Spirit Crow's Nest.
Yang Fan took a step forward, directly traversing thousands of kilometers to appear in a quiet room within the Spirit Crow's Nest.
As of today.
This two-story villa, which he had lived in for several months, was not only famous in Tolan City but also well-known worldwide.
People often stop at the outskirts of the garden where the villa is located, using the garden as a backdrop to take photos and check in.
Ever since Yang Fan stayed here for a while, the frozen garden began to gradually "come alive."
In weather where daytime temperatures drop to minus forty degrees and night-time temperatures to minus sixty to seventy degrees, this is indeed quite extraordinary.
The ice layer on the surface of the plants slowly cracked and fell off, followed by changes in the bark, then the branches sprouted new buds, and eventually leaves grew.
Superpower Users from the Jiuzhou Legion had once inspected the garden but did not find any signs of Supernatural Power sustaining the trees' Life Force.
The various plants in the garden seemed to have "agreed" to mutate together.
Regardless of whether it's the trunk or the leaves, the surface secretes a peculiar anti-freeze wax, which prevents moisture from adhering, thus ice layers naturally cannot form.
Aside from the anti-freeze wax, there are many other peculiarities about the plants here.
Even the Superpower Research Institute has sent people multiple times to study these plants and take small samples away.
That's why many people come here to take photos and check in, and then post on moments or social media platforms.
Photographers often accompany their photos with remarks like "Today's special trip to see Great Xia's legend," or "Although the trees in the garden aren't tall, my neck feels sore from looking up so much."
Of course.
For such behavior, the Spirit Crow's Nest security personnel usually do not interfere.
However, if tourists stay too long, the security personnel will politely remind them to leave quickly.
After all, this is the residence of the distinguished Governor, and if everyone lingers for a long time, it will certainly affect the Spirit Crow's Nest.
At this moment.
Yang Fan stayed in the quiet room, glancing out through the floor-to-ceiling window.
The glass window is one-way mirrored, allowing those inside to see outside, while those outside can only see reflections.
His gaze passed through the verdant garden and "saw" four tourists bundled up tightly.
From their attire, each seemed to be from out of town, carrying travel bags.
These few quietly posed, taking pictures for each other, fussing around for a few minutes before quietly leaving.
One of them walked dozens of meters to the corner at the intersection, suddenly turned, and bowed towards the direction of the Nest.
The other three saw this and followed suit, each bowing three times before finally turning away.
Yang Fan couldn't help shaking his head: "Bowing three times feels a bit odd."
Just then.
"Click!"
The door gently clicked open and was pushed open.
Su Yuxuan, the secretary sent by the Spirit Crow office, entered.
"Mr. Spirit Crows!" she called with a smile, "You have returned."
Yang Fan turned to look at her and disclosed the investigation result: "Mutated marine creatures in the ocean are quickly increasing."
He paused, providing his judgment: "In as soon as three to four months, or as long as six months, attack incidents triggered by mutated marine creatures will undoubtedly emerge in great numbers."
Su Yuxuan's face changed upon hearing this.
In recent months, whenever the media mentioned marine life, it was mostly about "Canglan Star's sixth mass extinction."
No one expected that the mass extinction would result in "mutated marine creature attacks."
And Great Xia has over 12.8 million square kilometers of territory, with a continental coastline exceeding 20,000 kilometers, and island coastlines of about 18,000 kilometers.
Altogether, this amounts to 38,000 kilometers, many areas of which are densely populated, particularly the eastern coastal regions.
For Great Xia, this is certainly no small matter.
Su Yuxuan asked nervously, "Do we need to relocate the coastal populations?"
Yang Fan shook his head: "It's not as alarming as you think; for now, the mutated marine creatures aren't too formidable.
"Although they will grow increasingly strong over time, Great Xia's strength is also steadily growing, and we are fully capable of handling the impending ocean crisis."
He then instructed: "Report the matter to the top meeting and let the Jiuzhou Legion devise the most cost-effective plan for response."
What's known as "most cost-effective" essentially means finding a balance between "national resource expenditure" and "civilian casualties."
Completely preventing loss of life is simply unrealistic.
Unlimited expenditure of resources is also beyond Great Xia's ability.
Su Yuxuan immediately responded: "Understood!"
Yang Fan looked at the female secretary again and asked, "By the way, how are you feeling today?"
Compared to some time ago, Su Yuxuan's appearance had visibly changed.
This girl is a soldier, outstanding in looks, from a family with three generations in the military, with even a general among her ancestors—her reliability is indisputable.
If she didn't have these prerequisites, she wouldn't have stood out in competition to become Mr. Spirit Crows' secretary.
Previously she had a head of shiny black hair, enviably healthy.
Now her strands had a faint transparency to them, her complexion had turned paler, and even her pupils seemed subtly paler, which looked somewhat eerie.
Su Yuxuan said nervously: "Last night, I woke up cold, exercised a bit, and felt somewhat better, but during the day I still felt a bit tired."
