Nobody told me this wasn't a game.

Chapter 242 The Original Taste

The friend request was quickly approved. Compared to the "work account," Sakura's personal account was obviously more normal.

Profile pictures are no longer strange photos crammed into the chest; they've become quite ordinary.

"Your Majesty, I apologize for disturbing you."

Sakura Karen cut to the chase, exchanging pleasantries before getting straight to the point: "I possess a 'sacred artifact' and would like to participate in your 'archaeological expedition.' I wonder... if that's alright?"

Upon seeing this line of text, Zuo Chang immediately sat up.

Mayumi was also slightly surprised.

Her striking eyebrows furrowed slightly as she asked curiously, "How did she know about the archaeological expedition?"

"do not know."

Zuo Chang's fingers hovered over the virtual keyboard, but he didn't type anything.

"Archaeological Project"

Zuo Chang said he had been very busy these past three days, and he really hadn't had any free time.

Of course, he wasn't lying on the woman's stomach and unable to get up; his main task was preparing for the "archaeological expedition."

After carefully studying the "legendary prophecy," Zuo Chang sensed a threat between the lines.

There is more than one entrance to the mysterious dungeon.

The legend clearly states that "a mysterious underground city lies buried beneath a few communities."

If it were only within the territory of 96511, Zuo Chang might be able to resolve the issue on his own.

However, if other communities also have entry points, the problem could become more complicated. To prevent any potentially difficult situations, he judged that he would need more help.

Perhaps many people yearn for the gods and are excited about the "Promised Day".

But there must also be pacifists, or staunch supporters of the gods, who strongly resist or even fear the arrival of the promised day.

Over the past three days, Zuo Chang has shared the intelligence he obtained with two people—

Community No. 168, General Seven Treasures, Granny Cat;

Community No. 2, Shippo Daisho, the Dragon King's daughter.

These two had contact with Zuo Chang in the game. Zuo Chang had read their background information, and without exception, they were both satisfied with the current state of the Ascended World and highly agreed with the God's policies.

Furthermore, they hold high positions, and maintaining the status quo is something they would be happy to see.

One is Community No. 168, which has been upgraded to become one of the best among the 100,000 communities in the world;

The other one is even more incredible, number 2!

Based on Zuo Chang's understanding of the Dragon Queen, she is actually fully qualified to be "1".

The reason it isn't that she can't is that she doesn't want to.

The fingers hovering over the keyboard hesitated to fall.

There was no further activity in the chat window.

Sakura was very patient; she waited quietly for Zuo Chang's reply.

Zuo Chang shook his head, then opened a chat group, sent a screenshot of Ying Ke's message, and added the comment: "It's been leaked, who did it?"

"Can you be a little more professional? You two are big shots, do I have to teach you how to do things?"

Two messages were sent in quick succession.

It's clear that Zuo Chang isn't in a very good mood right now.

Drip!

Grandma Cat quickly replied: "I didn't reveal the archaeological expedition to anyone; only 'I' knew about it. I can guarantee that the information didn't leak out from me."

Zuo Chang can also guarantee that Sakura will not be able to obtain information from him.

Currently, only four people are aware of the archaeological expedition.

Asuka Mayumi, Blood Rose, plus a White Scale.

These four people are "extremely loyal" to Zuo Chang, and even if they wanted to betray him, they had no way to communicate with Ying Kelian.

In other words...

Zuo Chang didn't mince words, directly tagging Dragon Queen: "Quickly check your team. Such a big matter can't be handled so carelessly, can it?"

The Dragon Queen did not reply.

After about fifteen minutes, the chat group finally started to buzz with new activity.

The Dragon Queen spoke: "I failed in my command of my subordinates and made a mistake. Your Majesty, you know the one who leaked the information; it's Dragon, the one you fought at the Tower of Choices... My original intention was to send a subordinate you know well and who trusts you to assist you, but I didn't expect this to happen."

"The matter has been resolved."

"[picture]."

Zuo Chang squinted and saw that the picture was empty except for a mass of black ash.

This is……

He asked, "What is this?"

The Dragon Queen, still furious, said, "I lost control and spit out my breath, burning it to death. You don't need to worry too much. I haven't revealed the core information yet. It doesn't know the specifics, only that this is a crucial mission led by the Heavenly King General, concerning the survival of the upgraded world."

Ah this.

Forget it, how Community 2 deals with leakers is none of Zuo Chang's business.

Not knowing Sakura Karen, he simply asked, "Who is Sakura Karen?"

"A millionaire with a lot of points."

Grandma Cat commented.

“I’m also very curious about her. There was a ‘curse’ planted in Dragon’s body by her, and it was an extremely sophisticated ‘curse spirit with tongue, nose, ears and eyes’. Dragon was standing in front of me, but I didn’t realize that his every move was being monitored by her. If the curse spirit hadn’t emerged when I burned him, I would still have been kept in the dark.”

The Dragon Queen said this.

Cursed spirits...

Zuo Chang asked, "The tongue, nose, ear, and eye spells are very powerful. Their power lies in their strong concealment, while the difficulty of casting them is extremely high. The target must 'taste, smell, hear, and see' within a short period of time for them to take effect. They usually need to be cast face-to-face, and generally only people are affected during meals. Has that Dragon met with Sakura Karen? If they have met, how could you not be wary?"

“Times have changed, Your Majesty. Look at this, this is something my assistant just found in Dragon’s room.”

More pictures.

This time, it was a pair of black stockings.

Zuo Chang was taken aback at first, then surprised, and asked in surprise, "Could this be... used stockings?"

The Dragon Princess replied quickly: "The source is still under investigation, which will take time. Based on the cursed spirit, the most plausible theory is that these black stockings were mailed to Dragon by Sakura Karen. After receiving them, Dragon sniffed, licked, and looked at them intensely, thus fulfilling the three elements of 'smell, taste, and look.' But what puzzles me is, what did it 'hear' at the time?"

Uh.

Based on his common sense, Zuo Chang said, "It's possible that he was enjoying the socks while making a video call. Or perhaps it was done by playing a pre-recorded video. The young talents of Community 2 are indeed worth recruiting. Dragon can't log into the General's Forum, but he can't resist Sakura's initiative to offer herself up. In short, Princess, your subordinates are really perverted."

"It's definitely perverted. The kind that's unbearable. Well, dragons are a race driven by greed, and Dragon is still young, so it's normal for him to follow his instincts."

That's what Granny Cat said.

The Dragon Queen was silent for a moment, then said, "We must crack down on pornography! I'm not afraid to tell you, but Sakura Karen's photobooks are indeed very popular in our Community No. 2... It was my oversight."

The chat group fell silent.

Zuo Chang closed the group chat and looked at the pitiful chat box with Ying.

There, Sakura Karen sent another message: "Oh dear, King, the event you initiated seems to be really important! Just now, Mr. Dragon died... What a pity, I thought he had the potential to be promoted to a pure-blooded dragon and become one of the top figures in Community 2."

Chapter 243 Listening to the World

The input characters flashed in the box, and Zuo Chang looked at the chat box without making any move.

Mayumi sat beside him, hugging her knees, without making a sound.

Her fair and beautiful face was pressed against her knees, her eyes never leaving Zuo Chang's pensive face. She thought that Zuo Chang was quite charming when he was deep in thought.

The setbacks encountered before the "archaeological operation" even began were indeed unexpected.

But this isn't entirely the Dragon Princess's problem.

The most important thing—

Sakura is still more capable and skilled; "Curse Spirit - Tongue, Nose, Ears and Eyes" is a high-level skill that is not easy to obtain.

Its stringent casting conditions are a major pain point for all spellcasters.

Sakura, by combining her own strengths, skillfully and cleverly tricked a promising young talent from Community No. 2 into falling into her trap—a move that can only be described as genius. Being schemed against by someone like that is understandable.

The important thing now is how to handle this matter.

Should we recruit Sakura Karen into the team?

"It's hard to accept."

Zuo Chang thought to himself silently.

His attitude towards "welfare girls" has always been rather ambiguous. Looking is fine, but asking for money is unlikely.

Whether this behavior qualifies as "earning a living through one's own efforts" is actually quite difficult to define.

Zuo Chang reserves the right to respect but not support, but he will not strongly oppose it either; he usually pretends not to see or know.

What he truly couldn't accept was Sakura's "background information".

He blinked slowly and called out, "Mayumi."

"Hmm? Ah, Father, I'm here."

Mayumi was stunned for a moment before she realized what was happening.

Zuo Chang looked at her and asked, "Is Lu Zheng's teacher the leader of the Divine Sound Society?"

Mayumi nodded: "Yes, Shikamaru's teacher is the leader of the Divine Sound Society, 'Divine Sound Agent'. Moreover, he seems to have a very good relationship with his teacher. I once saw a high-ranking member of the Divine Sound Society come to greet him in his adventure group. That member was very humble and even brought gifts for every member of the Deer Morning."