Chen Shu still wanted to make the trip to Duqin.
From what he could see, it would bring him at least three things—
Firsthand information about the fellow countryman who had long interested him;
Raw materials for potions;
And an answer to where the Deities had gone.
But the trip seemed to come with its share of trouble.
For one thing, it would take a while. Even if they left in mid-September at the latest and opened the Cube in October, they would have to work inside it for some time. The whole trip would take at least a month or more. Wandering around a foreign country for that long would be tiring even on a vacation.
Besides, Duqin was poor and war-torn. Conditions there were far from good.
And that pack of lunatics from the Dream Moon Cult seemed to be involved.
Chen Shu pondered for a moment and decided to learn more about Duqin's current situation first.
He opened Short Video and searched for Duqin.
There were even travel vloggers!
Chen Shu watched a few videos at random. Yellow sand, the Gobi, and shattered ruins appeared on his screen, along with rather plain-looking cities and markets. The vlogger sometimes introduced local specialties, but he mostly drew views by touting the local women as pretty, undemanding, and easily impressed.
Since he only visited relatively stable cities, the videos made Duqin look merely underdeveloped, apart from the occasional armed person in the frame.
Chen Shu soon gave up on that source.
He opened his laptop instead and inserted the Crystal Disk.
Before long, he was connected to the Deep Web.
Vendors there specialized in selling this kind of intelligence. There were also forums he could browse for free, though their information was rather jumbled.
Here, Duqin wore a different face—