A few hours later...
“Princess... no, Your Majesty the Zerg Queen.”
Ellie knelt on the ground.
Although she was called the Zerg Queen, a girl so young could easily be called a princess.
Looking at the silver-haired girl in white silks sitting on a rock, Ellie swallowed and lowered her head.
“It’s been a while, Ellie. Next, I need you to research naval combat tactics. Once the Zerg’s first fleet is complete, prepare to set sail.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ellie stood up, glanced at the tiny Zerg Queen, swallowed, and turned to leave.
Xia Jin watched her, exhaled, and thought, Every one of them has ulterior motives.
To get a map, her projection in the Kelu region searched every shop, but couldn’t find any navigation maps covering large areas.
Perhaps for the Empire, this was crucial intelligence that wouldn’t be easily leaked.
Her projection in Kelu was truly at a loss.
But she had to find a way to infiltrate the Empire.
After much thought, Xia Jin made a decision: to dig a tunnel.
That’s right, she couldn’t cross above ground due to surveillance, but surely the entire underground wouldn’t be monitored?
After making this decision, she began digging using her psionic power.
Her hands transformed into fleshy arms, imbued with energy, and she slowly clawed away the dirt, creating a deep hole in the ground. Xia Jin immediately jumped in.
Then she drilled all the way down.
After reaching several hundred meters underground, she began to dig inch by inch towards the southern border.
After an unknown amount of time, her senses told her she was already more than ten kilometers inside the Empire. She began digging upward again and soon saw the opening above.
Her arms returned to normal. Looking at her dirt-covered hands, and seeing her grubby appearance reflected by the two biological mosquitoes accompanying her, she shook her head speechlessly.
“I really should have used my psionic power to clean off the dirt earlier.”
...
At the same moment, in the outskirts of Tacheng, a man stood smoking near a house.
Suddenly, he noticed the dirt a few meters away begin to stir.
The man’s eyes widened. He quickly stepped back two paces, then watched as a bottomless pit opened up before him.
Just as he wondered what was happening, a dirty, black-haired girl’s head emerged.
The cute, half-loli, half-girl head cautiously glanced around a few times, then suddenly noticed the man standing nearby.
They stared at each other.
After a long moment, the man swallowed, snapping out of his daze from the girl’s adorable, blank expression.
“Digging in the dirt?”
The cute little thing crawled out, clinging to the edge of the black hole.
She wore a completely black dress, with a skirt that reached just above her knees.
Her figure was petite but very well-proportioned, revealing clear, graceful curves, full of a maiden’s unique charm.
Combined with her dirty appearance, the only word he could think of was... cute.
Whose girl was this?
He estimated she was an adult, but simply looked very young.
The man glanced around, then swallowed and stepped forward. “Little sister, why are you coming out of there?”
Xia Jin, with a strange expression, had by now understood her surroundings.
This was indeed Empire territory.
The surrounding houses were clean, and in the distance were large stretches of woods with a small path running alongside them.
There were a few houses nearby, but only this man was present.
It seemed to be a sparsely populated suburb.
She clapped her hands, stood up, and looked at the scruffy man. She whispered, “I...”
“Ah, so cute.”
“She must be too embarrassed to say she was playing in the mud.”
“Oh my god, a cute, pretty little girl playing in the dirt—it was absolutely captivating.”
“But this scene was truly adorable.”
The man felt in his pocket, pulled out two silver coins, and said, “Digging in the dirt is so messy. Uncle will buy you some toys, and some tasty treats too.”
Xia Jin: “...”
“Toys, my ass. Is he treating me like a child?”
“Fine, let’s see what toys the Empire has.”
...
She followed the man for quite a distance, leaving the countryside and arriving at a shop in a town.
She patted the dirt off her clothes. Luckily, they were black, so after a few brushes and a bit of psionic power, they were clean, though her face still had a bit of grime.
“How about some popcorn?”
Seeing the magic popcorn machine, he bought a large bag and handed it to Xia Jin.
“Oh my, what a cute little sister!”
The female shop assistant’s eyes lit up when she saw Xia Jin, practically drooling.
Then the man bought Xia Jin a toy train and handed it to her, making her forehead twitch with annoyance.
Xia Jin, holding the toy with a speechless expression, followed behind, beginning to consider how to acquire the information she needed.
Just as she was thinking, an aircraft suddenly flew overhead.
“A plane?”
From its appearance, it really did look like a plane, though much larger and without weapons, seemingly for civilian use.
Rate on N.U.
