Watching the retreating figures of Fu Xuan and Kafka, Dan Heng took out his phone and shared the intelligence gained along the way with the Express crew.
[Astral Express Family]
[Dan Heng: The Stellaron Hunters have been taken away by Master Diviner Fu of the Divination Commission. The specific interrogation work will be conducted tomorrow.]
[Dan Heng: Remember to come to Exalting Sanctum.]
[March 7th: [Pom-Pom Peeking.jpg]]
[March 7th: One piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which one do you want to hear?]
[Stelle: Only kids make choices. I want both.]
[Welt: Let's hear the bad news first?]
[March 7th: The Miss Tingyun we met is actually the Lord Ravager Phantylia in disguise.]
[Dan Heng: ?]
[Welt: ??]
[Himeko: ???]
[Stelle: Don't rush to type question marks yet, we have good news too.]
[Stelle: [Pom-Pom Attacking.jpg]]
[March 7th: The good news is, Stelle and I found Teacher Adrian! And the real Miss Tingyun is here too!]
[Adrian: 1]
Seeing this message, Dan Heng, Welt, and Himeko on the Express all breathed a sigh of relief.
Adrian's status as an Emanator was reassuring.
Over at the milk tea shop, March 7th and Stelle looked at Adrian with confusion.
"A meaningless number 1? If you don't send a milk tea sticker, I won't really acknowledge it."
"Typing a '1' proves I'm online."
Usually, when Silver Wolf asked him to play games, she would bombard him with several text messages of [1] first.
[Dan Heng: Send the location. Mr. Welt and I will come find you.]
[March 7th: No need to find us. Let's just set the meeting point at Exalting Sanctum Plaza! It's really lively there, right?]
[Welt: ...]
Did no one consider his feelings?
Leaving aside the fact that he was taken to the Petrichor Inn by a Lord Ravager, how to get to Exalting Sanctum Plaza was a problem.
[Himeko: [Pom-Pom Peeking.jpg]]
[Dan Heng: I will go pick up Mr. Welt.]
Having just taken a starskiff to Exalting Sanctum, he still knew the way.
[Welt: ...]
[March 7th: How the tables have turned. Usually, it's Mr. Welt coming to pick us up.]
[Dan Heng: You two stay safe.]
Since Stelle and March 7th had found Adrian, he didn't need to worry about their trip to Exalting Sanctum.
At the same time, under the strong demands of March 7th and Stelle, Adrian was forced to rejoin the team. His happy time of slacking off had come to an end.
Usually, at this time, he would be lying in his rocking chair, leisurely enjoying his lunch break.
"Didn't Dan Heng ask us to go to that plaza? Teacher Adrian, trouble you to lead the way."
Adrian was pushed out by Stelle and March 7th together. Before leaving, he didn't forget to toss the shop keys to Tingyun.
"Eh?"
Tingyun tilted her head. How did she become the acting shop owner in just this short moment?
Hmm... watching a shop for someone is a path I hadn't envisioned.
Just as Adrian and the others left, a high-spirited Cloud Knight Lieutenant rushed over.
"Teacher! Eh... why has the person changed again?" Yanqing looked up and met eyes with the bewildered Tingyun.
Witty as Tingyun was, she immediately thought of a response: "Regrettably, Boss Adrian has not returned yet. Miss Qingque was called away by the Master Diviner, so he had to entrust this little wom... cough, entrust me to manage the milk tea shop on his behalf."
"Is that so..." Yanqing tentatively believed Tingyun's words. However, seeing a strange face he hadn't seen on the Xianzhou before, dressed and looking like she wasn't a Xianzhou native, he suspected she might be an Outworlder who couldn't find a job and had to come to the Luofu to seek employment.
Just to be safe, Yanqing kept his guard up.
...
On the way to Exalting Sanctum, March 7th asked Adrian many questions in one breath.
"Hey, Teacher Adrian, have you really never considered renovating this milk tea shop? It's truly a unique decoration style. Can such a dilapidated shop really attract customers?"
"Teacher Adrian, what exactly is your job? I see the milk tea shop doesn't seem to have any employees. Do you do everything yourself?"
"Also, also, can we get a discount when we come to buy milk tea in the future?"
"By the way, what exactly does the Divination Commission do..."
Adrian patiently explained to March 7th: "I didn't open the shop for profit, just for convenience."
"Woah... then aren't you losing money every day?"
"The customer flow is low, and I make very little milk tea, so there's no issue of losing money or not."
Since Adrian settled on the Xianzhou, the customers who had visited his milk tea shop could be counted on one hand.
In chronological order: Jing Yuan, Tingyun, Qingque, and Yanqing.
Looking at it this way, the traffic was truly dismal—not even five people.
"March, why do you only say things that hurt people's feelings!" Stelle knocked on March 7th's head.
She had a direct cognitive understanding of Adrian's financial power. He gave away eight hundred million credits just like that. At first, she thought it was a reward for the loser (losing the pillow fight in one second).
Until the next day, when Adrian gave her another two billion credits, claiming Kafka asked him to transfer it.
When the Divination Commission interrogates Kafka, Stelle definitely intends to ask her about this matter clearly.
"As for the Divination Commission Miss March asked about just now... simply put, the Divination Commission is in charge of the Xianzhou's intelligence, strategy, and fortune calculation."
"Fortune calculation? Interrogating by fortune telling? Isn't that just pure luck?"
"The Xianzhou's method of calculation isn't some trickery like tossing copper coins or drawing wooden sticks. It is a technology called the [Jade Abacus]," Adrian patiently explained to the two.
"From the Xianzhou's navigation routes and government policies down to military strategies and livelihood issues, everything is deduced and calculated by the Divination Commission to seek good fortune and avoid calamity."
"Oh, oh... then can the Divination Commission calculate you, Teacher Adrian?" March 7th was very curious.
"Not sure. We can ask Master Diviner Fu to perform a divination for me when the time comes."
Ah, but in that case, my identity would be exposed.
Let's skip this topic first.
"Additionally, if Miss March wants to drink milk tea, just ask."
Even the Wisdomwalker (Nous) thinks the milk tea is delicious; the quality control is trustworthy.
Adrian felt that in terms of making milk tea... whether it was skill or status, he was ranked at the forefront, especially among his Aeon colleagues.
Those stronger than HIM couldn't make milk tea as well as HIM, and those who could make milk tea better weren't as strong as HIM. He was an Aeon after all; his power level was online.
If March 7th knew his true identity, she would surely retort at this moment:
"No Aeon would be bored enough to make milk tea!!!"
Stelle discussed the recently captured Kafka with Adrian: "Does it feel like everything happening right now... is within her expectations? Otherwise, there's no reason for her to appear on the Express just to walk into a trap, right?"
Adrian smiled faintly. From a certain angle, Kafka really made the right move this time.
"It's like someone reminded her."
"Elio—the leader of the [Stellaron Hunters]. No one knows who he is or what he looks like. We only know that the Interastral Peace Corporation calls him [Destiny's Slave]."
"Legend has it that he possesses the power to foresee [Possibilities]. The IPC believes Elio can see the time streams generated by infinitely many possibilities. Such an ability is akin to predicting the future."
"If the rumors are true, then every seemingly empty movement of the Stellaron Hunters is actually a choice of [Possibility]."
"But, who isn't a variable of the future?"
"We are all variables of the future, solidifying reality through choices. The future isn't anything remarkable; it is just a fog waiting for us to decide."
"Ah... Teacher Adrian is suddenly saying such profound things."
March 7th was bewildered. Did the topic really jump that fast?