On the Ark.

Ah, my mind is wandering to some random places again.

Lin Ye shook his head, refocused his attention, and then began to observe how this Messiah differed from the one he had met last time.

The first thing that comes to mind is her clothing. Messiah's clothes were clearly bought after she came down from the mountain; they were very "modern," completely washing away her already limited divinity. As for the rest, Lin Ye really couldn't tell. Did she cut her hair, or did she get her nails done? He had a feeling that Messiah wasn't asking about those things; she was probably asking for something more obvious.

Lin Ye really wanted to check his phone right then and there; after all, he'd taken a picture of Messiah last time, and it was still his phone wallpaper. Comparing it to the picture might give him the answer, but that seemed like cheating... Hmm?

Lin Ye recalled the photos on his phone and then discovered the biggest difference in Messiah.

Didn't you bring your scarf?

Messiah's smile widened: "So you found out after all."

"I just remembered," Lin Ye said. "You told me before that the scarf was a gift from someone very important to you."

As he spoke, Lin Ye couldn't help but recall the stray cat he had wrapped in a scarf and buried in the snow years ago. But that was so long ago, he couldn't remember if it was Messiah's scarf.

“Yes, it was given to me by someone very important.” Messiah seemed to be able to read Lin Ye’s mind and said with a smile, “So before I left, I tied the scarf to the maple tree.”

"Tie it to the maple tree?" Lin Ye asked, puzzled. "Why?"

“Because that scarf is my most important possession, and it contains almost all of my power,” Messiah said slowly. “So even though I left Kalan, I didn’t take my power with me. My power is still protecting that place, so there’s no need to worry.”

"So that's how it is."

“That’s right.” Messiah nodded. “You can go and tell Enya later to put her mind at ease.”

Lin Ye nodded subconsciously, then realized something was off and scratched his head awkwardly: "You noticed?"

“It’s easy, isn’t it? Enya has been trying to persuade me to go back since yesterday, but she hasn’t dared to say it,” Messiah said with a smile. “So it’s only natural that she came to ask you for help. And even if she hadn’t come to ask you, you would have asked me anyway, wouldn’t you?”

Lin Ye thought about it and realized that it really was true.

"You're probably wondering why I suddenly came down the mountain," Messiah asked. "Is that so?"

"Uh, you saw right through me." Lin Ye laughed. "Then I had no choice but to cooperate... So why did you suddenly come down the mountain?"

“Well, it’s mainly because Eileen couldn’t stay there any longer.” Messiah tilted his head, then sighed softly and said, “You know, Eileen is still a child, and there’s nothing there. With her temperament, she couldn’t stand staying there for more than half a year and insisted on coming down the mountain to take a look. But I’m a kind god who can’t bear to refuse others, so I agreed to accompany her down to take a look.”

Lin Ye suddenly realized: "So that's how it is."

Do you believe it?

“Of course I believe it,” Lin Ye said. “Why wouldn’t I believe it?”

Messiah sighed again, this time much heavier than before: "Don't be like this. You're so naive, I don't even feel any sense of accomplishment when I lie to you, that would be too boring. Are you always so easily convinced by others?"

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "So you were lying to me?"

“It’s not exactly a lie. Eileen was certainly one of the reasons, but not the whole story,” Messiah said. “I’ve spent quite a few years on that mountain myself, and I occasionally want to come out and take a look around.”

Lin Ye recalled the scene of his first encounter with Messiah. At that time, Lin Ye asked Messiah how long he had stayed on the holy mountain, and Messiah replied, "Who knows? Decades, hundreds of years, or thousands of years?" Although his tone sounded quite calm, Lin Ye could still detect an extremely subtle sense of loneliness in his voice.

Put yourself in Lin Ye's shoes. If you left him on that deserted mountain with no internet access, he wouldn't last even six months, let alone decades or centuries. He'd probably go crazy from boredom.

So he nodded empathetically and said, "Then it's only right to come out for a stroll, I understand. But you said you left all your power in Kalan, doesn't that mean you now..."

"She's just a weak woman who can't even kill a chicken."

"what?"

“Just kidding… well, strictly speaking, it’s not really a joke.” Messiah shrugged and said, “I did leave most of my power in Kalan. So I’m actually much weaker now than before.”

"Well, even the weakest god is still stronger than a mortal, right?"

“Gods are just slightly stronger than mortals. Once they lose most of their power, how much stronger can they be than mortals?” Messiah said. “If nothing can threaten me in my normal state, then I am now capable of being killed.”

Lin Ye's mouth gaped slightly as he looked at Messiah, waiting for another "Just kidding," but nothing came. His intuition told him Messiah wasn't joking, and he couldn't help but ask, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you asked."

“Even if I asked, you shouldn’t have told me,” Lin Ye said. “How could you just casually say something like that?”

"Does telling you mean you're being casual?" Messiah shook her head and said with a smile, "I don't think so. Or are you trying to harm me? If that's your idea, then come and try it."

"...and then you smash my head in?"

“No,” Messiah smiled, his eyes narrowed. “I will only realize I misjudged you when I’m in hell.”

Lin Ye was speechless.

Why are all the women he knows so eloquent? They can often leave him speechless with just a sentence or two.

"Alright, don't worry," Messiah said. "Even if my power has been weakened, there are still very few who can threaten me on this land. Besides, don't you also possess my power?"

"On my body?" Lin Ye didn't react at first, until Messiah gently tapped Maple's scabbard with her finger, then he realized something. "You mean [Maple]?"

"Yes, that's my power too," Messiah said with a smile. "So, you could say that the closer I am to you, the stronger I become, and the stronger I become, the safer I am. Do you understand what that means?"

Lin Ye subconsciously shook his head.

“How foolish,” Messiah sighed and said softly, “It means that if you’re worried about my safety, then don’t stray too far from me.”

……

Talking to Messiah made Lin Ye feel like an idiot; he couldn't keep up with Messiah's train of thought no matter what, like a cow being led by the nose. Although this feeling wasn't...so bad, Lin Ye couldn't endure it for long, because Warfarin knew he was back and had called him five or six times that morning alone. With no other option, to prevent Warfarin from coming to his door, Lin Ye had to temporarily say goodbye to Messiah and go find Warfarin.

As Lin Ye walked down the street, he silently recited the prepared remarks in his mind as he slowly knocked on the door of the Warfarin Laboratory.

The door was opened in an instant, and Lin Ye looked up to see Warfarin rushing up and grabbing his neck tightly.

"You bastard, you're finally back!" Warfarin glared at Lin Ye and shouted, "Do you know how important that sample is to me?! Do you know how important it is to the development of the 'L reagent'?! I told you a thousand times to bring her back, and you still stood me up!"

Lin Ye had thought that Warfarin might be a little excited, but he hadn't expected her to be so... well, he had thought of that too.

"I had no choice..." Even though he knew Warfarin hadn't used much force, Lin Ye still pretended to be in a terrible state. "I wanted to bring her back, but a little accident happened. Nobody wants something like this to happen."

Warfarin gritted her teeth and said, "You young, inexperienced bastard! I'm so angry... I'm so furious! If it were me two hundred years ago, I would have drained you dry right now and made you bedridden for three days!"

Lin Ye was terrified and quickly raised his hands in surrender, then apologized repeatedly: "I was wrong, I was wrong, I was really wrong. Please have mercy on me, I promise I won't do it again next time."

"I don't think your apology is sincere at all."

"No, I'm very sincere," Lin Ye said. "From now on, whatever you ask me to do in research, I'll do it without hesitation! I swear!"

Lin Ye even raised his hand, looking very serious.

Of course, this was indeed his true feeling. This trip to Sap had made him want to cooperate with Warfarin to develop the "L reagent," and he was willing to stay on the island for several years for that purpose. Therefore, his earlier statement about cooperating with Warfarin was not just a casual remark, but rather a genuine acceptance of Warfarin's demand that he not leave the island until the "L reagent" was developed.

Warfarin slowly released her grip, looked at Lin Ye, and raised an eyebrow: "Really? You'll listen to everything I say?"

“Of course,” Lin Ye said, “as long as it’s related to research.”

"That's good." Warfarin jumped off Lin Ye, clapped her hands, and said, "Then you'll come with me to Yan Country."

"No problem." Lin Ye nodded subconsciously, then a few seconds later realized something was wrong. "Wait, Yan Country!?"

……

……

Author's Note: Because I lacked inspiration, I played Zelda all day. After rescuing the princess, I suddenly had inspiration, and I'll start updating again tomorrow... I guess. By the way, I've realized I still really prefer the cliché plot of "the hero overcomes countless hardships to rescue the princess" and those stories of "no matter how hard you try, you can't escape a tragic fate." Human determination triumphs over destiny; that's the way to go!

Chapter 510 The First Emperor (First Update)

Lin Ye followed Warfarin into the laboratory, and at the same time heard her say in a rather smug tone, "I knew you would make that kind of face, it's quite interesting."

“Who told you to suddenly say you were going to Yan Country?” Lin Ye said. “I was already prepared to stay on the island and cooperate with your research until you finished the ‘L reagent’. But you suddenly said you were going to Yan Country, which is clearly contrary to your original intention.”

Warfarin sat down in the swivel chair, slightly raised her chin, and said, "Because I discovered something."

"what?"

“There are limits to hiding away in the lab and doing research,” Warfarin said. “To achieve more research results, you have to go out and explore!”

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "What exactly are you talking about?"

"What I'm trying to say is that the current research progress is just too slow," Warfarin said, shrugging. "If you were an immortal like me, that wouldn't matter; we could just take our time. But your lifespans are far too short, and there are so many unexpected events. Although you say you'll stay on the island to cooperate with my research, what if the research doesn't make any progress? I can let you endure it for a year or two, but what if it takes ten or twenty years? Can you still endure that?"

Lin Ye wanted to say yes, but the words wouldn't come out. Although he had already made up his mind, he still couldn't bear the thought of being a guinea pig on the island for ten years. So he asked, "Then what's your plan? Why did you suddenly want to go to Yan Country?"

“Didn’t I just say? It’s for research,” Warfarin said. “All my decisions right now are for the development of the ‘L reagent,’ but there’s still no way to overcome its fatal rejection problem. If you brought that woman back, it might have been able to advance the development further. But you didn’t, so I have to start from another angle.”

"So you've decided to go to Yan?" Lin Ye said, "But you still haven't said why."

Warfarin rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Do you write your thesis by directly stating the argument without providing evidence? How can you do it without setting up the cause and effect?"

"Alright, alright, please continue."

Lin Ye, realizing he was in the wrong regarding Froststar, decided not to argue with Warfarin.

“Continue… Where were we? Oh, Yan Country.” Warfarin nodded and continued, “The reason the development process is so slow is largely due to insufficient samples. From the beginning, only you have been able to provide me with a limited amount of ‘L cells,’ so the speed naturally cannot be fast. Therefore, after discovering ‘L cells’ in your blood, I have been conducting research on two fronts. One front is naturally the development of ‘L reagent,’ and the other front is finding more samples.”

"More samples?" Lin Ye thought for a moment and asked, "The original humans?"

“Yes, I’ve been searching for other Proto-humans,” Warfarin said. “There are many people in this world who look like Proto-humans, but their racial characteristics are just not very obvious. For example, Skadi, you wouldn’t know what race she is unless you investigated her carefully. So, finding the real Proto-humans is a very difficult task. We have to start from other places, such as, where did Proto-humans originally come from?”

Lin Ye pondered for a moment and asked, "So you've taken a liking to the Yan Kingdom?"

“The history of the original humans is very ancient, even older than the history of the entire Sarkaz race,” Warfarin shrugged and said. “In that case, if we want to trace its footsteps, we must start with regions that also have ancient histories. And in this world, there is only one country that has a long history and still exists, and we can’t avoid the Yan Kingdom no matter what.”

Lin Ye knew nothing about the history of the Yan Kingdom, because this Yan Kingdom was like a replica of his homeland, but ultimately only a resemblance. Therefore, he didn't know what the Yan Kingdom in this world was really like.

"Is this why you want to go to Yan Country to investigate?" Lin Ye asked.

Warfarin gave a soft hum: "Of course not only that. If I hadn't actually discovered something, would I have just blindly wandered into Yan Kingdom?"

"So what did you discover?" Lin Ye felt like a diligent elementary school student, asking questions for every sentence the teacher spoke.

“The ancient documents of Yan Kingdom are not easy to find, but they are definitely much easier than those ancient kingdoms that have already disappeared,” Warfarin said. “Although I did not find any records about the original humans in the ancient documents, I found a painting that I think is very telling… Hmm, let me look for it, I should put it here.”

Warfarin rummaged through the pile of documents, then let out a soft "ah".

"Yes, this is it."

She took out a black and white printed sheet of paper and placed it in front of Lin Ye.

Lin Ye looked down and found that it was a painting with a strong sense of history. The painting depicted a monarch holding a bronze sword, with his subjects worshipping him.

"Well?" Warfarin said with a smile, "Doesn't it illustrate the point well?"

"Uh." Lin Ye scratched his head. "What does that prove?"

Warfarin's eyes widened: "Can't you tell?"

"I can't tell."