---o---
After leaving the Dewlight Pavilion with the handbag, Aventurine glanced left and right before ducking into a deserted alley. He then called out softly to his surroundings.
"Mr. Fu Zhu, are you there?"
"I am."
Fu Zhu's voice suddenly came from his right side, but Aventurine couldn't see a soul. Combined with the fact that the alley was shrouded in shadow, Fu Zhu's voice gave him a rather sinister feeling.
"Mr. Fu Zhu, how about you show yourself? Right now, it feels like I'm talking to thin air. It's a bit creepy."
"One moment." Fu Zhu glanced at his buff bar. The invisibility still had a minute and a half left. While he could just drink milk to immediately cancel the effect, he didn't want to waste a whole bucket of milk for such a trivial matter.
After all, here in Penacony, Fu Zhu hadn't seen any cows.
Hearing Fu Zhu's reply, Aventurine had no choice but to lean against the wall and wait quietly. During the wait, he didn't forget to open his handbag to check the contents.
Fu Zhu peered over from the side, reached in, and picked up a gemstone whose cut was slightly cruder than the others.
[Aventurine Stone Fragment]
"Hoh? You actually came with a backup plan? So the other two Cornerstones that Sunday confiscated belong to other people?"
Aventurine smiled and nodded. "Even a gambler has to be fully prepared. Nobody likes a game they're guaranteed to lose, right?"
"Indeed."
Fu Zhu's figure materialized beside him. Seeing him appear, Aventurine breathed a sigh of relief; at least he wouldn't have to talk to the air anymore.
Fu Zhu toyed with the Aventurine Stone fragment for a moment, found it uninteresting, and tossed it back to him. It was, after all, his partner's private property. He hadn't yet sunk to the moral low of robbing his partners.
"Do you have any plans for what's next?"
Fu Zhu threw the stone back to Aventurine and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh? To hear Mr. Fu Zhu ask, it sounds like you have something you need my help with?"
"Not so much 'help' as a new partnership. Are you interested in hearing about it?"
Aventurine's interest was immediately piqued. He knew full well that this Nameless before him was not like the others, who were so "by the book." Since he was proposing a new collaboration, it was bound to be something quite interesting. Even if the partnership didn't work out, listening to the story would be entertaining enough.
"I'm all ears."
Seeing Aventurine agree, Fu Zhu let out a "heh heh" and, right in front of him, put on the Mask of the Fool. In a flash, he had transformed into the spitting image of Sunday.
"According to what you said earlier, the Company came to Penacony to find an opportunity to reclaim control of the planet. But you should all be well aware that this is an incredibly difficult task. A tightly-knit Family isn't so easily pried open."
"You are correct." Aventurine readily agreed with Fu Zhu's words. If The Family were easy to deal with, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of borrowing two other Cornerstones from Emerald and Topaz, even intentionally breaking his own as a ruse.
"In that case, I have an idea..." Fu Zhu adjusted his tone, and when he spoke again, his voice and intonation were indistinguishable from Sunday's. "I will be the one to pry open this iron plate that is The Family. The condition, however, is that the Astral Express requires a portion of Penacony's shares. What do you say?"
Previously, Fu Zhu had heard Himeko and Welt discussing how the Express crew earned their operating funds. It was usually by accepting various commissions, like adventurers in stories. These commissions were time-consuming, strenuous, and sometimes even life-threatening.
After hearing that, Fu Zhu had been thinking of a way to improve the Astral Express's quality of life. Although he had the iron farm on Jarilo-VI for some extra cash, who would complain about having too much money?
Besides, Penacony was a star of festivities renowned throughout the cosmos. Even a 1% share would generate an astronomical income.
"No problem!"
Aventurine agreed in a heartbeat. The speed of his acceptance made Fu Zhu a little suspicious that he was just being perfunctory.
"You agreed that quickly? Don't you try to pull any fast ones on me."
"Of course not." Fearing a misunderstanding, Aventurine quickly explained, "Mr. Fu Zhu, I have already placed too many bets on retaking Penacony. As long as I can win, I don't mind adding a few more. I will discuss the matter of the shares with my superiors. Please believe me, they will absolutely not refuse your proposal."
A smile involuntarily crept onto Aventurine's lips. [Diamond] had instructed them from the very beginning to be as friendly as possible with the Astral Express. Now that this was over, he could definitely use a portion of the shares to strengthen his relationship with Fu Zhu. He was certain [Diamond] would not object.
Though he had agreed, Aventurine was still curious about how Fu Zhu planned to proceed.
"What do you intend to do?"
"This..."
---o---
Fu Zhu stroked his chin, his gaze falling upon the shattered Aventurine Stone in Aventurine's hand.
"Since you've already broken your own Aventurine Stone, you wouldn't mind if I broke it a little more, would you?"
"Of course not."
Aventurine shrugged indifferently. He had already mentally prepared himself for punishment from his superiors when he first broke the stone. Now that it was already shattered, it wouldn't make a difference if Fu Zhu broke it a bit more.
"Excellent. Let me borrow the Aventurine Stone for a moment."
Aventurine handed all the fragments of the stone to Fu Zhu, who then materialized a Crafting Table and a High-tier Enchanting Table on the spot and began arranging various materials on the table.
Aventurine watched with curiosity. Although he had long heard that Fu Zhu possessed some sort of exclusive technology, this was the first time he had seen it in person. It just looked like he was simply placing some materials down, so how did he create those tools with their diverse effects?
Before long, Fu Zhu had crafted two key upgrades for the Sophisticated Backpack—the Tank Upgrade and the Experience Pump Upgrade. Their functions were quite simple. The Tank Upgrade could store various liquids as well as the player's experience points. Storing the latter required the presence of an Experience Pump Upgrade in the same backpack.
Besides transferring the player's experience points to the tank, the Experience Pump Upgrade had another very practical function: it could directly use the experience stored in the tank to repair any equipped weapon or armor that was enchanted with Mending, without needing to kill mobs to absorb experience orbs like in the original game, which was extremely convenient.
Next, Fu Zhu enchanted all the Aventurine Stone fragments with Mending. This was the beauty of combining Minecraft with reality—everything could be easily enchanted. It was just too convenient.
Fu Zhu held all the Mending-enchanted fragments in his hand. The next moment, countless specks of fluorescent light gathered upon them, and the fragments themselves began to glow. As the four light-shrouded pieces came together, the light dissipated, leaving a single, perfectly intact Aventurine Stone lying quietly in Fu Zhu's palm.
"This?!" Aventurine couldn't help but be astonished by the scene. While he knew that a very small number of people could repair a shattered Aventurine Stone, he never would have imagined that Fu Zhu would be one of them!
"Here, see if it works."
Fu Zhu tossed the restored stone to Aventurine, who quickly caught it. Holding it in his palm, he could feel the Emanator's authority sealed within.
"It works! It's exactly the same as the original!"
"Good. Now I need to shatter it one more time. But before that, I need to arrange a few things."
Fu Zhu took out his phone and called Gallagher.
A few moments later, the call connected, and Gallagher's confused voice came through.
"Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Is it about the legacy?"
"No, you can handle that as you see fit. Before that, I need you to do me a favor. Didn't you say some things require Robin's involvement? Since Robin is with you, have her help you abduct Sunday. I'm sure with Robin as bait, he'll definitely take the hook."
"Alright, I'll do it now."
Gallagher agreed readily. In his script, Sunday already had a part to play. Although it was scheduled for much later, since Fu Zhu had brought it up, moving it forward was no trouble at all.
After giving Gallagher his instructions, Fu Zhu put away his phone and looked at Aventurine, a wicked smile spreading across his Sunday-like face.
"Next, I'll need you to prepare a few news reporters and get ready for a performance."
---o---
On a bustling commercial street in the Golden Hour, Fu Zhu, wearing Sunday's face, walked into a sweet shop. The moment he entered, a clerk immediately came forward to greet him.
"Lord Sunday, what can I get for you?"
Fu Zhu clasped his hands behind his back and put on a profound air as he surveyed the shop. He then walked to a chair and sat down, crossing his legs.
His posture made the clerk pause. Although she hadn't seen the Head of the Oak Family many times, the rumors always described him as a gentle, elegant, and well-read man, not... like this, so brazenly acting like a common man on the street.
"Clerk, get me ten catties of lean meat, minced, and don't let me see a speck of fat on it. Then, get me another ten catties of fat, and don't let me see any lean on that. That also needs to be minced."
"Huh?" The clerk was completely stunned. It took her a long moment to stammer in a small voice, "Lord Sunday, this is a sweet shop... not a butcher's..."
"What's wrong with a sweet shop!" Fu Zhu feigned anger. "Can't a sweet shop have desserts with meat fillings? Right, and get me ten catties of soft gristle, also minced finely, and don't let me see any meat on it."
This time, the clerk was speechless. Her face contorted like a bitter melon, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"Lord Sunday, is there something our shop did wrong? You can just tell us, there's no need for this..."
"You can't even satisfy this simple request from a customer? You've disappointed me greatly."
Fu Zhu flicked his sleeves and left, disappearing into the street and leaving the bewildered clerk behind.
After Fu Zhu left, another clerk came out from behind the counter and approached her colleague, whispering, "Didn't the Head of the Family, Lord Sunday, seem a bit odd? Do you think someone was impersonating him?"
"It's possible. We should report this to the Hound Family!"
Meanwhile, a group of Dream Architects was discussing what kind of landmark to build on an empty plot of land when Fu Zhu walked up from behind them.
"Oi, you lost lambs, what are you agonizing over?"