Chapter 155 - 154 Strategic Meeting, Urgent Call for Help

Li Jing and Su Qiong had a successful journey home.

About two hours later, they returned to the surface ruins.

Upon their return, Li Jing flew down to the surface with Su Qiong using his Sword Controlling ability, waved his hand, and released two Thrones - one big and one small.

"Boom, Boom."

The sudden fall of the two large Thrones immediately caught the attention of the camp personnel from the Management Bureau and startled numerous others from their tents.

Ignoring those around him, Li Jing turned his head.

"Su Qiong, I’ll leave this to you."

?

Su Qiong looked slightly startled but quickly recovered.

"Where are you going?"

"I’ll check the west side. Contact me via communicator if you need anything."

After that sentence, Li Jing swiftly flew towards the underground without looking back.

Seeing that he just rapidly left after bringing her back, Su Qiong felt bewildered.

On their way back, Li Jing had explained his suspicion to her in detail.

It was clear that he was going to confirm whether there were other Thrones in the underground cavern.

Having a suspicion, it is natural to confirm it.

But is it really so urgent?

It took him a full two hours of maximum speed flight to return to the surface. He left immediately without even catching his breath. Even in the Four Realm, their Spiritual Qi is limited, isn’t it?

Moreover, there are thousands of people from the Management Bureau who are exploring underground. By alerting them, someone would naturally target the Thrones.

Frankly, Su Qiong was a bit puzzled by Li Jing’s behavior.

What’s more, she really didn’t know what he was after.

Money?

Unlikely.

Merit?

Even less likely.

He’s not even part of the Management Bureau to begin with, so he can’t exchange for Merits.

So...

Why was Li Jing pushing so hard?

Just as she was pondering, two Management Bureau officials, a man and a woman, wearing special badges arrived by air.

The nearby personnel of the Management Bureau all showed respect towards the two arrivals.

Upon seeing them, Su Qiong’s expression slightly changed.

The two arrivals were the chief and deputy directors of the Jianghai Management Bureau.

The woman was the chief, her name was Jiang Yini, a powerful individual in the Fifth Boundary.

The man was the deputy, his name was Wang Chong, also a strong individual in the Fifth Boundary.

The two were responsible for the exploration of the 107th Small Secret Realm.

The Secret Realm is located along the coast of North City in Jianghai, and it is entirely managed by the Jianghai Management Bureau, there’s nothing else to say.

But Su Qiong did not expect to meet these two in the Secret Realm.

Normally, the Fifth Boundary personnel of the Management Bureau command from afar and do not easily enter the Secret Realm.

The Secret Realm could disappear at any moment. If something went wrong, no one can confidently bear the loss of the Fifth Boundary.

A Fifth Boundary person is not a common cabbage you can find anywhere.

Whenever a Fifth Boundary individual is lost, it’s not only the local Management Bureau that will be affected, but it would also impact Hua Country’s strategic planning.

As mentioned above, Jiang Yini and Wang Chong originally did not plan to enter the Secret Realm.

Seeing them now, Su Qiong was quite surprised.

Had Jianghai gone crazy?

The chief and deputy directors all came in.

Weren’t they afraid that the Secret Realm would become unstable?

Upon seeing the two arrive in front of her, Su Qiong respectfully bowed.

"Xiang City Management Bureau’s Su Qiong, greets the two directors."

"We’re all on the same team, there’s no need for formalities."

Wang Chong smiled.

Jiang Yini, on the other hand, looked at the two Thrones curiously and asked.

"Captain Su, these two Thrones you brought back are...?"

When facing the two directors, Su Qiong naturally did not muddle things up. She recounted everything about their discovery of the Thrones with Li Jing and also shared his suspicions.

After listening to Su Qiong’s account, Jiang Yini and Wang Chong exchanged glances and the former spoke seriously.

"Wang Chong, take these Thrones to the Research Institute and let them put their research on the ruins on hold. Prioritize studying these Thrones carefully. Also, issue an order to increase the camp’s alert level in case the Saint clan attacks."

"Understood."

Wang Chong nodded. He then turned to Su Qiong and said,

"Captain Su, I will take custody of the Thrones for the time being. Don’t worry, the credit belongs to you and the other outsider. We, the Jianghai City Management Bureau, will not swallow it due to any reason. Once this is over, I will return the Thrones to you, so you can bring them back to Xiang City for Merit Points exchange."

"Sure. Director Wang, you take it. I’m here on behalf of Xiang City Management Bureau to cooperate with Jianghai Management Bureau."

Su Qiong smiled.

If it was someone else, she might not be at ease.

But with these two directors, she was completely at ease.

At the very least, they have reputations and faces to uphold.

The Thrones were hot potatoes and Li Jing was not around. She was not comfortable keeping them with her.

Wang Chong was a very considerate person.

Only after getting Su Qiong’s consent did he take up the Thrones.

Just as he was about to leave by air, Su Qiong suddenly spoke up.

"Wait a moment, Director Wang."

?

Wang Chong paused in surprise and turned to look at her.

"I have a body of a member of the Saint clan here."

Su Qiong said while retrieving the body of the Saint clan member from her storage space.

Upon seeing the bisected body of the Saint clan member, not only Wang Chong and Jiang Yini, but all the surrounding Management Bureau staff also turned pale.

The unknown intelligent civilization of the Secret Realm has still not revealed its face.

The Management Bureau had suffered quite a bit at their hands.

No one would’ve expected Su Qiong to bring back two extremely special Thrones along with a complete body that could reveal the true face of the unknown intelligent civilization!

Jiang Yini stepped forward a couple of steps and studied the Saint clan’s body on the ground for a moment before slapping Su Qiong’s shoulder in excitement.

"Captain Su! This is a great merit on your part! I will report this to the head of Xiang City Management Bureau when we return. I’ll make sure they directly reward you as you deserve! Wait till we get out, I’ll assure the Xiang City side won’t reduce your Merit Points!"

Su Qiong’s face lit up at her words.

Jiang Yini was not that old, just over thirty.

However, in the Management Bureau system, she was a legendary figure.

She had entered the Fifth Boundary at the age of thirty. There was no one else in the Hua Country Administration Bureau who could match her talent.

Moreover, underneath Jiang Yini’s influence was a powerful force.

Her words, carried a lot of weight.

After the initial excitement, Su Qiong regained composure.

The Saint clan member wasn’t slain by her.

All the speculations were proposed by someone else.

She couldn’t possibly covet this merit.

Talking about rewards, the Xiang City Management Bureau wouldn’t leave her short-changed upon her return.

You could even go so far as to call Li Jing her lucky star.

On her previous trip to the Secret Realm, she leaped several levels due to Li Jing’s influence, not to mention a large amount of Merit Points.

The bounty she received in just two days was more than enough to exchange for Merits and various promotions upon her return to Xiang City.

It wasn’t necessary to have Jiang Yini interfere and insist on contacting the bureau chief on her behalf.

This would attract too much attention.

Just like Li Jing doesn’t want to receive too much attention, Su Qiong, a monster disguised among the Management Bureau, felt the same.

Moreover, talking about integrity, Su Qiong, as a monster, was more upright than a human.

What’s hers is hers.

What’s not hers, shouldn’t be coveted.

Life as a monster is difficult.

Being too greedy can lead to the death of a monster.

After a slight cough, Su Qiong said,

"Director Jiang, please don’t misunderstand. This member of the Saint clan was not slain by me, but by the outsider who accompanied me. Also, the pair of Thrones were also discovered and extracted by him after he noticed something unusual."

Saying that, she let out a dry chuckle.

"The hypothesis and conjecture I just proposed are actually the ideas of that one."

Upon hearing Captain Su’s account, Jiang Yini paused for a moment, intrigued.

"Interesting. An auxiliary staff member can actually be so capable. Can you introduce him to me, Captain Su?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Chong at her side also showed interest, teasingly saying.

"Such a young and talented individual. It’s definitely worth getting to know. You might as well call him over, Captain Su. Don’t worry, our Director doesn’t bite."

"Well..."

Captain Su hesitated.

She really had no other choice than to "betray" Li Jing.

Being "targeted" by a person of such high ranking as the Bureau Director, what could she do?

Now that both Jiang Yini and Wang Chong were interested, she was feeling a bit awkward.

With them being the main and deputy directors, she couldn’t refuse.

What if...

She sold him out a bit more?

After hesitating again and again, Captain Su said.

"My friend just accompanied me back and he went underground again, I don’t know where he is now. How about this, when he is back, I will introduce him to you two?"

Wang Chong furrowed his brow at these words and said, baffled.

"Your friend... went back underground again?"

Jiang Yini, on the other hand, blinked and nodded.

"Fine. Introduce him to me when he comes back."

With that, she turned to Wang Chong.

"Enough idle chat, Wang Chong, take the corpses and let the Research Institute hurry up with the analysis. I will call for a strategy meeting, you stay with the Institute."

Strategy meeting?

Captain Su was stunned for a moment, sensing that something was not right.

On the other hand, Wang Chong responded by saying, "Understood," before using Sky Control to remove the corpses and leave.

Watching Wang Chong leave, Captain Su turned her head in confusion.

Meeting her bewildered gaze, Jiang Yini smiled and began to speak.

"Captain Su, since you’re already back on surface, you can join the strategy meeting later."

As she spoke, Jiang Yini let out a chilling chuckle and communicated to her through a voice transmission.

"Wang Chong and I are here for one reason only, that is for the hypothesis you brought up the night before. Unknown Wisdom Civilizations lurking deep underground, It’s extremely difficult just to investigate the situation, not to mention hurting them. The Secret Realm Passage will only remain open for seven days, after which we will have no choice but to evacuate. If we don’t solve the problem, the enemy will surely strike again. Because of your guess that night, the Jianghai Management Bureau has decided to blow up key structures within the underground caverns before we leave, allowing the Death Gas to permeate below the surface."

Upon hearing this, Captain Su took a sharp breath.

Blow up key parts of the underground caves before leaving, allowing death gas to penetrate the underground.

Jiang Yini is...

So ruthless!

If the Unknown Intelligence Civilization really fears the Death Gas, as Li Jing speculated,

This explosion would surely wipe them out completely!

This operation was slightly brutal.

However, the actual implementation would be extremely difficult.

The underground caverns were not only winding and labyrinthine, but also unimaginably huge.

The entire secret realm beneath the surface might just be hollow caverns.

Not to mention the underground, even the Space Management Bureau above the surface had not been fully explored.

It might take a lot of effort to study this.

...

Deep within the underground caverns.

Li Jing, who was unaware that he had been "betrayed", was rushing westward on his flying sword.

According to his previous speculation, the two branches of the Unknown Intelligence Civilization located in the east and north were the strongest.

On the west side, it was slightly weaker.

If he wanted to provoke them, he would choose the weaker side.

But before that, he needed to confirm if the Unknown Intelligence Civilization was truly divided.

It was simple to confirm.

Find the throne belonging to the western branch!

And he found it!

That would mean a definite existence of clan division.

No.

Then there’s not much to say.

Considering the management bureau would soon order the exploration of the Throne after sending Su Qing back to the ground, Li Jing’s Heavenly Sword Art works to the full, with no time to pause.

If there truly is a Throne, he must find it before the management bureau, only then will he have room to maneuver.

Time, isn’t exactly abundant.

The bureau’s personnel were quite cautious in exploring the Secret Realm, their progress typically slow.

But no matter how slow they were, the first group participating in the exploration was already in a position to find the "Greenhouse".

Assuming that there is also a Throne in the west, the location of the Throne should not be too far from the ’Greenhouse’, it could be found by bureau personnel at any time.

Traveling at high speed on the Flying Sword, Li Jing went deep into the west for about an hour and a half, and hit the first ’Greenhouse.’

He suspended the Sword Control, Li Jing used his Heavenly Eye to scan around, confirming that three large trees in the ’Greenhouse’ had been destroyed.

Inwardly feeling a pang, Li Jing continued to move deeper guiding the sword.

...

In a blink, another half hour passed.

Following the direction of the west, Li Jing came across four ’Greenhouses’ in a row, passing by seventeen or eighteen empty caverns, and arrived in the deepest part of the ground.

Just like the southern direction.

The deeper you go, the thinner the oxygen content in the air becomes.

Seeing that he had entered a deeper cavern than the place where the throne was located in the south, but still couldn’t find it, Li Jing frowned and suspended his sword control.

There’s no palace!

There’s no throne!

Every cavern, all empty!

Could my guess be wrong?

Looking at the tunnel leading to the depths of the earth, Li Jing was a little hesitant.

At this point, the oxygen content in the air inside the cavern was alarmingly low, an ordinary person from the Three Realm would probably already suffocate here.

Continuing to go deeper, that clearly won’t work.

But to turn back just like this, he was not willing.

Just as he was hesitating, his communication earpiece suddenly beeped.

"I am Tong Gaojie, the captain of the Dragon Fury team from the Jianghai City Management Bureau. Whoever hears this, respond immediately! Our team is under attack by aliens, we need reinforcements!"

The sudden communication startled Li Jing.

His communication earpiece was a special model customized by the Bureau for exploring the Secret Realm.

It can be connected to each other without signal but distance has a big limitation.

The limit is about the size of three to five Jianghai cities.

This distance isn’t very useful in the Secret Realm, especially here underground , each cavern is about three to five times the size of Jianghai city.

But at this moment, the fact that he can hear the call for help means that the team requesting support must be in an adjacent cavern.

Without any hesitation, Li Jing pressed the button on his communication earpiece.

"This is Li Jing, a foreign member of the Xiang City Management Bureau. I’m in the center of the westernmost Cavern, no more than one cavern away from you, please..."

Before he could finish, Tong Gaojie responded.

"Northwest!"

"Received!"

Li Jing responded as he held his sword to go north-westward, but something felt wrong.

He was almost unable to hold on here, even if there was a Fourth Realm in the Dragon Fury team, they shouldn’t be in a deeper cavern.

So...

It should be behind!

Looking back, Li Jing’s eyes flashed like lightning as he formed a sword gesture.

The call for help was urgent.

He needed to find the right passage to return through the cavern’s passage methodically, otherwise he might take a detour!

With his hand changing prints, Li Jing aimed at the direction of the rear and south, holding the sword and gave a soft spit.

"Heavenly Sword!"

Blue Edge, the flying sword immediately took him up into the sky, turning into a huge 40-meter long sword shadow hanging in the air, breaking through the sword light at lightning speed, almost instantaneously tearing open the cavern’s rock wall in the south direction.

...