Chapter 037: Ling Qier

(The following section will be updated as steadily as possible by the leader, since the baby is only a few days past her first month.)

"Xiao Ling, when you get to London, your grandfather has an old comrade there. No matter what happens, you can always go to him for help."

"I understand, Grandpa! You must take care of yourself as well."

In a somewhat messy boudoir, various items lay scattered about; clothes were tossed onto the bed, and two large pink suitcases stood near the door. By the bedside, a long-haired girl gently set down her phone, her expression tinged with melancholy.

This was Ling Qier, the one just told by Lin Zhan that they should break up. By her side rested the snow city micro-sculpture—a parting gift she had received only days before.

"Lin Zhan, please don't lose hope... But why did you disappear so suddenly... Where could you possibly be?" She lightly picked up the delicate snow city micro-sculpture pendant, her slender fingers caressing the sparkling point at its center, murmuring softly to herself.

Ling Qier had already gone to the laboratory to examine this snow city micro-sculpture with a professional magnifying glass. From her near-expert perspective, she felt its level of detail was on par with the popular micro-sculptured city pieces circulating worldwide.

Her trip to London was, in fact, to visit one such micro-sculptured city on display—the City of Boiling Seas.

She had always been passionate about the art of micro-sculpture, but more importantly, Lin Zhan’s final gift had stirred a strange sadness within her. She felt compelled to see other micro-sculptured cities, hoping it might ease her sorrow.

As for her breakup with Lin Zhan, perhaps she was still unwilling to accept it. Indeed, she had never actually agreed to it. She regretted interfering with Lin Zhan's decision to join the police, a moment of impulsiveness that revealed her immaturity; her notions of love were, at times, naïve.

So, even after realizing she had committed an unforgivable mistake, Ling Qier still believed, at least in theory, that Lin Zhan remained her boyfriend—even though he'd mysteriously disappeared for so long.

No one wanted to expose the truth, not even her loving family.

"Xiao Ling, Uncle Liu has brought the car around. I think it's time we head to the airport," her mother said, standing at the doorway and gazing at her dazed daughter, sighing quietly in her heart.

She knew her daughter had not yet emerged from the shadow cast over her.

Quickly, she called the house staff to carry out her daughter's two suitcases. This time, Ling Qier’s mother would accompany her for the entire trip abroad, hoping to help her recover.

"Alright, I'm coming," Ling Qier replied, forcing a faint smile to her lips.

She seemed to think for a moment, then lowered her head and drew out a necklace from beneath her collar. Unfastening the diamond pendant, she replaced it with the snow city micro-sculpture, then carefully tucked it back under her collar. She gathered her hair up high, revealing a fair, graceful neck that, from behind, looked just like a proud white swan...

A Boeing airbus carried Ling Qier toward foreign lands. The beautiful girl closed her eyes, pretending to rest.

Yet beneath her gently trembling lashes, tiny crystalline drops clung desperately to her eyes.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhan was recklessly fleeing through the northern forests with Senior Brother Za Shi. Immersed in the micro-sculpture world, he remained unaware of the changes outside, oblivious to the airplane soaring through clouds, thousands of feet above the earth, or that the snow city pendant pressed tightly against the softest part of Ling Qier’s chest.

As Lin Zhan followed Senior Brother Za Shi on the path of escape through the northern forest, hidden currents surged all around...

Several teams from the Liang family were converging on this area, except for the one that Za Shi and Lin Zhan had already eliminated.

Before this, when those two elders had spotted Za Shi, they'd already sent word to the others.

It was common in the sect for young disciples to perish in training due to lack of skill, and families would often seek vengeance in response—a tendency to protect their own, but not out of the ordinary. The great figures of Blazing Ice Mountain would turn a blind eye, so long as things did not get out of hand, letting them do as they pleased.

For Za Shi, facing such danger was itself a test.

Yet this test was one of life and death, with no second chances; the line between survival and demise was razor thin.

"That big red-faced man..." Lin Zhan couldn't help but ask as they darted through the woods.

"With my dashing looks, it's no surprise I have admirers—cough, cough," Za Shi replied, glancing at the terrain as he spoke.

The two were currently making way for a passing wild beast.

"But he's a man!" Lin Zhan exclaimed, eyes wide.

Za Shi's fair, handsome face flushed again. "He is indeed a man, but there's nothing I can do about it!"

Lin Zhan couldn't help but recall the scene of that red-faced brute charging toward them, like a hungry infant racing into his mother's arms...

It was truly bewildering.

The passing creature was a giant-horned golden ox. With such beasts, born of brute strength, fighting would be pointless; the wise course was to avoid them altogether.

Only after the ox thundered past on its four hooves did the two leap down from a towering tree.

"This can't go on. We can't properly hunt like this," Za Shi said, taking several items from his storage space and laying them out on the ground. "Running away isn't my strong suit!"

Lin Zhan was speechless once again; each time Za Shi revealed his treasures, he was struck by fresh astonishment.

The weapons and oddities Za Shi produced were all things Lin Zhan had never even heard of.

Holding his newly acquired heavy sword, Xiao Yun Yun, Lin Zhan was still searching for a proper feel for it.

Ice-fire cones, cold-gold thunder, piercing ropes—these were all tools for setting traps and ambushes. Lin Zhan began to worry for those from the Liang family...

The northern forest stretched endlessly, dense with trees and wild beasts, full of unknown dangers. Lin Zhan and Za Shi spent three days and nights in this environment, their pursuers always close behind.

They were accompanied by a little rainbow python—a creature who proved to be more ornamental than useful.

He had hoped that having such a spirit beast would boost their fighting strength, but from start to finish, the little rainbow python curled up on Lin Zhan’s right wrist, sleeping soundly through it all.

It was only when they were about to leave the northern forest, returning the little rainbow to her valley, that she reluctantly departed from the Nine-Star Pattern, glancing back with every step as she slowly slipped into a hidden place.