People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

"Gawain, still hiding?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, let me watch a little longer. What's the rush, Yeragand? You're a grown man, have some patience."

"Crack!"

With a crisp cracking sound, Gawain suddenly dodged to the side, watching as the flying ice shards melted away a second before hitting Vina's door.

The lion, its mane gleaming, raised its paw in a very lifelike manner, wiped away non-existent cold sweat from its forehead, and shifted its gaze slightly upwards to look at the stone floating in mid-air.

If it were the people of Sherag, they would surely recognize that this is the very "Jelagund Stone" that Ernst always carried with him and never parted from his side.

However, unlike usual, the Jeragund Stone was not emitting a warm, fusion-like light, but rather a somewhat cold blue light. The light was not diffused, but rather projected forward from the center of the stone, like a tangible gaze.

The Divine Stone is part of Yeragand's true form; every part, from a fingernail to a strand of hair, carries Yeragand's consciousness. Therefore, even though Al'er herself did not come to Columbia with Ernst, as long as the Divine Stone exists, Al'er can cast her gaze upon Ernst at any time through it.

Of course, Jeragund wouldn't normally do that. Firstly, as a moral, cultured, and emotionally intelligent god, He is very willing and well aware of the necessity of giving His children enough private space.

Secondly, constantly glancing at Ernst might be fine if he doesn't get noticed, but if Ernst does, it might leave a bad impression on the child, like "Is this god always so idle?", "The god of slacking off", or "The god of laziness". In more serious cases, he might even be considered a "stalker".

If Ernst stopped carrying the Divine Stone with him because of this, it would be a huge loss for Jeragund! It would be more reasonable for him to passively wait in front of the phone for Ernst to pray most of the time, and occasionally make a call to make his presence known.

As for why I made a special trip out tonight, the main reason is because of Gao Wen's invitation.

This is why He was angry. Gawain exposed His ability to freely project His will through the Divine Stone, and He was almost exposed in front of Ernst. He risked his life to sneak out, but Gawain stood him up. What, does Jeragund have no temper?

After precisely freezing ice crystals onto every single hair of Gawain's mane, Ya'er asked with satisfaction;

"Tell me, what do you want from me?"

"We're practically each other's parents now, don't be so formal." Stroking his icy beard, Gawain noticed Yeragand's unfriendly gaze and cut straight to the point, "Didn't you help Ernst build an indestructible mech the other day?"

The divine stone bobbed up and down slightly, as if nodding in agreement: "That's true. What's wrong?"

"That thing is for the Balrog, you know that?"

"I know, so what?" Ya'er asked, puzzled. "Is the Flame Demon that scary?"

Gao Wen paused for a moment, then suddenly realized something.

He might not be able to do anything about the Balrog, so he felt that Vina's participation in the final experiment of the Balrog Project would be risky, but Yeragand might not be.

They weren't afraid at all.

A behemoth is a behemoth, even though Yeragand is still very young, so young that it has never even seen its own kind, so young that for thousands of years it has either been lying obediently on the ground, becoming the mountains of Sherag, or has been lying there for too long and fallen asleep. But a behemoth is a behemoth.

The behemoth is not afraid of the fire demon. Even the most powerful fire demon king could only defeat, but not truly kill, a behemoth, let alone a soul that awakens after thousands of years, a fragmented demon that has lost its body and relies on a mechanical body to move around.

If the Balrog really intends to make a move, he'll probably turn into an ice pop the moment he raises his hand.

I heard that people who make ice cream in Colombia have special molding molds. With a new sheet metal body, the Balrog would probably be even easier to freeze.

Shaking his head with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Gao Wen had no choice but to change his approach, unleashing his "cunning lion" nature and beginning to spread alarmist rumors:

“Yelagand, you have never left Shelag, you may not know that.”

"I just want to remind you that the Sarkaz of the Balrog race are extremely dangerous! Their favorite thing is to set things on fire! They won't stop until they've burned every living thing in their path to death!"

"However, you don't need to worry too much. After all, this fire demon was resurrected after thousands of years. Maybe after thousands of years, he has come to his senses and reformed?"

"In short, I'm just offering a reminder—"

"By the way, are you going to the site tomorrow to observe it together?"

"Can I go?" Ya'er, who was deep in thought, paused and asked instinctively.

He certainly didn't mean whether he "could go" or not. After all, regardless of whether Gawain's words were true or false, He would definitely be with Ernst tomorrow, never leaving his side.

He asked himself, "Can I appear openly and honestly?"

Gawain smiled slightly at this: "Of course, Yeragand. The inviter listed on the invitation is Ernst and his subordinates."

"Among these subordinates, of course, are the head maid of the Manjusaka, or the first citizen of Sherag."

Jeragand smiled with satisfaction, and even the stone seemed to shine a little brighter.

He suddenly realized that Gawain, the beast lord who freeloaded in Kjerag, wasn't entirely without merit. At least his mouth, his brain, and his ability to spread rumors—well, they were all quite useful!

At this very moment, in the lobby on the first floor of the hotel.

The dazzling blue light attracted the attention of the security guards in the hotel's security room.

He looked up, still half asleep, and gazed at the security camera footage in the corridor. This was the scene that greeted his eyes.

Under the soothing, dim light, a stone emitting an eerie blue glow floated in the center of the corridor. There was nothing around it, yet it seemed to be communicating with something unseen, its light flickering and bobbing up and down.

The security guard's drowsiness vanished instantly. He stood up abruptly, memorized the floors in the corridor, and rushed out of the security room to go upstairs and find out what was going on!

This behavior would be extremely unusual elsewhere, but this is Tremont, a place that loves adventure and reckless behavior.

Press the elevator button, go up to the floor, and as the elevator doors slowly open, the security guard suddenly sticks his head out of the elevator car.

The corridor was completely empty.

At this moment, the security guard, who had been blinded by curiosity, finally felt fear. He gasped and scrambled back into the elevator car, frantically pressing the close button. Only when the elevator doors slowly closed did he breathe a sigh of relief, take out his phone, and post a message on the intercity network discussion board.

[Guys, I've encountered a ghost in my hotel!]

The hotel's surveillance footage was also uploaded.

From this day forward, another mysterious urban legend will circulate in the streets and alleys of Tremont.

The story is titled "The Flying Blue Stone"

This is a blue-glowing stone that flies through the air. It can appear anytime, anywhere, on any machine near you that can display an image. It could be your phone, a security camera feed, or a movie screen.

It will linger there for three to five minutes, using various methods to lure you to the location shown on the screen. But once you're bewitched and arrive there, you'll find it's completely empty.

Perhaps this is a prank by some bored god?

Legend has it that if you can actually catch the Blue Stone, the gods will appear and grant you one of your wishes.

This caused quite a stir among occult enthusiasts, and for a time, rooms in major hotels in Trimont were almost fully booked.

However, the truth remains unknown.

I was discharged from the hospital today after suffering a fracture in my foot.

I packed my things and went home. I still need to go through the formal discharge procedures tomorrow, so I'm a bit busy. I'll take the day off today.

There will be a normal update tomorrow.

There was an earthquake in Gansu last night, and I heard that some places in Chongqing felt the tremors. Although I didn't feel it, it was still quite frightening.

More than a hundred people have already died. Sigh, these years have been anything but peaceful.

Praying for our friends in Gansu. To all our brothers in Gansu, please be safe and watch out for aftershocks.

The weather is getting cooler, take care of yourselves, goodnight brothers.

Chapter 192 The Concept of the Trimont Human Rights Association (4000)

Tremon generates all sorts of new inventions and ideas every day, and the Flame Demon Project is just one of them, not worth paying too much attention to.

If you think that way, you're sorely mistaken.

Rhine Labs is a star company in Tremont, a well-known technology company throughout Terra. Every move of a star is always under scrutiny. Even a fart from them can make it into the top three on the trending topics list. If they were to take off their pants and fart, it might even be a divine intervention that sends them flying to the top spot.

Therefore, when the news broke that the final experiment of the Flame Demon Project would take place today, almost all the reporters in Tremont had their cameras and microphones ready, waiting to fight tooth and nail with their colleagues at the press conference that was about to begin.

"However, there's something I've always found strange. Shouldn't the Flame Demon Project be a military project? Why is it being publicized so extensively that the entire Trimont region knows about it?"

Milochie Brightlight, who was invited as the body provider, looked on with surprise.

When Ernst ordered the upcoming Dulin 259 robot from her, stating that he intended to deliver it to Rhine Lab, Miloch was tense, surprised, and incredulous.

Like most individual entrepreneurs who knew about Rhine Lab's public tender for robots, Miloqi was eager to participate in the competition, but she was also well aware that with her own technical capabilities and materials, she certainly couldn't compete with the big manufacturers like Columbia.

But since the opportunity was right in front of her, Miloski did her best to make the No. 259 Dulin robot to perfection.

It is said that in order to collect better materials, she even sold several bottles of her treasured Turin wines to a Colombian wine collector in exchange for a large sum of money.

This made Ernst somewhat regretful. Damn it, if he had known the wine from the Turin people was so valuable, he should have accepted Milo's gift back then!

But that's all idle talk. Faced with Milo's question, Ernst smiled slightly:

"Who knows? Perhaps Ms. Seria has some special considerations."

By secretly leaking information and amplifying the impact of the matter, it would be easier for President Wilson, Ernst's backup plan, to enter the scene legitimately. This little trick was naturally arranged by Ernst.

But what does Ernst's arrangement have to do with me, "Noxis Edwis"?

Ernst had not yet revealed his identity to Miss Miloski, and he felt he could still stall for time in the face of this fan who was urging him to update.

At the very least, we can't let her find out that the second part of "Eris" has only just begun to be written.

Of course, even if Miss Miloge found out about this sometime later, it wouldn't be a big deal. Their interactions didn't involve Kjerag's political sphere; it was purely a personal relationship. In a way, Ernst did Miloge a favor by giving her a rare opportunity to directly contact Rhine Labs. If anything, Miloge should thank him.

With this relationship in place, even if Milo discovered something, she probably wouldn't be too embarrassed to do anything to Ernst again.

Well, there's at least an 80% chance. The remaining 20% ​​depends on the randomness of the Dulin race, which we've never seen before.

After a quick check of his invitation, Ernst stepped into the reserved venue.

Upon entering Rhine Labs' laboratory for the first time, Miloge was immediately drawn to the researchers sitting at their workbenches and the recently renowned Levy and Palvis. This saved Ernst some trouble. He stood in the center of the room, his gaze peering through the glass at the actual meeting room separated by a wall.

Although it was called a conference venue, it was actually just a larger laboratory. The interior layout was no different from the laboratory Levi had used in his last experiment: a separate space for observing experimental results and isolating risks, with Ifrit's room, which served as the experimental subject, located opposite the reinforced glass.

Slightly different from last time, this time Ifrit's room had significantly more greenery and toys, and even a television set.

Having arrived earlier, Saria greeted Ernst and, noticing his curious gaze as he looked around the room, offered an explanation:

"The plants were arranged by Muirsey. She is very interested in the composition of Originium plants, so she wants to collect more samples."

Muels, who had been mentioned, appeared behind Saria at some point. Hearing this, she nodded, couldn't help but glance at Ernst a few more times, and said somewhat abruptly:

"Mr. Ernst, thank you very much."

Ernst paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded.

Rhine Lab is truly a remarkable organization, so remarkable that Ernst felt it could rival Scherrag in some respects.

If Kjerag is a bizarre little country, then Rhine Labs is a miraculous organization. Putting aside everything else, its management system, which is practically a disbanded group within Rhine Labs, and its combination of a governor who cares least about Rhine Labs and six directors (Dorothy hasn't joined yet, and Levy doesn't count) who care most, has somehow allowed Rhine Labs to reach its current level of achievement...

Perhaps this is the nature of science: truth can be held by a minority.

But facing this girl (?) who was genuinely thinking of Rhine Lab, and of Christen and Saria, Ernst certainly wouldn't say anything that would spoil the mood. Instead, he said earnestly:

"It's what I should do, and it's also for our future cooperation."

Muirsey pouted, seemingly dissatisfied with the answer, but unable to find anything wrong with Ernst's response. She could only make a cute expression, nod slightly, and turn to leave.

She wasn't concerned about any future cooperation between Rhine Lab and Kjerag.

What she cared about was that Ernst had helped Christen and Seria, both in space exploration and in resolving Rhine Life's problems.

The dance of three people is difficult to perform because Christensen and Seria are two people who only have the sky in their minds and the big picture in their minds, respectively, and their dancing skills are really not good!

But with Ernst by her side to support her, even though her dancing wasn't great, at least it wouldn't end like this, and that was what she cared about.

However, Muirsey wasn't too angry when she left.

Her statement was ambiguous and somewhat cryptic, and given the context, it's understandable that Ernst misunderstood it at first.

Now is definitely not the time to discuss "dancing." Perhaps she should wait until things are over and then find a specific opportunity to talk to Ernst.

This was no difficult task for Muirsey. For a water sprite disguised as a Liberi, sneaking into a place and meeting someone in private was a piece of cake! All Ernst needed was water nearby.

After Muirses left, Saria's expression became even more serious, and she said in a deep voice:

"As for those toys, they were sent by researcher Olivia."

Researcher Olivia is none other than Olivia Himer.

Under Ernst and Seria's arrangement, Himer, as bait to contact Horhaia, was under constant surveillance. Although she continued to work normally, she was implicitly forbidden from approaching the head of the structural department's office alone.

Even so, Himer still signed up for the internal selection process for the final experiment and received a recommendation from Palvis.