"Yes. Lady Fu Xuan of the Divination Commission reported that it was the site of a civilization destroyed by a Stellaron, with no life anywhere nearby. But observations through the Matrix of Prescience detected not only Emanator-level energy fluctuations, but also traces of the Swarm and the Antimatter Legion.
"The Lord Diviner cannot yet observe the Emanator responsible for this disturbance, but she can confirm that it is not any known Emanator."
Qingzu delivered the entire report in one breath, without wasting a word.
As someone who effectively served as Jing Yuan's secretary, her professionalism was beyond question.
"Oh?"
Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow and sat up straight. The report clearly stated that the Antimatter Legion had revived there before being wiped out, but the Lord Diviner could not divine who had destroyed them.
After a moment's thought, Jing Yuan understood why Fu Xuan's projection had not appeared. Divining an Emanator already took an enormous toll-such beings surpassed Fu Xuan's own strength, after all. Even with the Matrix of Prescience fully amplifying her sight, obtaining a clear reading would likely take some time.
No wonder Fu Xuan had sent Qingzu to relay the message instead of projecting herself here. She had gotten stubborn about figuring this person out.
Jing Yuan did not know whether to laugh or cry.
Still, he was not worried. Fu Xuan could be rather blunt, but she knew her limits when performing divinations. She would not make an enemy of someone over this.
As for the Antimatter Legion reviving and then disappearing, perhaps the Stellaron had revived them, and the Emanator had destroyed them. That made perfect sense.
"Unable to determine which Aeon the Emanator serves..."
Jing Yuan rubbed his chin, skimmed the report once more, then handed it back to Qingzu.
"Report this to the marshal. The marshal needs to know about a newly emerged Emanator.
"Let's hope this Emanator leans toward maintaining order. Even a neutral stance would do."
Jing Yuan sighed. Followers of the Plagues Author within the Xianzhou were stirring. He suspected they might be the former Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, but he had no solid evidence. Besides, they were so deeply concealed that detecting them under normal circumstances was impossible.
The Vidyadhara were plotting something internally as well, but they had signed a treaty with the humans and Foxians long ago. He had no authority to investigate them.
Some old fossils were also waiting for him to slip up so they could impeach him and force him out.
He had long since grown tired of being this damned general, but whether it was Yanqing or Fu Xuan...
None of them currently had the ability to shoulder the Luofu. If he truly listened to those old fossils, the Luofu's days would probably be numbered.
"Yes, General."
Qingzu dutifully carried out Jing Yuan's instructions.
After Qingzu stepped aside to send the message, he fell into thought again.
The site was not particularly far from the Balanza Forge. They might send someone to investigate, and perhaps afterward, he would learn what had actually happened there.
"General, the Earth-Balance Commission has sent a message through a confidential channel. A nonresident of the Xianzhou suddenly appeared in Aurum Alley. He made no attempt to conceal himself, so one of their staff spotted him. After checking the records, the staff member found that this person was neither a registered Luofu resident nor an outside tourist. At present, he is... eating snacks. They would like to know how you wish to proceed."
Even Qingzu sounded as though she was struggling to keep a straight face.
Still, if someone could appear out of nowhere, the Earth-Balance Commission staff could figure out that his strength was extraordinary even if they thought with Diting's backside.
Acting rashly against someone like that before determining whether he was friend or foe would hardly be wise.
"I'll go take a look myself."
Jing Yuan was growing curious too. Someone who could suddenly appear in Aurum Alley could do the same elsewhere, but heading straight for food upon arrival was certainly unusual.
"But the work here..."
Qingzu looked troubled. She glanced at the stacks of documents as tall as a person-five stacks, no less!
"None of these are confidential."
Jing Yuan waved a hand, then fixed his gaze on Qingzu, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth.
"Qingzu, you've been at my side for quite some time, and I know you're more than capable. Now, I have an extremely important assignment for you. Only you can complete it."
"...Please, go ahead."
Qingzu felt uneasy. She had a nagging feeling Jing Yuan was about to say something outrageous.
"I'll leave these documents to you. I'm sure you can handle them."
"N-no! This is the general's responsibility. If anyone saw, certain people might use it as grounds to impeach you."
Qingzu did not know whether to laugh or cry. Wasn't he being far too lazy?
Even if she was already used to it.
She still remembered arriving at the Seat of Divine Foresight to work, full of admiration and curiosity about the Arbiter-General. But afterward...
"This is the Seat of Divine Foresight. There are no 'certain people' here."
Perhaps people from the other six commissions had infiltrated the place, but none of them were spies for those old fossils.
That was enough.
Besides, he was right here in the Seat of Divine Foresight. How could he possibly not know whether anyone had infiltrated it?
"No. At most, I can sort them for you."
Some boundaries could not be crossed. Qingzu knew what mattered.
"That works too. Do your best."
Jing Yuan agreed immediately and turned to leave with a smile. Judging by his stride, he was moving considerably faster than when he had come to the Seat of Divine Foresight for work.
Qingzu: "..."
She had definitely been tricked. This had probably been Jing Yuan's goal all along.
Of course. If she understood something, how could Jing Yuan possibly fail to understand it?
Meanwhile, in Aurum Alley...
P.S. In the Penacony storyline, Sparkle said it had been almost half a system hour, while Aventurine said forty-five minutes.
So just treat one system hour as two hours.
And thanks to | for the monthly ticket. What an awesome username.
Chapter 11: Does This Count as Living off a Woman?
"Visiting someone else's territory for the first time and immediately looking for food... I'm probably the only one who does that."
Using the power of [Elation] for short-range warps was no problem.
Lingchen had now experienced the authority of [Declare Truth False, Declare Falsehood True] for the first time.
He did not possess the ability to warp short distances directly, but after using that authority to declare that he did, he could warp.
However, it was clear that, for someone at his Emanator level, the authority's effects could not last very long, although the cost was not particularly high.
How could the Path of [Elation] be something so inconvenient?
Lingchen sat at a table in the Gourmet Pavilion. Compared with the tiny space in the game, its real-world counterpart was considerably larger. Calling it a full-sized restaurant would not be an exaggeration.
Sure enough, shops that appeared in the game were all leading establishments in reality.
"The signature red-oil slash-cut beef offal... It sounds like some martial artist hacked up the offal with a saber, but it really does taste good."
Lingchen swallowed his last mouthful of beef offal and wiped the corner of his mouth.
The food here was very similar to that of the place where he had once lived, so there was no question of struggling to adjust to it.
"You're an outworlder, young man, aren't you?"
"That's right. You could tell?"
Faced with the owner Short Auntie's casual question, Lingchen answered just as casually.
It was like running into an acquaintance on the street and asking, "Have you eaten?"
"Oh, never mind anything else. Your clothes alone are different from what us Xianzhou natives wear."
Short Auntie stood with her hands on her hips. Handsome, poised outworlders like him were a rare sight. Since things happened to be less busy now, she had come over to collect payment herself.
Lingchen's expression turned a little odd. Although he knew not to judge Xianzhou natives by their appearance, this Short Auntie still spoke in a childish voice and stood no taller than a child. Being called "young man" by her really did feel strange.
It was like seeing an adult call a small child "Grandpa." Though perfectly normal within an extended clan, it was still startling to see in person.
Lingchen took out his phone and readily paid the Credits.
It was Silver Wolf's money anyway. As for whether Silver Wolf was happy about it, out of sight, out of mind. Since he could not see her, he would just assume she was happy.
"All right, sweetie. It's hardly any Credits. Worst case, I'll transfer you some more. Stop grinding your teeth."
Aboard the ship, Kafka bent down and leaned close to Silver Wolf. Silver Wolf held another phone, its screen showing an expenditure of 3,600 Credits.
"I'm not grinding my teeth."
Silver Wolf rolled her eyes at Kafka's teasing.
Though part of her Credits came from her pay for Stellaron Hunters operations, most had been obtained through hacking from less-than-reputable sources.
Forget 3,600 Credits-even a hundred thousand or a million would not make her bat an eye.
She simply had not expected Lingchen to use it so comfortably. She had barely given him the phone before he started spending.
[Hey, hey. Does this count as living off a woman?]
Silver Wolf sent Lingchen a message.
[I guess so. Living off a genius hacker tastes pretty sweet.]
Lingchen replied almost immediately.
[You really have no shame. We only just met.]
[Uh-huh. And? Plenty of people in this world would love to live off Wolfie, right? But I'm the only one who gets to.]
"Does this guy even know what he's saying?"
Back aboard the ship, Silver Wolf's cheeks flushed.
Had she been alone, she might not have felt much of anything. She could even have traded jokes with Lingchen.
But Kafka was watching, and even Firefly, thanks to [Purification], had left the Sam armor and was standing in front of Silver Wolf.
And so, whether from embarrassment or annoyance, Silver Wolf's cheeks turned red.
"It seems Lingchen is quite fond of you~"
Nobody cared about such a trivial amount of Credits.
"He never said he wanted to spend my Credits. Ah~ Looks like I'm not as attractive as our Wolfie~"
Kafka was genuinely a little surprised. The Stellaron Hunters' gaming addict, who had once cared about nothing but video games, seemed to have fallen in love at first sight.
Love at first sight might sound a little unbelievable, but feelings arrived without any regard for reason.
Perhaps something Lingchen had said, or some gesture he had made, had suddenly drawn Silver Wolf to him.
At any rate, Kafka could not quite figure it out right now, but she respected Silver Wolf's feelings.
Besides, having someone like Lingchen backing her up would not be bad.
Clearly, though, Silver Wolf had yet to understand her own feelings.
"Kafka~!"
Silver Wolf turned her head in embarrassment, then sent Lingchen a message and switched off her phone immediately afterward.
[Do whatever you want. It's not like I can beat you anyway.]
In Aurum Alley, Lingchen emerged from the Gourmet Pavilion and looked at the reply on his phone with amusement, along with the "offline" indicator above it.
Who was Silver Wolf? A genius hacker. If she did not want Lingchen spending her money, stopping him would be easy.
Besides, the linked card was Silver Wolf's own to begin with.
"Wolfie really is cute."
As he was leaving, the owner had even asked where he had bought his phone case.
He continued walking. Aurum Alley was astonishingly large in reality.
Along the way, Lingchen saw shops selling just about everything.
Although Aurum Alley had fallen on hard times, it was still a delve of the Xianzhou Luofu. Its size and variety of shops were beyond anything those less advanced civilizations could compare with.
"Good grief. Mandarin fish stir-fried with stinky tofu, pickled puffin stewed with oilfish... Is this stuff fit for human consumption?"
Lingchen covered his nose, shook his head, and moved away. A shop like that actually had customers. Human curiosity really was terrifying.
"Du's Teahouse. I'll take a break here. Judging by all the people watching me, someone who actually calls the shots should be arriving soon."