Chapter 53: Chapter 53 Travel
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Would it be okay to just let them go ?” I still felt a bit uneasy.
Sandora answered, “Don’t worry, the Xyrin Empire’s technology isn’t that easily faulty. The Neural Controllers implanted in those three will ensure they can’t leak a single bit of the secrets. My intuition tells me they haven’t fully disclosed everything. If we don’t use this method, we’ll never know who the mastermind is.”
“It’s such a headache of a situation,” I sighed, “It seems like I’m really not cut out for this kind of brain cell-wasting thinking. You, Sandora, with all your cunning, could be a formidable Great Demon King.”
“So, eradicating all humans who are hostile toward you is the simplest and most effective method.” Pandora, who had been almost invisible from the beginning, suddenly spoke up, instantly drawing all attention to herself.
I lightly knocked on the little one’s head, “Little war madman!”
Sandora was even more exaggerated. The Battle Song Princess, currently in a state of war-weariness, placed her hands on her chest in a Savior’s pose and said with a saintly expression, “To stay away from war, only peace can save this chaotic world…”
No one knew who came up with the idea of installing parasitic machinery in people’s brains!
When we got home, it was already past one in the morning.
The flow of time in the projection space was relatively static compared to the real world. So, although we spent quite a bit of time there, not a single moment was wasted in the real world. To my sister, it seemed like we had only been gone for less than an hour—that was the time we spent meeting Alaya.
As soon as I stepped inside, I realized that all the lights in the house were on. Given my sister’s frugal nature, this was very rare. The only explanation was that today’s events had scared her so badly that she could only seek a bit of psychological comfort this way.
As soon as I spoke, I heard the sound of something colliding in my sister’s room. Her tear-streaked but beautiful face peeked out from behind the door. Upon seeing us, she looked visibly relieved and rushed over.
“Ah Jun!” My sister cupped my face, unable to hide her worry, “Are you alright? Did you get hurt? Three bad guys were looking for you earlier. I… are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I comforted her, patting her constantly trembling back. Even though she had taken care of me and borne the burden of the family, my strong-willed sister was still an ordinary girl. Encountering such terrifying events, her reaction was understandable.
“Ah Jun,” she suddenly lifted her head, looking at me with concern, “Did you get into trouble outside? Why did those three people say you offended someone you shouldn’t have? Are you hiding something from me?”
What was destined to happen always happened.
At this moment, the Supreme Leader of the Universe’s most powerful empire faced a difficult choice…
“I suggest you don’t tell her everything.” Sandora’s voice suddenly echoed in my mind.
“Knowing too much isn’t always a good thing. The secrets of the Empire aren’t a big deal for those capable of keeping them, but your sister is just a regular person. If she comes into contact with this, there will be a cost. If some people ever target the Empire, Chen Qian, possessing the Empire’s secrets without any ability to protect herself, would become their best target. No matter how many soldiers you deploy to guard her, it’s better to let her never come into contact with these dangerous things. Moreover, even if she’s your family, once she knows you’re no longer a normal human, can you guarantee your relationship will remain the same?”
Sandora’s words made sense. Though I was confident the Empire’s warriors could protect my sister in any situation, and though I believed my sister would still accept me after knowing my secret, it was better to keep her away from things that shouldn’t be part of her life. She should live a peaceful and happy life—at least for now, there’s no need to break that peace.
“Ah Jun,” seeing my silence, my sister asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you saying anything? Can’t you tell me?”
Sandora interrupted, “There’s no need to worry, just some insignificant small-time players. A certain gang leader had a slight misunderstanding with Chen Jun, but I took care of it. Those unlucky thugs are no problem at all—I believe the Chinese government will pay more attention to a Princess.”
“Is that so?” Feeling slightly reassured by Sandora’s guarantee, my sister still looked somewhat puzzled, “Ah Jun, how did you get mixed up with a gang?”
I shrugged and said, “Who knows? Gangs never need a reason to do anything. You know me, I am always honest and well-behaved.”
Seeing that my sister wanted to ask more, I hurried to change the subject before running out of explanations, “Oh, sis, we’re leaving on our trip the day after tomorrow. Are we all packed?”
My sister had one significant trait: she could only focus on one task at a time. The moment something else came up, she would forget the current task at hand. This surprisingly helpful personality trait saved me. She immediately forgot about the gang and the three thugs, and turned her excitement toward the upcoming trip.
She propped her chin up with one hand as if contemplating what else needed to be packed, saying, “I’ve almost got everything ready. Qianqian’s family is ready too. But you two have been so mysterious, not even telling us where we’re going. Now can you finally tell me, Ah Jun? Where exactly are you taking us?”
I chuckled, “Well… that’s a secret!”
In fact, even I didn’t know the destination of this trip.
After telling Lin Xue about our travel plans, she had patted her chest confidently, saying she would handle everything. But then vanished, refusing to reveal her plans for us. Every time we spoke on the phone, she would say, “Don’t worry, I promise you’ll get a huge surprise!”
To be honest, ever since handing this task over to this young lady, I’d been constantly uneasy.
My intuition proved to be spot-on.
“This is your idea of a so-called New Year’s Golden Week tour?!” I protested, facing the vast expanse of yellow sand and scattered huge stone blocks, looking angrily at Lin Xue.
“To be precise, it should be ‘A New Year’s Golden Week tour to commemorate our soon-to-end high school life and witness historical changes.'” Lin Xue replied with a straight face, not seeming to care about my fury at all.
Who came up with such a ridiculous name? Lin Xue, do you think you’re that funny? Or do you find it a great achievement to mess with two Xyrin Emperors and a Xyrin General at the same time?
Damn it, Lin Xue’s planned destination turned out to be in the desert!
Alright, I admitted that this desert, filled with mysterious exotic charm and traces of grand civilization, is indeed a nice tourist spot. If these ruins were ever discovered by those merchants whose brains are filled with sand, they would become a highly efficient moneymaking machine. But—
Bringing us to tour desert ruins built by ancient people during the New Year. What on earth was Lin Xue thinking?
Moreover, since our last journey to the Otherworld, Qianqian and his father had developed severe allergic reactions to desert ruins. Lin Xue, weren’t you deliberately trying to disrupt us?!
According to the original plan, Qianqian’s parents would join us. However, Uncle Xu couldn’t leave his work, and Aunt Lin decided to stay home with him, leaving only Qianqian to accompany us.
Oh, and a tag-along, Sandora.
To my surprise, my sister didn’t seem to mind this unexpected travel plan and was quite excited about it.
As she put it, such a rare opportunity to travel to an exotic location wasn’t something you encountered often. As long as we had fun, the destination didn’t matter.
Initially, she was amazed that I could arrange a trip to the Sahara Desert, but luckily, we had a Princess for cover. Once I credited the wealthy Princess Sandora with these arrangements, everything made sense.
For some reason, I had a feeling this desert trip planned by Lin Xue wouldn’t be so simple.