After confirming that the two sisters didn't know any more details, Qi Yuan dissolved the illusion.
After resolving the issue in New York City, he planned to meet with this Maren person to verify if he was telling the truth.
If things were as Maren described, and the fusion of monsters and humans only required superhumans with relevant abilities, then the "twins" were likely unrelated to Yin Qingran's situation.
Jennifer's birth was the result of an accident.
Qi Yuan was inclined to believe Maren wasn't lying. He found information about the Avilars Biological Research Institute online, which indeed mentioned the experiment being halted.
This research institute was fairly well-known, and based on their published research findings, it aligned with Maren's description.
However, finding Maren and confirming directly would be the simplest solution.
"Let's go," Wu Zhenhua called out to Qi Yuan and the others after finishing his conversation with the Dragon Country liaison.
Wu Zhenhua glanced at his watch, realizing they had been chatting for most of the day.
The group headed towards their temporary headquarters. Qi Yuan put down his backpack and left the room, stepping into the hallway to get some air while waiting for the others to gather.
"Click, click, click..."
The sound of high heels echoed in the corridor. Qi Yuan turned his head towards the source.
A haughty-looking woman wearing stilettos over a dozen centimeters high was walking towards Qi Yuan, or more precisely, towards the gathering point for the Dragon Country support team.
She embodied the stereotypical image Dragon Country people had of women from this country: blonde hair, blue eyes, chiseled features, and a tall figure. Her combat outfit looked more like something out of a video game, emphasizing her curvaceous figure without providing any real protection.
Several men followed in her wake.
Qi Yuan looked curiously, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.
Surprisingly, even the blonde hair of people from this country wasn't natural; it was dyed, contrary to his impression of a land full of natural blondes.
This woman's roots were dark, contrasting sharply with her light blonde hair.
She wrinkled her nose, giving Qi Yuan a cold look. Raising her chin, she spoke a string of words in the local language.
Qi Yuan couldn't understand what she was saying, but one of the men behind her translated her words with a thick accent.
"I'm conveying the message of the esteemed Miss Linda. She asks, 'What are you looking at? Rude foreigner.'"
Someone was actually taunting him?
This novel experience excited Qi Yuan a bit; he had never been openly mocked before.
The other party seemed so brainless that he began to suspect there might be a trick involved. He was about to cautiously ask, "Who are you?" when someone beat him to it.
Wu Zhenhua shouted in his gruff voice, "Tell her, 'What're you gonna do about me looking?'"
The accompanying interpreter immediately relayed Wu Zhenhua's words to Linda and her group.
Linda's face suddenly darkened, though her proud head hadn't lowered since the beginning. She continued to spout words.
"Miss Linda says that she would never associate with such uncouth Dragon Country people like you. Don't get any ideas. If you keep staring, she'll gouge out your eyes. She will report your disrespectful behavior to Smith."
Wu Zhenhua listened with a furrowed brow, his muscles tensing. "Hey, if I didn't have a rule against hitting women, I'd give her a couple of slaps. Xiao Qi, you do it!"
Qi Yuan: "..."
He gave Wu Zhenhua a death stare, suspecting that one of them had come to play a joke.
Wu Zhenhua felt his gaze and patted Qi Yuan's shoulder with his large, fan-like hand.
"Oh, uncle forgot, you're at the age of looking for a wife. It wouldn't be good for finding a partner if word got out that you hit women."
At this moment, Qi Yuan felt that the world was fair after all. If this country produced a big fool, Dragon Country had to produce a second fool.
Qi Yuan skipped over the topic of finding a wife and said, "This is our temporary residence. Don't you find it suspicious that she suddenly came here?"
"Oh yeah, you've got a sharp mind."
Just as Qi Yuan thought Wu Zhenhua was finally going to think about the issue from a normal person's perspective, he said something else that infuriated Linda.
"We must be wary of this country's honey trap. They probably think that kind-hearted people like us, with not-so-great minds, would feel sympathy for them. Who knows what might happen after a while?"
"And you young people all like that what's-it-called... tsundere ice queen conquest desire, unlike our generation that preferred gentle homemakers."
Qi Yuan took a deep breath. This uncle was good in every way, except for being a bit slow-witted.
How could 2D and 3D be the same?
In 2D, being boring and uninteresting is the original sin; gentle personalities rarely stand out.
No, he was getting sidetracked by Wu Zhenhua...
The other party's attack was too weak. Rather than lowering his intelligence to her level, Qi Yuan was more interested in knowing why she had come here to taunt them and why she wasn't leaving.
Just as he was preparing to risk ear damage to hear what she actually came for:
"Miss Linda wants me to convey: You filthy bugs, stop daydreaming!"
With these words, Linda and her group turned and left angrily.
Wu Zhenhua pointed at the departing group, his face full of pride: "See? After I exposed their plot, they left in anger and shame."
"This doesn't seem right," Xue Shizong said, appearing from a corner. "This country is in a dire situation now and needs our help. They have no reason to anger us."
"Is that so? I still think some people just aren't very bright," Wu Zhenhua said, rubbing his crew cut. "I once had a dimwitted classmate who wanted to borrow money from me. Because we weren't close, I didn't lend it to him. Then he accidentally sent me the message he meant to send to others cursing me out. He panicked and said he sent it to the wrong person. Isn't that funny?"
If your classmate wasn't intentionally trying to upset you, then indeed...
But this wasn't some street market where anyone could just walk in.
Rather than Linda, Qi Yuan wanted to kick Wu Zhenhua out of the chat. His logic was sound, but his focus was always skewed.
"She knew we were from Dragon Country and even brought an interpreter. There's no reason she wouldn't know about the situation in New York City."
Most importantly, he wasn't some novel protagonist with maxed-out taunt value that even passing dogs would want to kick.
This was too abnormal.
Wu Zhenhua made even the dejected Xue Shizong afraid to delay his response by a few seconds, fearing the topic would veer off again.
"Moreover, if she had an easily angered personality, there's no reason she would just leave after throwing those words at us. It's more likely she would have physically attacked us. If I remember correctly, she's an S-level superhuman, so her strength is not to be underestimated."
In short, if this Linda was truly brainless, she wasn't acting like it.
Considering her behavior, it wasn't hard to deduce her purpose — she wanted to provoke them.
Xue Shizong muttered softly, "How does this benefit her?"
This incident caused no harm to Dragon Country. On the contrary, if they believed that this country was deliberately embarrassing Dragon Country and refused to cooperate with the aid mission out of anger, it would only worsen the already critical situation in New York City.