After midnight

The white clouds in the blue sky were slowly drifting away. In the morning, the sun shone on my body and made me feel warm. Su Ziling sat on a stone bench by the lake and seemed to be able to see the silhouette of the city not far away.

The quiet and pleasant scenery around him made him feel a little relaxed. He saw An Yan and Yin sitting not far away to rest, but they had no intention of appreciating the scenery. Su Ziling looked at An Yan, then at Yin, and after thinking for a long time, he finally stood up, walked towards An Yan, and sat next to him again.

However, An Yan did not react to his arrival.

He looked at the face with his eyes closed, hesitating whether to speak or not, he had too many questions to ask him.

Suddenly, Su Ziling felt a squeeze next to him. It turned out that Yin had also sat over. Su Ziling moved in reflexively, but accidentally bumped into An Yan. An Yan opened his eyes and looked at the two of them without saying anything. He just put the backpack that was originally on his right hand side on the ground and moved to the side.

In the end, the three of them sat on the bench.

"Where are we?" Su Ziling asked, without naming anyone.

"Jiunan Park, the southernmost part of the city." Yin took over the conversation.

"Oh, then where are we going?" Su Ziling naturally asked.

"You'll probably have to ask the Son of God about this." After saying that, Yin looked at An Yan jokingly. Su Ziling also turned his head and looked back at An Yan's face.

“Go deeper into the forest of this park and then into the desert.”

What was he talking about? Forest? Desert? An Yan's words dropped a bombshell in Su Ziling's heart.

He was stunned with surprise.

Yin clapped his hands and laughed, "Interesting, I didn't expect there would be such a route. Although I had a hunch when I first came in, I was never sure."

"I didn't expect you to be so sure." Yin added in surprise.

After saying that, Yin fumbled out a paper map from his body, pushed it to the middle, and asked Su Ziling to pinch the corner of the other side of the map.

"The 'Jiu' in Jiu Country is named after the first 'Son of God'. Jiudu is our capital, which is the city where we are now." Yin said and pointed to Su Ziling in the southeast direction of the center of the map.

Then he slid his hand to the left. "The city to the west of Jiudu is our original capital. Its current name is Xidu. Although Xidu is a relatively quiet and lonely city, its political power should not be underestimated. In addition to the three major families, all the prominent figures in the government have their influence in Xidu. As for why we moved from Xidu to Jiudu, it's because of this place."

Yin Shi pointed downwards, pointing to the ground beneath his feet.

"This was once a battlefield. The outcome of a war was directly determined by the outcome of the battle. In the end, the seventh 'Son of God' Lin Nan defeated the rebels with sand abilities, and the vast area here became a water-sand confrontation. After a long period of evolution, the place where we are now has become a Feng Shui treasure land. Because large areas of lakes, wetlands, and forests are divided here, and at the end is the desert, a natural barrier is formed. So six hundred years ago, the capital was moved here. Now, people have developed a very small part of it into today's Jiunan Park."

Yin drew a circle under the character marking Jiudu on the map. "This entire area is sparsely populated. Apart from the Sand City on the edge of the desert and a few small towns around it, there are no other human activities. So although this place is suitable for hiding, it is definitely not easy to survive."

"Is that so?" Su Ziling's doubts were finally resolved a little. The history of Jiuguo also sounded very long.

"An Yan, why didn't you choose Xindu?"

This time Yin went directly to ask An Yan, without explaining it in detail to Su Ziling on the map. Su Ziling stretched his head to look, and it was in the northeast of Jiudu.

"Xindu is a city that has developed under the influence of the New World in the past two hundred years. It is an emerging economic center and the capital of revolutionary forces. Lin Xuanfeng is there, and if I am not mistaken, you will also seek refuge there in the future."

"You should know Xindu best. If I remember correctly, 'Dark Night' was also founded in Xindu." An Yan suddenly said.

Yin smiled quite innocently and cunningly, "But I am on your side now."

Su Ziling said nothing but tried to listen carefully to their conversation. He suddenly became very interested in this country. What kind of development has Jiuguo experienced? What is the current situation? How is it different from that country? They actually call that country the New World.

"So, why did you choose this path that seems impossible but is actually very difficult?" Yin seemed to want to know why An Yan made this choice.

"You guessed right." An Yan was frugal with his words.

"Then why did you change so quickly after the accident?" Yin kept asking.

Su Ziling felt a little embarrassed. Somehow, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Yin was very aggressive in getting to the bottom of the matter. And wasn't this accident about him?

"Because the most important thing to me has changed. I must buy time to send Su Ziling back safely." An Yan took a step back.

Yin nodded approvingly. An Yan was saying that it didn't matter where they were going now, not even his own safety. This area was vast, sparsely populated, and very secretive. It was a perfect place for An Yan to send Su Ziling back without anyone noticing. Even if those who were chasing An Yan wanted to find out where An Yan was, they wouldn't be able to do it for a while.

Of course, An Yan also left a way out for himself, because the sand city on the edge of the desert is close to Xindu.

Yin stopped being aggressive, and the atmosphere suddenly relaxed. Su Ziling was also somewhat moved. He didn't know what kind of predicament An Yan was facing, but he could already feel it easily. It must be a dense and terrifying net that tied An Yan tightly and made it difficult for him to break free.

"You figured it out last night?"

"Ah."

"An Yan, you are really smart and unexpected. The environment here complements your abilities and is the best battlefield for you."

Yin seemed to agree with An Yan's decision and reached an agreement with him. Su Ziling was touched, but he still had to consider the practical issues. Let's not talk about anything else, just what to eat? What to drink? He looked at the two people beside him who seemed to be fine and said irrelevant things to him, and he became even more worried.

Damn it, I should have asked Lin Nuan for more food and drinks.

"Well, how do we survive? In the middle of nowhere."

"Su Ziling, right? Don't worry, I'll open your eyes."

Since Yin said so, Su Ziling had no choice but to suppress the little thoughts in his mind for the time being.

"Now that we have rested enough, it's time to go. The road ahead won't be so easy." Yin said again. This didn't sound so relaxing.

Su Ziling took a deep breath and then let it out. Never mind, there was no point in thinking too much. After turning left and right for a while, they stood in front of a wall. The wall was painted yellow-brown and was about two or three meters high. This was not a problem for Yin, who was almost 1.9 meters tall, but for Su Ziling, who was slightly less than 1.8 meters tall, the difficulty was on a different level.

"Su Ziling, you won't regret it once you climb over this wall. Behind this wall are all kinds of unexpected situations and dangers. Are you ready? This is an adventure for a man."

"It's done." Su Ziling answered loudly. This was the first sentence An Yan said to Su Ziling after dawn. He went straight to the point and instantly ignited Su Ziling's fighting spirit.

Although Su Ziling was inevitably worried about his own safety, he could not ignore the intense excitement and anticipation in his heart. It was as if a new chapter in his life had just begun.

He looked at the wall, which was more than just a wall. He threw his backpack over, took a few steps, and jumped up. He grabbed the wall with both hands, used his arms to support his body upward, and at the same time, his right foot hooked over the wall. He turned over, sat on the top of the wall and looked inside. It was a dense jungle, with the treetops covering the sky and exuding a cold air.

Su Ziling jumped down carefully to prevent his feet from slipping.

After he steadied himself, he picked up his backpack and stepped back to make way for them.

An Yan and Yin were not as clumsy as him. They landed on the ground with just a light leap, as if they were just jumping over an ordinary low wall.

After they turned over, they walked into the dense woods. An Yan led the way, Yin followed behind, and Su Ziling walked in the middle without distraction. After walking for a while with full concentration, his mind slowly flew to this vast forest.

The trees here were so dense that they almost blocked out the sky. The tree roots were intertwined and the trunks were thick. I really didn't know why the trees here grew so tall. But thanks to this, the road was much easier to walk than he had imagined. They moved along the roots of the trees without being disturbed by too many weeds and branches.

Yin patted Su Ziling's shoulder, scaring Su Ziling so much that he turned his head away.

"What are you thinking about? You're walking too slowly."

Su Ziling turned around and looked at An Yan who was walking in front of him in surprise. An Yan was already far behind him.

Su Ziling quickly quickened his pace, but Yin also deliberately quickened his pace and walked side by side with Su Ziling.

"What were you thinking about just now?" Yin asked him slowly.

"Ah, nothing. I just think the trees here are particularly big." Su Ziling scratched his head without looking at him.

"This is natural. Trees that are watered by water that has evolved from water power will naturally thrive."

"Is that so?" Su Ziling nodded.

"Don't be so reserved. If you have anything you're curious about, you can always ask me. Life is unpredictable, so enjoy it while you can. Just think of this as an adventure. With that guy here, you don't have to worry about your safety or getting home." Yin pointed at Anyan's back.

Su Ziling smiled.

"...Why don't you just call me Brother Yin? I'm a few years older than you."

"Brother Yin." Su Ziling called him obediently.

Yin did not respond immediately, and Su Ziling did not notice the flash of light in Yin's eyes.

At this time, Lin Xuanfeng successfully returned to Xindu. When he walked to the door of his house, he found that an uninvited guest had been waiting for him for a long time. He recognized him because he was a member of the revolutionary army like him, but he and this person were inexplicably not in harmony.

"What are you doing here?" Lin Xuanfeng frowned.

"Just came to care about the fate of 'Son of God'?" Zhou Chen didn't care about his attitude at all.

"He's fine, don't worry about him."

"Indeed, with the help of 'Dark Night', the rescue operation went smoothly. However, you are right, I don't need to worry about him. It's just that you are quite capable of inviting 'Dark Night'. It's a pity, I originally thought you would never come back." Zhou Chen shrugged.

"That's a pity."

"Lin Xuanfeng, you must remember that Uncle Fang allowed you to save the 'Son of God' only because he is still useful to us." Seeing that Lin Xuanfeng was still unmoved, Zhou Chen was a little angry.

"Are you here just to say this?" Lin Xuanfeng interrupted him impatiently.

"...Not really. Uncle Fang asked me to tell you personally that the new operation requires our cooperation. So, please ask me to come in and sit down."

"I understand. You can go back first." After saying that, Lin Xuanfeng opened the door and mercilessly locked Zhou Chen outside along with his noisy voice.

In the room, Lin Xuanfeng walked around thoughtfully.