[Congratulations to Dragon Nation and Bear Nation Trailblazers for discovering the lonely city in the cold—Belobog]
[Dragon Nation and Bear Nation receive a special national reward: Exploration Speed Up]
[Human curiosity has no end.
Perhaps one unassuming discovery will send a civilization leaping forward…]
The banner echoed across every country’s stream—and in every Trailblazer’s ear.
Blue Star boiled again.
Viewers poured into both nations’ feeds.
[What happened?
Why Dragon Nation again?]
[And Bear!
Why do both get a reward??]
[They’ve teamed up—met in the Zone, too.
Uh oh.
Eagle Nation’s window is shrinking…]
[What the—?
I thought the “Davarish” stuff was just banter.
They’re actually doing it?]
[Where’s Eagle Nation?
What’s your guy doing?!]
Even through machine translation, Dragons tasted the anxiety.
Clearly, Dragon–Bear progress had some self-styled hegemons sweating.
It felt… delicious.
Replies rolled in:
[I know you’re in a hurry.
Don’t be.
We’re only getting started.
I’ll just say: Little Jing is cra(ck)ed!]
[The Zone’s been open three days.
Surely no one’s still sitting on zero national rewards… surely (puppyeyes.jpg)?]
[Oh, dear Davarish, sorry again for earlier rudeness.
This is our shared honor.
For victory—Ura!!]
In Yanjing, General Zhang smiled at the banner.
The snowboar manifestation and cold-resistance buff weren’t even cool yet, and here came another.
Exploration Speed Up—sounded potent.
“That kid… another gift for the nation,” he murmured.
Scholars nodded.
“Indeed.
Our deep-sea and outer-space programs—and polar work—will all accelerate!”
“At first I thought he was too young, not steady enough.
Clearly I misjudged.”
“Seconded…”
After a moment of hubbub, the general raised a hand.
“Eyes open, everyone.
As Little Jing said, something is protecting that ‘Belobog’—likely Zone natives.”
“You’re the international relations pros—some of you diplomats.
You’ll handle the follow-up better than this old soldier.”
Heads dipped around the room.
That’s why they were here: to analyze Belobog the instant it appeared.
A young diplomat couldn’t help asking, “Any progress from the National Research Institute?”
The general shook his head.
“Establishing contact with the Zone is harder than we thought.
They’re pushing as hard as they can.
It will take time…”
Silence.
They all knew his unspoken thought: without contact, even perfect analysis couldn’t help Jing Yuan.
The old man smiled.
“Don’t worry.
Little Jing is our best.
Even without us, he’ll manage plenty.”
“And everything we’re doing now—is preparation.
Once we do make contact, we’ll be ready to give him even more support.”
Chapter 26: Aeon Bounty
“The old general is right!”
Once Elder Zhang finished speaking, an elderly scholar nodded in agreement.
“We must believe in Jingyuan.
He will definitely create a miracle for Dragon Nation!”
“Youth is the future.
Nothing is settled yet, so let him act as he sees fit!”
“What we old fellows should do is stand behind him, protect him, and give him the greatest possible support.”
“Let’s get back to our own work!
Otherwise, once we establish contact and still can’t present anything coherent, we’ll lose face big-time.”
The others echoed him one after another.
“That’s right!
We have to believe in young Jing!”
“Hahaha, it’s been a long time since I felt like this.
Let us old bones put in one more hard fight!”
“‘Belobog,’ was it?
I’ll start by mapping the external outline of the city.
Combined with the scale, we should be able to estimate its approximate size and area!”
“Then I’ll organize historical data from every country on Blue Star.
Once young Jing enters the city, we’ll be able to find any similarities!”
“I’ll go…”
Watching everyone present throw themselves into work, Elder Zhang felt deeply gratified.
He looked forward even more to the day they could establish contact with Jingyuan.
Just then, his secretary hurried in from outside.
“General, the Bear Nation’s forbidden-zone director is calling.
He says he would like to speak with you.”
Elder Zhang nodded calmly.
It was as if he had expected this all along.
He followed his secretary into the adjacent room and took the phone.
A rough, hearty laugh came from the other end.
“Haha!
Comrade Zhang Kaijiang, it’s been a long time since we last spoke.
Did you miss this old friend of yours?”
His Chinese was a little clumsy, but it did not hinder understanding.
Suddenly recalling the exchange between netizens of the two countries in the livestream chat, the corners of Elder Zhang’s mouth rose.
“Of course, dear comrade.
Your Chinese is getting better and better.”
The laughter on the other end stopped.
The man was clearly stunned for a moment.
After a long while, he sighed in a tone filled with reminiscence.
“It has been so long since I heard that form of address… How nostalgic…”
“An old friend calling me should not merely be for reminiscing, should it?” Elder Zhang went straight to the point.
“Of course,” the man replied just as directly.
“I am very pleased that we can join hands again and have even achieved decent results, though in a rather special way…”
Elder Zhang smiled without speaking.
“This call is first of all to congratulate an old friend.”
“For that, I specially prepared two crates of vodka, produced by the finest distillery in Bear Nation.
I’ll have someone send them to you shortly!”
The other man’s enthusiasm left Elder Zhang somewhat overwhelmed.
He hurriedly said, “Congratulations to you as well.
But there’s no need for gifts.
Compared to vodka, erguotou suits me better.”
After being tactfully refused, the other party did not insist.
“Very well.
Though that is regrettable, I must also thank my old friend for saving me a shipping fee.”
“The second matter is that, on behalf of Bear Nation, I would like to ask Dragon Nation whether you would be interested in trying to establish contact with the Trailblazers inside the forbidden zone together with us.”
When serious business came up, the old general put away his smile.
He said solemnly, “Have you made some sort of breakthrough?”
“I wouldn’t call it a breakthrough.
We have only found a direction that may be feasible,” the man replied.
“That is why we would like to invite Dragon Nation to try with us.”
“I see…”
Elder Zhang fell into thought for a moment.
As the person in charge of the forbidden-zone project, he had the authority to decide whether to agree.
Although news of the two nations joining hands would certainly attract unnecessary trouble once it was made public, for the sake of establishing contact with Jingyuan as soon as possible, even if it was only a possibility, he still nodded and agreed.
Afterward, the secretary smiled wryly.
“General, if those Western fellows find out that we’re cooperating with Bear Nation, won’t they…”
“What can they do even if they know?”
Elder Zhang glanced at him.
“Things are not what they used to be.
Do those paper tigers who bully the weak and fear the strong really dare to wave knives and guns in front of us?”
“If they do, I don’t mind going back to the battlefield!”
“My father named me Kaijiang, ‘opening up new frontiers.’ Unfortunately, I waited my whole life and never got the chance.
The closest I ever came was when we fought India back then… Tsk, the more I think about it, the more regretful I feel…”
Sensing the killing intent the old general had unconsciously revealed, the secretary broke into a cold sweat.
He hurriedly changed the subject.
“I didn’t expect Bear Nation to take the initiative to contact us.
It seems our relationship with Bear Nation is growing closer and closer!”
Unexpectedly, the old general glanced at him again. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
“Child, you are still young.”
“Uh…” The secretary was a little confused.
“What does the general mean?”
Elder Zhang took a sip of tea and said flatly, “Remember this: a Bear lying down is the best kind of Bear.”
The young secretary nodded, half understanding.
Then he remembered something else and spoke again.
“By the way, General, Professor Zhu has news.
He says they’ve already discovered the Snowstrider population manifested inside our country, over in the Greater Khingan Range…”
“Oh?” Elder Zhang’s interest was piqued.
The “Professor Zhu” the secretary mentioned was the biological expert.
It had only been a day since he submitted his application, and he had already flown from Yanjing to Hei Province?
Tsk, tsk.
Researchers really are impatient…
After silently making that little jab in his heart, he said, “Remember to tell them to pay attention to safety.
If necessary, they can seek assistance from the Hei Province military district.”
“Oh, and remind Old Zhu not to forget to send me a pork chop to try.
Watching young Jing eat so much has made me a little greedy…”
“Well…” The secretary’s smile became a little strained.
“Professor Zhu said you should give up on that idea.
There are too few Snowstriders manifested at present.
Altogether, there are only two or three thousand.
They’re already preparing to build a protected area and plan to expand the population.
Their goal is that, in the near future, everyone in Dragon Nation will be able to eat Snowstrider meat.”
Elder Zhang: “…”
Aren’t you impressive?
Aren’t you noble?
He grumbled inwardly a couple more times.
But between one full meal and being able to eat it for every meal, he could still tell which mattered more.
“General, there’s a situation!”
Just as the old general had given up on tasting pork chops, a military officer hurried in to report.
Without another word, Elder Zhang got up and rushed toward the command hall.
Inside the hall, a familiar notification appeared on the screen.
Only, unlike before, this notification was extremely special.
Aeon Bounty
A certain great existence has issued a bounty to all Trailblazers through the stars.
The content is as follows:
Belobog has reached a critical moment of life and death.
Should any Trailblazer help it overcome this crisis and turn danger into safety, they will receive generous rewards, and may even have the opportunity to become an Emanator.
There was not much content.
Yet it appeared on the livestream screen in exceedingly striking red text.
Especially the final word, “Emanator.”
It seemed to carry some sort of magical power, alluring beyond measure.
“General!”
Seeing Elder Zhang return, the scholars immediately gathered around him.
“What do you all think?” the old general asked, his brows tightly furrowed.
The crowd responded one after another.
“This notification reveals a great deal of information!”
“On the surface, it resembles a kind of mission.
As long as the Trailblazers complete the stated conditions, they can obtain rewards, but the rewards themselves are not specified…”
“The appearance of this notification means that Belobog is suffering some sort of crisis.
Jingyuan… is very likely to encounter danger!”
“Who is this ‘certain existence’ acting through the stars?
What level of power does it possess?
What is its identity?
We don’t know for now…”
“The ‘Emanator’ mentioned at the end is also very strange.
For now, we will treat it as some kind of position inside the forbidden zone.
Its exact authority remains unknown…”
Listening to the series of questions raised by the crowd, Elder Zhang’s frown deepened even further.
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