting her head on his Zuo Jian.

Zuo Jian, feeling Laurentina lying on top of him, even poking his head with her chin, felt a little helpless.

Has she been touching or groping me more frequently lately?

Oh well, let her be.

He thought about it, then sat down on a supply crate nearby.

Now that Laurentina's feet were on the ground, she could easily pinch Zuo Jian's cheek and rest her chin on his head.

"Speaking of which, what you called funding..."

"It's already taken care of~ Look."

Laurentina raised her hand, took out a black card, and looked at the hot gold-printed lettering on it.

"Abyssal Hunters have a dedicated emergency fund. A safe house will usually have about three of these cards, with one per team by default, to ensure that their actions on land are not limited by their basic funds."

"A card guaranteed by Iberian Bank should also be usable in Victoria."

Zuo Jian watched as Laurentina fiddled with the card in her hand, then asked her a question.

"By the way, what's the available funding inside?"

"In terms of purchasing power, it's roughly the amount of money that could buy a house in the heart of Victoria's capital city."

"That's really... extravagant."

Zuo Jian was taken aback, not expecting there to be so much usable funds inside.

But thinking about it carefully, Laurentina and her team, as Abyssal Hunters, are practically civil servants, right? So if Aegir is basically reimbursing all of these expenses... then it's not surprising.

But...

He stepped forward and gave Laurentina some instructions.

"However, Laurentina, you still need to be careful with your spending. You can't just spend money recklessly because you suddenly have a large amount of cash on hand."

The protagonists in the story usually don't care about these things, because once they obtain these kinds of financial tools, it means they have been given unlimited funds by the author.

All they have to do is swipe, swipe, swipe, and that's it. They rely on a single number to continuously generate consumption, repeatedly stimulating and shocking those "blind villains" or store clerks who don't recognize their worth...

But... what does this have to do with Zuo Jian?

He was surrounded by the realities of daily life.

Thinking about it carefully... Laurentina also needs nutrition, although the taste of the food and other factors don't affect the part he's responsible for converting...

However, this will greatly affect Laurentina's mental state.

Furthermore... previously, because he needed to travel quickly, he only provided food supplies to Laurentina every few days, or only when necessary.

But now... he doesn't want Laurentina to get used to this situation.

Human life is easily affected by the external environment.

Reducing the act of eating to once every few days as necessary... would severely distort one's perception of oneself as a human being. Over time, combined with other gradually developed inhuman habits... this could lead to very bad things.

So...

Zuo Jian looked at the card in Laurentina's hand and thought, although it's true that it needs to be used sparingly, for Laurentina's sake, he should start planning her three meals a day again.

After all... Laurentina is at an age where she should experience the joys of life.

Okay, that's settled then.

Let's splurge a little and have Laurentina buy some decent ingredients so I can cook her a few nice meals myself...

"Hey, Zuo Jian, let's go to the mall! I saw a few restaurants that looked really interesting! Shall we go check them out?"

"...?"

Zuo Jian stood there, stunned, watching Laurentina's excited expression...

Clearly, the two have completely different basic definitions of luxury.

Chapter Thirty-Eight, The Bloodfiend Great Lord and... the Farmer

"Um... sir... you've already ordered five large fries with ketchup, are you sure you don't need any other service?"

The waiter looked at the young man leaning back in his seat with a somewhat subtle expression.

Judging from their clothing, the other person did not seem to be someone who was experiencing financial difficulties.

Furthermore, their every word and action was extremely polite.

In terms of race, the other party is a purebred Feline, as evidenced by the pair of Feline ears that twitch from time to time on top of his short brown hair.

Yeah, this is Feline, not Liberi. Besides Liberi, who else would come to a restaurant, sit down, order fries, and then brag about it?

"Um, we actually have other dishes available. If you don't mind, perhaps..."

"Another plate of fries, please."

The young man handed his empty plate to the waiter, speaking somewhat absentmindedly.

"Is... really...? Don't you want to try some other dishes...?"

The waiter's expression was a mix of amusement and exasperation; just what kind of fanatic was this?

Aiden Wilson leaned back in his chair, looking down in frustration. After listening to the waiter's words, he seemed to remember something and then turned to speak.

"Then... let's replace the ketchup with tartar sauce."

"Okay, okay."

The waiter sighed; it seemed this man was indeed a true Victoria with an extreme love for fries.

"Another fried fish, please."

Seeing the waiter's somewhat dejected expression after his failed sales pitch, he then added,

"I want tatar sauce too."

"Okay, I'll go prepare it for you right away."

Watching the other person's departing figure, Aiden let out a long sigh.

To be honest, he is definitely not short of money.

His father's "living allowance" was enough for him to live comfortably for a while.

Unfortunately, the reason for coming in and showing off fries is neither due to financial reasons nor a passionate hobby.

Just because...

Habit.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the habit was influenced by a few Flame Kingdom classmates with accents during my university years.

For example.

When they're thinking, they always bring a plate of sunflower seeds with them, and then they crack them open while daydreaming about whatever comes to mind.

At first, he couldn't stand this kind of food, but gradually...

He found himself seemingly to have completely come to enjoy this behavior of eating small amounts after a series of mechanized actions, followed by repeated cycles.

However, this practice was quickly localized after they returned to Victoria.

This manifests in the fact that the process of eating sunflower seeds has been assimilated into dipping them in ketchup.

Basically, once I start thinking about something, I can't stop.

"What's going on with those people at the checkpoint...? Why am I the one who got fired instead...?"