Chapter 1883: Mage’s Handbook for the Workplace (Part 2)

"Be careful on the road," said Harvey, the chief designer of the Gods of Four Pillars project. "I just used tarot cards for divination, and this journey of yours is fraught with unpredictable dangers."

"How am I supposed to be careful sitting on a plane... I didn’t learn how to fly a plane in Hawaii..." Ash retorted, saying, "I’m leaving then."

"Bye-bye!" Harvey: "I’ll make a tombstone for you in the game to commemorate our friendship!"

"I might go on a business trip to China," Igula said calmly. "By then, it’ll be your turn to host me."

Ash didn’t reply, just waved his hand to indicate he heard.

He chose the 10 p.m. flight not only to avoid a send-off but also because it’s a 12-hour journey. Considering the time zone change, he’d arrive back in China at 5 p.m., avoiding the awkward situation of landing late at night and not being able to find a taxi at the airport.

On the plane, he put on his earplugs and steam eye mask and directly entered sleep mode. But as the plane taxied and ascended, the strong thrusting force lifted Ash, and a late-coming melancholy suddenly engulfed him.

He was leaving this city, a city where he lived and worked for three years, a city full of memories, a city with them.

From now on, they will be separated by the ends of the earth, miles apart.

Even a plane needs 12 hours to cross this distance, which for ordinary people, means lives that will never intersect again.

But this is the reality he must accept. Everyone is an ordinary person, and there’s no miracle that can transcend life. If not for work, Ash would never have come to London, nor would he have met them, just like a jumble of threads entangling, but after entanglement, they inevitably part ways.

He has his life, and they have theirs.

Just as if he had a very long dream...

"...The plane will land at Baiyun Airport in 15 minutes, please all passengers..."

Ash lifted the steam eye mask, wiped away the tear marks at the corner of his eye, stretched his arms widely, and looked out the window at the mountains and cities on the ground.

He’s back.

And this time he won’t leave.

The plane taxied on the ground, Ash turned on his phone to disable flight mode, and messages from 10086 kept popping up, along with many WhatsApp messages. But Ash didn’t look closely, picked up his backpack, and left the cabin, heading to the arrival hall.

Since it was 5 p.m., there were still quite a few people inside the airport, and many passengers were waiting for luggage at the arrival hall. Ash found the baggage carousel for his flight, but it seemed to still be in transit, so he sat aside and called home.

"Hey, Mom, I’m back."

"Yeah, I’m not leaving."

"I didn’t get fired; I’m back for work."

"You’ve only said three lines, and you’re already urging me to get married. I finally remember why I didn’t come back from the UK for the last three years..."

At this moment, Ash caught sight of a commotion in the crowd at the corner of his eye. He glanced over and instantly understood—though he couldn’t see clearly, he could tell from their silhouettes that a group of beautiful women was approaching.

But as they got closer, his expression grew stranger and stranger. Eventually, he hung up the phone and stood there dumbstruck, watching as they surrounded him like a gang of villains.

"We’ve waited six hours for you!" Vishi complained. "My power bank is nearly dead! Why did you take the latest flight?"

"Let’s go out for dinner," Weiser handed Ash a bottle of water, "Which restaurant here is good, Ash? You must be familiar with them."

"Ash, where are we staying tonight?" Diya asked excitedly while sitting on a suitcase, "Are we staying at your place?"

"Can his place accommodate ten people?" Siflin expressed doubt.

"And he hasn’t been back for so long, the place must be full of dust. I don’t want to clean late at night," Hanna said. "Let’s stay in a hotel instead."

"If we clean together, it won’t take long," Tamasi added.

"I vote for staying at home!" Freyja raised her hand: "I don’t want us to be separated staying in a hotel!"

"Ash, your flight’s luggage has started coming out," Sonia reminded him.

"Why am I here?!" Felix looked bewildered.

"Why are you all here?!" Ash looked terrified.

Sonia said, "Simply put, because the headquarters wants you to open a branch office, so they transferred us to help you set up the company’s structure."

"Even if they’re transferring people, they wouldn’t transfer you foreigners! You guys don’t even speak Chinese!"

"I applied voluntarily," Sonia tilted her head, "Everyone did."

"By the way," Diya added, "we actually all speak Chinese. We can understand when you curse in Chinese."

"Not me, not me!" Felix immediately jumped in, "But for some reason, I’ve been transferred too!"

"Well, there’s no choice. Since we’re all here, headquarters would naturally assign you over as well, little Filly," Weiser said. "After all, you’re Ash’s most handy assistant."

"Ugh..."

"But why did you all apply to come over?" Ash couldn’t understand. "Not just Sonia, even if your positions don’t advance, your ranks will still improve. Staying in London would be very comfortable; there’s no need to apply to come help me."

"Ash," Hanna leaned down, gently smiling at him, "do you really want us to say the answer out loud here?"

"I originally just came with Freyja," Siflin suppressed a laugh, "but it seems way more interesting than I imagined."

"Your luggage," Tamasi pushed Ash’s suitcase over to him.

"Let’s go, we’re all hungry. Quickly take us out to eat. We don’t have a place to stay, so you’ll have to provide food, lodging, and entertainment for the time being."

Sonia pulled Ash up, her expression buoyant with pride yet tinged with shyness.

"Reality indeed doesn’t have so many miracles; we’re just ordinary people," she said softly. "But we can overcome difficulties; we can... ’create miracles’.

"9,500 kilometers, 12 hours, let’s give it a try."

Ash looked at the resolve in the red-haired girl’s eyes and suddenly chuckled, his shoulders shaking as he laughed louder and louder. Sonia’s face flushed as she indignantly asked, "What are you laughing at!? Is what I said that funny!?"

Ash took a deep breath to quell his laughter, reached out, held her hand tightly, and gently said:

"I’ve already held a miracle in my hand."

Diya rushed over to separate the two, pouting, "That’s unfair!"

"Yes, unfair!" Freyja quickly aligned with Diya, "We all came together; I want in too!"

Ash smiled and changed the subject: "My place doesn’t actually have much dust. Even when I was abroad, I regularly had an auntie clean it. Ten people squeezing in shouldn’t be much of a problem, as it’s a large flat. How about staying at my place for tonight?"

"Okay, we’ll stay at Ash’s place tonight!"

"How about staying at my place from now on?"

"Okay... Ah, Σ(っ°Д°;)っ?!"