After hearing Fu Xuan's words, Chu Mu grew curious.
So he asked:
"Why do you say that? What are you basing it on?"
"What am I basing it on? Still just a feeling." Fu Xuan propped her cheek on one hand and gently swirled her teacup with the other. Her gaze seemed fixed on the cup, yet also on Chu Mu's face behind it.
She said slowly:
"Perhaps it's that you don't give me much of a sense of Joy. Quite the opposite, in fact. You and Joy stand at two extremes."
After a pause, she smiled again.
"But precisely because you stand on opposite sides, opposites attract. You might not seek out Joy, but Joy will cling to you."
Hearing that, Chu Mu asked without betraying any emotion:
"Was that last part based on your feelings too?"
"No, calculation," Fu Xuan said slowly. "For Aha and their followers, the appeal of toying with an Emanator of Abundance clearly exceeds that of toying with an ordinary person. The more of a story someone has, the more amusement they can offer."
"Then you're wrong. I don't have much of a story." Chu Mu shook his head. "My past is very simple. You could call it utterly unremarkable. Becoming an Emanator of Abundance was just a stroke of chance."
"Oh? Is that so?" Fu Xuan looked at Chu Mu. "You didn't deny my earlier speculation. That means Sampo really is an alias, and an Elation Follower really is pestering you. Don't tell me you took the name Sampo from the fellow who's been bothering you?"
Chu Mu: "..."
He shook his head and said:
"How many Emanators there are in the Sea of Stars, and who they are, isn't something you or I can know. We even know very little about the