Not only was she his direct superior who was in charge of him, she was also the teacher of his girlfriend, Scarlet. The relationship between them should be very close; everyone in the Exploration Team Department also thought the same way. But for some reason, from the few interactions he had with Sophia, Wang Zhong felt that they could not get close. There were a subconscious resistance and vigilance that made him temporarily give up on his idea of asking Great Teacher Sophia.
He would have to rely on Great Teacher Murphy or Great Teacher Kenso. However, he heard that Great Teacher Murphy had returned to the Holy City for something. On the other hand, he had only met Great Teacher Kenso once. Although he was grateful for Great Teacher Kenso's guidance and support, they were not very close. After much thought, he eventually set his eyes on Teacher Lan Daier.
Although she was only a Heroic Soul Teacher, she was also the Assistant Chief Logistics Officer of the northern battlefield. She definitely had the power to directly talk to the higher-ups. She was the best channel for him to relay the information to the higher-ups. Of course, most importantly, ever since he met Lan Daier before setting off from the Holy Land, he never had the chance to see her. He definitely had to visit her after returning.
…He just hoped that she would not fly into a rage.
Teacher Lan Daier lived behind the Exploration Team Department, in the deepest area of the valley. It was also the safest place in the entire base.
Overhead was a massive Trust aircraft carrier that was hovering in the air. It was also surrounded by precipitous cliffs and was heavily guarded. This was also the headquarters of the Holy City Army. Wang Zhong was not an ordinary person in the northern battlefield. Soldiers looked at him with respect wherever he went. He went to the soldiers' office and asked for Lan Daier's address. Her house was like the large houses that everyone lived in, except even bigger. Probably no one had thought that the important Holy Battle would turn into a protracted war.
He did not know whether Teacher Lan Daier was around. Just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard a voice with strong hostility behind him. "Aiyo, isn't it Great Teacher Wang! What a rare guest!"
He immediately knew that it was Ella. He did not know whether to laugh or cry at her strong, unhappy tone. "Hello, Teacher Ella! Is Teacher Lan Daier in?"
Ella carried a sealed box and walked from behind him. She looked at Wang Zhong with a sidewards glance and did not answer his question. Instead, she said, "Tsk tsk, do you dare to come just because your girlfriend is not around? What do you think our place is? Don't tell me that you have something to report. The Food Department has nothing to do with the Exploration Team Department!"
"Indeed, I recently encountered a rather troublesome situation. Furthermore, I've only just returned, right? Sister Daier is the most generous and will not blame me."
"Are you saying that I'm petty?" Ella glared at him. The boxes in her hands rose and fell as they were pushed by her plump breasts. "Our Teacher is not here! Please go home!"
Wang Zhong was speechless when faced with a little chili pepper like her. Just as he was about to speak, the door opened by itself.
After a few months of not seeing her, Lan Daier had slimmed down greatly. Perhaps the Food Department was overwhelmed with work after joining the Holy Battle. She wore a work robe that looked like a white long coat that floated on her body. Her beautiful hair was casually tied together with a headband. She did not put any makeup on her face and looked extremely delicate and pretty.
She had already heard the commotion outside. When she opened the door and took a look, to her surprise, it was Wang Zhong. There was no unhappiness and jealousy on her face, unlike Ella. Instead, there was a smile on her face. "You have the time to come visit me today? Come in and speak."
Wang Zhong winked at Ella to show off, causing Ella to huff in anger. Meanwhile, Lan Daier smiled understandingly. No matter what achievements he had obtained, Wang Zhong was still the same old Wang Zhong. She had not recognized the wrong person.
Even though they had not seen each other for a few months, there seemed to be no impact in their naturally close relationship. The only person who was unhappy was probably Ella. She stroked her beard and glared at him, even though she did not have a beard. "Teacher Daier, there is an experiment today. That's right. There is also some classified information!"
As she spoke, she took out a pile of classified materials on runes from her space crystal. This was somewhat directed at Wang Zhong. Deep down, she probably felt that Wang Zhong and Teacher were rather suitable for each other.
"Yes, yes, I got it. Place them on the resource table."
Her casual reminder did not disturb Lan Daier's decision to invite Wang Zhong in at all. This caused Ella to be rather unhappy, but she could not do anything either. After all, her Teacher was still a Teacher… Except that Teacher Lan Daier was rather useless. Look at her bright smile when she looked at that ingrate… She did not even care about her work! Typically, she said again and again that she did not care. She was just waiting for this ingrate to come, right? This was too much. Ella was going crazy!
But there was something that Ella did not notice. Lan Daier was very warm, but Wang Zhong could sense that there was a hidden sense of unfamiliarity. Lan Daier's smile was genuine, but there was some restraint in her smile. Compared to how they had never kept any secrets from each other and how they had made all sorts of jokes in the past, there had been a subtle change. After all, some things had changed. This was normal.
This house was very large. The decorations in the house did not make it seem like a normal living space. Instead, it seemed more like a working office. Steam was rising behind a thick curtain in the middle of the house as a fragrant smell wafted out. It was probably a place for them to conduct food experiments. There were many working tables filled with various materials in the front area of the house. On the left, there were two very simple beds. The blankets on the beds were neatly folded. This was completely different from what he had previously seen in Lan Daier's house.
The battlefield of the Holy Battle did not just involve killing at the battlefront. The logistics personnel were often even busier than those killing at the battlefield. Even Daier, who was usually a sluggish person, was desperately working.
Wang Zhong was rather emotional as he placed the large bag of presents on the table. These were some local specialties from Yunzhou that he had asked Ma Dong to gather. They were not valuable items. They were nothing more than snacks like Xuanwei ham and flaky pastries.
Yunzhou was Lan Daier's hometown. When he chatted endlessly with Lan Daier, Wang Zhong had heard Lan Daier fondly recall her childhood experiences in her hometown more than once. However, she was now in the Holy City. After she became Teacher Lan Daier, even her parents had moved there along with her family members. Thus, she had very few opportunities to taste the native flavors of her hometown.
This simple gift caused Lan Daier's eyes to light up. To her, these native goods were even more valuable than any other precious goods. Wang Zhong had never spoken to her in the few months since the Holy Battle began. He did not even send her a message on Skylink. Although Lan Daier always said that this was right and wished him and Scarlet all the best, she could not help but feel a hidden sense of neglect in the depths of her heart. Now, she could see that Wang Zhong was not an ungrateful person. He remembered everything she had once told him.
The smile on her face relaxed. Even Lan Daier herself felt that this was rather amusing. She had thought that she completely did not care about him, but she was still very happy when he showed care for her. "I heard that you did something amazing on Earth this time. That's right. Weren't you in the territory of the Octopus people? Why did you suddenly go to Earth? Come, come, come, tell Sister about it. I am very curious."
How Wang Zhong infiltrated enemy territory, caused utter chaos among the Octopus people, and returned to Earth were the most mysterious things that those in the northern battlefield, who were observing the situation, were most curious about. But Wang Zhong did not talk about these to anyone when he was in the bar yesterday. After all, this incident involved many secrets. At that moment, he spoke tirelessly about the various dangers and exciting encounters he had. Even Ella, who seemed unhappy throughout, could not help but be fixated by what he was talking about. She pretended to sort out materials at the side but was listening attentively.
He talked about the dispute with the Warlock Saint, the cowardly Tatamu, the mysterious and powerful phoenix ruins, and even the memories that the Holy Saint Teacher had left behind in the remains.
After understanding this series of experiences that Wang Zhong had encountered, Lan Daier and Ella were dumbfounded. The legends were true, and Wang Zhong was a Semi-Heavenly Soul. Furthermore, he was a Semi-Heavenly Soul with a powerful combat level. Not only was he able to display his extraordinary skills in the battle against the Octopus people Saints, he was even able to defeat two Heavenly Soul experts by himself after returning to Earth… He had definitely far exceeded their combat levels. A few months ago, Wang Zhong was still a mere Initial Phase Heroic Soul who grew under Lan Daier's personal guidance. However, she had never expected that he would be able to achieve this level in just a few months.
She was shocked at Wang Zhong's rapid increase in strength and the authenticity of the rumors. In fact, the reality seemed even more exaggerated than the rumors! However, when she heard about Wang Zhong's emphasis on what happened in the Octopus people's territory and the guidance from the Holy Saint Teacher's memories, Lan Daier started to furrow her eyebrows.
Of course, she definitely trusted Wang Zhong and did not seem to doubt the authenticity of all these. She also realized the severity of this problem.
It was not an exaggeration to say that if the Octopus people actually had thousands of Saints just like what Wang Zhong had said, based on expected ratios, they would have at least ten super-beings who were on par with Sword Gods and Warlock Gods! This kind of strength was definitely not something that the current Holy City Army could defend against, even if they had the extraordinarily powerful Sacred Teacher Leyson! The humans were not afraid of the Octopus people's strength, but they might have to gather the strength of the entire Holy Land, countless secret realms, countless families, and even the many Sacred Teachers hiding in the dark, as well as the help from the Holy Land's powerful logistics team and various advanced war machinery to secure their victory in the Holy Battle.
This amount of information and considerations were too large. Furthermore, once everything was confirmed, the final outcome of the Holy Battle would most likely cause the Holy City Army to come back empty-handed. The Holy Land would not possibly use up all the power in the Holy Land to invade a level-3 civilization. It would no longer be an invasion; they would be risking their lives!
No matter how many attractive resources were available in the Mizobudapi World, they were not enough to offset the danger that the human race was about to face. The losses far outweighed the gains. The Sacred Teachers could not possibly completely concentrate and fight the Octopus people to the death immediately.
This was a massive problem. Withdraw their troops? After exhausting large amounts of manpower and resources, not only did they not reap any benefits, they instead suffered heavy casualties. Would the higher-ups in the Holy Land easily agree to this? Could they agree to this? Did they even have the right to agree to this? Putting the rest of their losses aside, the great families and powers who had lost great amounts of military power had not reaped any benefits from this loss. The next time the Holy Land wanted to carry out a massive plan, it would be extremely difficult for them to ask the great families to send out their troops.
It was definitely difficult to advance or to retreat. This situation was definitely something the higher-ups in the Holy City did not want to face. It could be said that while Wang Zhong's news delivered a warning of danger, it had also brought about a great difficulty. The information that a mere Heroic Soul had brought back was difficult to ascertain but would cause the higher-ups in the Holy City Army to face a dilemma. The results would not be pleasant.
This would not be an achievement. This would be a serious offense.
"This information cannot be leaked. Not only do we have to keep silent, we cannot even report this via the usual channels either. If not, we will easily be making the offense of shaking the soldiers' morale. No matter how excellent your performance at the Holy Battle is, the higher-ups definitely would not be able to protect you. Some extreme members might even vent their anger on you because of this…"
This was also the reason why Wang Zhong had not publicized his journey. He did not even tell the members of the Wanderlust Team about this. It was not that he did not trust them. However, this situation was important. The more people who knew about this, the more unsafe it would become. However, it was evident that he could not keep silent and aloof about this. He had come to look for Lan Daier so that they could discuss this. Wang Zhong knew that Lan Daier would definitely understand his thoughts. He did not continue speaking and waited for her to continue.
"It is best to use your personal identity and look for the Sacred Teacher to talk about this…" Lan Daier remained silent for a very long time. As one of the higher-ups in the Holy City Army, although her field of responsibilities was different and she could not participate in decisions on military strategies, she regularly interacted with the higher-ups. She had a rather good understanding of the higher-ups in the Holy City Army. "Sacred Teacher Leyson has a rather amiable personality. Furthermore, he treasures talents. If you use your own identity to talk to him about this, no matter whether he believes you or not, he will definitely not stir up trouble. As for what Sacred Teacher Leyson decides, it will be up to the higher-ups. This is the best solution. Moreover, I think that the probability of Sacred Teacher Leyson believing you is very high. He has always been using safe and reliable methods. He is a stable fighter who thinks that the Octopus people are not as weak as they seem."
Speaking of which, the northern battlefield had landed in a position that was far away from the central region of the Octopus people. Ever since war broke out, they had been moving steadily and exploring slowly. This was completely different from the southern battlefield. This was not just a coincidence. It was evident that the chief commanders on both sides had differences in their attitude and knowledge of this battle.
"But with my identity, I cannot even see Sacred Teacher Leyson." Wang Zhong sighed. It looked like Lan Daier, the Assistant Chief Logistics Officer, did not have the power to do so either. If not, Lan Daier would have definitely assumed the responsibility of contacting Sacred Teacher Leyson. Not everyone could meet the Sacred Teacher even if they wanted to. "It looks like I have to ask Great Teacher Sophia. She probably has the right to directly interact with Sacred Teacher Leyson."
"Sophia…" When Wang Zhong mentioned this name, Lan Daier furrowed her eyebrows. She seemed to want to speak but stopped.