The people stepping down from this luxurious spaceship were none other than Jade and Topaz. As true high-level executives of the Interastral Peace Corporation, they were representing the company this time to board Jarilo-IV and handle those diplomatic disputes.
"Jade-jie, has your 'Liuli' added some of the most cutting-edge technology again? This speed arrived a full twelve hours earlier than we expected."
Lifting her head to gaze at the 'Liuli' beside her, gently stroking the spaceship's smooth and gleaming hull, our Miss Topaz couldn't help but speak up.
"Mm, I installed the curvature engine that the company recently developed on it. Gotta say, those folks in the Tech R&D Department really have some stuff."
Jade smiled and nodded, answering her junior's question in a very amiable manner. After replying, Jade waved her hand toward the assistant nearby.
Seeing this, the other party immediately respectfully handed over a document—information on the company's representatives stationed on Jarilo.
Although Jade had already reviewed some related materials on the way to Jarilo, for safety's sake, she still needed to go over them again.
However, just as Jade was carefully reading the materials presented by the assistant, she suddenly furrowed her brows.
"Jade-jie, what's wrong?"
Seeing Jade with tightly furrowed brows, Topaz also realized that something was not simple, so she stepped forward and asked.
"Mm, things seem a bit beyond our expectations. Little Jelena, take a look at this file."
Somewhat puzzled, Topaz took the file and quickly flipped through the pages. When she saw a casualty report, she couldn't help but slightly open her mouth in surprise.
"Merino, Ezekiel, and a series of IPC employees at p37 and p38 levels, along with their bodyguards—a total of forty-three people—were all confirmed dead last night. The specific cause is unknown."
"According to information provided by Belobog's Silvermane Guards leader Gepard Landau, Ezekiel and the others all died at the hands of Belobog's S-rank wanted criminal Sparkle... It's that woman!"
Looking at the heavy casualties in the report, Topaz's mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts. In just a day or two, why had these people all mysteriously died at the hands of the Masked Fool?
Moreover, generally speaking, Masked Fools prefer to seek fun. Compared to killing enemies, they prefer to toy with and torment them. So why had she acted so abnormally this time and killed these company people?
"That woman? Little Jelena, you know this person named Sparkle."
Jade slightly furrowed her brows. From the way she spoke of Sparkle... it seemed she knew this woman named 'Sparkle', and as for this name, it felt like she had heard it somewhere before...
"Mm, Masked Fool Sparkle. Back then on Jarilo-VI, the one who stirred up a storm of blood and carnage was her. At that time, she manipulated the Stellaron..."
Topaz completely recounted Sparkle's actions in Belobog.
Upon hearing that Sparkle had the ability to control a Stellaron, Jade couldn't help but glance sideways slightly. After all, up to now, there were hardly a few people who could wield the power of that bizarre thing called a Stellaron.
"The Masked Fool making a move at this time is probably intending to provoke a conflict between the Interastral Peace Corporation and Jarilo-VI."
"After all, under normal circumstances, for the company—and especially for the Strategic Investment Department—we wouldn't let go of this reason to pressure Jarilo."
Jade crossed her arms over her chest, legs crossed and raised, a contemplative look flashing in her eyes. She had roughly confirmed that the Masked Fool wanted to borrow a knife to kill, using the company's power to deal with Jarilo-VI.
After all, no matter what, these company mid-level executives had died on Jarilo. Given the company's personality, they would certainly take this opportunity to apply pressure and gain certain benefits.
Just like back in Penacony, the company used Aventurine's disappearance as an excuse to negotiate with old Oti and thereby obtain shares in Penacony.
By the same logic, they could also use this opportunity to gain benefits from Belobog.
"However, that's only under normal circumstances. For Jarilo-VI, this method is clearly somewhat inappropriate at the moment."
At this point, Jade shook her head. Then, under Topaz's curious gaze, she patted 'Numby' on the other's shoulder.
"Let's go meet that political officer named Bronya first. We'll talk about those employees later."
...…
Stellaron Hunter headquarters...
"Haa—! Finally tuned it properly. Was this dream-entry machine really that difficult to fix?"
In front of the supercomputer connected to the medical pod, Firefly looked at the dream-entry device she had finally repaired after spending several hours, nodded in satisfaction, then used her sleeve to wipe the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath.
On the table beside the girl, the black cat form of Elio took in the entire scene, silent for a long while before finally speaking quietly.
"Firefly, if I remember correctly, you've already stepped onto the Path of Causality and become an Emanator of the Aeon, right?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Elio's words, Firefly was slightly stunned, then asked somewhat puzzledly.
"Yeah, I've already become Yun Fan's Emanator. Elio, why are you asking that?"
Elio: '...'
"Um, if I recall correctly, the Path of Causality should have the power to reverse time, or rather, to modify causality. So why didn't you just directly use the power of the Path to restore the dream-entry machine to its undamaged state?"
Firefly: '...'
At those words, Firefly froze. For a moment, she even forgot to put down the tool in her hand. It was only after a long while that the girl stammered somewhat awkwardly.
"I-I forgot..."
Elio: '...6...'
— — — —
Several system hours later, on the festival star Penacony... at the golden hour...
"Finally... I've finally come back again..."
Gazing at the familiar street scenery before her, the corners of Firefly's mouth couldn't help but curve into a happy smile. Recalling the figure of that boy in her mind, the girl felt her little heart start pounding wildly again.
Ever since the day Yun Fan granted Firefly the authority as Emanator of Causality, due to irresistible factors, Firefly had no choice but to return to reality to complete the transformation of her power and the repair of her 'Entropy Loss Syndrome'.
However, precisely because of this, the girl hadn't had the chance to say thank you to Yun Fan—until now.