Chapter 123: First Arrival in the Land of Cherry Blossoms

Locating the so-called gate to the strange dimension on the map, he found it to be quite close to his current position.

Xiao Zi looked in that direction, then back at the map, and fell into deep thought.

According to his system, this is how the country was introduced:

A first-tier nation, the Sakura Country, independent of the five great powers. The nation believes in using ghosts to control ghosts, sealing some powerful supernatural entities as deities to deal with others. The peak human combat strength is Grade A, while the peak supernatural entity strength is Grade S.

After reading this introduction, Xiao Zi's first reaction was:

Is this it for a first-tier nation? Just this?

Upon seeing that the country's maximum combat strength was only Grade A, only one thought crossed his mind.

This place was already his personal horror playground; he could play however he liked.

However, seeing that the peak strength of supernatural entities was Grade S... well, with the current combat strength of himself and Wang Hui, even if they couldn't defeat an S-grade entity, escaping shouldn't be difficult, right?

Thinking of this, he immediately released the Clown from his supernatural domain.

The supernatural domain currently functioned like a portable storage space, but it could only hold items or supernatural entities.

Because the energy of the entities inside was so extreme, they could absorb it to become stronger, but if a human were left inside for too long, there were only two outcomes: either they would transform into a supernatural entity, or they would die completely, with their corpse becoming an entity.

After the Red Moon resurgence, the strength of supernatural entities had increased to varying degrees, and they were more intelligent than before; the probability of something turning into a supernatural entity had also risen.

He wondered if the world would change now that the deep sea had awakened.

However, based on his judgment, the aura from the deep-sea resurgence had not affected the land.

That didn't matter; after all, the oceans occupied more than sixty percent of this planet. Although smaller than in his previous life, it was enough to give humanity a headache.

For some independent island nations, like this Sakura Country, the hard times had truly arrived.

"Boss, why did you let me out? Is the operation over?"

The Clown looked around curiously, shocked to find he had arrived in a different place.

Xiao Zi did not answer his question, but instead used his Blood Demon Eyes to scan the Clown's body. "In such a short time, how is it that you seem to have become much stronger?"

"Staying in that place, any supernatural entity would naturally increase in strength, wouldn't they? By the way, where is this?"

Xiao Zi looked at the coastline and smiled. "Our new playground."

As he spoke, a large cargo ship pulled up nearby and began continuously discharging unknown liquids into the sea.

Although Xiao Zi couldn't identify the substance, his intuition told him it definitely wasn't anything good.

Sensing the surroundings, he realized there was actually a Grade A ghost controller on that ship, which gave Xiao Zi an idea.

Now that his own strength had reached Grade A, the three rule-level skills could be further upgraded. However, since his terror points had been completely drained by the system, he had to find a way to acquire a massive amount of them first.

Moreover, he had five other skills at LV3 waiting to be upgraded to LV4. Wasn't the highest level of humans in the Sakura Country Grade A?

Did that not imply there were also Grade A supernatural entities?

He didn't believe he couldn't find four life essences above Grade A in the Sakura Country to upgrade his skills.

Thus, his objectives in this country were clear: first, upgrade all his upgradable skills to boost his own strength.

Then, find the so-called gate to the strange dimension, enter the other world to trigger a supernatural resurgence, and obtain those high-tier, restricted-level skills that sounded so impressive.

Just then, his gaze shifted to Wang Hui.

Because he had been using the Blood Demon Eyes to probe the Clown, he hadn't deactivated them, which allowed him to see something extraordinary about Wang Hui.

Inside Wang Hui's body, two types of energy—one blue and one yellow—were coiled around his absurdly powerful soul force, spinning incessantly.

These two energies maintained a mysterious balance within Wang Hui, neither interfering with the other. The ocean energy permeated the left half of his body, while the desert energy filled the right half.

And in the center of his chest, an orange heart was beating...

Wait!

An orange heart?

Only then did Xiao Zi notice that at some point, Wang Hui's heart had turned orange—the heart of a loyal man.

Good heavens, Xiao Zi thought. The heart of a loyal person he had been searching for so desperately had been right beside him all along.

Should he reach in and take it to see if he would die?

Wang Hui noticed Xiao Zi's malicious gaze, specifically directed at his chest.

He immediately covered his chest as if a beautiful woman had encountered a pervert. "Boss, you... you are a ghost, after all. That goes against human ethics—no, wait, against ghost ethics!"

Xiao Zi: "..."

Of course, these things were just passing thoughts. With such a loyal and powerful subordinate, he certainly wouldn't kill him just to upgrade a skill that wasn't particularly useful.

He looked toward the ship in the distance, which had finished dumping all the unknown liquids into the sea, and said to Wang Hui and the Clown, "Let's go. Get on that ship; that will take us directly into the Sakura Country."

Hearing the name "Sakura Country," Wang Hui exploded. "Sakura Country? That trash nation?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hmph, it goes back to my great-grandfather's generation. The Sakura Country was always stealing from others, including our country, so most nations despise them." He looked at Xiao Zi. "I, for one, absolutely loathe this country."

It seemed this Sakura Country was quite unpopular; it was a miracle they had survived until now.

Xiao Zi patted Wang Hui on the shoulder. "We've already arrived in this country. Do you think there's anything good about it?"

He gave Wang Hui a knowing look.

Wang Hui wore a "I understand" smirk, leaving the Clown standing there, looking around in confusion.

"So this is the Sakura Country? I heard stories as a child about our ancestors fighting against their soldiers."

He almost forgot; the Clown was also a citizen of his home country before he died.

If that was the case, what more was there to say?

They might as well just let loose and play.

Having made the decision, the three of them merged into the shadow world and gradually crept toward the ship.

In the captain's cabin on the ship:

"Captain Shangang, if this matter is discovered, it will surely provoke the wrath of the surrounding nations."

Captain Shangang only smiled after hearing his subordinate's words. "Do you think those nations have the time to care about us? They are all busy fighting supernatural entities right now."

He hopped down from his captain's chair, looking completely calm.

"Besides, even if they are angry, what can they do to us? We have the Lighthouse Country to whitewash our actions anyway. If they really push us into a corner..."

"What happens if they push us into a corner?"

"We'll just have our leaders perform a standard bowing apology!"