In the Reception Room, the four sat in comfortable floating chairs, yet none of them appeared particularly relaxed.
Bifur had initially wanted to put on airs, but after thinking it over, he stopped posturing. The facts were clear: Tai Yu was now half a Great Monarch. He was an anomaly who had abruptly leaped out of the surging tide of history, and had to be treated with utmost caution.
Keeping up appearances now would only seem overly deliberate.
Huai An then spoke of what he had seen and heard in the "Special Task Force," particularly the results of observing Tai Yu at close range. They were not much different from the information he had relayed intermittently before. In short:
"Very imposing. He looks willing to discuss matters, but in truth, his word is final. His way of thinking also exceeds that of ordinary people, and he likes lecturing others...
"When assigning work, his thinking is still largely technical. He drives people toward the objective of completing a particular technical solution.
"The only difference is that others cannot see the outcome, while he has every stage under control. That is why he can always stay several steps ahead, building a 'factory' to process resources before everyone else has even made sense of things."
Having said such things often enough, Huai An had begun reflecting on them himself. His summaries were becoming increasingly coherent.
Bifur merely listened in silence. Only then did he ask, "Is the 'Constellation' also part of that 'factory'?"
Huai An hesitated, then repeated what Tai Yu had said about Grease Ball following the energy-absorption disc structure of the Fire Rock Squid, absorbing geothermal energy and completing a cycle. Only afterward did he summarize again:
"Drawing in energy, releasing it, cycling it over and over... situated there, Tai Yu