A few days later, after Luo Zhiyuan had spent day and night nurturing the Shadow Divine Weapon and the Divine Illusion Bead, he finally imprinted his Spiritual Imprint on both of them.
The Divine Illusion Bead had already merged into his Consciousness Ocean, floating above the eight stars there. It absorbed all the Spiritual Force he released, then emitted it back out.
As for the Shadow Divine Weapon, it no longer weighed on him like a mountain. He could control its size and wear it on his left wrist, where it became a handsome black bracelet with bright white patterns.
Of course, Xingxing had also advanced to the ninth tier of Star Level and could now speak in simple, connected sentences, such as "Master, Xingxing likes you" and "Master, Xingxing wants to soak some more," among others.
Today, after having Bulieni arrange the guards' duties, Luo Zhiyuan flew away from the main peak with ten personal guards and headed to the spaceport. He planned to explore Qingyu Planet and see how he could solve his identity problem.
More than a dozen spaceships were still parked at the spaceport. Luo Zhiyuan asked, "Bulieni, why did you buy so many spaceships? What are they for?"
Bulieni grunted. "What are they for? For later, of course! When I want you to go out and train, are you supposed to take that E9-Grade Machine Race Spaceship? Then people will see a little Star Level brat and a few Universe Level guards getting off it?"
"I'm telling you, you'd soon be killed by some envious Domain Lord Level or World Lord Level brat. After all, that spaceship is worth more than all their wealth put together. Some people are very practiced at killing for loot."
Luo Zhiyuan got the point. This really was a serious problem. It looked like he'd have to be careful and keep some things under wraps.
"So I bought a few C-class and D-class spaceships, just to throw people off."
Luo Zhiyuan nodded, chose a C9-Class Spaceship, and boarded it. He headed for Qingyi City, the only major city on Qingyu Planet and its political and economic center.
As a five-star customer, Luo Zhiyuan was allowed to land his spaceship at Qingyi City's internal spaceport. On the way down, he scanned the city from the ship and got a general sense of its layout.
Qingyi City was a colossal metropolis with no actual walls. It was oval-shaped and covered an area roughly equal to the combined landmass of Europe and Asia on Earth.
After disembarking and paying the spaceship management fee, Luo Zhiyuan set off to explore Qingyi City with his personal guards.
They first visited the free-trade district, which was packed with shops of every size.
The scale of the shops there was far beyond Luo Zhiyuan's imagination. The largest covered an area comparable to an entire county on Earth and soared into the clouds, while even the smallest occupied more land than a village.
Luo Zhiyuan wandered from one shop to another, going into practically every one he passed. The goods on sale were a bewildering assortment. He even saw a shop that sold planets on commission, with images of numerous planets and star systems on display.
After wandering for a full ten hours, Luo Zhiyuan had seen less than half the shops. He bought some second- and third-tier armor and weapons to take back for the guards, as well as a good amount of Immortal Crystal to power the Time Chamber.
He also bought a fifth-tier flying Telekinetic Weapon for himself. He couldn't use the Flame Light Feather for the time being, and relying on just a second-tier Telekinetic Weapon wouldn't be safe in the Genius Tournament. After weighing his options, he bought Light Wings, a fifth-tier flying weapon suited to the Laws of Light and Time.
Luo Zhiyuan noticed that many weapons and pieces of equipment in the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom were made in the shape of wings. It might have something to do with the people there, since many of the races in the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom were Winged Races.
Still, Luo Zhiyuan didn't mind the winged design. As Bulieni had said, "It's only temporary. Who cares what it looks like?"
But after wandering around for so long, Luo Zhiyuan hadn't found a single clue that could help him secretly change his identity information. In a foul mood, he entered a grand, luxurious restaurant, hoping to sort out his thoughts and sample the food.
An attendant led him to a quiet pavilion, where he sat down and ordered some of the recommended dishes. Then he started talking with Bulieni.
"Bulieni, we've spent the whole day looking around, but we haven't found anything like a black market. Any legitimate way of changing identity information gets recorded by the Virtual Universe System, so that won't work for us. Have you found anything in the Virtual Universe?"
"Nothing at all. This is probably because Qingyu Planet is a directly administered administrative planet of the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom. The Virtual Universe System must keep a very close eye on anything illegal here. I haven't got a single lead."
Luo Zhiyuan picked up a fruit native to Qingyu Planet and tossed it into his mouth. He silently shook his head. These interstellar civilizations seemed to have a very different idea of good food. They considered something so bland a local delicacy, and he couldn't imagine what was special about it.
No wonder Xu Xin had turned Earth's dining industry into a chain that spanned the entire universe in the original story. Maybe she was worried Luo Feng wouldn't be able to get good food. Ha! Luo Zhiyuan muttered to himself as he tried the other dishes. They were just as unimpressive. He'd let the guards eat them; he'd lost interest.
The guards? A thought flashed through Luo Zhiyuan's mind.
"Bulieni, what kind of company did you use when you bought the manor and the slaves?"
"Definitely the most prestigious company on Qingyu Planet. It's even one of the top five companies in the entire Xuanyi Universe Kingdom. It has a great reputation and a lot of credibility. Why?"
"Here's the thing: companies that trade in slaves in the universe are rarely clean. They must have other connections too. We might as well ask. We could get lucky."
Bulieni immediately contacted Fuke, the man who had handled the handover with Luo Zhiyuan at the manor, and asked him to come to the restaurant. There was something they wanted to discuss with him.
Fuke agreed without hesitation. He arrived less than half an hour after ending the call. He couldn't bring his spaceship into Qingyi City and had to leave it at a spaceport far away, so it seemed he took Luo Zhiyuan, a major client, very seriously.
After inviting Fuke to sit down, Luo Zhiyuan ate and drank with him while they chatted about all sorts of things. When the time seemed right, he said, "Haha, I didn't realize your company had such a wide range of services. Impressive."
"Oh, right, Mr. Fuke. Does your company have any way to change identity information without having it recorded by the Virtual Universe System?"
Fuke glanced at Luo Zhiyuan and realized this wasn't a casual question born of passing curiosity. Luo Zhiyuan was waiting for an answer in earnest. Fuke understood: all their conversation for the past half hour had been small talk. This was what the customer really wanted to ask.
He looked around. The place was discreet. Then he checked the Auxiliary Optical Computer to make sure there weren't any other issues before leaning close to Luo Zhiyuan and lowering his voice.
"Sir, it's a good thing you chose a shop that takes its customers' privacy seriously. They don't have any other surveillance equipment installed. Otherwise, that one question could have gotten you taken in for questioning by the public security office."
"Heh, I don't know why you need this kind of special service, but you're one of our top-tier members, and you have a high level of access to our company's services. So I can tell you for certain: yes, we can help."
Luo Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow and gestured for Fuke to continue.
"Sir, I should warn you up front that this kind of special service is rather expensive. I don't know if you—"
Luo Zhiyuan replied confidently, "Go on. As long as it isn't too outrageous, it won't be a problem."
"Great! I like your decisiveness. Sir, we won't ask why you need it. Just give us the information for your new identity and a fee of 100 Hunyuan, and we'll take care of everything."
"However, this service isn't eligible for a discount with your membership card. I hope you understand. After all... heh, you know. Handling something like this is very dangerous. If the Virtual Universe System finds out, you'll be arrested on the spot."
Luo Zhiyuan hadn't expected to find a solution so easily. The money was no problem for him. But on second thought, if the company could easily get him a hundred ninth-tier Universe Level slaves about the same size as an Earthling, its reach was easy to imagine. The fee seemed well worth it.
Luo Zhiyuan nodded. "No problem. Prepare two identities for me. One should have the Xuanyi Universe Kingdom as its place of birth, and the other should be for a human from a Universe Secret Realm."
"Set the age to thirty. The rest doesn't matter. Replace my current Xuanyi Universe Kingdom identity directly, and make the other one a backup. Any problems?"
Fuke was grinning from ear to ear. He'd earn a hefty commission from this deal, enough to buy himself some high-end equipment.
He kept saying, "No problem at all! The new identity will be ready in two weeks. Just let me know when you need the backup identity, and we can get it ready in just one week. You can switch between these two identities as often as you like."
They really did have connections. The human population as a whole was divided into three groups: humans from Universe Countries, humans from Universe Secret Realms, and humans from God Kingdoms. Ordinary humans didn't know this.
An ordinary account manager like Fuke even knew about humans from Universe Secret Realms. It seemed his company really did handle all kinds of business.
Luo Zhiyuan immediately transferred 100 Hunyuan to Fuke's company and paid for a supposed legal consultation service, a cover service the company had set up to conceal the real transaction.
Luo Zhiyuan told Fuke to get started as soon as possible and to come to his place once it was done. Then he settled the bill and left the restaurant. Fuke, however, stayed behind to eat more of the so-called delicacies before leaving.
With that weight off his mind, Luo Zhiyuan continued exploring Qingyi City at his leisure. He spent the next three days wandering around, taking a quick look at everything, and managed to see most of the city.
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