Chapter 150: Changes

Prime Minister Turtle was well aware of what this secret realm meant to Lin Qiu, so he directly took the nautical chart from Lin Qiu's hands and marked the precise location of the secret realm upon it.

Lin Qiu took the nautical chart back from Prime Minister Turtle, and upon seeing the destination, his brows furrowed slightly.

Since the secret realm was quite a distance away from the Othershore Royal City, and given that many eyes had been watching the city closely of late, if he were to go alone, the Othershore Royal City might face sudden attacks. That would turn out to be a loss that outweighed the gain.

Although he had already used the Ancient City Monument to elevate Prime Minister Turtle's strength, if anyone truly intended to attack the Othershore Royal City while he was away at the secret realm, relying solely on Prime Minister Turtle to safeguard the royal city would be no easy task.

Prime Minister Turtle knew precisely what was troubling Lin Qiu's mind and spoke directly, "Young City Lord, you can simply bring the Othershore Royal City along with you."

Clearly, Prime Minister Turtle intended for Lin Qiu to use the Ancient City Monument to store the Othershore Royal City within it.

This capability was something Prime Minister Turtle had mentioned to Lin Qiu from the very beginning. However, at that time, Lin Qiu had been reluctant to carry the Othershore Royal City around as a fallback option, and thus had not followed Prime Minister Turtle's suggestion to house the city inside the Ancient City Monument.

Yet now, it seemed that storing the Othershore Royal City within the Ancient City Monument was a win-win solution: it would allow Lin Qiu to head to the secret realm with peace of mind while ensuring that the Othershore Royal City would suffer no attacks from outsiders.

Hearing Prime Minister Turtle's words, Lin Qiu nodded, pondering whether he should act according to the suggestion.

Judging by the current circumstances, this was the only remaining option. Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Lin Qiu ultimately made his choice: he would store the Othershore Royal City within the Ancient City Monument and bring it along to the secret realm.

Before long, the news that the Othershore Royal City was on the move spread throughout the entire East China Sea. After all, everyone within the East China Sea region was currently keeping a close eye on every single movement of the Othershore Royal City.

They had a rough idea of why the Othershore Royal City was stirring; after all, that secret realm had been emitting immensely powerful energy tremors every few days. Everyone in the East China Sea knew that a secret realm was about to manifest, and had it not been for the great distance, people from other seas might have come as well.

Moreover, an unspecified rumor had spread from somewhere that the secret realm contained treasures capable of allowing marine life to trace their bloodlines back to ancient times.

Once this rumor began to circulate, it attracted the vast majority of factions within the East China Sea. Even the joint legion of the twenty-eight ancient cities set out toward the location of the secret realm.

There were also some marine races that usually lurked in the deepest abysses of the ocean. Although these marine races were not as formidable as the Royal Ocean Clans, they were nonetheless ancient lineages with a long heritage, and their hidden foundations and strength were not to be underestimated.

In an instant, the entire East China Sea was once again thrown into turmoil.

Meanwhile, events were also unfolding on land. The power structure of the Investigation Bureau underwent earth-shattering changes, with Wang Xiaomeng, Heize, and others being thoroughly sidelined and excluded.

Had Xu Bancheng not stepped in to protect them, there was no telling what kind of plight they would have faced.

It was evident that following the incident at Mount Zhongnan, the people from the Primordial Wilderness Realm harbored deep resentment toward Lin Qiu. This move was likewise intended to target those closely associated with him.

Xu Bancheng was naturally no exception, but due to the formidable prestige of the Xu family, the people from the Primordial Wilderness Realm dared not go too far, so they could only strike at Wang Xiaomeng, Heize, and the others within the Investigation Bureau.

Faced with this situation, Xu Bancheng could only step in to shield them; he could do no more than that. After all, the agents whom the Primordial Wilderness Realm had infiltrated into Earth were by no means few in number.

After being rescued by Xu Bancheng, Wang Xiaomeng and the others asked him with profound puzzlement, "What on earth has happened? Why are we suddenly being targeted?"

Faced with their inquiries, the expression on Xu Bancheng's face was extremely unsightly, and he did not know how to explain this affair to them.

After a moment of silence, he spoke again, "This matter is rather complicated. Once there is an opportunity in the future, I will explain it to you properly. For this period, you should stay at my family's villa; the Investigation Bureau should not come to trouble you anymore."

Upon hearing Xu Bancheng's words, Wang Xiaomeng and the others pressed no further. Although their hearts were filled with confusion, they all understood that some matters were simply not for them to know.

As soon as Xu Bancheng had settled Wang Xiaomeng, Heize, and the others, he received a phone call.

Upon finishing the call, a trace of fury appeared on Xu Bancheng's face. He even smashed the phone to pieces directly and said through clenched teeth, "These people are simply going too far! They've actually advanced the testing time by fifteen days!"

From that very phone call, Xu Bancheng learned that the people of the Primordial Wilderness Realm had seized upon his intervention to protect Wang Xiaomeng, Heize, and the others as an excuse, advancing the date of the defense performance test for the Steel Great Wall—which was originally scheduled for a month later—by a full fifteen days.

Advancing it by fifteen days was enough to render more than half of everything Xu Bancheng had prepared utterly useless. Who would not be infuriated by such a thing?

Having vented the anger in his heart, Xu Bancheng had no choice but to crush the communication bead Lin Qiu had left behind for him.

He needed to communicate this matter to Lin Qiu in advance, seeing as the defense of the Steel Great Wall ultimately relied on Lin Qiu's intervention.

Out in the ocean, Lin Qiu and the Othershore Royal City were traveling at high speed toward the secret realm, and wherever they passed, the marine races hastily stepped aside and yielded the way.

At that exact moment, the energy from the communication bead crushed by Xu Bancheng was transmitted to Lin Qiu's side, and through this stream of energy, he learned of the events unfolding on land.

He muttered to himself, "Why do troublesome matters always pile up together?"

The counterattack from the Primordial Wilderness Realm was well within Lin Qiu's expectations, for he had after all ruined a crucial plan upon which they had staked everything.

Yet he had not anticipated that the Primordial Wilderness Realm would be so utterly shameless as to directly take action against Wang Xiaomeng and her companions, and now even cast their greedy sights upon the Steel Great Wall project.

From this counterattack, Lin Qiu also roughly discerned the mindset of the Primordial Wilderness Realm: they cared not at all about the life or death of the terrestrial races or of Earth itself.

This proved that whether the Primordial Wilderness Realm could exist had actually very little to do with Earth; otherwise, they would not hold such an attitude as they did now.