Morona Fault

Once a week, the five councilors of The Crossroads gathered in the conference hall on the highest floor of Council Tower. They exchanged updates on the fields they were each responsible for and discussed all sorts of other important matters—most of which concerned The Crossroads' development and security. The rest involved intelligence on other civilizations or the movements of certain unstable factors beyond their borders.

The routine exchanges and reports did not take long.

"Things have been fairly peaceful in the city lately," the weary-looking middle-aged man said slowly. "Aside from the damage caused by the Hermetic Society believers' invasion some time ago, everything else has been fine."

"Is something wrong with the simulated starry sky above the suburban ring?" The black-haired maiden beside him tilted her head slightly without opening her eyes. She seemed to always wear a serene, gentle smile, but on closer inspection, that smile appeared to be nothing more than an illusion. "I heard several stars appeared in the wrong positions, and someone even uploaded it online."

"The stellar projection shifted." The middle-aged man nodded. "It's difficult to control. After all, the starry sky over The Crossroads is essentially a projection of the real universe mapped in through the space Barrier, and the last 'World Bridge incident' affected the space Barriers throughout the area around The Crossroads... Some of the mapping routes changed permanently."

"How was the matter handled in the end?" Baili Qing asked.

"Cognitive guidance, to gradually get people used to the changes in those stars," the middle-aged man said. He then lightly nodded toward the crude, eerie robot beside Baili Qing. "'Malfunction' handled the information that had spread online—not by deleting it outright, but by shaping it into something resembling an urban legend. The related buzz should die down in a few days,