Black Swan reluctantly accepted Bai Luan's explanation, even though she completely failed to grasp the logic behind it.
She watched Bai Luan rapidly chant in front of her, speaking earnestly as if reciting some kind of mysterious spell:
"I hereby declare that I have never, in any setting or form, mocked, satirized, attacked, or slandered Ms. Black Swan.
Ms. Black Swan is the most outstanding Memokeeper, having made indelible contributions to the Trailblaze journey and the peace of the cosmos..."
After finishing his rapid chant, Bai Luan let out a long breath, a look of relief spreading across his face.
That felt good.
He secretly declared:
There was no apology in this world more sincere or authoritative—after all, he had apologized directly in front of Black Swan herself, and she had indeed accepted it.
Could anyone else do that?
That would be very difficult.
Even though she was utterly confused and couldn't make sense of the situation.
But it didn't matter.
Just tell me: Did I apologize, and did she forgive me?
Black Swan truly couldn't understand Bai Luan's actions, ultimately attributing them to the unique, incomprehensible eccentricities of a genius.
If she could understand, she would also be a genius. Since she wasn't a genius, it was normal not to understand, and there was nothing wrong with that—Black Swan convinced herself of this.
Having resolved this mental issue, Bai Luan finally cut to the chase.
"The private matter is settled. Let's discuss business, Ms. Black Swan. I am quite interested in Amphoreus. I wonder if you could tell me its detailed coordinates?"
"Amphoreus?"
A hint of surprise flashed in Black Swan's eyes.
"How do you know about this place?"
"How I know is not important."
Bai Luan smiled slightly.
"Just consider it an insignificant trick of a genius."
When you're too lazy to think of a reason, just use the identity of a genius to be a riddle-teller; it's genuinely useful.
Bai Luan immediately added:
"Of course, I didn't come empty-handed. I am willing to use a precious memory to exchange for Amphoreus's coordinates."
Bai Luan opened his palm, showing Black Swan the fragments of memory he intended to exchange.
These memorys had been carefully filtered by the System, removing all content related to the System itself and his identity as a Transmigrator.
At the same time, Black Swan would only see the parts she was interested in, so there was no need to worry about her prying into anything she shouldn't see.
When it came to confidentiality, nothing was more reliable than the System.
Black Swan began to examine the memorys Bai Luan displayed.
She was too lazy to wonder why a genius could directly display Memory—it must be some kind of "Tech and Hardcore Skill" she couldn't understand anyway.
She wasn't a genius, so she never expected herself to understand the actions and techniques of a genius.
Although she already knew that memorys offered by a genius would never be ordinary... Black Swan was still shocked when she saw them firsthand.
A wait spanning 964 years?
The moment a machine ascended into an automaton?
Personally sowing the seeds of life on a barren planet?
This... what high-quality memorys these were!
Black Swan looked at one, then another, feeling covetous of every single one.
What Bai Luan showed were only fragments, yet they were enough to make her heart flutter.
She felt she had encountered the most difficult choice of her life—she could only take one of these memorys, but she wanted them all.
"Can I really only take one?"
Black Swan couldn't help but ask, her voice filled with obvious regret.
Bai Luan glanced at Black Swan, slightly surprised that she would have the idea of "wanting everything."
But exchanging all the memorys for just the coordinates of Amphoreus was clearly impossible.
So he nodded firmly.
After receiving a definitive answer, Black Swan became even more conflicted.
To be honest, she wasn't entirely sure what kind of place Amphoreus was herself.
If she could exchange its coordinates for any one of these memorys, it would be a huge profit.
It was just... too painful for her to make the choice herself.
Every one was so tempting.
For a moment, Black Swan even felt the urge to "grab them and run"—but it was only for a moment.
She wasn't foolish. Both the man's identity as a genius and the unknown method he used to display the memorys indicated that he was extraordinary.
Although these memorys were displayed right in front of her, as a Memokeeper, she was unable to pry into Bai Luan's memorys beyond the scope of the display.
That was enough to prove the point.
Finally, in an extremely conflicted state, Black Swan chose one of the memorys as the exchange, and told Bai Luan the coordinates of Amphoreus.
Excellent. Now he could make time to go there.
Later, he would try to farm more curios and see if, by accumulating quantity, he could obtain a curio capable of hiding his tracks.
After all, the equilibrium was watching him now, and it was unknown whether accumulating quantity would yield the desired curio.
If possible, he would first use this curio to silently apply a protective shell to Amphoreus's data, and then figure out how to deal with Lygus.
If not, he would have to consider how to break through head-on.
"Will telling this matter to other geniuses too early affect the future of the Astral Express Crew?"
Bai Luan mused inwardly.
"What a pity I'm not a true Prophet; otherwise, I could foresee the consequences and make arrangements."
It seems he can only take things one step at a time.
"It was a pleasure cooperating with you, Ms. Black Swan."
Bai Luan said with a smile.
"Perhaps we will have opportunities to cooperate again in the future."
Black Swan was carefully putting away the exchanged memory, and her eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.
She was already regretting only being able to take one memory, and Bai Luan's words meant she might have the chance to obtain other memorys from him later.
This was undoubtedly good news.
"If you say so, I'm already looking forward to our next collaboration."
Black Swan laughed.
"The quality of your memorys is extremely high. If the people from the Garden of Recollection knew about this, it would likely cause another round of competition."
"Is that so?"
Bai Luan suddenly had an interesting idea: perhaps he could continuously provide Black Swan with high-quality memorys, and when other Memokeepers came calling, he would give them some "abstract" memorys.
He didn't have much affection for the people in the Garden of Recollection either—after all, they were involved in the 'what if' timeline where Herta fell.
At that time, he would have the System wrap those "special" memorys in divine power and give them to those Memokeepers, making them impossible for anyone to analyze.
When they happily brought the memorys back to the Garden of Recollection and painstakingly opened them—"The fragrance of wild, wild, wild flowers..."—and then complained about these memorys everywhere, no one would believe them: "Ms. Black Swan got high-quality memorys from Bai Luan. Why did yours turn out like this? You must be the problem!"
That Memokeeper would certainly be left speechless and unable to defend themselves.
Haha, that would definitely be interesting.
Bai Luan smiled as he looked at Black Swan and said:
"As long as you continue to help the Astral Express Crew, we will certainly cooperate again."
"The Astral Express Crew?"
Black Swan was thoughtful.
"Come to think of it, the one who connected me with you seems to be Stelle from the Astral Express Crew."
She looked at Bai Luan with a hint of curiosity:
"If I may ask, what is your relationship with the Astral Express Crew?"
"You know Stelle, right?"
"That lively little one, I know her."
Bai Luan nodded, his tone calm:
"I'm her uncle."
This reply left Black Swan silent for a moment. Then she looked at Bai Luan and asked:
"Related by blood?"
"..."