Vanesa held back her anger and looked at Acosta. "What do you mean?"
Acosta glanced at Lazarus, then at Vanesa, and let out a low, raspy laugh.
"It's very simple. Didn't you send him to the southwest corner of the continent to uncover the secret hidden there?"
Seeing the sharp change in Vanesa's gaze, Acosta continued calmly.
"According to the Karma Box reading, the two people Lazarus is looking for are closely connected to the secret you originally wanted to uncover in the southwest."
"If the two Faceless Heroes are found, Lazarus can achieve his revenge, and you might also directly obtain the secret you've been seeking."
Vanesa stared hard at Acosta. "Why should I believe what you're saying is true?"
Acosta smiled again. "I have no reason to lie to you. To be honest, our Huangquan Hall has also been after that southwest secret for a long time. But unfortunately, the Palace of Divine Attendants has been watching us even more closely, especially over the past year."
"They seem agitated lately, always hunting us across the continent. Their actions have increased fivefold at least."
"And it looks like they've already been to the southwest and done something there. That's made it nearly impossible for our people to enter that area."
"Even those who barely managed to get in came back weakened and found nothing."
As he spoke, Acosta's shadowed eyes looked directly at Vanesa for the first time. "If that wasn't the case, do you think the secret would still be left for you to chase now?"
Then his tone returned to normal as he looked at her. "So, Lady Saint, that person you once sent to the southwest—he's still under your control, right?"
At the mention of the traitorous creature, Vanesa's eyes grew colder. "Hmph, of course."
Although Sindri betrayed her before, he is carrying the divine-blood child.
No matter how far he runs or where he hides, he must come back because of that child.
Otherwise, both he and the child in his belly will die.
Acosta nodded. "Good. Then you two can discuss the timing for action."
Vanesa replied immediately, "Not for now."
The child in that creature's belly is almost at full term. Although divine-blood pregnancies differ from normal ones, it's been over a year now. It should be close to birth.
From how these people act, they probably don't know she has the divine-blood child in her hands. Even she isn't sure if Sindri carries the exact divine bloodline she's after, but it's better to hide it as long as possible.
Seeing Acosta look over, Lazarus's face again showed a mocking impatience. Vanesa calmly continued,
"At least wait another month. He's working on something very important right now. After one more month, it should be resolved. I'll send you a message as soon as it's done."
Lazarus let out a cold snort. Acosta nodded. "Alright."
The largest coastal city in the Gujin Sea was Yanhai City.
After the officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Works who specialized in shipbuilding arrived, Elara stayed in the Gujin Sea for another two months.
During these two months, the stationed troops gradually cleaned and organized the entire Yanhai City.
Elara opened a temporary lecture hall in the main city, teaching basic knowledge about building docks and ships.
After two months, with the joint efforts of all officials and craftsmen, the first dock and two sea ships were successfully built at the Yanhai City harbor.
When the sea ships were completed, the officials from the Ministry of Commerce also arrived with a large batch of goods.
In the past half year, Mr. Gong had drawn from past experiences of traveling to various countries, leading to major reforms that greatly improved the commercial and economic model of the Plumera Kingdom.
The total economic output of the Plumera Kingdom had already multiplied several times compared to six months ago.
As the road-building teams from the Ministry of Works connected more and more cities and regions, the overall economy of the Plumera Kingdom continued expanding rapidly.
Of the two sea ships, one was handed to the Ministry of Commerce. After it was loaded with goods, Elara instructed them to head toward the eastern continent, trading along the coastal route and exploring sea maps, aiming to reach the powerful matriarchal nation far in the east, the Carnation Kingdom.
The other ship mainly carried military personnel, all from martial arts families and skilled in deep internal energy techniques.
Elara loaded their ship with all kinds of survival and exploration tools. Along the bow and sides, the ship was equipped with the latest bows and crossbows developed by the military industry department, as well as mechanical turrets made by Octavian from the Heavenly Crafts Pavilion.
Once the ship was fully armed, Elara also had the Ministry of Commerce send them with some trade goods and ordered them to sail south to explore the southern seas.
Over the past two months, Elara had also finished reading the contents of the Divine Book.
The characters in the Divine Book were ones Elara had never seen before, but with the help of the System and national destiny points, translation was a minor issue.
After spending destiny points to fully translate the book, Elara found the content to be truly extraordinary, and it indeed included scenes of battles with massive giant insects.
The giant insects described in the book were unlike anything Elara had seen in reality. According to the records, adult insects were over a hundred meters long and about ten meters wide, resembling enormous, fierce centipedes covered with countless mouths and capable of spraying corrosive mucus and other exaggerated abilities.
Elara dug through more information and concluded that the larvae or eggs of these insects were likely the same as the suppressed worms currently inside the Puppet Soldiers before suppression.
The battle scenes in the Divine Book were also highly exaggerated and grand, filled with a futuristic, interstellar sense of high technology, making Elara feel like she was watching a sci-fi film.
There were warships, laser cannons, mechas, and even legendary mutated war beasts, giving a surreal and mythical sci-fi version of the Classic of Mountains and Seas feel.
Could the previous civilization of this world have been this advanced in technology?