Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 578 - 571: Blind Spot_1

Chapter 578: Chapter 571: Blind Spot_1

After seeing off Luo Qishan, Luo’er cried for a long time. On one hand, he hated to part with Luo Qishan; on another, as the captain of the Advance Team, he had been under more pressure than anyone else. It was about time he let it all out.

Having cried for half a day, Luo’er’s eyes were still red the next day. Everyone wanted to say something but couldn’t bring themselves to when they saw his pathetic state, and they all shut their mouths awkwardly.

The next day, a banquet was held as usual at the base. The chefs from Earth worked hard to showcase their exceptional culinary skills to the Otherworlders. As a result, it attracted quite a number of Otherworlders, mostly the Blaiqi people.

At the banquet, Nina noticed Luo’er’s unusual state and sent Luoya to call him. Luoya approached Luo’er, saw his still obvious red eyes, coughed and then said disapprovingly, "Hey, Mother wants you in her room later!"

"What do you mean by ’hey,’? That’s not how you talk to your brother." Cheng Ziang interfered from the side.

Luoya glanced at him, then looked at Luo’er, grumbling discontentedly, "You’ve cried yourself to such a mess. What if others saw you?"

"I got it. I’ll go there in a bit," Luo’er responded blandly, unaffected by Luoya’s attitude.

Seeing Luo’er’s respectful yet unyielding attitude, even Luoya couldn’t stay mad. She cast a glance at Luo’er and then sneakily at Cheng Ziang before reluctantly leaving.

Cheng Ziang knew what she had in mind, but with Luo’er beside him, he didn’t want to be too carefree, so he could only watch her go.

"You seem to get along well with Luoya recently." Luo’er, being far from naive, noticed something going on between them. Therefore, after Luoya had left, he turned to Cheng Ziang and asked.

"Ah, well, we’re just friends," Cheng Ziang scratched his head, responded somewhat guiltily.

"You, you can’t be any more obvious." Luo’er glanced at him and shook his head helplessly.

After the banquet, Luo’er went to Nina’s room as invited. The base had prepared a room facing the sunrise for her alone. There were Elf Race soldiers standing guard in the corridor outside the door. However, they seemed to have orders from Nina and did not block Luo’er’s visit, so he came to the door without any interruption.

"Knock knock!"

Luo’er gently knocked on the door, and Nina’s voice answered from within the room, "Come in!"

He pushed the door and walked in. At the moment, Nina was standing by the window, looking at the passersby in the yard. On the table in front of her, there were several disorganized A4 papers with Elf text on them. Seeing Luo’er’s arrival, Nina’s previously melancholy face broke into a knowing smile instantly.

"Mom." Luo’er always referred to Nina in Chinese, and it seemed Nina enjoyed it. Luo’er noticed that Luoya had also started to slowly call Nina ’Mom’ recently.

"Come here." Nina opened her arms and said to Luo’er.

"Hmm!" Luo’er nodded, then walked over, leaning his head on Nina’s shoulder and put his arms around her waist. He was about the same height as Nina, or slightly shorter.

Nina affectionately stroked Luo’er’s sleek black hair, couldn’t help but press her face against it, taking in his scent. After a long silence, she asked softly, "Were you very sad yesterday?"

"Yeah," replied Luo’er.

"Was it because of your grandfather?" Nina asked.

"Yeah," Luo’er nodded, hesitating a bit before he said, "Grandpa is about to return to Earth soon. I’m afraid I won’t see him again. We always had issues, but I hate to part with him."

"It seems that you care more about your grandfather than your mom." Nina said with a smile, a trace of bitterness flickered in her eyes.

Luo’er could sense the guilt in Nina’s voice, so he didn’t respond, just continued to cuddle with her, enjoying her warmth.

"I’m sorry," Nina said softly, "It should have been me who took care of you and raised you, but I irresponsibly abandoned you and Luo Chuan and returned to Ilanadale to enjoy my life..."

"Don’t say that. Back then, you all didn’t have a choice. Nobody knew all these things would happen," Luo’er said, "Plus, you suffered a lot for Luoya’s sake, so you really don’t need to apologize to me."

"But mom wants to take the love you have for your grandfather and keep it to herself," Nina said passionately, unable to resist pulling him into a tight embrace. "I’m a very selfish person, I’m jealous when I see how close you two are, do you know that? Luo’er, forgive mom, let’s start over, good?"

"It’s all in the past, it’s all in the past," Luo’er reassured in a soft voice. "Let’s start over, our family, your sister, and grandfather, let’s start over together."

"Thank you, Luo’er," Nina whimpered, then said, "Now you and your sister are all I have left. On the day I found out about Luo Chuan’s death, I even considered joining him..."

"Please, please don’t do this. I know how you feel about father, but his last wish was for us to live happily as a family." said Luo’er.

Mother and son clung to each other, savoring their fleeting time together. After a long while, they gently broke apart. Nina’s face was streaked with tears, and after releasing Luo’er, she hurriedly wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

"Mom, is this written in the Elven language?" Luo’er picked up a piece of A4 paper from the table and couldn’t help but ask, looking at the dense text.

"You can’t understand it, can you?" Nina replied with a smile, tucking the handkerchief into her bosom and turning around after composing herself.

"You’ve only taught me the language, not how to read and write it." Luo’er scratched his head and said.

"Would you like me to teach you?" Nina asked, moving closer.

"Let’s learn it when there’s time. It’s not urgent right now," Luo’er paused, then asked about the real matter at hand, "mom, how did the negotiations with the headquarters go?"

"They’re stalled," Nina said with a smile.

"So, that’s why you’ve been in such low spirits?" Luo’er asked.

"You noticed, huh?" Nina chuckled awkwardly.

"Can you tell me about it? Maybe I can help," Luo’er offered, looking at her.

"You..." Nina looked at Luo’er, her expression hesitant.

Luo’er knew what she was thinking, he was raised by the headquarters and was essentially a part of them. Now that the headquarters were negotiating with Ilanadale, and from a certain perspective, they were considered opponents. Hence, she was hesitant to consider Luo’er’s advice.

"Don’t forget, I’m your son." Luo’er said it calmly, looking at her.

Nina paused momentarily before breaking into a knowing smile. Of course, even though Luo’er was raised by the headquarters and was their person, he was ultimately her flesh and blood, their hearts connected. If she couldn’t even trust her own son, who in the world could she trust?

Feeling somewhat guilty, Nina coughed awkwardly and explained the problems she had encountered at the meeting to Luo’er.

After listening to Nina’s explanation, Luo’er couldn’t help but smile, then said to her, "mom, you’ve fallen into their trap."

"How so?" Curious, Nina asked.

Luo’er glanced around, then approached her and whispered in her ear, "All you need to do is reject Lin Wei’s proposal. He should be the one panicking, not you."

"Why?" Nina asked, wide-eyed.

Luo’er sighed softly, then explained, "Headquarters is providing Ilanadale with industrial technology because they need Ilanadale to mine Kedal metal for them. For Earth, this is a sought-after material. Earth is eager to increase the import of Kedal metal, hence they are eager to sign the agreement and aid Ilanadale in industrialization."

"Exactly because of this, all you’re required to do is to reject Lin Wei’s industrial development proposal and extend the meeting. The ones who should be worried are the headquarters. Your rejection of Lin Wei’s proposal implies that Ilanadale cannot industrialize, meaning they cant mine more Kedal metals and indicating that the headquarters can’t satisfy their demands for the metal. Therefore, at the end, it’s the headquarters, not Ilanadale who will be panicking."

"In this struggle, Ilanadale is the proactive party, not the reactive one, and you hold strong cards. But somehow you’ve been blinded by Lin Wei, and he’s leading you around by the nose."

"So that’s it!" Nina exclaimed, enlightened by Luo’er’s explanation.