Chapter 1 The Mistake-Prone Subordinate

Lanina looked at Izhaks with excitement, her words a little jumbled. Seeing this, Izhaks waved his hand immediately: "Calm down, tell me what's going on. How did you not die? And how did you find this place?"

The female demon showed an expression that was both crying and laughing, even Vivian had never imagined that a demon would reveal such complex emotions. Lanina clasped her hands together tightly, as if to ensure she didn't suddenly faint: "Your subordinate... your subordinate was swept into a nearby alternate dimension by the spatial storm when the Obsidian Throne collapsed. I hid there for a long time, which allowed me to avoid the Allied Forces of the Holy Church and the subsequent search by other demons..."

As she spoke, she stepped towards Izhaks, and Hao Ren immediately noticed that her walking posture was strange, limping as if she had been injured.

Izhaks frowned: "What's wrong with your leg?"

Lanina looked down at her leg, her face full of fear and trepidation: "Your subordinate is incompetent... I went to the wrong place before coming here, and crashed into a metal giant ship descending from the sky there, accidentally breaking my leg... I haven't had a chance to properly heal it since."

Hao Ren was just listening quietly, but hearing this, a sense of déjà vu suddenly arose in his mind, and a picture seemed to flash through his memory: "Wait, did you say you crashed into a metal giant ship descending from the sky? Where did this happen?"

The female demon looked at Hao Ren suspiciously, quite wary as she didn't know the origin of this human. Izhaks nodded to her: "He is the master of this place. Answer whatever he asks."

Lanina didn't know how to understand these words, but she immediately looked at Hao Ren with awe and honestly replied: "I don't know the specific place, but I only remember it was a planet with large oceans, and the environment was slightly similar to this place. The shape of the metal giant ship was..."

After Lanina finished recalling, both Nangong Wuyue and Izhaks had strange expressions. Hao Ren then took out a twisted metal plate from his dimensional pocket, with a dent on it. He compared the metal plate to the lower half of the female demon's body and suddenly realized: "So it was you!"

The female demon was puzzled: "Huh?"

"You kicked my daughter's delivery box down with a whip kick," Hao Ren looked at the female demon in front of him with a twitching mouth. "Of course, now it seems that your whip kick is a passive skill - still limping, huh?"

Lanina's expression was a little helpless. She basically couldn't understand what these strangers were saying, let alone why these humans would be so indifferent when they saw a demon. Izhaks knew that this female subordinate of his was sometimes not very bright, so he patted the sofa next to him: "Sit down, and tell me about your experience getting here. Do you know how far you've run? This is already another world."

Lanina sat down opposite Izhaks tremblingly, immediately surrounded by a group of onlookers who feared nothing more than a quiet life. The female demon secretly glanced around the surroundings while recalling: "...Your subordinate hid in the alternate dimension to escape the search, and when I came out, I found that the spatial exit had shifted. I had already arrived near the Lava Canyon, and a whole month had passed. I rushed back to the battlefield while inquiring about the final result of that battle, and that's when I learned... I learned..."

"That it was a complete defeat, right? There's nothing you can't say," Izhaks snorted indifferently. "Did you find out about my whereabouts?"

"Yes, your subordinate heard that you were transferring towards Black Iron Peak, so I followed you all the way, but I encountered some accidents in the middle and got lost. When I arrived at Black Iron Peak, I learned that you had been captured by Seraton and taken to his demon dimension. Then, your subordinate searched all the way, and finally found your location in Seraton's demon dimension. But just as your subordinate was feeling around for the location of the prison, preparing to rescue you..." Lanina paused here, seemingly still unable to comprehend the phenomenon that occurred at that time: "Your subordinate saw a ghost-like woman appear in front of the prison, easily 'erasing' the entire Casting Demon Mine, and taking you away in a ball of white light. Your Majesty, who exactly was that woman? Could she be our ally?"

"That was a god, she said her name was Tavier, a god with infinite incarnations. What you saw was a wisp of her thought," Izhaks explained his experiences to his old subordinate. "She was just curious about a demon as strange as me, so she took me away as a favor. That ball of white light was the door to travel between worlds."

Lanina looked at Izhaks in surprise: "A god? Your Majesty, haven't you always been disdainful of gods and such?"

"It's just that those 'gods' who can only scheme and fight for power within their confined worlds are not worthy of my respect," Izhaks grinned, showing disdain for some of the guys in his old home who called themselves "gods." "So you followed the white light over here too? That's not right... I transferred stations once in the middle. The inspection at the gate to the world is very strict. How did you 'smuggle' over?"

Lanina didn't know what "smuggle" meant, but she still knew how to answer: "A group of green creatures that look like goblins helped..."

"Green creatures? Goblins?" Hao Ren immediately chimed in. At this time, he finally didn't forget his identity: As an imperial grassroots intelligence officer, he must be sensitive to any form of "smuggling." He had to grasp the information on all personnel who crossed the world and had not been registered.

Lanina nodded: "When I passed through the white light, I found myself in a strange place. Everywhere was full of machines that were automatically running like alchemy devices, but they were much more advanced than alchemy devices. There was also a glass hall with all kinds of strange races streaming through it..."

Izhaks explained in a low voice next to him: "A small dimensional hub's transfer hall. She jumped in when the white light was about to dissipate, so the transmission location was probably different from mine."

"Your subordinate wandered around in that strange place for many days," Lanina frowned. "The people there all understood demon language, so communication wasn't a problem. I met a goblin named Jist Huosai, who said he was from the Burst Tank Void Aerospace Administration. For the price of a magic energy gemstone, your subordinate learned from him the whereabouts of a high-level demon who had left that place a few days ago..."

"And then you came on a goblin merchant ship, right?" Hao Ren slapped his forehead. He had long heard that a goblin aerospace bureau with an imperial family background was famous in the void, known throughout the multi-universe for its philosophy of "as long as you don't get shot, you can do any business." They must have exploited a small loophole to send this demon of unknown origin in through civilian lines. The empire wouldn't care about this level of minor smuggling. "But how did you run to a place more than 800 light-years away? Those goblins should roughly know that Izhaks was sent to this solar system."

The female demon lowered her head slightly: "...Some small problems, I got lost in space. I once learned magic for surviving in space and spatial jumps, but I'm not very good at... positioning."

Hao Ren immediately remembered the note left by Raven 12345. He looked at the seemingly steady and reliable demon female adjutant in front of him, and finally recalled that the other party had also mentioned the problem of "getting lost" when explaining the situation before. He turned to look at Izhaks: "This one is geographically challenged?"

"Let me introduce you. This is my military advisor back then," Izhaks pointed to Lanina. "She does have a knack for fighting, but all her skills are limited to fighting. Geographically challenged... yes, she is, and it's very serious."

Lanina immediately raised her head: "Your subordinate has been working hard to improve!"

"You can get lost even when there's only one road from the Galena Hall to the Obsidian Throne," Izhaks glared at Lanina. "You came back and told me you went the wrong way! Who would believe that if you told them?"

Then he waved his hand, sighing as if he had seen through everything: "Forget it, no matter how you survived, it's good that you arrived here safely. Just stay here."

Hearing this, Lanina suddenly stood up, looking at Izhaks in disbelief: "Your Majesty, aren't you going back with your subordinate?"

Izhaks laughed: "Go back to do what? It's all in the past, just let it go. I'm doing pretty well here."

"But your magnificent..."

"Magnificent plans? Someone will always do them, maybe a smarter human than me, or maybe just anyone. As long as civilization doesn't go extinct, someone will always be interested in the truth of the world, but that has nothing to do with me anymore," Izhaks sat back on the sofa, letting out a long breath. "I'm no longer your king. Now my name is Wang Daquan, and I'm a helper here. It's pretty good."

Lanina looked at Izhaks' dejected appearance in stunned silence, unable to believe that the person in front of her was the powerful Demon King who had almost overturned all races and reshaped the entire world. She looked around helplessly, finding that there was no one here who could help her, but then she finally remembered something:

"Wait a minute, Your Majesty! The Princess may still be alive!"