Collapse Iron: I just transmigrated! You want me to save the Black Tower?!

Following Jiang Jiu's gaze into the square pot, one is struck by how empty it appears, even more so than the immortal boat that Lan had cleaned.

The shop doors were open, the goods inside were neatly arranged, and the lanterns on the street corner were still swaying gently...

But there was no one.

There wasn't a single person there.

[March 7th: ...Not a single person? The goods are still there, the lights are still on, where did everyone go?]

[Star: The Empty City Stratagem Upgraded – The Empty Boat Stratagem!]

[Dan Heng: There are no signs of life fluctuations, no signs of combat, and no indication of evacuation...]

Himeko: What's most unsettling isn't the emptiness, but rather the fact that "everything is normal."

[Dahlia: Perhaps... it was voluntary?]

[Black Swan: Voluntary? A spaceship carrying billions of people, collectively and voluntarily disappearing into the universe? Do you believe it?]

[Dahlia: Okay, that doesn't make sense.]

[Fireworks: Tsk tsk tsk, empty streets, swaying lanterns, neatly arranged goods, but no one. Isn't this a classic horror movie opening? Shouldn't something crawl out of the mirror next?]

[Silver Wolf: Shut up, I'm getting all over the place.]

[Fireworks: What are you imagining? Imagining Ruan Mei crawling out of a petri dish and saying to Jiang Jiu, "Welcome to my breeding farm"?]

Silver Wolf: ......

[Silver Wolf: Jiang Yin! Firework bullied me!]

[Hanabi: Eh...?! Playing around is fine, but don't gamble with my life!]

Has it become a ghost town?

Jiang Jiu, chin in hand, curiously strolled around the Fanghu Immortal Boat.

Black Tower was also puzzled: "I thought the Immortal Ship would take the initiative to help Ruan Mei do something, but no matter what it is, it shouldn't be necessary to take a ride on an Immortal Ship."

"There must be other problems."

Jiang Jiu clicked his tongue: "Was Fang Hu's Chiming kidnapped or had his brain ripped out? How dare they let Ruan Mei, this menace, in? Aren't they afraid of death?"

"It's hard to say whether it was voluntary or not," Black Tower said.

After all, Ruan Mei... the things she can do and the trouble she can cause are probably much more complicated than imagined.

She walked to the door of a shop, reached out and picked up a ledger that had been left on the counter, and casually flipped through a few pages.

The last transaction was recorded three days ago.

"Jiang Jiu," she suddenly spoke.

Jiang Jiu walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

Hei Ta handed him the ledger, pointing to a page: "Look at this."

Jiang Jiu looked down and saw a line of small characters on the ledger, which looked like it was written casually, or like a distress signal. It was a line of blood-red characters.

"She's here...we have nowhere to run."

[March 7th: Who is this "she"? Is it Nguyen Mai?]

[March 7th: The words on the ledger were written in blood. The blood faded towards the end. Could the person who wrote this have watched helplessly as everyone around them disappeared one by one, only to be the last to fall?]

[Danheng: This handwriting... becomes weaker and weaker towards the end. The person who wrote this line must have already known at the time that they couldn't escape.]

[Himeko: The last transaction in the ledger was three days ago. That means three days ago, people were still living normal lives on this celestial ship; three days later, millions of people vanished.]

[Walter: In just three days, a celestial ship turned into a ghost town. What methods did Ruan Mei use to make millions of people disappear silently in such a short time?]

[Dr. Truth: Don't you guys think the timing doesn't match up?]

[Dr. Truth: If Fanghu becomes an empty city within these three days, or even less, then who was the person who left the Immortal Ship with Fanghu?]

[Dr. Truth: You need to understand, from the time the Immortal Ship sank until now... it hasn't even been three days.]

The camera focused on the line of red text in the ledger.

As time passed, the ink on that line of red text suddenly began to smudge...

Blood-red ink covered the entire screen, as if a piece of paper had been violently torn in two.

The scene flickered, and when it came back into focus, it was a peaceful and serene scene.

The sun was shining brightly, and a gentle breeze was blowing.

The streets and alleys of Fanghu Xianzhou were bustling with people.

Shop signs swayed gently in the wind, steam rose from tea stalls, and several chess players sat under the shade of a tree, surrounded by three or five onlookers.

A line of moderate length stretched out in front of the pastry shop on the street corner. A furry fox-like child stood on tiptoe, peering longingly at the sugar figurines inside.

—This is the square pot from three days ago.

Business as usual.

No, it should be said that everything was even more peaceful than "as usual".

Fanghu was primarily a place for recuperation and development, not involved in any major external wars. In addition, the various welfare benefits of the self-governing system were exceptionally good. After rebirth, residences were directly allocated, and medical care and education were completely free. The entire immortal ship was filled with an atmosphere of "peace and tranquility".

At a tea stall on the street, a fox-woman was holding a teacup, her ears twitching slightly, chatting with a man from the Vidyadhara tribe across from her.

She was wearing a doctor's uniform with the Fanghu Medical Clinic's logo embroidered on the cuffs and several medicine pouches at her waist, suggesting she had just come from the clinic for a rest.

"You mean, that genius has come to Fanghu?" The fox-woman put down her teacup, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. "What's his name again...?"

“Ruan Mei.” The enlightened man opposite her sipped his tea slowly, but deliberately lowered his voice a little. “A member of the Genius Club, she is said to have reached the pinnacle of life research, and has even studied the Dragon Transformation Technique.”

The fox-woman blinked: "The Dragon Transformation Technique? Isn't that a taboo... a closely guarded secret of the Vidyadhara Clan? How could an outsider like her have researched it?"

“That’s why they call them geniuses,” the enlightened man shrugged. “That being said, who knows how he learned it by stealing it? Anyway, it was supposed to be for… what was it again? ‘Understanding the essence of life’? Something like that.”

"That sounds impressive." The fox-woman picked up her teacup and took another sip. "Then what's she doing at Fanghu? What do we have here that's worth her researching?"

The man with the vision looked around and lowered his voice: "I heard that the Dragon Lord invited us here, saying that we want to discuss something... related to reproduction."

The fox-woman's ears perked up: "Reproduction?! The reproduction problem of the Vidyadhara clan?!"

"Shh—keep your voice down!" The man with the vision quickly made a shushing gesture. "This matter hasn't been made public yet. I just overheard someone from the Six Departments mentioning it casually."

The fox-woman lowered her voice, but her ears were still perked up: "So, Ms. Ruan Mei is here to help Chiming solve the problem of reproduction?"

“I don’t know.” The man with the vision shook his head. “It is said that the talks with Lord Dragon Lord broke down and they couldn’t reach an agreement. Lord Dragon Lord’s attitude was very tough, and it seems that he was unwilling to cooperate with Ruan Mei.”

"Then why is she still at Fanghu?"

"She hasn't left yet." The man with the vision shrugged. "She said she wanted to wander around Fanghu and see the local customs. The Dragon Lord couldn't very well send her away, so he let her stay for a few more days."

The fox-woman nodded thoughtfully, and slowly lowered her ears.

"That's true. After all, he's a member of the Genius Club, so we have to give him face."

She paused, then added, "But then again, if someone could really solve the problem of the Vidyadhara clan's reproduction... that would be a great thing. For so many years, the Vidyadhara clan has only been losing members, and their population is decreasing year by year..."

The man with the vision gave a wry smile: "Who can argue with that? But if the Dragon Lord doesn't agree, it's pointless for us subordinates to even think about it."

The two looked at each other and sighed.

The tea stall owner came over with a freshly brewed teapot and refilled their cups.

"Don't think too much about it," the boss said with a smile. "Eat and drink as you please. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up."

The fox-woman picked up her teacup and gently blew on the steam: "Indeed."

[Fireworks: What a heartwarming scene! Sunshine, a tea stall, an old man playing chess, a child buying candy. If I didn't know this ship would become a ghost town in three days, I would have almost thought this was some kind of tourism promotional video.]

[Jie Yuanjun:......]

[Silver Wolf: The thought that all these people will disappear in three days makes me...tsk, so pathetic.]

[Jie Yuanjun:......]

[Fireworks: Try to think positively, maybe it won't even last three days?]

[Jie Yuanjun:......]

[Feixiao: The fox-woman and the man with the Vidyadhara at the tea stall are discussing Ruan Meilai's visit to Fanghu. They mentioned the "wonderful method of dragon transformation," the "procreation issue," and "the Dragon Lord's disagreement"... There's a lot of information here.]

[Jingyuan: Dragon Transformation...a wondrous method?]

[Yao Guang: As far as I know, this is something that Lord Yin Yue is researching. Jing Yuan, could it be that...]

Jingyuan: ......

Jing Yuan really didn't want to take the blame anymore; this was a huge mess.

[Dan Heng: ...I guarantee this is absolutely impossible. Leaving aside whether I...the original Yin Yue remembers, this matter never spread, and the Yin Yue Rebellion failed, didn't it?]

[Yao Guang: This... Dan Heng, seems to know a lot about this?]

[Danheng: ...Never mind.]

[Su Chang: But the general of Fanghu refused. Logically, shouldn't everything be fine?]

The video stopped in front of a closed door.

The door was very heavy and carved with patterns unique to the Vidyadhara tribe, suggesting it was the entrance to some important place.

Voices could be heard coming from inside the door, but they were not very clear. However, several different voices could be distinguished.

A slightly suppressed and urgent voice stood out: "...Ms. Ruan Mei, let's get straight to the point. Long Zun's disagreement with cooperation does not mean that we disagree. Long Zun's decision on Fang Hu is not up to him alone."

Another voice chimed in, clearly trying to curry favor: "That's right, Lord Huyuan has been arrogant for too long, so long that he has forgotten that he is only the Dragon Lord. We, the Dragon Masters, are the ones who truly manage the daily operation of Fanghu. We can agree to things that she doesn't agree to."

The third voice sounded even calmer: "Ms. Ruan Mei, we don't need you to worry about what happened with Long Zun. Just focus on your research, and we'll handle the rest."

Then, a clear, cold female voice rang out.

He spoke slowly and deliberately, as if he were talking about something insignificant.

"So what do you want?"

"What we want is very simple: we want to control the Dragon Lord and the Dragon Master. Lord Huyuan has been in power for too long, and Fanghu needs a new voice."

Ruan Mei calmly looked at the Dragon Master before her and calmly asked, "So, do you want to solve the problem of propagating the Vidyadharas, or are you doing it for your own desires?"

"No, no! Lord Huyuan is stubborn and has repeatedly defied our decisions by relying on the blessing of the hunting expedition. We do not want to overthrow the Dragon Lord, but only want the Dragon Lord to understand what is right."