Chapter 384

Chapter 384

An old man wearing a hat embroidered with patterns in golden thread was drinking tea.

The deep wrinkles carved across his face, and the white beard around his mouth and chin, said that he had survived no small number of storms.

The old man’s name was Xiao Lun.

After savoring the tea for a while, Xiao Lun set the teacup down with a displeased expression.

“Tch! It’s tasteless. Real tea isn’t like this.”

It was tea brewed from leaves grown in a plant factory.

To an ordinary person, even this would be something to be grateful for, but it fell far short of satisfying Xiao Lun’s expectations.

“I miss the tea of my homeland. Real tea grown in nature......”

Xiao Lun’s eyes grew distant.

Growing old was a sorrowful thing.

Because one grew more likely to reminisce about the past than think about the future. And the past recalled that way was always more beautified than reality.

Xiao Lun knew that too.

Even so, he reminisced about the past and longed for it.

Whenever he drank tea, memories of the old days came especially often.

Knock, knock!

“I have something to report.”

At that moment, someone’s voice came from outside the door.

“Come in.”

“Thank you.”

The young man who entered Xiao Lun’s residence with his head bowed was Chuwei, the man in charge of administration in the southern district.

Xiao Lun gestured to the seat across from him.

“Sit.”

“How could I?”

“Enough. Sit.”

“Thank you.”

Chuwei sat across from him with an apologetic expression.

“Shall I give you a cup of tea?”

“No. More importantly, I have important news.”

“Important news?”

“Yes! It’s intelligence that just came in.”

“Is that so?”

Xiao Lun’s eyes shone.

Because Chuwei’s voice was trembling with excitement.

Chuwei was a cold-headed man, cold enough to oversee the administration of the southern district. For him, someone who almost never revealed emotion over ordinary matters, to be this excited was extremely unusual.

Chuwei lowered his voice and said,

“An outsider has entered City Hall.”

“An outsider? What’s so important about that?”

“He isn’t an ordinary outsider. They say he’s a Pathfinder from another colony.”

“A Pathfinder?”

“Yes! They say he was dispatched from another colony to request aid. It supposedly took him a full year to reach Neo Seoul.”

“Where did he come from, for it to take a year?”

“Please don’t be surprised. They say he came from Sichuan.”

“Sichuan? Don’t tell me you mean that Sichuan in China?”

“Yes!”

“How can this be?”

Xiao Lun’s eyes shook.

He was not someone who revealed emotion outwardly, but this time, he could not control himself.

He had no choice.

Because Sichuan bordered his homeland, Tibet.

Though one had to cross the rugged Sichuan Mountains to reach it.

Xiao Lun’s grandfather had originally been from Sichuan, but because of government policy, he had gone to Tibet and settled there.

Because of that, to Xiao Lun, the people of Sichuan were no different from people of the same blood.

“Are you certain he came from Sichuan?”

“Several people heard it. They say he identified himself as Zhang Wuhang from Sichuan.”

“Heh heh! To think there was a colony in Sichuan too. Well, if it’s Sichuan, it makes sense that we wouldn’t know.”

It was not called the Sichuan Basin for nothing.

Surrounded by high mountain ranges and sunken in terrain, Sichuan had been called a naturally blessed fortress since ancient times. But it was also closed off to that degree, making access from outside difficult.

“What is the size of the colony? How many survivors did he say there were?”

“I apologize. We haven’t been able to find out that much yet.”

“Why?”

“City Hall is protecting him thoroughly, so approaching him isn’t easy.”

“Jin Geum-ho, that old man, is the problem.”

“We are attempting contact through several channels, so if you wait just a little......”

“There is no need.”

“Pardon?”

“I will meet Jin Geum-ho.”

Xiao Lun clenched his molars.

It had already been ten years since he had met Jin Geum-ho in person.

Because of pride.

But this time, he decided to abandon that pride.

That was how curious he was about news of his homeland.

If the man had survived in Sichuan, then he would know about Tibet as well.

“I’m curious. How many survived, and how many gathered there. If someone from one’s homeland is in difficulty, isn’t it only natural for those who share the same roots to help?”

“That is correct. I think the same.”

THUD—!

Chuwei answered while striking his head against the table.

Deep wrinkles formed around Xiao Lun’s mouth.

“Yes! In the end, the only ones one can truly trust are those who share the same roots.”

---

“Slurp!”

Remura was eating beef noodle soup with a blissful expression.

It was beef noodle soup Elder Kleksi had made with special care.

At the harmony of chewy noodles and spicy broth that she was tasting for the first time in her life, Remura could not come to her senses.

Briel looked after Remura.

“Eat slowly. It tastes even better if you eat this with it.”

“Thank you, unnie.”

“Goodness! Don’t get it around your mouth.”

“Hehe!”

When Briel wiped her lips with a napkin, Remura smiled cutely.

That sight was quite adorable, so Briel ended up smiling faintly.

Last night, Remura had pestered Zeon and come up to the surface with him.

She had never once experienced the outside world since she was born. Because of that, she wanted to see the outside when Zeon was there.

Zeon readily granted her request.

From the moment Remura entered Zeon’s house, she became glued to Briel.

Though she was a Grade A Healer, Remura was only eight years old.

She helped Jetoya firmly and efficiently, but she was still at an age where she wanted to rely on someone.

Perhaps because of that, Remura called Briel unnie and followed her especially closely.

Briel grumbled, yet took meticulous care of Remura.

Suddenly, Remura tightly hugged Briel’s arm and whispered,

“Unnie, thank you!”

“What’s gotten into you? Hurry and let go.”

Briel looked appalled and pushed Remura away, but the more she did, the more stubbornly Remura clung to her.

In the end, Briel sighed and gave up.

“Fine! Do whatever you want.”

“Hehe!”

A bright smile appeared on Remura’s freckled face.

Briel thought Remura was admirable.

No matter how wicked a woman she had been, she had still been Remura’s mother, yet Remura was enduring firmly even after losing her.

For a while after losing her mother, she had suffered from depression, but with Jetoya and the people around her helping, Remura had quickly regained stability.

While Remura and Briel bickered, Zeon quietly ate beef noodle soup beside them.

Elder Kleksi looked at Zeon and said,

“Where did you go this time?”

“You know. I went to the Ironclad Ant nest.”

“Not there. You slipped away in the middle.”

“Ah!”

“What do you mean, ah? Where did you go?”

“Just here and there.”

“Tch! You’re not going to tell me again. Damn brat!”

Elder Kleksi glared at Zeon.

Zeon smiled lightly and focused on the beef noodle soup again.

He did not know what secret method had been used, but the beef noodle soup Elder Kleksi made was truly delicious.

The fact that one could taste beef noodle soup in the current era was itself a blessing.

No other colony or survivor village could ever taste food like this.

It was a luxury that could only be enjoyed because this was Neo Seoul.

“Right, thank you for installing the air purifier in Jetoya’s village.”

“Why are you thanking me for that? I did it because I wanted to.”

“Just because.”

“Tch! You’re always sticking your nose everywhere....... Here! Eat another bowl.”

Elder Kleksi roughly set another bowl of beef noodle soup in front of Zeon. Yet the broth did not spill.

He had carefully controlled his strength in his own way.

“Thank you. One bowl wasn’t enough anyway.”

“Eat plenty and let your stomach burst.”

“That won’t happen. My stomach is pretty sturdy.”

“You never lose a single word. Tch!”

Elder Kleksi clicked his tongue and looked at Remura.

His expression when looking at Remura was completely different from when he looked at Zeon.

A bright smile hung on his face, as if he were looking at his own granddaughter.

“Should I give our Remura another bowl too?”

“Please. It’s so delicious.”

“Is it? Then I’ll make it especially tastier for you.”

“Yes! Thank you.”

“How can she speak so prettily?”

Elder Kleksi grinned and began boiling the noodles he had prepared in advance.

At that moment, someone sat beside Zeon and said,

“Please give me a bowl too.”

“Huh?”

At the sudden voice, Elder Kleksi looked beside Zeon in surprise.

The one sitting beside Zeon was Mandy.

Mandy said with an exhausted expression,

“You have some left, right?”

“What brings you here?”

“I came to see Lord Zeon. Please give me a bowl too. My stomach feels like it’s sticking to my back.”

“Fine! Got it.”

Elder Kleksi focused on cooking again.

“It looks like something important happened. You went out to the desert in a hurry.”

“You saw?”

“Yes!”

“We received an urgent protection request from the Mana Stone Mine. So I went and came back.”

“That must have been hard.”

“I have no choice if I want to make a living. Huh, who’s that little kid beside you? I haven’t seen her before.”

“Her name is Remura. She lives in the Crocodile Den.”

“Then could she be......?”

“That’s right.”

“Ah! I’ll have to watch what I say.”

Mandy realized that Remura was the rumored high-grade Healer.

That was because she had information she had heard thanks to being close with Zeon’s group.

Zeon said to Remura,

“Say hello. This is Lady Mandy. She’s the Supervisor of Neo Seoul, a capable person dispatched for important matters.”

“Hello. I’m Remura.”

“Nice to meet you! My name is Mandy Sistine.”

Mandy greeted her with a slight wave.

At that moment, Briel whispered to Remura,

“Be careful! Right now she’s Mandy, but when she gets angry, she becomes Eloy. Mandy is kind, but Eloy is a really nasty-tempered half-elf, so you need to be careful.”

“Huh?”

Remura’s expression broke for a moment.

Because she could not understand what Briel meant.

Briel patted Remura’s back and said,

“You’ll naturally find out later. For now, let’s focus on eating. The broth doesn’t taste good once it cools.”

“Mm!”

Remura soon nodded and slurped down the remaining broth.

Briel also turned her attention away from Mandy and focused on eating.

She knew Mandy had come because she had business with Zeon, so she deliberately acted uninterested.

Mandy knew that too, so she turned back to Zeon.

“Right, where did we leave off?”

“You said a protection request came from the Mana Stone Mine.”

“Ah, that’s right. They said an Awakened from another colony had come.”

“Could he be a Pathfinder?”

“Yes! His name is Zhang Wuhang. They say that on his side, they call him a scout.”

“Zhang Wuhang?”

“Yes! They say there is a huge city underground in old China’s Sichuan Province. According to him, it isn’t on Neo Seoul’s level, but it’s large enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.”

“You’re saying an underground city that large exists?”

“He boasted that because it had originally been a great nation, there were that many survivors too.”

“Is that so?”

Zeon wore an intrigued expression.