Heroes Return

“Our priority now should be rescuing those members of the Senate,” Haina said to the two men. “Once we rescue the councilors, we can deal with the sea creature army gathered outside the city.”

"But what should we do with those Dragon God armies?" Lin Jie asked Hai Na. "How should we deal with those Dragon God armies? We can't just let those lazy bums wander around your city forever, can we? Who knows what they might do?"

At this moment, Haina looked at Lin Jie and Thirteen with a serious expression: "I hope you can return the Reverse Scale to the Dragon God."

"You mean you're using this condition to get the Dragon God to withdraw his troops?" Thirteen asked.

“Yes, perhaps this scale is of great use to you, but I still hope you can return it to the Dragon God,” Haina said. “Only in this way can the Dragon God’s army retreat.”

"But how should we contact the Dragon God?" Lin Jie asked.

“Karu must have a way to contact the Dragon God.” Thirteen said, and dug Karu out of a ruin: “Karu had lost consciousness at this time, and his face, which had been hit by a stick, was obviously deformed.”

"Are you sure you can still ask him after this? I should have gone easy on him." Lin Jie looked at Karu's unrecognizable face and said, "If all else fails, I'll just go and beat those millions of salted fish down."

“Wait, we can go to Karu’s house to look for him,” Haina said. “He’s been going in and out of his residence in the palace a lot lately; maybe we can find some clues there.”

"Alright, you guys go rescue those councilors, I'll raid Karu's house." Lin Jie said to Haina, "Tell me the location of Karu's palace."

……

Inside the royal palace, the Dragon God's divided soul was awakened once more. Instantly, a gigantic dragon coiled up in the palace, and at that moment, he could clearly feel his own reverse scale right beside him.

"Very good, you've finally finished..." His voice stopped abruptly before he could finish speaking.

What did he see? A wild zero...

Although Zero was not shrouded in black mist, nor was he wearing his famous cloak, the Dragon God still recognized the person in front of him at a glance.

The unintentional release of the Immortal-Slaying Sword Intent might be unrecognizable to mortals, but having witnessed the terrifying power of the sword formation firsthand, he was certain that the person before him was Zero—the human who had faced the World Serpent head-on.

"..." As the sound abruptly stopped, the Dragon God was drenched in cold sweat, and not just cold sweat. If Zero hadn't deliberately refrained from unleashing his devastating sword intent, he probably would have burst into tears by now.

"Lord Zero... I never imagined it was you who obtained the little dragon's reverse scale..."

"Oh? So you really are that dragon from the East Sea." Lin Jie looked at the giant dragon image before him and couldn't help but say, "Those troops outside are really too troublesome. Could you please have them withdraw?"

"No problem, I'll have them leave right away." The Dragon God nodded in agreement.

"That's wonderful! I didn't expect you to be so easy to talk to. I even prepared some things to say before I came." Lin Jie looked at the Dragon God in front of him and couldn't help but feel a surge of goodwill.

“Since you have given your orders, I will naturally comply.” The Dragon God said to Lin Jie, then his tone became somewhat hesitant: “Lord Ling… actually… that dragon scale on your body is actually an important scale that I lost many years ago. I wonder if you could return that scale to me…”

"Oh? Are you in a hurry for this scale?" Lin Jie raised an eyebrow and asked the Dragon God.

"No rush, no rush!" The Dragon God shook his head hurriedly, startled, and said, "Lord Zero, if you like it, just take it and play with it. Play with it as much as you want! Just give it back to me whenever you're done playing with it..."

“But I’ve heard that anyone who dares to cross your line will incur the wrath of your dragon race,” Lin Jie said.

"Who said that? That's just a rumor. If we were to haggle over a single scale, wouldn't our dragon race have been wiped out long ago?" The Dragon God quickly shook his head and said.

He said those words almost with tears in his eyes.

"Forget it, I'm not interested in this." Lin Jie said, tossing the dragon scale to the Dragon God. "I'll give it back to you now."

"Thank you, Lord Zero!" The phantom of the Dragon God quickly thanked Lin Jie.

"Now that Little Dragon's main objective has been achieved, Little Dragon will take his leave," the Dragon God said to Lin Jie.

"Go on your way, but don't forget to take your salted fish with you," Lin Jie replied.

"Definitely! Definitely!" The Dragon God nodded hurriedly, and then the dragon scale slowly merged into the phantom, followed by a giant dragon soaring into the sky above the entire Sea King City.

Countless sea creatures watched in shock as a giant dragon soared into the sky from the royal palace. Even Gray and several other consulate staff who came out to check on the situation witnessed this scene.

The rescued councilors were equally astonished by what they saw.

After circling the city once with astonishing power, the dragon bit into space, creating a rift in the void.

Then the entire dragon disappeared into the crack.

All the sea creatures who witnessed this scene breathed a sigh of relief.

Thus, the Karu coup that occurred that day was quelled on the same day. The incident resulted in a large number of injured sea creatures, but fortunately, there were not many fatalities.

The main culprit, Karu, has been arrested, but tragically, Karu himself was knocked insane by Lin Jie and lost all his memories. He was eventually confined to a mental hospital.

The large number of sea tribe troops and city guards who had been forced by Karu to rush towards the royal city returned to their posts under the new command of the councilors.

At the same time, at Princess Haina's insistence, the sea creature experts who supported Karu, including Karaka, were pardoned and did not receive severe punishment after swearing allegiance to Haina.

On this matter, Princess Haina had a rare disagreement with the members of the Senate. She also displayed her own strength for the first time, momentarily overwhelming the sea tribe's councilors in terms of presence. Of course, this was partly due to Lin Jie standing behind Haina, constantly waving the iron rod that had stunned Karu.

The turmoil involving the sea creatures miraculously subsided within a day.

……

In the sanatorium, Haina quietly watched Karu tossing and turning on the bed like a child, and couldn't help but sigh: "He used to be a very good man."

"Really?" Thirteen couldn't help but look at Haina: "You actually feel sorry for this madman who's obsessed with starting a war?"

“You don’t understand. Although he’s single-mindedly trying to start a war, Karu is truly a man who’s willing to die for my people.” Haina said with some regret, “No one can even compare to his loyalty to my people, otherwise so many outstanding warriors of the sea tribe wouldn’t be willing to obey his orders.”

"If he recovers, will you forgive him just as you forgave his subordinates?" Thirteen asked.

“I don’t know,” Kana said frankly. “I don’t know if I will forgive him, but I would rather he stay this way.”

“…That’s not exactly a kind thing to say,” Thirteen said. “The naive you from a few months ago would never have said something like that.”

"Having experienced these things twice in a row, anyone would change," Haina said calmly. "Besides, my hope just now might not be a bad thing."

"Do you think it's a good thing for him to continue like this?" Thirteen asked.

“Look how happy he is now,” Kana said calmly. “It might not be a bad thing if he just forgets all that hatred.”

With that, Kana led Thirteen out of the room at the mental health center: "Let hatred disappear in our generation!"

With that, Haina and Thirteen got into the carriage heading to the palace.

Then, for various reasons, the two of them changed cars three times before finally arriving at the royal palace venue, where a grand banquet would be held tonight.

……

Seven years ago, somewhere underwater in the Pacific Ocean, a young Karu, carrying the most respected prince of the sea tribe and his best friend, struggled to hide among the underwater reefs.

Various underwater reconnaissance machines kept swimming past the two of them.

"Those damned humans actually attacked us under the guise of negotiation! They are so despicable!" Karu transmitted his voice underwater.

"I'll distract those underwater machines, Karu, you take the opportunity to run."

"How could I possibly ask you to distract those machines? If anyone should be distracting them, it should be me!"

“You are the father of the chosen one, the man who will protect the sea people in the future! I cannot let you die here like this.”

“Aren’t you also our prince? In terms of status, you are far more noble than me.”

"I'm already beyond saving. Even if I escape, I won't survive. I might as well help you escape."

"But!"

“This is the best choice and the most effective method.” With that, the prince swam off Karu’s back and swam to another spot.

"I will definitely avenge you, Your Highness!" If Karu were standing on the ground at this moment, you would see the tears in his eyes.

Chapter 33

"...Let hatred and war end in our generation!" In the Senate, Haina finished her speech, and her image was transmitted throughout the Fantasy Sea through the Senate's crystal.

"Next, I would like to express my gratitude to the two warriors who helped me quell this incident." As she spoke, Haina picked up two blue crystals and hung them around Lin Jie and Thirteen's necks respectively: "These blue crystals will represent the friendship of the sea race."

After the awards ceremony, the banquet that Lin Jie had been looking forward to began.

Then he was shocked to discover that the main course at the banquet was actually cold octopus salad...

"Why aren't you eating?" Haina walked over to Thirteen and Lin Jie. "These are essential ingredients for our victory celebration banquet. You two haven't eaten anything all day, have you?"

“We plan to talk first, and then taste it.” Thirteen said, pulling Lin Jie to another spot: “We two need to talk about some things between men.”

"Okay, have fun." After saying that, Haina walked in another direction.

Thirteen and Lin Jie then arrived at another corner of the banquet. Finally, they stopped at a table with a plate of grilled sea monster meat and began to devour it, almost crying from the pain.

What is the most delicious food in the world? It's finally getting a bite of cooked octopus after eating raw octopus for N days in a row. The expressions on the two people's faces deeply moved the chefs performing the cooking show. In all their years of cooking, this was the first time they had ever encountered people who cried tears of joy while eating their own food.

Just as Lin Jie and Thirteen were devouring their food, Gray came over and started eating a piece of roasted meat. After finishing the whole piece, Gray said to Thirteen and Lin Jie, "I need to talk to you about something."

Upon hearing Gray's words, the two of them simultaneously raised their heads.

“Our troubles aren’t over yet. Have you forgotten about the Admiral and his men?” Gray said to the two men.

Upon hearing Gray mention the admiral, Lin Jie and Thirteen immediately stopped eating and looked in Gray's direction.

Gray beckoned to the two men, who followed him to a garden outside the banquet hall. Several men in suits were waiting there.

"Let me introduce you. These are the government personnel who came to meet us. This is their leader; you can call him Mr. K," Gray said to Lin Jie and his companion.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, but time is short, so please allow us to get down to business." Mr. K said to Lin Jie and Thirteen, "First, I would like to reconfirm the whereabouts of the Reverse Scale."

"The Dragon God took it back. You can ask the people at the consulate if you don't believe me," Lin Jie said calmly.

After hearing Lin Jie's words, Mr. K's expression did not change. Instead, he looked at one of his companions behind him. After seeing his companion nod slightly, Mr. K said to Lin Jie, "That's a real pity. But since the opponent is the Dragon God, there's nothing we can do. Next, I hope you can help us rescue the Admiral's ship and all the people on board."

"Have you heard any news about the Admiral?" Thirteen asked.

"We've received information, or rather, they've proactively contacted the consulate's communications equipment. The admiral demands that we arrive at his designated location by tomorrow night and exchange our hostages for his ship's hostages."

"Another hostage kidnapping?" Lin Jie said unhappily, "Can't you come up with something else? Besides, the Dragon God has already taken back the Reverse Scale."

"But the admiral doesn't know that the Dragon God has already taken back the Reverse Scale," Thirteen said. "That means we have to rescue those hostages at the agreed location."

“Yes,” Mr. K replied, “So this time we need as many helpers as possible. In fact, we also hope that you can appear and ask Princess Hanna for help.”

“I understand, we’ll join.” Thirteen said, then looked at Lin Jie: “Do you still have that skin you gave me last time? It feels so cool to use.”

"That's all, just the same old one." Lin Jie said to Thirteen, "But I do have a technique that can quickly increase strength. With your current potential, you should see a noticeable improvement after practicing it for just one night."

"Really? Let me see it."

"Take a look." As he spoke, Lin Jie produced an ancient book in his hand. The four prominent characters on it made Thirteen slap the book onto Lin Jie's face: 'Sunflower Manual'.

“Speaking of which, it seems we’ve forgotten something,” Lin Jie said.

……

In the cold, dark storage room, Fourteen was swaying his body in sorrow.