Fool

The platform of Nine Realms Station is getting closer and closer.

There was the familiar smell of rust, and also the smell of molten sulfur carried by the strong winds.

The Grandfather platform attendant blew a loud whistle, and immediately train crew members ran to the platform to prepare for work, carrying out train maintenance.

Before returning to the cabinet to report on their duties, Xiao Qi took Xue Ming to the VIP carriage.

On the train heading to Sky Dome Station, the VIP carriage happened to belong to Bai Qingqing's mentor, Su Ling, another leader of the [Nameless] School.

Jiang Xueming knew very little about this woman, only that she possessed the BOSS's remains and was one of the people in charge of the [Colorless Stone].

Like Wen Bucai and Robert, Master A Ling's stone was also black.

Xue Ming and Xiao Qi consulted each other, saying that if they wanted to visit a VIP, they should do some preparation beforehand.

Xiao Qi immediately exclaimed, "My teacher! He's a heartthrob!"

Xue Ming immediately noted it down in the logbook and casually replied, "Can you say something useful?"

Xiao Qi continued, "Whenever she appears in public, many people go crazy and make random 'RuaRua' noises. It's very mysterious—I don't really understand it either."

Xue Ming then asked, "This statement sounds a bit like cerebral palsy; are all her followers like this?"

Xiao Qi pondered for a moment, then tied on the hair accessory, tying her long hair into a neat single ponytail.

"Look!"

Xue Ming immediately understood. "I've seen it before. When you first came to the Nine Realms Station, you finally took off your driver's hat, and I saw that clean and refreshing high ponytail. Your Master A Ling also had that look."

Xiao Qi said in a very low voice, "Don't laugh when I tell you, but I think it's great—I like imitating Master's way of speaking, I like Master's sharp and sarcastic, cold yet sexy demeanor."

Xue Ming: "It's clear that when I first met your Master A Ling, she made a very deep impression. I remember you saying that she seemed to be injured and had no expression afterward."

"It's facial paralysis." Xiao Qi's face immediately fell. "She can't make expressions, but oh dear, I can't explain it, I can't describe it, it's hard to explain in just a few words."

Xue Ming understood, but simply placed his hand on Bai Qingqing's head, telling her to calm down.

The Steel Heart immediately took effect, and Xiao Qi, no longer in a hurry, Xue Ming.

"Amin, if you asked me to describe you—it would be difficult for me to explain in just a few words. You are really complicated."

Xue Ming: "Everyone is complex. Even a shooting star is complex."

Meteor immediately leaned out from the front seat. "Did you call me?"

Xue Ming immediately asked, "Did you exercise today?"

Meteor looked distressed. "Not yet."

Xue Ming reached out her hand. "It's okay! I don't have any either!"

The meteor gave him a high five, then they shook hands tightly.

--After the mysterious ritual of the mindless and unhappy ended.

Xue Ming returned and continued talking to Xiao Qi, asking more questions.

"To simplify complex matters, the BOSS asked Ling Weng to give passengers at the station glitter stones—so that people could recognize each other's labels at a glance, is that correct?"

Xiao Qi's expression turned strange. "You're wrong about that! Uh... Actually, BOSS doesn't want people to recognize each other by stones—just like in the surface world. BOSS thinks that's stupid. In the surface world, people are recognized by clothes, wallets, shoes, jewelry, appearance, status, and all sorts of labels. But the personality traits of the Radiant Stone are objectively real, making it a very convenient treasure for passengers. If a better substitute can be found, BOSS will not hesitate to replace it."

Xue Ming pondered for a moment, then said, "Then let's not go into details. I only know that your master is the Black Stone Man. I really can't figure him out— Wen Bucai and Robert are both very strange, one is straightforward, the other is indecisive."

Robert immediately put his head in. "What does Ningba mean? I don't understand this Chinese word."

Anna pulled Robert close to the car window, then hugged him tightly. "It's to praise you, to praise you!"

Robert immediately said, "Then Anna, you're conflicted too, Meteor! You're so conflicted! Mr. Xue Ming! You're the queen of conflict!"

Xue Ming: "Thank you."

Meteor: "Thank you. Thank you and your whole family."

Whether it's Wen Bucai's obsidian or Robert's black jade.

The main function of these two black stones is to absorb the negative energy of their owner.

In addition, different types of black stones express different intrinsic meanings.

Ancient volcanic obsidian is a rough, natural mineral, like large pieces of glass, pure and fragile, possessing both water and fire qualities in gemology.

Black jade is even more precious, requiring extensive manual grinding and shaping. It is carefully extracted from the base material and worn on the neck, a Gate of Death area, rather than on bracelets or rings that are easily injured.

Just by looking at the type of stone and the shape of the jewelry, one can basically understand a person's temperament, habits, and Jungian profile.

Rose Shining Stone, resembling a shooting star, is a stone full of romance, passion, and vitality.

Like Professor Victor's Stubborn Fire Stone, the prototype of which in the calcination process is called serpentine. Stubborn Fire Stone is a hard bone with an extremely high melting point, and the firing temperature needs to be 1000℃. If it is heated to 1400-1500℃, it will begin to burst out with the golden light of forsterite.

This is why, when Meteor and Xue Ming saw Teacher Victor's [Hell Highway], the radiance emanating from their soul power was initially a dark red of radiance stone, but eventually turned into a golden-red color.

It seems that this growth does not stop at six transformations. After the morpho butterfly flaps its wings and flies into the sky, there is still a long period of growth. This is why the Soul Might data includes the term "[growth potential]".

In short, Xue Ming wanted to find out more about Master A Ling's Radiant Stone so that he could deduce her unspoken meaning from the stone's properties when they met later.

When a person loses their expression, they have actually lost a great deal.

In social settings, people rely on reading between the lines to communicate.

Without expressions, Xue Ming would find it hard to imagine how this VIP had endured a difficult childhood before emerging from the cocoon, and how he had mingled in the surface world before his transformation began.

The spirit will bestow different stones upon people to help passengers overcome difficulties.

If the gift is a black stone, it usually indicates that the person has an extremely strong self-destructive tendency.

Xue Ming thought about it carefully—these kinds of Black Stone People sounded like they would be difficult to get along with.

"So, what kind of black stone does your Master A Ling possess?"

"Fool's Gold," Xiao Qi said without hesitation. "To be specific, it should be pyrite, but it's oxidized and turned black."

Xue Ming was now completely baffled—it was beyond his comprehension.

Can this thing even be considered a stone?

Or rather, can this stuff really perform the function of pyroxene?

This type of metal is also called pyrite, which belongs to the ferrous disulfide class.

In people's eyes, there is a kind of multifaceted cube that looks like gold but has a completely different composition from gold. It appears in natural mines as if God has sent down a treasure. However, when the miners dug these square crystalline metals back, they found that they were not worth much money.

It is the most widely distributed sulfide in the Earth's crust and can be found in magma.

It is the main mineral raw material for the manufacture of sulfuric acid.

It is a very inexpensive ancient gemstone. During the Queen Victoria era, because it did not require much polishing, this natural cubic crystal was either used as an ornament or as a pedestal for ornaments.

It is a catalyst that can synthesize hydrocarbon fuels and manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

It can be broken into pieces and applied to bruises and wounds to promote blood circulation and relieve pain; it was an ancient military remedy for falls and injuries.

The Greek letter [Pry] means fire, referring to the fire produced when a hammer strikes the Fool's Gold.

Xue Ming only knew that people were complex.

I never imagined that pyroxene phenotypic characteristics could be so complex.

Without further thought, he grabbed Xiao Qi and headed straight for the VIP carriage.

The meteor wanted to join in the fun.

Xiao Qi immediately shouted, "No! No, no, no! Master doesn't like people rushing over to talk to her all at once!"

Meteor stood there for a long time, finally suppressing his insane curiosity, and shoved himself back into the chair.

On the way to the VIP carriage, Xue Ming asked about Xiao Qi's past again.

It wasn't that he wanted to deliberately reopen Bai Qingqing's wounds; rather, it was Bai Qingqing herself who brought up the topic.

The story of Master A Ling begins here--

"--My past is all written on my crew card."

Xiao Qi took out her ID card and, as if performing a magic trick with playing cards, pulled out a row of text information from a hidden compartment.

Xue Ming had seen this thing before when he exchanged identity cards with Commander Jessica at the Dead Puppet Agency; it was designed to be very mysterious.

Xiao Qi continued.

"I came to the underworld in search of my mother, and looking back now, I realize how stupid I was."

"--I begged and pleaded with the Hunter King until my lips were sore, acting cute and pitiful, to find out where my mother was. The Hunter King couldn't resist me, and she felt sorry for me like Little Kitty, so she told me the address of my mother's shop at the Transportation Department."

"Although they repeatedly told me not to act on my own, I should at least wait until I've completed my transformation, or until I'm a bit older and more mature, before going to the Transportation Department."

"But how could I wait? I couldn't wait. I only thought about taking shortcuts, never about taking the long way—so I secretly hitched a ride on a train to that place that haunted my dreams."

"The underworld is very chaotic. I have nothing but a pair of skillful hands. When I met my mother, she looked guilty and tried to trick me into doing chores for her, taking care of her ceramics business, and helping her watch the shop and transport goods. She never paid me, but only ate at the same table with me as a symbol of her affection."

"I slept in the storeroom on the second floor of her shop. She then coaxed me, saying it was a nice room only for valuable ceramics, and I believed her because she was my mother."

"I asked her when she could go home, and she said that as long as the store could sell a certain amount of goods and the monthly accounts showed a certain number, she would have money and could go back with me to have one more meal with my father."

"She's really beautiful, and her smile is gorgeous. After all, I'm quite good-looking, so it's normal for a mother to resemble her daughter."

Xiao Qi was already somewhat incoherent, and her consciousness was beginning to leave her body.

Xue Ming could sense that this young woman, who usually seemed carefree and cheerful, was not truly in love.

She was like a boy, and boys rarely cry.

"She had a new husband, and she also had a younger brother. That younger brother actually liked me a lot—after all, as an older sister, I would always bring my younger brother some food and toys—I didn't have a penny on me. Working for the Transportation Department, how could I not spend money? So I started to find ways to steal, to cheat, to work as a newspaper boy, to deliver messages for hunters, to select prey, to be an accomplice. At that age, I wanted so many things, and I never knew what crime meant."

Xiao Qi described it by pursing her lips.

"Amin, do you know what that feels like? It's like Bailu wants a piece of candy, but you don't have a single penny. You can't do anything, you can only go home and do some unpaid labor, and your days are almost always filled with work."

Xue Ming Xiao Qi's face in his hands, without saying a word.

Xiao Qi continued.

"One day, I stole a big shot's jewelry—Master A Ling's Fool's Gold Ring. I mistakenly thought it was precious gold, a valuable possession of a golden man, and that it could be exchanged for lots and lots of money."

"After all, people are superstitious, and they love gold, especially in the underworld. Jewelry that brings good luck is a very, very good-selling item."

"But I never expected that Master A Ling would steal my heart."

Xue Ming was full of questions. "Wait, wait, wait—what happened in between? What happened?"

"Didn't you understand?" Xiao Qi repeated, "I stole Master A Ling's jewelry, but she stole my heart."

Xue Ming placed one hand on the left side of the car door and the other on the right side, creating a gap the size of the entire car door.

"Did I miss reading over 100,000 words? What about the middle part?"

Even his spirit arm began to scratch his head unconsciously.

Xiao Qi stood still in front of the carriage, determined to explain clearly.

"Master A Ling knew I was stealing her things, and she stole something from me too: two hundred yuan for travel expenses that my dad left me, and a family photo from when I was little, with a phone number on the back. I've always told my dad that I want to go out and find my mom, and he was afraid something would happen to me, so he sewed all these things into my clothes, afraid that I wouldn't be able to find my mom or my home."

"Since Master A Ling stole these things, I have to go and ask her for them back."

"When I asked her for it, she asked me why I was doing these things. Was I short of money?"

"I'm afraid of her. She's an expressionless, serious-looking older sister."

So I lied, and told many, many lies.

"But Master can see right through it!"

"I told her that my family was poor, my younger brother was sick, and I had to steal to make a living."

"She wanted to transfer the money to me immediately and come to my house to check on me."

"I changed my story again. My younger brother is critically ill and can't see anyone."

"She immediately said that she was a professional doctor with VIP certification at the station."

"I finally burst into tears and explained everything."

At this point, Xiao Qi burst into tears.

Whenever I think about these things, it's like a series of resounding slaps in the face, like thunderclaps in spring.

"Amin, when I squatted down, I covered my head and didn't dare look at her. Then she said to me—"

"--Stand up straight!"

Xiao Qi sobbed uncontrollably, but Xue Ming wiped away her tears as he took care of her.

She is still repeating the most important thing in her life, the most important role, and the most powerful lines.

"--You sleep with ceramics every day. Your mother created you, and like making pottery, she doesn't care about you."

"--You're like pottery, you can't be destroyed by fire!"

"--This pyroxene is nothing but a fake, Fool's Gold. The one that shines is me, the one standing before you."

"--Perhaps your clever mind already knows that the more lies you've told, the more truth you understand."

"--You need a fire to separate the false from the true!"

Xue Ming looked at Xiao Qi in surprise.

The young woman stopped crying, though her face remained flushed.

It was as if all the sadness and grievances had vanished in that moment.

Xiao Qi and Xue Ming.

"When Master A Ling told me these things, she was like an iceberg. I could hear her roars and angry voices when she was expressionless, like she was hitting a timpani."

"So I immediately set a fire with my companions, and you know what happened next."

"Faced with the raging flames, I felt my body become lighter, as if I had let go of everything."

"But then I started to feel scared. What if this fire had actually burned or killed someone? I'm afraid I'd be tormented by my conscience for the rest of my life."

"It was Master who went to the disaster relief effort, Master who paid out of his own pocket to compensate for the losses, Master who told Good Cat to send me to the task force for labor reform, and I to be a witness for the prosecution. The Blue Golds followed the clues and caught most of the hunters in the Transportation Department."

Xue Ming exclaimed in surprise, "She would actually encourage a minor to commit arson!"

Xiao Qi nodded. "Yes, she never considers the consequences; she just does what she thinks of immediately. After she finished, she even said what you said too—'Well done!'"

He sounds like a very ruthless character.

--It's like driving a dump truck and crushing Xiao Qi's childhood inner demons.

These were the only adjectives Xue Ming could think of.

He still couldn't understand why Master A Ling's attitude towards the Radiant Stone was so strange, since even a petty thief could take it away.

The gifts that Ling Weng gave to the passengers were mostly stones, which are very easy to break.

Although Xue Ming had been very careful and cautious in using the Steel Heart, the iron ring already had many scratches, and the corundum had begun to chip. It was estimated that it would have to be sent back to Ling Weng for reforging in two or three years.

Isn't Master A Ling afraid that something might happen to such an important item in the hands of thieves?

Right now, at this very moment.

Xiao Qi knocked on the door of the VIP carriage.

It was a dark solid wood door with a black and red theme and a phoenix pattern, which looked both very festive and very sinister.

A hand reached out from the doorway—

--Then, Master Su Ling handed over two pairs of sunglasses.

"Put it on."

Xue Ming didn't understand the meaning behind it, but he had no choice but to do as he was told.

Xiao Qi obediently put on her sunglasses.

The door opened, Xue Ming was almost blinded by the light.

He finally understood why Master A Ling didn't care at all about the brilliance jewelry given to him by Ling Weng.

Inside this VIP carriage, the walls on both sides are filled with all kinds of pyroxene jewelry, almost like a jewelry display case.

The crystal chandeliers in the carriage were made of pyroxene, and their intense light shone on the various colored pyroxene stones on the side walls, causing Xue Ming's body temperature to rise.

Then I saw Master A Ling, dressed in a waiter's robe and a VIP, sitting in the middle of the road.

--She was wearing sunglasses, her left hand was covered in rings, and she was putting a ring on her right hand, looking exactly like a Lord of the Rings, a woman with the power of money.

Every pyroxene in my hand is glowing.

--Unlike A Xing, who needs a little trick to get angry to activate the sapphire.

When Master Su Ling used these brilliance stones, there was almost no resistance. The colorful stones moved like a carousel, with bright light flowing rapidly along her ten fingers.

Xue Ming finally understood what the black stone man was consuming.

--She raked in money, lots and lots of money.

On the sofa in the middle of the aisle, this eccentric VIP held up the corner of his mouth with his finger, making a "V" sign – meaning a smile.

He greeted his apprentice and JoeStar's new tycoon.

Neither too hot nor too cold, neither too salty nor too bland.

"Haven't seen you for a long time."