Chapter 144: Seven Nations

"We have many nations here, and all of them are built closely together. They are like brothers to one another, keeping watch and offering mutual aid..."

The information gathered previously had been fragmented and incomplete, allowing Iron-Nose to piece together only a rough outline.

Now, however, the intelligence provided by this diplomat was comprehensive.

"Many nations? My friend, just how many are there? Please forgive my ignorance..."

Hearing the diplomat begin to describe the very things he wanted to know, Iron-Nose was naturally delighted, putting on an expression of rapt attention.

The task assigned to him by Mo Fangyun was to investigate the various conditions of this region.

Since a native-born local had conveniently appeared right before him, he was certainly not going to miss the opportunity.

"The Carrot Kingdom, the Copper-Iron Kingdom, the Wood-Leaf Kingdom, the Meat Kingdom, the Valiant Kingdom, the Trade Kingdom, and our own Water-River Kingdom..."

"There are actually this many nations? Then your esteemed country must be very powerful!"

"That goes without saying! Our Water-River Kingdom is the strongest among all the kingdoms! We lead the Kingdom Alliance and guide the various realms in resisting evil monsters..."

This diplomat was hardly qualified for his role; with just a little coaxing from Iron-Nose, he became as pumped up as if he had been given stimulants, spilling all the information about his country in a breathless torrent.

"Ah, that is truly impressive!"

Iron-Nose wanted to probe further to see if he could extract any more useful intelligence.

"Our Water-River Kingdom is blessed with abundant national strength and peaceful lives for its people. We possess powerful weapons—spears—and a wonder that suppresses monster spawns: the Grand Plaza. Nothing in this world can match us..."

The diplomat went on and on, boasting endlessly about how mighty his kingdom was. Iron-Nose silently slapped the mental label of "seems clever, but actually isn't" onto this talkative diplomat.

"Blah, blah, blah..."

After talking for goodness knows how long, the diplomat finally stopped with a satisfied look, and Iron-Nose happily pocketed a wealth of relevant intelligence.

"Oh, my friend! It is getting quite late. To properly host you distinguished guests who have traveled from afar, we have prepared a lavish dinner for you..."

Glancing at the sky outside the glass window, the diplomat said with a hint of regret.

Perhaps because Iron-Nose had constantly catered to his tastes while conversing with this simple-minded diplomat, it had fostered a sense of mutual affinity in the diplomat, making him increasingly friendly toward Iron-Nose.

"Friend from afar, please trust me: once you taste the culinary delights of our land, you will find that everything you have eaten before tasted as bland as grass."

Then, the not-so-clever diplomat added with a regretful expression.

"However, His Majesty the King has some matters to attend to today—well, just some matters... Therefore, he will not be able to grant you an audience today. But please rest assured, tomorrow I will take you to meet His Majesty..."

Concluding the conversation, the diplomat performed a strange, formal gesture.

"Minister, what should we do now?"

After the diplomat left, the soldiers behind Iron-Nose looked somewhat bewildered.

Aren't we supposed to be frontline combat soldiers? How did we suddenly turn into diplomats for our homeland?

Throwing a bunch of rough-and-tumble fighters into diplomacy was practically torture for them.

"Tomorrow, none of you are to speak. Just stay vigilant, and leave the talking to me."

Iron-Nose knew very well what his comrades were best and worst at.

Precisely for that reason, he intended to take the lead in handling this first diplomatic mission of contacting another nation.

He was the only one present qualified for the task.

Roasted poultry meat, roast beef, roast mutton, roast pork, carrots... roast rabbit meat, roast fish!

"Minister, it seems the Water-River Kingdom's attitude toward us is pretty good..."

Faced with a table full of food, a soldier from the field army joked.

Iron-Nose, however, looked at the food before him with a thoughtful expression.

"Sigh, Little Iron, our Cube Kingdom is diligent and frugal, so... *cough, cough*... whenever you see any species on the road that the Cube Kingdom doesn't have, you'd better bring some back..."

According to His Majesty the King's parting instructions, he was supposed to bring back as many plants, animals, and other items as possible—anything he saw along the way that did not exist in the Cube Kingdom.

He didn't understand why His Majesty wanted to do this, but the King must have his reasons. As a loyal subject, all he needed to do was carry out His Majesty's orders.

"Carrots, rabbit meat..."

These were items the Cube Kingdom lacked, and Iron-Nose was already pondering how to acquire them to present to His Majesty.

"Alright, alright... Everyone has worked hard for half a month. Eat your fill today and get an early rest. There are many things waiting for us to deal with tomorrow."

"Right, right, right! What the Minister said makes total sense. His Majesty once said... what was it called again... Oh, right! Health is the capital of revolution!"

Before long, a cheerful atmosphere filled the diplomatic guesthouse.

"What on earth are you?"

Inside the lava lake, Zhang Lingyun swung her flawless, slender white legs as she stared into the eyes of the colorful experience orb that had appeared once more.

"Why is it you again? Why do I see you every single day..."

The colorful experience orb, which had just popped out of the stone pillar, radiated helplessness and depression in its voice.

For over ten days, the colorful experience orb had discovered that this creature named Zhang Lingyun would run over to the lava lake every single day just to stare at her, making it hard for her to go play near the surface.

"What are you?"

"Ah, how many times do I have to say it? I'm not a thing! No, I am a thing, ah! Wait, that's not right either..."

Realizing that her innocent and cute self had been tricked again, the colorful experience orb darted back into the stone pillar with a whoosh, ignoring everything Zhang Lingyun said.

Darkness.

Firelight illuminated this unfamiliar city. Iron-Nose stood by the window on the top floor of the diplomatic guesthouse, leaning his head slightly forward to overlook the city below.

Inside the low city walls, lights blazed brilliantly, presenting a scene of prosperous peace. Outside the walls, though there were scattered points of fire, they were so sparse that one couldn't help but feel the surrounding darkness would swallow them up at any moment.

Strangely enough, despite the darkness outside, no monsters were spawning—a phenomenon that violated the spawning laws of the Cube World.

Iron-Nose deduced that this phenomenon must be related to the "Grand Plaza" wonder described by the diplomat he had met earlier.

While marveling at how mysterious the world was, he couldn't help feeling a wave of pity for his compatriots enduring the darkness outside.

"We are all human beings; why must there be such division? Letting the compatriots outside move inside wouldn't have that much of an impact, would it..."

With a city this large, where every single person had a house spacious enough to accommodate over a dozen people, why couldn't they let the compatriots trapped outside live and work inside?

Even if they were forced by other circumstances not to do so, there was certainly no need to restrict the compatriots outside from leaving!

You neither let them in nor allow them to leave—what kind of logic is this? This was no longer a question of morality; it was a question of basic humanity!