Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 23

Ye Ru’s spatial folding technique involves using her spiritual consciousness to grasp the large ship and then folding space.

To an outside observer, it appears as though the ship teleports instantly from one location to another. However, to those aboard the ship, it feels as though the ship hasn’t moved at all. Instead, space bends and straightens around it, much like a snake slithering past the ship’s surroundings. Then, the ship simply drops into the water.

No matter where the teleportation leads, it always involves displacing the matter originally occupying the target space. If it’s just air, the process is relatively easy. But if it’s denser material like seawater, the technique consumes significantly more energy.

Thus, Ye Ru always locks onto a point above the water for the ship to appear, allowing it to naturally fall into the sea. Everyone on board has to cling tightly to the railings; otherwise, they risk being thrown off the ship during the brief moment of weightlessness as it drops.

After repeating this teleportation process for a few hours, everyone is usually at their limit. They then send Cheng Jinyang to fly ahead and scout the surrounding waters for an uninhabited island to rest temporarily.

After about seven or eight days of this, a mist began to rise on the horizon, gradually shrouding the sea ahead. This put everyone on high alert.

“This mist feels… off,” Ye Ru remarked.

“Is it the same as the mist over Zhongyuan?” the princess inquired.

“Superficially, yes. But internally, it’s different,” Murong Shu replied. “The traces of magic used to create this are far older and strangely elusive, like antlers hung from a cliff with no discernible marks. Considering how far we’ve traveled, I’d estimate that Yingzhou is just ahead.”

“What do we do next?” Cheng Jinyang asked Su Lili.

“Anchor the ship here,” Su Lili responded. “The rest of you stay on board. Ah Si, Ah Shu, and I will go in.”

“Absolutely not!” Cheng Jinyang and Jiang Jiu objected simultaneously, then exchanged an awkward glance.

“If you three go in and something happens, we’d be none the wiser out here. How could we possibly feel at ease?” Cheng Jinyang argued. “Besides, it’s not as though I’m defenseless… When I activate my demonization, your strength becomes my strength, Xiao Li!”

“He’s got a point,” Miss Wang unexpectedly agreed, her gaze fixed on the dense fog ahead, clearly intrigued.

“But…” Su Lili hesitated, torn. Her naturally indecisive nature only worsened when Jinyang was around. She felt both happy and conflicted that he insisted on accompanying her.

“Borrowed second-rank strength is still not the same as true second-rank power,” Ye Ru interjected sternly. “If you encounter suppression within the fog and lose your connection, what then? There’s a reason why postnatal demons forcibly suppress the other consciousnesses in their bodies, rather than relying on connections to access multiple abilities like you do.”

“Hah,” Miss Wang sneered. “You think it’s only unsafe inside? And outside is perfectly safe?”

“What do you mean?” Ye Ru frowned.

“The sea may be vast, but after using magic to shake off Ziwei Emperor, we’re effectively lost in the open ocean,” Wang Wanrou explained coolly. “But do you really think she can’t guess that our destination is Yingzhou?”

The group fell silent.

It was true—though the ocean spans seventy thousand kilometers and finding a single ship within it is like searching for a needle in a haystack, if someone knows the ship’s destination is Yingzhou, all they have to do is arrive there first and wait.

As for whether Ziwei Emperor could figure it out… Aside from Yingzhou, what else in these foreign seas could possibly be worth going to? It’s all uninhabited islands!

Su Lili and Ye Ru’s expressions immediately darkened. This glaringly obvious oversight was something they hadn’t even considered. They’d been too preoccupied with what they might find deep within Yingzhou.

Murong Shu, who had been forcing a smile this entire time, naturally hadn’t thought about it either, and Jiang Jiu was even less likely to have considered it. For four high-level demons to have failed to anticipate Ziwei Emperor’s likely countermeasures, it was no wonder Miss Wang’s smile carried such a mocking edge.

“Then tell me, what brilliant idea do you have?” Feeling her intelligence had been insulted, Murong Shu’s mood soured, and she retorted with a dark expression, “Or are you just someone who points out problems without offering solutions?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Wang Wanrou drawled lazily. “If the Great Emperor Ziwei has indeed arrived here ahead of us, her absence now suggests that the range of this dense fog far exceeds her detection capabilities. That’s why she hasn’t been able to locate us.”

“Any demon or monster with basic intelligence, upon arriving here for the first time, would likely choose to walk around the edge of the fog to determine its size before proceeding. Or were you planning to just recklessly charge straight in?”

Murong Shu was left speechless, while Ye Ru and Su Lili fell into silence.
If not for Miss Wang’s interjection, they had indeed been about to charge straight into the fog.

“Ahem, alright then,” Cheng Jinyang clapped his hands, attempting to smooth things over. “In that case, let’s first measure the size of the fog before we proceed.”

“Leave it to me,” Ye Ru sighed. “I’ll move around the fog’s perimeter and calculate the distance covered.”

—

Elsewhere, Xing Yuanzhi and her group had also arrived in Pengcheng County. After contacting the local intelligence agency of the Ground Network, they learned that Jinyang’s group had likely headed toward Qinghe County.

The Princess’s inquiries about Qinghe County’s situation had not been conducted in secret—after all, the Xiao Cavalry’s intelligence within the Central Plains largely relied on the northern Ground Network. After some discussion, the three young women decided to head to Qinghe County.

Cui Xiaoniang was somewhat hesitant, as she hailed from the Qinghe Cui clan. Visiting Qinghe this time might give her the chance to reconnect with a branch of the family that had remained there.

However, while their private relations were unclear, the two branches had no apparent public interactions. Rumor had it that the southern main branch suspected the northern branch of colluding with demons and was eager to sever ties. Meanwhile, the northern branch considered the southern branch cowardly for abandoning their homeland. In short, they looked down on each other.

“Let’s not rush to Qinghe County just yet,” Xing Yuanzhi said after some thought. “If we eagerly head there only to find they’ve already left for the next location, wouldn’t we just be chasing after them endlessly?”

“I’ll first reach out to the Ground Network in Qinghe County to see if we can obtain any relevant intelligence.”

“Good idea,” Cui Jinqi agreed. “We can rest here in Pengcheng for a while.”

“How about some shopping?” Qingqing suggested.

“Maybe pick up some new clothes,” Cui Xiaoniang added. “Feels like it’s been ages since I bought anything.”

“I want to try the eight-strand fried dough sticks here,” Qingqing said with a smile. “Did you know their dough sticks come stuck together in clusters of eight?”

“Back in Jiankang, they’re only sold in pairs,” Cui Xiaoniang remarked curiously. “Wouldn’t eight strands be too large?”

“Wait,” Xing Yuanzhi began to feel a headache coming on. “We’re not here to eat and play around! Besides, what’s so special about fried dough sticks?”

“Then what do you want to eat?” Cui Xiaoniang glanced around.

“I want to try that honey-cut pastries over there; they’re like cakes…” Xing Yuanzhi instinctively looked toward a pastry shop before snapping back. “No! We’re here to find Jinyang!”

“The Ground Network intel collection—you can handle that on your own, can’t you?” Qingqing said nonchalantly.

“Exactly,” Cui Xiaoniang added lazily. “After sitting on that train for so long, we need a break.”

—

Not far away, Li Qingwan stood behind a street corner, quietly listening to their conversation.

“Why are they arguing again?” Zheng Qiupei said with concern.

“Why did I even come along with you all…” Lu Qingyun muttered, holding her forehead.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Yang Wangshu typed on her device, her tone righteous. “We’re a team, aren’t we?”

Lu Qingyun stared at her, her eyes wide as if looking at a stranger.