Chapter 1036: Chapter 1036

The early morning light streamed through the enormous glass windows, sprinkling on the clean and tidy airport hall.

A little girl in simple clothing held her mother’s hand, walking among the crowd and curiously scrutinizing the passersby coming and going.

The little girl looked up, gazing at the signs around the airport, and quietly asked.

"Yes, this is Mote City, the capital of the Yika Republic,"

The mother beside her smiled and glanced at the girl, "This is one of the largest cities in the Western Lands."

"We’ll go to the hotel first, sort out the accommodation, then go out and have fun."

The father, who was dragging the suitcase, glanced at the little girl and smiled too.

The little girl obediently nodded, then her gaze shifted towards the huge floor-to-ceiling glass in the distance.

Outside that glass, there was a span of continuous buildings.

She stood on her tiptoes, attempting to extend her field of view further, but it seemed to be of no use.

After shaking her head for a while, she looked up at her mother who was leading her, "Mom, I can’t see the sea here, the buildings are blocking it."

"Mote City is different from Newland; Mote City is an inland city,"

The mother glanced at her daughter and smiled, "There is no sea here."

The little girl blinked, "Is this all island then?"

"You can think of it as,"

The father beside her pondered for a moment, slowly saying, "Mote City is on a very, very big island. To travel from one end of the island to the other by car takes a very long time, and Mote City is located far from the coast of the island, so you can’t see the sea with the naked eye here."

The little girl nodded, somewhat understandingly.

But she didn’t dwell on it for too long and soon became excitedly looking around east and west, filled with curiosity about everything new.

The three of them quickly passed through the exit and headed outside, while a muscular young man with a huge black travel bag and pulling a suitcase was also making his way through the crowd toward the exit behind them.

At this moment, the exit area was already filled with various people there to pick up arrivals.

The young man’s gaze swept around and soon spotted a man in a black suit holding a sign with the three Central Earth characters ’Research Institute’ at the door.

He briskly walked up to the man in the black suit and tentatively asked, "Hello?"

The man in the black suit lowered his head to look at the young man and asked quickly.

The muscular young man nodded, then somewhat hesitantly asked, "Do I need to verify my identity?"

The man shook his head, "We’ve already seen your photo."

He turned around and said swiftly, "The car is parked in the multi-level parking lot; let’s head there now."

The young man quickly nodded and kept pace with the man in the black suit.

At this time, the man in the black suit also glanced at the huge travel bag on the young man’s back and the suitcase in his hand, and pointed to the area with luggage carts nearby, "There are luggage carts over there, do you need to grab one?"

The young man quickly waved his hand, smiling, "I am a combat type Transcendent, this much weight is nothing, and it can help me with my strength training."

"Okay, I’ll take the suitcase for you then."

The man in the black suit nodded, extended his hand, and took the suitcase from the young man, no longer speaking, and continued to lead the way.

"Excuse me, where are we going now?"

The young man asked in a low voice as they walked forward.

"First to the hotel. A room has been booked for you upstairs. You can also treat it as the staff dormitory since we’ve booked the entire hotel. Members who have been continuously arriving from Central Earth will be staying there,"

He glanced at the young man and continued, "Of course, if you want to rent a house by yourself, that’s fine too. The rent subsidy will be deposited into your account."

The young man nodded.

It seemed that he didn’t get the answer he was looking for and hesitated to speak further.

The man in the black suit glanced at him and asked casually, "Is there anything else you need to know?"

"Is this place currently managed by Minister He?"

The young man hesitated for a moment before asking slowly, "So, does this place now belong to the Research Institute, or to the World Tree?"

"Indeed, Minister He is currently in charge here,"

The man in the black suit was slightly taken aback, then explained slowly, "Minister He is now a special advisor to the World Tree, in charge of internal reforms. Our role is that of staff specially supporting from the Research Institute to assist Minister He’s work."

He pondered for a moment then continued slowly, "Our identity is still that of the Research Institute’s, but we are temporarily working at the World Tree."

"If you want to understand it that way, you can."

The man in the black suit couldn’t help but chuckle, "However, our status is not lower than the staff of the World Tree. In fact, because of Minister He, our power might even be greater."

Then he glanced at the young man with some confusion, "You came here without even clearing this up?"

"I just received a message that... they needed more people here and asked if I was willing to formally join the Research Institute to work here,"

The young man hesitated then spoke slowly, "Right after I agreed, I was put on a plane and sent over."

"You weren’t even an official researcher at the Research Institute before?"

The man in the black suit was slightly surprised. "You were sent here right after joining the Research Institute officially?"

The young man seemed a bit lost but still nodded, "I was a Special Appointed Researcher before."

"That’s why your file only has a code name and no real name,"

The man in the black suit shook his head and sighed, "I’m afraid they didn’t even have time to sync your detailed information to the Research Institute’s intranet before sending you here."

Then he looked at the young man in doubt again, "Speaking of which, you didn’t come with the main group on the same flight. Could it be that you are related to some big shot?"

The young man was slightly startled, then shook his head, "I don’t know any important figures here."

"Right, if you really knew a big shot, you wouldn’t still be a Special Appointed Researcher,"

The man in the black suit also shook his head, looking at the young man and gently patted his shoulder, "Young man, work hard. Minister He is clear about rewards and punishments. Although it’s a bit far from home and might be a bit more dangerous, there’s great potential here."

The young man nodded firmly, then he looked at the man in the black suit curiously and said, "Is that Minister He really as powerful as the legends say?"

"No, no, no, not the same,"

The man in the black suit smiled and waved his hand, "Minister He is much more powerful than the legends."

He thought for a moment and scratched his head, "How should I describe it? It is like, just by seeing him, you would feel like there is no problem in this world that he can’t solve, that kind of feeling."

The young man thoughtfully nodded.

"Are you also a fan of Minister He? Came here because of him?"

The man in the black suit turned his head, looked at the young man, and smiled, "Many who come here are fans of Minister He, but it’s mostly young girls."

The young man pondered for a moment, hesitantly saying, "I’ve also heard many legendary stories about Minister He, but I’m here because of another person..."

"Besides Minister He, is there anybody else here who could attract someone to travel thousands of kilometers from Central Earth to a foreign land?"

The man in the black suit looked at the young man doubtfully, "Could it be some young girl?"

The young man shook his head, "It’s someone who is, well, kind of my mentor, although he’s been unwilling to take me on. He’s also a Special Appointed Researcher, I don’t know if he’s been made an official yet, but the Research Institute said he was over here. They asked if I was willing to come, so I did."

"So you, kiddo, came all this way,"

The man in the black suit was slightly startled, "to seek knowledge?"

Then he patted the young man on the shoulder and smiled, "Ambitious! You’ll definitely achieve great things in the future!"

"My talent isn’t that great,"

The young man quickly gestured with his hands, "that gentleman didn’t want to take me. Strictly speaking, he just sort of casually took an interest and gave me some advice. My main reason for coming here is to see if there’s a chance I could follow him and be like a disciple in name."

The man in the black suit scratched his head, "it takes real courage for someone your age to travel this far for the pursuit of knowledge."

He smiled "Your ’mentor’ sounds like no ordinary person. There aren’t many from Central Earth around here. What’s his name? Maybe I know him?"

"I only know his alias, Mercenary."

The young man spoke softly.

The man in the black suit raised his eyes, thought carefully for a moment, and then shook his head, "Maybe if you get a chance to meet Minister He, you could ask him?"

"Is Minister He easy to meet?"

The young man was startled again, "Someone of his stature..."

"Minister He is very approachable,"

The man in the black suit shook his head smiling, "you’ll know when you meet him. When he’s not busy, he’s punctually clocking in and out every day. However, if he’s out handling matters, you won’t see him in the office."

The young man nodded lightly, then smiled, "The real Minister He seems a bit different from the one I’ve read about in those legendary stories. I imagined a young and famous genius like him would be somewhat temperamental."

"That just proves you don’t know enough about Minister He,"

The man in the black suit shook his head and sighed, "if he was like that, there wouldn’t be so many people willing to travel such distances to follow him."

The young man nodded.

"We’re approaching the parking lot, it’s not far now."

The man in the black suit looked ahead and quickly said.

The two figures slowly entered the parking lot.

Meanwhile, not far behind them, in the spacious hall, a man dressed in casual clothes sitting on a waiting bench raised his head, glanced at the backs of the two men, then picked up a thick stack of flyers from his hands and walked to another entrance of the hall.

He began to distribute flyers to passersby one by one.

"Mommy, look at that!"

Not far from this entrance, a little girl holding her mother’s hand looked up, spotted the man in casual clothes, exclaimed excitedly, and then quickly ran towards him.

"Okay, okay, my dear, slow down."

The mother, a bit bewildered by the girl’s actions, was pulled over to the entrance.

The man distributing flyers glanced at the little girl and handed a flyer to her, saying with a smile in the Yika language, "Listen to the great voice, take a look."

The little girl obviously didn’t understand what he was saying, but still reached out and took the flyer.

The mother smiled awkwardly at the man in casual clothes, then turned to look at her daughter.

At this time, the little girl had already held up the flyer, revealing the ’K’ character that nearly occupied half the page in front of her mother, "Mommy, there’s K here too."

Mother looked down, reading the text on the flyer.

It seemed to be specially prepared for the airport, written in Yika language, Tia language, and Central Earth language.

The text was simple, it described an upcoming ’seminar’, whose theme was listening to the great ’K’’s voice.

Then at the bottom of the flyer was a QR code, suggesting to scan with chat software to join a private group chat, notifying the specific time and place.

However, the little girl probably didn’t recognize that many characters; she probably came over after seeing the prominent ’K’.

"Um, seems like there are people here who worship ’K’."

Mother lowered her head, looking at her daughter, and smiled.

"Can we sell K’s grass-woven amulets here too?"

The little girl blinked.

At this moment, a casual-dressed man who seemed to have understood their language, pointed at the QR code and slowly said in broken Tia Empire language, "Can... scan... to exchange..."

"That guy over there, halt!"

Just as he spoke, a loud shout came from not too far away.

The casual-dressed man, shocked by the sound, without hesitation clutching the flyer, dashed through the exit and ran off into the distance.

Following immediately, a man in gendarme uniform rushed to the door and saw the mother and daughter standing at the entrance, holding the flyer, somewhat bewildered, and explained, "Distributing flyers is not allowed here."

Then, seeing the puzzled look in their eyes and their Tia Empire-like features, he realized these were two foreign tourists who could not understand him.

So he could only awkwardly smile at them, nodding, grabbed a rubber truncheon and charged out the entrance, pursuing in the direction the casual-dressed man had fled.

Seeing all this, the little girl blinked and looked at her mother, pulling out a few grass-woven amulets from her pocket, "Can we still sell our amulets here?"

The woman lowered her head to look at her daughter, gently squatted down, hugged her, and smiled, "It’s okay, we don’t need to sell amulets, we’re here for travel, travel is for fun, no need to sell things for money."

The little girl nodded her head.

She thought for a moment and placed one of the grass-woven amulets in her mother’s pocket, "K will bless us."

The woman smiled and nodded her head.

Mote City·World Tree headquarters building

Sunlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, gilding the solid wooden desk.

He Ao was looking down, gazing at the paper before him.

Countless twisting, entwining lines were spread out on the paper, staring at these lines alone would make one feel dizzy and faintly hear some whispers.

These lines were traced by He Ao from the very center of the Wheel of Stars.

In the field of view of the Eye of Truth, these lines showed a clear structure, seeming to be an Array to seal the power of ’Truth’.

However, the structure of the Array seemed incomplete, still missing some elements.

Still need to find a chance to look at it once more.

He Ao picked up the paper from the desk, casually lit it with a lighter, and placed it in the iron pan at the corner next to his chair.

This thing had no effect on him, but for others, it was a source of pollution.

With the paper completely burnt to ash, merging with the ashes in the pan, He Ao then lifted his gaze, casually took out a new blank sheet of paper from the drawer, and picked up the pen beside him.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door.

He Ao put down the pen and casually spoke.