Baiheng had no idea what was going on. She gently pushed Jingliu forward, urging her friend to sit down together with Zero.
Once Jingliu was seated, the fox woman finally heard her own name being mentioned. She blinked in confusion, then nodded and warmly greeted her executive friend.
The company executive gave a few awkward laughs, his feet inching toward the private room's door.
Zero took in every bit of that small movement. He chuckled softly and said, "This must be the executive from the Interstellar Peace Corporation, right?"
The bearded man jumped as if electrocuted, straightened up, and hurried to the table, sitting diagonally across from Zero with an overly friendly grin.
"I'm just another employee in the company, hardly worthy of being called an executive. You're looking for me… for what exactly? Don't worry, whatever it is, I'll handle it for you!"
Baiheng sat by the window, browsing the menu with Jingliu across from her. When she heard her friend's words, she frowned unhappily.
"What do you mean, just an employee! You're an elite of the Interstellar Peace Corporation! And what's with the formal speech? My friend is your friend, don't be so distant!"
The fox woman thumped her chest proudly, then bent her head again to discuss dishes with Jingliu.
Zero glanced at Jingliu, she was slightly turned to face Baiheng, looking visibly uneasy.
If she sat directly across from Baiheng, it would probably be more comfortable.
He said to her, "Jingliu, switch seats."
So Zero ended up sitting directly across from the bearded executive. Smiling, he said, "I'm just an ordinary employee from the Divination Division. No need for formalities."
The bearded man gave another dry laugh and immediately stopped using honorifics.
From the very first glance, he had recognized that face.
As a P45-level executive in the company, once he got promoted, he had gained access to more classified materials, those of higher confidentiality.
Among those records was one concerning the former Marshal of the Xianzhou Alliance.
The higher-ups had drilled it into them to memorize that face.
After that man's death, the Xianzhou Alliance had completely sealed all information about the former Marshal.
Rumors spread like wildfire, some said the new Marshal and the former one had irreconcilable conflict; others whispered that it had been the former Marshal's fate to die.
Subordinates of the late Marshal went around contacting other powers in the universe, demanding that they "cooperate" and hand over any files about the former Marshal.
"Cooperate" sounded polite, but in reality, those people had no choice.
Some factions, delirious over the Marshal's death, refused to cooperate, claiming they had no records left. Within days, they all changed their tune, scrambling to cozy up to the Xianzhou Alliance.
What exactly happened in between, no one outside ever found out.
Even the Interstellar Peace Corporation, one of the most prestigious in the cosmos, had to comply with the Alliance.
But at the time, the upper management had been cautious and secretly kept some of the data.
The bearded executive had read those records. He knew very well what kind of people had served under that former Marshal, mad dogs, every last one of them, held on a leash. Once that leash snapped, no one could predict what chaos they'd unleash.
And their "master," according to the records, was an enigma, a contradiction.
He seemed both a bloodthirsty demon and a savior who pulled others from the flames.
Executives who had personally dealt with that man's subordinates all ended up quitting and joining the Xianzhou Alliance instead.
For reasons unknown, upper management always emphasized one thing, remember that face.
Back then, the bearded man couldn't understand why.
He hadn't lived through the age of the Giants' rule, so he had no real sense of the fear that man inspired.
'He's just a dead guy, isn't he? Been dead for who knows how many centuries, why keep talking about him?'
'Even if the man had once been powerful, so what? His grave must've grown tall with weeds by now.'
According to some insiders, the place where he died was unusual, his ashes probably didn't even exist anymore.
But now, the executive was realizing, he hadn't expected someone whose ashes were gone to come back to life.
No wonder. No wonder they'd made them memorize that face.
The company had never believed he'd actually stay dead.
Now sitting face-to-face with Zero, the bearded man felt his facial muscles locking into a pained grin.
This was the face that sent chills down spines.
The face that had once forced the Interstellar Peace Corporation to back down.
And yet, right now, that same face looked nothing like the photos.
Those once-dead, amber eyes, said to be lifeless and cold, now glimmered with something pure, innocent, untouched by power or knowledge.
Uh… this feels like the "Amber King" suddenly gave up the path of preservation and decided to start running a business instead.
Shouldn't a cosmic-level final boss like this reappear at some grand universe-wide event, announcing his return to all creation?
Why was he here, of all places, in some random, ordinary restaurant? And why did he have to run into him?
Zero didn't notice the executive's wild mood swings. When Baiheng and Jingliu finished ordering, he called over the waiter.
Seeing this, the bearded man eagerly pulled out his platinum card and pressed it into the waiter's hand.
"Baiheng's friend is my friend too! This meal's on me, no one fight me on it!"
His grin was twitching with pain as he added hastily, "So, my friend, what did you want to talk to me about?"
'Please, anything but taking my life, I'll do whatever you want...'
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