The Martial Emperor seemed to chuckle. "I wouldn't dare. It's rare for Lord Ronan to remember me."
No, I'd thought about you far too much. And I don't believe you didn't know!
Self-mockery and silent grumbling mingled in Ronan's mind. As his thoughts turned, he heard the Martial Emperor speak again. "You and Zhang Yingying called one after the other. Couldn't you have made a single call together?"
"Mm, perhaps we both thought it was daytime in Los Angeles right now, making it convenient to handle things?"
Their exchange was utterly routine, as though nothing had happened. Yet Ronan knew that, at least on his end, he had been through a great deal. He had made a whole series of "maneuvers" earlier; he had no idea how much of it the Martial Emperor had received. In any case, when facing her again, he inexplicably found her somewhat unfamiliar, yet his understanding of her had deepened considerably...
Of course, perhaps it was all merely conjecture and illusion in his own mind, requiring further verification through conversation.
He had already gone through enough inner turmoil. When it came to the actual conversation, Ronan was especially straightforward. "Yingying Jie reported to you about 'Inner Earth.' As for me, I'm reporting on 'Outer Earth.'"
"Oh?" The Martial Emperor raised her tone slightly, her pleasant trailing note lingering in the air.
Ronan continued, "Master Jin is a good driver. He led the way extremely well, and I got to take a trip outside. It was quite an eye-opener."
"Outside..." The Martial Emperor appeared to savor the deeper meaning of the word. Several seconds passed before she responded. "Which 'outside' are you referring to?"
Here it came. This damned Secretism, this infernal probing!
Ronan curled his lip, only to realize that after his long inner journey,