At the Matrix of Prescience, Adrian watched Fu Xuan walking towards them and took the opportunity to pull an unopened bottle of milk tea from his pocket.
When he went to the Alchemy Commission to seek medicine from Bailu, she had told him about Fu Xuan:
Toiling all day over the various affairs of the Divination Commission, working overtime had become routine, inevitably leading to mental and physical exhaustion.
Whenever this happened, the Alchemy Commission's stock of sugar powder used to mix with the vision-improving medicinal tea would quickly run low. Fortunately, Adrian's milk tea shop had various flavoring powders.
So Bailu would lie, claiming that the medicinal tea prepared for Fu Xuan contained a secret ingredient to dispel fatigue, and the other party believed it without a doubt.
It wasn't until much later that Fu Xuan realized Bailu had just added more sugar.
Applying the remedy to the case—as expected of the genius cultivated by the Alchemy Commission, praised by Master Diviner Fu herself!
Hm? You ask why a milk tea shop would have things like flavoring agents? Are you sure it's not adding "technology and hard work" (additives)?
Of course, it was used to prank Aha. In previous years, this guy would come to HIM every day asking for a cup of milk tea, even appearing at set times. Say what you will, Aha was quite punctual.
It was only recently, when Adrian boarded the Astral Express, that Aha reduced the frequency of HIS appearances.
Ever since beating up Aha in front of Qlipoth, Adrian hadn't seen HIM again.
Sigh~ Without that familiar foolishly grinning mask around, life feels like it's missing some color...
Wait! Thinking like this is definitely problematic!
Not appearing for a long time definitely means HE's secretly preparing some big prank.
"Cough, recently some people from the [Tavern] might visit the Luofu. Once you see similar suspicious personnel, arrest them and throw them into the Shackling Prison."
Jing Yuan: ?
"Are you... serious?" He didn't understand why Adrian suddenly said this.
"Just saying it's possible, not necessarily true." Adrian wasn't a great prophet like March 7th, whose words always came true.
Fu Xuan had already walked up to Adrian, looking up to size him up.
"Is everyone in the Divination Commission malnourished?"
Not counting shoes, to be honest... Adrian felt she and Qingque were about the same height as Mengming.
"Haha~" Jing Yuan didn't answer, laughing awkwardly.
As expected of an Aeon, speaking so freely. The first sentence was this outrageous.
"Hey, you guy... are you mocking this Seat's height?!"
"Not mocking. Mr. Adrian is just purely curious," Jing Yuan explained. It wouldn't be good to let this misunderstanding continue.
The corner of Fu Xuan's mouth twitched slightly. Can an Emanator do whatever he wants? Is there no law anymore? Do you think you're an Aeon?
"Cough... meeting for the first time, I just wanted to leave a deep impression on the Master Diviner." Adrian said seriously. How do you think he met Qingque?
Qingque never expected that when she came to buy milk tea, the shop owner stubbornly refused to sell, even though she clearly saw milk tea displayed on the counter.
Of course, that's a story for later... Back to the present, Fu Xuan was indeed impressed by Adrian. She turned to look at Jing Yuan:
"Do we need another self-introduction?"
Jing Yuan didn't answer.
"Hmm... if you want to know my origin and identity, Master Diviner might as well use your proud divination to explore the secret yourself?" Adrian suggested. He hadn't intended to hide his identity from high-level officials like the Master Diviner anyway.
After all... he bore some responsibility for Qingque being caught skipping work.
...
Stelle and her group quickly finished activating the three base terminals and rushed back to the center of the Matrix of Prescience to report to Fu Xuan.
As soon as they returned, they saw Fu Xuan still immersed in shock, motionless on the spot.
"Fu Qing? Fu Qing?" Jing Yuan spoke up to remind her, bringing Fu Xuan back to her senses.
"Master Diviner, the activation work has been successfully completed!"
"Cough... apologies. You did very well. I have sensed the talismans of the Matrix of Prescience being re-lit."
"Next, I will interrogate Kafka. Those at the center of the array might feel some... impact."
"So... you were actually zoning out?" March 7th guessed, successfully finding an excuse for Fu Xuan.
"I... I suppose so."
Although saying this was a loss of composure, she couldn't exactly say she got like this from divining an Aeon.
Fu Xuan swore she never wanted to experience that a second time in her life. She hoped similar situations wouldn't occur when interrogating Kafka.
Just as she activated the Third Eye on her forehead, her consciousness was pulled into a vast starry sky. At least it wasn't a void of nothingness.
Just as Fu Xuan was puzzled, a piece of amber constantly shedding and regenerating appeared before her. Fu Xuan instinctively reached out to grab it, and the surrounding space suddenly wrinkled. The amber transformed into a rusty clock.
Inside the clock, gears and vines coexisted under the starlight. Every flickering star around gradually solidified into dust within an hourglass.
The perspective gradually zoomed out. All the wonders seen just now merged into an hourglass. Fragments of the galaxy floated within the glass chamber, billions of light-years compressed into the form of fine sand.
The upper dome held solidified nebulas, dust trails dragging out colorful light traces as they passed through the neck, while the lower part was a bottomless darkness.
A Möbius strip was stuck at the junction of the two cones, emitting an indescribable radiance.
Fu Xuan reached out, wanting to touch that unreasonable brilliance...
Suddenly, a massive object resembling a hand lifted the hourglass. Fu Xuan looked closely, only to realize it was someone's palm.
The five fingers were like intertwined time-space loops. Star sand lived and died repeatedly within the transparent bones. A black hole in the palm was slowly devouring the surroundings. Every joint of the hand seemed like a miniature universe, with liquid starlight surging in the veins.
This hand was currently holding the hourglass. The speed of the falling sand exactly equaled the absolute value of all time arrows canceling each other out. The moment the fingertip brushed against the silver Möbius ring, countless whispering voices poured into her mind instantly, and an intense sense of emptiness filled Fu Xuan's heart.
As her consciousness dissipated, she vaguely saw a... crimson mask?
...
Recalling that feeling, Fu Xuan lamented that it was fortunate she hadn't used the Matrix of Prescience to divine Adrian earlier; otherwise, Kafka's interrogation would have been postponed for a few days.
But the people in front of her... seemed unaware of Adrian's identity. It appeared HE was intentionally concealing it.
I wonder what expressions they will show when they learn the truth?
Fu Xuan, who had sprouted a hint of expectation, reacted and instantly dispelled the thought. "Are you ready?"
"Reporting to the officer, always ready!"
"Suddenly getting serious?!"
A few minutes later, two Cloud Knights escorted Kafka over.
"Is such a big formation necessary? I said I would cooperate with you." Kafka put one hand on her hip. The coat from her shoulders had been removed, and she looked a bit unaccustomed to it.
Stelle hadn't expected the Cloud Knights to be so thorough, even helping to remove makeup/accessories.
"You are a wanted criminal skilled in confusing people's hearts with [Spirit Whisper] techniques. This Seat has no interest in your words."
"You can say whatever you want, but this Seat will only believe the divination of the Matrix of Prescience. The Divination Commission has its own ways to dig out the truth from you, far more than what words can say."
Kafka clicked her tongue. Just a simple complaint and she got retorted with so many sentences. This Master Diviner of the Divination Commission really had a bad temper.
"Then, Master Diviner, please witness my destiny."
Looking around, almost all were familiar faces.
"Did that Navigator not come down with you?" She looked at Stelle with interest.
"Wanting to see the entire Astral Express crew mobilized isn't that easy. If we all got off, what would happen to our Conductor?"
"True... Being surrounded by so many big shots, I'm still a little unaccustomed."
Before her voice fell, Kafka's hands were shackled by the guarding Cloud Knights.
"Sigh~"
Thinking that the [Script] was all garbled text, and that Stelle would come to question her after the Master Diviner's interrogation ended, Kafka searched her mind for the parts of the [Script] that hadn't gone wrong yet.
"Wait, weren't two Stellaron Hunters caught? Why don't I see that one called [Blade]?" March 7th realized a problem.
"Sometimes, having too many people isn't a good thing." Kafka gave Dan Heng a meaningful look. Even though he currently wore Blake's appearance, Kafka felt Blade could still recognize him.
"Compared to Bladie, shouldn't you be more concerned about... where Silver Wolf is?"
"Don't be a Riddler at a time like this!"
Kafka knew well that given the time Silver Wolf had been in contact with Adrian, if she appeared here and joined the interrogation queue, leaving aside whether Fu Xuan would have issues... the Matrix of Prescience might have problems.
So, it's better to have less contact with Aeons, even if it's playing co-op games together.
However, ordinary people wouldn't get involved with existences like Aeons anyway...