After waiting many days, the black disc finally showed signs of leaving. But Law was in the middle of synthesizing the second new Nitro Rice, and no one noticed the black disc leaving the ruins.
The synthesis of the second new Nitro Rice went smoothly, successfully produced. The characteristic of speeding up Aura recovery was worth Law synthesizing enough for everyone to wear one.
Currently, that was his plan.
Although some materials might be lost in the synthesis process, the stock was sufficient, and Law had the capital to accept losses.
However, before the third new Nitro Rice could be synthesized, Nique noticed that the black disc had disappeared from the projection and quickly alerted everyone.
Everyone looked at the projection on the wall, their expressions shifting. In the monitor feed, the black disc was indeed gone.
"Finally, some movement."
Law put down the Nitro Rice and Lichen decisively and walked towards the Little Fox Nen Beast first. The others followed closely, gathering before the projection wall. In the fixed-perspective monitor feed, the black disc was nowhere to be seen.
Law looked at Sheila and asked, "Can Ai-chan adjust her perspective?"
Sheila shook her head. "No. Before I sent her out, I gave her the order to hold her position."
Law nodded to show he understood, then materialized the spare apartment key that Knov had created for him. When not needed, it became a mark on part of his body. When needed, it could be materialized at will.
"I'll go out and take a look."
"Be careful."
"Yeah."
Before leaving, Law brought along Kuro, whose spirits seemed somewhat low.
Because Nique's Little Fox could only attach to Kuro, by taking Kuro out with him, Law could synchronize the feed for everyone in the room to watch.
Among a pile of rubble at the ruins, a dark circle suddenly appeared on the ground. Law's head poked out from the circle. It was the transition between day and night.
The fading sunlight fell on Law's upper body, rendering a faint orange glow. The surroundings were silent. If he released En, he would find no living creatures nearby.
Law lightly crawled out of the apartment entrance, crouched behind the rubble pile, and quickly glanced around. Soon, he spotted the black disc in the distant sky. As the last trace of twilight vanished, the black disc merged into the night, disappearing from view.
"Is it gone..."
Law gazed in the direction the black disc had left. After waiting many days, this obstacle was finally gone.
Law called out Kuro and made a hand gesture to him. The gesture was meant for Ging and the others.
Moments later, another dark circle appeared on the ground. Ging and the group poked their heads out from the dark circle.
"Whew, we can finally get some fresh air."
Shiro stretched lazily, greedily breathing in the night air.
"Which direction did the disc go?"
"North."
"Will that conflict with where we're going later?"
"We'll have to ask Coo about that."
The group looked at Coo, who was pacing back and forth on the barren land.
"The Forest of Medusa is not in the north."
Facing the group's gazes, Coo's expression was calm. She looked down, quietly examining the ground covered in fine gravel, then looked up at the stars gradually appearing in the night sky.
When she had come here many days ago, she never imagined things would turn out like this.
Regardless...
Coo's eyes, gazing at the starry sky, slowly revealed a sharp light, completely overshadowing the starlight reflected in her pupils.
She intended to use this human team's power to find a way to reclaim her offspring from the Mender. Whatever the cost, she would pay it without hesitation.
The Gatekeeper Clan was favored by eternal time, but the price was the loss of reproductive ability.
This was why their clan could never grow, or perhaps it was a restriction placed on them by the Menders.
Why had Red Shadow initiated reform? It was because of this. He believed that sticking to the status quo was a slow death. Even if one gained eternal life, without the ability to reproduce, a race could never go far.
It would only gradually diminish over the long passage of time.
Therefore, Coo had been very shocked when she realized she was pregnant.
However, from beginning to end, Coo rarely revealed much information in front of Law and the others. So far, Coo still did not understand why Kuro had made her pregnant.
Coo wanted to figure out the reason, but her position limited what she could do. In front of others, her attitude towards Kuro was extremely cold, even to the point of complete disregard.
But in truth, Kuro had become an indispensable seed-sowing machine in her heart.
If Kuro knew Coo's true inner thoughts, he would probably be overjoyed and fly to the heavens. Unfortunately, Coo could never reveal those thoughts. So what awaited Kuro was only a long and painful waiting.
The evening breeze was slightly cool, brushing against everyone's bodies. Fine sand particles hit their faces, causing slight stings.
Weak starlight fell upon the ruins, reflecting tiny glimmers in many places. Looking from afar, it was quite a beautiful scene.
"Law, I want to go down and take another look."
Ging uncovered the entrance to the underground ruins from under a pile of rocks. With the potential danger gone, Law did not refuse.
"I'll go with him."
Shiro was also not one to stay idle.
In the end, even Nique, Salin, Sheila, and others wanted to go down to the ruins again with Ging.
Nique was probably interested in the vine plants. Salin, Sheila, and others probably thought, since they were about to leave, they wanted to take one last good look at the ruins here. Ging probably felt the same.
However, given the havoc Coo had wreaked earlier, the interior of the ruins was probably heavily damaged now. Ging's group formed a temporary team and re-entered the ruins. Law only gave them two days of free time. Afterward, the remaining people returned to the Hide-and-Seek Dimension. When Ging and the others came back, the team would leave this place.
Before that, Law continued the enhancement synthesis of new Nitro Rice. The Surprise Box was secretly pleased that Ging was not around, but as soon as he thought about how he would still fall into Ging's hands and be toyed with later, he was filled with gloom.
Law threw eighty percent of his stock into the Surprise Box for synthesis. The success rate was acceptable, maintaining around sixty percent. Although he lost a fair amount of material, Law could accept it.
After finishing the synthesis, Law did not stop. He wondered whether he should take this opportunity to enhance Nobunaga's weapon.
The enemies the team would face in the future were at the level of Menders, so it was necessary to strengthen the team's overall power.
Law shared this thought with Nobunaga, and naturally, Nobunaga had no reason to refuse. However, there was no hurry for this. More importantly was still recording the intelligence information Coo provided.
Two days later, Ging and the others returned. The next day at noon, the team packed up and prepared to leave. They filed out of the Hide-and-Seek Dimension one by one, ready to depart. Kuro enlarged himself, carrying everyone, heading towards the outskirts of the ruins.
After flying for about an hour, daylight fireworks appeared in the distant sky.