Very quickly, Zane and Rover followed Aalto and the others to Court of Savantae.
But as Zane and the group walked into Court of Savantae, the weather gradually became gloomy.
A thick layer of dark clouds hung in the sky, and above those clouds, it seemed like the heavens were holding back something big, ready to pour it down at any moment.
Looking at this scene, Aalto stood by a cliff, hands on his hips, and let out a long howl toward the sky, "This situation really makes one want to recite a poem…"
"Encore's belly can hold a boat."
Seeing the little one imitate Aalto's pose with her hands on her hips, her cute appearance instantly made Rover's heart melt.
If only she could have such a cute daughter too…
Thinking this, Rover couldn't help but glance at Zane.
At this moment, Zane, who was trailing at the back of the group, suddenly felt like he was being stared at by some terrifying beast. He shivered uncontrollably.
"Hiss~ how strange, why do I suddenly feel a bit cold…"
Zane hugged his arms and rubbed them hard, trying to warm himself this way. He raised his head and looked around cautiously, but there didn't seem to be anything strange…
Filled with confusion, Zane thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so he simply gave up. Whether it was fortune or disaster, it couldn't be avoided.
Only then did he quicken his pace to catch up with the others.
"Since we're now partners on the same boat, before we start the operation, it's necessary for me to share some information with you."
Seeing everyone had arrived, Aalto turned around, and his expression became serious.
"Court of Savantae is a very, very mysterious research organization. Although Court of Savantae people mainly specialize in [mechanism arts], in reality, what made them famous were their strange and bizarre experiments."
"Strange? How strange?" Zane shrugged indifferently. "Like experimenting whether infertility is hereditary? Or drinking glucose while injecting insulin to see if it causes high blood pressure?"
"That's not strange, that's absurd."
Rover's lips twitched. She was already used to Zane's strange remarks.
At this moment, Rover suddenly felt someone tug at her clothes. She looked down and met a pair of clear eyes.
"Big sister, what is infertility?"
"Hmm…" Facing Encore's question, Rover thought for a moment, then a mischievous smile appeared on her pretty face.
"Zane is infertile."
Zane, '!'
'Slander, that's slander!'
'How would you know whether I'm infertile or not?'
As if noticing Zane's dissatisfaction, Rover turned her head, her bright eyes giving him a small wink. She stuck out her red tongue playfully, a teasing smile forming on her fair face.
'Damn it, she's so cute.'
'Can't beat her, can't scold her.'
'What can I even do?'
But clearly, Encore didn't understand what "infertile" meant. She thought it was some kind of compliment and immediately shouted, "Yay! Brother Zane is infertile!"
Zane, '?'
Aalto, '?'
Aalto, who was watching from the side, tightly pressed his lips together, bending over as his shoulders trembled uncontrollably. He seemed to be holding it in with great difficulty.
Zane glanced at Aalto, who was almost suffocating from holding back laughter. "If you want to laugh, just laugh."
At the same time, he sighed inwardly and already placed Encore at the top of his "do not provoke" list.
Perhaps feeling a tiny bit guilty, Aalto walked over to Zane and patted his shoulder with a solemn expression.
"Brother, don't worry. Black Shores should be able to find medicine for infertility… you mustn't avoid treatment."
"I'll treat you, forget it, Encore's here, can't teach bad things to kids."
Zane's face was full of black lines. He hesitated for a long time about making a move, but after glancing at the innocent Encore beside him, he held it in.
Aalto never expected that one day, Encore would save his life.
"Ahem… back to the main topic. Court of Savantae's strange experiments are varied..."
"Why does Court of Savantae emit colorful black light? Are the strange circles in the lake caused by a lake monster?"
"On a dark and windy night, a young researcher soared into the sky and vanished without a trace… within the obscured clouds and mist, the real culprit is someone else entirely…"
As Aalto spoke, a mysterious smile appeared on his face.
Zane's evaluation of this, "Journalism major."
But Rover found Aalto's bedtime story quite interesting. A glimmer of light flickered in her golden eyes.
"What else? What else?"
Aalto was pleased by her reaction, and his smile grew even brighter.
"On a certain day, the members of Court of Savantae almost all disappeared overnight! And the last message left behind by that mysterious Court of Savantae professor was this..."
"Do you want my experimental results? If you want them, then go to the Court of Savantae ruins… go find them, I left all my wealth there…"
"I get it." Under the puzzled gazes of the other three, Zane suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"That professor is the Pirate King!"
"..."
"So, what do you think, Rover, Zane? Aren't you curious about these rumors? Maybe that professor really did leave behind a huge fortune."
'I don't believe a word you say!' Rover complained inwardly, but didn't show it on her face.
She knew very well that Aalto was trying to lure them in. Not to mention whether the so-called huge fortune was real, even if it was, how much could still be left after so long?
Even so, she turned her head and glanced at Zane, clearly seeing the eager look on his face. She sighed helplessly.
"Alright, putting aside whether you made all that up, since Zane is interested, let's go take a look."
"Long live Rover!"
Aalto watched with interest as Zane pounced forward, only to be instantly grabbed and suppressed by Rover. He suddenly felt like he had heard of this kind of interaction somewhere before…
"You two, we truly have an important mission this time. Black Shores has set up 'data beacons' across the world to detect Lament, and through this method, we collect and monitor Lament data."
"Therefore, every data beacon is an extremely important sample to us. But after the disappearance of the Court of Savantae people, the data beacon that Black Shores had placed in Court of Savantae also suffered varying degrees of damage."
After hearing Aalto's explanation, Zane pondered for a moment.
"According to a standard horror movie script, it must be that some experiment in Court of Savantae created something like an alien or some terrifying creature, then the experiment went out of control and killed everyone."
"And destroying the data beacon was to attract more people to investigate, and then kill..."
"Encore is still here! Don't tell such scary stories."
Rover raised her fist and gave Zane a heavy smack on the back of his head.