0p0 Chapter 445 The Subject of Sumeru Scholars
Chapter 445 The Subject of Sumeru Scholars
Xu Ning looked at Jin Wu with amusement, never expecting her to go to such lengths for the girl's safety.
However, based on my understanding of Zhiqiong, I'm afraid that even if that Haidifu terminates the contract, she will still go and continue her exploration.
Everything was just as Xu Ning had guessed.
When the young scholar-like man in strange clothes clearly expressed his intention to terminate his employment relationship with Zhiqiong and to pay a large sum of money in exchange for Zhiqiong going upstairs to rest, Zhiqiong simply took out the instruments and returned them to Mr. Haidifu from Sumeru, and then continued to work on her drawings.
That setup clearly indicated they were preparing for a second trip down.
Jinwu was furious, but he was helpless against this stubborn guy.
Xu Ning thought to himself that if he hadn't let Kong and the others go to rest, they would probably be taking on jobs right now.
However, he had no intention of taking Zhiqiong to run around down there. Not to mention that he had no interest in exploration, what he wanted to find was that mechanical giant snake. If they encountered it, it would be a big battle, and Zhiqiong might get involved.
However, Xu Ning was still very interested in the exploration of his country by this outsider, Haidifu.
"Who ordered you to conduct this exploration in the Layered Rock Abyss?"
Although Haidif didn't know Xu Ning, he could tell from a distance that Jin Wu and the captain of the Qianyan Army seemed to respect this young man very much, and they were also much more polite in their conversation.
"I am a scholar from Sumeru, named Haidif, Haidif Pursina. My research focuses on the changes in biological communities and the investigation of paleontological populations. The geological environment of the Stratified Abyss is something I have never seen before. It has very interesting variations, and it is more than enough to meet the research quota of the Academy this year."
Xu Ning raised his gourd, took a sip of wine, and asked again, "I know who you are, but you still haven't answered my question: who ordered you to come here to investigate?"
Haidif suddenly realized, "Oh, that's what you're asking about. I forgot to introduce my job. I'm a specially invited research scholar from the General Affairs Department, and I have a special pass issued by them."
However, as he talked, Haidif started complaining.
"Of course, although I am specially invited, I do not have exclusive rights to the survey results here. No matter what academic achievements I obtain here, I must share the research results with the local Liyue Historical Society. This behavior is actually a serious violation of the regulations of the Order of the Church, but your attitude in Liyue is unusually firm, so I have no choice but to agree. After all, there are countless research topics here."
"Moreover, since I have to lead the exploration team myself, I also have to be responsible for all the expenses of all the miners here. Fortunately, I am still very rich, otherwise I would not be able to afford this series of things."
Jinwu glanced sideways at the Sumeru scholar, thinking, "Are you showing off your wealth in front of Xu Ning of Liyue?"
Having learned about Hydif's work, Xu Ning has always been a strong supporter of any action that could benefit Liyue.
"Why don't you just give me those instruments? If it's on my way, I can put them away for you."
Heidif was overjoyed. "Of course, no problem. If you need any payment, please just let me know."
Xu Ning didn't care about the compensation Haidif had offered. He took the map and had Haidif mark a few locations on it.
How should I put it? Haidif truly lives up to his reputation as a scholar. I've wandered around quite a bit myself, yet I haven't been to any of the places he marked.
After throwing the instruments into the Hidden Cave, Xu Ning glanced at the opening she and the others had made. It was almost directly opposite the tent that Jin Wu had temporarily set up. No wonder she appeared here so quickly after the explosion.
After saying goodbye to Jinwu, Xu Ning called out to Shenhe and Yinglangwan.
"Let's go, let's go down from here!"
The two people and the dog walked down the spiraling rock wall again, but Xu Ning did not stop at the place where the Fools were staying, but continued to explore downwards.
After all, he now knew why Zhiqiong had insisted on going down there earlier. This place, which Zhiqiong called the "underground swamp," was the first survey point that Haidifu had marked on the map.
When Xu Ning reached the bottom, he finally understood why Hydif had placed survey beacons at these locations in the Stratified Abyss.
In this dark underground world, there is a pool of water, where lush vegetation and flowers grow.
Furthermore, there were some elemental monsters that looked very much like crystal mushrooms and had never appeared in Liyue, lurking back and forth near the water's surface.
Shen He frowned slightly when he saw the two mushroom monsters huddling together and heading towards them.
He stretched out a finger and pressed it on the two mushroom heads, and the two mushroom monsters were instantly frozen into two lumps of ice.
Shadow Wolf also jumped over and sliced them to pieces with his blade.
After placing the first location beacon, Xu Ning led Shen He and Ying Lang Wan out, jumped off the crane again, and landed at the location where they were originally going to enter the Upside-Down Ancient City.
Then they went inside to explore.
"What we need to find is the monster that can crawl out of this huge hole. Based on what I saw underground, it should be a giant mechanical serpent. So our top priority is to find the mechanical monster in this space, whatever it is, to extract its core, and then see if we can get Shadow Wolf to smell a specific scent and find the giant serpent for us."
Shen He glanced at the diameter of the large hole that Xu Ning had pointed out to her, and got a general idea of the enemy she was about to face.
Shen He had seen most of what happened in the Upside-Down Ancient City through the water mirror, and Xu Ning didn't elaborate much. He simply tapped the gourd and called out Master Ji.
"See that? Ancient ruins, an upside-down ancient city, all the buildings are upside down. Do you want to take a picture? Haha, I knew you liked these strange and unusual places. I'll take you to take another picture of the Milky Way hanging upside down later."
Xu Ning noticed that Master Ji really liked this eye-catching sight, so he specially called it out to take pictures, and found that it indeed liked it very much.
After having Shadow Wolf and Jifushi pose on a rock, Xu Ning held up Jinwu's lumen lamp to light it while taking a picture of the two little animals.
"The effect is great, the design is perfect, wait, why is someone here?"
Xu Ning suddenly noticed someone bending over and examining something in the corner of the photo, and the small bag that person was carrying seemed particularly familiar.