"Ahhh, how did I lose again?! Just the other day I casually beat Aventurine from the Interastral Peace Corporation, and today it turns out like this." Qingque flailed about on the sofa, lamenting the unfairness of Lady Luck.
After venting for a moment, she clicked into another match as if nothing had happened.
Glorious moments come and go; don't mistake a spark for permanence. But to beat THE Aventurine at luck, heaven really had smiled on Qingque.
Sylvester watched her antics, his right eyelid twitching. He seriously doubted whether Qingque even noticed him entering the room.
"Qingque, playing games this early? Why not take a break?"
"Ugh, you're so annoying." Qingque muttered, tearing open a lollipop wrapper, tossing the candy into her mouth, and mumbling, "Besides, who said I got up early? I didn't even sleep."
The words had barely left her lips when something struck her as wrong. She turned to Sylvester. "Eh? When did you come in?"
Good grief, she really didn't notice me walk in? And she seriously pulled an all-nighter playing celestial jade on a workday?!
This job is way too cushy.
Sylvester ignored her question and went straight to the point. "That's not important right now. I've got something huge to hand off to you."
"No thanks! Give it to someone else. The best thing about being a recorder is that I don't have to do anything else." Qingque rejected him instinctively, without even thinking.
Her attention was back on her jade abacus, and she couldn't care less about Sylvester barging in.
Sylvester's eyelid twitched again. At last, he understood Fu Xuan's daily frustration.
With a subordinate this obsessed with slacking off, you'd lose ten years of life.
"Then I'll just contact Jing Yuan directly and have him assign someone reliable."
He reached for the Jade Abacus, as if preparing to dial the Seat of Divine Foresight. He had access to Jing Yuan's direct line now.
"Hey, hey, hey, that's way too uncalled for!" Qingque reluctantly tore her gaze from the game to glare at him, speaking while still fiddling with her cards.
She muttered under her breath, "Rank has its privileges, huh."
"This isn't just rank—it's almost the very top," Sylvester corrected.
He cleared his throat and said solemnly, "There's a Borisin spy inside the Cloud Knights."
"Oh." Qingque replied flatly. Then, after a beat, she shot up from the sofa. "Huh?!"
"You mean—the Cloud Knights? And Borisin?" she stammered.
Qingque had survived years of slacking at the Divination Commission for two reasons: finishing her work without issue, and never dropping the ball at critical moments. She knew exactly where the red lines were drawn. If the Cloud Knights had been infiltrated by Borisin, there was no room left for jokes.
During the Ambrosial Arbor incident, the Alchemy Commission had nearly been overturned by the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
And now the Borisin again—worse yet, they'd tried to buy a Curio Trash Can from Sylvester. If even one or two golden curios leaked out, the resulting disaster would be unimaginable.
Grimacing, she glanced one last time at her best hand from the past two days, then exited the game.
"Friend, you lost completely!"
Sylvester nodded. At least she was dependable when it mattered.
"What do you need me to do?" Qingque kicked off her slippers, quickly straightened her clothes, and looked to him for orders.
"Here are the work accounts of those two Borisin agents. Memorize them. They shouldn't have gone far—follow them now."
Crossing his arms, Sylvester tapped his finger on his elbow out of habit. "They just tried to buy a trash can and failed. They'll have to report back to their superiors. If you tail them now, you might reel in a big fish."
"Got it. I'll head out right away." Qingque wasted no time, pushing the door open and leaving.
Sylvester sat down on the sofa and began contacting Jing Yuan.
Truth be told, with his [Yin-Yang Evasion], he was the better choice for tailing.
Even more so, with [Weapon Arts Simulation (Profound Mastery)], he could learn and refine the spies' swordsmanship, then capture them and toss them to the Seat of Divine Foresight, all in the most efficient way.
But with his advantage as a transmigrator, he remembered Jing Yuan seemed to have some sort of "Purge the Unclean, Promote the Virtuous" plan.
If these two small fry ruined that entire scheme, it would be disastrous.
So, while Qingque rushed off to fulfill her duty, the truth was she had been roped in as nothing more than insurance. Her efforts might even prove meaningless.
But Sylvester hadn't lied—no matter was Jing Yuan's plan, Qingque's contribution would still count.
Well then, may Qingque rise quickly to become Master Diviner's most diligent right hand.
Don't thank me, Fu Xuan!
Beep, beep, beep!
The call connected, but before Sylvester could speak, Jing Yuan's amused voice came through first.
"Well, Shopkeeper Sylvester, a pleasure to meet you—though I didn't expect it to be like this. And…" Jing Yuan's holographic projection swept over the surroundings, smirking. "I didn't think you'd have such a girlish heart, decorating the room in this style."
???
Sylvester finally took a good look around. Sure enough, as Jing Yuan said, the room was filled with girlish décor, pink accessories, plushies, and cushions.
Damn, what a blunder.
He'd forgotten this was Qingque's bedroom.
But the Xianzhou construction team worked too fast—he'd only moved in a day ago, and they'd already transformed the place? What kind of Xianzhou efficiency was this?
And worse—would Jing Yuan think he'd spent the night somewhere… questionable?
Sylvester squinted at him.
But Jing Yuan only laughed and said breezily, "Rest assured, Mr. Sylvester, I won't breathe a word to Master Diviner."
Really? That loyal, huh?
Like hell!
The more Jing Yuan explained, the more suspicious it sounded.
And you dare say 'rest assured'? How could I possibly rest assured now?!
Truly worthy of being the Xianzhou general famed for his cunning—first meeting and already leaving Sylvester speechless.
Sylvester knew dragging this out was pointless. He reported everything he had seen that morning.
…
Once the call ended, Sylvester leaned back on the sofa, hands behind his head, legs crossed, mulling over the situation.
As expected, when Jing Yuan heard about Borisin, his joking demeanor vanished. Yet he remained calm and assured Sylvester there was nothing to worry about—he already had a plan.
Clearly, Jing Yuan had an entire framework in place for dealing with spies.
Still, Sylvester needed to prepare.
He stood tall, gazing out the window toward the Seat of Divine Foresight.
General Jing Yuan, forgive me for tonight.
He had intended to wait until Jingliu completed her ninth cycle of reincarnation, then replicate and refine her swordsmanship. But circumstances had changed—he would have to make do with the Lightning-Lord for now.
Tonight, he would infiltrate the Seat of Divine Foresight, disguise himself as an assassin, and spar with Jing Yuan, hoping to draw out a version of the Lightning-Lord's techniques endowed with innate super armor.
"Hey, boss, you home?"
A boy's youthful voice cut off Sylvester's thoughts. He glanced at his shop entrance.
A boy in azure robes stood with a foxian woman.
Yanqing and Feixiao.
He almost forgot—today was Monday, the day school began and quotas reset.
For now, Borisin wasn't his problem. Time to sell some trash cans.
Sylvester climbed through the window, returning to his own house.
Lesson learned—never let anyone catch me walking out of Qingque's room again, especially not in the morning!
If someone saw, who knew what rumors might spread?
Ha, ridiculous. I'm doing all this for the greater good, yet somehow it feels like I'm sneaking around like a thief. Where's the justice in that?
Adjusting his clothes, he opened his shop door once again, smiling warmly at the two outside. "Good morning, General Feixiao. Here again to support the shop? And this is…?"
Feixiao stepped forward, first introducing the boy. "This is Yanqing, General Jing Yuan's prized pupil."
Then she smiled gently. "As for supporting your shop—that's not how it is. Your trash cans are always in short supply. It's us who should be grateful."
"You flatter me. Please, come in." Sylvester stepped aside, letting them in.
As Feixiao passed, she halted mid-step, still close enough that only a breath separated them.
She tilted her head, studying his face, then leaned in to sniff softly.
"Uh… General Feixiao, what are you doing?"
Feeling the silver-haired beauty's breath brushing against him, Sylvester couldn't help but grow a little tense.
This was new.
"General Feixiao, you…" Yanqing frowned, clearly thinking this was far too intimate a gesture between a man and a woman.
After a moment, Feixiao straightened and smiled knowingly. "This scent—it's Qingque's, isn't it?"
Sylvester felt his head swell as if it might burst.
Seeing his expression, Feixiao's smile deepened, hiding some unspoken meaning. "Catching such a scent first thing in the morning—that's rather unusual."
Sylvester's eyelid twitched again.
He touched it—still the right one.
He had thought it was just Qingque driving him crazy, but no—was this the omen of disaster?
I can't escape, can I. I just swore to avoid misunderstandings, and the very next moment Feixiao catches me red-handed!
And damn it, I really am innocent here!