Eric Lan: "Samson Zhang!"
Samson Zhang: "What?"
"I'm Eric Lan! Do I really need a job? If it weren't for that old man in my family—"
"So what if you’re Eric Lan? Aside from your background, what’s your actual worth? What are your ideals?" Samson Zhang cut him off.
Eric Lan: "Ugh! I hate it when people talk to me about ideals!"
"Alright, I get it! I used to hate it when people said I was poor. Nobody likes talking about their sore spots or shortcomings."
Eric Lan: "..."
He’d never hated anyone as much as he hated Samson Zhang.
......
The next morning, Lily Bai headed up the mountain early.
Little Smudge and Sandy tagged along.
"I've already scanned this place a hundred times," Sandy said. "There's really nothing suspicious on this mountain."
Lily Bai looked at Little Smudge. "Did the Prophet really vanish on Dragon Mountain Hills?"
"Absolutely!" Little Smudge said. "I can guarantee it. Evan Lan said there has to be somewhere nearby that can hide the aura of spirit jade."
"So where is it, then?" Lily Bai gazed off into the distance, a bit gloomy.
From here, you could see all of Dragon City.
This was the capital of Huaxia, a bustling metropolis with a population over twenty million—skyscrapers everywhere, endless streams of traffic.
But the closer you got to Dragon Mountain Hills, the sparser the buildings became.
In front of Dragon Mountain Hills stood the President’s estate; beyond that was a carefully landscaped zone that ordinary citizens couldn’t enter, like a royal garden.
The sides of Dragon Mountain Hills were lined with wide expressways; only the back still had some buildings.
"Sandy, what are those buildings?" Lily Bai asked.
"That tower is Everstead Tower—it symbolizes enduring rule," Sandy replied.
Lily Bai nodded.
"That complex with yellow walls and blue tiles is Awakening Abbey—pretty much the national temple of Huaxia."
"So that's Awakening Abbey..." Lily Bai remembered what Auntie Cui had told her about Master Nebula, the one who harmed Evan Lan's mother.
He used to be a monk at Awakening Abbey.
Maybe I should go check it out... Who knows, maybe I'll find a clue.
"The closest one is the National Heritage Museum," Sandy pointed at a grand building at the foot of Dragon Mountain Hills. "It houses all kinds of precious artifacts."
Lily Bai nodded. "Today, let's go wander around Awakening Abbey."
Sandy could do deep scans and hack into any network.
Little Smudge could sense spiritual power, so Lily Bai brought both of them to Awakening Abbey.
The three of them wandered all over, even burned incense and bowed to the Buddhas, but after most of the day, they’d found nothing.
No spiritual power, no suspicious signs.
Getting back in the car, Lily Bai asked, "Little Smudge, how wide a range can you sense spiritual power?"
Little Smudge answered, "Three to five li, maybe!"
"Are you even useful?" Lily Bai eyed it skeptically.
"If you’re so great, you do it!"
Lily Bai fell silent and kept driving.
"Once the Little Gatekeeper can talk, he’s the best choice," Little Smudge said. "He’s the strongest spirit-powered baby in the world!"
"But he can’t talk yet, can he?" Lily Bai sighed. "If we really can’t find anything, then we’ll just have to wait. We’ll continue once he’s older. It’s just... who knows if that person will have used up all the spirit jade by then..."
Both of them fell silent.
Searching for the lost spirit jade had felt vague and elusive from the start.
No real clues at all—just a patchwork of scattered guesses and deductions...