Zhen Liu was held by Rianna for a solid minute, as the insectile amazon wanted to make sure that she wasn't dreaming and that Zhen Liu had actually made it back ho in one piece.
Needless to say, this public display of affection kind of threw the Dozing Salamander crew for a loop.
^Wait…is she one of the three fiancees or soone else entirely?^ Taurna asked Leona.
A part of her expected her blood sister to be instantly disenchanted with Zhen Liu the mont this six-foot-sothing albino amazon started clinging onto Zhen LIu's head like a koala grabbing a tree branch, but that wasn't the case.
If anything, the lion bloodliner seed to be oddly into it.
^If my mory serves right, Nepherage ntioned that her na is Rianna. She's a girl Zhen Liu t while exploring an underground jungle called Spider's Hell,^ Leona answered with surprisingly acuity. ^Hence the armor made entirely out of insect shells…that she harvested herself.^
^She sourced all that by herself?!^ Taurna asked with clear shock.
^Yeah.^
^Whoa…^
For context behind Taurna's surprise, there were multiple incidents in the mines where giant underground insects ate a poor miner who fell into a sticky situation…or worse.
"Uh...ahem?" Lythero tried to pipe up in an attempt to move the situation along. "Are you guys done yet?"
Picking up on Lythero's question, Zhen Liu decided that now was as good as ti as any to out an end to this hug.
"Rianna, can you let go of my head? I can't get back ho if you're going to cling to like a cicada on a tree."
"Huh? Oh...fine..."
Reluctantly, Rianna released Zhen Liu's head so that they could finally get a move on.
"Alright, then...all aboard the hippo, everbody!"
"Grunt!"
"Woo!"
"Kuu!"
...
[Are you guys excited about finally getting to see the place the Maestro calls ho?] Hurricroak asked the Doll Twins and Gallop Brothers.
[Yup!]
[Mostly.]
At this ti, Zhen Liu was carrying on his person way more Kaijin accessories than usual.
Aside from Hurricroak's ring-necklace, Nepherage's jade bracelet, and Frosttusk's ivory earring, the Doll Twins had taken on the form of a yin-yang belt hanger, while the Gallop Brothers took on the form of a three part armband.
In other words, Zhen Liu's accessory ga is as starting to get rather absurd.
[Mostly?] Nepherage repeated. [I figured you'd be more excited about going to a foreign locale with your lover girl.]
[I would be, yes,] Depth Strider admitted. [But I figured I'd be by her side while on the way there. Why are we riding like accessories?]
[Ease...of...travel,] Frosttusk answered. [Easier...to...carry.]
[...fair enough.]
...
After about an hour or so ripping through the desert on the back of Tiny the Raijin Hippo, the group eventually noticed that past the horizon of their current path were several tall buildings that seed to poke out of the ground like stone talons.
Nobody from Dozing Salamander knew what the deal behind these buildings were...but Zhen Liu knew.
"Welco to Stone Claw City guys," Zhen Liu announced with a small hint of pride as he saw the rising spires that Arachnida had planned out with the rest of the city's populace. "My ho town."
"Ooooh."
"Wow..."
"Damn, this place looks way bigger than any city I've been too," Antonio comnted for himself.
"I think this is the first ti I or the girls have ever seen a city, period," Maggie added as she couldn't help but to compare their ho in the mines with how clean and prosperous Stone Claw looked from a distance.
"Yeah, this place was actually a lot more rough and tumble until my family got more involved. Well, after we booted out our rivals that is..." Zhen Liu ntioned as they approached the city entrance.
The last ti Zhen Liu was ho, the city was preparing to be surged by a roaming Beast Tide that has gotten out of hand because the leader at the ti was a Sandstorm Tyrant.
While he never got to see how that battle unfolded, his cousins assured him that the Zhen Clan and the people of Stone Claw City had managed to co together and repel the beasts before serious damages could be done.
There were still so injuries that occurred during the battle, but that was just the nature of war.
Either way, when Zhen Liu and his friends arrived at the gate, the latter couldn't help but to notice how prosperous everything looked outside.
Needless to say, they were going to be absolutely shocked once they saw how everything looked from past the city gates.
Of course, they still needed to get past the checkpoint.
Standing guard at the city gates were pair of soldiers that were clearly dressed in the uniforms belonging to the Zhen Clan. As such, getting past them was a simple matter of just Zhen Liu and Rianna showing their faces.
"Welco back Miss Rianna."
"Good to be back."
"And welco back to you too Master—wait a minute, Master Zhen Liu?! You're alive?!"
"Yes. And I brought friends. Mind letting us in so I can introduce them to the family?"
"Of course. Of course!"
A couple shouts of surprise and a whole lot of chanical whirring in the background later, and Zhen Liu was finally back in his ho city.
It had been about half a year or so since Zhen Liu had walked down these city streets and not a lot had changed...well, except for the fact that there were a lot more tall buildings and a lot more dosticated aether beasts roaming around.
"Are...are all of these beasts related to you and your Clan, Zhen Liu or is this sothing else entirely?" Leona asked as she directed her gaze towards the aforntioned man.
Before he could answer though, Rianna answered in his stead.
"Miss Arachnida and Miss Lacerage had been throwing themselves more into their work since Xiao Liu went missing all those months ago," Rianna explained. "As such, things developed around here a lot more... haphazardly than anticipated."
"Haphazardly? How?"
"Well..."
As if to emphasize this point, a giant spider-drawn cart walked on by while carrying what appeared to be a weird looking furnace.
Zhen Liu, however, imdiately recognized the thing to be a compact steam engine.
"As Zhen Liu would say, we'll address that later," Rianna eventually answered as she leaned on to Zhen Liu in order to get closer to him in a physical sense.
Once that little mont had co to past, though, the group eventually made their way over to Zhen Liu's actual ho, the Zhen Clan estate.
...
[Okay, it's true what they say,] Railhorn comnted as he looked around through his shared bracelet form, [places do look different through one's own eyes and the eyes of others.]
[There has got to be a better way of making that expression,] Pegasoar comnted.
[If there is, I don't know it.]
[Wait, is this our new ho, PD?]
[I think it is, CD.]
[Do you think Caretaker will let us roam freely?]
[Hopefully.]
...
Standing in front of the estate's gate, Zhen Liu's friends couldn't help but to stare at the luxurious door with their mouths agape.
This was the first ti they had seen such finery, and were understandably shocked.
"This is where you grew up?!" Lythero asked with clear surprise in his voice.
"Yeah."
"Why would you ever want to leave?" Antonio followed up, imagining himself growing up here.
In all honesty, Zhen Liu had a very similar reaction when he first showed up here as...well, Zhen Liu, but he knew that staying at ho wasn't going to do himself or his body's forr owner any favors.
That stated, it was still nice to be able to co ho and see his family again.
All they had to do now was to simply open the gate.
"Alright," Zhen Liu said as he jumped off of Tiny's back and began to walk towards the gate. "Ti to get—"
"XIAO LIU!"
"Uh oh."
But before Zhen Liu could open the door and formally introduce his friends to his family, a voice enhanced with dragon force suddenly echoed out from beyond the walls and stunned him in place.
The voice caused the Dozing Salamander crew to understandably flinch, but they soon put their guard back down once they saw that Rianna and the Rianin hippos looked unphased by the yell.
They didn't even have ti to ask who or what made such a might shout, when the source of it made themselves known in a rather flashy manner.
A black blur leapt over the estate's walls before landing on top of Zhen Liu like a sack of bricks.
The earth rumbled and cratered as they processed that this black blur was actually a dragon-blooded noble woman.
"Hey Jinju Ren, good to see you too," Zhen Liu squeaked out from beneath the dragon-blooded princess.
"How dare you suddenly go on an exciting adventure without ! I'm going to have to punish you for that!" The princess proclaid with a playfully vicious tone.
"What does that—YEOW!"
The next thing he knew, Zhen Liu found himself getting bit.
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