“No, I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Li Xuan looked at Feng Qiuyan in puzzlement.
Feng Qiuyan explained, “Because the two families have a good relationship. When I was young, I often tagged along behind Sis Ling. Once, I followed Sis Ling to the nearby coast to have some fun. Back then, break-out creatures seldom appeared, so the two of us played by the seaside.”
After some hesitation, Feng Qiuyan continued, “I vaguely remember a break-out creature rushing out of the sea and pouncing at us on the beach. It even had a particularly fishy smell. I turned groggy when I smelled it, as though I was about to faint. At that moment, I saw Sis Ling turn extremely terrifying in my spinning mind as she charged at the break-out creature. Then, I fainted.”
“When I woke up, I saw Sis Ling beside me, but I didn’t see any break-out creature. When I mentioned the break-out creature, Sister Ling wore a puzzled expression. She asked me if I was too tired from playing and had a nightmare after falling asleep,” Feng Qiuyan said with a strange expression. “But I don’t think it was a dream. It was just that I didn’t find any traces of the dimensional creature nearby, so I kept this matter to myself and didn’t tell anyone.”
“How old were you then?” Li Xuan asked.
“Three years old,” Feng Qiuyan said.
“How old was Qin Ling?” Li Xuan asked again.
“Thirteen,” Feng Qiuyan answered after some thought.
“It’s very normal for a three-year-old child to have wild thoughts. Perhaps you had really dreamed it. If Qin Ling was only thirteen years old, she wouldn’t have reached the Legendary stage, right? It’s virtually impossible for her to use a Companion Beast...” Li Xuan analyzed.
“That I know,” Feng Qiuyan said with a strange expression.
“If you are really sure that you didn’t see wrongly, then there’s something wrong with Qin Ling,” Zhou Wen said.
Feng Qiuyan said, “I can’t be sure if I was dreaming back then, so I hope you can help me confirm what happened.”
“How can we help you? We can’t drag Qin Ling over to beat her up and ask if she can transform into a monster, right? Even if we dared ask, she won’t admit it, right?” Li Xuan said.
“I also know that it won’t be easy, but I can only ask for your help,” Feng Qiuyan said.
“Alright, let’s try our best. We can’t guarantee that we can get to the bottom of the matter,” Zhou Wen said after some thought.
Despite being delighted, Feng Qiuyan said to Zhou Wen, “Coach, I hope this matter can be carried out secretly. No matter the outcome, don’t let a fourth person other than us know.”
“I understand.” Zhou Wen agreed.
“Old Zhou, how do you plan on investigating this matter?” Li Xuan asked Zhou Wen after Feng Qiuyan settled the two of them in and took them to meet his elders.
“I don’t know. Let’s wait and see. Didn’t Qiuyan say that he will arrange for us to interact with Qin Ling? We’ll think of something when the time comes,” Zhou Wen said.
“I got a Gu from the South District. If it can be attached to a person, it can affect their will. Do you want to give it a try?” Li Xuan said with narrowed eyes.
“It’s best we don’t. After all, we are guests. It won’t be nice if the Feng family discovers our actions,” Zhou Wen said with a shake of his head.
“I’m meeting Hui Haifeng. Do you want to come with me?” Zhou Wen asked Li Xuan.
“I don’t know him well, so there’s no point. Go yourself. I’ll take a look around,” Li Xuan said.
After the two of them separated, Zhou Wen took Ya’er to see the Hui family. The Hui family was a major family in Sea Return, so he didn’t need to ask around to quickly find their residence.
Before arriving, Zhou Wen gave Hui Haifeng a call. Hui Haifeng quickly came to the door to welcome him.
“I never expected you to come so quickly.” Hui Haifeng smiled and gave Zhou Wen a hug.
Zhou Wen wasn’t used to such enthusiasm. “The journey was rather smooth, but the situation in Sea Return seems to have deteriorated far earlier than others.”
Hui Haifeng nodded. “It’s indeed terrible. This month isn’t over yet, but we’ve had two small-scale marine dimensional creatures hordes come ashore. Although there weren’t any casualties, it will be exhausting for us if this happens every month. It’s very easy for problems to arise. Furthermore, the strongest marine dimensional creatures that have come ashore are at the Epic stage, but who knows when a Mythical dimensional creature will come ashore. In short, Sea Return City is in a very thorny situation.”
“Have you thought of migrating inland?” Zhou Wen asked.
“How can it be that easy to migrate? Ignoring the fact that we have family and business here in Sea Return, even if we can abandon these businesses, how can we find a city willing to share resources with us elsewhere?” Hui Haifeng led Zhou Wen into a yard. “Let’s not talk about this. I’ll show you something good.”
The Hui family residence was huge. In fact, it could no longer be considered a normal home. It was more like a base.
They arrived at a place resembling a warehouse. Hui Haifeng opened the door and pointed inside. “What do you think of this thing?”
Zhou Wen saw huge machinery inside the warehouse. There were all sorts of gears and electronic devices. On the left side of the warehouse were many devices that resembled treadmills. Many Companion Beasts were running on them.
“Companion Beasts can be trained like this?” Zhou Wen looked at the Companion Beasts in surprise.
“What training? We are using Companion Beasts to generate electricity. Using the power of the Companion Beasts to drive the generator, we can store the electricity produced. Anyway, the Companion Beasts have nothing to do when not fighting. This way, we can use their strength and also give them some training,” Hui Haifeng said.
Zhou Wen had already heard that many places were powered by Companion Beasts, but this was the first time he had seen an example of one.
“Is this considered environmentally friendly?” Zhou Wen said with a smile.
“I don’t know if it’s environmentally friendly, but Companion Beasts can automatically recover their stamina without needing external replenishment of their energy. It’s indeed very convenient,” Hui Haifeng said as he continued walking into the warehouse.
When he reached the deepest part of the warehouse, there was a room that was separated by glass. Zhou Wen could see many high precision instruments inside. Many staff members were busy inside.
After Hui Haifeng and Zhou Wen changed into special work clothes, they entered the glass room. Then, Hui Haifeng pointed at something in the culture tank and said, “Look at this. This is our main area of research now.”
Zhou Wen looked at the culture tank and saw a white blob inside. It looked like a white piece of fat, but it also looked a little like a fungus.
“What’s this?” Zhou Wen asked in puzzlement.