Yes, Madam Prime Minister

This group must have known some information, thus determining what was inside the so-called temple, and possessed something that could ensure their safety.

Otherwise, they would never have done such a thing.

Ronan smiled and said, "When it comes to treasure hunting and exploration, if you rush in without knowing anything, something very bad usually happens. I advise you to be cautious."

At this point, Frederick gave a disdainful smile. "You still want to get information out of me? Your only use is as a key."

Now they're in a situation where there's no turning back. When they reach their destination and need the key, Ronan can't possibly refuse it, because he can't get back. However, he certainly won't hand over the key, because doing so would jeopardize the safety of their entire group.

It is foreseeable that this delicate balance will be maintained between the two sides until they reach their final destination.

The old Hedi man and his gang, with their half-masked faces, dared not take any action against Ronan and his group, fearing that Ronan would destroy the key, rendering all their efforts futile.

Ronan couldn't afford to do anything underhanded, because if it caused problems with the submarine, or if they got lost in the underwater ruins, they would only face certain death.

However, when they reach their final destination and the old Hedi's group finds what they want, conflict will be inevitable.

The old Hedi's group wouldn't leave any survivors, and Ronan's group wouldn't just wait to die.

"Hey, you bald guy over there, go get me a cup of tea." Ronan ordered the middle-aged man, John, around like a servant.

John, the middle-aged man, stared wide-eyed.

"What are you glaring at me for? If you glare at me again, I'll destroy the key and then attack the interior of the submarine with all my might, and we'll all die in the sea together," Ronan threatened.

John, a middle-aged man, clenched his fist and trembled in mid-air. "You can be arrogant all you want. Every word you say now will only make you scream one more time before you die."

Ronan sat down in the chair and waved his hand impatiently, "Okay, go now."

The middle-aged man glared at Ronan for a while, but finally suppressed his anger and strode away without saying a word to pour Ronan some tea.

"That's just how the Weylanders are, they love to put on airs. A bunch of barbarians actually think they're gentlemen," Ronan continued, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Frederick couldn't help but chuckle to himself. As a Phosman, it was incredibly satisfying to hear Ronan berate John and the Weylanders.

"What are you laughing at? Go get me some snacks." Ronan suddenly turned his attention to Frederick again.

"You..." Frederick was so shocked and angry that he couldn't speak.

"What do you mean 'what do you mean'? Hurry up and go! You're not acting like a typical Phos people at all, as slow-witted as those Imperial pigs!" Ronan arrogantly scolded.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Death is Inevitable, the Maiden's Dream is About to Arrive

Frederick took several deep breaths and finally suppressed the urge to kill Ronan, that bastard. After giving Ronan a fierce look, he went to get him some snacks.

He vowed that he would make Ronan wish he were dead.

Soon, tea and snacks were served, but Ronan showed no interest in drinking them or eating them.

John, the middle-aged man, was stunned. He was initially furious at Ronan's attitude, but upon closer reflection, he realized that Ronan's behavior wasn't without reason. After all, anyone would be angry after being locked up for half a day, especially since he hadn't eaten or drunk anything. So he forgave Ronan a little.

But when the tea arrived, he didn't drink it at all.

John, a middle-aged man, slammed his fist on the table in anger and shouted, "Why won't you drink it? Do you think I'd poison it? If I did such a thing, let me go to hell and be burned at the stake for eternity."

"You're in your fifties, why are you so agitated?" Ronan appeared quite calm, picking up the plate of desserts as if coaxing a child. "Here, have some cake to calm down."

John didn't answer at all and just left.

Ronan put down the cake. He would never eat it. The cake looked like it had been sitting for a day or two, but the jam on top was freshly poured on. There must have been something special added to the jam.

Seeing that Ronan wouldn't eat the jam cake he'd mixed with boiler ash, Frederick got even angrier and left without looking back.

The old man with the half-mask picked up the tea on the table and drank it in one gulp. "Mr. Ronan, do you think you need to do this? Magicians are not a group that usually resolves conflicts peacefully, especially when the other person is also a magician."

"Ha." Ronan chuckled lightly, then countered, "If I don't provoke you, will you refrain from killing me?"

The old Heidilman with the half-mask paused for a moment, then replied, "No."

Ronan shrugged. "See? That's the situation. What's the harm in me messing with them? We're going to have to fight to the death anyway."

The old man with the half-mask tapped the armrest of his wheelchair twice. "I think you're deliberately provoking them, hoping they'll do something irrational so you can get information about their magic."

“You’re overthinking it. I was just having some fun,” Ronan said, of course, he couldn’t admit that he had ulterior motives.

"Heh." The half-masked old seapipe man chuckled dryly. "In that case, First mate, please keep me company in the cockpit, and that young lady may come along as well."

Soon, Ronan and Ambrina followed the old man and the turbaned woman to the cockpit.

The cockpit was surprisingly large, measuring five meters long, taking up a quarter of the submarine's length, and four meters wide, much more spacious than the previous room.

Ahead, two middle-aged Seapipers were operating the submarine from the control panel. Next to the control panel, a resonance stone was floating, indicating that the submarine was also a product of the past and relied on the power of the resonance stone to drive it.

Ronan thought the old man would say a few more words, but to his surprise, the old man remained silent after they entered the cockpit.

When Ronan couldn't help but want to speak, he found that the old man in the wheelchair had closed his eyes and was asleep. His head was drooping and his body was motionless, just like a dead man.

This sleeping posture is truly something else.

At this moment, the blonde maid, who had been silently pushing the wheelchair but possessed the strength of a full-fledged mage, walked to the wardrobe and took out four quilts. She threw three of them on the ground and placed the other one in the corner. Then, she deftly spread out the quilt, lay down, facing the wall and with her back to everyone, without saying a word the entire time.

Once the blonde maid settled into a side-lying position, she didn't move again, like a robot that had lost power.

The old man and the maid fell asleep like that, while the two drivers and the woman wearing a headscarf remained silent, simply sitting with their eyes closed and taking a nap.

In just a few breaths, the entire cockpit fell into an inexplicable silence.

Ronan simply went to sleep too. He hadn't slept much last night and had drunk quite a bit at noon, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.

Now, besides the two pilots, only Ambrina had her eyes open in the cockpit.

She had no choice but to make a makeshift bed on the floor, and then lay on her side, staring blankly at Ronan's sleeping face.

Although Ronan was a descendant of nobles from the north, his mother and grandmother were Vena. He did not look like a typical northern Phos man at all. He had the handsome and charming looks of a Vena, with thick black hair, thick black sword eyebrows, slightly high brow arches, long and curled eyelashes, a high nose bridge, and a slightly pointed nose. His facial features were a standard sculpted face, like a marble sculpture of a young hero from a mythological epic of the old empire a thousand years ago. But at this moment, as he slept, his clean and beardless face gave him a lazy, youthful feeling.

I just stared at it for who knows how long, and then, in a daze, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

She didn't know when it started, but she entered a dream. Sometimes she was back three years ago, sometimes she was back when she left the capital, and sometimes she was back in her childhood. She kept jumping between those blurry scenes.

Suddenly, the dream became clearer and stopped jumping around. Ambrina dreamed that she was hiding in Ronan's closet. Through the crack, she saw Ronan's tall maid, Elena, pressing down on Alice. Ronan was only wearing a towel around his lower body, his upper body bare, his muscles clearly defined. His long fingers were slowly tracing across Alice's black stockings. Alice's ten toes, wrapped in the black stockings, were tightly gripping the sheets, creating two folds in the sheets.

She held her breath involuntarily, her big toes clenching tightly. Gradually, Ronan's movements changed from gently brushing his hand to opening his hand to touch and grab at the same time. Watching this action, it was as if Ronan's hand was on her thigh, and she involuntarily squeezed her legs together.

After caressing her for a while, Ronan parted Alice's legs, buried his head in her, and brought his nose closer and closer to her.

"Mmm," Ambrina made a sound, instinctively covering her mouth and bumping the cabinet. At that moment, Ronan stopped and looked toward the cabinet.

Then, Ronan got up and walked towards the cabinet. As she approached, she became increasingly nervous, so nervous that her inward-curling big toes almost tore through her white stockings.

Just as Ronan reached out to open the cabinet, she gasped and woke up with a start.

Ambrina sat up abruptly upon waking, only to find Ronan nowhere to be seen. She quickly asked the turbaned woman beside her, "Where did he go?"

"The toilet," Nadi replied curtly.

“I…I’m going to the restroom too,” Ambrina said.

Nadi stood up. "I'll take you there."

On the way, Ambrina saw Ronan returning and instinctively lowered her head.

Ronan gave her a polite nod, then quickly returned to the cockpit and asked, "How much longer until we arrive?"

“We’ll be there soon after we finish dinner,” the old man with the half-mask, the Haidi, replied.

"That's pretty fast."

Chapter Seventy: Sea Bubble, Landing on the Island, Asking but No Answer

After finishing its last meal, the submarine entered the "sea bubble".

The so-called sea bubble is a series of interconnected alternate dimensions, like giant bubbles. You might drive forward, but the next moment you'll find yourself in the back. If you don't know the correct order of entry, you'll be completely lost in this cluster of interconnected alternate dimensions until you exhaust all your resources and die.

However, the old Seapiper with the half-mask clearly knew the correct route. He calmly directed the two drivers to go up, down, left, and right, and they quickly passed through the sea bubble and arrived at their destination.

Through the transparent window, Ronan could see on the seabed outside that there were many dilapidated man-made building ruins standing haphazardly. These buildings were not made of stone, nor the concrete he was familiar with, nor the magic stone that was somewhere between stone and metal.

Instead, it was something with a metallic texture. Although it was broken, there was no sign of rust or decay. There was no seaweed growing on it, and no marine animals such as fish, shrimp, or crabs could be seen around it. It looked like a brand-new steel building that had just sunk to the bottom of the water after being blown apart by some force.

Soon, the submarine passed through the ruins and entered an open area above a hemispherical depression on its side that clearly showed signs of human intervention.

"Turn around, and when you get above that crater, dive down until I yell 'stop'," the old seapipe continued, issuing commands.

Going any deeper? If we go any deeper, we'll hit the bottom.

Is it another alternate dimension?

Sure enough, it was another alternate dimension. It looked like the seabed, but when the submarine descended, there was no obstruction at all. What appeared to be the seabed was actually like liquid.

Then, we entered a dark place. Looking out through the round, transparent window of the cockpit, all we could see was darkness.

But suddenly, the view outside the transparent window became bright, and Ronan could even see the sea.

That's right, it's the sea surface. They were just at the bottom of the sea, but now they're floating on the surface.

Since it was still submerged, the submarine began to descend again.

"Stop, prepare to surface," the old man called out.

After submerging for a while, the submarine began to slowly rise to the surface.

After a slight jolt, the submarine came to a stop on the surface of the sea, and then began to move forward like a ship.

Finally, the submarine stopped about 100 meters from the shore of an island.

It is estimated that the water ahead is shallow, and there is a possibility of running aground. In order to ensure that the submarine is not damaged, the last 100 meters can only be crossed by boat.

They removed the four small boats that were hanging inside the boats and took them out one by one to put them on the sea.

The wheelchair-bound old Heidi and his maid, Frederick, John, Nadi, Ronan, his two maids, and Ambrina, and two other ships belonging to the two gangs of Heidi.

The island was eerily calm, with not a single wave. About twenty people rowed their boats and soon reached the shore, successfully landing on the island.

In addition to people, the group also brought some dry food and water ashore.

After arriving on the island, we walked along the rocky beach for a while and came to the front of a forest.

"Alright, that's enough for the Seapiper Man," said the old Seapiper with the half-mask.

Ronan understood what the old man meant. Clearly, the entire forest was surrounded by a barrier that prohibited the Sea Flute people from entering, and only humans could pass through.

But now a problem arises: if the old man can't continue, who will lead the team?

The blonde maid tossed a small box to the woman wearing a headscarf, who caught it and put it into a small leather bag hanging from her belt. "Let's go."

Now I understand, she's the one leading the team.

The blonde maid stayed behind, while the woman wearing a headscarf led the way, followed by Ronan, Ambrina, Elena, and Alice in the middle, with Frederick, whose beard was beginning to turn into a full beard, and John, a middle-aged man who often had a stern face, bringing up the rear.

Inside the forest, composed of countless tall and lush trees, sunlight was almost nonexistent. As soon as the group entered, they were plunged into darkness, accompanied by a cold, damp, and earthy smell.

Ronan took off his coat and draped it over Alice. She was the only one present who wasn't a proper mage and was slightly weaker, though she was still much stronger than the average person.

After walking for a while, Ronan suddenly realized something strange.

Although he was a typical city dweller, both in the past and present, and had never been to the deep mountains and forests except for tourism, as a person with common sense, Ronan knew that a forest must have many insects and birds, but there were none here; he could not hear any birds chirping, nor were there any insects.

After walking for so long, we haven't seen a single animal in this forest, only flowers, trees, and mushrooms.

There are tons of mushrooms. It's normal to have mushrooms in a forest, but here you can step on a mushroom every three steps, and there are giant mushrooms over a meter tall everywhere. That's just too abnormal.

Not only that, Ronan also felt a strange power expanding within him, a feeling even more intense than the surge of magic power he experienced when advancing in magic.

After observing the others, whose expressions were all perfectly normal, Ronan was certain that only he felt this way.

Ronan immediately thought of the time in the botanical garden, on the ninth basement level of the obelisk, when he drank the blood of Dinia, the mushroom man.

His reaction was probably related to these mushrooms.

"I really don't know whether to say that coming here was the right thing to do or the wrong thing," Ronan thought to himself.

As they continued forward, the group began to lose their bearings. Nadi took out the small wooden box, opened the lid, and found a pointer-like object inside. They followed the pointer's direction and continued onward.

Three hours later, the giant trees and mushrooms in the forest began to thin out, and the light and visibility around them began to improve.

The reason they can keep accurate time is because the magic here is very stable. Ronan and the other magicians can release a small magic ball that floats in the palm of their hand. From the time a magic ball is released to the time it naturally dissipates, it takes about five minutes. By recording the number of magic balls, they can know a relatively accurate time.

An hour later, the group emerged from the forest and arrived at an open valley.

Blue sky, white clouds, green mountains, clear water, gentle breeze, grassland, flowers, birds, fish and insects.

Unlike that eerie and monotonous forest, this place is natural, beautiful, and warm. Not far away, there are many white deer grazing with their heads down. Even as Ronan and his group approach, they show no wariness and continue to graze.

Such a scene can instantly relax a person's tense mind and body.

"We'll have to rely on ourselves for the rest of the journey," Nadi said, raising her hand to show everyone the clock hands. The hands were swinging wildly back and forth on the clock face, completely losing their ability to point.

"Didn't that old man give you a map?" Frederick asked in an unfriendly tone.