Chapter 566: Chapter 406 Arrested_2
Watching Demetrius, who had been bound up by the Fluttering Blossom Pavilion guards, Zachary was very interested in Demetrius’s experiences, but although he was interested, his curiosity hadn’t reached the level where he absolutely had to know.
However, through Demetrius’s recent behavior, Zachary at least understood one thing: early in the parasitic infestation, one merely becomes more irritable, but as it progresses to the intermediate stage, the body starts to inexplicably feel cold, and should it reach the advanced stages of infestation, human emotions rapidly fade, leaving only fighting instincts.
These were not the most important discoveries. What mattered most was that once a martial artist had been infested, their cultivation level would be lost, either absorbed by the parasite or due to some other reason. In any case, even martial artists at the Path Entry Realm would completely lose their cultivation if not promptly rid of the parasite.
Catching Demetrius was actually a blessing in disguise for the Fluttering Blossom Pavilion, which, according to rumors, was nothing but a tool for the Imperial Court to amass wealth. The reason why it wasn’t openly acknowledged as backed by the Imperial Court was mainly to spare the court’s dignity.
Yet everyone knew that every new encampment was bound to have three shops, two of which were official, and the other, although not explicitly stated, was well understood by the discerning.
Therefore, being caught by the Fluttering Blossom Pavilion was essentially the same as being caught by the Imperial Court, and once in the court’s hands, they would at least investigate Demetrius’s identity and background before conducting experiments.
If Demetrius had a strong enough background, he would naturally be able to get out, but if he didn’t, the Imperial Court would at least not be stingy in providing some subsidies for his family.
Just as Zachary had speculated, the Fluttering Blossom Pavilion immediately closed its doors after capturing Demetrius, and when Zachary was preparing to leave, a helicopter landed outside the encampment, and a group of soldiers in camouflage got off.
Even at this moment, the net binding Demetrius remained untouched, and he was still under strict control.
Shortly thereafter, Demetrius was lifted onto the helicopter by four soldiers in camouflage, and the helicopter promptly took off, quickly leaving the area.
As the helicopter flew further and further away, Zachary didn’t feel the urge to follow. Although doing so would certainly lead to discoveries, Zachary could delve deeper into the world beneath Kyoto’s waters instead.
At this point, Zachary felt a bit weary, so he decided not to trigger any side quests and simply planned to go home for a good sleep.
After scanning the encampment one more time with his Divine Sense, Zachary discovered several more successful spy controllers.
As the old saying goes, "Those not of our kind must have a different heart." The Human Clan and the Bug Race could never peaceably coexist; thus, both sides were constantly scheming to weaken each other.
Before leaving, Zachary controlled his Flying Swords to directly slay the controllers who mistakenly thought they had thoroughly blended into the encampment, as well as their subjects.
The speed of the Flying Swords matched the swiftness of human thought. In the blink of an eye, the swords hovered once again behind Zachary, and after confirmation with his Divine Sense that no other Bug Race members were left in the encampment, Zachary returned directly to his house.
After resting for a day, Zachary’s mental state had fully recovered. With some idle boredom, he looked at his empty garden and contemplated what to plant there.
After some thought, Zachary decided to build a grape trellis in the yard. Just as he began to level the ground, Yara and Madeline arrived together at his house. Once inside the courtyard and seeing Zachary leisurely leveling the ground, they rubbed their eyes and reassured themselves that it was indeed Zachary they were seeing.
Yara showed a somewhat regretful expression and said to Zachary, "Why did you just come back like this?"
Hearing Yara’s query, Zachary, a bit puzzled, asked, "Isn’t it normal to come home after a failed mission? What are you two here for?"
In response to Zachary’s question, Yara jokingly said, "Gavin has returned. The team he formed was pretty much wiped out, so recently, when I have time, I’ll come over here to check. Just in case you didn’t make it back, the property shouldn’t go to outsiders; actually, I... hmm."
Although Yara’s words implied covetousness for my house, he might genuinely harbor that notion. But as he said, there was no need for him to come daily—just occasionally to see if Zachary had returned. His frequent visits were actually a sign of his concern.
Hearing Yara mention Gavin’s team, Dong Tianyu also became curious about what had happened to them after they dispersed during their breakout attempt. Why did everyone with Path Entry Realm strength or above still suffer such major losses?
So Dong Tianyu directly asked Yara, "Can you tell me about the problems that arose after the members of Gavin’s team returned?"
Upon Dong Tianyu’s inquiry, Yara didn’t beat around the bush but rather relayed the information he had gleaned to Dong Tianyu.
The story was actually quite cliché, just like how a protagonist on an adventure either encounters a damsel in distress or gets involved in a robbery or bullying. After twists and turns, enduring a series of hardships, emotional entanglements develop with the female leads, culminating in a grand unison in sleep.
Looking at it from Gavin’s perspective, the biggest failure this time was not listening to Dong Tianyu’s advice and choosing a mission line with a high difficulty level.
"So now, Gavin is not only not ashamed, but he is also actively preparing for the materials needed for the next adventure."
Hearing Dong Tianyu’s summary, Yara and Madeline both nodded in agreement.
"Alright, stop putting on an act with me. Just get to the point. Otherwise, I’m about to go out soon, and I don’t know when I’ll be back."
Hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Madeline didn’t hide anything anymore and directly stated the real purpose of their visit.
Basically, it was to ask if Dong Tianyu still had any of those high-quality fruits and vegetables he used to provide.
Upon hearing Yara’s question, Dong Tianyu paused for a moment, then used his Divine Sense to directly check the situation in the Plantation Area within the Cave.
Now that the garden was under the care of Walker Violet and Jasmine Anderson, Dong Tianyu had hardly inquired about it since then.
Seeing the quantity of vegetables and fruits in the storage space had increased once again, Dong Tianyu, compared to the initial free-of-charge period, preferred to engage in genuine, hard work as the belief in ’you reap what you sow’ held true.
"I still have some left on my side. Tell me how much you’re planning to take. Just to let you know upfront, I don’t have much left in stock these days."
Upon hearing Dong Tianyu say this, Yara and Madeline glanced at each other, then reported the specific amounts of materials they needed, producing handwritten lists of their required supplies.
Dong Tianyu did some quick calculations and wondered if it was because he had mentioned his limited stock that their lists did not ask for too much.
However, most of the materials they requested on their lists, aside from fresh seasonal vegetables, were various types of meat from domestic animals.
These items, which had been of little value prior to the catastrophe, had seen massive inflation by the mid-point of the disaster, especially fresh vegetables whose prices had surged beyond frozen meat.
Although they both envied Dong Tianyu’s supply channels, they were smart people and didn’t make any special effort to investigate him.
After confirming their lists of materials, Dong Tianyu suddenly asked, "What do you plan to use for payment?"
Hearing Dong Tianyu’s question, Madeline promptly said, "How about precious metals? Currently, whether it’s gold or silver, with new consumptive channels available, the prices for both are starting to skyrocket.
Because of this, gold and silver are reverting to their attributes as real currency."
