Chapter 1487: Golden Egg
Arya couldn’t help but keep thinking back to what she had heard.
The man had asked her father about Camera and Television. How had he known those words? Were they widely used words that she just hadn’t heard from others beforehand?
She hadn’t even told her father about those words.
“Starting in 3…”
The words jolted Arya out of her thoughts, bringing her back to the present. She looked over her father’s work, quietly scanning what he was doing.
Zarius was working on the second version of a transducer for his underwater imaging technology, the blueprint for which had been unlocked in Arya’s System after the Camera had been properly developed and widely appraised.
Her father was a man of science, and as such from an early age, she had let him handle all the physical work when it came to developing new technologies and inventions. She would just sit back and watch it all come to fruition.
A low ringing tone filled Arya’s ear for a moment before it disappeared. She quickly looked at the roll of paper that continued spinning out and checked for the changes in it.
Unfortunately, there was nothing there.
“It’s giving out a signal, but it’s not receiving anything,” Zarius said as he sighed. “We’ll have to try something else tomorrow. It’s late enough for today.”
The group of scientists that stood around the room nodded and put away their clipboards before leaving the place one by one.
“We should use the gold plate on the outside, papa,” she said. “Those will transfer— where are you going?”
Zarius turned around as he left. “I told you, we’re done for today. You can think about it all tomorrow,” he said and pulled her away.
The many guards followed them to their quarters, leaving only when they saw the 2 guards that stood outside their living spaces. The door opened and Zarius entered with Arya following behind.
There was a small corridor leading to a large living room with a couch at the center, around a coffee table with shelves with all sorts of books in them.
Zarius turned on the light and nearly screamed when he saw Ning sitting on the couch in the darkness.
“You!” Zarius shouted, turning around in all directions. “What are you doing here? How did you get past the guards?”
“That’s easy,” Ning said, sipping at a cup of… something.
“Guards!” Zarius shouted. “Guards!”
Arya hid behind her father, trying to disappear from Ning’s gaze, but his gaze was focused on her. She felt as though he could see straight through her.
“No need to call the guards. You are not in any danger,” Ning said. “I just wanted to talk to your daughter for a bit.”
“Like hell, you will,” Zarius shouted back. “Arya, leave and get the guards. Where the hell are they?”
“They won’t be coming here,” Ning said. “I’m sorry, but I’ve—”
Ning saw Zarius bring out something partly spherical which was enclosed around his hand. He shoved the fist toward Ning, revealing a golden egg he had in his palm.
The golden egg glowed a little, and Ning felt something happen to him.
Slowly, Ning could see a layer of rock form on his body, creeping up from what felt like his center of mass. Soon, it covered all of his body but his head, at which point Zarius stopped using the golden egg, leaving Ning mostly petrified.
Ning could feel that his body was still there, even as rock, which was a very weird feeling he had not been expecting to feel. As soon as the treasures were used to cancel the petrification, his flesh and blood body would come right back.
That or he could just undo what was happening to him right now. He chose not to for the fun of it.
“Go and bring the guards, Arya. We’ll have this man thrown out of the factory right now,” Zarius said.
Ning sighed as well as he could his entire being petrified. “I was only trying to talk to your daughter,” he said, but Zarius ignored him to go call the guards.
However, Zarius found it impossible to open the door. He banged on it, shouted, and did everything else he could, but the door just wouldn’t open for him at all.
“Man, I was going to tell you. I have this place entirely covered in invisible barriers. No one outside can tell you are calling for them. Now, can you stop shouting and come back?”
Zarius did not listen to Ning and continued shouting in the hallway, banging on the door.
Ning shrugged in the end, ending the petrification on himself before taking another sip from his cup. “So, Arya, was it? Take a seat and tell me about yourself.”
Arya’s eyes were beyond wide at this point, hearing and seeing everything she had. The way Ning had gotten out of his petrification had been truly frightening for her.
On top of that, with the things he had talked about before as they left, she started wondering what his real purpose of coming here was.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I didn’t lie. My name is Ning and I came here to invest in your father’s inventions,” Ning said. “Or you might call it rediscoveries since he isn’t inventing anything really, is he?”
“How do you know all of this?” Arya asked. “Where did you get this information?”
“Do you have a system?” Ning asked.
“Why do you know that?” Arya asked, a plea for answers clear in her voice.
“You’re not the only person here with a system, kid,” Ning said. “I have one too.”
Arya’s face changed from a look of fear and despair to one of sheer incredulity. “You… have a system too?” she asked.
“I do,” Ning said. “It’s very different from the one you most likely have, but yes.”
“Is that why you know about cameras and televisions?” she asked him hurriedly.
“In a way, yes,” Ning said. Memories usually hang around in a person after reincarnation because of a system.
“Wow,” Arya said. “So… what do you want with me and my father?”
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