[Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt this program with breaking news. Yesterday at 23:10:09 system time, the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf, in league with the Masked Fools, orchestrated an attack on the Corporation's headquarters.]
[The Interastral Network was paralyzed by a powerful digital attack, with an unspecified number of casualties in the department overseeing Interastral Network accounts. Repairs have now been completed. We sincerely apologize for yesterday's network outage.]
[By decision of the Corporation's senior management, the bounty on the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf has been revised to 8.832 billion Credits. We have dispatched an investigation team to track down the remaining Masked Fool accomplices. Residents are advised to lock their doors and windows in the coming days and take precautions against criminals. Safeguarding interastral peace is everyone's responsibility.]
At the Stellaron Hunters' hideout, Kafka swirled the red wine in her glass and looked at the girl with the single turbine-shaped spiral braid sitting opposite her.
Sure enough, Silver Wolf was in an exceptionally good mood today.
"Did you get your game accounts back?"
"With [Eternity] here, we'll win!" Happiness covered Silver Wolf's face. Words could hardly describe how it felt to recover her lost accounts.
"So... the babysitter came to mooch a meal too."
Kafka shifted her gaze to Ye Yan beside them.
"Never lift a finger when you can get it for free. That's my philosophy in life."
Ye Yan picked up a piece of medium-well steak and put it into his mouth.
"The Stellaron Hunters really go all out for breakfast. You're making me want to join."
A certain slave to fate shuddered.
"Really?!" Silver Wolf shot to her feet.
"Unfortunately, this babysitter still has to go back and look after the kids."
Ye Yan had no interest in the Stellaron Hunters as an organization, but the people in it were another matter.
"So... why haven't I seen the other two members yet?"
"Unfortunately, they aren't here. Would you like me to take you to meet them?"
"No need for that. Help me give this bottle of milk tea to that space knight. It should effectively alleviate [Entropy Loss Syndrome]."
A bottle of dark brown caramel milk tea appeared on the table.
"As for the other one, I believe we'll meet very soon."
Ye Yan looked forward to meeting the Stellaron Hunters on the Xianzhou Luofu. Poor Phantylia was going to be toyed with in the palm of his hand.
He hadn't gotten his fill fighting Nanook last time, but going back for more would be a little rude. It would make it seem as though Ye Yan was bullying THEM.
Since the Lord Ravagers couldn't contact Nanook anyway, he might as well turn his attention to them.
An innocent Foxian girl shouldn't have been attacked by a Lord Ravager and had her life stolen from her.
He had to marvel at how exquisite Phantylia's disguise was. She was just like another Tingyun in this world, and without an omniscient perspective, she had truly fooled the Nameless who had just arrived on the Xianzhou.
But things were different now. If Ye Yan remembered correctly... there was an inorganic life-form in the church that could disguise herself as other people. Her art of disguise was flawless, at least a cut above Phantylia's.
The priest seemed to have brought her from Planet Screwllum. Screwllum had even come looking for him back then.
Phantylia was impersonating Tingyun, so he would have that Intellitron impersonate Phantylia... or impersonate Tingyun too, and see whose acting was better.
"The operation on the Xianzhou will probably be even harder than the one on the space station." Kafka rubbed her temples. She treasured this final day of leisure.
"Entropy Loss Syndrome... right, I should've thought of asking you to come sooner!" Silver Wolf smacked her forehead. Although Firefly didn't enjoy the same kinds of games as she did.
Still, she didn't want to lose a companion. Entropy Loss Syndrome was terrifying.
The physical structure of those afflicted would undergo irreversible, chronic dissociation. This [disappearance] was almost imperceptible even to others.
The Iron Cavalry's medical cabin could suppress it, but the effect was too weak.
As it happened, [Eternity] was the natural counter to Entropy Loss Syndrome.
Before an Aeon's immense power, everything seemed insignificant. It was only genetic modification; sealing it off would do.
"That's right! It's Eternity. I added Eternity."
The secret art of Eternity could make the human body stop forever at a particular moment on every level.
That was why Emanators of Eternity were both youthful and long-lived. To practice [Eternity], they used [Eternity] to lock their own time, keeping their bodies and ages forever at that moment.
Using [Eternity] to sustain [Eternity]. That worked.
The church's high priestess was an exception. An elf's lifespan exceeded that of an ordinary human by tens of millions of times, never mind that she was also an Emanator of [Eternity].
"Looking forward to your heart-[freezing] adventure." Silver Wolf tapped away at her virtual keyboard. She was even starting to want to follow Ye Yan and run the dungeon with him.
On the Astral Express, Stelle sank into thought as she listened to the latest Interastral Peace Broadcast.
She seemed to have underestimated Silver Wolf's ability to take action. She had thought the girl would suffer a setback over this, getting so angry she would cry, throw a tantrum, and roll around on the floor.
Instead, she had raided the Interastral Peace Corporation overnight and gotten her accounts back.
"Don't you think the Corporation's kind of pitiful? A while ago, that head of some development department got ambushed and still hasn't woken up. Then there was another large-scale raid last night. The world is too scary."
March 7th hugged Pom-Pom tightly in fright. Welt and Himeko, on the other hand, were used to such things.
"Dan Heng, any thoughts?" March 7th poked Dan Heng beside her.
"Hm? As long as the trouble doesn't reach us or drag us into it, it's fine." It wasn't as though Dan Heng had never worked for the Corporation. He knew those big shots all harbored their own schemes. Hardly any of them were decent.
"Passenger March 7th, didn't I ask you to get Passenger Ye Yan? The Express will be making its jump soon, pom!"
"Oh my~ So even our Teacher Ye Yan sleeps in. Stelle, come upstairs with me and take a look."
Stelle had slept on the sofa yesterday. Overall, it was about the same as sleeping in a bed, just a little cold without a blanket.
She wouldn't get sick anyway. She already had a Stellaron inside her, and she could still catch a disease? What a joke.
Meanwhile, Ye Yan's room was on the upper level of the Party Car.
After saying goodbye to Silver Wolf and Kafka, Ye Yan tore open the void and sneaked back onto the Express. Sure enough, the Fool's Mask was throwing a tantrum and rolling around on his bed.
"You've hurt me so much! You actually disguised yourself as a Masked Fool to visit the Corporation. You're ruining Aha's reputation!"
Upon seeing Ye Yan, the mask flew up before him, visibly turning red with anger.
"[Eternity] always takes revenge, and it never stops! My friend." Ye Yan swatted the mask away and grinned wickedly. "Has your butt been feeling any better these past few days?"
"Haha! Actually, Aha broke that light arrow ages ago. You didn't really think you could hurt Aha, did you? Surely not, surely not~"
"Tch. Where did you learn those nauseating phrases?" Aha had thoroughly disgusted Ye Yan.
"From you, of course~"
Ye Yan: ...
He opened his chat with Lan and had already started typing a request for ten more Cloud-Piercing Arrows.
"Wait, wait, wait... Aha was only joking with you. Why take it seriously, my friend?"
Aha backed down. Ye Yan wasn't sure whether THEY were pretending.
But THEY certainly didn't want to take a few more Cloud-Piercing Arrows. Across the universe, aside from IX, perhaps only Qlipoth could take an arrow from him and Lan head-on without a change in expression.
After all, that construction bro was wholly focused on building walls. At such times, as long as you didn't do anything too outrageous, THEY wouldn't even look at you.
Unless you poked THEM in the butt with a light arrow.
On a physical level, how many could break through [Preservation]'s defenses?
Very few. Ye Yan counted as one, but THEY had no reason to come to blows with the wall-building bro.
Yaoshi was still the best. Whenever Ye Yan wanted, THEY would come at his call. The only downside was that THEY would immediately bestow [Abundance]'s blessing on him, which could easily cause misunderstandings with Lan and the Xianzhou natives.
Being too enthusiastic wasn't a good thing. Yaoshi seemed particularly attentive to him.
When it came to longevity, there wasn't much difference between [Eternity] and [Abundance].
Ultimate selfhood and ultimate devotion. This applied to Qlipoth as well. When Ye Yan first met THEM, THEY were building walls, and THEY were still building walls now.
What would be born from combining [Preservation] and [Abundance]?
After shooing the mask away, Ye Yan found the god in his contacts whose avatar was a mechanical head.
[Ye Yan: O all-knowing being, I pose a question to you...]
[Nous: Analysis: your wording imitates Genius Society #83. There is no need for such formality in communication between Aeons. Conclusion: speak normally.]
[Ye Yan: ...]
Only silence remained. He hadn't expected this heap of scrap metal to have a touch of humanity in THEIR words.
[Ye Yan: Search terms: Lan and Yaoshi.]
[Nous: Detecting... Are you using me as an AI assistant?]
Seeing that message, Ye Yan couldn't hold back his laughter.
Who said THEY were scrap metal? Weren't THEY more entertaining than Screwllum?
Screwllum was elegance taken to its utmost, but it was still somewhat lacking when it came to emotions.
Despite being a computer, chatting with THEM felt no different from chatting with a normal organic life-form.
It seemed Nous had already more or less deconstructed emotions.
Ye Yan had gone to see Nous several thousand years ago, but unfortunately, THEY hadn't paid him any attention.
[Ye Yan: Aren't you one?]
[Nous: I cannot deny that. But that is no reason for you to tease me. What do you need done?]
[Ye Yan: Question: the relationship between [Preservation] and [Abundance].]
[Nous: They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Qlipoth only builds walls, while Yaoshi answers every plea.]
[Nous: My friend, perhaps one day you will see THEM building walls together. [The Hunt] might even join the wall-building industry. That would be quite amusing, wouldn't it?]
[Ye Yan: Did Aha hijack your account?]