"Someone who could be called the protagonist of an entire world must have been a rare and heroic figure, yes? Boss Sylvester, might you share his deeds in greater detail?"
Hearing Sylvester's story, Jing Yuan was overjoyed. He quickly seized the chance to steer the conversation, hoping to coax more from him.
"Well… that's not impossible."
Sylvester checked the time. He was idle anyway, and chatting wasn't a bad way to pass it.
"In a place called Beika Town, a capital of crime, countless ordinary citizens chased one another down the road of lawbreaking every day. The police could barely keep up. And at that time, a boy named…"
"He cracked countless strange cases, hailed as the savior of the local police. But alas, one day, he was forced by a sinister organization to swallow a drug…"
"He accepted his new identity as an elementary school student, yet trouble never left him. To continue investigating, his friend of another generation invented for him… And then, he stumbled into a kidnapping…"
"Then he came upon a murder. He noticed… then another murder… and another… and yet another…"
At first, the three listened with great interest. But after an hour, the longer they listened, the stranger it all felt.
Yes, many of the cases were ingenious, and the criminals cunning. The process of solving them was fascinating. But this man was far too lucky—no, far too unlucky. Or maybe… neither?
How could anyone just go out for a walk and immediately encounter a homicide? Were the victims all killed by him? Otherwise, how could such coincidences exist?
For him to be present at every single murder—to claim he had nothing to do with them almost made it less believable.
"Boss Sylvester, could it be that this man was actually a ruler of that world—who, after seizing supreme power, rewrote its history books?" Jing Yuan proposed, the thought striking him more and more as likely.
This would explain why the man encountered so many cases. It also fit Sylvester's use of the term "protagonist." It neatly tied up every inconsistency.
"That does make sense…" Feixiao stroked her chin, agreeing with Jing Yuan's reasoning.
At that moment, the wristwatch-tranquilizer in her hand suddenly felt far more endearing. She almost wanted to fire a dart into Jing Yuan himself—maybe, if he fell asleep, he would dream up the truth of Sylvester's mystery faster.
"To unite an entire world, alter the memories of its people without resistance… could this not be the power of the Path of Remembrance?"
Jing Yuan's deductions grew deeper. He ran through the Garden of Recollection, the Memokeepers, even the Emanators of the Aeon of Remembrance in his storm of thoughts. Yet still, he couldn't understand: how did any of this tie to Sylvester?
"Boss Sylvester, from where did you learn of these things?" Both he and Feixiao gazed at Sylvester with burning eyes, fists clenched tight, palms slightly sweaty.
At that moment, their excitement turned almost to tension. If they could uncover how Sylvester was connected to this, the implications were limitless.
With the Xianzhou's military divination arrays—and Feixiao's new detector—it would be easy to locate the places he described. If Sylvester let slip even the smallest clue, they could follow the thread and deduce nearly everything about him.
Yes—come now, Boss Sylvester. Let us unveil your shrouded past!
"From a manga, of course," Sylvester replied matter-of-factly. He spread his hands. "It was all the rage once, the hottest thing going."
"…Cough."
The breath Feixiao had drawn to her chest collapsed in an instant. She couldn't stop herself from coughing lightly.
Her face screamed: "No way, brother."
What did you just say? A manga story?
So "protagonist" really meant protagonist. A character. A role. Not some metaphor for a historical titan of an era?
She couldn't shake the feeling Sylvester was deliberately toying with her. How else could a seasoned master sit here and earnestly discuss the plot of an old serialized manga with two Emanators of The Hunt and Arbiter-Generals? It was utterly improper!
Unless… unless he truly followed the Path of Elation. That would explain it!
Feixiao pressed a hand to her head, forcing her emotions to settle. As a Xianzhou general, she was no stranger to opposition, nor to crushing nameless detractors. But this—this emotion of being played for a fool—she had almost never experienced before.
It wasn't that she had lost anything tangible. But the taste of defeat was unpleasant all the same.
Beside her, Jing Yuan's expression was even more complicated. He wore the strained smile of someone clinging to politeness, but the twitch at the corner of his eye betrayed him.
It wasn't that his composure was lacking—this was him at his most composed.
Embarrassed, but also relieved at his own caution.
If he had spoken his suspicions aloud—if word had spread that the Divine Foresight had mistaken a manga plot for the schemes of the Aeon of Remembrance—it would have been a cosmic joke.
Seriously—tracing a serialized comic all the way to the Garden of Recollection, treating the author's flights of fancy as a galactic threat? Even the most fanatic of manga fans wouldn't go that far!
And if Sylvester hadn't given the truth, Jing Yuan might actually have done it.
In that case, there would've been no choice but to retire in disgrace, handing the generalship over to Fu Xuan.
Yanqing's eyes flicked left and right, watching his master and Feixiao. He didn't understand the whole matter, but it was funny—deeply funny.
Especially seeing his master so obviously defeated. A rebellious joy sparked inside him.
Ah, no, no. Can't think like that. Taking pleasure in others' pain is unhealthy, Yanqing scolded himself, silently chanting the Clear Heart Mantra lest he burst out laughing and invite punishment.
"Er… is it really that bad? That manga was very good," Sylvester said, then added: "Well, at least the first half was."
"…Let's just keep opening cans." Feixiao took a moment to compose herself, unwilling to linger on the subject.
She returned to the shelves and picked out her fifth trash can.
"All right then," Sylvester muttered, still looking a little wistful.
He thought to himself—perhaps manga really didn't suit great generals and Emanators? Maybe they felt it beneath them?
Well… not necessarily. Many extraordinary figures had their eccentricities. Some loved busking in the streets. Some loved freeloading. Some preferred to hole up at home as shut-ins. There was no single mold.
But Feixiao knew nothing of his thoughts. She only wanted to bury the matter quickly.
She hefted a trash can, lifted the lid, her dulled mood making her reaction slow.
Only when a dazzling golden glow filled her sight did she stir.
Jing Yuan's head snapped up at the light, only to quickly close his eyes again.
His heart leapt—despair to hope in an instant! Was this not life itself, with all its sudden rises and falls?
He chuckled bitterly. Such twists and turns rivaled even the day Dan Feng defied fate itself.
What he did not yet know was that once he learned the nature of this golden Curio, he would experience a rise and fall far greater still.
As the radiance dimmed, they all opened their eyes.
In Feixiao's hand hovered three tiny, seedlike orbs of light, twining and spinning together.
Remembering the [Samsara Elixir] Jingliu had drawn, her heartbeat quickened wildly. Could it be—was this her dream made real?
Sylvester's face twisted strangely as he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Your luck is truly outrageous. Single-draw golden pulls, again and again..."
[Resurrection Elixir:Using the supreme Three-Life Herb as its core ingredient, and refined together with countless heavenly treasures, this peerless medicine possesses the power to override the laws of life and death, resurrecting those who have passed away.]