Obtaining the Void Candle Shears

Bronya felt a little puzzled. While she was still thinking it over, Jing Yan had already completed his sign-in task for the day.

He obtained a Curio: the Void Candle Shears.

This thing was great.

Jing Yan smiled.

The Curio looked like a pair of scissors with a white handle and fluorescent green blades.

Its ability was simple: it could repair two Curios that had previously been damaged.

The only damaged Curio Jing Yan had used so far was the Galactic Lottery.

So he immediately used the Void Candle Shears to repair the Galactic Lottery.

A burst of eerie green light flared. On the Galactic Lottery, a blue-and-pink "lottery ticket," sparks like fluorescent powder or sunlight glinting off broken diamonds began to shine once more.

It glittered with a dazzling luster, making it obvious at a glance that the item was extraordinary.

"Not bad."

Jing Yan held the brand-new Galactic Lottery and felt very satisfied.

[Description: Scratch it off, and you may win a grand prize—or receive a huge punishment!]

The last time he scratched it off, he'd received a reward: an increase in the Aeon's power.

But this time, there was no telling what would happen.

A sudden premonition rose in Jing Yan's heart: this time, opening it would bring bad luck.

But the feeling vanished as quickly as it came.

He couldn't even be sure whether his intuition had been accurate.

He was the Aeon of "Eros," not the Aeon of "Luck." In fact, there was no Aeon with that Path at present.

The Path of "Enigmata" might be somewhat close; perhaps its Aeon could understand the elusive nature of luck.

In any case, Jing Yan had no way of predicting the odds of this happening.

But he wasn't willing to pass up this chance.

Jing Yan decided to open it aboard the Astral Express.

It was possible that, if he drew bad luck, the entire train might be struck by a meteorite or suffer an engine failure and plummet out of the sky.

But the Astral Express had more powerful people aboard.

Even if bad luck struck, Jing Yan could rely on their strength to share the misfortune.

But if he drew bad luck in Belobog, he would likely have to bear the punishment himself.

Besides, Jing Yan didn't know what form the punishment would take.

If the punishment involved an Emanator of the "Elation" Path, one hostile to him, discovering his whereabouts and coming after him, then boarding the Astral Express and setting off at once to evade them would be absolutely the right and safest choice—for his own safety and Belobog's.

Of course, the premonition he'd just felt might have been wrong.

As the old saying went, dreams always came true in reverse.

If he opened the Galactic Lottery aboard the Astral Express and won a reward—or even drew a punishment that was a punishment for most people but a reward for him, Jing Yan—then he'd come out ahead!

Jing Yan really was a strange man...

In the Supreme Guardian's office at Qlipoth Fort, Bronya watched Jing Yan leave, lost in thought.

She felt that something was odd.

When Jing Yan had spoken to her just now, why had he suddenly reached out and touched her lips?

Bronya had understood it as Jing Yan signaling for her to be quiet so he could speak. That explanation seemed perfectly reasonable, but...

It still didn't feel right.

Was that guy Jing Yan interested in her?

Bronya thought it over, but couldn't reach an answer for now.

After all, as far as she knew, Jing Yan would soon leave Belobog with the three members of the Astral Express crew and travel to other planets.

With their parting so near, if Jing Yan had special feelings for her, wouldn't it be better for him to make them clearer?

Bronya was unsettled, but didn't let herself keep jumping to conclusions.

She asked Pela to follow up on the details of the new faith Jing Yan had mentioned.

"Jing Yan, I need to ask you something."

Jing Yan had just left Qlipoth Fort when he received a text message.

He thought for a moment, pausing for a few seconds as he looked at the sender's profile picture. Then he started typing a reply.

"You're not going to..."

After thinking it over, Jing Yan deleted what he'd just typed and sent two words instead: "No way!"

The person who had just messaged him was his "good brother," Sampo.

As the only living merchant Jing Yan knew of who did business in both the Upper District and the Underworld, Sampo's information network was undoubtedly impressive. But since he was a Pathstrider of "Elation," Jing Yan always kept his distance.

At least when it came to matters related to his own Path, Jing Yan generally preferred not to discuss them with Sampo.

"Brother Jing Yan!"

Sampo sent him an emoji of a grinning, sweating face.

"Brother, I haven't even told you what I was thinking yet. What if I was going to say, 'If I donated everything I own to you, would you agree?'"

Sampo continued.

Jing Yan laughed when he read that.

"Rejected!"

He knew exactly what Sampo meant.

As the saying went, nobody visited the Three Treasures Hall without a reason. It was crystal clear why Sampo had messaged him.

He had his eye on something related to Jing Yan's Path. After all...

There was no other way to explain why Sampo was being so friendly.

Sampo wasn't really a shady merchant.

He could be a little strange, given the influence of the "Elation" Path, but he did have one good quality: if someone did him a favor, he would go to great lengths to repay them.

Still, when he was needed, sometimes he just happened to be nowhere around, which made him seem rather unreliable.

That was one of his contradictions.

"I'm asking whether I could join your Path, Brother Jing Yan."

Jing Yan smiled when he saw that.

The reply was exactly what he'd expected. In fact, it was entirely in keeping with the usual behavior of the organization Sampo most likely belonged to: the Masked Fools.

The Masked Fools, followers of the "Elation" Path, loved to "put on masks"—that is, to disguise themselves as Pathstriders of other Paths.

Perhaps it let them savor the many facets of life while creating an air of mystery and uniqueness. Especially when they revealed their true identities, they could experience an immense thrill like no other.

But in Jing Yan's eyes, their behavior was extremely dangerous.

So even though Sampo had been on decent terms with him since childhood, Jing Yan still didn't intend to let him join.

There were things you simply couldn't predict.

If Aha, the Aeon of "Elation," used the opportunity to infiltrate his Path, things could get ugly.

With his current strength, Jing Yan still wasn't strong enough to face Aha, the Aeon of "Elation," who could tear the universe apart with a laugh.