Chapter 499: All Set and Ready to Go
Earth. Regardless if it was barren or prosperous, it was ultimately a cherished place of Xia Fei’s.
The enormous Nirvana floated some three kilometers away from the surface, slowly making its way forward. Xia Fei and Avril were standing next to each other in front of a window overlooking the planet.
“This is your homeplanet? It’s very pretty,” Avril said. This was the first time she had been to where Xia Fei was born, and she felt very excited. After all, this was the planet that had traces of Xia Fei’s past and where he grew up.
“That’s right. Earth is very beautiful. It’s a good thing that Earth didn’t lose any of its resources during the war and managed to escape from much harm. The insectoids merely fired a few cannons at it and moved on,” Xia Fei said.
“Since you love your homeplanet so much, why don’t you build a house here so that you can come and visit it often,” Avril said.
Xia Fei replied, “Oh, Wu Long actually built a house for me here, and I heard that it’s not a bad place. Too bad that I have yet to visit it. Shall we go and look at it right now?”
Avril giggled in agreement, so Xia Fei rang Wu Long up and changed the location of their meeting to his new house. Along the way, Xia Fei would stop and tell Avril about what landmark or scenery point they pa.s.sed, and she listened to everything avidly. Both only arrived on the outskirts of Hangzhou City by evening.
The location Wu Long had chosen suited Xia Fei’s taste just fine. With the backdrop of the West Lake, it was serene and picturesque. The garden was not too large, approximately five thousand square meters in size, which boasted Ming-style architecture and furniture, with artificial rockery and an ornamentally rich building that was exquisite and tasteful.
Andre and Wu Long, who had stayed on Earth these past years, were already waiting for Xia Fei in the garden, and even Charlie, who was stationed at Quantum Holdings’ headquarters had returned as well.
“You’re piloting such a big carrier yet you arrived even later than we did. So how is it? This place I picked for you ain’t bad, huh?” Wu Long laughed uproariously.
Xia Fei replied, “I was too focused on taking in the sights as I flew here, so I ended up late. Very sorry for making everyone wait. This residence doesn’t seem to be newly built… Did you confiscate this from some nouveau riche?”
The land around the West Lake was worth its weight in gold, and any good location had already been s.n.a.t.c.hed up by others. Managing to carve up land here and construct this residence was by no means an easy feat.
Wu Long’s expression darkened. “Do I look like someone who will eat up the people’s a.s.sets? This building here was originally the Earth Federation’s, and it’s been left in disuse ever since the war, so I took the initiative to sell it to Quantum Holdings. The renovation cost used your personal funds, too, and you can ask Charlie about that.”
Charlie laughed. “President Wu is right. I made the decision to buy this place, and it can be considered a piece of investment in real estate for the company. The price of land became cheap after the war, so I used the opportunity to buy plenty all over the world.”
Xia Fei nodded expectantly. Charlie’s economical mindset was worthy of commendation, and considering how huge Quantum Holdings was, it was only natural for them to have some land and a.s.sets.
Avril smiled and greeted everyone. They had already gotten to know one another during the war. Everyone showered her with compliments about how she was becoming prettier day by day, and that left her feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed.
West Lake was not merely a picturesque setting; its waters were also abundant with fish, and Avril was full of praise for the West Lake’s vinegar fish dish that they had during dinner.
That night, Avril retired to their bedroom to rest and left Xia Fei to spend some time with his friends.
“Time pa.s.ses so quickly. To think I got slapped by you due to my mistake back when we first met onboard a plane, and I was even feeling rather disgruntled about it. Thinking about it now, that slap I took was totally worth it, seeing as I’m currently the Federation President.” The straight forward Wu Long chuckled. “I’ve been onboard s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps too many times that interstellar travel has become common practice to me now. There’s no way I would have imagined that such possibilities were in store for me in the past.”
Charlie chimed in. “Indeed, the entire Earth ought to thank Big Brother Xia Fei. Had it not been for you or your Quantum Holdings, Earth would’ve never been able to progress from some unknown backwater planet to a first-cla.s.s metropolitan world acknowledged by everyone in the Alliance.”
Xia Fei hurriedly gave everyone their due credits as well, but Andre could tell that Xia Fei seemed to have some things on mind, which was why he asked, “Where are you going off to this time, and how long will you be gone?”
Charlie and Wu Long were both very interested in this question, too, so they carefully waited for his answer.
“Well, it’s going to be somewhere very far this time, and I can’t say for sure how long I’ll be gone.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“It won’t be very peaceful.”
“Just where exactly is this place?” The ever impatient Wu Long cut straight to chase.
Xia Fei laughed lightly. “In any case, it’s a very interesting place. You should all rest easy; I know how to take care of myself.”
Everyone was silent for a good while. Xia Fei was no longer that inexperienced youth he had been long ago, and they could hardly speculate his actions anymore. This was because Xia Fei’s present status and ident.i.ty were there for all to see; he was the Alliance’s war G.o.d, the most mysterious and respected individual across the Panhuman Alliance.
“Have you finished that I asked you to set up?” Xia Fei asked.
Wu Long patted his chest heavily. “Why would I tarry in doing what you a.s.signed me to do? It’s merely just tea leaves and cigarettes; they’re now all stored in a warehouse. Everything is the best of the best. Dahongpao, Pu’er, Yunwu, Tieguanying, Maojian, Longjing… Anything you can think of, I have it, but I simply can’t understand why you still like smoking Hongtashan, and it’s even the cheapest kind?”
Xia Fei laughed. “It’s a habit. I just can’t get used to the taste of anything else.”
Charlie mused. “This goes to show that Big Brother Xia Fei is a nostalgic person. From the time I got to know Big Brother Xia Fei, his favorite meal has always been a bowl of fried paste noodles accompanied with cuc.u.mbers.”
Xia Fei momentarily froze. “c.r.a.p! I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it. Be sure to prepare some sweet noodle sauce as well.”
Wu Long burst into raucous laughter. “You may have forgotten, but I haven’t. I already got you ten huge jars of the best sweet noodle sauce from Liubiju, including green onions from Zhangqiu district and the tomatoes and cuc.u.mbers from Shouguang. There’s enough there to last you a long time.”
…
Silently, Xia Fei began to pack his luggage.
Tomorrow was the day when he would proceed to the great unknown of the Law Realm. He had no idea what place it was like, who would be there, and what people did there, but he was certain that the Law Realm was anything but a peaceful place. Yuhua had already told him that it was a place where the strong were respected, while the weak were extremely suppressed living there. There was no future for anyone without any strength of their own. It was a ruthless and dangerous place, yet it was also filled with opportunities.
Unlike the Alliance, where it was possible for people to get rich overnight, the Law Realm was a completely different plane, and it was not even a guarantee for those lucky enough to witness the peak of the universe personally.
Pod, Furball, and Phantom would be following him. Time had attested that this team of man, ball, spirit, and machine was very effective.
Pod was like Xia Fei’s caretaker, in charge of his day-to-day life. Furball was Xia Fei’s exclusive beast, and he was also a mysterious thug. Perhaps there would come a time when this pet could jump up and kill his enemies by himself, but until then, Xia Fei would have to tolerate the beast’s indolent character.
Phantom was both Xia Fei’s mentor and friend. After learning all the pharmacology and medicinal knowledge stored in the Sentinel G.o.ddess, he was proud of himself and greatly wanted to test himself in the Law Realm. However, his personality was not decisive enough and would often be beset with irresolute hesitance.
In any case, this was an effective team that would give others trouble, and every one of them had their merits and flaws, all strangely and stubbornly surviving together.
Sighing, Xia Fei stored that incubator with the Blood Demon Claw into his spatial ring. The plant had once again disappointed him, ignoring the urgency of Xia Fei’s need and starting its seventh round of regression again. Though this would mean that it would be seven times as strong, it also meant that Xia Fei had no choice but to join the Law Realm with his crippled seventh brain region.
“We’ll have to wait another month for the Blood Demon Claw to grow for the seventh time and take things then, but I do hope that you won’t immediately run into trouble upon entering the Law Realm,” Phantom said.
Xia Fei slightly froze. Phantom’s comment had reminded him that trouble was like a specter that haunted every moment of his life. Xia Fei was indeed largely free from troubles these past two years, and life had been smooth-sailing that even he was shocked by it.
It was very peculiar and absolutely abnormal. Could this period of peace be the calm before a major storm of trouble?
Xia Fei shook his head and abandoned these wild thoughts.
He had already sold some of those Purple Hearts of Spirit he got from the ancient ruins before in order to acquire the necessary funds to develop the Terminus Star Region. There were also those that he used to feed Furball, so now all he had left was about six tons of those ores. He had to bring them all, for there was no telling if his pet would rebel when not given enough meal. The vastness of the world all seemed insignificant to Furball, and the only thing that mattered was whether he could have his meal or not.
Next were all the tea leaves, cigarettes, sweet noodle sauce. These were all considered spiritual food for Xia Fei, and the tea leaves made for great gifts, too. In the foreign Law Realm, Xia Fei planned to continue his practice of giving small gifts wherever he went. It was as the old saying went: ‘No one will complain about being given too many gifts.’
He then stored some of his personal necessities and commonly used medicinal fruits into his spatial ring, and that more or less filled the one thousand cubic meter s.p.a.ce within. Finally, it was time for him to take stock of all his equipment.
Xia Fei took out a well worn dagger and frowned. “Guess I won’t be bringing this c.r.a.ppy knife. I still have October Flying Snow.”
“What c.r.a.ppy knife!” Phantom screeched, his face red. “That’s the Blood Crystal! The number one treasure of the a.s.sa.s.sin Sect! Though it looks all blunt now, at best only able to cut watermelons, the power it holds is unimaginable. If it could only regain its spirituality…”
Xia Fei shrugged. He of course knew that what he was holding was the Blood Crystal, and it had once been described as an omnipotent weapon by the crazed sect master, Slaughtershadow. It relied on absorbing human essence and blood to survive, becoming even more effective the more of an expert the blood came from. Once enough blood and essence was collected, it would be reborn to reveal the savagery within it!
The truth was that Xia Fei did not particularly like this dagger, for it was not sharp at all. A stick would fair no better at killing than this weapon, and Xia Fei was proficient at striking while the iron was hot with a.s.sa.s.sination techniques that killed in a single blow. This was why this Blood Crystal was hardly used by Xia Fei. He would rather use a common metal dagger to kill his foes than this short stick.
“What a complete waste of a treasure. To think you’d refer to the powerful Blood Crystal as worthless. That ex-sect master of the a.s.sa.s.sin Sect would most definitely blow a gasket if he were to find out.”
Phantom’s habit of nagging started once more, so Xia Fei hurriedly stored that dark crimson stick into his spatial ring in order to save himself from a headache of a tirade.
Avril had already fallen asleep in their bedroom, and Xia Fei curled up under the covers and had his two hands folded behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.
“Are you all packed?” Avril turned around to ask.
“Yes.”
“When will you leave?”
“Tomorrow night.”
A brief period of silence. Even the moon was obscured behind clouds, unwilling to see this pair of lovers part again.
“I can’t sleep…” Avril snuggled into his chest.
“Same…”