Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 449: Chapter 449 Wasteland Part (11)_1

Facing an array of skeptical gazes, Fu Qian simply smiled without saying a word.

“You’re joking, right?”

After nearly half a minute of silence, Nora couldn’t help but be the first to speak.

Cough cough!

Tieer, sitting beside her, also cleared his throat, looking at Fu Qian with a serious expression.

“This is quite a formal meeting.”

The implication was clear: Be serious and stop messing around!

Apart from these two, although the others didn’t speak, they all shared a look that said, “Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not joking.”

At the center of attention, Fu Qian, however, remained calm and gestured with his hand.

“It’s precisely because I cherish this honor that I am making a formal request.”

“But the problem is, shouldn’t you be telling us about the Siren Group’s exploration?”

The lady who hadn’t spoken until now couldn’t hold back.

“I am a man who keeps his promises, and I assured the Siren Group that I would not reveal what I saw or heard down there.”

Fu Qian gave her a look—compared to Nora, the second lady seemed about the same age but appeared much more serious, with sharper features.

“Then you—”

“What I want to know now is what you know.”

Fu Qian said with a smile on his face.

“Don’t tell me that you haven’t been paying any attention to this.”

…

For a moment, everyone looked at each other until Nora finally pondered for a moment.

“What we know is really not much.”

“It doesn’t matter, knowing even a little is meaningful information.”

Uh!

Fu Qian’s confident tone completely baffled Nora.

She concentrated her thoughts and organized her language a bit.

“Due to the Siren Group’s strict confidentiality, we’re still not sure when exactly they discovered the underground relics.”

“However, as for the operation, they started recruiting people the day before yesterday, offering very generous terms. Based on past experience, the risk level should be quite high.”

“You were among the first batch involved in the operation.”

“According to the information we have so far, there have not been any serious incidents during the exploration.”

“But after the first day’s exploration ended, except for you, all the others mysteriously died in their homes, and from the looks of it, they all committed suicide.”

“Since most people were in a wait-and-see state, the strongest among this group should have been of Sixth Phase standard…”

At this point, Nora raised her head and glanced at Fu Qian.

Clearly, Fu Qian’s actions today had made her unsure about her assessment of his strength.

“As for the exact location of the underground relics, although the Siren Group kept it strictly confidential, from various indications, it should be near the marsh area to the southwest.”

“Did you go verify this?”

Fu Qian looked at her.

“Just took a distant look.”

Nora nodded.

“There’s somewhat of a high danger level there, and not many materials of value, so not many people usually go there, yet I spotted quite a few from the Siren Group.”

“Considering the risks, I didn’t venture further.”

Looks like you’re pretty idle usually, huh!

Fu Qian silently mused to himself, also noting that she had been observing him all this time as she spoke, probably trying to ascertain the correctness of her information from any reaction he might give.

Unfortunately, I have no memory of that.

And from the reactions of the others, it seemed they too were hearing about the marsh for the first time.

Although she wasn’t too confident, she still provided some information of value.

“Anyway, that’s all I know.”

Having spoken all in one breath, Nora now quite nonchalantly gestured with her hand.

“Does anyone else have something to add?”

Fu Qian nodded and looked around.

Everyone shook their heads in response to his glance, then turned to look at Tieer.

He also had the same reaction, indicating there was no additional information.

“Okay.”

Fu Qian did not insist, and passed the weapon to Nora.

“It’s yours now.”

“Really for me?”

Nora could hardly believe Fu Qian was actually handing over the hammer, her voice tinged with disbelief.

Such a little piece of information, mostly meaningless to him. Was this guy out of his mind?

Actually, it wasn’t just her—everyone else was also stunned into silence.

“Not feeling confident about taking it?”

Fu Qian expressed his complete understanding of this sentiment.

“…A little.”

“If that’s the case…”

Fu Qian pondered for a moment.

“Then I’ll add the information about the weapon’s previous owner.”

The woman had mentioned before that not many in the wasteland recognized this hammer, suggesting that Cross was somewhat of a celebrity around here.

While not exactly an acquaintance, Fu Qian felt a flicker of curiosity about what had become of the two after the accident.

“This was Cross’s weapon.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Nora finally reached out and took the Edge Hammer, carefully choosing her words.

“He hadn’t been in the wasteland too long, and even here, he was quite formidable.”

“His mentor was Jones—a peculiar and strong fellow. Jones had a daughter named Ailina, extremely talented but also with some issues.”

“About a year ago, Jones died a mysterious death, and the specifics are unknown.”

“However, his daughter Ailina caught the eye of that lunatic William, who claimed she had killed her own father, committing a grave crime, and forced her to participate in his deadly combat games.”

“I don’t know if Cross made some promise to his mentor, but unbelievably, he went along with her.”

“What happened after we can’t say for sure, only that the combat game went awry, and even William ended up dead, while the two of them, miraculously, both survived.”

“But when Cross came back, he was badly affected, nearly to the point of losing control. Ailina took him around in search of a way to stabilize his condition, and it was during that time his weapon was sold.”

“Later, it was said that Ailina joined the Siren Group.”

At this point, Nora looked at Fu Qian.

“In your earlier operation, you didn’t run into her, did you?”

No wonder those two looked odd; so that was the story behind it.

Fu Qian mused inwardly, at the same time shaking his head.

“I don’t remember.”

“Cross is a fine young man and very talented too,” Tieer sighed from the side.

“It’s just a shame that we really can’t help.”

“Mr. Fu, do you have anything else to share? If not, we’ll start with Nora—”

“Yes!”

Tieer was clearly just being polite; he hadn’t expected Fu Qian to take the initiative.

“Regarding the Siren Group’s exploration, let me make a couple more comments.”

…

Although they had slowly grown accustomed to his unusual behavior, Fu Qian’s words still managed to draw astonished glances from the crowd.

“Firstly—”

Fu Qian cleared his throat.

“In the underground ruins discovered by the Siren Group, there is a mirror.”

A mirror?

Everyone was clearly hearing about this for the first time, looking at each other in bewilderment.

“There’s also something like feathers in there.”

Feathers?

The more they heard, the odder it seemed.

“Are you sure? And didn’t you say you’d adhere to professional ethics and keep the things you saw down there a secret?”

Nora couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, but this isn’t what I saw down there.”

Fu Qian smiled mysteriously.

“This was told to me by someone from the Ji Family.”