"The General's... honored guest?"
Watching Lynelle's awkward grin and Dan Heng's helpless expression, Sushang felt her brain short-circuiting.
"Is that... right?"
"Nope, not at all."
Lynelle shook her head repeatedly: "What General? Lynelle doesn't know anything about that~"
"Hmm? Did I make a mistake?"
Xueyi pondered for a moment, then suddenly moved close to Lynelle, leaning down to intently meet the girl's beautiful pink eyes.
She kept staring until the young girl began to blush, then nodded and straightened up.
"My visual systems appear to be functioning normally, and database connections are stable... Correct, you should be General Jing Yuan's honored guest."
"..."
Lynelle covered her face with one hand.
She never expected that Luocha—who she thought would be the first to expose her disguise—had been diligently helping conceal her identity all along, while it was the straightforward mechanical girl Xueyi who ended up blowing her cover.
Shooting a glance at Dan Heng, who seemed to be saying "you deal with this," Lynelle raised her hand in resignation:
"Fine, fine, I'm the General's honored guest... What do you need us to help you with now?"
"Well..."
Xueyi considered this seriously for a moment.
"Since you are the General's guest, I have no authority to requisition your services. You may leave. I only need to recruit this Cloud Knight and the two civilians."
"Uh..."
Lynelle looked helplessly at Luocha, who'd been stifling his laughter this whole time:
"Tell me you didn't accidentally break her brain when you treated her earlier..."
"Perhaps the young lady is simply forthright by nature."
Luocha cleared his throat and said, "Miss Automaton, Miss Lynelle is traveling with us and likely wouldn't mind lending assistance. If there's something requiring attention, you may simply instruct us."
"Call me Xueyi. Since you all agree, then follow me."
Xueyi glanced at the group before leading the way.
"My original mission was to pursue and capture the wanted fugitive of the Xianzhou—the Stellaron Hunter, Blade. But along the way, I noticed something unusual about the Ambrosial Arbor..."
"Something unusual?"
Following Xueyi into the Artisanship Commission's area, Sushang curiously glanced around: "Where? What's unusual?"
"The Ambrosial Arbor itself is the unusual thing..."
Dan Heng frowned deeply: "Miss Xueyi, when did... the Ambrosial Arbor resume growing?"
"Unknown. I only just discovered it myself. Based on observations along the route, it's likely the Alchemy Commission responsible for the Arbor was the first affected, then the Arbor's revival quickly spread to the adjacent Artisanship Commission."
"As for the reason... most likely malefactors inserted a Stellaron into the Ambrosial Arbor, stimulating its regrowth."
"So that's where the Stellaron ended up..."
Lynelle looked as if she'd just had an epiphany: "No wonder Jing Yuan didn't let us handle Stellaron matters."
"The General likely meant well for your safety. The Ambrosial Arbor is no benign entity. While this Emanator of Abundance possesses no consciousness and acts on instinct alone, even its instincts could significantly affect ordinary short-life species."
"Common manifestations include the Arbor violently attacking all who approach, or... hmm?"
Noticing the footsteps behind her had stopped, Xueyi turned to look.
What she saw made her feel like the sky was falling.
Lynelle, at the rear of the group, now had a gleaming golden vine wrapped around her arm. The supple branch spiraled up the girl's pale forearm, nuzzling affectionately against her body.
"!"
For the first time, Xueyi understood what people meant by "their eyes nearly popping out."
You're telling me this same Ambrosial Arbor that nearly kicked my automaton body into scrap metal is now acting like a domesticated tentacle monster around this pink-haired girl?
Since when does the Ambrosial Arbor practice racial discrimination!
But just then, the vine wrapped around Lynelle's arm seemed to detect something.
The relaxed branch instantly tightened, urgently trying to pull Lynelle toward the Arbor.
"Watch out!"
Luocha, standing beside Lynelle, reacted first, immediately reaching for her other hand while shadows of black thorns and white flowers once again shimmered around him, ready to strike.
Yet... both the Arbor and Luocha grasped at empty air.
More precisely, the vine and his hand passed straight through Lynelle's body.
"Relax, everyone..."
Lynelle reassured them: "I think I know what the Arbor wants..."
"It probably detected my physical condition upon contact, assumed I had some defect, and wants to pull me in to transform me into a long-life species to fix it."
"Physical condition? Right, Luocha mentioned earlier that Lynelle's current body was inconvenient..."
Sushang immediately grew worried.
Though they'd only traveled together for half a day, she already considered them friends: "Lynelle, is your body alright?"
"You've misunderstood... same as the Arbor."
Lynelle didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's not that my body has problems, but my current state is just a... never mind, let me show you directly."
With that, to Sushang's horror, Lynelle reached her hand directly into her own abdomen.
After rummaging around momentarily, she pulled out Dan Heng's terminal and tossed it to him. Her own figure instantly grew translucent.
"Really... first Xueyi exposes my identity, now the Arbor outs my abilities. This Xianzhou trip is full of surprises."
Lynelle sighed helplessly: "See? Like this. I'm actually just a data projection. I maintain physical form by borrowing processing power from Dan Heng's terminal for simulation…"
"Due to certain abilities, my simulated physical data became a bit too realistic, so the Arbor misjudged me as 'physically impaired.' From its perspective, I'm just a shell moving around—even stranger than Abundance abominations."
"As for why the Arbor favors me so much... probably related to what Luocha mentioned earlier?"
"The Ambrosial Arbor, being a high-level Abundance blessing, instinctively feels affinity for those who walk the Path of Abundance. But this affinity is usually weak—for example, it shows no reaction to me."
Luocha chuckled: "But someone like Miss Lynelle... this is indeed rare. I'm rather curious what unique qualities make you so favored by Abundance."
Of course it doesn't react to you—you're carrying part of the Propagation's remains in that coffin of yours.
The Arbor not lashing out at you already means it's in a good mood...
Lynelle silently grumbled to herself.
"By the way, Miss Lynelle, are you certain you won't bring your true body here? Perhaps I could—"
"Better not."
Lynelle shook her head: "I've actually been operating on two fronts simultaneously. My main body... is currently occupied with other important matters."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.