The Gulfstream jet flew through the clouds, the powerful engines roaring, their sounds dissipating into the high sky.
Zhao Bai lay back, comfortably asleep with a velvet eye mask on.
This was business class, the farthest from the engines, and even the fiercest roar would turn into a gentle whisper by the time it reached here.
He slept very well.
Aside from occasionally catching a whiff of the girl’s hair fragrance, which led to some strange dreams, the start of this journey was quite pleasant.
Sniff sniff.
The faint fragrance of hair was both near and far, suddenly closing in, and Zhao Bai felt a pair of eyes staring at him.
His intuition told him that he shouldn’t open his eyes at this moment.
Otherwise, the instant their gazes met, both sides would become very awkward.
He didn’t want that, after all, he was Mei’s nominal master now.
In terms of culinary skills, Mei thought it was about blade techniques, but in reality, it was still about culinary skills…
as her master.
Before boarding the plane, they were surprised to find that their disguises were completely meaningless.
The Saint Freya car had a Schicksal license plate, and wherever they went, it was all green lights.
They drove the car straight into the plane’s cargo hold, surrounded by the crew as they walked into business class.
On the entire flight, there were only Zhao Bai and Mei.
It was easy to foresee that even if they were driving a Middle Eastern pickup truck mounted with machine guns, they wouldn’t face any obstruction.
As the plane began to descend, Zhao Bai calculated that he had slept for about two hours, just enough to make up for the fatigue from last night’s insomnia.
He propped himself up slowly, stretched, and then began to take off the eye mask.
Sure enough, during Zhao Bai’s slow stretch, Mei quickly averted her gaze to avoid the awkwardness.
“Mei, I feel the plane is slowing down and descending.
Are we almost in Australia?” “Yes, we are about to land.” Mei gave a definite answer.
All the way, she had been observing this enigmatic man, unknowingly losing track of time.
In her eyes, Zhao Bai was an unremarkable man.
His hands bore calluses from long-term knife handling, which could have been caused by either practicing with a sword or cutting meat.
He could be a chef, or perhaps a swordsman.
Or maybe he excelled in both fields, achieving success in each, but Mei couldn’t understand that just yet.
As Mei pondered, the passenger plane descended lower and lower, accompanied by a slight tremor as the wheels touched the ground, beginning a long deceleration glide of several hundred meters.
Finally, the plane came to a steady stop.
They stood up, grabbed their weapons, and got into a car.
After a brief bumpy ride, Zhao Bai and Mei arrived at the largest cattle ranch in the world.
Schicksal·Ana Creek Ranch.
Located in southern Australia, the ranch was slightly larger than the entire country of Israel, and it was named after the Ana Creek Mountain situated within it.
A black flag with a bright yellow Schicksal logo fluttered, seemingly proudly declaring sovereignty.
This ranch spanned over twenty thousand square kilometers, so it was certainly not just for raising cattle.
It wasn’t merely a missile test site either; Zhao Bai was unwilling to think about what it was specifically for.
They drove an off-road vehicle to the office building, where Zhao Bai and Mei met their client.
Surprisingly, it was a person from Shenzhou?
Zhao Bai was somewhat taken aback, but then thought that there were no indigenous people in Australia, so it wasn’t too surprising for a Shenzhou person to run a ranch here.
Chen Sicheng, that was his name.
Mr.
Chen was a thin middle-aged man, his skin cracked from the prairie winds, with severe dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days.
Upon seeing Zhao Bai and Mei, he tried to muster a hint of joy, but failed; the long-term exhaustion had drained his ability to manage his expressions.
Mr.
Chen spotted their vehicle from afar and immediately came over.
“Mr.
Zhao Bai, Miss Raiden Mei?” Mei stepped forward, putting on a formal smile, and asked, “Mr.
Chen, are you the one who submitted the report to headquarters requesting combatants for protection?” “Yes, I am the one who submitted the application, Chen Sicheng.
Thank you both for coming.” Mr.
Chen was extremely grateful, but then he quickly changed the subject: “However, what I applied for was not protection, but rather to have the combatants help kidnap the chairman of the Fire Committee, to order those useless firefighters to put out the fire!” Ah, this…
Zhao Bai was dumbfounded.
Such a task required submitting a report to headquarters, and there was even a dedicated person to handle it?
Is this a joke?
There must have been some misunderstanding in the message relay.
Zhao Bai was here to put out fires, and his sword sheath, the Ice Dim Tian, was clearly emanating cold air.
And it turned out to be a kidnapping?
Zhao Bai and Mei exchanged glances, and with great tacit understanding, nodded in agreement, saying in unison: “We have corresponding regulations and will strictly follow the rules.
We will not act according to your wishes, Mr.
Chen; you should just watch quietly from the side.” “What else can I do besides kidnapping?!” “All the ranch workers have run off, the water and electricity have been cut off, I can’t manage so many cattle alone, and I have to negotiate with those lazy bastards who get paid but do nothing!” Mr.
Chen was extremely agitated: “If this continues, the losses will keep increasing.
If the ranch were to operate normally, it would attract an investigation from the Securities Regulatory Commission.
Once deemed fraudulent, our missile test site would be gone!” So that’s what he was worried about…
Zhao Bai thought Mr.
Chen was concerned about the cattle; he never expected it was about the test site.
But such worries were quite normal.
To lease such a large area, aside from the permafrost-covered Canada and the Lubyanka in Siberia, only the sparsely populated Australia could accommodate it.
“Don’t worry, we will resolve it.” Zhao Bai forced himself to comfort him, sending Mr.
Chen away from the scene, and quickly pulled Mei along, driving rapidly towards the place where the Flare was ignited.
The closer they got, the more they felt the heat waves rolling in.
Worried about the risk of the car exploding, Zhao Bai and Mei got out and walked.
The temperature had already exceeded forty degrees, and the landscape was bleak.
After just a few steps, Mei felt her sweat completely stick to her clothes, and she showed signs of dehydration.
“Be careful, walk behind me.” Zhao Bai said, slowly placing his right hand on his waist.
The Ice Dim Tian seemed to respond, trembling slightly.
Zhao Bai inhaled and drew his sword in one smooth motion, without any hesitation.
A chill spread out, and Mei suddenly felt relaxed all over; the heat seemed to have vanished.
“Your sword…” “A weapon developed by Saint Freya, originally intended for keeping sashimi fresh, but its power is too strong.
Besides cutting sashimi, it can do many other things.” Zhao Bai spoke casually, fabricating a backstory for the Ice Dim Tian.
His hand holding the sword pressed down gently, his entire being tensed like a bowstring, exuding an astonishing sharpness.
“A sword draw?” “No, it’s a dimensional slash.” As soon as he finished speaking, blinding ice and snow suddenly enveloped the fire scene, from the sky to the ground, and then from the ground to the sky, the entire world flowed with that deep blue ice.