Three minutes. The chess game between Ye Fan and Chu Shi ended in just three minutes.
"Why? Why did I lose so quickly?" Ye Fan asked.
"Because it was a speed chess game. That's why it ended so quickly," Chu Shi replied.
Lin Dong, standing nearby, chuckled. "Hahaha, isn't it obvious? It's simply because Ye Fan's chess skills are too low. What can you achieve in just three minutes of play?"
Ye Fan waited until Lin Dong finished laughing before speaking. "Hehehe. My chess skills are indeed inferior to Chu Shi's. But aren't yours even worse than mine?"
Lin Dong's smile immediately faltered. Ye Fan was right. His chess skills were worse than Ye Fan's. So, by laughing at him, wasn't he also laughing at himself?
"Hahahaha!"
The people around them burst into laughter. After all, seeing Lin Dong put in an awkward spot made them quite happy.
The atmosphere turned cheerful.
After the laughter subsided, Lin Dong changed the subject. "I'm feeling a bit hungry. Is there anything to eat?"
"I brought some food from the elves," Ye Fan said.
Ye Fan then produced a type of elven fruit cake.
"Many elves buy this kind of food, so I bought some as well."
Ever since they learned that humans could also eat elven food, Chu Shi stopped bringing supplies from the otherworldly development headquarters. After all, food and other necessities could be obtained in this magical world.
Ye Le said, as he opened the packaging of the fruit cake.
The packaging was made of a type of paper. The elves had no plastic products, so paper was a good choice.
Xiao Yan, who was flying his plane, also chimed in. "I also brought a pack of beef jerky. It tastes pretty good."
Lin Dong asked curiously, "Beef jerky? Where did you get it?"
"Aren't there a herd of wild oxen not far from our portal? This beef jerky came from one of those unfortunate oxen. You were still training at the otherworldly headquarters back then!" Ye Fan explained.
The group of them took out the fruit cakes and beef jerky and began to eat.
The beef jerky was smoked. Su Han had already tried it, so he picked up a fruit cake.
After taking a bite, Su Han found the taste of the fruit cake to be quite special.
"This taste is rather unique. Ye Fan, you've bought quite a few things from the elves!"
Ye Fan replied as a matter of course. "That's right. I saw many good things in the Elven Royal City. Many of them were very special. It would be a waste not to buy them."
...
On a hilly road, a procession was advancing.
The group consisted of a carriage, dozens of knights, and dozens of mages.
The knights formed an escort on both sides.
Inside the carriage were Catherine and her maid.
Catherine looked at the unfamiliar scenery outside and asked, "Where have we arrived?"
"Lady Catherine, please wait a moment. I'll go and ask right away."
The elven maid pulled open the carriage curtain.
"Knight Commander, where are we now?"
"We have reached Gallia territory. We are fifty elven miles from Gallia City."
Catherine, inside the carriage, heard the knight commander's reply from outside.
Catherine thought to herself: The carriage is moving too slowly right now. Once we reach Gallia City, I'll ask the Gallia City Lord for assistance. Using a Pegasus would allow me to reach the Elven Royal City much faster.
Catherine had used most of her wealth to help the residents of Gallia City leave, so she didn't have much elven currency left.
Meanwhile, in the sky, the black dragon York was flying.
Black dragon York had been flying in the sky for several days. At the beginning, Chu Shi had released several drones for Black dragon York to destroy. After the satellites were launched, they directly used satellites to track the black dragon.
Without drones to destroy, Black dragon York began searching everywhere for drones in the sky.
However, the sky was too vast. The drones, under satellite positioning, managed to avoid Black dragon York. Therefore, Black dragon York could not find any drones.
"Damn it, I can't find any of those mechanical constructs! I shouldn't have been so eager to destroy the last one. The great Black dragon York has to admit that he was impulsive."
Black dragon York looked around, still finding nothing. "There are no mechanical constructs around. Why does the great Black dragon York still feel like he's being watched by something?"
At this moment, in the near-Earth space above Black dragon York, a satellite was passing by. As the satellite flew past, it took numerous photos.
Satellites in space do not have spare power to change their orbits, so they can only take pictures while in motion.
Black dragon York, being a powerful evil dragon, could faintly sense even the camera of a satellite in space.
After flying a bit further, Black dragon York sensed a large amount of magic in the distance.
"There's another city ahead. The great Black dragon York is enraged. I shall destroy this city as well!"
Black dragon York accelerated, and after a few minutes, he saw a towering Tree of Life, hundreds of meters tall, in the distance.
Beneath the Tree of Life was an elven city.
Black dragon York flew directly towards it and arrived at the edge of the city.
The elven city also saw the approaching black dragon.
"An evil dragon is approaching."
"A black dragon! It's Black dragon York!"
"Defend quickly!"
Black dragon York looked at the chaos in the elven city from afar and became smug.
"The great Black dragon York brings you destruction!"
Black dragon York unleashed a breath attack.
"Boom!"
A building was directly blown away.
Black dragon York gathered magic again and unleashed another dragon's breath.
A magical barrier emerged from the Tree of Life, blocking the dragon's breath.
In the elven mage corps' encampment, over a dozen mages were chanting incantations. The barrier that had just appeared was activated by them.
Black dragon York, outside the city, felt a surge of disgust in his eyes.
"A barrier relying on the Tree of Life. The elves claim it can defend against dragons. Seeing this every time makes me feel so annoyed! Today, I'll see if I can break through this barrier!"
He unleashed another breath attack, but it was still blocked. Most of the magic was absorbed by the barrier.
Black dragon York then charged forward.
"Boom!"
Black dragon York collided with the barrier. The barrier's defense mechanism activated, and powerful destructive magic rebounded directly onto Black dragon York.
Black dragon York let out a cry of pain.
"Damn it, this magic is mine, and now it's rebounding on me. The great Black dragon York hates this Tree of Life barrier."
After several more attempts to attack, Black dragon York was still unable to break the Tree of Life barrier. He then resorted to threats.
"The great Black dragon York will not be stopped by the Tree of Life barrier. You insignificant elven insects. Open the barrier immediately. Perhaps I will spare your lives!"