The day after the Tai Xuan Emperor and Wu Xiao's late-night conversation, Long Hua and Tian Cheng arrived at the NPI hospital—at around the hours of nine AM.
Having been informed of his arrival ahead of time, Jing Yao was already standing at the entrance—dressed in her usual attire of a lab coat.
"So, what business do you have with me?"
Towards Long Hua's question, Jing Yao replies—
"It's not me that has business with you. It's my employer."
"Uh? Ah Yao?"
"My official affiliations are with Nine Lives, remember?"
Recalling this bit of detail, Long Hua blinks his eyes, and asks—
"What exactly does Nine Lives do again?"
"Founding ideals was to preserve life, or so it's said. I only do what is required of me from them—so that I can get a decent paycheck. In any case, come along."
Saying this, Jing Yao walks pass Long Hua, and heads for the furthest end of the parking lot.
Momentarily, they arrive in front of a white van.
All the windows on this vehicle are tinted black—making it impossible to see what's inside.
Upon Jing Yao placing her hand onto the handle of the van's rear door, a green light flashes for a brief instance, and—
*Click!* the door is unlocked, to which, Long Hua remarks—
"A fingerprint scanner?"
"Don't look at me. I only found out about this thing yesterday."
As far as Jing Yao is aware of, it is extremely rare for members of Nine Lives to receive a direct request from its headquarters.
However, members of the organization are expected to submit weekly reports in one of two categories. The first being health changes in the general populace—such as the average Hazard Levels of weapon spirits, while the second are environmental changes.
Occasionally, the task of sending in samples, or live specimens would be requested of. But this is something that Jing Yao had never been told to do.
Opening the van's rear door, the group of three sees—
"This is…?"
"…"
"It appears to be a rift of some kind, master."
Just as Tian Cheng had pointed out, a rift that takes up the entirety of the van's rear is present.
"…Hey, Jing, how much do you really know about this organization?"
Towards Long Hua's question, Jing Yao replies—
"…I only got in because of my sister. Other than writing up health reports for a paycheck, I don't have much contact with them. According to rumors, some of its members live out the entirety of their lives—never receiving direct contact from its headquarters."
Glancing at Jing Yao, Long Hua remarks—
"Seems like you've won the lottery then?"
"…Do we go in?"
"…"
Pressing a foot down on the van's folded stairsteps, Long Hua enters the rift.
Momentarily, Tian Cheng follows after him, and with a bit of hesitancy, Jing Yao goes after them.
As soon as the group of three had entered the rift, the van retrieves its folded steps, and automatically closes its rear door.
...…
Emerging on the other side of the rift, the group of three sees—
"…Is this how it would feel like if one entered one of those ruins?"
Towards Jing Yao's question, Long Hua replies—
"Probably."
"Master, there's no gears in the sky."
Raising his head, Long Hua does see this to be the case. However, he can say for certain that this blue sky is only a projection—constructed through the use of advanced technology.
Present in the artificial skies are live birds in flight, and beneath it—is a forest with lush green grass, where animals of varying sizes roam the area unhindered by borders.
Despite there being a sheep right next to it, a wolf is acting rather docile, as it yawns in a lazy manner.
And judging by the sheep showing no signs of discomfort, this seems to be a common sight in this place.
But more surprising than the oddity of the sight itself is the fact that these two animals actually exist—according to textbooks, they should have already gone extinct in this world.
Other than live animals, there are also white dolls roaming around the area. Propulsion devices keep these dolls' sharp bases five inches off the ground at all times.
"…"
Spreading his divine senses, Long Hua sees a colossal white tree trunk in the center of this area.
Large openings are present throughout each of this building's floors—seemingly for the sole purpose of allowing this tree to fit in.
(…What an odd building.)
Looking pass these large openings, Long Hua counts a total of ten floors.
And on the tenth floor—where the tree's crown is, Long Hua sees the crown decorated by golden leaves.
Despite the distance between them, Long Hua can evidently sense a dense amount of life energy emanating from the tree's crown.
(This is…? A Tree of Life? No, this shouldn't be possible. It's probably a replica?)
Just as Long Hua thought of this—
"Welcome to Nine Lives' headquarters. There's an elevator near each floor's opening, I'll be waiting for you all on the tenth floor."
A feminine voice comes from every possible direction.
"…"
Blinking his eyes, Long Hua shrugs his shoulders, and remarks—
"Looks like we're going to be meeting your mysterious employer in the flesh."
"Seems like it."
Moving forward together, the three headed for the center of the first floor.
Along the way, they see a large body of water; contained inside of the waters are various forms of aquatic-life from fish to whales.
"…Is that a blue whale I see?"
"Hmm."
"…"
Observing the various lifeforms in this body of water for a full minute, Jing Yao remarks—
"It might look like a lake on the surface, but the waters here are quite deep… I suppose it has to be—if it wishes to contain something as large as a whale."
Nodding to this, Tian Cheng says—
"Should be akin to an ocean in depth. …Perhaps, they've used spatial manipulation techniques to create this?"
"…The technology of the Immortals?"
Hearing this remark, Jing Yao can't help but feel a sense of curiosity towards this organization that she is supposed to be a part of.
Similarly, to the wolf and sheep situation, none of the predatory animals in this body of water—such as the sharks, are showing any signs of attacking the smaller prey animals.
Continuing to move along, Long Hua thought—
(The life energy in this building… I see, it's because of all this life energy that all these animals are able to maintain a calm state of mind. They won't feel hungry either.)