Zhang Xiaoman was at home packing his luggage while on the phone.
"Master Liu, I’m setting off today, yes, that’s right, going to have fun at sea. Just me, my mom isn’t going. Don’t worry, I’ve already picked up Dahei, I guarantee I will feed him to be black and plump. By the way, Master Liu, how have you been these past two days there?"
The energetic voice of Pei Laoliu came through from the other end of the phone:
"Haha, I’m really comfortable over here. You don’t know, the cultivation convention was postponed due to some reasons. It seems like it’s going to be held half a month later, so I simply decided not to go back and will play in Binglong Province for a while, treating it as a vacation. After all, food and accommodation are covered, Master Liu can also enjoy himself for once."
"Ah? Why would such an event be postponed?"
Master Liu explained, "It seems that the biggest sponsor had some issues and temporarily couldn’t make it, so the convention had to be postponed as well. Oh by the way, please take good care of Dahei for me for a while longer, and I’ll treat you to old goose when I get back!"
As soon as he mentioned eating old goose again, Zhang Xiaoman quickly refused, then after a few more words of farewell, he ended the call amidst the other person’s sigh of "you don’t understand goose".
Ever since dining with Su Fu and the others last night, Zhang Xiaoman received a callback from Xiao Shun the next day, who happily stated that the destination of his few friends coincidentally was in alignment with Zhang Xiaoman’s.
Therefore, there was no need to change the route of the smooth-sailing ship; a few days later, he would be able to embark from Bai Lan Yu City.
Zhang Xiaoman, naturally, was also very delighted. After thanking the other party, he used the next few days to make thorough preparations at home.
Even though his mother, Pei Lingsu, expressed some concern about his trip, she eventually didn’t say anything to stop him.
Firstly, Zhang Xiaoman was setting off with other professional teams, so there shouldn’t be any danger along the way.
Secondly, his mother also knew that her son had a "super escape tool" in his hands—the hearthstone.
So, even if he was unlucky to encounter something like a sea disaster, he could teleport back at any time, without any danger to his life.
As for the teleportation point of the hearthstone, Zhang Xiaoman had also been experimenting and exploring it recently. He tried sleeping in different places, such as the anti-gravity car, Pei Laoliu’s house, hotels...
But in the end, the result was that his teleportation point was still fixed on the sofa.
Zhang Xiaoman now had a certain guess about its teleportation mechanism; the place it teleported to should not be "the last place he slept," but rather the location of "home" in his subconscious.
Zhang Xiaoman was holding great expectations for this trip since ocean voyages were something he had only seen on TV and had never even dreamed of experiencing himself.
But now, with the introduction to a group of exploration enthusiasts by Xiao Shun, as well as the accompaniment of their professional teams, Zhang Xiaoman was filled with even more confidence for this trip, along with immense anticipation.
However, during these three days, aside from preparing some items needed for the sea trip, he didn’t waste any of the rest of his time.
After checking the locations of the abnormal intelligence provided by Li Xiang, Zhang Xiaoman also went to several places he had previously marked to investigate one by one, hoping to find one or two monsters and earn another batch of points.
The main reason why he did this was to stock up on points in case of any emergencies during the trip.
Unfortunately, after careful investigation, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t find any trace of monsters in those places.
Although at one location, residents did claim they heard strange laughter coming from near a factory, after he searched for several hours, still no anomalies were found.
Zhang Xiaoman didn’t know whether it was his bad luck that he hadn’t encountered anything, or if the local people were exaggerating the truth.
In any case, just when he had taken a break to use the restroom and was preparing to search a bit longer, he actually saw the government’s vehicles arriving here one after another.
A few police officers also asked the surrounding residents about the situation and then entered the factory one by one, which forced him to abandon his intention to look further.
It’s worth mentioning that, the next day, Zhang Xiaoman also accompanied Lin Sisi to the pet hospital to pick up the golden retriever named Tutu.
Although the little girl was blind, her senses were incredibly sharp, and as she followed Zhang Xiaoman, she almost made him forget that this girl was actually blind.
Zhang Xiaoman had also thought about buying some baozi to try to cure Lin Sisi’s eyes, but considering that he was about to set out to sea, he decided to save some points for emergencies.
Thus, he temporarily shelved this idea, intending to make plans after his return.
As for the drawing of lots, it was still the pitiful three consecutive kneels, all turning out to be worthless grey garbage.
Zhang Xiaoman felt that lately he had an especially high probability of drawing grey items, and he didn’t know whether he was just unlucky recently, or if this was actually the System’s normal operation, and perhaps earlier, he had just been lucky.
Having packed his luggage, Zhang Xiaoman opened his phone and checked a chat group, where the departure time and destination for his trip were listed.
"Bai Lan Yu City New Port Pier, departure at 1 p.m...."
After confirming the information, Zhang Xiaoman’s gaze naturally shifted to the avatars of other members in the group.
This chat group was for Xiao Shun and his friends to share their adventure experiences, and aside from chatting and shooting the breeze, they also organized activities there.
There weren’t many people in the group, just ten in all, including Zhang Xiaoman. They were all rich second-generation kids who often hung out together, forming a private little circle among themselves.
Xiao Shun, as the group admin, didn’t reveal Zhang Xiaoman’s identity as a Transcendent after adding him, only mentioning that he was a close friend of both him and Su Changqing, also an enthusiast of adventures, and hoped they could act together in the future.
The few people in the group were very enthusiastic and loved chatting. Although Zhang Xiaoman stayed quiet most of the time, he read every message in the group.
He felt these guys were much like his colleagues, often engaging in playful picture battles, which was quite entertaining.
"Clothes, power bank, compass, binoculars, medicine, rope... yeah, that’s about everything. The diving gear will be provided on the boat, let’s see if there’s anything else to bring..."
Zhang Xiaoman checked the items in his suitcase again and then turned his attention to two items on another table.
"Unicorn Blood, hearthstone... it seems these are the only two combat items I can bring for now, afraid I can’t carry the rest with me..."
Zhang Xiaoman was quite frustrated about this because, for the time being, neither a sword nor a Water Bullet Gun could pass through a security check.
However, he was not too reliant on these two items for the moment since he had acquired the Sand Soldier Appearance Skill.
As for the cloak, Zhang Xiaoman had been wearing it all these days, concealing it under his clothes.
He also used the homesickness hearthstone to top up his Energy Value to a saturated level of 50 points, making sure that he was fully prepared for this voyage.
"Alright, everything’s ready, time to set out!"
Zhang Xiaoman patted Jin Bao the dog’s head and then left the house.