Silence, a prolonged silence.
The inside of the car fell into utter stillness.
Zhang Xiaoman didn’t urge Brother Hero, he was waiting for the other to make a choice.
"Xiao Man, let me join, whatever difficulties we face, we’ll confront them together as brothers."
Finally, Brother Hero gave his response.
Zhang Xiaoman didn’t ask why, he could somewhat guess what the other was thinking.
Just like people pursue the extraordinary, when the opportunity to become an Awakener is right before your eyes, how many can calmly let it go?
"I understand, if that’s the case, come find me tomorrow, I’ll take you somewhere," Zhang Xiaoman said.
Brother Hero nodded at his words.
"By the way, what was that rumor you mentioned over the phone? Why would your company’s relocation be related to a Transcendent event?"
"Well, it’s actually a long story... Do you remember Sheep Village?"
Zhang Xiaoman showed a reminiscent expression: "I remember, we used to go there for farm visits. Sister-in-law even brought a tent that ended up being turned into a hat by the end of it, and we laughed about it for days."
Brother Hero nodded: "Exactly, that place! It happened on the fifth day after you left."
"That day I was at work when suddenly a loud bang came from there, scaring us all. It was a clear day, and I still remember that after the noise, our group discussed what it could be, ultimately dismissing it as thunder from a clear sky, thinking it was a loud clap of thunder."
"However, later on, we faintly heard a roar that sounded like those synthesized T-Rex roars from movies, but some said it was just a ship passing through the canal honking its horn. But I never felt it was the same, I’ve heard the ship’s noise before, when has it ever sounded like that?"
"Oh? What happened next?"
Brother Hero smacked his lips: "Next, you might not believe it, but just after that strange cry ended, they started setting off fireworks over by Sheep Village, and once they started, it went on for a good half a day, with loud repeated bangs..."
"Loud repeated bangs? Fireworks?" Zhang Xiaoman frowned, "Could it possibly be gunfire...?"
Brother Hero slapped his thigh: "Exactly! That’s what I thought too, but none of them believed me. I told them, maybe there’s a monster, and our military is fighting it. But those guys didn’t believe me at all and said I’ve read too many novels..."
"Hmm... if we look at it from a logical standpoint, what you’re suggesting indeed seems unlikely..."
"Cough, cough, Xiao Man, don’t tease me now, okay. I’m telling you, that very morning after the noise at Sheep Village, our company issued a holiday notice at noon, and by the afternoon everyone was off."
"You wouldn’t know, but the entire Qionghua City East District Industrial Park shut down, the scene with all the police cars maintaining order on the roads was quite a sight."
"So, your break just extended until the company was gone?" Zhang Xiaoman asked.
"Yeah, at first I thought I’d get a little break, but who could have imagined it would turn out . I saw someone in the company chat saying they saw military vehicles on the road, that’s when I realized something serious must have happened."
Brother Hero shifted his position and continued: "I even called you then, but it said you were out of the service area, so I couldn’t reach you."
"Oh, right, look at these two." He took out his phone, fiddled with it for a bit, brought up a webpage, and handed it to Zhang Xiaoman.
The latter took it and saw the headline, "Azure Dragon Army to be stationed in Qionghua City for a month-long military exercise..."
He clicked on another piece of news.
"Demolition of Qionghua City East District Industrial Park, East Bus Station temporarily relocated to Huaban Road..."
Zhang Xiaoman skimmed through the two articles, which were brief and lacked pictures, merely explaining the situation in a few lines and reminding to avoid certain roads before hastily concluding.
"They say it’s a drill, lasting at least a month, and then they’re demolishing and rebuilding the Industrial Park, so all companies moved out. I feel there’s something fishy about this, wondering if it could be because of those monsters..."
Zhang Xiaoman frowned, thinking deeply about what Brother Hero had said.
If it’s unusual, that’s for certain, and looking at the current situation, it’s very likely there’s some troublesome monster, and possibly a Dimension Rift was discovered there, otherwise there wouldn’t be a need to evacuate nearby people.
Even though Zhang Xiaoman was curious about the situation in Sheep Village, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to run there to investigate. Since the Azure Dragon Army was stationed there, it wasn’t his place to intervene.
After all, his focus was on the Star Alliance now, and he couldn’t be involved in these issues yet. He needed to further enhance his abilities first.
"It seems that after the world background changed, Monsters are increasing..." Zhang Xiaoman murmured softly, then turned his gaze back to Brother Hero.
"Brother, let’s not worry about this matter for now. I’ve already found an excellent place as a foundation for our future. I’ll take you there tomorrow to check it out and help you with your Enlightenment."