Zero stayed silent for a long time.
He should have realized it earlier!
Under normal circumstances, how could the chief strategist show such a strange expression?!
For a moment, Zero did not know how to describe his feelings. He wanted to say something, yet felt there was nothing to say.
Guanliang and Lan looked at each other and decided to stop while they were ahead.
Their whole strategy was surprise. If the marshal reacted… he would definitely get angry from embarrassment, alright! And then the ones getting hit would be them!
Anyway, as long as they could leave the marshal speechless and mess with him a bit, it was worth it!
Guanliang felt both uncomfortable and quite pleased inside.
He continued,
"What you need to do next is take over his position from a person like this."
"Hua, are you really ready?"
Hua gave a light laugh and asked back,
"Other than me, can you find a more suitable and better candidate?"
Lan and Guanliang fell silent instantly.
Zero smiled and applauded the successor he had chosen.
While clapping, he sighed,
"Worthy of being the successor I chose, really just like me..."
Zero stopped, reached out, and patted Hua's shoulder.
"Other than you, no one can take my position."
He paused, then added, "Even an Aeon is the same."
Zero was worst at saying this kind of cheesy stuff, so he immediately started urging her away.
"Alright, go to school."
Hua nodded, turned around, and left together with Lan.
Escorted by guards, one god and one person soon arrived at the academy.
Students and parents were scattered around in small groups, holding jade communicators and taking photos as keepsakes.
Lan walked past them.
The Aeon clearly heard their completely ordinary conversations and felt their joys, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Sometimes they discussed where to take photos together. Sometimes they talked about the "Abominations of Abundance."
In the past, they always praised the marshal. Now, as records and achievements were gradually erased, they instead praised the "Reignbow Arbiter."
Hua seemed to hear them too and teased, "Have you heard a joke?"
Following her words, Lan asked, "What joke?"
Hua lowered her voice on purpose because of the people around,
"If you're on a remote planet and meet an enemy you can't defeat, just curse loudly…"
"The Galaxy Rangers will let you die more easily."
Lan, "..."
He opened His mouth, and after a long moment finally said one line, "Before, it wasn't me. It was him."
After hearing this, Hua's smile faded and she stopped talking.
When she first asked her guardian, she had not thought much about it. Only as she grew older did she vaguely sense something was wrong.
Why would her guardian blindly choose a child as his successor?
Why would he bring in an Aeon and Xianzhou generals to teach her?
Clearly she was only eighteen, yet under her guardian's urging she had already traveled all the giant ships together with the generals.
Hua instinctively resisted the conclusion she was about to reach and could only attribute it to her guardian wanting early retirement and a vacation.
One god and one person arrived at the hall where the coming-of-age ceremony was held.
Lan's gaze swept over students in different clothes who seemed to be preparing performances.
He asked, "Are you participating in any program?"
Hua shook her head. "No."
Previously, to protect the safety of the Xianzhou people, her guardian had deliberately instructed the Divination Commission to make people avoid mentioning his name.
And in the future, Hua would take over the Xianzhou Alliance.
Though she would not guard against it as strictly as her guardian, she absolutely could not appear in public too frequently.
For example, during this trip, her guardian did not want to make a big fuss. He had guards take over the photographers' work and brought more than a dozen guards with him, just to avoid being photographed.
Hua did not want to increase unnecessary work for her guards just because of a sudden whim.
Except for activities that gave academic credits, whenever there was a large event, she avoided joining if possible.
Soon it was time for students to gather.
Hua handed the dress her guardian gave her to Lan for safekeeping.
Lan took the bag and suddenly said, "Do you think there's still a need to keep treating a seriously ill patient who cannot be cured?"
Hua understood the hidden meaning and looked steadily at Lan.
"If medicine truly cannot cure them, keeping them barely alive only makes them suffer."
Lan unconsciously repeated, "Cannot be cured…"
The Aeon asked again, "What if they can be saved? What if he doesn't want to?"
Hua gave a small laugh and said, "Of course you do everything possible to save the patient."
Her expression was gentle, her tone firm, as if no one could question her decision.
"The day I entered the Alchemy Commission, I happened to see the physicians taking an oath."
"Sadly, I only remember a few lines."
"A healer practices benevolence."
"Human life is of utmost importance, worth more than gold."
"Of course, those are just words from the oath. To me, how can human life be compared with money?"
"If I can save him, why wouldn't I?"
Hua smiled and asked Lan word by word, "So, what is your choice?"
Lan closed His eyes briefly and replied, "If I can save him, I would naturally act."
Hua said nothing more. She turned and left, following the teacher through the morning procedures.
Then she changed into the first gift from her guardian.
Besides the white satin dress, there was also a matching necklace.
Soon Hua saw her guardian in the hall.
His seat was right next to Lan. He wore formal clothes, held a bouquet of sunflowers, and beside him was a square bag.
Zero was talking with Guanliang, who sat one seat away.
Hua knew there were more than a dozen guards hidden among the crowd nearby.
She stepped forward and sat in the empty seat between Guanliang and Zero.
Zero first handed the sunflowers to Hua, then pointed at the pocket on his chest with a half-gloved hand.
"Guess what's inside?"
Hua glanced at it and asked, "Is it my second gift?"
Zero still wanted to keep the suspense, but the thing in the pocket moved and poked its head out on its own.
Hua's eyes lit up, surprise in her voice. "You brought it too?"
Zero nodded, took the struggling hamster out of his chest pocket, and handed it to Hua.
"I replaced the pocket square with a hamster. If you don't look carefully, no one will notice."
"I just felt that for an occasion like this, your companion shouldn't be missing."
Hua's movements were very gentle. She softly stroked the hamster in her palm until a nearby classmate urged her. Only then did she reluctantly hand the hamster back to Zero.
The hamster dropped its obedient act from before and kept biting Zero's leather glove.
Zero tried to calm the hamster, and his peripheral vision accidentally caught Hua's back.
His expression slowly froze, and he said through gritted teeth, "…Guanliang, you didn't tell me this dress has an open back!"
Guanliang also felt wronged.
If he had known it was backless, he would have excluded this dress long ago, alright.
Zero grew impatient and did not bother pursuing it. He shoved the hamster into the Aeon beside him.
He said casually, "Remember what I said before?"
Lan, "..."
The marshal had said far too many things.
Zero ignored that and continued, "When the time comes, take her to Xuling."
Lan lowered His eyes. "Alright, I will."
Zero spoke lazily and brought up the Envoy of "Abundance" he had just met in Cangcheng.
He never remembered death row prisoners' names, only mentioned it briefly before turning the topic to the Xianzhou.
"Do you think humans can deal with the 'Plague of Longevity'?"
Zero did not care about Lan's answer and continued on his own, "I think we can try."
"Let's start with Cangcheng."
He quickly ended the topic and looked up at Hua, who was about to go on stage.
After finishing the final procedures, Hua lifted her skirt, stepped in high heels, and returned to sit where she was before.
She let out a relieved breath and complained, "The person who invented high heels… is really quite unconventional!"
Zero comforted her, "Don't wear them next time."
He handed the bag beside him to Hua. "Open it and see."
Hua looked serious, carefully took the gift box out of the bag, and slowly opened it.
Inside was a crown inlaid with gems.
It was a wreath made from laurel and olive branches.
Zero stood up and said with a smile, "On a birthday once, I received a special wreath. This time, I'm giving it to you."
"This is the second gift I'm giving you."
Hua subconsciously held her breath.
Her expression shifted slightly as she looked up and met Zero's eyes.
Zero picked up the crown, bent slightly, and gently placed it on Hua's head.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Zero looked at Hua as if thinking of something. He frowned slightly, showing displeasure.
His tone turned cold, "If the engagement ring that person gives you isn't even bigger than the gem on top of this crown, tell him to get lost..."
Hua, "..."
The words she had prepared for a long time but never managed to say reached her lips, then she swallowed them again.
One god and two people rarely reached agreement at this moment.
'Seriously, are you still thinking about that nonexistent blond guy?'
'Can you not bring up the blond guy at such an emotional moment?!'
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