……
Five days later.
Lex saw Xinbadi again.
In the medical facility of the First Army camp.
Coming with him to visit was that lively young lady, Mojin.
“How are you feeling?” Muli placed a bunch of seaweed on the windowsill, “There aren't any pretty flowers to be found here, so I can only use this as a substitute—but at least it’s green, better than all the yellow sand, isn’t it?”
“Ah…thank you,” Lex quickly sat up, “I feel…much better than before.”
“That’s good. The way you looked when you were first pulled out of the water was terrifying. Your face was pale, you were convulsing all over, and you kept spitting out seawater.” She laughed, “After being sent to the camp, you developed a high fever. Xinbadi and I came by twice, but you didn’t seem to be fully conscious at that time.”
Lex gave a wry smile, “My body is indeed too weak.”
“But you persevered to the end, and you surpassed your limits.” Xinbadi grinned, “Explorer. In fact, your will to survive was stronger than I imagined. When we were close to the surface, I had almost exhausted all my strength. If you hadn’t been holding onto me for dear life, I probably wouldn’t have been able to bring you out together.” He lifted a corner of his clothes, “Look, there are still a few bruises here.”
“Sorry,” Lex said a little embarrassedly, “I can’t remember what happened after leaving the water cave.”
“You must have been thinking about something to keep you from letting go even when you lost consciousness, right?” Muli said with emotion.
“Maybe…” He nodded, “Before I fainted, many things did flash through my mind, my precious inventions, the Physical Society, and my two wives waiting for me to return…”
The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
After a good while, Xinbadi tentatively asked, “What did you just say?”
“Two wives…” Lex seemed to suddenly realize, “Ah, I forgot to mention, the customs of the Fjord Islands are different. The island where I live doesn’t have a limit on the number of spouses, it’s all voluntary. It’s normal that you wouldn’t know this.”
“I suddenly think…leaving you in the water cave might have been a good choice,” Xinbadi said, twitching his lips.
“Same here.” Muli echoed with a serious face.
“Hey, you don’t have to be so heartless…” Seeing that things were not going well, Lex quickly changed the subject, “What about that ruin—what’s happening with it now?”
Speaking of serious matters, Xinbadi immediately became serious, “Now the First Army has set that area as a restricted zone, and no one is allowed to enter without permission. There are also guard posts arranged at the edge of the cliff, probably to guard against Armored Giant Scorpions. I was commissioned by them to dive into the water cave again during low tide to retrieve the pouch.” His voice became lower and lower, “But all these things have also been handed over to the First Army…sorry.”
“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” After listening to the other party's account, Lex gently shook his head, “Since the First Army took over the treatment, you couldn’t have hidden it from them, and I didn’t think I could monopolize such a large ruin anyway. The only pity is that both diving suits were destroyed. Even if I spread the news of the successful experiment, the credibility will be greatly reduced. But that can’t be helped…after all, you were saving me.”
Xinbadi was silent. He naturally knew how much effort Lex had put into this. A waterproof suit took half a year to prepare, and that referred only to the last two completed products. How many times had he failed before that, and how many materials and gold dragons had been wasted could be seen from the other party's financial straits.
Such a blow was indeed heavy.
After a long silence, he asked in a low voice, “What…what are you planning to do in the future?”
“Go back to the Fjords first, and then come back stronger.” Lex answered without hesitation.
Xinbadi and Muli couldn’t help but be stunned.
“What, are you worried that I’ll be discouraged from now on?” Looking at the slightly surprised expressions of the two, Lex smiled, “If it hadn’t been for this escape experience, I probably would have really given up on this career.” He stretched out his palm, clenched it, and then opened it, as if feeling something in general, “But I understand now, this is definitely not my limit—so what if it takes half a year to make a waterproof suit? It’s already many times better than when I was exploring at the beginning! At least I know that it will definitely succeed!”
“Lex…”
“Don’t worry, in two years at most, I will definitely come back with a new diving suit.” The Fjordlander said word by word, “Please continue to work with me then—”
It seemed that his worries were unnecessary, Xinbadi thought. Just as he was about to agree, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a man dressed as a military officer walked in.
“Lex? Xinbadi?” He looked at the two.
“Yes, may I ask…what’s the matter?” Xinbadi quickly saluted.
“Regarding your discovery, Neverwinter City has issued the latest instructions.” The officer nodded, “His Majesty wants to see you.”
“You mean, the King of Graycastle?”
“The, the Great Chieftain?”
The two were almost simultaneously surprised. They both saw disbelief in each other's eyes. Putting aside the fact that the news could travel between Daqing Port and the new capital of Graycastle in just five days, the monarch's summons was a bit beyond their imagination—generally speaking, if a person of high status wanted to inquire about news, they would send someone over, and to handle this matter so solemnly, could it be that the discovered ruins had extraordinary significance?
“That’s right, and His Majesty Roland has also specially dispatched a ship to be responsible for transportation, which will arrive at Daqing Port in about two days.” The officer smiled, “Until then, you can stay in the military camp and have a good rest.”
*******************
Graycastle, Neverwinter City.
Roland sat at his desk, reading the reports sent back from the front lines.
No matter how you look at it, the Torch Program can be said to be progressing smoothly. After entering May, the devils have hardly put up any decent resistance, and the railway line is steadily advancing towards Taqila. According to this trend, the Holy City ruins will be within the striking range of the First Army in mid-June at the latest, which is about ten days faster than the originally planned schedule.
Even though the offensive was so smooth, Roland didn’t feel much relief in his heart.
The opponent is the devil, the mortal enemy of human civilization, and has achieved overwhelming victories in the past two Wars of Divine Will, forcing humans to a corner of the Dawn Territory. Now the Fertile Plains is the last line of defense. As long as the obelisk is erected, the red mist can cover the entire continent, and the enemy should be determined to get it.
His eyes constantly scanned between the reports and the map, hoping to find a clue, but he never found anything.
After the Night Attack War, the defenses of the railway stations have become more and more perfect, and destroying the camps can only be done by hard fighting. Although this is the place where the greatest battles are most likely to break out, it is also the battlefield where the First Army has the greatest advantage. If the enemy chooses to fight head-on, it would be a good thing.
The hundreds of kilometers of railway line is the second point of attack—in fact, this is also where reports of engagements between the First Army and devils are frequent, with a total of forty-six incidents so far. If it weren't for these reports, he would even have the illusion that the enemy had withdrawn from the Fertile Plains, leaving only the Construction Department to bury their heads in repairing the railway. However, it is not easy to cut off the logistics under the fire of the armored train and the repair of the witches, or rather, the Torch Program was initially made to address this point. After the third Black River train was put into service, there were not even many reports of Terrorbeast harassment.
The last place that might be attacked, the forest station, is theoretically the least important. As long as Leaf doesn’t actively engage the devils, there are very limited things the devils can do. After all, it is too far from the Taqila supply line, and small-scale enemies cannot pose a sufficient threat to the station fortifications. Moreover, the terminal station has already been burned once, so it is difficult to repeat the old trick.
Due to the continuous advance of the front lines, Lightning has been able to directly scout the situation of the Taqila ruins. So far, there are no signs of the devils increasing their troops. Looking from the sky, even the red lines behind them used for supplies have become a lot dimmer.
Every piece of evidence indicates that humanity is about to win the Northern Expedition and has the opportunity to completely drive the devils out of the Fertile Plains before the Red Moon descends.