Anxiety and Probing

The main hall of the Seat of Divine Foresight was brightly lit.

Urgent reports kept arriving from Cloudford. The outer harbor was attacked, the Mara-Struck was rioting, the pier was damaged... On the sand table, the red markers representing Cloudford had all been lit up.

Fu Xuan stood in front of the sand table, his gaze fixed on that area.

Jingxing is still there.

She turned to leave, but after taking only a few steps, she heard Jing Yuan's voice behind her.

"Fu Qing, I have already sent men to Cloudford to meet him."

"Not enough." Fu Xuan stopped in his tracks. "If someone finds a way to trigger the Mara-Struck on a large scale, the Cloud Knights might not be able to stop it..."

Jing Yuan, holding a black chess piece, said, "Fu Qing, your hand is shaking."

Fu Xuan glanced down and saw a crescent-shaped nail mark on her palm. She released her grip and picked up the divination plate again.

It's alright.

No sooner had the words been spoken than a diviner strode into the hall, holding a newly prepared divination plate in his hands.

"My lord, it seems there's been another problem at Cloudford."

"Location."

"The outer harbor pier, the west corner of the warehouse, and under the old locust tree at the ferry crossing."

Fu Xuan took the divination plate and glanced at the divination results.

"The pier and warehouse are temporarily put on hold. I'll cast a divination under the old locust tree."

The diviner accepted the order and left. Fu Xuan placed the divination plate next to the sand table and gently traced the position of Cloudford with his fingertips.

Jing Yuan looked at her. "He'll definitely be fine. Maybe he can even bring some surprises to Luofu?"

"There's no time for idle chatter right now," Fu Xuan said dismissively.

"That's true." Jing Yuan put down his chess piece. "Let's each do our part."

Fu Xuan stared at the divination plate, her divine eye on her forehead glowing slightly. She tried to deduce it once, but the causal lines before her were still tangled and unclear. Soon, a sharp pain came from between her eyebrows.

"Tsk." She pressed her temples and asked towards the door, "Hurry up with the guards heading to Cloudford, faster! I need intelligence on the current situation there!"

"Yes!" With the sound of footsteps, the main hall fell silent again.

Fu Xuan looked down at the location of Cloudford, and after a long while, he murmured a sentence.

"Jingxing, you'd better come back safely."

In the alley, Tingyun walked at the front of the group.

"Mr. Jingxing's move just now was truly astonishing."

"Just some self-defense tips from the company's business training."

"Does the company offer this kind of training?"

"Of course. We value the all-round development of our employees." Jingxing squinted his eyes. "If Miss Tingyun is not comfortable on the Xianzhou, you are welcome to join the Interastral Peace Corporation anytime."

Tingyun covered her mouth and chuckled, "Sir, you are quite witty."

"I'm just trying to make a living."

"Just coasting along..." Tingyun muttered softly, "But how could someone as talented as Mr. [referring to a certain person] be assigned to Luofu?"

"Vacation." Jingxing replied casually, while observing Tingyun's behavior and silently preparing to eliminate her with lightning speed.

"If you're looking for a vacation, Fanghu is much better than here," Tingyun with a smile and a shake of her head.

I'm not joking.

Tingyun's smile faltered slightly, then she quickly asked, "The power you just used seems quite different from the Xianzhou's techniques. Could it be related to some of the company's Curio?"

"It's probably an employee ID card?"

"..."

Jingxing pulled out his employee ID from his pocket, waved it, and then put it back. "See? Company stuff is really useful."

Xing turned her head to the side, her shoulders trembling slightly.

"I always feel like he's a bit nonchalant," March 7th murmured to Xing.

"Could it be that he's planning to attack us?" Xing's eyes widened.

"That can't be, right?" March 7th scoffed. "Look at his girlfriend's appearance, and then look at his attitude towards Ms. Herta, this guy is definitely a lolicon!"

"Where did they learn all this from..." Welt Yang walked behind, thinking that he should suggest to Himeko that the passengers read less of these strange comics when they returned to the train.

Tingyun, who was walking ahead, listened to the conversation of the others, her steps always light and quick.

Tingyun ignored the murmurs behind her and continued walking forward. Her voice remained gentle, but her questions became increasingly direct. "Since you and Fu Xuan have such a good relationship, if something serious were to happen to Luofu Fu, I imagine you wouldn't ignore it?"

"I don't have the ability to single-handedly lift up the sky; at most, I can only protect the people I care about and get them out of there," Jingxing said casually, speaking without any pretense.

"Mr. Jingxing is really..." Tingyun chuckled, but there was little smile in his eyes.

She had initially thought that he was just a young man, and she could easily extract his true intentions with a few words. But Jingxing was like a ball of cotton; no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get a solid grip on him. Every word he said seemed both true and false. She couldn't even tell if he was pretending to be stupid or if he was just a talkative, idle person.

Tingyun's steps remained light, but her heart slowly sank.

She wasn't unfamiliar with people who kept their mouths shut. Someone so relaxed in front of her was either genuinely confident or utterly reckless. She leaned towards the latter—just a young man, even if he was captivated by that Luofu Diviner, even if he harbored some hidden schemes, how much stronger could he really be?

Even so, Tingyun decided to give it one last try.

"Mr. Jingxing." She suddenly stopped and turned around, her fox ears twitching slightly. "What if I told you that the alley ahead isn't very safe?"

"Then let's not go this way." Jingxing stopped as well, looking at her with a smile. "Miss Tingyun, which route do you think is safer?"

"For example..." Tingyun raised her hand and pointed to the half-open vermilion door at the end of the alley, "There."

What kind of place is that?

"The old warehouse of the Sky-Faring Commission," Tingyun said, "Is usually deserted. We can go in and take shelter there."

"Alright," Jingxing answered readily. "Miss Tingyun, lead the way."

Tingyun looked at him, seemingly trying to find a hint of hesitation on his face. But Jingxing just smiled, a smile like that of a leisurely person genuinely preparing to take shelter from the rain in an old granary.

She turned around and pushed open the vermilion door.

Beyond the door lay even deeper darkness. The old warehouse was piled high with discarded crates, and the air reeked of a musty, aged smell. Tingyun stood by the threshold, turned slightly, and gestured for them to come in. "Please, everyone."

Jingxing stepped across the threshold.

The thin, cyan-gold thread in his palm had already become entangled with her shadow.

"Tingyun" absolutely believed that he was successfully fishing for the Astral Express passengers and himself.

But she had no idea that every piece of Imaginary Energy around her was being firmly controlled by Jingxing without her even realizing it.

Once she bares her fangs, Jingxing will instantly unleash a deadly trap, giving this treacherous imposter "Tingyun" a bloody lesson.

"Don't disappoint me. It'd better be an Emanator, otherwise he won't be able to take a beating." Jingxing squinted, muttering to himself.