Devastating News

"Reverse both vehicles!" The clear command rang out again from the driver's console.

The massive propellers on either side of the stern slowly rotated 180 degrees, their blades churning the cold seawater and generating a powerful reverse thrust. The Pansy, this colossal ship of tens of thousands of tons, began to smoothly and slowly reverse along the narrow waterway from which it had come.

In this waterway environment, the ship is as stable as a rock, and you can hardly feel any swaying.

In the command room, Su Ming was reviewing the latest report from the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce. The report stated that the Naga Queen had led her remaining forces back to the Naga Clan's deep-sea base in a sorry state, and the pain of losing her son had made her vow of revenge.

In order to secure substantial financial support, this queen, who had previously shown little interest in oil trading, surprisingly signed a sales contract with the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce for a staggering 5,000 tons of oil.

She forcibly drove large numbers of the Naga Clan people to specific seabed areas to carry out intensive shallow oil extraction operations.

Even more interestingly, the Naga Clan made a request to the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce: to offer a reward for all information and details about Bone King Su Ming's movements.

Su Ming's lips curled slightly. He asked Miao Xin to open DS and write a story about the Bone King's battle against the Feather Race. The gist of it was: When the Bone King's fleet passed through Northern Ice Island, it clashed with the Feather Race. The two sides fought for three hundred rounds, and then their whereabouts became unknown, disappearing into the vast sea.

He handed the "intelligence story" to the communications team, replied to the Blue-Eyed Chamber of Commerce, and added the note: Sell to the Naga Queen.

If the other party offers a good enough price, Su Ming might be able to continue updating.

Ugh--!

A piercing alarm suddenly shattered the calm; radar detected an aerial target approaching at high speed!

Su Ming wasn't too nervous. Soon, a messenger rushed into the command room, "Reporting, President! A blue dragon is confirmed to be approaching our ship!"

"Not Lanmo?" Su Ming asked.

"The target characteristics do not match; it is not Lanmo," the messenger replied.

Su Ming nodded, but couldn't help but think to himself: Lanmo didn't even come to see us off. Is he really that addicted to games?

Since it wasn't Lanmo, then the visitor must undoubtedly be Lanlie.

He put on his coat and walked with Zijin towards the aft deck. They had barely stepped onto the deck when a massive blue figure swooped down from the sky like a meteorite!

Boom!

With a muffled thud and a slight tremor in the floor, Lanlie's heavy body landed heavily on the aft deck, leaving two clear dents in the sturdy deck—another typical "Afghanistan-style" hard landing!

Looking at the footprints, Su Ming thought to himself: As expected, dragons that haven't undergone professional landing training only know how to land like this!

"Lanlie?" Zijin tilted her head slightly, carefully examining the Blue Dragon in front of her that exuded an ancient aura, trying hard to search her memory for the corresponding name or face, but she couldn't match it up for a long time.

However, she quickly came to terms with it. After all, she had left Dragon Valley in her teens, so it was perfectly normal not to recognize all her fellow dragons. Besides, there were tens of thousands of dragons in the valley!

"Excuse my intrusion!" Lanlie lowered his massive head, his gaze falling upon the two, his voice deep and thunderous, "I have heard that your esteemed ship is about to depart for the Eastern Continent. I wonder if... you might grant me a ride?"

"Of course, welcome aboard!" Su Ming readily agreed. Although he really wanted to charge Lanlie Lie for the cabin and meals—especially considering the Dragon Race ' appetites—he decided to be generous this time, considering Lan Lie was, after all, a fellow dragon of Zijin, and treat it as a token of his affection.

Zijin treated this fellow clansman fairly well. She directed several necromancers to open up and reinforce a large interconnected cabin in the inner section of the ship's hold, cleaned it up, and provided Lanlie with a spacious, though perhaps not very comfortable, place to live.

****

"Su Ming, have you left Northern Ice Island?"

Katharine sent a letter that was somewhat incoherent.

Su Ming frowned slightly. He wrote a reply, "Just left Hong Kong. What is it?" and then handed it to the student in charge of communications.

About ten minutes later, the student returned with a new reply.

"So fast?" Su Ming was slightly surprised. He took the letter and immediately noticed the difference—it was a coded message.

In the world of Taya, deciphering such ciphers usually requires a professional cipher envoy who performs letter substitutions and recombinations according to pre-agreed complex rules.

Su Ming took out his phone from his pocket, unlocked the screen, and launched an application. He pointed the camera at the text on the letter and snapped a picture. The app ran at lightning speed, and the characters on the screen scrolled and rearranged like flowing light.

A few seconds later, a "Decryption complete" message popped up, and the clear text content was displayed on the phone screen.

The moment his eyes fell on those lines of text, Su Ming's hand trembled violently, and the phone almost slipped from his grasp and fell to the ground!

He subconsciously clenched his fists, forcing himself to calm down and reread each word carefully:

"It has been confirmed that Ms. Atiya was attacked and killed, and she has been buried in Dragon Valley. Witnesses have reported sightings of Leoni, the Icefield Nightmare, in the nearby area."

"However, during the subsequent search for Leoni, it was discovered that he had disappeared several days prior. Princess Dafulin has been notified, and all efforts are being made to track down his whereabouts."

"This matter is sensitive. Please inform Ailisha cautiously when the time is appropriate."

Wishing you both well!

Su Ming slowly closed his phone, his face shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere, as if the air itself had frozen.

"What's wrong?" Zijin, who had been watching Su Ming's movements closely, immediately noticed his unusual behavior and asked.

Su Ming didn't answer immediately. He closed his eyes and thought hard. After a moment, he opened his eyes and handed the phone to Zijin.

Zijin took it, opened it, and looked down at it with a hint of doubt.

A few seconds later--

"Crack! Pop!"

A sharp cracking sound suddenly rang out! The phone screen and its casing shattered under Zijin's abruptly contracting fingers!

The girl seemed to have been struck by an invisible Giant Hammer, and her whole body swayed violently. She suddenly raised her hands and covered her face tightly, the skin peeking through her fingers instantly losing all color, and her shoulders trembled uncontrollably.

****

For the entire afternoon, Zijin sat silently by the cold porthole, like a frozen sculpture. Outside the window was a monotonous and vast icy sea, with occasional ice floes brushing against the hull and emitting a low groan.

Su Ming didn't try to comfort her with words. He just sat quietly on a chair not far from her, looking through the Pansy II project materials, occasionally making a few notes.

The only sounds in the cabin were the rustling of pages turning and the slight cracking of the hull as it broke through the thin ice.

As dusk settled, the cabin lights glowed softly. Su Ming rose and left, returning moments later with a warm plate, which he gently placed on the table in front of Zijin. The food on the plate emitted a warm, fragrant aroma.

"I'm sorry, really... I can't eat." Zijin's voice was a little hoarse, her gaze still fixed on the view outside the window.

"It's okay," Su Ming said softly. "Don't force yourself when you're sad."

Silence flowed between the two, as if one could hear the passage of time. After a long while, Zijin slowly turned her head, her gaze finally returning to the cabin, but she did not look at Su Ming, her eyes lowered.

"I've lived for 170 years..." Her voice carried a distant weariness. "In the human world, I've witnessed too many farewells. One hundred and twenty years ago, my mentor, the Great Scholar Gilbert, closed his eyes forever. Then his son..." Her gaze became somewhat unfocused, as if tracing back through the long passage of time. "That child, I held him from the moment he was born. I watched him grow from a mischievous little devil who would tug at my scales and giggle, into a spirited young man, then gradually into a composed middle-aged man, and finally, under my watchful gaze, he grew old with white hair..."

In the eyes of a dragon—even a special "half-dragon, half-human" like her—a mortal life is as fleeting as morning dew.

"I'm afraid you've seen this before," Zijin said, a bitter smile playing on her lips. "I thought I was used to this kind of loss, but I never expected..."

"What's so funny about that?" Su Ming asked gently. "That's just how it is."

Zijin gently shook her head. "When you first learned of Si Ran's death, you locked yourself in the driver's seat and just sat there blankly... At that time, I actually felt that you weren't as 'accustomed' as I was, but life would teach you one day." She paused. "Looking back now, I realize how presumptuous I was."

Su Ming paused for a moment, then hesitated. "This... it's not really comparable. Si Ran is a good friend, but she's not family." He looked into the distance, his voice lowering. "Besides, some things you don't need to get used to. Crying and crying, death will eventually come to you—that's the logic facing 'short-lived' humans."

****

The scene fell silent for a moment as the two gazed at their reflections in the porthole.

"I miss Atiya so much," Zijin suddenly said, her voice thick with a nasal tone. Tears finally streamed down the girl's face uncontrollably. "I learned so much on this trip. Not just about your technology, cannons, ships, trains..." She took a slight breath, "It was through you that I truly understood how to be cared for, and clumsily learned to care for others. Little Tuanzi, you made me realize for the first time how exhausting raising a child truly is."

Tears streamed down her face, Zijin didn't reach out to wipe them away, letting them drip onto her clothes. "In the past, I complained about them far too much, and gave them almost no understanding at all."

She raised her tear-filled face, only to be surprised to see Su Ming also raise his hand and wipe the corner of his own eye.

"I almost forgot," Zijin's voice held a hint of realization, "You haven't seen your parents in a long time either."

"No, no," Su Ming quickly shook his head, "It's alright, it's only been a little over half a year. On Earth, I work in another city, so I only get to see them once or twice a year."