The conversation with Captain Borcen was smooth and pleasant — at least on the surface.
After the talkative captain left, Hao Ren and Vivian began to sort out the information they had just gathered.
"This old captain is not your average man." Vivian may have been poor for ten thousand years, but she still had some experience in the ways of the world. She could immediately tell that Borcen had unconsciously revealed a lot of problems. "He was very good. Talkative, passionate, and sincere. But it was because he was too talkative, passionate, and sincere that he seemed unnatural. At least, it was beyond his description of his identity."
"An ordinary civilian ship captain, doing passenger business above the World's Scar all year round." Hao Ren recalled the old captain's introduction to him. "Unless there are spaceships like ours that come to visit every now and then, an 'ordinary captain' like him would not be so calm after boarding a starship. All of his curiosity was kept to a minimum. He seemed to be enthusiastic and sincere, but many of his words were very vague, and his enthusiasm and sincerity itself was a big problem. There was no need for him to be so friendly with strangers like us, even if we had just saved his life. The enthusiasm of gratitude and the enthusiasm of being friendly are different. "
Rheia shook her head. "But that's not important."
Hao Ren smiled. "You're right, it's not important."
They were just passersby, and they were only staying in L 'Haronne for a short period of time to investigate something. Whatever grudges or schemes the people here had had nothing to do with them, and even if the captain named Borcen was hiding something, it was only for self-preservation or similar purposes. It would not affect the mission.
"But we can learn some basic information about this world from him," Lily said. "He would not consciously hide anything in this regard."
Hao Ren recounted the information he had gathered. "The people of L 'Haronne call the place where the planet is split into two the' World Scar ', where the ocean, land, and even the entire planet are torn in half. There are a number of stable elemental vortexes above the World Scar, which can provide energy for magic-guided devices, so the locals built airships that can fly across the World Scar along the elemental vortexes, connecting the two hemispheres. The eastern and western hemispheres of the planet have relatively powerful nations, and the eastern hemisphere has dozens of kingdoms, led by a country called the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo, and formed an international organization called the White City Federation. As for the origin of the name White City, it is still unclear. In the western hemisphere, there is a unified and powerful empire called the Dragon Empire. There are no other powerful nations on the half of the planet, only a bunch of loose city-states and even barbarian autonomous territories living around the Dragon Empire in the form of vassals …"
The MDT projected a holographic image of the planet of L 'Haronne, which was taken by a probe from outer space. Names such as the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo, the Dragon Empire, and the World Scar appeared on the holographic image. Of course, the map was not complete enough. After all, the information obtained from Borcen was quite limited.
"There is a balance between the White City Federation and the Dragon Empire, but it is not the kind of balance of friendly neighbors. It is purely due to the difficulty of transportation between the two halves of the planet, and the limited elemental vortexes cannot send enough troops to the other side of the planet. So there is often friction between the two sides, but never a real war." Hao Ren said as he pointed at a few places on the holographic map. "We still don't know the strength of the two sides, but this great empire is clearly stronger than any single kingdom on the other side of the planet … But from what Borcen said, the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo in the White City Federation is a tough one. As the head of the federation, it has been sitting on the throne for hundreds of years."
"The White Pearl is a 'flight' from the Ancient Kingdom of Izzo to the Dragon Empire, and it was attacked by pirates after passing through the Shimmering Cloud Sea." Lily added. "From what the old captain said, these pirates are quite common. Because of the high elemental energy concentration in L 'Haronne, and there are all sorts of natural phenomena that hinder observation, the pirates hide in the turbulent cloud sea and often come out to attack lone civilian ships …"
Hao Ren digested the information in his head as he looked at Rheia. "Obviously, after the planet was torn apart and reshaped, there is a new world line, and the 'history' of the world's destruction has completely disappeared. The new history is completely based on the 'natural phenomenon' of the planet being split in half. The captain did not even know about the apocalypse, and there are no similar legends passed down. "
"That means, the history of the planet has been completely reshaped." Rheia sighed softly. "At least in terms of human society. Plus L 'Haronne has also gone through a destructive' rebirth 'in terms of physical structure, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to find any clues before the Umbral Realm on this planet. "
Vivian rubbed her forehead. "Where there is a will, there is a way. We can't just leave no clues behind. Now I'm very interested in the Dragon Empire. Borcen said that the ruler of that kingdom has the blood of the dragon, and his soul is immortal … If his soul is immortal, he might know something. At the very least … he should know what happened when the planet's' new world line 'opened. "
"That 'Dragon', the country is pronounced as the dragon, and the ruler is said to have the soul of the dragon. That's interesting." Hao Ren pondered. "Then we need to find a way to meet the emperor. It's best not to use tricks, and the best way is to make contact when the other party is willing to cooperate. What do you guys say … "
Just as he was about to discuss with everyone how to make contact with the legendary "dragon soul ruler", Nolan's holographic image suddenly appeared in the room. "Boss, there are two 'hitchhikers' who want to see you."
"Hitchhikers?" Hao Ren's eyebrows twitched. "The refugees that we rescued? Why would ordinary passengers want to see me? "
"Not necessarily ordinary passengers." Nolan had a smile on her face. "It's two people worth paying attention to: the young man named Charlemagne and his sister, Awenna. You saw them on the deck of the White Pearl, and then monitor their conversation in the room … and heard some interesting things."
After listening to Nolan's surveillance report, Hao Ren also matched the two people in his mind. He remembered the handsome gray-haired man who was as handsome as 0.93 Nangong Sanba, and the dirty girl in a long dress who ran out from below the deck. Now he knew that the girl was in the White Pearl's magic power center, helping the ship's technicians to rescue the severely damaged power source.
Of course, the rescue did not work. The White Pearl eventually lost all power and fell into the depths of the planetary fissure a few minutes ago, burning in the high-temperature space.
"It seems that the ship we saved is not ordinary. There is someone powerful on board, and those pirates are just a cover …" Hao Ren scratched his chin, feeling that it was quite interesting. "Well, let them in."
Charlemagne and Awenna entered the room of the ship's owner.
Along the way, they carefully observed the internal structure of the ship and tried to roughly infer the function of the ship and the role of the various facilities through the direction of the walls and corridors. But the more they observed, the more shocked they became. The structure of the ship did not match any known airship, and they also found that the structure of the ship was somewhat out of place. There was a spacious cabin where there should only be one wall, and there was a longer corridor before the end of the corridor. Some places should even be outside the ship. If their perception of distance and orientation was not disturbed, the ship should not have such a large space.
But these questions were buried in the bottom of their hearts, because under the guidance of the mechanical squid that looked like an alchemy creature, they had reached the end.
The owner of the ship sat in front of them.
Hao Ren looked intently at the siblings in front of him. They were on point: the right amount of uneasiness, fear, and irrepressible curiosity. The younger sister hid behind her brother, and her brother nervously grabbed the buckle on his waist.
"You want to see me?" Hao Ren looked away and asked with a smile.
"Yes, Captain." Charlemagne coughed softly and straightened his back. "My sister and I are grateful for your help, but we want to know when we can return to the ground. Our family will be very worried about us."
"I'm not sure." Hao Ren spread out his hands. "We are on a mission, and depending on the progress of the mission, the ship may find a place to land tomorrow, or it may not land at all."
The question was out of Charlemagne's expectation, and he was genuinely surprised this time. "You're not going to land? Are you going to fly in the sky forever? "
Hao Ren waved his hand. "This question is not important. What I want to say is, are you really just here to ask this?"
Charlemagne frowned. "We are just worried about the journey. Of course, our family will thank you for your help, and they will certainly offer — "
Hao Ren interrupted him. "Ahem, I think you have misunderstood what I mean. What I want to say is that the eavesdropping technology we are using is a bit special, and I am afraid that magic runes and the like will not be able to detect it. Although we have no intention of invading the privacy of the passengers, this is a warship, and your identity is unknown. It is pointless to say more. "
The handsome Nangong Sanba and the quiet long-haired girl both revealed a look of panic and alertness, but they quickly controlled their emotions.
"So, can we talk openly now?" Vivian said faintly.
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