Chapter 1573: Investigation

Two days later, the ship arrived at the shores of Arsedia, and the truck was finally unloaded onto solid ground. As expected, the luxury cruise liner did not undergo the same rigorous inspection imposed on ordinary vessels.

The security check was thorough, but swift. The authorities understood that wealthy passengers disliked delays, and any dissatisfaction could quickly escalate into formal complaints directed at cruise management or the local resort owners who relied heavily on elite tourism. No one wanted unnecessary trouble. As a result, the process was efficient and largely uneventful.

This particular cruise permitted guests to bring their personal vehicles aboard, for a substantial fee, of course. Once clearance was granted, the ship’s dedicated garage deck was opened, and the vehicles were carefully released.

Without wasting a second, Lory slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. The tires rolled forward smoothly, and soon they were leaving the glittering coastline of Arsedia behind.

It would take roughly four hours to reach the border, less if she pushed the speed.

So she did. 𝙛𝓇ⅇ

Her foot pressed harder against the gas pedal, the engine responding with a low, eager growl, and the car sped up. Palm trees blurred past the windows, their shadows stretching thin across the asphalt, then gradually, the scenery shifted.

The bright coastal hues faded into deeper earth tones as towering ironwood trees rose on either side of the road, their thick trunks ancient and unyielding. Dense brownish leaves crowded the branches, filtering the sunlight into fractured beams that flickered across the windshield like restless thoughts.

The farther they drove, the quieter the world became.

After an hour, Zhao Li Xin reached over and gently rested his hand on the steering wheel. "Let’s switch up," he said, calm but firm.

Lory tried to argue, but his stubbornness rivaled her own. In the end, she exhaled softly and relented.

Once he took over, the ride became steadier, smoother. The hum of the engine blended with the rhythmic passing of trees. It didn’t take long before Lory’s eyelids grew heavy. Guess she hadn’t realized how exhausted she was.

She had burned the midnight oil skimming through every report Jay had sent about the latest findings from the Bael attack a few days ago. Page after page, detail after detail, her mind had not rested once.

Now, with Zhao Li Xin taking over the wheel, she let herself lean back against the seat and stared at the long road stretching endlessly ahead.

Only then did she realize how much tension had unknowingly built inside her, tightening with every report she had read, every possibility she had considered. Slowly, that invisible weight began to seep out of her body.

The steady rhythm of the engine, the muted rush of wind outside, and the quiet, reassuring presence beside her made her eyelids grow heavy. At last, her body surrendered to the exhaustion she had been ignoring, then within minutes, she eventually fell to a deep sleep.

Zhao Li Xin glanced at the woman sleeping quietly beside him. His gaze softened. With one hand still steady on the wheel, he summoned a soft wool blanket from his spatial ring and gently draped it over her.

After making sure she was properly covered, a faint, satisfied smile touched his lips. Then he returned his full attention to the road. The highway stretched wide and smooth beneath the tires. Once, roads like this had looked alien to him, flat rivers of black stone cutting through cities of glass and light. Now, they felt almost familiar.

So did the towering buildings. The colorful traffic signals. The endless stream of strange little inventions this world seemed so proud of.

He still remembered the first time he saw a ’pet dryer.’ A machine dedicated solely to blowing warm air over a small animal so it would not remain damp after a bath. He had stared at it for a long time, and wonder: He stared at it for a long time, and wondered: Why worry about a wet animal? It’s an animal!

Then there was something called a ’manner spoon’. It was a fork that vibrated to remind its owner to chew slowly. As if one required instruction on how to eat.

Then came another strange device called the ’egg reminder,’ a device that alerts people when they’re running low on eggs.

When someone opens their fridge, don’t they notice it? Don’t they have eyes?

Whenever he encountered such gadgets, he found himself caught between confusion and reluctant amusement. This world was absurd in small, harmless ways. Entertaining, even.

For someone like him, who had lived a life steeped in calculation and bloodshed, that absurdity was... refreshing.

It was also peaceful.

Especially in Herriond, where laws granted equal rights and opportunities, whether they are rich or poor. If not for a few ambitious old pests stirring chaos from the shadows, this world was far more stable than the one he had left behind.

At first, he had worried about assimilating here, not for himself, but for Lory. With her background, scrutiny was inevitable. He had no intention of becoming a stain on her reputation.

Fortunately, adapting had not been difficult.

Who would have thought that the painting skills he once considered trivial would be so valued here? He had earned both wealth and acclaim without drawing a single blade.

Invitations arrived from foreign institutions asking him to teach. He declined them all, he lacked the patience for instruction, but the fact remained: he had secured a foothold in this world without staining his hands with blood.

That, in itself, was new.

Lory had once asked him if he was truly comfortable living under her shadow. Her name carried weight here. People revered her lineage. A man with no known background might easily be dismissed, or worse, mocked, as someone living off his wife’s prestige.

He had only laughed. After all, he had been called far worse in his previous life, and it sounds kind of cute. Zhao Li Xin saw nothing shameful in standing beneath her shadow, just as she had once stood beneath his without hesitation in another world.

They knew their own worth. They knew the strength they carried individually. More importantly, they knew how deeply they relied on one another. The road stretched on, quiet and steady. Zhao Li Xin drove forward, the once-strange world unfolding before him, that surprisingly not foreign anymore.

A few hours later, the car arrived at a lonely stretch of cracked asphalt.

Beyond the road stretched a vast, barren land, harsh and sun-bleached. The ground was a patchwork of dry earth and scattered stones, dotted with stubborn clusters of cactus and thorny shrubs that clung to life in the unforgiving soil.

Heat shimmered above the horizon, warping the distant outline of the Arwegian border wall, which rose from the wasteland like an endless steel scar cutting across the land. Zhao Li Xin parked the car along the side of the road.

Lory had woken from her brief sleep about an hour earlier. She stepped out of the vehicle beside him, and the hot wind immediately swept across her face, carrying the dry scent of dust and sunbaked earth.

She slipped on a leather jacket made from specially treated hide designed to block the desert heat. Her gaze swept across the barren land, sharp and alert.

Behind her, Zhao Li Xin activated a camouflage veil around the car. The air shimmered faintly for a moment before the vehicle faded into the surrounding landscape, as though it had never been there at all.

Once it was done, he pulled up the hood of his jacket to shade his head from the glaring sun.

"We’d better move carefully," Lory said as she gathered her hair and tied it into a high bun. "There should still be soldiers guarding the incident site."

Zhao Li Xin studied the terrain ahead.

In the distance, a rugged rock hill rose from the flat land like a jagged spine of stone.

"Is the location behind that hill?" he asked, pointing toward it.

Lory checked the map on her phone for a moment before nodding. "According to the map, yes."

Zhao Li Xin narrowed his eyes slightly, his senses stretching far beyond what normal people could perceive. "Then that’s the right place," he said calmly. "I can feel several presences there."

Lory slipped her phone back into her pocket. "Oh? Then we should hurry," she said, already starting forward. "It’ll be harder to investigate once night falls."

With that, the two of them left the road behind and headed toward the silent rock hills rising from the desert.

They moved quickly across the barren land, keeping low as they approached the rocky hill. The ground here rose unevenly, broken by jagged stones and patches of stubborn desert grass. The heat radiating from the rocks made the air ripple like water.

Lory led the way, stepping carefully between the loose stones while Zhao Li Xin followed a few paces behind, his senses constantly sweeping the surroundings.

The climb was not difficult, but they had to move carefully over the loose gravel, making sure not to dislodge stones that might alert some of the soldiers with a keen sense.

Then, after several minutes, they finally reached the crest of the hill. Lory slowly lowered herself behind a large boulder and peered over the edge. Below them, the land opened into a wide stretch of cleared ground, and beyond it stood the border fence.

A towering wall of reinforced steel mesh and thick metal pillars stretched endlessly across the desert, its surface lined with motion sensors, surveillance cameras, and coils of razor wire that glinted under the brutal sun.

But what caught their attention was the activity below. A group of soldiers had established a temporary perimeter near the fence. Military vehicles were parked in a loose formation, their dark shapes stark against the pale earth.

Several armed guards stood watch around the area, rifles slung across their chests as they scanned the surroundings with disciplined vigilance.

Meanwhile, a smaller group worked near the ground, not far from the wall.

They wore protective suits and gloves, moving carefully as they collected samples from the soil and broken debris scattered across the site. Metal containers and sealed evidence bags were laid out beside them, each item cataloged with precise efficiency.

Occasionally, one of them would kneel to scrape something from the ground or photograph a mark left behind during the chaos of the attack.

Lory’s brows knit slightly, "Looks like the investigation team is still here," she murmured.

Zhao Li Xin crouched beside her, his gaze sweeping calmly across the scene below. Then, he got curious, "What are they doing?" he asked quietly.

"Collecting samples of Bael’s remains. I heard from Luc that Bael’s blood can poison the soil and kill plants. I think they’re worried about how Bael will affect the environment in this area; moreover, no one knows how to purify the poison yet."

"Huh." Zhao Li Xin sounded unconcerned as his gaze drifted past the guards. "Good thing they’re busy."

"Thankfully, our investigation took a different direction," Lory murmured.

Lory’s gaze swept the area until something bright caught her eye: a red tape written ’restricted area’ surrounding a large hole in the ground. Even from this distance, she could see the giant hole in the ground; no wonder Bael had crawled out without any trouble.

Lory’s eyes widened, "Oh... there it is,"

Zhao Li Xin followed her line of sight. On the far side of the fenced perimeter, several soldiers stood guard around the opening, the jagged edges of the hole, and the disturbed earth surrounding it. The place looked like a wound torn open in the desert.

"According to Jay’s report," Lory then explained, "the Bael came out from that hole." Her eyes lingered on the scene, studying every detail.

Then she added quietly, "Let’s check it out."