Free Web NovelChapter 320: Chapter 226: The Little White Elephant Knocks on the Nation’s Gate (Part 2)
"Oh, come on, wait until tonight," Jiang Cai’Er protested playfully.
"Right now."
Resigned, Jiang Cai’Er had no choice but to stand on her tiptoes, wrap her slender arms around his neck, and whisper softly in his ear a few more times.
They both went back to their respective homes. When night fell, they snuck out again for a date.
Li Xiang took her somewhere far and remote. With an arm around her, a single sprint brought them to a deserted valley in Northern Myanmar, seven or eight hundred kilometers away. Then, with a casual wave of his hand, dozens of Extraordinary Items materialized in the air. He introduced them one by one, letting Jiang Cai’Er choose.
The Tier Fourteen Purple Mirage Armor was, of course, a gift for Jiang Cai’Er, and she loved the set of armor.
She wasn’t as interested in the weapons, especially the cruder ones like Big Sabers and clubs.
She only picked out a pair of small, silver Mount Emei Needles.
She even turned down the Demon’s Wings that would have allowed her to fly.
This was because the Demon’s Wings looked a bit like bat wings, which she found ugly and out of line with her sense of style.
In fact, the Demon’s Wings were obtained from killing a Bat King.
The Water-Splitting Mount Emei Needle, on the other hand, had been "dropped" by a powerful electric eel from the sea. They shimmered with silver light and were quite beautiful. Of course, their power was also impressive. Besides "Water Dividing," they had two other Extraordinary Attributes: "Thunderbolt" and "Piercing." They were one of the rare Spiritual Soldiers in Li Xiang’s possession that had three Extraordinary Attributes.
Northern Myanmar wasn’t far from the Indian Ocean. Li Xiang took Jiang Cai’Er on another sprint, and they arrived at the coast. They each donned their Armor and entered the water to play around and test its performance.
Li Xiang wore the Saint Tier Spirit Whale Armor, while Jiang Cai’Er wore the Purple Mirage Armor.
The Purple Mirage Armor was a High Tier Extraordinary Spirit Armor, so it could naturally adjust its size. It was very form-fitting, perfectly accentuating Jiang Cai’Er’s graceful curves. She was also very satisfied with its two Extraordinary Attributes, "Water Avoidance" and "Mirage Realm," feeling they were a perfect fit for her.
"Li Xiang, there’s something I need to tell you." During a break, Jiang Cai’Er remembered her "strange encounter" in the Spirit Realm and lowered her voice, speaking secretively.
Even though they were on a desert island with likely no one else for dozens of nautical miles, Jiang Cai’Er still kept her voice to a whisper.
"A powerful artificial intelligence?" After hearing her story, Li Xiang thought for a moment and knew exactly what Jiang Cai’Er was talking about.
’He’d heard its name before, but he didn’t expect it to have become so "powerful" nine years before the Apocalypse—powerful enough that even Jiang Cai’Er was wary of it.’
’After all, Jiang Cai’Er was only a Tier Two Transcendent and hadn’t had her awakened Lifebound Superpower for long.’
"That kind of thing... China has one, and so does the United States. They were created specifically for war." Li Xiang immediately shared what he knew with Jiang Cai’Er.
At the same time, Li Xiang finally had a good idea of who had been tracking him across the ocean that day.
"War Skull? Thousand-armed Guanyin?" Jiang Cai’Er fell into deep thought. ’Technically, in terms of Level, I’m higher. But its sheer scale and supporting resources are far beyond mine!’
’After all, it was built with the resources of an entire nation and has countless "peripherals."’
"Don’t get sidetracked by those things. They were only born for war, and they’re still in a relatively primitive stage. You, on the other hand, are developing in all aspects. Your potential is limitless; they can’t even compare." Li Xiang gave Jiang Cai’Er a pep talk, not wanting her to get fixated on it.
’Besides, after the Apocalypse arrived, both China’s and the Big Beauty’s AIs vanished without a trace.’
’Li Xiang didn’t know if they had simply been mothballed, or if they had developed sentience and become true Digital Life.’
’Or perhaps they were destroyed?’ ƒreewebɳovel.com
’After all, with the onset of the Apocalypse, if no one was maintaining their servers, they might have just...’
A bold idea suddenly struck Li Xiang. ’If the opportunity arises, Jiang Cai’Er might just be able to... take it over.’
When Jiang Cai’Er heard Li Xiang’s plan, she flinched. However, she also felt he was right. She could still get stronger. Even now, if it came to a real fight, she wouldn’t necessarily lose.
The two of them went to visit the elephant herd. Xiaobai, the white elephant, seemed to be sulking. When it saw Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er approach, it flapped its large ears and made a whimpering sound.
The rest of the herd wasn’t as excited to see them as they usually were, either.
Li Xiang took a closer look and saw that a few of the elephants were injured. It also seemed they were down one member.
"Did you run into poachers?" Li Xiang asked.
At first, Xiaobai didn’t understand what Li Xiang meant; it didn’t know what poachers were. But after Li Xiang made a few gestures, the little white elephant finally understood, raising its trunk and letting out an affirmative cry.
The herd led Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er to the site of the confrontation. There, they saw the bodies of several poachers who had died horribly.
The mother elephant swung her trunk, reenacting the scene. She was indicating that she had used the Vajra Whip Technique to whip one person to death and then trampled another with her feet.
Xiaobai also pantomimed its actions, showing that it had helped out as well.
Li Xiang pondered for a moment, then pulled Jiang Cai’Er onto the mother elephant’s back. He patted the matriarch’s head, pointed toward the border, and said, "I’ll lead you to a safe place to migrate."
’The nations of Southeast Asia are chaotic. It would naturally be safer for the herd to live within China’s borders.’
Jiang Cai’Er thought it was a good idea, too.
They weren’t far from a crossing on the China-Laos Border. Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er led the elephant herd nearby, stopping a few hundred meters away. The border checkpoint at the crossing was brightly lit.
Li Xiang and Jiang Cai’Er jumped off the mother elephant’s back, pointed in that direction, and gestured for the herd to enter through there.
