While the others were enthusiastically discussing what delicacies to prepare for the victory feast on the Express, Jing Yuan was off to the side, secretly on his phone with Yaoguang. He didn't know what the two were discussing over the call, but Jing Yuan's brow remained furrowed, not relaxing even after he hung up.
Fu Zhu, who had been chatting with March 7th and the others, noticed Jing Yuan and walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"What's wrong, Old Jing? You look so worried. Don't tell me the Xianzhou Alliance won't reimburse you for the gas money from this trip?"
Fu Zhu made a small joke, but it did nothing to improve Jing Yuan's mood. Instead, he glanced at the bustling crowd, lowered his voice to be heard over the noise, and said to Fu Zhu, "A word."
Fu Zhu's smile vanished. He nodded and followed Jing Yuan to the side.
"Fu Zhu, I felt that Zephyro's actions earlier were too aggressive. His target was clearly the Dragon Egg left by the Ender Dragon. I just contacted Yaoguang and had her help me with a divination. The result was bad news."
"[Destruction] has its eyes on the egg left by the Ender Dragon. It seems Zephyro was acting on Nanook's orders, which is why he launched a surprise attack. You were lucky to have stopped him, but I fear the other Lord Ravagers will not let the matter rest!"
Fu Zhu nodded knowingly. This was very much in line with Nanook's style of doing things.
He had no shortage of Lord Ravagers targeting various Paths under his command. Only a few Paths lacked a corresponding Lord Ravager, perhaps because Nanook hadn't encountered a suitable candidate.
And the Dragon Egg left by the Ender Dragon, if they could hatch it, would clearly produce a young Ender Dragon—the perfect Lord Ravager to target [Finality].
Although Fu Zhu wanted to tell Jing Yuan not to worry, that the Dragon Egg couldn't be hatched, this was the real world. It was hard to say if the egg could actually hatch. What if someone found a way? Or what if the egg mutated?
"Mm, I understand. I'll go retrieve the Dragon Egg now."
To be safe, it was best to retrieve the egg. If it really could hatch, then the Express would gain another powerful bodyguard.
Jing Yuan, seeing that Fu Zhu understood the gravity of the situation, finally let out a sigh of relief. The usual faint smile returned to his face.
"Good, as long as you know. With you saying that, I can rest easy."
With Fu Zhu's power, even if several Lord Ravagers attacked at once, the only thing to worry about would be whether their battle would cause collateral damage. Fu Zhu himself was in no danger.
"Still, do you need help? I saw earlier that the Dragon Egg fell into the portal in that Bedrock structure."
Jing Yuan pointed to the Bedrock altar that was still standing not far away. The re-creation of Amphoreus hadn't displaced it. The Bedrock altar and a good deal of End Stone had simply and directly merged with the new world.
"No need. I'll be right back. You guys chat first."
Fu Zhu strode directly towards the Bedrock altar, preparing to go through the portal to his respawn point to find the Dragon Egg. This was something that would only take two or three minutes. By the time he got the egg, Jing Yuan would probably have just started chatting with the others.
Jing Yuan watched Fu Zhu walk all the way to the altar, then step through the portal and disappear. He was about to turn and rejoin the discussion about the victory feast when he suddenly felt himself lose control of his own body. His head tilted up towards the sky against his will.
In the direction he was looking, lines of incomprehensible text floated in the air. Although the characters were foreign, for some reason, he could understand their meaning!
But at that moment, Jing Yuan's mind wasn't on the floating lines of text. Alarms were blaring in his head.
What's going on?! An ambush?!
Jing Yuan wanted to warn the others, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make a sound. What terrified him even more was when he caught sight of March 7th, Stelle, and Dan Heng out of the corner of his eye. They were all looking up at the same spot, just like him, their faces frozen in terror. Clearly, this was not consensual!
Jing Yuan gritted his teeth, trying to regain control of his body. After several attempts, he found he could only move a few of his fingers, but it wasn't enough to drive any real force.
Fortunately, he still had his phone in his hand from his call with Yaoguang.
Jing Yuan immediately began to blind-type, sending a help message to Yaoguang through his phone.
As time ticked by, the help message he sent was met with silence, like a stone sinking into the ocean. It was then that Jing Yuan's heart plummeted.
Of all the times for this to happen, it had to be when Fu Zhu was gone!
Dammit!
However, Jing Yuan didn't know that at this very moment, Yaoguang, far away, was trapped in the same predicament as him.
It wasn't just Yaoguang. On the Xianzhou capital ship, in Penacony, on Jarilo-VI, at the Herta Space Station—life forms in every region were, like them, uncontrollably looking up at the sky, at the lines of strange text floating there.
All of civilization, in that moment, began to grind to a halt.
After several fruitless attempts, Jing Yuan gave up struggling. He focused his attention on the lines of text floating in mid-air, trying to find a way to break the spell.
Even if he couldn't, he at least wanted to die knowing why!
[I see the player you mean.]
[I see the player you mean.]
Player? Who?
Jing Yuan frowned, not understanding. He could only continue to read. Then he saw a name that was so familiar it made his eyes go wide.
[Steve (Fu Zhu)?]
[Yes. Take care. It has reached a higher level now. It can read our thoughts.]
[Yes. Be careful. He has reached a higher realm and can read our thoughts.]
How could it be Fu Zhu?!
Jing Yuan was shocked. Why was Fu Zhu's name mentioned in this text?
What shocked Jing Yuan even more was that as he read these lines, two voices would always sound in his mind. One of them sounded vaguely familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before…
That's right! It's the Ender Dragon!
Others might not know, but Jing Yuan knew for sure! He had heard the Ender Dragon's voice when it was talking with Fu Zhu before coming to his aid. This voice was identical to the one in his head!
But wasn't the Ender Dragon dead? Why was its voice appearing now?
Could it be some kind of pre-recorded message?
Jing Yuan felt his head ache terribly. The flood of information was difficult to process. At the same time, he worried that the Ender Dragon was feigning its death and would suddenly reappear to deliver a fatal blow to everyone.
Fu Zhu, find that egg and get back here, quick!