Chapter 34

When they woke up the next day, neither mentioned what had happened the previous night by tacit agreement.

They hadn’t mentioned their homesickness in a long time.

With the System’s support and the protection of this world’s Creator God, the Heavenly Father, the two knew their chances of returning were great.

Since the Heavenly Father could fish them over when they were on the brink of death, He could also send them back.

Time and space were no issues for a Creator God.

According to the System’s quests, once they completed the “main storyline,” they could make a wish to the Heavenly Father.

But they had never asked the System.

They didn’t know how to pray to the Heavenly Father, but they knew Suer could. They had also requested Suer to ask the Heavenly Father on their behalf.

No matter how sunny and composed Xia Xifeng appeared, inside he was still just an ordinary university student who grew up in a sheltered environment. In this matter, he had become a cowardly ostrich.

What if the Heavenly Father said He couldn’t send them back? Or what if sending them back meant arriving many years later, when their parents had already suffered years of losing a child?

Xia Xifeng thought that if they could return to their original point in time, the Heavenly Father would send them back even if he didn’t ask.

A Creator God wouldn’t bargain with mortals. Whatever reward He could give, He would give.

By the time they completed the main storyline, they should have experienced many things, and their power would have grown to a level close to that of deities.

If the Heavenly Father couldn’t send them back to their original point in time, by then their mental fortitude would have toughened enough to accept the imperfect reality, and they’d also possess a lifespan long enough to seek ways to remedy that regret.

Since asking or not asking wouldn’t change the outcome, Xia Xifeng simply didn’t want to think about it right now.

Qin Lang was indifferent about this matter.

Just as Xia Xifeng had considered, whether he asked beforehand wouldn’t change the outcome. So if Xia Xifeng didn’t dare ask, he wouldn’t ask either. They just needed to keep walking towards the set goal.

Qin Lang knew that if Xia Xifeng had transmigrated to this world alone and faced the possibility of not being able to return, he wouldn’t be this timid.

Xia Xifeng still blamed himself for Qin Lang’s transmigration.

It was just that if he admitted this, Qin Lang would find him tiresome, so he dared not show it.

But even though Xia Xifeng didn’t show it, Qin Lang still found him very tiresome.

He’d already explained it a hundred or eighty times that it wasn’t Xia Xifeng’s fault. Xia Xifeng was still tangled up in self-blame. If they weren’t the only two people in this world relying on each other, Qin Lang would’ve turned around and walked away long ago.

Their personalities really were incompatible.

After pouring out the unease in his heart, Xia Xifeng’s mental state improved quite a bit again, and he worked even more diligently.

But his mental state was normally already very good, and his work was already very diligent. Adding just a smidgen more diligence on top of that—unless someone understood him extremely well, they couldn’t possibly perceive that hair-thin difference.

With Xia Xifeng’s hard work and the help of the cats who were so busy their fur flew off, Xia Xifeng not only delivered the Green Sand City orders ahead of schedule but also stockpiled the goods for the long-distance merchant caravan.

Leo was about to lead the team out.

Perila had originally wanted to stay in the knight’s domain and continue his research, but Xia Xifeng dragged him out.

Xia Xifeng firmly believed that Perila was just too much of a shut-in, too inexperienced, which was why he’d been deceived by the Blood Moon.

Perila appeared shrewd and cautious, but in reality, he was naive and easily tricked. Leo appeared carefree and often acted without thinking, but when facing major events, he was much calmer and more alert than Perila.

Xia Xifeng: 【Perila often says Leo should have been the one favored by the Sun of Hope. Truly, Perila is being so modest.】

Qin Lang: 【Be careful the Sun of Hope gets angry again.】

Xia Xifeng: 【What did I say? I didn’t say anything.】

Xia Xifeng: 【Even if I did, He can only burn Perila’s hair, hehehe.】

Qin Lang gave Perila a pitying glance.

Perila really hadn’t tied Xia Xifeng up enough times.

Perila hesitated. “You two really can handle everything?”

Xia Xifeng said, “Don’t worry. Mr. Amuruo said he’d send Damon over to be my deputy.”

Perila looked at Damon.

Damon gave Perila a completely lifeless stare.

Being a tool-person drudge of a nephew was just this miserable.

Perila suppressed a laugh. “Hard work.”

Damon sighed. “It’s fine. I’m used to it. Wishing you a smooth journey.”

Xia Xifeng slung his arm around Damon’s shoulder. “Don’t be so gloomy. This time Leo and Perila go out. Next time, it’ll be your turn to go out. We all rotate going out.”

Damon said, “It’s a promise. Don’t lie to me.”

Xia Xifeng said, “I’m not Mr. Amuruo. I wouldn’t… ouch.”

Xia Xifeng rubbed his head. There was nothing there, but he felt like something had smacked him on the head.

Qin Lang folded his arms and stepped back a pace.

Xia Xifeng followed the direction of Qin Lang’s meaningful glance. Amuruo was watching him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

Xia Xifeng immediately stood ramrod straight, head lowered, admitting fault.

Amuruo had no intention of quibbling with a junior. Compared to Leo’s foul mouth, Xia Xifeng’s comment was nothing. It was just that Xia Xifeng’s demeanor when admitting fault was entertaining, which was why he had teased him a bit more.

Amuruo had come to see Xia Xifeng this time to have him provide guidance at the newly established farming implement workshop in Green Sand City, and also to see Leo and Perila off.

It wasn’t that he and Suer didn’t care about ordinary farmers; they just hadn’t thought of methods beyond expanding the use of the magical network to increase yields.

It was like birds who were used to flying weren’t accustomed to walking on the ground.

Xia Xifeng’s way of thinking was very interesting. It was as if he came from a completely different world with customs entirely unlike the Dream Continent.

If their guess was the truth, the Heavenly Father…

For the Heavenly Father to actually “steal” people from another world, He really was (strikethrough) unprincipled (strikethrough) free-spirited.

“If you encounter anyone who can’t recognize their betters, tell me,” Amuruo said to Leo. “Especially if the Dwarf King makes trouble for you. Tell me.”

Leo patted his chest. “No problem! I love snitching the most!”

Perila had thought Leo would say they’d solve problems themselves. Hearing Leo’s answer, Perila gave Leo a scornful look.

Amuruo said to Perila, “You should learn from Leo. When you encounter trouble, don’t fear troubling others, always trying to solve it alone. If something goes wrong with you, only then will more trouble arise.”

Before Perila could respond, Xia Xifeng chimed in. “Mr. Amuruo, even if you advise him, it’s useless. He learned this point from his deity.”

Perila took a deep breath. “Xia Xifeng!”

Xia Xifeng widened his eyes. “What is it?”

Leo laughed uproariously, patting Perila on the shoulder. “Feng didn’t even say anything bad. Is it wrong to say you resemble your deity?”

Perila: “…” Even though he clearly knew Xia Xifeng hadn’t meant it in a good way, he couldn’t refute it.

Amuruo: “It’s quite a resemblance. Perila, be smarter.”

Perila: “…” Did Mr. Amuruo mean that neither I nor my deity are smart?

He looked up at the sun.

The light of Hope’s Sun seemed to have expanded a little. It must be his imagination.

Perila touched his just-regrown hair and dared not speak further.

The Sun of Hope couldn’t even deal with Xia Xifeng, so obviously He could deal even less with Mr. Amuruo. When He got angry later, it would still be his own hair that suffered.

Before leaving, Leo first sat for a while at the cemetery where the dwarves were buried.

When Xia Xifeng went looking for him, he was drinking in front of the Dwarf Caravan Leader’s tombstone.

One cup for you, one cup for me. Two empty wine bottles already lay on the ground.

Xia Xifeng said helplessly, “You’ve drunk this much and can still lead the caravan?”

Leo lifted his head. “I’m not using the Power Suppression Rune this time out. A couple of shakes and the alcohol fumes will dissipate.”

Xia Xifeng sat down beside Leo. “A couple of shakes… shouldn’t the proper term be using Devil Power to neutralize the alcohol? What’s all this about shaking? Your name is Lion. Are you really going to ‘shake it off’ like a lion shaking its mane?”

Leo continued drinking. “It’s about the same. How come it’s you looking for me? Where’s Perila?”

Xia Xifeng said, “Someone slacked off. The work left behind from slacking off always needs someone to do it.”

Leo said, “The caravan is about to depart. You have no work?”

Xia Xifeng grinned wickedly. “I’m slacking off too.”

Leo gave Xia Xifeng a thumbs-up, then pointed it downwards.

Xia Xifeng returned a thumb pointing down.

Everyone’s slacking off. The pot shouldn’t call the kettle black.

After informing Leo that the caravan was about to depart, Xia Xifeng didn’t press further, nor did he ask what Leo had been saying to the Dwarf Caravan Leader.

When the clergy of the Silver Moon Church had arrived and entered the dreams of the dwarf caravan members one by one, Leo had also lent a hand.

He had entered the dream of his good friend, the Dwarf Caravan Leader.

After leaving the Dwarf Caravan Leader’s dream, Leo had never mentioned a word of what happened within.

Some sorrows aren’t suitable to be spoken aloud, only to be savored in solitude in the deep quiet of the night. This held true even with those closest and most trusted.

“Old friend, I have to set off now. This is still the first time I’m leading a caravan.” Leo drained the last mouthful of wine and lightly tapped the tombstone with the empty bottle. “You told me to find a good successor for your caravan. Look, what an outstanding successor I found. Are you so moved that snot’s about to come out of your nose from crying?”

Xia Xifeng helped Leo tidy up the scattered wine bottles. “Save the bragging for when you return in triumph.”

“I’ll definitely return in triumph, so bragging ahead of time is fine too.” Leo stretched, and then actually shook himself like a lion fresh out of a bath. The hazy drunkenness in his eyes dispersed. “Feng, I once thought that the Blood Moon killed my friend targeting me, that maybe it was my fault he died.”

Xia Xifeng was just thinking about how to refute that when Leo continued, “He gave me a solid punch and told me instead of thinking about all these irrelevant things, I should think about how to avenge him.”

Leo gazed at the sky. “He asked me, even if the enemy is a deity, I’ll still avenge him, right?”

Xia Xifeng said, “Of course you will.”

Leo laughed heartily. “Of course I will.”

He stretched again. “Old friend, I’m off!”

He waved at the tombstone and left without looking back.

“Revenge, huh…” Xia Xifeng recalled the vow of vengeance from the Bloody Sun in the dungeon.

Some hatreds had already been forged. Some had yet to begin.

How much of the future could he and Qin Lang still change?

The first long-distance merchant caravan of the Hope City departed.

Xia Xifeng had originally thought he and Qin Lang wouldn’t leave the knight’s domain until Leo and Perila had closed their first business deal.

Who knew that not many days later, the Town Mayor of Blackstone Town—a member of the “Free Alliance”—would send someone to invite them to attend the celebration for the permanent closure of Blackstone Town’s mines.

The Town Mayor of Blackstone Town was very interested in the cheap magic items Xia Xifeng was making and hoped to cooperate with him.

Blackstone Town was precisely the location of the “Apocalypse Countdown Event” Xia Xifeng had been paying attention to.

After discussing it, Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang decided to accept the invitation.

The officials of the knight’s domain had already been hired and put in place, and the affairs of the domain were all on track. Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang could leave the knight’s domain to travel.

Amuruo was very supportive of them traveling. Traveling was the way to broaden experience and increase strength. As for the administrative affairs of the knight’s domain—hadn’t he already sent Damon over?

Thus, Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang were finally about to leave the “starter village.”