American comics farmer: start by adopting the villain savior.

Chapter 232 Send me two griffins? Then again...
Paradise Island is like an emerald set in the Aegean Sea, unseen by anyone else.

Sunlight filters through the thin clouds, gilding the miraculous building with a golden edge, and a rainbow can be faintly seen swirling in the mist rising from the cascading waterfall.

This is a kingdom of women.
However, in a corridor wide enough for several griffins to pass side by side, two male figures were walking unhurriedly.

Phillips walked at the front, his steps steady.

Behind her, Locke and Ron maintained a perfect distance, like two different-colored clouds drifting into this land of women.

Female warriors leaned against the pillars, whispering amongst themselves; curious figures peered out from the terrace; and scrutinizing gazes were cast from the back of the circling Pegasus.

Everyone stared at the two unusual male visitors with great curiosity, especially one of them who had green skin and red eyes.

Whispers drifted through the corridors like silkworms eating leaves, carrying a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

On the surface, the two appeared calm and composed, seemingly oblivious to the countless gazes directed at them.
Ok
In fact, the two were having a heated discussion in their squad voice chat.
"Ron," Locke said, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips. "I feel like we're some rare new animals in a zoo."

Ron's eyes shifted slightly: "Yes. The red-haired girl behind the third pillar to the left of Locke has been staring at me for almost a minute."

"According to my scan, in the past two or three minutes, a total of 47 gazes lingered on us for more than three seconds. Of these, 28 were curious, and 15 were scrutinizing."

Locke scoffed, "...Do you think they're assessing our 'fighting strength'? Or are they wondering how these two men dare to swagger around on their turf?"

Ron blinked and glanced at Locke:
"That's a possibility. By the way, Locke, I noticed your pace was a little hurried. Is it because you're uncomfortable with being the center of attention?"

Locke: "No, I'm evaluating them! Look at their physiques, their energy and spirit—each one of them is a master at farm work!"

Ron: "...Locke, I think that drawing parallels between Paradise Island's elite warriors and agricultural laborers, and having the idea of ​​hiring them, might be detrimental to our current cooperative atmosphere."

"Here we are."

Just as Locke was calculating in his mind and Ron was diligently trying to persuade him, General Phillips, who was walking ahead, stopped in front of a huge stone gate that was exceptionally tall and engraved with intricate battle reliefs and ancient Amazonian script.

Two more refined and better-equipped guards stood on either side of the stone gate, silently saluting Phillips.

Phillips turned to face Locke and Ron, her face still expressionless, her gaze sweeping over the two of them. "This is the forbidden area of ​​the palace, and also the place where we discovered the last traces of the Queen."

The internal 'squad voice chat' went silent.

Locke and Ron exchanged a glance, and all the jokes and teasing were suppressed.

"boom-!"

Pushing open the heavy stone door, the female general led the two inside.

However.
Contrary to Locke's imagination of a heavily guarded forbidden land filled with ancient mechanisms or permeated with a chilling atmosphere, the scene behind the door made him slightly taken aback.

This appears to be a bedroom, and...

Very warm.

The air was filled with a refreshing scent, a blend of sandalwood and olive, which was very pleasant.

The soft light doesn't come from torches or magical orbs, but rather from the cleverly refracted structure of the dome, which brings the light from the waterfall outside into the room, casting flowing patches of light on the woven carpet.

The floor was covered with a thick, soft woven carpet with a simple geometric pattern and slightly worn edges, making it seem completely unlike a magical artifact.

A large bed was placed on one side of the room, covered with simple but high-quality linen bedding. On a low table next to the bed was a book that was half-open, with some curled pages, and next to it was an empty earthenware teacup.

There were no ornate weapons or shields hanging on the walls, only a few brocades depicting pastoral scenes.

Golden waves of wheat, frolicking flocks of sheep, olive groves under the setting sun—every stitch and every thread exudes a sense of ordinariness.

The atmosphere of the entire space is less like a queen's luxurious residence and more like a... well-maintained, comfortable, and homey farmhouse bedroom.
Locke even had a fleeting feeling that this place was similar to his room on the Kent farm, except for the architectural style and materials.
They are remarkably similar in their approach.

"Gentlemen, this is the place."

Phillips' voice broke the brief silence as she strode to the Queen's bedside and stood before the bedside table.

However, Locke noticed with his sharp eyes that the moment she turned to face them, her right hand casually flicked behind her back, deftly moving a small item on the bedside table.

The movements were fluid and seamless; had Locke not remained constantly alert, he would have had almost been unable to detect that fleeting anomaly.

Locke narrowed his eyes slightly; he had caught a glimpse of the moved object out of the corner of his eye just now…

It appears to be a wooden picture frame.

The image above seems to be
"Locke," Ron's steady mental connection immediately sounded, "Did you notice that photograph? With my superhuman vision, I captured the image before Phillips moved it. It seems to be Queen Hippolyta in it..."

"It's not good to pry into other people's privacy, Rong En."

Locke cleared his throat, immediately interrupting him in his mind, his tone slightly mocking, "Especially in a lady's bedroom, that's not very gentlemanly. Don't forget the lessons we learned from the 'Amazon Code'—caring for the well-being of others!"

"This certainly includes respecting their privacy."

On the other end of the mental connection, Rong En seemed to be choked by these righteous words. He remained silent for a moment, but ultimately did not continue the topic, causing the team voice chat to fall silent for the time being.

Phillips, unaware of the brief mental exchange, simply turned to the two of them, her expression returning to its previous solemnity, pointed to an area near the bed, and said in a deep voice:
"It was here that we discovered the last traces left by the Queen, as well as... some unusual residual energy."

Locke frowned slightly upon hearing this.

But just as he was about to ask for more details—

Accompanied by the soft rustling of fabric, a series of light footsteps approached from afar.

Phillips looked in the direction of the voice, his expression softening slightly: "Now, let the three of them tell you, Mr. Locke."

Locke nodded slightly and looked back.

Three women entered the palace one after another.

The leader was older, wearing a cloak embroidered with silver stars and mysterious runes, and holding a wooden scepter with a round crystal at the top.

Following closely behind was a slightly younger blonde woman, dressed in a light gold priestess robe, with a crown made of laurel branches in her hair, and bright eyes.

The last female warrior to enter
But Locke's gaze lingered for a moment.

She was tall and wore light Amazon armor that allowed for easy movement, but her abdomen was noticeably protruding, indicating that she was pregnant.

As she walked, she habitually protected her abdomen with one hand, and the warrior's heroic spirit and the mother's gentle light blended wonderfully in her.

There are pregnant women on Paradise Island?!

Shouldn't they all emerge from the Well of Souls?

"Ron, do you know what's going on?" Locke asked, puzzled.

"Her name seems to be Milina. According to the archives, she was once a royal assassin." Ron wasn't surprised. "She's also the only woman on Paradise Island in all these years who disappeared for several years and then returned pregnant."

"This is Mona Lipe, the current priestess of our Paradise Island."

Phillips nodded to the leading priestess, “These two are Mr. Ron Jones and Mr. Locke Kent, who have come to assist us as requested.”

Menalipe nodded slightly, the star runes on her deep purple cloak shimmering in the light. Her gaze slowly swept over Ron and Locke, lingering on Locke for a moment longer, as if to confirm something.

“Hello, Mr. Locke.” Her voice was gentle.

"This is Penelope."

Phillips continued, pointing to the young priest with light blond hair.

Penelope stood quietly behind the teacher, curiously observing the two outsiders, especially glancing at Locke a few more times.

"And this pregnant sister was one of the Queen's most trusted bodyguards, and the first person to discover the Queen's disappearance, Milina."

Upon hearing this, Milina stepped forward and nodded slightly to the two of them as a greeting.

"Next, Milina."

Phillips softened his tone: "Tell these two distinguished guests again what you found out, making sure you don't miss any details."

Speaking in fluent English, Milina began:

“That morning, I came to report to Her Majesty the Queen on the night patrol as usual. But when I got to the door, I felt something was wrong... It was too quiet.”

She pointed to the palace gate:
"I pushed the door open and came in to find the room empty except for the usual scent of incense used in the evening prayers."

"Then I immediately checked the entire palace. There were no signs of a struggle, no residual fluctuations of teleportation magic, nothing at all."

"After that, Princess Diana disappeared without a trace."

"Didn't you try prophecy and magic?" Locke asked, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the women.

“We’ve tried, Mr. Locke.” Priestess Menalipe slowly raised her scepter, the crystal ball swirling with light. “We’ve used every divination and tracking spell we could find, but they’ve all vanished without a trace. A more powerful force is interfering with us, even… obscuring part of the connection between Paradise Island and the Olympian Realm.”

“That’s right,” Penelope added softly, her golden hair shimmering in the candlelight beneath her laurel wreath. “Even the waters of the sacred spring can no longer reflect any image of the Queen.”

“Yes. We can’t see.” Mona Lipe nodded, her gaze seemingly piercing through the veil of reality: “So after all the extraordinary means have failed, the only thing we can rely on is the simplest way—sense.”

“I strained my brains to barely catch a trace of the ‘aura’ that was drifting here and about to completely dissipate.” As she spoke, her voice became ethereal. “The ‘aura’ does not belong to this world. It carries only the intertwining of chaos and order. It is a unique mark left after the opening of the rift in the interdimensional space.”

She paused, her tone becoming increasingly certain:
"Our initial speculation is that the Queen and the princess were most likely caught in a sudden spatial turbulence and fell into some unknown alien world."

"The power of that turbulent current was so strong and strange that it erased almost all conventional tracking clues."

“So…” General Phillips continued, his gaze fixed intently on Ron, then finally on Locke, “we are requesting assistance from Mr. Ron and the forces he represents. We need a true expert in the mysteries of space, capable of penetrating dimensional barriers.”

“We need someone to help us find that lost path and bring our queen and princess, our family… home.”

Having caught the key words, Locke nodded slightly.

He nodded in agreement:

"I understand. Then let me give it a try. I'm somewhat of a professional when it comes to space-related matters."

As he spoke, he casually raised his right hand and inserted it directly into the empty space beside him.

The next moment, accompanied by a clear metallic hum, a long sword with a dark blue hue was slowly drawn from the void. The instant the sword was unsheathed, starlight-like specks flowed across its blade, as if it carried the secrets of another world.

Locke exhaled a breath of stale air, about to briefly introduce the origin and abilities of this legendary weapon: "This sword is..."

"Mr. Locke, let's get started."

General Phillips interrupted him abruptly.

Why are you in such a hurry?
Locke was somewhat taken aback
Why haven't they introduced the tools yet?
What puzzled Locke even more was that when he looked around, he found that apart from Ron's ever-present calm expression, even Priestess Mona Lipe and the pregnant warrior Milina did not show the slightest surprise or curiosity.
It was as if he had simply pulled an ordinary lighter out of his pocket, rather than drawing a legendary magic sword from space.

Their gazes were focused on the knife itself, or more precisely, on what the knife was about to do.

This reaction... isn't it a little too calm?
Locke felt a pang of doubt.
Has Paradise Island become so accustomed to knives that can cut through space?

Fortunately, not everyone is so knowledgeable.

The young priestess's assistant, Penelope, covered her mouth with both hands, her large eyes filled with pure amazement and disbelief, her small nostrils twitching slightly with excitement.

This did give Locke some of the feedback he should have received from 'displaying rare items,' and he felt a little better.

He said no more and closed his eyes.

Adjust your breathing and concentrate all your mind.

The next moment, a muscular, blue-purple humanoid figure appeared.

—The "Platinum Star" appeared silently behind him.

"Teacher, this is it..."

Penelope couldn't help but lower her voice, wanting to ask Menalipe.

"Shut up, Penelope!" Menalipe immediately snapped, her eyes stern. "Maintain absolute silence! Do not make any noise that could interfere with Mr. Locke's perception and operations!"

"Oh……"

Penelope pouted, swallowing the rest of her words, but her eyes widened even more, staring unblinkingly at Locke and his double behind him.

Unfortunately, before she could even mutter another complaint to herself, Locke suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes!

"Om-!"

Time stopped flowing.

Including the remnants of that other-dimensional aura! And the flowing spatial coordinates!

Everything came to a standstill in Locke's eyes!
"Shh!"

With a flick of his wrist, the azure longsword drew a perfect cross in the gray-white world!
There was no sound as the blade passed.

Until
Time resumes its flow.

"Om-!"

A dark cross-shaped crack suddenly appeared in the air in front of the Queen's bed.

Its edges are flickering with unstable energy sparks, like a wound leading to an unknown realm, slowly opening.

Locke let out a long breath, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, clearly indicating that maintaining and precisely locating the spatial rift had taken a lot of effort.

Then he raised his hand and pointed to the cross-shaped crack that was suspended in the air, its edges constantly twisting and flashing, his tone certain:
"This is it. If we go through it, we should be able to reach that other-dimensional world and bring your queen back."

“However,” he changed the subject, his expression turning serious, “there’s a problem. The remaining aura is too weak. Without specific world coordinates, I can only barely pinpoint two of the clearest spatial anchor points.”

“This means that the rift is extremely unstable, and the energy is only enough to support one round trip.” He glanced around at the solemn-looking Amazons present, his gaze finally settling on Phillips: “In other words, only one person can pass through at most.”

"Who...are you planning to send?"

Silence fell over the palace.

Phillips frowned, Mena Lippe closed her eyes in thought, Milina instinctively protected her abdomen, and Penelope looked nervously at the elders.

Who to send?
None of them seem reliable.
After a moment of contemplation, Phillips suddenly looked up at Locke. Instead of directly answering the question about the candidate, she asked:
"Mr. Locke, what do you think of... the two griffins?"

"..."

Locke's serious expression vanished, and his eyes almost involuntarily lit up.

But he immediately forced down the almost upturned corners of his mouth, coughed dryly, and tried to maintain the composure of a professional:
"Ahem... General Phillips, this... this isn't quite right, is it? We're discussing the crucial operation to save the Queen, isn't talking about this a bit..."

He tried to appear righteous and stern, but his shifty eyes betrayed him.

As if oblivious to his subtle reaction, Phillips added:
"One male and one female."

"One male and one female?"

Locke's voice unconsciously rose a little, and his heartbeat quickened.

What does this mean? It means sustainable development!
This means that Kent Farms may have a future...

Griffin Squadron!

He could almost see those majestic griffins circling over the farm.

"One male and one female! And they are adults, healthy, of pure blood, and have received basic combat and riding training."

Phillips repeated, his tone completely unchanged.

In an instant.
All the feigned embarrassment and reserve on Locke's face vanished.

Instead, a dazzling smile appeared on his face, and he confidently patted his chest:

"Then leave it to me."

"Wait, Locke," Ron seemed to want to say something, a hint of worry flashing in his eyes.

But Locke shrugged, his smile carrying an undeniable confidence: "Don't worry, Ron."

"Space travel, I'm a professional."

Before he finished speaking, he no longer hesitated and turned to walk towards the unstable spatial rift. His movements were swift and decisive, as if he were afraid that the other party would change their mind.

Just as his figure disappeared into the dark, twisted cross-shaped crack, the crack quickly closed and vanished into the air, leaving only a faint ripple in space.

Silence returned to the palace.

until
Rong En, who had been standing quietly by the sidelines
He slowly raised his red eyes.

That gaze was no longer merely calm and observation, but rather contained a chilling anger that ignited after being deceived, like a flame quietly rising in the dark night.

"I sensed something was off from the moment we met..."

His gaze slowly swept over General Phillips and Priestess Menalipe, finally settling on the expressionless Milina. "There is a subtle discrepancy between your underlying emotions and the anxiety and worry you are showing."

"It wasn't just the panic of losing a leader; it was more like... a deliberately maintained performance, mixed with a kind of resolute determination that was forcibly suppressed."

He took a step forward, but...
This step seemed to tilt the entire palace space!

The flickering candlelight suddenly twisted, and the light and shadow on the wall flowed as if manipulated by an invisible hand!
"Until just now..."

Ron's voice grew even colder, like a chilling current from the depths of space, "After Locke entered the rift and left, that slight, relieved relaxation at the deepest part of your mental barrier... allowed me to read the emotions in your hearts."

"That finally confirmed my thoughts."

Phillips and Mona Lippe exchanged a glance instinctively.

A hint of undisguised surprise flashed in both of their eyes.

Phillips forced himself to remain calm, stepped forward, and said hesitantly, "Mr. Ron, we don't understand what you're talking about."

"The Queen and Princess are indeed missing, and we sincerely seek your help..."

“Sincerity?” Rong En interrupted her.

This time, the unchanging calm on Rong En's face completely disappeared.

He wasn't deliberately imitating; rather, it stemmed from his pride and the anger at his friend being deceived, which naturally gave him an almost mocking coldness.

"Om-!"

An invisible energy suddenly erupted from him!

Rong En floated up, a few inches off the ground, his azure cloak billowing behind him without wind, fluttering like burning blue flames.

Powerful and refined mental energy is no longer a tool for introspection.
Instead, it transformed into a visibly intense, distorted space, radiating a terrifying pressure that surrounded him!
This oppressive force was not directed at the physical body, but rather acted directly on the mind and soul, even transcending the boundaries of the palace and enveloping the entire Paradise Island!
Pegasus neighed in terror, the rare and exotic beasts in the forest lay prostrate on the ground, and even the rushing waterfall seemed to freeze for a moment!

All the Amazon warriors on Paradise Island, no matter where they were, felt a sense of awe and excitement stemming from their very life force, and they all looked toward the royal palace.

If Locke were still alive, he would surely have put aside all his joking attitude and been moved by it.
This might be the Martian hunter he remembers!

The last Martian survivor in the world.
The founder and core leader of the Justice League
That powerful being whom Superman privately described as "combining Superman's strength with my wisdom," that whom Superman sincerely praised as "the strongest person on earth"—

Ron Jones!

With eyes like scorching magma, Martian Hunter swept his gaze over the three Amazon executives in front of him, whose faces were pale and who could barely stand under the immense mental pressure.

The voice was as cold as a judgment from the depths of space:

"You deceived me and my friends."

"Now, please tell me the truth!"

(End of this chapter)