Zhao Jingyuan forced out a faint smile.
“Then what name does Miss Tong want to use for the household registration record? And what about age?”
Tong Shuxue took out paper and a pen and wrote swiftly. She recorded her real name and age honestly. After all, she was not from this world, and those who were hunting her did not know her name. There was no need to fabricate anything.
As for Ling Yi and the ten robots, their names could not be chosen so casually. She still had another five robots stored in her dimensional space, so she needed to assign fifteen names in total.
She was not particularly good at naming. For surnames, she simply wrote whatever came to mind, and for given names she directly used plant names. Even the ages were filled in at random.
Zhao Jingyuan watched the pen in her hand with great curiosity. It did not need to be dipped in ink, yet it could write, and its tip was so fine.
When Mo Shen handed the paper Tong Shuxue had written to Zhao Jingyuan, he could not help but ask,
“Miss Tong, why does the writing from the immortal realm look like it’s missing arms and legs?”
Tong Shuxue froze for a moment, then immediately understood.
“I forgot that your writing system is different. I’ll change it to yours.”
She took the paper back and, without bothering to use a tablet to look up how to write the traditional characters, directly returned to her dimensional space. There, she used a computer to convert the text into traditional script and printed it out.
When Mo Shen received the paper again, the characters were indeed the same as theirs—and clearly not handwritten. He immediately realized that during Miss Tong’s brief disappearance, she had gone to print it.
Yet no matter how Mo Shen tried to understand it, he could not figure out where Tong Shuxue had gone. Could she have returned to the immortal realm?
Zhao Jingyuan was not as overthinking as Mo Shen. He only felt that Tong Shuxue had many secrets, but she did not seem like a god or ghost; otherwise, there would be no need for her to hide in these deep mountains.
He glanced at the list she had written—it contained sixteen people in total.
“Miss Tong, are the other five meant as backup identities?”
Tong Shuxue had not originally considered backup identities, but after being asked, she felt that since it involved the same effort, she might as well prepare more.
“There are indeed sixteen people including me. The other five will be summoned when there are missions. How many household registration records can you prepare at one time? If possible, double them so I can have backup identities for future use.”
“No problem. The household registration records I can arrange are in a place eight or nine days’ travel from here. A round trip, plus avoiding detection, may take about a month. If you need travel permit documents urgently, I can provide ready-made ones.”
People like Zhao Jingyuan, who had secret guards under him, usually kept backup false identities. Household registration records were officially registered, and travel permits were also obtained through normal procedures.
Unlike in the modern world, personal identity information here could not be instantly verified by scanning a face.
To verify someone’s identity, one had to physically go to the place where the household registration was stored. Forged information like this was usually very difficult to expose.
Since there were ready-made documents available, that was even better. As long as the identities worked, it did not matter whether they were specially made or existing ones.
“Alright, then there’s no need to make additional ones. As long as I have an identity that allows me to move outside normally, that’s enough.”
After the matter of household registration was settled, Tong Shuxue temporarily had no further questions.
Zhao Jingyuan planned to send people in two days to his secret outpost to retrieve the household registration records. Tong Shuxue directly asked Ling San Ling Si to go together with his men.
“Rest assured, Ling San Ling Si will not go to your base. Just designate a place for them to wait.”
She might live here for the rest of her life, so she had to understand this Great Yong Kingdom thoroughly. Therefore, she intended to send Ling San Ling Si directly to the Imperial Capital. As the center of power, it would provide the most comprehensive information.
More importantly, she also wanted to verify whether what Zhao Jingyuan had said was true. The wanted notice had tied her and Zhao Jingyuan together—she needed to know whether her so-called “accomplice” status was real or not.
Zhao Jingyuan did not object. With the abilities Tong Shuxue had displayed, anyone trying to track her would likely fail effortlessly anyway.
Tong Shuxue then asked her final question:
“If this valley is not disturbed by outsiders, how long do you plan to stay here?”
She herself planned to recuperate here for two months. Her broken leg and ribs, with the medicine in her dimensional space, could heal within one month, but she preferred to be safe and allow two months to avoid any long-term complications.
Zhao Jingyuan thought for a moment before replying,
“This place is only three days from the Imperial Capital. As long as it is not discovered, it is the best place for us to hide. How long we stay depends on the situation later—whether we can rescue my elder brother and my mother. If we are lucky enough to succeed, we may still stay hidden here for a while before relocating.”
The answer was not unexpected. After all, the valley’s location was ideal—neither too deep in the mountain range nor easily reached by ordinary civilians.
“Since you plan to stay long-term, you will need to go down the mountain to purchase necessities—pots, bowls, clothing, bedding, and so on. You should also buy staple grains. You cannot rely only on meat; over time it will affect stomach function. As for me, I only need food for myself. I will not purchase staple grains separately. Hunting should still be led by my people.”
Most of the silver in Tong Shuxue’s possession had been taken from those corpses. Aside from what Ling Yi and Ling Er had used a few days ago to gather intelligence and buy clothes, not much remained.
There were less than twenty jin of rice left in her dimensional space. She could not rely entirely on stored supplies.
With Tong Shuxue present, even if the location were discovered, Zhao Jingyuan’s people would not suffer major losses. He did not mind matters that could be solved with money.
“The grain and daily necessities will be purchased by my men. Just instruct Mo Shen whenever you need anything. Miss Tong, may I ask you a few questions?”
Tong Shuxue knew he must have many doubts. She nodded with a faint smile.
“Go ahead.”
“Where are you from, Miss? There are nine countries on this continent. Although I have not traveled them all, I am somewhat familiar with them—you do not seem to be from any of them.”
Zhao Jingyuan had once read that there were also many countries overseas, with people very different in appearance and language from those on this continent.
Yet the young lady before him looked no different from the people of Great Yong Kingdom, and she spoke the same language, only with a slight difference in accent.
Because of this, he had once considered whether she might be from overseas, but he later dismissed the idea.
Most importantly, Tong Shuxue had fallen from the sky. He had clearly seen her descend while severely injured, yet now there was no trace of any injury on her body.
Tong Shuxue had already anticipated such questions. She had never intended to hide her origins—strength determined everything.
Based on the initial intelligence gathered by Ling Yi and Ling Er, she could act without fear in this world. She simply did not wish to kill indiscriminately.
She considered her words for a moment, then pointed toward the sky outside the cave.
“Beyond the sky we see, there are countless worlds. I come from one of them.”