72° north latitude, Greenland Sea.

At dusk, on the icebreaker YAMAL, the ship's first mate, Sasha, sat bored in the cockpit, looking curiously at the two girls standing on the deck.

A red-haired girl and a little girl with long pale blonde hair stood side by side, as if they were discussing something.

"Isn't it just to see the icebergs?"

He muttered in confusion.

He had seen many passengers, but he had never seen such a special passenger, and he simply and rudely sent them a coordinate, asking them to drive the world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker to the designated destination, and there were no other requirements.

The ship was supposed to be used as a casino on weekdays, and it could earn a lot of money as a dealer every day, but after taking this order, the ship only carried these two passengers, not only the casino stopped, but even refused to allow any other guests to enter, and directly chartered the venue.

Sasha didn't understand why the two girls were back here, but she knew that they must have a strong background.

Not only because they offered a price that they could not refuse, but also because before they set out, the captain who had been hiding on this ship for many years, the remnant of the SS Vincent, was directly captured, and these guards were fully armed at the time, but they were disarmed on the spot, and they did not even have the strength to struggle.

In the face of such a ruthless character, Sasha and his crew didn't even dare to get close, for fear that the two eldest ladies would think they were an eyesore and collapse them.

I just don't know what they're doing in this icy and snowy place, and there's no pirate treasure here.

And above deck, Nono was curious about the same question.

"Haven't you already arrived at the coordinates, why haven't you seen the Nibelungen yet?"

"I don't know, the boss, Lu Mingze said that this matter was handed over to him."

Zero thought about it and corrected his title.

Lu Mingze ...... You used to work under him? ”

Nono suddenly wondered.

"Hmm!"

Zero nodded.

"Do you know what kind of person he is?"

"In the words of his colleagues, he is a psychopath...... But why do you ask this all of a sudden? ”

Zero introduced Su Enxi's evaluation, and looked at Nuo Nuo's expression with some confusion.

Although they are acting together, Lu Mingze doesn't really show up like before, he only shows up occasionally to communicate with them, and he can't find anyone most of the time, why does Nuo Nuo care about him?

"I don't know why, but I always feel like he's avoiding me all the time."

After hesitating for a moment, Nono said the truth.

"Did I know him before?"

She didn't have any opinion on Lu Mingze himself, but instinctively sensed Lu Mingze's estrangement from her.

If you want to say that you are disgusted, it must not be counted, but it gives people a feeling of avoidance, and even a little afraid of her.

But why? She's not a cannibalistic demon king, on the contrary, that little boy is the dragon king-level combat power herself, right?

“……”

Faced with Nono's question, Zero One didn't know what to say.

You can't say that Lu Mingze is afraid of you seeing his brother, right?

Although she didn't know what secrets were hidden in Nuo Nuo, she remembered that Su Mo had even used Nuo as a hole card to threaten Lu Mingze before, which must have been extremely lethal to him.

But this kind of vague words is not an explanation, Su Mo's task is to let Nuo Nuo and Lu Mingze go over to investigate, she naturally has to focus on the task, and it is nothing for Lu Mingze to suffer for this.

Thinking so, she shook her head calmly.

"Don't worry, he's a little insane."

Again, this is really true.

"Okay!"

Hearing Zero's seriousness, Nono suddenly gave up the entanglement.

At this moment, the voice of a small child came from behind him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Even if you change jobs, it's not okay to slander your former boss like this? ”

Lu Mingze looked helplessly at Zero, whose expression remained completely unchanged, and sighed in his heart that this padded jacket was completely crooked.

"I'm just telling the facts."

Zero blinked and said with a serious face.

She does feel that Lu Mingze is very nervous at times, which is also the consensus of the nurse group.

"It's even more hurtful to say it so seriously!"

Lu Mingze immediately covered his face.

At this moment, Nuno was slightly stunned, feeling that the mark on his wrist was a little hot.

Just wanted to report to Lu Mingze and Zero, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of the reflection under the iceberg not far in front of him.

"W-That?!"

She burst out in shock.

"What?"

Zero was vigilant for a moment, followed Nono's gaze, and soon saw the reflection of the iceberg in the sea under the setting sun.

It was not a normal reflection, because it was not an iceberg, but an inverted island, and the island itself took on the shape of the Colosseum, covered with towering trees, and if you had good eyesight, you could even clearly see the huge stone cave used to house the coffin under the roots of the tree and among the black rocks.

The most striking thing about this island is the towering tree in the center of the island, the huge trunk is as thick as a hill, and the lush branches cover half of the sky on the island, and this tree alone is almost the size of most of the island.

The crew also noticed the strange situation on the surface of the sea and made a sound of surprise.

They had never seen such a huge giant tree, nor had they ever seen an island dedicated to holding coffins in this way, and they even thought it was a kind of mirage.

Nono and Zero naturally didn't think it was a mirage, they came to look for something that was beyond common sense.

"I remember Su Mo said that light and water can be the medium of the Nibelungen, could it be that this is the Avalon we are looking for?!"

After Zero made a judgment, he looked at Lu Mingze.

He is an authority in this regard.

"That's right, we're at our destination."

Lu Mingze smiled.

"Although it's not yet time for it to be turned on, it can't continue to hide under Hela's mark after all, and that guy Natsumi is still a little useful."

According to the original information, Avalon is only open once a year at Christmas, and now it's only October, which is obviously not the opening time.

Kono has the mark of Hela of Death, and with her, Avalon's limit is about equal to nothing.

"You mean, the Nibelungen is underwater? Are we going to change into a wetsuit? ”

The thought that his mother might be on this island suddenly became full of energy.

"No need, you have the mark, jump down and you can get in, I'll follow you."

Lu Mingze shook his head.

"Understood!"

Nono nodded, and jumped straight down with a pop.

It's autumn now, and it's in the Arctic, so she naturally wears a lot of clothes, although she doesn't bring a down jacket, but she also wears a warm combat suit and a long coat A few laps, and she feels a little heavy when she jumps into the sea.

I thought I could enter Avalon directly, but I didn't expect to look back and see that she was the only one who jumped down.

She suddenly looked at the deck of the ship suspiciously, and Zero also looked at Lu Mingze who stopped her with a puzzled expression.

"It's enough to have the two of us on this mission, you don't have to follow anymore, go back!"

Lu Mingze said so.

"Huh?"

Nono was a little surprised, and Zero frowned slightly.

"What do you want to do?"

She believed in Su Mo's judgment, and Lu Mingze should not make trouble now, but Lu Mingze's behavior this time was a little abnormal, which made her have to be suspicious again.

Looking at the zero who stared at him with suspicion for the first time, Lu Mingze patted his head slightly, reflecting on his educational failure.

In the past, you shouldn't have used too much force when you used the agitation method, so that now you will be regarded as a bad person if you do something.

After sighing, Lu Mingze asked rhetorically.

"This plan, did Su Mo say that he had to come over to help?"

“…… No, but he didn't object, did he? ”

Zero was stunned for a moment and replied.

Nuo Nuo's mission this time, strictly speaking, Su Mo arranged only one teammate, Lu Mingze, just because she saw that Su Mo, Xia Mi, and Eri Yi had something to do, and she didn't want to be idle, so she took the initiative to ask Ying to act together, not only to ensure Nuo's safety, but also to increase the fault tolerance of the task.

Even if Nono's mission fails, she believes that with her own strength, she will be able to find out the progress of the Holy Palace Medical Association, is there anything wrong with this?

Seeing Zero's puzzled look, Lu Mingze sighed for her again.

"I've given you a day to think about it, you haven't found the problem yet, when Su Mo, Xia Mi, and Eri Yi worked together to forge a new weapon, you wanted to come over and soak in the sea with us, are you stupid?"

"But...... It seems like I'm the only one soaking in the sea water now! ”

Nono raised his hand weakly in the middle of the sea.

Why wait until I jump off? It's cold, okay!

Zero glanced at Nuno and estimated that it should be no problem to soak for a while with her physique, so there was no hurry.

"Wouldn't this help Su Mo more?"

Still puzzled, she asked, not thinking she had anything wrong with being involved in the project.

"Alas!"

Lu Mingze sighed deeply again.

This guy can't take it at all!

After thinking about it, he spoke.

"Then I'll tell you a story!"

“？？？”

You're still in the mood to tell a story, you didn't see her still soaking in water, did you?

Nuo Nuo, who was fluttering in the sea, was full of question marks, but Lu Mingze didn't pay attention to it and said it to himself.

"There was once a sad princess who swore to the only two knights left by her that she would marry the man who helped her restore her kingdom. One of the knights was moved by the princess's tears, so he left the princess to fight in the north and south for more than ten years, and after countless near-deaths, he established the great cause of recovering the country. The other knight chose to stay by the princess's side and take care of her daily life. ”

Speaking of this, he paused slightly and looked at Zero.

"More than ten years later, the knight who completed the restoration of the kingdom met the princess again, and guess what happened later?"

After thinking for a few seconds, he hesitated.

"The princess fulfilled her promise and married the knight of the restored kingdom?"

What is there to say about this royal fairy tale?

"Innocent! How naïve! ”

Lu Mingze shook his head.

"When the knight who returned to the kingdom returned, he found that the princess had already married the knight who had been guarding her, and she had two children!"

“……”

Zero opened his mouth slightly, but he couldn't refute this ending, after all, this ending is indeed very likely to happen, and it is difficult for the princess to wait for more than ten years to succeed.

"What did you learn from this story?"

Seeing the girl's thoughtful expression, Lu Mingze then asked.

"Don't believe the promises of others?"

Zero replied with some unconfidence.

"Not everyone is reliable, so be cautious when dealing with outsiders!"

In her opinion, her speculation should be inseparable, but—

"Stupid!"

Lu Mingze scolded mercilessly.

"What this story tells you is, don't think about being a tool everywhere all day long, let me stay honest in front of the princess, that's the best opportunity to brush up on favor!"

After speaking, he glared at Zero with eyes that hated iron and steel.

"Grow your snack a little! Don't have steel in your head all day long, you used to forget it when it was necessary to go on a mission, but now there is no need for this, why do you have to run out? ”

"You think you're going to get a compliment for completing a task, and that's true, but what's the use of compliments? If the task takes a little longer, maybe by the time you go back, Xia Mi and her children will be there, and you stupid person will still be complacent with praise! ”

was angrily reprimanded by Lu Mingze, and then realized that the princess in the original story refers to Su Mo, and Lu Mingze means that if he wants to get Su Mo, he should spend more time on him, instead of going on a mission.

But the mission can also help Su Mo! What's the use of staying there?

Didn't you say that useless people will be abandoned?

Although Su Mo would definitely not abandon her, she still wanted to do something useful to Su Mo.

“……”

Zero open mouth ready to speak.

But before the words could be spoken, from her hesitant expression, Lu Mingze could see her thoughts, and Lu Mingze couldn't help but cover his face deeply.

The overemphasis on usefulness and instrumentality is the biggest problem left over from his education, and it has become the biggest obstacle he needs to solve at present.

Obviously, Zero's desire to help Su Mo is something he can't change no matter what, and he doesn't need to change it.

So, after thinking about it, he spoke.

"You go back now, and you can't help forge weapons, but you can at least take care of them. Besides Su Mo, which of the other two has the ability to take care of himself? ”

“…… Truly. ”

Zero, who has been in charge of the food and clothing of the three people for a long time, nodded.

Even Su Mo, under Zero's care, his life skills have deteriorated a little, not to mention Xia Mi and Eri Yi.

Normally, it's not a big problem, but when Su Mo is too busy to take care of it, Xia Mi and Eri Yi will probably have to live as a dead house.

So he really should go back, with Lu Mingze here, there will be no problems here, but Su Mo doesn't have himself there, and there will be problems in work efficiency.

Seeing his expression, Lu Mingze added.

"You don't want to go back and see Xia Mi and Su Mo's daughter also call you Mother Zero, right?"

“——！”

Thinking of the hellish scene where Natsumi and Su Mo called themselves Zero's mother together with their daughter, Zero immediately made a decision.

"Then I'll go back and take care of Su Mo!"

Seeing that she finally agreed, Lu Mingze breathed a sigh of relief.

Without him activating [Spatial Opening], the Hela sigil in Zero's body operated on its own under her will, teleporting her to Natsumi's side in an instant.

Under Lu Mingze's interference, the scene of the big change did not attract the attention of the crew.

Seeing the figure of Zero disappearing on the deck, Nuno was silent for a few seconds before he spoke to Lu Mingze.

"You deliberately broke her apart?"

Clearly, she was keenly aware of something.

"Why?"

Nono continued to ask, although she didn't feel any malice, but out of caution, the Hela mark in her body was gathering momentum, and if there was an accident, it would be teleported to Natsumi like Zero.

(End of chapter)