Chapter 1 The Dawn

Everyone in the Dawn knew that they were not just a pirate crew, but an organization—the Dawn.

Besides Suren and a few other leaders, there was also a very mysterious chief in the organization.

When they saw the seaship with the “White Whale Merchant Guild flag” approaching, everyone came to the deck. Even Dr. Banks, that tech geek, rarely emerged from his small void realm, craning his neck to welcome the legendary chief aboard.

After all, Mr. Jing was not only the leader of the Dawn, not only one of the strongest professionals in the world, but also a legendary figure.

The beloved daughter of Isaac, the Alchemic Demigod of a thousand years, she was a living "Epic."

The atmosphere on the deck was very solemn, as if even breathing had become tense. Everyone in the Dawn waited quietly.

To outsiders, Mr. Jing was an unattainable big shot, but to Suren and Chitiao, she was just a good friend they hadn't seen in a long time.

When he saw the three-masted sailing ship was still more than a hundred meters away, Suren, standing on the mast, saw Mr. Jing wearing a cloak and greeted her warmly, "Senior Sister!"

The person under the cloak looked up at the sound, revealing a cold and pretty lower face. Although he couldn't see her expression clearly, he could see the gentle upward curve of her mouth. She lifted the cloak, and her familiar and gorgeous cold face was exposed to the sunlight.

Looking at Suren and Chitiao, she responded with a slight smile.

With this one appearance, while everyone marveled at Mr. Jing's beauty, they were also subdued by her powerful aura.

It was the domineering aura of a top professional, the aloofness of a vampire progenitor, and the mystery of a legendary figure recorded in history...

The moment Mr. Jing lifted her cloak, everyone except Suren and Chitiao, who looked directly at her, lowered their eyes.

This was a respect from the bottom of their hearts for the chief, for the strong.

......

It wasn't just Mr. Jing; there were also more than a dozen people on the deck of the opposite ship wearing red and black cloaks who were clearly not ordinary humans.

Those who were qualified to stand by Mr. Jing's side were not weak; at the very least, they were vampires who had lived for centuries.

Suren sensed it and murmured in his heart: "Mr. Jing's bloodkin are also very strong."

Although vampires' souls were different from humans, they naturally weren't weak since they lived so long.

Just the next moment after Suren greeted her, Mr. Jing and a group of people leaped up with a flash of light and landed on the deck of the Eternal Night.

With others present, Suren didn't act too casually and asked, "Senior Sister, was your journey smooth?"

Mr. Jing replied faintly, "Apart from some turbulence from the wind and waves, it was fine."

Suren didn't say much and directly introduced the people around him, "This is Dr. Banks, whom I mentioned to you before. This is Commander Barrett, and these are all members of our Dawn..."

After listening to the introduction, Mr. Jing smiled faintly, "Welcome everyone to join the Dawn."

"Greetings, Chief."

Hearing this, Barrett and Banks took the lead and gave a gentleman's salute, one hand across their chest.

Then everyone on the deck followed suit and saluted in unison.

Mr. Jing had a gentle smile on her face and waved her hand, "Everyone, there's no need to be so restrained. Suren should have told you all before that our 'Dawn' is a free and equal organization of Mechanical Alchemists. There are not so many restrictions. In the future, we will all be friends working hard for our common beliefs and goals."

Suren knew that Mr. Jing had never been pretentious and didn't have the hierarchical concepts of a feudal lord. This was her basic attitude.

But it was always unfamiliar at the first meeting. After hearing this, everyone still seemed very restrained, except for those who responded with "Yes."

After all, this was a top powerhouse in front of them.

No one was qualified to be presumptuous in front of her, regardless of seniority or strength.

After a brief introduction, everyone began to disperse, those controlling the sails, those going to the kitchen...

Mr. Jing and the others were also part of the same "Dawn." They came to meet, and there would be a grand welcome dinner tonight, which required a lot of ingredients to be prepared. And there were many supplies on the White Whale Merchant Guild's ship that needed to be moved up.

Everyone was busy.

......

Suren and Chitiao walked with Mr. Jing on the deck, chatting and catching up, and by the way, visiting the Eternal Night.

Chitiao and Mr. Jing were also good friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time, and there was too much to say.

Mr. Jing looked at the "Sea Emperor-class" warship and said with emotion: "A thousand years ago, 'Sea Emperor warships' were rare. Mainly because suitable keels and wood were hard to find. I didn't expect you to find one. This is a great opportunity..."

Suren smiled and said, "This ship was found in the Sea Ruins. This is all thanks to your guidance, Senior Sister, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get out of the Sea Ruins before."

Mr. Jing smiled noncommittally: "By the way, Suren, didn't you say that you needed some special materials for making mechanical armor? Armand alloy, magic-patterned brass, dragon blood black iron... I brought some over on the ship. But the storage capacity of the seaship is limited, so the quantity isn't too much. The merchant guild is still trying to find a way to collect them. Recently, they have contacted a major arms dealer's channel, so the quantity shouldn't be small. If you want to get them, you'll have to go to Lu Ying in person sometime."

Suren was overjoyed when he heard this, "Wow, Senior Sister, you've solved my urgent need!"

Now his Mechanical Warfare Workshop was fully operational, but he was short of raw materials. It wasn't difficult to find ordinary steel, but there was nowhere to find those rare metals for manufacturing special parts. Especially now that they were wanted by the North Sea Fleet, they couldn't dock anywhere, and the supply of materials was becoming increasingly scarce.

Now that Mr. Jing had brought some, they could be turned into dozens of mechanical armors in a short period of time, which could immediately become combat power.

There was no need to be polite with his own senior sister, so Suren happily accepted it.

Mr. Jing also smiled lightly and didn't say much.

At this time, Suren also felt several timid gazes glancing over. He turned his head and saw that it was naturally Lolota and the other half-grown children.

They were secretly sizing up Mr. Jing with curious and surprised eyes from time to time. It seemed that they felt that this legendary "Chief" was not as terrifying as they had expected, nor was she the "serious and rigid old person" they had whispered about before. On the contrary, she was very beautiful, her tone was kind, and she gave people a very friendly feeling.

But as a disciple, Suren felt that it was necessary to introduce them specially.

He motioned for several of the half-grown children behind him to come forward and introduced them, "Senior Sister, these are my newly accepted disciples, Abkh and Kama. They are siblings and are also direct descendants of Senior Brother Boyle's lineage."

Hearing this, Kama and Abkh bowed very obediently and gave a deep salute, "Greetings, Martial Aunt."

Mr. Jing looked at the two of them and squinted her eyes with a smile: "Descendants of Junior Brother Boyle? Their talent is very good..."

As soon as these words came out, the seniority was immediately revealed.

Facing their ancestor's junior sister, the siblings now only had reverence in their eyes.

Suren also introduced: "This is Lolota, Senior Sister Chitiao's disciple. And Tani, our Dawn's current chief navigator, is a Naga hybrid."

Lolota saluted excitedly, "Greetings, Chief!"

Tani also puffed out his chest, trying to make himself look more like a little man: "Greetings, Chief."

Mr. Jing was as gentle as ever: "Everyone is great."

These energetic young people were like the rising sun. In her eyes, she saw a thriving scene.

......

In the evening, a grand welcome banquet was held on the ship.

"Dawn" had always been a very loose organization. Mr. Jing was said to be the "Chief," but she was not in a superior-subordinate relationship with the other members. Everyone was like-minded allies, and after getting familiar with each other, there was actually no estrangement. With an extra chief, it was no different from before. Everyone did what they were supposed to do, and nothing changed.

Mr. Jing's temperament was inherently indifferent. Although she was easy to get along with, she didn't like lively scenes.

Suren and the others had known this for a long time.

After the banquet, Chitiao pulled Mr. Jing and wouldn't let her go back to the White Whale Merchant Guild's ship, insisting on visiting her luxurious bathtub together.

Now the Dawn was indeed not short of money, even very wealthy. But because they had not yet landed, the ship's infrastructure was not complete. Like many other crew members, they didn't even have a bed in their cabins and were still sleeping in military sleeping bags.

But the captain's cabin was a different scene. Because Suren had prepared in advance, he had arranged a lot of high-quality living supplies. This was almost unimaginable luxury on any other sailing warship.

Chitiao pulled Mr. Jing into the captain's room, turned on the crystal lamp, and the spacious room came into view.

A big bed, some simple furniture, but most importantly, that super-large bathtub.

Chitiao pointed to the bathtub behind the shower curtain and showed off to Mr. Jing, "Filo, look, isn't my big bathtub good? I'm telling you, you can't enjoy this kind of treatment on other ships."

Mr. Jing looked at the room and smiled slightly, "You guys really know how to enjoy yourselves."

There were no outsiders, so they had no scruples when chatting. Chitiao greeted Mr. Jing very enthusiastically and said, "Come on, let's take a bath together. I'm telling you, bathing on a ship is a different kind of experience. You've been drifting at sea for so long. Taking a bath will definitely make your body feel very comfortable."

Back in Old Lingdun, Mr. Jing was also a regular customer of "A'kun's Bathhouse," and they often took baths together, so they weren't strangers.

However, at this time, Mr. Jing looked at the only big bed in the room, and a hint of playfulness flashed in her eyes, and asked, "Do you and Suren live together?"

Chitiao replied casually: "Yes. But that guy usually stays in the laboratory and rarely comes back."

She naturally knew what Mr. Jing wanted to express, but with her bold personality, how could she be shy? She admitted it generously.

Chitiao poked Suren behind her with her elbow, raised her eyebrows slyly, and said, "Suren, are you going to take a bath together later?"

"..."

Suren glared at her and didn't respond.

From the moment he entered the room, he had been acting as his transparent self throughout the whole time. He had originally thought that he should leave so that his senior sister, who had been traveling for a long time, could have a good rest, but thinking that Mr. Jing must still have something to say, he had followed her.

The three of them were already very familiar with each other, and Mr. Jing had long been accustomed to Chitiao's personality, so she smiled and said nothing.

Chitiao closed the door casually.

Suren stepped back half a step very gentlemanly, stood behind his senior sister, and took off her vampire cloak and hung it on the coat rack.

Although they were very familiar with each other, Mr. Jing responded politely: "Thank you."

Chitiao glanced at it and joked, "Filo, your dress is very beautiful~"

Hearing this, Suren also took another look.

Mr. Jing's dressing had always been very particular, and she had an elegance and nobility of a truly ancient family in her bones. She was wearing a dark gothic-style long dress, with a very sexy deep V neckline in front, and her neck was as slender and beautiful as a black swan.

The moist and jade-like high peaks were half-revealed and half-covered, which was very eye-catching.

A large piece of her beautiful back was also exposed, and because of her blood clan origin, her skin was white and shiny under the light.

The hip-hugging skirt outlined the perfect lines of her figure, and the hem had beautifully patterned lace hollows, which was full of mystery. It was still that cold and desirable dressing style.

Mr. Jing teased: "What's wrong? Chitiao, are you suddenly interested in dresses?"

Chitiao shrugged lazily, "Not at all. I just think you look good in it."

Mr. Jing smiled noncommittally.

Because she was going to spend the night here, she was also very casual, sitting in front of the dressing table and taking off the jewelry she was wearing one by one, necklaces, earrings, and rings.

Suren had nothing to do, so he sat on the sofa.

The three of them chatted casually.

The things that couldn't be explained clearly on the communicator before could now be brought up and talked about.

The Dawn's adventure experiences during this period also had a lot to talk about.

After chatting about some adventure topics, Mr. Jing also listened with great interest.

At this time, Chitiao asked casually again: "Fino, what have you been busy with recently?"

"I was in the Silent Forest before. Later, I went to Senodia Province. My bloodkin have a territory there, and it's developing well. It's also because of them that the progress of our Dawn plan can save a lot of effort. After that, I went to the imperial capital of Lu Ying. The situation there is very complicated..."

When Mr. Jing said this, her expression gradually became serious.

Suren and Chitiao also turned their heads and waited patiently for the following.

Mr. Jing continued: "I don't really care how chaotic the political situation in Lu Ying is. It makes no difference who becomes the emperor. But in the Alchemic civilization, the theocracy must not be in power! This will bring a devastating disaster to the Alchemic civilization!"

The theocracy and the Mechanical Alchemists are opposed to each other.

Because what the Mechanical Alchemists study is the essence of the world, looking at everything in the world, including "God," with a skeptical and dialectical eye.

This conflicts with the theocracy.

It can be said that the Alchemic civilization can tolerate believers in God.

But in the theocratic civilization, there will never be soil that allows Mechanical Alchemists to develop!

Hearing this, Suren thought of something, and his expression also became stern: "Senior Sister, are you sure this has something to do with the Bonaparte royal family?"

"Yes."

Mr. Jing nodded and continued: "Because after the Lu Ying royal family announced the imperial decree not to prohibit the spread of faith, various outer god cults appeared in the imperial capital of Lingdun, and even many evil god cults. And because of the manipulation of some behind-the-scenes pushers, this trend is still rising like a plague. If the authorities don't stop it, it is very likely that the Alchemic civilization will be completely destroyed."

Listening to this, Suren also realized the seriousness of the matter.

The two major empires of Lu Ying and Mafa are now centralized in the county. If the nobles do not promote civilization and improve productivity, then the only way for them to continue to gain wealth is to exploit and suppress the people at the bottom. And the fact is that the development of the Alchemic civilization has hardly made much progress in almost a thousand years, and has even regressed. The more oppressed they are, the worse the living conditions of the bottom people and slaves become, and the more resentment they have against the upper-level rulers. This situation is very easy to be incited by various outer god beliefs, and it also gives various sects an opportunity.

This is indeed a very fatal problem.

If the theocracy really comes to power, it will inevitably be a devastating disaster for the Alchemic civilization.

And what's even worse now is that the outer god seems to have directly controlled some big figures in the Lu Ying royal family, so the theocracy can expand so rapidly.

Suren thought of the information he had extracted before and frowned and asked: "Senior Sister, have you heard of the 'Giant Hermit Society'?"

Mr. Jing nodded, "I've heard of it. There is intelligence proving that this 'Giant Hermit Society' is secretly spreading among the noble class in Lingdun, and those who can come into contact with it are some influential people. But compared to the other churches, there are not many believers at present, but the influence is very great."

After listening to these words, Suren said: "Then the mastermind behind this 'Giant Hermit Society' should be the outer god we encountered in the Burial God Land in the Cursed Valley before."

As he spoke, he told the story of what happened in the Sea Ruins.

"Yes."

Mr. Jing nodded as she listened and fell into a brief silence.

After a long while, she said: "Therefore, our 'Dawn' must show its face to the world as soon as possible. This is also the most important purpose of my visit this time."

The more they talked, the more serious the topic became. The chat between the three of them, who had finally met, was like a high-level meeting discussing official business.

Chitiao listened to it with some boredom, and the things that required thinking were never her strong point.

She looked at Suren and Mr. Jing, who had fallen into a brief silence, and then interjected: "Hey, hey, Filo, it's not easy to meet, don't always talk about serious topics. Come and take a bath together."

Mr. Jing also felt that the atmosphere was too serious, smiled slightly, and agreed happily: "Okay."

After drifting at sea for so long, for a blood clan with slight cleanliness habits, there was nothing more enjoyable than taking a good bath.

As she spoke, Chitiao went to turn on the hot water pipe of the boiler.

Although there were ventilation pipes, a layer of faint steam rose on the roof of the room as the "crashing" hot water flowed into the bathtub.

After turning on the water, Chitiao, as usual, directly unfastened the belt of her clothes, and then took off her clothes directly in front of the two people in the room.

She thought that Mr. Jing had seen it, and Suren had also seen it. Now that the two of them were watching together, it didn't seem to make any difference.

Then she even unfastened her breast wrap and walked into the bathroom naked.

Before turning on the water, she didn't forget to say: "By the way, Filo, there are no clothes for taking a bath here. Either you go naked, or you can find clothes to wear yourself."

Mr. Jing looked at Chitiao's naked body without any concealment and said with a wry smile, "I brought my own."

Because the three of them had taken baths together before, there was nothing to mind.

Mr. Jing took out her clothes and went to the bathroom, but she wasn't as unrestrained as Chitiao and pulled up the shower curtain.

Chitiao also greeted in an obviously mischievous manner: "Suren, do you want to take a bath together?"

"No, thanks. I'm going to the lab later."

Suren lay on the sofa with his eyes straight ahead, thinking about the topic they had just discussed.

Although he could be unrestrained with Chitiao, he still respected his senior sister very much.

Not long after, he heard the sound of "crashing" water again.

It was the sound of someone entering the bathtub, and warm water overflowing and falling on the floor.

Soaking in the water, the breathing of the two women also became pleasant and even.

"Filo, do you have any easy topics to chat about? How is everyone who went to Lingdun with you? Is it fun there?"

"Emmerich applied for a job as an administrator in the Royal Library, responsible for some intelligence integration. Keith became a phantom thief, Number Nineteen went to Mafa, Carter joined the Assassin's Guild, and Sidura went to the South China Sea to adventure. Oh, and it's especially important to mention that Sabina, your subordinate Suren, is simply too professional and capable in terms of intelligence. After she joined the intelligence organization created by my bloodkin, she infiltrated the upper class of Lu Ying in a short period of time, and also developed many new reliable sources of information. A lot of information about the royal family's high-level officials came from her..."

"And the White Whale Merchant Guild is also developing well now. The materials you wanted, Suren, are being collected by them. The Reis family, who came with me from Old Lingdun, brought a lot of money. Carnegie's management skills are good, and the merchant guild is also expanding rapidly. And Lena, that girl, is also getting more and more capable, and she's getting more and more beautiful. She also occasionally asks about your situation, Suren..."

"Your other disciple, Jake, also entered the Royal Academy... and Danny, Kai..."

"..."

Suren listened silently, occasionally interjecting a word.

They were all old friends who came out of Old Lingdun. Listening to everyone's experiences also made people feel very gratified.