That's right—the comic book our Master Diviner was holding at this moment was precisely one of those miraculous books known as manga.
It was hard to believe that Fu Xuan, who had always been diligent and conscientious in her work, would actually be slacking off during work hours to read manga like Qingque. If the employees of the Divination Commission saw this, they would surely widen their eyes in disbelief and cry out how outrageous it was.
"The love-hate saga between the immortal maiden 'Xiao Shangxian' and the tyrannical emperor is just too fascinating…"
After finishing the entire manga, our Master Fu finally closed the book with lingering satisfaction, then somewhat boredly lay her head on the desk.
"So slacking off feels this good? I think I can finally understand Qingque now."
Fu Xuan murmured to herself. Compared to the past, a different gleam had appeared in the girl's eyes—one that only a true slacker would understand.
'Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!…'
The noisy ringing once again shattered Fu Xuan's current mood. The girl frowned in annoyance. Seeing the word 'Jing Yuan' light up again on the communications screen, our Master Diviner hesitated for 0.1 seconds before ultimately choosing to hang up once more, then set Jing Yuan's number to auto-reject.
"I really want to know what happens in the second half… ugh… but if I go ask that guy again, will he take the chance to make some excessive demands…"
Recalling Yun Fan's somewhat sleazy look, our Master Fu Xuan couldn't help but feel a twinge of weakness inside.
Yes, this manga had come from Yun Fan's hand. Our Aeon of Causality, the 'Samsara Lord', had recently been bored and so used his authority to manifest some manga ideas from his mind into reality. Through Tingyun's connections and the Minghuo Chamber of Commerce, he had them published.
Things like The Tyrannical Emperor Falls for Me, The Toy Salesman's Cultivation Manual, The Adventures of Count Lulu…
A whole series of absurd manga flooded the Xianzhou market through Yun Fan's hands. At first, when our Miss Tingyun saw these manga, the corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch, thinking these works must be seriously ill.
But out of respect for Yun Fan's face—and the large sum of funding he provided—our fox lady still took the risk of potentially causing the Minghuo Chamber of Commerce to 'lose massive face' across the Xianzhou Alliance and released these manga anyway.
However, just when Tingyun was bracing herself to be lambasted by readers, something unexpected happened.
Far from being criticized, Yun Fan's manga received overwhelmingly positive reviews and was enthusiastically pursued by a large number of manga enthusiasts.
Although our fox lady found this phenomenon utterly baffling, who would turn away from money? The moment these manga became bestsellers, she immediately ordered the Minghuo Chamber of Commerce to print millions more copies and began selling them throughout the entire Xianzhou Alliance.
In the end, the Minghuo Chamber of Commerce made a tidy profit from the opportunity, and our Mr. Yun Fan also gained his amusement.
"I want to read the next volume, I really want to read the next volume…"
Lying on her office desk, our Master Diviner muttered under her breath. That hateful guy Yun Fan only released one volume per series per month.
Although for most manga creators, this pace would already qualify as tentacle-monster level, for these ravenous readers, it was barely a drizzle.
"Tch—! How irritating!"
Recalling the 'meaningful' smile Yun Fan had shown that day when he discovered her secretly reading his manga, Fu Xuan couldn't help but feel a chill run through her.
Although the other party had told her he had some stockpiled drafts on hand, the girl's intuition told her that if she really went to Yun Fan for the next issue's manuscript, her chastity would likely be in jeopardy.
'Ding!'
The Master Diviner's Jade Abacus rang once again—however, this time it wasn't a call, but a message.
『Fu Qing, come to the Seat of Divine Foresight immediately. Urgent matters to discuss.』
After seeing the message Jing Yuan had sent, our Master Diviner finally became slightly more serious.
If Jing Yuan was planning to ask her to help handle General affairs, then three strikes and you're out—after she had already refused twice, he wouldn't make the request again.
However, this time, knowing she had rejected the call, Jing Yuan chose to send a text message to notify her instead. That meant he truly had urgent matters that required discussion.
"I'll deal with the manga thing tonight. It looks like Jing Yuan really does have something important this time…"
— — — —
At the same time, while it was still daylight on the Xianzhou Luofu, night had quietly fallen on Jarilo-VI.
Under a moonless sky, accompanied by the illumination of lights, the entire night appeared so desolate and eerie.
Belobog, inside the Interastral Peace Corporation's Resident Embassy on Jarilo-VI, more than a dozen company guards were patrolling back and forth with weapons in hand. The guards' steps were hurried yet muffled, as if searching for something.
After a long while…
"Are you sure you just saw a girl with twin tails around here? Are you positive it wasn't a hallucination?"
The dozen or so guards had meticulously searched every corner around the embassy. Even after turning the surrounding area upside down, they still couldn't find any trace of the intruder the guard had mentioned.
"Captain, I am absolutely certain and positive. I really did see a girl with twin tails here just now. The girl was wearing clothes from Edo Star, about this tall…"
As he spoke, the guard roughly described the intruder's appearance and used his hand to gesture an approximate height.
Listening to the person in front of him describe it so vividly, the originally doubtful guard captain dispelled his suspicions. His entire demeanor became solemn—even grave.
There was no other reason: the person described in the guard's words was far too similar to the Masked Fool who had killed more than a dozen representatives that day—or more precisely, it was exactly that Masked Fool.
"This matter is serious. I'm going to report to Lady Jade right now. You two pair up and continue the search. Absolutely do not separate, lest you give that Masked Fool an opening!"
After solemnly reminding them, the guard captain turned and ran toward the central building of the embassy without looking back. The Masked Fool Sparkle—the one who had killed two Pathstriders amid casual conversation—was absolutely not someone they could handle.
After the guard captain left, the remaining people followed his instructions and divided into pairs on their own. Soon, they had formed seven teams.
However, somewhat embarrassingly…
What could have perfectly formed eight teams now left one person 'single' after the captain departed.