At the [ Interastral Tournament Festival ] event, Xing brought March 7th with him.
"In order to help the revitalized Jarilo-VI catch up with the latest trends as quickly as possible, the Tournament Association specifically chose this planet... You could say they still haven't given up."
Xing didn't care. The company had just renovated the old experimental site for Jarilo-VI, and the main purpose this time was just to play games, so there was no malice intended.
"Two beautiful ladies! Welcome to my arena!"
A voice suddenly rang out from behind Xing. Without hesitation, she conjured a baseball bat and swung it at the other person's face.
"Hiss... Miss, you're really alert..." Giovanni dodged in time. As expected of the Nameless on the Astral Express, his vigilance is indeed strong.
"If I'm not mistaken, you two are Xing and March 7th, right?"
"Have you two also heard about the [ Interastral Tournament Festival ] and wanted to come and show off your skills?" Giovanni greeted them politely.
On March 7th, in front of Giovanni, Xing whispered to him, "Hey, Xing... look at his mask, it's pretty cool, isn't it?"
"How do you know our names? Masked monster... Hurry up and tell me your names!"
"Haha, look at me... I've really lost my composure!" Giovanni joked self-deprecatingly. "I forgot to introduce myself—my Giovanni di Giorgio da Epsilon."
"A small private merchant from Epsilon, the full sponsor of this year's [ Interastral Tournament Festival ]."
"Thank you for your introduction, Giovanni di Jo... Mr. something."
He rambled on and on about his self-introduction, but by March 7th, he had only heard the first few words.
"You sound like a very important person... what brings you here?"
Why not show your true face? Can you take off your mask and let me see?
"Haha, you're so funny! But unfortunately, this mask is a matter of life and death for me... Let's give each other some privacy, okay?"
"Besides, I suffered a minor injury a few days ago, and this mask was only managed to be glued on with great difficulty. Please take a look."
Giovanni specifically pointed out the damaged area of the mask, where there were indeed traces of tape.
"Now, let me answer Miss March 7th's question... As you can see, the [ Interastral Tournament Festival ] is about to be held on this beautiful planet..."
"As the sole sponsor of this event, it is only natural for me to come to the venue to check on the operation."
"Furthermore, I'd also like to get to know the players in the tournament, and the two of you... In this vast universe, you can never have too many friends. If you two would be so kind as to call me a friend, that would be a great honor for me!"
Hearing Giovanni's praise, March 7th looked up at the stars.
"Hmm... this guy, despite wearing a mask and looking rather strange, is actually a big shot... but he doesn't seem to have any ill intentions and is quite approachable. What do you think?"
"I'll stand and watch."
"Hey, get serious!"
"Ahem..." Xing's tone suddenly hardened. "Cheers to our friendship!"
"Yes, I trust your judgment! Please guide me, Mr. Giovanni."
What kind of bad guy could be wearing a mask?
"To have made friends like you is the happiest day of my life," Giovanni said, clutching his chest in a convincing performance.
"You probably already know the details of the game ' Aetherium Wars.' Now, let me answer your questions about the [ Interastral Tournament Festival ]!"
So... where is this place?
The company's debt problems were resolved too smoothly, so much so that the Astral Express Crew never even visited the newly restored area of Jarilo-VI.
"This place? It's Belobog's weapons testing grounds... at least seven hundred years ago. During the restoration of this place, we discovered many long-forgotten Automaton Soldier production lines."
"Hundreds of years ago, the Belobog people tested the performance of their mechs on this very ground."
"As for now, with my sponsorship, the company and the Aetherium Wars Tournament Association have transformed this place into the competition venue for the tournament... In other words, this is now my [arena]."
"I see... Wait, is your project compliant with regulations?" Xing questioned.
"Of course it's compliant! This project received personal approval from the president of the Belobog Architects and the Minister of Culture..."
"As for whether they received the Supreme Guardian's approval, that's not something I can inquire about."
Even so, Xing still felt that something was amiss. After the [ Release Gang ] incident, her wariness of strangers had increased significantly.
"Haha, being too suspicious isn't good for your health. Don't worry, you two. I'm just enjoying the game and I'd love to see players compete and work together."
"I have no other thoughts besides this! I can assure you... I swear on my honor and this mask!"
At the Goethe Hotel, Ye Yan flipped through a virtual newspaper, browsing the weekly report regularly sent by the Church.
"[Deacon Screwllum has been missing for several days, and a missing person notice has been issued. The Church has reason to suspect that he was kidnapped by the Antimatter Legion, and it may also be related to the declaration made by Duke Inferno Afrit of the Underworld the day before yesterday...]"
"[ Chair Blake and Chair Fulisina have gone missing, and Knight Commander Botenis is unconscious from a hangover. The Church is facing its greatest crisis in history!]"
"[I implore you to unleash Eternity divine punishment upon the Annihilation Gang and the Antimatter Legion! To avenge the murder of Screwllum!]"
A barrage of messages flooded Ye Yan's mind: the Acting Priest had already tacitly agreed that Screwllum was gone?!
"By the way, the sponsor of this [ Interastral Tournament Festival ] seems to be a Masked Fools named Giovanni."
"Hmm, who knows what that masked man is up to?" Silver Wolf admitted that she didn't like the Masked Fools.
Are you scared?
"How could that be? But it's hard to fathom this person's thoughts—what if he's trying to entrap me, dump me on the company, and watch me make a fool of myself?"
Silver Wolf suddenly remembered that Blake could also be considered half of the Masked Fools, and he had heard that Black often went to the [ Tavern ].
"You never know what tricks the Masked Fools will pull for a laugh..."
Halfway through his sentence, Silver Wolf suddenly realized the key elements: [Never know], [Never]...
"Tch, it's [ Eternity ] stirring things up again! Could this guy be connected to the Church?"
Therefore, you must be careful when dealing with people who wear masks, and you should also be wary of people who offer you soap.
"It sounds like... you know him very well?"
Silver Wolf blew bubblegum. "He's probably the most flamboyant Masked Fools in the entire universe—who hasn't heard of the Masked Tycoon of Epsilon? It would be strange if you didn't know him."
"But I'm not interested in him, and I'm too lazy to dig up information about him. Enough of that, let's get down to some exciting ' Aetherium Wars '!"
Seeing Silver Wolf's incredibly expectant look, Ye Yan really couldn't bear to shatter this beautiful dream, but the other party was just too enthusiastic...
There's no other way, let Silver Wolf witness the terror of [ Eternity ]!
This game uses [ Aether Editing ] technology, right? Let's modify it a little...
[ Eternity Copying ], activated!