As for Nero's question, Boss Luo simply smiled and let it pass... After all, he couldn't very well discuss whether You Ye—whose body was essentially a product of alchemy—would feel hot in the first place.
“Boss, are you waiting for soone?” Nero, who had made herself a bit cooler, blinked and asked.
Boss Luo asked curiously, “What makes you think that?”
Nero spread her hands. “Otherwise, did you co all the way up here just to pose and admire the view? With only as your audience? Besides, I've seen how aweso you are, Boss. No need to show off for ... unless~”
“Unless what?” Luo Qiu chuckled.
Each Black Soul Envoy had a different personality. Tai Yinzi was shaless but secretly principled, Da Zhe seed easygoing but never lost himself, Number 18 was gloomy and cunning but constantly loyal under the club’s constraints.
As for Nero, on the surface, she seed like a carefree soul.
Hearing the question, Nero smiled slyly and moved closer to Luo Qiu, narrowing her eyes. “Unless you’re doing sothing you don’t want our Grand Overseer to know about... like, say, having an affair?”
“Want a chewing gum?” Luo Qiu smiled and flipped his palm, revealing a small wrapped bubble gum.
“Yes!” Nero’s eyes lit up.
“Hold out your hand,” Luo Qiu said next.
Nero blinked and naturally extended her palm. Luo Qiu placed the gum on it, then smiled and said, “Wait for down below.”
Nero tilted her head. “Why do I feel like you’re treating like a pet?”
Luo Qiu smiled. “Go on.”
Nero rolled her eyes, but as a Black Soul Envoy, she couldn’t disobey the will of the Boss—whether intentional or not.
She began walking down the mountain path. On the way, she unwrapped the gum, popped it in her mouth, and mumbled to herself, “He even rembered the flavor… that’s a bit too much for a favor boost.”
...
Suddenly, the thick mist cleared a bit, as if invisible hands had parted it.
Standing at the cliff’s edge, facing the wind, Luo Qiu raised his head. A soft blue light, like phosphorescent dust, floated in the air above.
No grand phenona occurred—it was like a feather drifting down from the sky… The feather slowly landed on the lake, forming a ripple.
Eventually, it opened its eyes. Blue hair fluttered slightly, and it descended to the cliffside, landing beside Boss Luo.
【Root Authority acknowledged. Sub-administrator No. 003, Alaya, at your service.】
The long blue-haired, blue-eyed girl before him remained expressionless... No matter how you looked at it, Alaya and Gaia from the Penglai Treasure Vault seed like they ca from the sa mold.
Luo Qiu circled her curiously. He hadn’t had a good look at Alaya last ti in the mirror world—except for her hair color, she was basically a replica of Gaia.
With the Penglai Treasure Vault completely sealed, Gaia only remained as Luo Ya.
“Have you always been like this?” Luo Qiu asked softly, standing before Alaya. “I an, when you were created, were you already like this?”
【Confird】
Luo Qiu nodded, then asked, “You’re a sub-administrator. So who’s the superior administrator, and where are they?”
【The Original World】
“Are all post-original worlds modeled after the Original World?”
【Confird】
“Why?”
Alaya’s blue eyes flickered briefly, but her body remained still. She showed no sign of answering, like she was stuck in so sort of processing conflict.
Just as Luo Qiu prepared to ask differently, Alaya suddenly spoke.
【The Original has reached its end. A new core must be cultivated. The numbered worlds serve as incubators for this new core.】
“003… is one of the first incubators?” Luo Qiu looked into her eyes.
He couldn’t sense anything within her—no soul, just energy and massive amounts of data.
【Confird】
Recalling his conversation with Cicero, Luo Qiu asked, “Did it fail?”
【Unknown】
“Unknown? What do you an?”
【Each numbered world begins with potential. Theoretically, every incubator can produce a core. The only difference is completion. So worlds have far higher completion than 003. So lower.】
“But high completion doesn’t guarantee success… right?”
【Confird】
Luo Qiu nodded and paced before her, thinking. After a while, he asked, “What’s this world’s completion?”
【Currently at 47%, near the maximum limit for this civilization cycle.】
He frowned. “Didn’t you say every world has potential? Why is there a max limit?”
【Potential always exists, but it must align with the correct evolutionary path. If the path deviates, completion cannot progress.】
“And then?”
【Restart. Reset. Choose a new evolutionary path. Repeat until a core is ford—either in this world or another.】
“How many tis have you restarted?”
【Four tis. This is the fifth.】
“Was this reset your plan?” Luo Qiu glanced at the thick mist around. “A war between mortals and transcendent beings?”
【Confird… Civilizational progress in World 003 would take far too long to self-destruct naturally. To shorten core cultivation ti, intervention was calculated and chosen.】
Luo Qiu’s frown deepened. He asked suddenly, “Can it be stopped?”
【Do you want it stopped?】
“I said I do.”
【Rewriting protocol… Modifying reset plan… Reverting to original thod: natural civilizational extinction… Warning: Greatly delays core cultivation. Recomndation: Not advised. Confirm change?】
“Hmm…”
Luo Qiu walked to Alaya and gently brushed her hair aside, then asked, “Can I use you to access the terminal behind you?”
【Negative… All sub-administrators are independent and cannot reverse-link to the system terminal. Only a completed core can connect.】
“Just as I thought…” Luo Qiu nodded. “I don’t want to break your original plan. But while I still have a little selfishness left, I want to do sothing.”
【Query: aning unclear.】
Luo Qiu smiled slightly. “Let’s say, instead of canceling your plan… delay it.”
【Query: Duration.】
He looked to the horizon and said softly, “Until the end of one person’s life.”
Alaya seed ready to respond.
But Boss Luo gently tapped her forehead and said quietly, “Her.”
【Understood… Subsystem correction initiated… Countdown to reset… File creation successful… Countdown nad… Marking complete.】
【Dood One… Ren Ziling.】
...
Pop—!
The pink gum burst after reaching its limit, saring all over Nero’s face—it had long since lost its flavor.
She lay back on a large rock, hands behind her head, eyes empty as she stared at the mist-covered sky. The stillness was enough to make her drowsy.
But just then, she suddenly sensed sothing and sat up. Not far away, the club’s Boss was leisurely making his way up the mountain path.
“Hey, Boss!”
“Let’s go. Ti to complete Miss Zijun’s commission first.” Luo Qiu smiled slightly.
...
...
After a period of rest, Su Zijun had finally regained consciousness.
Upon waking, the wealthy lady Su felt dizzy and weak, as if her body had been completely drained. She was lying in bed, and it was already night.
Nightti always helped a jiangshi like her feel more energetic… Her body naturally absorbed the ambient yin energy in the air, gradually replenishing her parched spirit.
Long Xiruo was lying asleep at the bedside. Perhaps too exhausted, she didn’t even stir despite Su Zijun’s movents after waking up.
At that mont, there was a soft knock at the door. Kui Qianyi walked in.
“Princess, you’re awake!” Kui Qianyi said happily, quickly walking over.
Su Zijun, however, made a silencing gesture and motioned for him to lower his voice. She then pointed to the sleeping Long Xiruo and gestured toward the door.
Kui Qianyi quickly understood and quietly exited the room.
Su Zijun looked at Long Xiruo’s face, frowned slightly, then gave a cold hum before getting out of bed and stepping outside.
As the door closed, the bedsheet gently floated up and covered Long Xiruo.
In the hallway, Su Zijun and Kui Qianyi’s footsteps echoed softly… She walked to the area she had destroyed earlier and saw that half the villa had vanished, causing her to frown. “I actually really liked this villa.”
“Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll have soone co and rebuild it soon,” Kui Qianyi said comfortingly.
“No need,” Su Zijun shook her head. “Once it’s broken, it’s broken. Even if you patch it up, you can’t erase the fact that I destroyed it. Once this is over, have it demolished. I won’t be coming back anyway.”
Kui Qianyi nodded silently.
“Have you found anything about Xuanyuan Palace?” Su Zijun exhaled slowly, adjusted her mood, and looked at Kui Qianyi.
Kui Qianyi quickly replied, “Princess, according to our ssages, the guards in the Palace’s Secret Treasure Hall know nothing about the ‘Four Seasons Glazed Scroll’—there’s not even a record of it being borrowed. I suspect soone secretly took it out… and the person most likely responsible is Gongsun Shiyu. After all, he arrived before we got lost in the Penglai Treasure Vault and even t with Lord Long once.”
Su Zijun frowned, “Are you saying Gongsun Shiyu colluded in secret with the 71st generation of Heavenly Heart?”
Kui Qianyi said seriously, “We can’t rule that out… And whether there’s more to it, I can’t say. The Qian and Kun factions have always been at odds. Our palace people took serious risks to get even this much.”
Su Zijun snorted coldly, “Hmph! That bunch of old fossils from the Gongsun family only know how to throw their seniority around… If I wasn’t so sick of their nagging, I wouldn’t have even bothered with my ‘runaway’ act! When things calm down, I'm going back there to drag them all out and beat them into submission!”
Kui Qianyi pretended not to hear it.
Su Zijun sighed, “Can you track Gongsun Shiyu right now?”
Kui Qianyi shook his head. “Not yet. But intelligence suggests a group of young warriors from the Qian Departnt quietly left Xuanyuan Palace and went near Mount Tai… My people are monitoring the area. Also, there’s another rather serious matter.”
“What is it?” Su Zijun frowned.
Kui Qianyi’s tone grew grave. “This dense fog has caused nationwide panic… I doubt the governnt can cover it up with a simple excuse. Also, the Managent Bureau has deployed all of its ‘National Guard.’ I fear that after this, the Court may turn its blade against the entire Dao-Demon World. After all—”
Su Zijun snorted, “After all, those idiots dared to sacrifice a million people in a live ritual… they deserved to die!”
“Princess, this situation… we must handle it carefully,” Kui Qianyi frowned. “If it leads to a full-scale war, it may not be good for Xuanyuan Palace.”
“But for , it might not be such a bad thing.” Su Zijun let out a cold laugh. “Kui Qianyi, I order you—retrieve Long Xiruo’s turtle pearl. And I forbid you from lending it out ever again, under any circumstances. Did you hear ?”
“Th-this… Princess, isn’t that putting in a tough spot?” Kui Qianyi’s face imdiately turned bitter.
“Tough spot?” Su Zijun sneered, “Just taking back the turtle pearl is hard for you? Then what if I ordered you to imprison her?”
“Princess… surely you’re joking?” Kui Qianyi broke into a cold sweat… imprison Long Xiruo?
He’d definitely be cooked into turtle soup afterward...
(End of Chapter)
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