Chapter 7331

After two days of unwinding with Maria on the Antarctic ice fields, Charlie decided it was time for the two of them to head back to the United States.

Once he’d made up his mind, he told Jeremiah and Ria, "Maria and I plan to leave for a while. You two should focus on your cultivation here. We’ll be back before the flights resume. Before those research teams and tourists land, we’ll leave Antarctica together."

Ria looked surprised and asked, "Mr. Wade, where are you and Miss Lin going? Antarctica is so cold, and last time you left, you were gone for half a month. This time might be even longer. Isn’t it a bit too harsh out there?"

Jeremiah quickly shot her a look, then smiled and said, "Don’t worry about Mr. Wade, Ria. With his cultivation, the Antarctic climate is nothing to him. And Maria doesn’t need to worry either. She may not be a cultivator, but she’s like a spring breeze in the bitter cold, unlike the two of us who need to keep burning spiritual energy just to stay warm."

Ria stuck out her tongue and grinned. "You’re right, Jeremiah!"

In truth, both women knew that if Charlie could disappear for so long on the endless polar night, he and Maria must have another place to stay. But since Charlie hadn’t chosen to share, they wisely refrained from asking further.

So, Charlie and Maria said their goodbyes again and drove the snowmobile toward the underground city.

Just like before, the two of them held hands almost the entire way. There was nothing overly intimate—just the simple act of holding hands, grounding themselves in each other’s presence.

These past few days, Charlie had barely let go of Maria’s hand, except when sleeping. Maria was the same, sometimes simply letting Charlie hold her, but more often interlocking her fingers with his.

After a long trek, they reached the entrance to the underground city. Charlie stowed the snowmobile in his storage space, still holding Maria’s hand tightly, and together they stepped into the hidden teleportation array, instantly arriving inside the city.

The underground city was as tranquil as ever, bathed in gentle, bright light and filled with an almost unbelievable abundance of spiritual energy.

This time, Charlie didn’t immediately take Maria through the teleportation array to leave. Instead, a thought struck him, and he turned to Maria. "Maria, if we settled down here in the future, wouldn’t that be a pretty good choice?"

Maria’s eyes lit up and she smiled. "More than just a good choice—it would be perfect. This place was built by a great cultivator, and it’s so spacious that you never feel confined. More importantly, it’s completely cut off from the world. With how sturdy it is, I think it might be the safest place on Earth."

She looked a little dreamy as she continued, "If we really did settle here, we should try to buy or permanently lease all the land above the teleportation arrays. Those areas technically belong to different countries, but as long as the money is right, I believe it’s all doable."

Charlie nodded with a smile. "Most of those spots are remote mountain regions. If we spend a little more, even if we can’t buy them outright, we could lease or contract them long-term. And if we renovate the exit of every teleportation array, living here would never get boring. We could travel anywhere in the world whenever we wanted."

Maria sighed a little wistfully. "But only you can operate the teleportation arrays. If a lot of people lived here, everyone would need you to escort them out."

Charlie asked instinctively, "A lot of people? How many are you thinking?"