Chapter 46 Brief Encounter

Chapter 46 Brief Meeting

The Cold Moon Divine Hound was sprinting happily on all fours when it suddenly encountered a lethal array materializing ahead. Tucking its tail, it slammed on the brakes right on the spot and immediately turned its head, wanting to flee.

Even though it had been domesticated, its notoriously cowardly nature remained completely unchanged.

Fortunately, at that moment, Liu Qingzhi patted the dog's head, causing it to stop in its tracks. Otherwise, if this silly dog had really turned tail and run back, who knew what kind of misunderstandings the camp personnel might generate.

"I am Liu Qingzhi from the Student Union of Sea City University. I am here to report on an urgent matter."

Liu Qingzhi spoke, her voice wrapped in spiritual energy and carried far into the distance to ensure the other party could hear it.

"The daughter of the Liu family?"

An astonished voice came from the direction of the camp. Immediately afterward, a tall and straight-figured middle-aged man flew out from the lethal array using aerial traversal, arriving close by in the blink of an eye.

This person clearly recognized Liu Qingzhi. As soon as he landed, he said cheerfully,

"My child, I wonder if you still remember me? I held you in my arms when you were little. It has been over a dozen years, and I never expected you to have grown up so much."

Upon hearing this, Liu Qingzhi showed a rare flush on her cheeks. Glancing sideways at Qin Zhe, she flatly asked,

"Sorry, who are you?"

The newcomer was enthusiastic and wanted to say something more, but he was instantly choked up by this question, falling into an indescribable awkwardness.

However, this man was someone who knew how to read the atmosphere. Seeing that there was a bystander like Qin Zhe on the back of the Cold Moon Divine Hound, he immediately revealed a look of sudden understanding.

"Forget it, forget it. If you don't remember, you don't remember. Come into the camp with me first. It's freezing cold outside, and it's not convenient to talk here."

After saying that, he turned back and made a gesture, and the lethal array enveloping the camp not far away slowly dissipated.

...

Before long, the group entered the camp.

At this moment, quite a few people in the camp were busy in full swing, and they did not stop because of the arrival of Qin Zhe and Liu Qingzhi.

In several nearby tents, Qin Zhe saw many unfamiliar modernized instruments, and he even saw several ultra-large assembled computers.

Liu Qingzhi's previous speculation was correct; these things belonged to the Academy of Sciences.

The responsibility of the Extraordinary Disaster Bureau was to investigate cataclysms of the heaven-and-earth turmoil level. They would have equipment and instruments, but it was impossible for them to be so comprehensive.

Seeing someone looking around with great curiosity, Liu Qingzhi spoke softly.

"Don't look around everywhere. It's very impolite and easily causes misunderstandings. Don't forget this is a military-controlled zone."

"Ahem, sorry. It's my first time coming to a place like this, and I haven't seen many of these things."

Qin Zhe coughed and withdrew his gaze.

The middle-aged man led the two back into the camp, and along the way, he glanced at Qin Zhe from time to time.

He had held a young Liu Qingzhi in his arms, so his relationship with the Liu family was naturally extraordinary.

Liu Qingzhi had suddenly come over, and she even brought a man to share a ride with her; how could he not care?

Seeing Liu Qingzhi's reprimand, and watching someone immediately lower his head to admit his mistake like a henpecked husband, the middle-aged man felt he understood their relationship.

That old brat Liu An has hidden himself deep enough!

He even has a prospective son-in-law, yet he didn't mention it to his old buddy. Did he not plan to invite him to the wedding banquet?

Thinking thus, the middle-aged man said in the tone of an elder,

"It's fine, it's fine. We're all family here. Young man, feel free to look around; there's nothing unspeakable in the camp. If you're willing, I'll take you around for a tour later."

Although Qin Zhe was single in his original world, he had actually not only had a girlfriend but had also met her parents.

Therefore, as soon as he heard it, he detected that the middle-aged man's tone was off.

Not daring to casually respond, Qin Zhe wore a peculiar expression.

Liu Qingzhi did not catch the implication in the middle-aged man's tone and introduced him, saying,

"This is Jian Xinli, the leader of the First Squad of the Extraordinary Disaster Bureau. He is a good friend of my father, and in terms of seniority, he is my uncle."

"Tsk, you girl finally stopped pretending you don't recognize me now?"

Jian Xinli clicked his tongue as he spoke, giving someone a look that said "I'm rooting for you," and said,

"Come with me to my squad's tent. Just leave the spiritual beast here; someone will take care of it."

"Mm."

Liu Qingzhi acknowledged and was the first to jump down from the Cold Moon Divine Hound.

Qin Zhe jumped down as well, walking parallel to her while maintaining a certain distance.

Clearly, Jian Xinli had a misunderstanding about their relationship. The department head hadn't picked up on it, and since he couldn't explain it out loud, he could only be cautious to prevent the misunderstanding from deepening further.

...

All the way without words, led by Jian Xinli, Qin Zhe and Liu Qingzhi soon arrived at a large tent.

Upon reaching the place, Jian Xinli dispensed with polite pleasantries, sat down with bold and unconstrained posture, and said,

"Liu family girl, speak! Why have you come here suddenly?"

"Mm, it's like this."

Liu Qingzhi began, briefly recounting the inception and development of the incident.

"Has the news leaked out already?"

Jian Xinli frowned heavily upon hearing this, cursing as he said,

"That old fellow Wang Chongguo is simply too careless! It was obvious there was something wrong with the sudden visit of the Eagle Nation folks. If he had been cautiously on guard, how could they have taken advantage of the opportunity so easily?"

"This matter cannot be blamed on the president. There is a traitor within the academy, and the news had already been spread out long ago."

Liu Qingzhi shook her head and said,

"If the news had only spread to the Eagle Nation, the situation would still be controllable. What I fear is that it might spread on a large scale."

"There's no need to worry about that. The Eagle Nation's intervention is at most an attempt to get a slice of the pie. Completely offending the Dragon Kingdom does them no good, so they won't go that far."

Jian Xinli waved his hand, pondered for a moment, and said,

"How about this? I will immediately have someone notify the Extraordinary Disaster Bureau members investigating outside to watch out for the whereabouts of the Eagle Nation people and report back at any time. If there are any results, I will use a flying sword transmission to inform you."

After saying that, Jian Xinli added,

"Liu family girl, I cannot help you too much in this matter. Currently, it's not just our people from the Extraordinary Disaster Bureau in the mystic realm. The combat capability of the people from the Academy of Sciences as a whole is not strong, so I need to avoid conflicts to prevent the other side from being driven to desperation."

"Understood."

Liu Qingzhi nodded in agreement and said,

"Problems caused by the academy will be handled by ourselves."

"Alright, I'll pass the news out."

Jian Xinli said, standing up.

"Then we should be leaving too. We currently aren't sure if the Eagle Nation people have reached the scorched earth territory yet, so we must go deep into the scorched earth to investigate and try our best to find them sooner."

Liu Qingzhi stood up accordingly, having no intention of lingering in the camp.

During the brief conversation, Qin Zhe had stayed aside purely as an outsider, happily enjoying the ease.

Hearing suddenly that Liu Qingzhi was leaving, Qin Zhe was stunned, looking at her with words hanging on his lips.

This was completely different from what was agreed upon beforehand!

Wasn't it supposed to be waiting until the personnel arranged by the Student Union arrived before taking action?

A decision made by Liu Qingzhi naturally would not change because of a single look from Qin Zhe.

And so, after staying in the tent for only ten-odd minutes, Qin Zhe was once again riding the Cold Moon Divine Hound with her.

Leaving the camp, the two soon stepped foot into the scorched earth.

Consequently, affected by the environment, the running speed of the Cold Moon Divine Hound slowed down considerably.

After advancing a distance into the scorched earth, Liu Qingzhi had the Cold Moon Divine Hound stop, turned around, and said,

"Qin Zhe, we will part ways here. I'll have Erbao follow you so your progress isn't too slow. Take good care of it for me."