Chapter 494: Change

These dragon hawks that appeared out of nowhere without warning had a much bigger size that the partner’s used by Wizard Li warriors during war. However, they seemed to be more docile and their backs were not fixed with two sturdy baskets on their head and tail that could fit two native warriors with enough space for them to cast their spells. Instead, it was fit with a row of seven to eight soft seats woven with tree vines.

Looking at the several huge high and mighty beasts in front of her, Allison was stunned. “Oh don’t tell me that we’re required to go to the Red Mountain Harbor by riding on these dragon hawks?”

“Of course! Haven’t we analyzed it before? If the Wizard Li tribesmen intend to hide from the mainlanders, we should at least temporarily conceal their iron ships, artillery and airships. It’s because of this that they would let us dock at Dragon Hawk Harbor first before transiting to the Red Mountain Harbor. In this case, the dragon hawk is the most convenient means of transportation.” Zhang Lisheng as he hurriedly ran and jumped. Grasping the hawk’s hair to aid him, he lightly leapt up onto the back of the dragon hawk nearest to him. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant Allison. These giant raptors may look fierce but in actual truth, they’ve been domesticated and are very obedient. There’s no danger at all.”

“Even though you’re an outstanding biologist, it’s very unconvincing to use the word ‘obedient’ in front of these ‘big guys’…” Alison mustered her courage and muttered under her breath. Cautiously and nervously, she walked up to the dragon hawk and climbed onto the hawk’s back with the help of a simple and crude suspended ladder that had its two sides made from vines and its middle tied with thick wooden sticks.

At the same time, the Atlanteans among the explorers also quietly brandished their arms one by one. Faint brilliance radiated from their body as they were raised up onto the air before they easily floated up onto the back of the dragon hawks. Nordick and his three Earth elite subordinate soldiers who mastered supernatural power, on the other hand, marched in place and directly leapt up onto the hawk’s back.

Because Allison, who was a girl, climbed onto the back of the dragon hawk all by herself, the remaining Pocky and Harman also exchanged a look with each other and smiled wryly before carefully climbing the ladder carefully onto the hawk’s back.

By the time all of the explorers had seated properly on behind the dragon hawks’ back, the giant birds’ strong claws pushed away from the ground. They rose into the air and steadily ascended into the sky, before flying into the distance against the beautiful sunshine crossing the jungle.

On the way to the Red Mountain Harbor, the dragon hawks that were not commanded or driven by anyone flew neither fast nor slow, on a height that was just about moderate. Sitting on their back, the explorers did not feel the rush of any gale, nor did they feel panic or anxious. Instead, they appeared to be very comfortable and cozy.

“This is the most comfortable air trip I’ve ever experienced. Wow, it’s amazing!” With her nervousness gradually disappearing, Allison let her hair dance along the warm spring breeze being caressed by the wind. She caressed the smooth feathers of the raptor under her and could not help but exclaim, “Dr., I dare to bet that this ‘big guy’ is more intelligent than dolphins and chimpanzees.”

“If you want to bet, you’ll definitely lose, Lieutenant Alison,” Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting in the seat in front of the black female officer, said in a loud voice without turning his head around. “The ability of a bird to recognize the route is not related to instinct or intelligence. The brain capacity of a pigeon is not as big as a domesticated chicken. It’s even easier to train them in a moderate speed. Using the conditional reflex principle of how a dog would naturally drool when it sees a bone, just by letting a Wizard Li warrior who knows how to control the dragon hawk command it to repeat the routes several times in a suitable speed, it’ll naturally know what speed it should use to fly forward.”

“Thank you for such a thorough explanation, Dr. I have another question to ask you. Do you realize that sometimes, knowing too much can make you a little boring and dull as well?” Upon hearing the young man’s stiff answer, Allison joked.

“Boring is at least much better than letting your imagination run wild and scare yourself with it,” Zhang Lisheng pondered over it and smiled as he replied.

The instant his words left his mouth, a group of unnamed seabirds in the distance cried loudly as they flew across the blue waves on the water. At once, it caused Allison to forget what she was about to say as she looked down on the sea in silence for a long time.

Taking away Zhang Lisheng, who was born cruel and liked to kill whenever he liked, and Someril, who was profoundly mysterious, right now, the Shrimp World No. 2 explorers who were sitting on the back of the birds had a normal expression on, other than the evident fatigue on their faces. However, in actual fact, the horrifying and cruel scenes that they had never imagined before in the war of conquest of Scorpion Island had already caused their spirit to be as taut as ever.

For this reason, Allison’s originally strong will would unwittingly become soft and gentle, unconsciously touched by the little serenity that she had never cared for before.

Vaguely sensing this, the young man lowered his head and smiled. He also became silent and looked down at the beautiful scenery of his newly acquired territory, not making any noise until the dragon hawks had flown for two to three hours and descended into a tribe near the sea that looked like an ordinary Hellfire tribe’s habitat.

When the raptors landed, the native choresmen naturally went up to feed them.

Zhang Lisheng leapt down from the dragon hawk and looked around. He could see that in the wooden harbor that was not too big nor too small not far away, the most conspicuous things right there were seven to eight sailing boats that were over 100 meters long. Judging from the bow sculpture and the height of the cabin on the deck, it was apparent that they belonged to the mainlanders. Besides the mainlanders’ merchant ships were several dozens of simple fishing boats that Wizard Li had seized two months ago.

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The bark houses at the tribal dwelling close to the wood and the beach were most ordinary Hellfire style bark houses. The natives inside also appeared to be ordinary as well. When he saw these, a faint smile crept upon the corner of his mouth. When he saw the choresmen who came up to greet him, he ordered, “Bring me to see Travis and McCardy.”

“Yes, Pundit!” The skinny native choresman kneeled on the ground, kowtowed and stood up. After that, he brought Zhang Lisheng and the rest to walk on the plain land to a tree house near the sea, before reverently retreating to one side. “The two lords are inside.”

The young man nodded and looked at Someril who was by his side. When he was just about to speak, the curtain of the tree house was suddenly opened, revealing Travis’s red hair and her fair delicate face.

“Sergeant Major Someril… Mr. Harman,” The Atlantean politely called the name of the incomers one by one with a smile. “Looks like my hunch is very accurate. Just as I expected, all of you came today. Hurry up and enter. Even though it’s simple and crude inside, it’s still quite comfortable. In order to deceive those mainlanders, the Wizard Li people didn’t even install a door so it can be quite inconvenient.”

Actually, installing wooden door to the bark house was something that the Wizard Li people had just gradually became accustomed to in the past six months. Although Zhang Lisheng was particularly uncompromising in terms of killing during the conquest and reforming the craftsmen’s skills when he ruled the tribe, he was extremely respectful towards Wizard Li tribe’s long history of lifestyle so he had never imposed any reformation before.

Instead, as more and more mainlanders lived in the Wizard Li territory, and as production power changed dramatically compared to before, it was the Wizard Li people themselves who started to have some spontaneous changes, such as learning to cook using woks and replacing curtains with wooden doors.

The young man did not encourage nor stop these invisible formative changes but he was secretly feeling smug in his heart. It was because when such an evolution was taking place, it meant that the Hellfire traditions, no matter how small they were, were starting to be actively discarded by the Wizard Li tribesmen.

The stone was hard but it could still be worn out by water droplets drop by drop, to the point where the water droplets would eventually pierce through the stone. Using the same principle, as more and more of these seemingly natural changes took place, perhaps one day, a brand new nation created by Zhang Lisheng would be born unconsciously and become his most solid backing.

Because of Travis’ casual remark, many thoughts flashed across the young man’s mind. When he heard Someril asking, “Travis, where’s McCardy?”, he hurriedly shook his head gently and stopped his mind from wandering.

“Mr. Luqi has asked for her since the morning, Sergeant Major Someril,” Travis replied with a smile. “Luqi is the leader of the mainlander’s fleet and a businessman. He’s infatuated with McCardy and has revealed a lot of valuable information about the mainlander’s society.”

“Does this mean that you’ve translated the language and writing of the mainlanders?” Someril walked into the fairly spacious tree house and sat on the fairly shiny animal hides that were sewn from several herbivorous animals’ skin before asking the most critical question.

“Yes, we have. We’ll program the information into everyone’s translating device later and I’ll interlink,” Travis replied. “Sergeant Major, I also have another good news to tell you. McCardy and I have not only translated the language and writing of the mainlanders, we’ve even successfully won the respect and trust of the mainland businessmen. They’ve already invited us to go to their hometown for a visit when the fleet returns.”

“Travis, what we need is an opportunity to integrate into the upper class of the mainlanders,” Someril said calmly. “Do those businessmen have a high position in the mainland society?”

“Quite high, Sergeant Major Someril,” Travis replied excitedly. “The mainland on the east of the Hellfire Archipelago is called the Green Leaf Mainland. The merchants are from Sea Haines City in the Kattaman City State, the most affluent state in the coastal region of the mainland sea region. The Kattaman City State is built based on business and the major chambers of commerce in the state are the pillars of their nation. The city-state regimes are mostly controlled by the nobility in the dark, and their aristocrats actually refer to the families of rich merchants. When the families fight with each other, it’s not about bloodlines or power but on how much wealth they possess instead…”

“Is this information you obtained from the Luqi businessman that you mentioned just now?” Someril suddenly interrupted Travis’ rambling and asked.

“Yes.”

“Travis, even though both you and McCardy are linguists, the two of you are not very good at interacting with strangers. I believe that this information must have been voluntarily given by Luqi ’cause he’s trying to court McCardy right?”

“Yes.”

“I got it now, Travis.” The Atlantean woman contemplated for a moment before nodding and giving out her order, “Now, program the mainlander’s language and writing into our translating device and then bring us to see this Mr. Luqi.”