Chapter 1288: 23: I Yield

Capítulo 1288: Chapter 23: I Yield

(I am truly sorry, everyone, the company’s year-end business conference has left me overwhelmed with too many tasks… Recently, I’ve been so exhausted that I fall asleep as soon as I get home, and I can’t guarantee updates these two days… I have to continue working over the weekend… Hopefully everything will be better once the meeting concludes this Sunday.)

Mu Fan barely caught his breath, only to see the fear suddenly appear in the eyes of the “woman” who was intimidatingly strong, turning around to flee.

“Come back!”

Mu Fan took a step forward, grabbed her shoulder, and pulled her back forcefully.

The heavy body was surprisingly lifted into mid-air by Mu Fan with one hand, then sat heavily on the ground.

Thud!

Mu Fan felt the ground beneath his feet tremble intensely.

This time, Saran was genuinely subdued, sitting there, not daring to move.

Why is it so exhausting to just have an earnest conversation?

Mu Fan felt helpless, sat on the ground, locked eyes with Saran, revealing a resolute gaze, and his tone equally firm:

“I emphasize once more! I’m not going to eat you! I don’t have the habit of eating people!”

As he uttered these words, Mu Fan felt his image must be idiotic to the extreme.

Black was still in that nearly breathless, choking laughter mode.

“Anyway, I can’t beat you… If you say you won’t eat, then you won’t…”

Saran muttered softly.

Yet, what she thought was “soft” in Mu Fan’s ears was thunderous.

For a moment, Mu Fan almost stood up to kick her away.

“Firstly, let me ask you, who told you that outsiders would eat people?”

This question had now indisputably risen to Mu Fan’s heart’s top priority; if he didn’t figure out the cause, everyone he encountered would flee, and how could he gather information?

“The Divine Envoy Lord.”

Saran’s face twisted with terror, giving Mu Fan the impression that if she grew a beard, she would appear more manly than a man.

“Divine Envoy? Your clansman?”

Upon hearing this term suddenly, Mu Fan frowned.

“No, no, we are merely the slaves of the Divine Envoy Lord. He is lofty and above, how could he be of the Iron Clan?”

“Wait… Iron Clan?”

Ah?

Saran’s rugged face looked slightly bewildered and nodded.

“Yes, we are the Iron Clan, and this place is our sacred ground.”

“It’s not right… When we explored the ruins three years ago, you were already here?” Mu Fan struggled to comprehend.

If what she said was true, then when the ancient relic [Steel] appeared three years ago, the Iron Clan should have been exposed directly; why is it like this now?

“Three years ago? We weren’t here. Three years ago, we were still in the barren lands; it was the Divine Envoy Lord who brought us here. They found my clansmen and told us this was the Iron Clan’s sacred ground, abundant with high-grade ores that only our clansmen could refine.” Saran was indeed straightforward, utterly guileless.

Seeing Mu Fan truly had no intention to eat her, she spilled everything candidly like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

“The elements contained in these ores truly strengthen our bodies; it indeed seems like a providence from the Deity preparing the sacred ground for us!”

Saran’s face radiated a pilgrim-like glow.

“They’ve been brainwashed…” Black murmured in Mu Fan’s ear.

Mu Fan nodded in agreement.

The people here indeed seem abnormal, both in spirit and physique.

Yet this ore can strengthen one’s physical condition… That’s something he heard for the first time.

Robots?

“With this power… Do they directly consume those ores?”

“What did you say? Eat? Yes, we mix these ore powders with food; the scent of pure metals is simply intoxicating,” Saran’s cheeks started to blush a bit.

In an instant, Mu Fan felt he had asked an extremely foolish question.

His intelligence was ruthlessly crushed by this straightforward answer.

Even Black was silent, only responding with a distant murmur much later…

“I concede.”

Daring to directly eat iron ore, Mu Fan now regarded Saran with a sort of reverent admiration.

He himself would not dare to try.

No wonder a woman possesses such formidable strength.

Under successive blows, her bones seemed unharmed.

Terrifying strength and resilience truly live up to the name Iron Clan.

Mu Fan then quickly organized what he was thinking and asked.

Saran respectfully answered what she knew.

Time ticked by.

Ten minutes later, Mu Fan was deep in thought…

The Iron Clan is this group of people, living in a barren, desolate land, where pure metal powder is rarely seen in food, every meal tainted heavily by volcanic sulfur gas, which they deeply detest.

As for where that barren, desolate land is or on which planet, they have no idea.

This tribe seems to have no experience of the world, yet possesses formidable physiques.

After the Divine Envoy brought them here, her clansmen submitted a fixed amount of iron ore daily.

The purpose seemed to be about opening a door back to their homeland.

Because upon arriving here, the passage naturally closed…

Though this place was much smaller, ores were abundant, and they were diligently working per the “Divine Envoy’s” requirements for their tribe’s prosperity continuity.

Charging the key to open the passage with ores.

Just that the “Divine Envoy” she spoke of constantly donned a purple cloak, with a hoarse voice, capable of one hit lethally killing a clan member.

They dare not challenge the majesty at all.

Regarding the cannibalism query Mu Fan asked, it’s what the Divine Envoy constantly drilled into their minds.

Because they often saw a device taken out by the Divine Envoy that could display a light screen, where they saw shadows indistinctly devouring their clan members.

That surely was other tribes from the barren lands…

“We are fortunate; it’s just those brothers who were too tragic.”

The last sentence was said by Saran, who burst into tears by the end, her voice thunderously loud.

…

“This Divine Envoy seems like bad news, gathering these foolish slaves from somewhere.” Black muttered.

Mu Fan rubbed his chin, quite agreeing with Black’s viewpoint.

These Iron Clan people were indeed loyal.

The situation seemed clear; according to Mu Fan’s understanding, the so-called Divine Envoy and its backing forces must have found the Iron Clan for a certain purpose.

Then, using an unknown power, opened the passage to the disappearing ancient relic [Steel], intending to acquire some special resource here.

But upon arriving, they discovered the passage had sealed.

The desire to reopen access intelligently through the inside…

Wait, how was it opened the first time?

Mu Fan suddenly realized a key node in all the timelines.

“Saran.”

“Ah?”

“Exactly what time did you come here!”

“Three years ago,” Saran said honestly.

“Didn’t you say three years ago you were at your homeland?”

“Yes, but three years ago, we also arrived here; there’s no conflict,” Saran looked somewhat bewildered.

“Logical consistency,” Black declared conclusively, “Now there’s over a 90% probability confirming that the so-called Divine Envoy arrived here immediately after the ancient relic vanished, and thereafter, the passage couldn’t be opened again from their area.”

“The door we came through here… is most likely the actual passage.”

Black’s assertion made all clues perfectly link in Mu Fan’s mind.

The situation seems suddenly clear.

“Saran, have you noticed anything unusual in the sky in the past month?”