After spending a weekend in Tonglin County, Lin Wan returned to her modern job. To her, the ancient times were just a place for a weekend getaway; it was impossible for her to focus her life there.

The same went for Liu Qingyan. She still had the Renxin Hall here, so she packed a bunch of modern medical books to read and occasionally discuss with Elder Liu and Du Yueyao.

Given her learning ability, she didn't need to attend university; just relying on medical books was enough for her to deeply understand and learn modern medical skills.

Shen Ying and Si Lingxi were naturally idle and, with nothing important to do in ancient times, their curiosity about the modern world led them to drag Lu Zheng on a journey to the present day.

Either wandering the streets and alleys of Hai City with Lu Zheng or staying home surfing the internet to learn about modern affairs.

Lu Zheng found that bringing the three girls back to the modern times didn't seem to have any downsides. Plus, having more people to team up with for gaming added to the joy of defeating unfortunate workers. Of course, the only downside was having to let his girlfriend take the kills.

...

On the other side, in a Beidu meeting room.

"It's been over ten days, any updates?"

"None, everything is normal in Hai City."

"And the Phoenix Red Cloud? Any explanation?"

"None..."

"None?"

"Over the past ten days, we've monitored all of Hai City's surveillance equipment through the Sky Eye and found no unusual individuals behaving contrary to normal human actions. There's been no change in criminal activity, and life for citizens is proceeding as usual."

"Smack!"

A few satellite images and some photocopies of web page screenshots were thrown onto the table.

"Rumors are spreading online, claiming we're experimenting with weather weapons. What do you all think?"

"That's nonsense. Besides, the other side doesn't really believe it. It's just like mentioning aliens—just an excuse to request funding from Congress. We have internal intelligence from the other side, and their analysis also suggests this is a holographic projection using a large number of drones for the projection, claiming we're doing effects experiments for next year's Asian Games, just like the footprints from the 2008 Olympics, given our penchant for grand events."

"But the problem is, we know that it wasn't us who created it! A blatant Phoenix, it can't be fake, right?"

"Old Xu, calm down, it isn't the first time…"

"The Shu Province plane, Southwest rain, East Sea typhoon—none of these have been solved. Our people have nearly trampled every mountain in Shu Province looking for answers..."

"So now we just have an 'Analysis of the Sea City Phoenix Red Cloud Causes'?" The elder leading the meeting wasn't satisfied, waving a few pages, "It's all meteorological jargon inside, do any of you buy it?"

"But this time, truly, no extraordinary event has occurred…we don't even know from which direction to guess…"

"Damn it…"

The elder took a deep breath before asking, "Any clues on all the Phoenix legends in Zhejiang Province?"

"Yes!" A researcher immediately pulled out a stack of documents, "Across Quanzhe Province, including Hai City, there are 247 Phoenix legends, and we've filtered out the 31 most likely ones."

The elder took the documents, looking at the speculative and overhyped stories, feeling a headache coming on.

These legends seemed to insult his intelligence, but the problem was that the Phoenix Red Cloud over Hai City wasn't fake!

The Shu Province plane is hard to say, the Southwest rain and East Sea typhoon are obviously extraordinary, but they are covered up well. However, this Phoenix Red Cloud was too conspicuous and high-profile, without performing any kind of rain-inducing or typhoon-diverting acts of aid.

This inevitably led some people to wild speculation. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

What purpose does the other party have? What's the point of doing this? Are they trying to communicate something?

"Old Xu, don't worry. Considering the previous three incidents, the other party likely has no ill intent."

"Those three incidents clearly involved different parties. The airplane incident at first avoided all the cameras; I suspect the other party has been lurking in the secular world for a long time. The Southwest rain was executed too crudely. As for the East Sea typhoon, the scene looked like it had a temper…who knows which party is behind this incident?"

"No point in worrying; worrying won't help anyway. Let's wait and see. Maybe the other party will reveal themselves at some point?"

The elder sighed, contemplating, then ordered, "Assign a team of analysts to be stationed in Hai City, thoroughly analyze any suspicious events there, and report any updates promptly!"

"Yes!"

...

"Hey, hey, hey! Is this the Phoenix Red Cloud you and Sister Lingxi created last time?"

Shen Ying raised her phone, showing Lu Zheng and Si Lingxi a satellite image distinctly displaying a phoenix-shaped cloud.

They now understood what "satellite" meant, "It's really clear!"

"It was reposted from foreign websites." Shen Ying mentioned, "The posts claim a Hua Country company is experimenting with holographic projection technology for next year's Asian Games."

Lu Zheng nodded, "They guessed right!"

Shen Ying laughed, "Does Hua Country have this technology?"

Lu Zheng shrugged, "I don't know, it doesn't concern me regardless."

Compared to Shen Ying's love for aimlessly surfing the net, Si Lingxi preferred reading. At the moment, she was rapidly skimming through a thick book titled 'World Geography'.

Upon hearing Lu Zheng's words, Si Lingxi picked up her phone, navigated a few menus, and pulled up a movie, 'Spider-Man 2: Far From Home'—"Like what was shown in this movie?"

"Whoa? You know about that?" Lu Zheng was astonished, "You've only been here a few days!"

Si Lingxi smiled, "While researching holographic projection technology, the introduction mentioned this movie. I skimmed through it, but it seems that the current technology can't achieve this level, right?"

"Of course not…" Lu Zheng replied helplessly.

"Then if nothing shows up by then, won't it be exposed?" Si Lingxi asked. "Do you want to notify your country's Emperor, so I can give a hand when the time comes?"

Lu Zheng rubbed his forehead in exasperation, "Big sis, don't stir up trouble…"

Si Lingxi curiously asked, "Have you never revealed your abilities on Blue Star?"

"Not entirely," Lu Zheng shrugged, "A celebrity friend saw me and Lin Wan pretending to be Martial Arts masters and I've given some friends a bit of an elixir with Spiritual Qi. My persona in the modern world is that of a Chuan Wu master."

Hearing Lu Zheng's playful antics in the modern world, Si Lingxi couldn't help but be impressed.

Lu Zheng chuckled, "After all, Blue Star is a world of mortal technology, and people are already accustomed to it. There's no need for us to change their worldview, right? Besides, it's more comfortable this way, isn't it?"

"Alright." Si Lingxi didn't mind at all.

And coincidentally, just after Lu Zheng spoke about his persona as a Chuan Wu master, he received a call from Zhao Wenyu, "Brother Lu, the Gauls are coming for a friendly match. It's a big event. Want to come play?"