435: Chapter 432 A Second Encounter Abroad

After everyone packed their things, they met at the base entrance, got into the car, and headed straight for the airport.

When the plane took off, Ye Ouyang pressed his face against the window and watched outside for a long time until the city below became a blur of light. Wei Ziqing sat beside him, putting on headphones to rest with his eyes closed. Shen Mingyuan flipped through materials he had downloaded in advance on his phone. Lu Jianchuan sat by the window, staring blankly at the clouds outside.

They flew for an entire day.

Waking and sleeping in between, he ate two airplane meals, and Ye Ouyang's expectations for "foreign cuisine" dropped a few notches. He kept his headphones on; when the flight attendant came to serve the meal, he heard perfectly articulated Chinese. He said "Thank you," and she nodded and left.

"This thing really works," he muttered under his breath.

—

By the time they landed, it was already dark.

Outside the airport, someone was holding a sign to pick them up—a blonde, blue-eyed foreigner wearing the base's uniform, smiling warmly. He said something, and a standard Chinese voice came through the headphones: "Welcome, welcome. You've had a long journey. The car is outside; I'll take you to the station first."

The group followed him into the car and drove all the way to an inconspicuous building in the suburbs.

The base manager was already waiting at the entrance. A middle-aged man in his forties, he looked like a local, but when he opened his mouth, it was fluent Chinese—at least, that's how it sounded to them.

"The rooms are all ready. Put your things away and let me know if you need anything," he led them upstairs. "Rest today, and we'll talk in detail tomorrow."

The room wasn't large, but it was clean and tidy, with everything one would need. Ye Ouyang threw himself onto the bed, rolled around once, and took out his phone to check the group chat.

Lu Jianchuan: We've arrived. Sleep first today; we'll talk about tomorrow's matters tomorrow.

Shen Mingyuan: Agreed. The goal is to find Computer first, then look for Cynthia depending on the situation.

Wei Ziqing: OK.

Ye Ouyang yawned and typed: Going to sleep, see you tomorrow.

He tossed his phone onto the nightstand and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

A bit of city light from outside filtered in, blurry and dim.

The next day.

The four met at the base entrance, the sunlight a bit blinding. Ye Ouyang yawned and walked out rubbing his eyes, Wei Ziqing was stretching his wrists nearby, Shen Mingyuan looked down at his phone, and Lu Jianchuan stood at the front, scanning the surrounding streets.

"How do we find them?" Wei Ziqing asked. "This is a foreign city; we're strangers in a strange land."

Shen Mingyuan put away his phone.

"The intelligence from the base says that Computer is hard to find, but Cynthia hardly hides herself. We'll find her first."

Lu Jianchuan nodded.

"Then we'll go find her first."

—

The address provided by the intelligence was a small corner restaurant. The sign had a string of unintelligible letters, and several outdoor tables and chairs were set up by the entrance. Before the four of them even got close, they saw someone sitting by the window—long silver-white hair, head down, currently putting a piece of pizza into her mouth.

Wei Ziqing raised a hand in greeting.

"Cynthia!"

She looked up, glanced at them, then continued chewing. Only after swallowing did she raise her hand slightly.

"You're here? Sit."

They pulled out chairs and sat down. Ye Ouyang sat opposite her, looking at her curiously for a few moments before remembering something and reaching out his hand.

"I'm Ye Ouyang, a new member."

Cynthia glanced at him, shook his hand briefly, and then withdrew. She waved to a waiter, said a few words in the local language, and then pointed to the menu on the table.

"Order something, my treat."

While waiting for the food, Lu Jianchuan spoke first.

"How is it? Did you find your biological father?"

Cynthia leaned against the back of her chair, her fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

"I have some information," she said. "The The Fellowship said they sent the wrong info last time. He's not in the North Pole; he's in the South Pole."

Lu Jianchuan was taken aback.

"You're still in contact with the The Fellowship?"

Cynthia glanced at him, her expression unchanged.

"It doesn't really matter. It is what it is." She paused. "They want me to join, so I'm just acting as an undercover agent. There's no way I'd ever side with them. Why not use the intelligence if it's available?"

Wei Ziqing chimed in, "Why are they so desperate for you to join?"

"They say they want me to be some kind of god," Cynthia thought for a moment. "The Goddess of Spring? Anyway, it's related to my ability—summoning trees, controlling flowers and plants, that sort of thing. They probably think of me as one of their own now."

Shen Mingyuan smiled.

"Are they really that stupid?"

Cynthia didn't answer, simply shrugging.

Lu Jianchuan pulled a photograph from his pocket, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward her.

The photo showed a small boy in blue clothes, about seven or eight years old, looking straight into the camera with a somewhat vacant expression. The background was blurry, but a window could be seen with neon signs outside spelling out a few English letters.

"Have you seen him?" Lu Jianchuan asked.

Cynthia looked down, studied it carefully for a few seconds, and then shook her head.

"No. Never seen him." She pushed the photo back. "What's the matter?"

Lu Jianchuan took the photo back and tucked it into his pocket.

"It's nothing. Just an enemy we fought before who wasn't dealt with; he fled abroad. I wanted to confirm his location." He paused. "Some things have happened recently that might be related to him—some kind of conspiracy or plot."

Cynthia nodded.

"I see." She glanced at the people present. "By the way, you came abroad just because of him?"

"Partially," Lu Jianchuan said. "Another part was to find you. Since the incident happened abroad and we knew you were nearby, we figured we'd stop by."

He fell silent for a moment, suddenly remembering something.

"Right, if it's the South Pole..." He looked at Cynthia. "Do you remember that Giant mecha from before?"

Cynthia was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"I remember."

"As far as I know, there was one of those mechas in the North Pole and another in the South Pole," Lu Jianchuan said.

Cynthia didn't speak, but her expression changed slightly.

Shen Mingyuan chimed in from the side, "What mecha?"

Wei Ziqing glanced at him.

"Lawyer Shen, did you forget? Brother Lu told us about the mecha he encountered at the North Pole."

"Oh—" Shen Mingyuan suddenly realized. "That. Ah, I thought it was a toy mecha."

Cynthia ignored him, looking only at Lu Jianchuan.

"So there's another one in the South Pole," she said softly. "The same as the one in the North Pole?"

"Most likely."

Cynthia was silent for a few seconds, then turned to look at Ye Ouyang.

"And this is?"

Ye Ouyang immediately sat up straight: "I'm Ye Ouyang! A new member!"

Cynthia nodded and didn't ask further. She turned back to Lu Jianchuan.

"My next objective might take me to the South Pole."

Lu Jianchuan glanced at her, then at Shen Mingyuan.

Shen Mingyuan took over the conversation: "We need to find this first." He pointed to the photo in Lu Jianchuan's pocket. "Let's call him Xiao Hui; after all, he looks like my childhood playmate. We need to find him first and settle this matter."

Ye Ouyang scratched his head.

"Mainly, I'm worried about him using my Special cells," he said. "But I think it's unlikely; those cells die automatically after being outside the body for a certain amount of time. I don't think they can use that stuff to help with anything."

Wei Ziqing glanced at him.

"That's not the main issue," he said. "It's the research on that Dinosaur Person's corpse. We have to find him and figure out exactly what they're up to."