Chapter 216 – This Moment
Laura stared blankly at Zhao Hai. She didn’t think he would say that, which surprised her. All the same, she was moved by those words.
On the Ark Continent, there wasn’t a law that dealt with monogamy. If Zhao Hai wanted, he could definitely marry any woman he fancied. Laura accepted this idea completely as it was natural on the continent.
In Laura’s view, Zhao Hai’s words meant he truly liked her. Because he liked her, even loved her. Thinking that another person was in his heart felt as though he was betraying Laura. This had made him feel guilty, and that moved Laura the most.
Laura stood up and walked before Zhao Hai. She looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Hai, I’m not blaming you for all of this. To be honest, I was afraid you wouldn’t accept me. After all, Meg has been with you since childhood. You know a great deal more about her. Furthermore, you are the Buda clan’s patriarch. As the only successor of the Buda clan, it’s impossible for you to marry only me if you take the clan’s future into consideration. I won’t oppose you marrying Meg. To be honest, Meg also likes you. I had seen this and prepared myself already. You don’t need to worry.”
Zhao Hai stared at Laura. He told Laura about these matters because he couldn’t cross that ridge in his heart all by himself. His world view had been formed from almost three decades of living on Earth. Don’t say he could just change his view, Zhao Hai truly felt affection for Laura and that had caused him to feel sorry towards her.
Now that he heard Laura’s feelings, Zhao Hai felt a bit better. He looked at Laura and pulled her into his arms. Laura was surprised, but didn’t resist. Instead, she gently leaned her head onto Zhao Hai’s chest. They didn’t speak, but during that moment, they both felt the other’s warmth.
After some time, Zhao Hai said to Laura, “Laura, I’m sorry for making you lose your business after you did everything you could to painstakingly take care of it. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have fallen to such a state today.”
Laura sat down and leaned against Zhao Hai’s arms. She looked at him and said, “Brother Hai, don’t say such things. I could have such success because of you. If not for you, it would have been impossible for me to achieve all I have today. Just as I said before, I am now your fiancee. If you’re going to be so polite towards me, I’ll be angry.”
Zhao Hai watched Laura’s expression and saw that she was only pretending to be angry. His heart was filled with warmth as he looked at her. Laura’s beauty, intelligence, and compassion all attributed to the warmth Zhao Hai felt. He was moved.
He couldn’t help but cling tightly to Laura, as if to crush her against his body. Laura felt his stirred emotions and smiled sweetly as she was held tight. At this moment, their hearts were tied together and couldn’t be separated.
With Zhao Hai’s intent, Laura and he moved and appeared inside the Spatial Villa. Laura suddenly felt her surroundings shift, as though she wasn’t in her study anymore. When she took a more curious look around, she truly did see that she wasn’t in her study.
Laura whispered uneasily to Zhao Hai, “Brother Hai, we’re in a strange place.”
Zhao Hai loosened his embrace of Laura and smiled faintly. “This isn’t a strange place[1]. It’s our Buda clan’s greatest secret. This is my domain.”
Surprise, Laura looked around puzzledly. Zhao Hai smiled and pulled Laura up. They then went out of the villa and looked at the prairie outside.
As Laura looked around, she found many fruit trees, bamboo rice plants, radishes, and other crops. Most importantly, she saw fire fishes within a hot spring.
Upon seeing these, the intelligent Laura immediately understood. This was where the Taoyuan products came from. But, she didn’t know where exactly they were.
Zhao Hai looked at Laura and smiled. “Do you now know why I said only through marriage would I tell you my greatest secret? It’s because of this place. This is the Divergent Technique I obtained. This entire Space is mine, and I am god here. When I plant crops here, such as fruit oil trees, they will mature in only a few days. Bamboo rice can mature several times a day. Furthermore, the water and soil from this Space can make the lands of the Black Waste arable enough to plant crops there. Lastly, placing undead in here will make them my summonable creatures. This is a world of infinite possibilities.”
Laura was confused as she looked around. While she could understand the explanation Zhao Hai gave, she couldn’t clearly process the whole of what he said. Some things were still unclear.
Seeing Laura’s expression, Zhao Hai smiled. “Simply put, this Space is like a Spatial Bag. This Space has its own separate and independent laws, but is also not a subspace. This Space instead coexists with the outside. Neither the outside nor the Space will affect one another[2]. In this Space, however, I am god.”
Laura stared emotionally at Zhao Hai. She now understood what he meant. This pleasant surprise was truly too large for her and she couldn’t believe it.
Zhao Hai looked at her and smiled. “Don’t be so surprised. This Space is the place where I produce the Taoyuan products. Others won’t be able to enter this place unless I allow them. This is our Buda clan’s greatest secret. If it is exposed, then there wouldn’t be a place for us on the Ark Continent.”
She nodded in agreement. “If this place is known, then you really wouldn’t be able to stay on the continent. Rest assured that I won’t say a word about this.”
Zhao Hai looked at Laura and smiled. “Even if you wanted to let this be known, it’s already too late. Remember, you’re now my fiancee. Haha.” He hugged Laura as he spoke those words.
Laura glanced snappily at Zhao Hai but didn’t say anything. She instead smiled as she knew Zhao Hai had already accepted her.
Zhao Hai led Laura around in order to help her familiarize herself with the situation of the Space. After a look at the ranch, they left the Space.
When they came back to Laura’s study, they called for Green and the others to come back. As they arrived, Green and the others saw that the two had a different air around them. A sort of understanding passed between them and they smiled. None of them asked the couple anything as it was a secret between the two of them.
Now that Laura knew of Zhao Hai’s ability, she had more confidence. After the noon meal, she immediately met with her people, the store managers. So long as she clearly explained the situation to them, the Higanbana stores would continue their normal operations.
In fact, this matter was rather simple. She simply told them that if any issues were to arise in the future, they could go to Grand Duke Evan and directly ask him for help. In order to keep a convenient mode of contact, Laura also told them of the Eagle Virtuous Phantasms. If Laura had any issues herself, she could send the Eagle Virtuous Phantasms to look for them. If the store managers needed Laura, they could just go to Stony Mountain.
After explaining the current situation to them, she moved on to the people of Faith Mansion. Not all of them would be going with her. Aside from Quinn John, Karen, Nier, and Kiel, they only allowed their most loyal servants come along. As for the others, if they wanted to become commoners, then they would receive severance pay. If they wanted to stay and work in the Higanbana stores, Laura could tell Evan of it.
They finished packing their things up as, later on, they wouldn’t be living in Faith Mansion anymore. These past couple of years, Laura had accumulated a great many good things. Since this was the case, she couldn’t let others take care of them for her. As such, she’d take them all away.
After eating dinner, Zhao Hai called for Karen, Quinn John, and Nier and had them gather in the study. He then led them into the Space. In any case, since they would be following Zhao Hai from now on, Zhao Hai wasn’t afraid to let them know his secret.
Karen was shocked when he arrived in the Space. This place had a very good environment. The first thing that came into his mind upon seeing his surroundings was that it would be a good place for his experiments. He immediately fell in love with the place and, without hesitating, occupied the basement of the Spatial Villa and set it up as his experiment room.
Zhao Hai had no way to make Karen’s account for the matter. To be honest, Zhao Hai really did admire Karen. Although in the eyes of everyone else, Karen’s research was useless, Zhao Hai saw that Karen’s value couldn’t be compared to others.
The Ark Continent was currently in the initial periods of magic and machine school of learning. Zhao Hai thought that the unfolding future would be dependent upon people like Karen. As such, Karen’s approached to matters was something Zhao Hai allowed without regret.
Zhao Hai also brought Quinn John and the others to Fort Iron Mountain. This was, after all, their rear base. As such, he must let Quinn John and the others know of it.
He then led them back into the Spatial Villa to continue their discussion on what to take with them. Laura proposed a major move, which Zhao Hai and the others weren’t opposed to.
If it wasn’t for Zhao Hai’s Space, then Laura wouldn’t be able to take away so many things. Since Zhao Hai did have the Space, however, Laura was confident that she wouldn’t need to lose anything. After she moved the things out of Faith Mansion, she only left a few things there and didn’t remove them. She them began to purchase a great deal of basic necessities.
Naturally, it was impossible to leave with a lot of things from the Higanbana stores. Laura’s intent was to slowly move things one after another to Faith Mansion, then move them into Zhao Hai’s Space.
As a result, there was a great deal to prepare, so they had to push the time allotted to them before they could leave. Fortunately, Laura had given the Higanbana stores to the Purcell clan. Since the Higanbana stores were now completely handled by the Purcell clan, many of the things she took away would be deducted from her part of the store income.
Laura took these things away for not only her use, but for trading within the Beastfolk Prairie. Zhao Hai had asked Laura about her plans earlier and she said she’d already established a business there. The issue Zhao Hai wanted to discuss was the matter of trading inside the Beastfolk Prairie, so he told Laura about it. She naturally agreed and this was the reason they’d bought a lot of commodities.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1] It is. It’s where you kidnap people and brainwash them to serve you. ↩
[2] Simplified. Both this Space and outside space exist at the same time. Unlike a subspace which is cut from the space outside, the Space here wasn’t made from the outside space. Neither space will affect one another easily, so most likely he means that unless he—or Cai’er—wills it, no attack can damage it.