After Ling agreed to Rector's request, she adjusted her afternoon schedule.
She and the three Russells first chatted enthusiastically about the details of the flying battleship and the miniaturization of the flight backpack. This was the follow-up progress of the project that had been experimented in Liber last year.
Although limited by processing technology issues, the miniaturization of the gravity control device used in airships is still on paper, but neither Tida Russell nor his grandfather Albert Russell has.
They concealed the details of their research from Ling. If Ling's schedule had not allowed it, they would have even wanted to drag Ling to Liber to continue miniaturization research - research on the operation of guidance forces at a microscopic scale, and Ling was an authoritative expert in this field.
After Tida reluctantly said goodbye to Ling, the Russell family finally boarded the airship back to Liber. This trip, the family of four not only came to visit, but also received a large amount of Mira from Ling.
As working capital, a remittance certified by the world's largest bank, IBC, was Ling's advance payment to Russell's workshop for the next three years of research funding. The primary research topic was a prop called "Flying Orb".
Although Ling is one or none of the people who stand at the forefront of theoretical research in the entire Samlia, her product development capabilities are much worse than those of genius inventors.
After all, people's energy is limited and cannot be allocated to all things. Even if there is a country of shadows that flows at a different speed from the external time to cheat, she has no intention of investing her energy in the field of inventors.
Fortunately, she has Mira. There may be problems in the world that Mira can't solve, but they are definitely not many. The first pot of gold, the Jinyao Stone, that was obtained from the ancient dragon Regnart, after a year and a half of operation,
It has allowed her to successfully whiten the black technology of the floating city and bring it to the table. The ultra-large-scale integrated force guide micro-carving technology that has been unable to be solved by the Russell family and can even be called a technical bottleneck is actually making use of
There are ready-made ones in the Bell Ark Factory Zone. Ling has already used machine tools to produce new machine tools in the basement of the Doll Factory, and has digested them into the Rozenbelk Factory's own technology.
Ling is of course very grateful to Dita. If he hadn't opened the door for her, things would not have gone so smoothly. Although her status as an IBC board member is now dispensable to her, she has not withdrawn immediately.
She planned to leave after using the other party's resources. She was not so heartless and unrighteous.
To go a little further, to get back to the point, after sending away the irrelevant people, Ling is now acting together with Rector, Osborn's confidant.
"We first met six years ago, probably. Compared to then, you don't seem to have changed much."
Ling was talking about what happened when she and Rector were both in school at Thorz. Ling, who entered the school as a child prodigy, certainly attracted more attention than Rector, who deliberately lowered his presence. In fact, the intersection between the two sides was at that time
Not much, but it was only after the red-haired young man returned from Liber Kingdom that he gradually became familiar with him. Two years ago, after that meeting with Osborne.
Although everyone is working for the imperial government, after all, they belong to different departments. On the surface, Ling is under the direct management of the emperor, but in fact she belongs to the Ogua faction. And there is a complete iron-blooded prime minister faction.
"Haha, because that's my personality. Xiaoling, you have changed a lot compared to back then."
"Hmm? Is there any?"
"Yes, I don't have the feeling of being as sharp as before. I guess it means 'hiding the edge in the sheath'."
"Oh, that. I'm a little self-conscious too." Although Ling's absolute power has been improving for a long time, thanks to it, her control over herself is constantly improving, and she is silently accumulating resources.
, in order to sprint through the insurmountable human wall. Well, this is not enough for outsiders.
"I've heard a lot from Claire, but it's a pity that I've never seen your masterful skills. It's hard to imagine that you can reach such heights at your age. Are you aiming for the world?
The strongest one, right?"
Ice Maiden? Ling actually hasn't worked with her many times. It's just that Ling had some dealings with the Railway Gendarmerie when she was building the subway in the Crossbell Autonomous Prefecture. It seems that she helped her catch a few smugglers.
, as if he helped a little bit.
"I'm not interested in becoming the strongest in the world, I just need to be averagely strong."
Ling's ambiguous words made Lecter chew the words and repeat them.
"Generally strong?"
"As long as I don't die casually in this troubled world of Semlia. And for now, I have achieved this goal. I don't want to do such a thing again if I have to fight for it, huh?
Mm, I don’t want to go through this a third time.”
"Ha, it seems like it's not something I can delve into."
Rector consciously did not ask further. After all, he also had a past that he did not want to tell anyone. More importantly, in an instant, his intuition warned him that there was a great danger ahead, and he had always been cautious about this.
Believe it or not.
The cruise ship to Mishulam was booked at the harbor area. Although Ling often went to the City of Mirrors in the past, she always stepped on the water and ran there. It was also a rare experience to take a cruise with others.
Lecter Alandel looked familiar and after chatting with the passengers on the boat, he returned to Ling's seat.
"How about it? It's not a bad feeling to play the role of an ordinary tourist, right?"
"Ordinary travelers probably won't strike up a conversation with everyone like you. It's really suspicious to have a conversation with everyone."
Of course, some guerrillas and police officers also did this, but Ling still wanted to complain about Rector's blatant "intelligence gathering" behavior.
"Well, don't say that. I'm just an enthusiastic young man. If anyone encounters difficulties, I will not begrudge my execution ability."
Ha? Ling rolled her eyes at Lecter, and then continued to look at the rippling blue waves outside the window.
Ever since her Qinggong advanced to the wave-riding stage, she has never taken a boat as a means of commuting. And it’s not just for rushing. Watching the people and scenery is also a pleasure in itself. Unfortunately, she seems to be unable to feel it well now.
to this point.
"You look like you are not interested. How about it? Is there anything that troubles Xiaoling and you need my help?"
"I have no intention of asking you for help."
"No, no, the answer is very simple. You can understand it just by looking around. Well, my intuition is very accurate."
"Tch, even though you don't even know the whereabouts of Altina like me, you still have the nerve to tell me."
Ling glanced back subconsciously, and then noticed the laughter and laughter around her. They came from families who were planning to go to Mishulam. Some were male and female friends, some were with colleagues, and some were parents with their children...
"That's right, I've never played with Grandpa Yorugu once." Thinking like this, he fell into deep thought.
"Ha, that's not what I meant." Lecter shook his finger, but Ling didn't seem to hear what he was saying at all. Or maybe... a sense of crisis came to his mind for a moment, and he left Ling's side knowingly.
The window seat is breathable.
◇
After docking, there is the tourist destination Mishulam. For the two Imperials, the mansion that once housed the old Governor's Palace is of course also of great concern to Lecter. In addition to the black auction, Ling also held a party for the Imperial party.
I was invited by Chancellor Haltmann to go there several times.
But this time the destination of both of them is not there, but the City of Mirrors in Mishuram. To be precise, it is someone in the City of Mirrors.
It should be said that it was a premonition or that it just happened. There was only one young female guest in front of the fortune teller. But she, with black hair and golden eyes, exuded an aura that was similar to Lucy, the fortune teller on the seat.
The mysterious atmosphere that was no less impressive than Aura made Ling very concerned about her identity.
"Hey, are you finally here?"
He spoke to the two of them as if they knew each other, but neither Lecter nor Ling had any impression of this girl who didn't look much older than Ling.
"Who are you?"
"Really, you don't know me at this time. Ah, it doesn't matter. Forget what I just said. I am Beryl, and I will become your junior in no time. I also know a little about divination.
One or two, if you two don’t mind, how about I do the divination for you two?”
Although it was a very familiar name, Ling did not recall who the other party was at once. She moved her gaze in the direction of Luciola, and at this time Luciola had already stood up from her seat and came to Ling's side.
around.
"Sister Luciola, is it okay?"
"Since I can't calculate the cause and effect you are about to ask about, you might as well listen to other people's opinions." A soft female voice came from the mouth of the green-haired woman.
"Obviously we haven't asked any questions yet."
"That is not difficult. When you show up here, I will be able to figure out your problems, but the difficulty lies in the answer. I am also very concerned about Levi's whereabouts."
"Oh, okay..." Now that Luciola has mentioned Levi, Ling believes that she really knows what question she is going to ask. There are always some very mysterious things in the world, Luciola
This is the Eastern Onmyoji that she is good at, but Pian Ling is on the scientific side, preferring to rely on big data to analyze cause and effect, and does not have in-depth research on cause and effect in the field of metaphysics.
Since Luciola said so, Ling could only look at the mysterious fortune teller who appeared here "at just the right time".
"'Unicorn' still survives. 'Black''s improvised plan seems to have failed, haha."
After the light of the crystal ball gradually faded, Beryl said these words.
"The divination is over. It seems that the divergence of cause and effect has disappeared. Everything will return to the usual trajectory." After finishing speaking, Beryl stood up, waved to the three of them, and then left the divination room in the City of Mirrors.
And no one had any intention of intercepting her. Because all three of them could see that although she was "here", she was actually "not here" long ago.
"Is this...a charade?" Rector couldn't quite understand the meaning of those two sentences.
"What an interesting mysterious person. Could it be that he came from 'outside'?" Luciola looked at Ling, but the latter just shook her head.
"I don't understand either."
Although there were some vague guesses in her mind, Ling just couldn't remember Beryl's identity. There was a powerful causal barrier on her, which was as unobservable as what happened to Qiya at that time.
But at least the result was clear, which made her relieved. Although she didn't know where this confidence came from, her hunch and intuition completely believed in the divination result that everyone was safe.