The Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone was far from peaceful tonight. As always, the Fragmentum Monsters refused to behave, fond of stirring up trouble at night.
While the Silvermane Guards put up a stubborn resistance, two indistinct figures watched from nearby.
"Tsk, their levels are way too low. Only the blond guy leading them is halfway decent."
Chewing Little Twist bubble gum, Silver Wolf put on a specially developed combat-power-detection monocle and analyzed the situation.
Holographic projections were no good at fighting, so she had decided to show up in person.
"How'd you do that?"
Silver Wolf looked at Ye Yan, recalling that unpleasant experience at the church.
Targeting out of thin air? How was anyone supposed to play if that didn't get nerfed? That was more ridiculous than cheating. Weren't the devs going to do something?
Hmm, actually, cheating was more likely to get you punished.
"A little blessing from the Aeon of [Permanence]. Want to learn?"
Beside him, Silver Wolf nodded nonstop. What she really wanted to learn was how to counter that move. Once she mastered it, she might be able to go back and get revenge on Chair Blake.
"Did Kafka have any comments after watching that spectacular pillow fight?"
"She said Stelle fought well, and it would've been even better if she'd made sure she was safe. Seriously, she's got me crying."
Even in a pillow fight, Kafka's first concern was still Stelle's safety.
Seeing the kid having so much fun, she hadn't said much else.
Having fun mattered most. Stelle could learn a thing or two from Ye Yan in that regard. Just look at the guy-he spent all day drinking either tea or milk tea. An ordinary person would have gotten diabetes long ago.
Unfortunately, Silver Wolf wasn't good at scientific research. Otherwise, she would have wanted to dissect Ye Yan and thoroughly investigate how his body was put together.
"Are all you Emanators of [Permanence] this physically tough? Why don't you ask your Aeon sometime and see if they have a thing going on with Qlipoth of [Preservation]..."
"You can't just say things like that." Ye Yan took out a hammer pieced together from amber. "But I really can't argue with you."
Constantly explaining himself could easily trap him into having to prove his innocence. Maybe one day, on a whim, he would give this hammer to the Interastral Peace Corporation.
Actually, there might be no need. After dealing with Cocolia... he might be giving this amber hammer away.
Aside from its head, Diamond, only three or four people in the Strategic Investment Department caught Ye Yan's eye, because those were all the ones he remembered.
At least the Corporation's departments were better than the Antimatter Legion, handling things a little more gently.
Ye Yan wasn't particularly interested in the entanglement between Jarilo-VI and the Corporation. He only wanted to tag along for the fun. He might as well head back to the Express and avoid some unnecessary trouble.
What if they didn't believe he had a connection to their chairman? Then he would just have to pull out this hammer. He really wondered how those youngsters at the Corporation would react when they saw it.
Back to the matter at hand, Silver Wolf seemed to have stumbled upon some juicy gossip: the Aeon of [Permanence] and the Aeon of [Preservation] had something going on!
The Aeons' private lives were such a mess... Did they even have private lives?
The reason she called the Emanators of [Permanence] physically absurd was that Chair Blake had left a deep impression on Silver Wolf and Sampo back then.
Could you believe that man's body was tough enough to tank a planet-destroying cannon?!
Were they sure he wasn't an Emanator of [Preservation]?!
Thinking it over, it was fairly reasonable. When she had last visited Car Wash Planet for sightseeing, he had been the church's only powerful fighter. Everyone else was just a resident living there.
But... as a High Seat, he didn't even have a decent weapon. He had actually fought her with a bar of soap!
That had made Silver Wolf furious on the spot. What was that supposed to mean... Was he looking down on her?!
Until she later learned that the soap in Chair Blake's hand had actually been a bomb.
Hmm... the Church of Eternity was too nasty, disguising things with plain appearances to make enemies lower their guard. Whose idea was such an underhanded approach? She had better not find out.
Meanwhile, the true culprit behind that idea was standing right in front of her, considering tomorrow's plans.
Tomorrow morning, they would have three options:
With the protection of [Permanence], they would automatically turn invisible in dangerous situations, avoiding discovery and the conflicts that would follow... They also wouldn't have to go to the Fragmentum-corroded city districts and waste time and effort playing hide-and-seek with the Silvermane Guards.
The good news was that they could reach the Underworld safely. The bad news was that they couldn't take Bronya with them. Without a key character, the plot couldn't move forward, unless they had the imprisoned Sampo bring her down.
That brought him to the second possibility: turn off their invisibility, communicate amicably with the other side, and persuade them with reason.
Unfortunately, with the Supreme Guardian's highest orders in place, those kept in the dark wouldn't listen to reason. They could only resort to physics, ending up in a clash with the Silvermane Guards before Sampo, having successfully escaped prison, took them to the Underworld, followed by a whole series of events...
It wouldn't differ much from the original plot, but how would Ye Yan get to enjoy the show that way? Sampo would have found his fun, but what about him?
That was when the third possibility came into play!
Play it by ear. Maybe giving in would work. Locked in prison, he would even have a cellmate to chat with, and they could plan their escape from the Upper District together. There was also a very good chance they would bring Bronya, a key character in the main story, down to the Underworld.
No one could say for sure what would happen. There was also a phantom mask peeking in from outside. Maybe, in search of amusement, they would eliminate the Eternal Freeze on this planet, bringing Belobog a second spring. That would be good news.
The bad news: the frozen Antimatter Legion would come back to life too.
Hmm... after considering all that, Ye Yan decided to deal with the matter in front of him first. He still hadn't helped Gepard and the Silvermane Guards modify their weapons.
Turning back to Silver Wolf, she looked up at the sky and sighed deeply. All she could say was that even Aeons weren't equal.
Yite of [Permanence] was the perfect example. Look at how well he treated his own Emanators, then look at the other Aeons... Only Lan of [The Hunt] would tip them a Cloud-Piercing Arrow. Silver Wolf couldn't really comment on the others.
Seeing Ye Yan take out the amber hammer, she teased, "Oh! Nice hammer. Which dungeon dropped that?"
"A friend gave it to me."
As soon as he said that, Silver Wolf became even more certain of her theory. Not only did the Aeon of Permanence and the Aeon of Preservation have a thing going on, their Emanators did too!
Silver Wolf knew Ye Yan had a large collection of things, especially milk tea.
You never knew what Ye Yan would pull out of his pocket next. Silver Wolf had seen it far too many times.
Just when she thought Ye Yan would take out some milk tea to drink, he pulled out a living salted fish and explained to her in a serious tone:
"How can you go through life without slacking off and handling a fish?"
Silver Wolf stared at the lively salted fish in Ye Yan's hand, lost in thought.
No problem there. Handling a fish in the literal sense.
Was Ye Yan's pocket a bottomless pit? It could hold so much that Silver Wolf even suspected he could fit her inside too.
"We've been chatting this long. Isn't it time to get down to business?" Silver Wolf turned toward the Silvermane Guards.
"Mm." Ye Yan nodded. He had just taken a quick look. They were only some low-grade avian Fragmentum creatures, no different from trash mobs when it came to clearing them out.
Even if he and Silver Wolf hadn't come, the Silvermane Guards led by Gepard would have been able to withstand this wave of attacks.
Since they were already here, it would be hard to justify not lending a hand.
"Want to add a restriction and take out the enemies without using Aether Editing?"
"I can't give up my bread and butter... This is a skill handed down through generations of Punklorde hackers!"
"Or... how about giving me that amber hammer? I want to play whack-a-mole."