Man on the ark, forced to become king

Chen's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately remembered the agreement they had made that night, causing his breathing to quicken.

Even though many years have passed, she still can't forget it; it remains an obsession in her heart!

Countless times I've dreamt of that day in the dead of night, and the scene remains vivid in my mind, undiminished.

She knew very well that she might never see Talulah again in her life if she relied on her own strength. If it weren't for Lin Lu and Wei Yanwu, she might not even be able to leave Lungmen!

So when Lin Lu told her that she could help her find Talulah, she answered without hesitation, even if the price was the rest of her life.

Because that might be her only chance in this life to see her sister again, she wouldn't, and couldn't possibly, give it up!

Since then, she has occasionally wondered when Lin Lu would choose to make her move. Could it be that...

"I had someone investigate information about Duke Koschche and Talulah, and I got the results today, but they are somewhat different from what I expected."

To retrieve it, they would need to venture deep into Ursus territory, to the domain of a powerful duke. There was a high probability of armed conflict, so Lin Lu wouldn't be foolish enough to blindly lead her people in; she needed to prepare in advance.

Just like with the Scarlet Troupe, didn't he also entrust Old Carp to gather intelligence in advance?

However, it would be inappropriate to ask Lao Li to handle the Ursus matter again. Given the precedent of the Crimson Troupe, Lao Li might not be willing to go again.

So once he had some free time, he went to talk to the Emperor about it.

Penguin Logistics has an intelligence network that spans the entire continent, so entrusting this task to the Emperor is the most suitable option.

That black-hearted penguin's abilities certainly didn't disappoint; it quickly delivered the information.

As long as there's money, Penguin Logistics is highly efficient.

However, the intelligence they sent over did not contain any good news.

—In the year 1087 of the Terra calendar, six years ago, Duke Kosichee's adopted daughter killed the former Duke Kosichee in the Duke's mansion and fled to the icy wilderness outside the duchy.

Who could have imagined this?

How old was Talulah six years ago?

According to Lin Lu's understanding, the Duke Koschke who competed with Wei Yanwu for the Dragon Gate back then was not an ordinary person who was weak and powerless. On the contrary, he was quite powerful.

How could such a person be killed in his own mansion by a little girl?

Even if it was carelessness, it's still outrageous.

Lin Lu's original plan was to take Lani and the others to Ursus to see the Ice Festival that the Emperor had mentioned, and then go to the Kosichean territory to try to get Talulah out of the Duke's mansion.

But now Talulah has disappeared somewhere, which has suddenly made the task several times more difficult.

The Ursus ice plains are vast and boundless; finding a person in such a place is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Moreover, it's unknown whether a child who ran into the icy plains alone is still alive.

The only good news was that he no longer had to worry about a violent conflict with Duke Kosiché, and he didn't even have to go to the duchy, thus avoiding any potential trouble later on.

"How, how could..."

Holding the intelligence documents from Penguin Logistics in his hand, Chen's arm trembled slightly, and his bright eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment.

Talulah is probably dead.

The cruel possibilities were laid out in black and white before her, and even though she had considered the worst-case scenario more than once, she still couldn't accept it.

As a top student who graduated from a prestigious university, Chen had excellent grades and had also paid special attention to news about Ursus, so she knew very well what the Ursus Icefield was like.

Cold and desolate, with nothing but raw stone mines left behind by natural disasters.

How can Talulah survive in such a place all by herself?

Moreover, if she truly had the ability to survive on the ice plains, she should have been able to cross that treacherous land and return to Lungmen after all these years.

But the reality is that there is no news. From that day until now, Chen has not received any news about Talulah. No matter how you look at it, the probability that she is still alive is extremely low.

"Don't panic. We should keep looking. Since Talulah was able to kill Koschei and escape, she might still be able to protect herself."

A child killing the current duke in the ducal mansion and then escaping unscathed—Lin Lu simply doesn't believe that Talulah did it herself.

There is definitely something wrong with this, and it's a big problem.

Either Koschei's enemies used Talulah, or Koschei himself orchestrated this whole thing.

Lin Lu leaned towards the latter. After all, when the Emperor mentioned Duke Koschie, he had inadvertently said "the immortal Koschie." Connecting this title with Talusha's story made it hard not to think of a conspiracy.

From this perspective, there is another piece of information that can be considered as corroborating evidence—after killing Koschei, Talulah left the duchy directly without encountering any significant obstacles along the way. In fact, the ducal mansion did not immediately issue an arrest warrant after she left, as if the incident had never happened.

That's practically saying, "We let her go on purpose," it couldn't be more obvious.

That was a powerful duke, not some nobody. So what if he died?

Therefore, the so-called 'death of Koschei' was likely a staged act by the Duke, who deliberately put Talulah into the ice field.

Lin Lu had no idea what the specific plans were, but since Talulah was able to leave the duchy alive and unimpeded, it meant that she was valuable to Koschei.

Valuable pieces are not easily discarded. After all, Kosic put on a show with great effort; it wouldn't be logical to let someone go and then kill them later.

"..."

Chen pursed her lips, even though she knew the possibility was very low, she couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope.

What if... what if Talulah is still alive?

Perhaps Talulah is still hiding somewhere in the Icefield, waiting for them to find her...

If we give up now, wouldn't we miss our only chance?

We must find it! We absolutely have to find it!

Whether it takes months or years, she will go to Ursus, find Talulah, and see her alive or dead!

His dim eyes regained their luster. Chen clenched his fists, raised his head, and said in a resounding voice, "Teacher, please take me to Ursus. I need to find her!"

"It's not what we agreed on. Ursus isn't a place you can just go anywhere."

Lin Lu shook his head helplessly; he knew this would be the reaction.

Xiaolongren is somewhat stubborn; once she's made up her mind, nothing can change it. She's incredibly stubborn, and being young, she's also impulsive. Once she gets carried away, she starts acting recklessly. It would be strange if she didn't rush over after learning that Talulah had gone missing.

But he really didn't want to bring a burden along. If the goal was clear, it would be fine; it would just take some effort to protect him. But now the place they were looking for had expanded to such a large ice field, and that was at least a small amount. Bringing Chen along would just be asking for trouble.

Her limited stamina, wilderness survival skills, and experience will significantly slow down the search progress.

Most importantly, he also planned to take this opportunity to bring his wife to the Ice and Snow Music Festival. What would it mean to bring a third wheel?

"Teacher, please, please..."

Chen had never asked anyone for help in her life, nor would she ever ask for one, but when it came to Talulah, she really wanted to go. The thought of her waiting in Lungmen for news that was neither good nor bad was worse than death for her.

"How about we take her with us?"

Lin Lu was fine, but Melina was a little softened by Chen's conflicted and longing expression and muttered to herself.

"……you sure?"

Lin Lu was a little upset that her wife had suddenly betrayed her. She couldn't tell Chen directly that she didn't want to bring her along as a third wheel, so she was in a bit of a bind.

Seeing that Chen was so frustrated that his eyes were almost red, Lin Lu thought for a moment and suddenly came up with a good idea.

Since Xiaolongren wants to go so much, let's give her something to do. If she succeeds, we'll take her with us. If she fails, it's her own fault for not seizing the opportunity, and she can't blame anyone else.

"Okay, I'll give you a chance."

Thinking of the message from Kazdel, Lin Lu carefully considered her words and said in a deep voice, "Golden Tree has a commission recently. If you can find a channel to purchase building materials for Mobile City, I will take you with me."

This wasn't something he made up on the spot or deliberately created a difficult problem; it actually happened.

Kazdel wants to rebuild, and mobile cities are an unavoidable hurdle. How can a country achieve long-term and stable development without cities?

However, they lacked the technology and resources to build mobile cities. Theresis had managed to obtain a batch of materials from Victoria, but now that Kazdel had been unified, the cooperation there was naturally interrupted, causing the planned construction of the city to come to a standstill and be indefinitely postponed.

Having no other choice, Theresa shamelessly went to him to see if the Golden Tree had any connections.

Lin Lu doesn't have that kind of thing.

The person with the highest power and status he knows in this world is Wei Yanwu, and Longmen doesn't have anything like that to sell.

So he planned to refuse Theresa, since he really couldn't do it.

However, before that, it can be used to make things difficult for Chen and make her give up.

Building a mobile city is such a huge undertaking that even if Chen were determined to ask Wei Yanwu for help, it would be to no avail.

"Materials for building mobile cities?"

Chen was stunned, but to Lin Lu's surprise, after hesitating for a while, she actually nodded and agreed to the job.

Chapter Eight: Dragon and Tiger

Where can we find building material purchasing channels for mobile cities?

Those are not ordinary wood or bricks; to support the weight of a city, they must be made of special alloys, and only a handful of countries have the capability to produce them.

Yan Country, Ursus, Victoria, Colombia.

Chen counted on his fingers and could only think of these four.

Ursus, in particular, has never had a precedent for foreign trade. It goes without saying that that militaristic nation would only squander all its resources on war to arm itself.

So, the Yan Kingdom?