C.C. said: "Alright, but Kallen — why did you agree to go to the Sanctuary with Rulu? Normally you'd have refused, wouldn't you? Aren't you worried he'll kidnap you and sell you off somewhere?"

  Although Rulu knew C.C. liked to joke around, he still felt the need to expin: "C.C., don't talk nonsense. Even though Kallen and I haven't known each other for very long, I genuinely consider her a friend. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone out of my way to ask her to come protect Nana."

  But C.C. ignored Rulu and looked toward Kallen. "You still haven't answered my question, Kallen."

  "Well…" Kallen hesitated. "Rulu has saved Captain Guan, me, and the others before. I trust his character without question. And I'm also very curious about what the Sanctuary is like — I actually want to see it for myself. Captain Guan and the others agreed to let me go with Rulu too. More than any of that, though, what I'm really worried about is whether we can actually get into the Sanctuary smoothly. Is a pce like that so easy to just walk into?"

  Nana said: "I'm honestly worried about that too. Can we really get in without a problem?"

  Rulu said: "Don't worry. I've been running around Blue Sea City all this past month and a half to sort that out. You all have your ID cards and Sanctuary travel passes on you, right?"

  "Got mine right here." C.C. pulled a small card resembling an ID and a slim green booklet from her pocket. Kallen and Nana likewise produced their own cards and booklets, holding them up and examining them carefully.

  Rulu said: "Listen up, everyone. This time we're going to enter the Sanctuary by assuming false identities as part of a Sanctuary tour group. From this point on, none of us use our real names. I'll be going by Qin Lulu, C.C. will be called Xixi, and Nana will be Qin La. Kallen can continue using her own name. Don't mix it up."

  "Alright, alright — you've said all this I don't know how many times already. I could recite it word for word by now." C.C. flicked her long hair with her hand. She had already dyed her green hair bck to make herself less conspicuous, and Rulu and Nana had also taken care to disguise their appearances.

  Rulu was wearing a conspicuously rge pair of wide-rimmed bck gsses to cover his face, and had deliberately tanned and darkened his skin to conceal his natural complexion. Nana had pinned her brown hair up at the sides and applied heavy makeup, dressing in a more mature style that made her look like an entirely different person. Since Kallen's identity was less sensitive, she hadn't bothered with any particur disguise.

  Rulu said: "Let me go over it one more time. We're posing as a family that won a spot in the Sanctuary travel lottery. Due to our parents being unavaible at the st minute, the four of us siblings are making the trip instead. I'm Nana's younger brother — we're blood siblings. Kallen and C.C. are my cousins. Nana is the eldest, I'm second, Kallen is third, and C.C., you're the youngest. Everyone clear?"

  "Not clear." C.C. immediately objected.

  Rulu said: "What's not clear to you, C.C.?"

  C.C. said: "I think I should be the eldest. I'm the most intelligent, and the most mature and composed. If anything goes wrong, I'll be the quickest to come up with a solution."

  Rulu ignored what C.C. had just said and continued: "Alright. If anything goes wrong during the operation, nobody act on their own — leave it to me to handle. Everyone understand?"

  Nana said: "Of course. We'll do whatever you say, Rulu."

  Kallen said: "Then it all depends on you, Rulu."

  C.C. said with mild displeasure: "What's there to be so proud about? When it comes to knowledge of the Sanctuary, none of you can hold a candle to me."

  Hearing this, Kallen couldn't help but ask: "Do you really know a lot about the Sanctuary, C.C.? Could you tell us what kind of pce it is? I'd like to know a bit more before we get there — mentally prepare myself."

  "Sure. Let me think for a moment." C.C. paused, then said: "Actually, apart from having very few tall buildings, the Sanctuary isn't all that different from the outside world on the surface. The environment there is different from outside, though, and the living creatures are far stranger and more unusual."

  Kallen asked: "Strange how, exactly?"

  "Strange in every way imaginable. For example, some creatures have two heads, some have three eyes, or four tails. And then there are beings that are half-human, half-beast."

  Kallen said: "Oh, I know about that — I heard that Sphinx and A-Niu both came from the Sanctuary. No wonder they look the way they do."

  C.C. continued: "And another thing — in the Sanctuary, there's no such concept as fixed species. A tiger's offspring isn't necessarily a tiger. It could be some bizarre creature that's half tiger and half bird. The offspring of every creature differs enormously from the previous generation. New species are being born all the time."

  Upon hearing this, Kallen was astonished: "You're serious? If that's really the case, then even the offspring of humans aren't necessarily human."

  C.C. said: "Exactly. Take Sphinx and A-Niu for instance — they could very well be the offspring born from two humans."

  "What kind of pce is this Sanctuary? It's almost impossible to imagine." Kallen's mouth hung open in disbelief. Then something else occurred to her, and she said: "Wait, that's not right. That bastard Governor Suwen also came from the Sanctuary. How come he's a perfectly normal human being and not some monster like Sphinx and A-Niu?"