The hotel was somewhat noisy in the morning due to the continuous stream of customers coming for morning tea. The custom of the people of the Divine Land to talk at the dinner table was fully demonstrated here...
"My friend?!" Although it was a bit noisy, Muyue Rendong clearly heard Li Xuan's voice. He seemed a bit shocked as he looked at Li Xuan...
"Muyue, are you here for breakfast too?" Li Xuan scratched his cheek and greeted him. The other party's clothes were too conspicuous, so he saw him as soon as he entered the door...
"Haha ~ That's right, the delicacies of the Yangcheng Hotel are on my itinerary..." Muyue, who had turned to face Li Xuan, said with a carefree laugh as he ruffled his fluffy hair with his right hand.
"Um, I still have things to do... let's talk next time..." Li Xuan had already seen the group behind Muyue... his superior, the great Murata Himeko... She was currently looking at him with a displeased expression, which made him not in the mood to chat with his otaku friend...
"Hey, hey, Li Xuan kid..." Himeko shouted loudly, habitually putting a cigarette in her mouth... "Don't you think you should explain why you were late?"
"Ahem..." Li Xuan lowered his head and coughed, feeling a bit embarrassed. He was a little too embarrassed to talk about this issue...
"Sit..." Himeko pointed to an empty seat at the other end of the table and said unhappily. She didn't really want to pursue the matter of Li Xuan's tardiness... She looked down at the cigarette she had unconsciously put to her lips, sighed, and put it away...
"Let's put aside your tardiness for now.... first, tell us what intelligence you've gathered on 'Jiuyou' these past few days..." Himeko said, turning a blind eye. Although she, Kiana, and the others had arrived near Guangzhou first, they had made no progress... They hadn't found any place related to 'Jiuyou' in Guangzhou... Plus, that period of history was too long ago, making it extremely difficult to verify...
"Yes, Major Himeko..." After having Yae Sakura and Yaoye sit down, Li Xuan replied in a serious manner, "According to the clues... Jiuyou might not be on land, but at the bottom of the sea..."
"Ahem..." A deliberate cough came from behind Li Xuan. Muyue Rendong, with his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie, said with a harmless smile, "I heard you talking about 'Jiuyou'? Isn't that the place where the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou had their decisive battle..."
"Rendong?..." Li Xuan turned his head and saw that very familiar face, Muyue Rendong's smiling face...
"Hey, hey, Li Xuan kid... who is this otaku?" Himeko asked faintly, her eyes half-open, the tip of her chopsticks pointing at Muyue Rendong's face who had approached them... With headphones around his neck, a pale complexion, and a slender figure, Muyue indeed had the air of an otaku...
"Himeko, he is..." Seeing Himeko's faint question, Li Xuan could clearly feel the suppressed anger in her tone... He instinctively felt it was better not to provoke Himeko... and to quickly get rid of Muyue...
"Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I am a mangaka..." Just as Li Xuan was about to muddle through, Muyue Rendong shattered his thoughts and said brazenly, "This is my work...
Muyue even proudly took out a manga book from his clothes and handed it to everyone...
"This book... you're the author of 'Adventures of Homu', Teacher Muyue?!" Among the group, only Kiana foolishly took the manga from Muyue and said with great excitement, "Wow, looking closely, it's really you!"
"That's right!" Muyue slammed the dining table, then spread his hands and said proudly, "I am the author of the manga that has been serialized for 327 chapters and published in 52 volumes...."
"The author of Adventures of Homu—Muyue Rendong!" Muyue Rendong held his head high like a victorious rooster... He even secretly winked at Li Xuan for some unknown reason...
"...???" Li Xuan was completely baffled...
"Oh oh!! ~" Kiana very cooperatively applauded to show her respect... However, apart from the white-haired furball who was excited, the others were relatively calm. Murata Himeko, as an older single woman, naturally wouldn't read manga or anything like that. Fu Hua was a martial arts fanatic, Mei was a homemaker, Yae Sakura had no interest in manga and was now more interested in cooking, Yaoye was only interested in text-based things, and the only one who might be interested, Bronya, was expressionless... As for Li Xuan... as an otaku who had read countless novels, manga, and anime in his past life, he could bluntly state...
He wasn't targeting the people in the entertainment industry of this world, he just wanted to say... all of you here are trash! The novels in this world didn't even have the most basic 'old grandpa in a ring' trope. He expressed his great disappointment... There weren't even any trashy webnovels...
"Ahem... Major Himeko, actually, the clue that 'Jiuyou' is at the bottom of the sea was also told to me by Muyue..." Li Xuan thought for a moment and decided to be honest.
"Oh, is that so?..." Himeko opened her eyes and looked at Muyue Rendong with some interest. What he said had finally piqued her interest, so her golden eyes looked at Muyue with fascination, her scarlet lips curling slightly into a lazy, alluring smile...
"Gulp..." Under Li Xuan's silent gaze, his newly acquainted otaku friend 'Muyue Rendong' swallowed hard without a shred of dignity and said, "O-of course... the story of Jiuyou is a bit long. If I could sit next to this red-haired big sister and tell it slowly..." Muyue struck while the iron was hot...
"Spit it out!" Himeko stared coldly at Muyue Rendong... her aura was icy, a complete queen...
"Yes!" As if by reflex, Muyue Rendong responded loudly, "The story I heard is like this: back then, the Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyou, and Chiyou fled to Jiuyou... Later, the Yellow Emperor went to Jiuyou and truly killed Chiyou..."
"In the legends of the Divine Land, Jiuyou represents the deepest place, and it leads directly to the Yellow Springs..." Muyue Rendong said seriously. "The Yellow Springs are now also called underground rivers..."
"But think about it, how deep can a hole dug in the ground be?" Muyue Rendong explained with gestures. "A hole dug in the ground is definitely not as deep as the bottom of the sea... Based on my data and deductions, I can determine that 'Jiuyou' should be in the ocean south of Guangzhou!"
"The bottom of the sea?..." Fu Hua pushed up her glasses and said with considerable approval, "In the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas', whenever Jiuyou appears, it is indeed accompanied by seawater..."
"That seems very likely..." Himeko thought with a frown. "We can go look for it..."
"In my name... notify the permanent troops of the Guangzhou branch to prepare seafaring equipment for me within an hour...." Himeko stood up, picked up the jacket she had placed on the chair, and gave the order to Fu Hua...
"Thanks, mangaka boy! ~" Himeko placed her fingers on her lips, winked, and looked back at the somewhat dumbfounded Muyue Rendong with a smile. "Although I'm not interested in your otaku type, thanks anyway ~"
"Alright, Kiana, stop fighting with Yaoye for food. Are you still a child?!..." Himeko's sharp gaze fell on Kiana, who was deadlocked with Yaoye, and she scolded her...
"Everyone, get ready for this mission! Let's get moving!" Himeko said seriously, draping her jacket over herself as she walked out...
"Mmmph mmmph wah (I won't fight you this time)..." Kiana said indistinctly to Yaoye, stuffing the last custard bun into her mouth. What she said was completely incomprehensible...
"Big sister, wait!" Muyue Rendong reached out and shouted, but Himeko walked out without looking back... she completely ignored him...
"..." Muyue Rendong gritted his teeth, maintained his smile, gave Li Xuan a thumbs up, and rushed after Himeko.
"At least leave your WeChat ID! QQ is fine too!..." Muyue chased after her...
"..." Li Xuan watched the figure of the otaku with very complicated feelings...
'I thought of you as my otaku friend, but you want to hit on my boss...', but... Li Xuan felt he probably knew why Himeko, despite being so good-looking, could never get married...
.......................
"Prepare for action, Miss Shepherd Dog..." At a table not far from where Kiana and the others were sitting, a man's voice came through the earpiece worn by a pink-haired girl. The surface of the earpiece bore the Anti-Entropy logo...
"By the way, who the hell is that man?! He also knows about Jiuyou! The next part of the silk manuscript is in our hands..." Xing. Ma'er said unhappily, stamping her booted foot on the ground...
"Alright, we'll investigate this when we get back... don't be angry ~" the man consoled her. "Prepare for the next phase of the operation..."
"Hmph!" Xing forcefully squeezed the small pig-shaped custard bun in her hand... watching the golden filling ooze out of the pig's head...
"Oh, right... I heard the breakfast in Guangzhou is delicious... remember to..."
"No…"
"..."
(End of Chapter)