191: orphanage

"Haha, how was it? My acting just now wasn't bad, right?" Xiao Sheng asked Su Ze and Holy Sun as he wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes.

The two of them nodded and silently gave him a thumbs-up.

"Impressive. With your acting skills, it's a real shame you're not out there winning Best Actor awards in movies."

Xiao Sheng shrugged and replied, "It couldn't be helped. That old man John is far too cautious. If he didn't think we had suffered a huge loss, he wouldn't have believed us."

Su Ze remarked, "But I noticed him frequently looking toward the Black-Robed Man for advice. It seems he isn't the true decision-maker."

Xiao Sheng's smug expression faded as he said, "Exactly. But I've never seen that Black-Robed Man speak or take action, so his exact strength remains unknown."

Holy Sun said, "What's so hard about that? Just let me have a fight with him and we'll find out."

Xiao Sheng rubbed his forehead helplessly. "It's not that simple... besides, we are nominal allies now, so we can't just start fighting each other whenever we want."

Afterward, they discussed their impressions of the individuals who had just appeared.

The greatest threat was naturally the mysterious Black-Robed Man, followed by Old John, who wielded mjolnir.

Following them, the strength of Kievan Rus's Ice and Snow Princess Yeka and the Bear Ripper Andrei was also not to be underestimated.

Moreover, judging by their mutual attitude, Andrei seemed to take orders from Yeka, which further elevated Yeka's standing in the eyes of the three.

However, as Great Xia's fickle allies, there was no need to be overly wary of them before the greatest threat, America, was eliminated.

After them was the Knight King, who possessed the divine artifact, the sword in the stone.

Although she also wielded a divine artifact, the reason she was ranked lower was not due to a difference in strength.

It was because of her temperament.

Just as Xiao Sheng had evaluated her during his performance, she possessed all the noble virtues of a knight while retaining an innocence that matched her appearance.

Among so many people, she was likely the only one who truly believed that the alliance led by America was formed solely to protect the world's safety.

That was why she had handed over a part of her divine artifact, the scabbard of the sword in the stone.

It was precisely this innocence that made her seem non-threatening to everyone, except for her arch-rival, the Sun King.

As for William and the Sun King, their threat level in everyone's minds was ranked last, purely due to the issue of strength.

However, Xiao Sheng still reminded them, "What we see now is only the surface strength shown by each country. As for how much they are hiding, we have no idea at all."

Just as Great Xia had hidden Su Ze, who possessed God-level combat power, the other countries had also hidden their strength to some degree.

Before understanding their hidden strengths, underestimating any country could come at a price.

"Alright, now we just wait for them to help us hatch the egg."

The three looked at each other and simultaneously revealed mischievous grins.

Afterward, Su Ze and Holy Sun left, as neither was good at handling matters outside of combat, while Xiao Sheng stayed behind to help manage the affairs of the Great Xia Spirit Guards.

Facing the current crisis, his status as a mere honorary legion commander had been elevated above the five headquarters legion commanders due to his strength, and he was now swamped with the overall management of all affairs.

Thus, acting to deceive the group from America today was like a relaxing game for him.

Su Ze didn't leave immediately either; instead, he followed behind Holy Sun, wanting to meet his fellow countryman.

"Perfect, Yi Yi said she wanted to meet you too, to chat about things from home. A lot of what she tells me, I don't understand," Holy Sun said, scratching his head.

But then he realized this wouldn't do; if Jiang Yiyi was always seeking out Su Ze for heart-to-heart talks, it would leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

So he asked Su Ze to teach him some knowledge about Earth whenever he had time, and Su Ze readily agreed.

Soon, the two arrived at the place where Jiang Yiyi was.

Since they no longer needed to rely on exuberant vitality to sustain Jiang Yiyi's life, she was no longer in a lush rainforest but right in the center of the city.

However, what surprised Su Ze was that the place Holy Sun took him to wasn't a luxurious residence, but a newly built orphanage.

"What are you doing standing at the door? Come in," Holy Sun beckoned from ahead, and Su Ze followed.

Sure enough, as soon as they entered, they saw Jiang Yiyi playing a game of Eagle Catches the Chicks with a group of children, not even noticing Holy Sun and Su Ze's arrival.

Watching the scene before him, Holy Sun seemed to fall into a memory as he said, "Those children are orphans the Jiang Family used to adopt. However, the reason they became orphans was also thanks to the Jiang Family."

"Even I was once an orphan adopted by the Jiang Family."

"Perhaps the Jiang Family Ancestor really was a good person once, and adopting orphans was out of kindness. Back then, he would often bring his daughter, Yi Yi, to the orphanage to visit us and bring us food."

"That was when I first met Yi Yi. The first time she saw me, she said I looked like a monkey."

"I thought she was insulting me and got very angry, but then she told me the story of the great sage equal to heaven, telling me that even a monkey could be extraordinary..."

"Later, I grew up, left the orphanage, and became a Beast Tamer."

"The Jiang Family would recruit the orphans they raised to work for them. That's how I became a guard for the Jiang Family, protecting Yi Yi's safety."

"You know what happened after that. The Jiang Family Ancestor was parasitized by the demonic mistletoe and used the flesh and blood of the adopted children to prolong his life, which was eventually discovered by Yi Yi..."

At this point, he clenched his fists. The culprit who had caused Jiang Yiyi to sleep for a hundred years and used it as an excuse to drive him for a century had not yet been eliminated; it was still parasitizing the trunk of the wutong tree to increase its strength.

"When it shows its face next time, I will definitely destroy it. I won't even leave ashes behind, let's see how it parasitizes then!"

Su Ze asked, "Then what's the deal with these children?"

Snapping out of his hatred, Holy Sun said, "After I destroyed the Jiang Family, no one looked after the children in the orphanages anymore."

"Although the state took over most of them, a few still ran away and ended up on the streets."

"Yi Yi found them all and cared for them diligently. She said she might be the last direct descendant of the Jiang Family and wanted to atone for her family by taking care of these children."

Su Ze nodded and asked casually, "I see that Sister Yiyi really likes children. Have you two considered having one of your own? Hanba did say that Divine Beasts and humans can procreate."

Hearing this, Holy Sun's face turned a rare shade of red, and he stammered, "That may be true... but you know, she's a Divine Beast now, and I'm still just a normal human. In terms of constitution... there's quite a gap..."

Su Ze was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then he nearly burst out laughing.

He could only lower his head, stifling his laughter while patting Holy Sun's shoulder in consolation.

After all that, it turned out he just wasn't up to the task!