Hao Xuan finished his talk with Gavril who assured him that within 24-48 hours all the remaining Orcs would have raised their power adequately enough so that they can help him out when the time comes.
They had already been taught all standard offensive and defensive techniques that were common for Orcs so he didn't need to worry about much in that aspect. Now the main problem was the issue of weapons and armors.
Hao Xuan contacted the one 'person' that could be called an expert in this topic.
"Baracus!"
*Beep*
"Yes?"
"I need provisions for about 200 individuals. Weapons, armors, any supportive accessories. What do we have in stock?"
"Nothing."
"…What do you mean? Where did everything go?"
"Most resources were consumed during the time period you spent in the temporal field. The 'stocks' as you call them are almost all completely empty."
"Well….can't you scrounge up something from raw materials?"
"Is your intellect really so limited that you cannot comprehend a simple sentence? There are no raw materials either. I will need a minimum of 2 tons of unrefined carbon, sodium, oxygen, phosphorous, iron, and 6 tons of radiated materials with a minimum half-life of 1 standard year."
"Hey, there is no need for all the attitude alright? If I get all this shit can you make everything?"
"You will have to define the exact parameters but yes, it is probable."
"Alright, I'll figure something out then…douchebag."
Hao Xuan cursed inwardly and walked out of the cabin where an impatient Henrik was waiting for him by the campfire. He jumped to his feet upon seeing him finally exit.
"You're finally here!"
"Yeah yeah, calm down. Hey guys, what's up?" Hao Xuan nodded towards the group that had grown significantly in size.
They were all sitting around the campfire talking in hushed voices but upon seeing Hao Xuan it became eerily quiet.
Salome was the only one who was still making some noise, eating a roasted beast leg. He looked back towards Hao Xuan with an oil-covered mouth, "Whelchome bachk."
Next to him were Jin Wang, Hazel, Fulke, Ma Jiang, and Ceni.
"O-Oh," he stuttered upon seeing Ceni for some reason. The blood rushing to his heart made him blush lightly even though he didn't harbor any romantic feelings towards her.
Jin Wang pointed towards the empty seat next to Ma Jiang, "Come sit. It looks like they have something to tell you."
"Un."
He walked over and took the seat while Henrik just plopped down on the ground without a worry. He looked over towards Ma Jiang who was meekly tucked into a blanket, looking like a rolled-up porcelain doll.
She was blankly staring into the fire, completely zoned out.
Hao Xuan leaned in and whispered, "You okay, kid?"
And as expected she reacted quickly, throwing him a sharp glare, "I'm not a kid!"
"Says the one wearing a blanket."
"Hmph!"
She looked away, not wanting to give him the opportunity to tease her for a moment longer. Hao Xuan's lips arched into half a smile before he redirected his attention towards Henrik who was about to pounce on him.
"What, What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Cousin! Did you talk to cousin?!"
"Ryfon?" Hao Xuan frowned. Although it had only been a few days for them, it was over 10 months ago since he last spoke to him. So he shook his head lightly.
"Not recently. Why?"
Henrik quickly informed him of everything he had found. About losing communication with the ship and all the various things that had happened on the surface, including the part about Dai Zhi creating a private army that had been fighting the resistance fighters for a while.
But when he told Hao Xuan about the meeting of all the guardians he finally reacted with a deep frown.
Hao Xuan reached into his shirt pocket and pretended to take out the identity token which was stored in Baracus's storage space. It was humming lightly and giving off a pale yellow light.
When he inserted some Qi into the token a series of words formed within his mind.
"All guardians must arrive 30 minutes before the expected time. The coordinates are…."
A timer counting down and coordinates appeared on the token. There were less than seven hours left on it.
Hao Xuan showed Henrik the coordinates and he told him they were on the surface, somewhere near the tallest mountain range. But Hao Xuan didn't need to think that hard about going. There were far more important tasks he needed to accomplish so it was a no-brainer.
"I'm not going."
"You have to!"
"You have to."
Both Henrik and Jin Wang spoke simultaneously.
Hao Xuan looked towards Jin Wang, "Why?"
But Henrik answered before he could, "Because they will mark you as a traitor if you don't. You must go this time, if only to figure out what they are up to."
Hao Xuan was still looking towards Jin Wang who was talking to him through their spiritual sense.
"I need you to go see if a certain someone is there."
