Guanliang almost failed to catch his breath.
'No wonder... no wonder the Marshal couldn't stand Lan!'
'Marshal, you're the only one who can keep this guy in check!'
'What? The Marshal is dead? Then never mind.'
While mentally deducting his own merits, Guanliang also thought about how to comfort Hua.
Hua clenched the collar of her suit tightly with both hands, wrinkling the fabric.
A long time ago, she had already begun to suspect something.
When exactly? Hua couldn't remember.
That person had always deliberately angered her, always teased her.
One time, his expression softened. He raised his hand and ruffled her hair. Just as she was about to get angry, his tone sounded like a sigh, yet also like a joke, ("Hua, when are you going to grow up?")
Only now did Hua finally understand the deeper meaning behind those words.
He had clearly told Guanliang he would attend this annual gathering and be present for Hua's coming-of-age ceremony.
But he broke his promise.
He never returned to the Luofu. Just like that, without a word, somewhere in some unknown remote corner… he left them.
Even the formal clothes and accessories Hua had prepared for him in advance ended up unused.
Hua was good at matching outfits for herself. She knew what length of dress suited her and what kind of earrings to pair with it.
But how should men's formalwear be matched? Hua knew nothing about that.
So she had to figure it out on her own.
Before arriving at the Luofu, Hua still hadn't managed to choose matching accessories for the suit. Should it be a hand-tied bow tie? Or a bolo tie?
If it was the latter, should she choose a Paraiba stone the same color as the lake he loved? Or a yellow diamond in the same color family as his eyes?
Hua had no idea. In the end, she had the attendants bring everything.
Now, the formal suit hanging on the custom mannequin, along with an entire suitcase full of accessories, still remained where they were.
Hua lowered her head, as if her senses had been pulled away, unable to perceive the passage of time.
As if, at this very moment, time itself had frozen.
Then Guanliang gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
Hua snapped back to herself and looked up, revealing a face drained of color.
In the video, that person had called himself her father and called her his daughter.
Before this, neither of them had ever acknowledged their relationship.
So how should she define what they were to each other?
Guardian? Teacher? Or… father?
When a normal person's father dies, what are they supposed to do?
That person, the generals, and the leaders of the Six Commissions had taught her many things.
Only this one question, no one had ever taught her.
When a father dies, what should she do?
In everyone's eyes, that person had been all-powerful, a being close to immortality.
How could someone like that die?
No one had ever anticipated the death of the Xianzhou Marshal. So no one had ever told her the answer to this question.
Hua forced herself to meet Guanliang's eyes.
Lost, she asked, "What should I do?"
Guanliang was silent for a long while before softly saying, "He asked me a similar question too… but the answer I'm giving you isn't the same as the one I gave him."
"You don't need to do anything. Just follow your own wishes and keep moving forward."
The Marshal had once asked Guanliang what normal people would do if their child went missing.
He said, they would cry.
Hua was different from the Marshal.
She could vent her emotions in front of Guanliang.
The Marshal would never shed tears in front of his subordinates, but a junior who had grown up under the watch of Guanliang and Lan could freely vent her emotions in front of her elders.
Only he and the Aeon were qualified to see the tears of the next Marshal.
Here, there were no outsiders.
Hua lowered her head again. Surprisingly, she did not cry. Instead, she began discussing official matters with the god and the man.
"The generals of each Xianzhou and the heads of the Six Commissions are all at the Luofu. How about using this opportunity to put the Xianzhou into a state of war readiness?"
Guanliang was surprised, but still went along with her, asking, "Are you planning to announce this today?"
Hua shook her head. "No. My idea is to delay."
The leader they had followed for so long had died silently on the very day they celebrated his birthday… for them, that was too cruel.
"At the very least, we should wait until after Gratitude Day before announcing his… news."
"If it were him, he definitely wouldn't want the generals to be sad."
After thinking for a moment, Guanliang agreed with the proposal.
Hua continued, "On the day we prepare to announce the news, all Xianzhou ships will enter the highest level of war readiness."
She paused briefly, then turned to look at the Aeon, who had only spoken once from beginning to end.
"At that time… will it be at the Yaoqing?"
Her words were vague, but both Guanliang and Lan understood what she meant.
Hua was asking which Xianzhou would host the funeral.
Lan shook his head and rejected the proposal. "At the Xuling. You will also stay at the Xuling in the future."
Hua, "..."
Guanliang, "..."
'What is even at the Xuling?! Lan, are you an Aeon or some kind of scripted NPC?! Why do you only repeat these few lines over and over?!'
Hua took a deep breath. It looked like she was about to lose her temper.
Seeing this, Guanliang quickly changed the subject.
"What exactly happened? Where is he?"
The Aeon answered neither question, only saying, "He wouldn't want others to see him in an embarrassing state."
Hua and Guanliang both fell silent.
Yeah... Of course they knew!
The Marshal was exactly the kind of person who would suffer just to keep up appearances. Even if the sky fell, he'd still hold it up with his pride.
He cared about his image, sure, but that didn't mean they couldn't even look for him, right?
Even if he had died, they should at least let him be laid to rest properly, right?
Lan paused, and for the first time spoke with a trace of emotion in his voice as he sighed. "He also wouldn't want… others to be sad."
Hua closed her eyes.
Why did the Aeon keep stopping them from investigating further?
What exactly did that sentence mean?
Was the situation back then something even the Aeon couldn't bear to watch? Or was this just the Aeon's way of comforting them?
Hua didn't want to think about it further. She removed the coat draped over her shoulders and handed it back to Guanliang.
"Let's stop talking about this for now. I'm going to change into another dress."
She stood up and walked out without looking back, leaving Guanliang and Lan staring at each other.
Guanliang tried his best to suppress the urge to roll his eyes and stiffly looked away.
When he had received the Marshal's jade communicator at the Xuling and saw the video left for Hua, he already knew the Marshal wanted Hua to have a perfect coming-of-age ceremony.
Guanliang knew very well the Marshal would never return to the Xianzhou and would only try every possible way to avoid him.
He had originally thought his superior would at least hold on until Gratitude Day, but reality proved he was wrong.
Guanliang had underestimated how much that secret affected the Marshal.
And overestimated the "Reignbow Arbiter."
Aeons had no concept of time. How could they care about Hua's birthday?
As for why he was so insistent on Hua going to the Xuling… it was probably the Marshal's order before his death.
Still, couldn't he be just a little flexible?
The Marshal probably never imagined that all the effort he put into leaving Hua a birthday message would end up completely ruined by Lan.
Guanliang couldn't help thinking, 'Lan, you damn NPC!'
'Marshal, why didn't you punch him a few more times back then! Best if you could've knocked him from an NPC into a real person!'
While cursing the Aeon in his heart, Guanliang kept a straight face and looked down at his jade communicator.
He divided the guards into two groups.
One group went to meet Daiyang. They were about to arrive at the Xianzhou Luofu.
The other group had found traces of Zandar and reported that he was near the venue.
Guanliang thought about it. No matter what, they couldn't let this "Father of Aeons," famous across the universe, get into trouble on the Xianzhou, right?
[Keep an eye on him. Wait until he leaves the Xianzhou before making a move]
Soon, he received a new push notification. A news channel under the Interastral Peace Corporation reported that just now, the universe had entered a new Amber Era.
Guanliang couldn't help but question Lan, "What? This also involves the 'Preservation' Aeon?"
If they ended up opposing the Interastral Peace Corporation… that would require more careful planning.
Lan was silent for a moment before saying, "He's probably repairing the 'subspace crystal wall' that the Marshal and Akivili broke through."
On the same floor, Hua changed into a new dress. Holding up her skirt, she stepped out of the room. After only a few steps, she ran into a red-haired, black-eyed boy.
His expression was sorrowful, and he was holding something in his suit jacket with both hands.
Hua immediately sensed something was wrong.
Anyone who could appear on this floor was either high-ranking Xianzhou personnel or Cloud Knights who had passed screening in advance to serve as attendants.
And the face of the boy in front of her was far too unfamiliar.
The boy walked up to Hua and, without explanation, stuffed the jacket in his hands into hers.
He moved so fast she didn't even have time to dodge.
The boy frowned slightly, his voice faintly choked with tears as he spoke, "My condolences."
Hua's body stiffened. She tightly gripped the suit jacket in her hands.
Was it her imagination? She seemed to smell blood.
Hua didn't even have time to question the boy's identity. Instinctively, she began recalling the details from just now. It seemed she had heard the sound of metal striking? Were those… metal fragments?
The boy looked like he was about to cry. "Ah, now I'm the only one walking the Path of 'Elations'..."
"That big ice block really went too far. Even if I wanted to see my own joke, he shouldn't have waited until after my best friend died to give me back my previous memories, right?"
"Thinking about it now, this round was really no fun. My best friend actually stayed with someone with no sense of humor."
"Clearly he got along better with that madman. There's no statue of my best friend here, and no banknotes printed with his face either..."
Hua remained expressionless. Looking at the boy before her, she guessed his identity... the Aeon of "Elation."
The Aeon disguised as a boy continued talking to himself, "But luckily, at least it's not like before, where I worked so hard to become my best friend's subordinate, only to get killed by him instead, right?"
A bright smile appeared on the Aeon's face. Then two lines of tears slowly fell. His tone was strange, "It's fine. I think… we'll meet again soon..."
Very quickly, the Aeon disappeared.
Hua returned to the room where she had changed dresses. She leaned against the door, gripping the suit jacket tightly.
Carefully, she lowered her head and saw clearly what was wrapped inside.
They were countless blood-stained fragments.
Hua thought, the Aeon of "Elation" must not die.
At least not now.
She found another shirt made of softer fabric, put on the long gloves meant to match her dress, and little by little moved the fragments from the suit jacket onto the shirt.
Hua did everything she could to stop herself from trying to piece together the bloodstains on the fragments, to stop herself from thinking about their deeper meaning.
She raised her arm and used her glove to wipe the wetness from her cheek. Then she removed the glove and slowly wrapped up the fragments.
Hua looked around, found a box used for storing jewelry accessories, and poured everything inside out.
With the utmost care, she placed the shirt-wrapped fragments inside. Finally, she put the box into her suitcase.
Before leaving the room, Hua stopped in front of the mirror. She examined herself carefully. Only after confirming there were no issues did she return to the room where Guanliang and Lan were.
After hesitating several times, she told the god and the man, "I ran into the Aeon of 'Elation.'"
Their expressions turned cold.
"What was he doing here?"
Hua decided to hide the fact that she had received the fragments.
On this day, she wasn't the only one in pain.
She had lost her father. Guanliang had also lost the superior who had accompanied him for thousands of years.
Hua chose her words carefully and revealed part of the truth, "Aha said he clearly got along better with the madman, but this time stayed with someone with no sense of humor."
For some reason, after hearing this out-of-context sentence, Lan's expression became somewhat strange.
Hua continued, "Aha also said things are good now, at least it's not like before when he became his subordinate only to get killed instead. What does that mean? When did Aha come to the Xianzhou? Did he try to assassinate him?"
She paused, then looked at Guanliang.
"Aha also said we'll meet again soon. This 'we'… does it mean me? Or… him?"
Guanliang wanted to say that the dead cannot come back to life.
There was no divine artifact in this world capable of reversing life and death.
Facing Hua's slightly hopeful gaze, he could only say, "Do you remember? He said the words of the Aeon of 'Elation' are the least trustworthy."
Hua responded with an "oh," then stepped forward and went with them to the venue.
As usual, everyone finished praising the Marshal and then began chatting.
"Just now, the 'Preservation' brought down the hammer."
"What's going on? How long has it even been since the last Amber Era?"
After talking about irrelevant Aeons, they began discussing the geniuses from their respective Xianzhou. Among them, the Luofu general was the most proud, "There's a little girl from Cangcheng with exceptional talent in sword training."
"I think it won't be long before she's qualified to participate in the guard selection. Once she passes a dozen rounds of interviews, she'll be able to protect Lord Marshal..."
The Cangcheng general rolled his eyes at his colleague. "So what? I have several hundred planets personally given to me by Lord Marshal!"
So what if Cangcheng was gone? The Marshal had compensated him.
Hua's expression instantly froze when she heard this. She slowly turned to look at Guanliang.
Didn't the Xianzhou only have a three-digit number of planets? How could he casually give a general several hundred planets?
Guanliang, "…Is that really the main point? Never mind, I'm going to talk to Marty about something."
Knowing he was in the wrong, he quickly found an excuse to leave.
Hua crossed her arms and asked, "Exactly how many planets are there?"
Lan thought, 'Just over nine thousand.'
He replied, "Four digits."
Hua didn't accept that answer at all.
"That's too vague. Exactly how many?"
This time, Lan said nothing.
Hua refused to let it go. She grabbed the Aeon's sleeve, determined to make him give an exact number.
Guanliang felt relieved.
Better to let the Aeon bear Hua's anger.
He quickly walked toward Marty.
The other man was looking down at his jade communicator. Seeing Guanliang approach, he suddenly said, "There's something the research institute needs Lord Marshal to decide..."
Guanliang's heart skipped a beat, but he calmly asked, "What is it?"
"It's nothing." Marty opened a report sent by a colleague, skimmed it briefly, gave a casual response, then walked outside.
He automatically ignored Guanliang calling after him and quickened his pace.
The report recorded a civilization that had perished thousands of years ago.
Through research by one of the Xianzhou's project teams, they discovered the true reason for that civilization's disappearance.
They believed the entire universe was nothing more than a virtual world created by higher-dimensional beings for entertainment and enjoyment.
All intelligent life forms were unknowingly being controlled by these higher beings. To resist, to gain freedom, they chose extreme measures and ended their own lives.
Marty felt a chill run down his spine.
The Marshal had once seriously warned him not to seek the true nature of the universe.
A message came from a colleague.
[This matter has extremely far-reaching consequences. The project team has already shown self-destructive tendencies and has now been stopped. Personally, I believe we should respectfully request Lord Marshal's next instructions]
Marty sharply noticed the problem.
They had always had a close relationship with the Marshal. Most of their wording was casual and equal. But this time, they used phrases like requesting instructions.
It seemed everyone had believed this report. They believed the universe was false.
Fortunately, they had found the only reality within this false world.
So they were desperate to get an answer from Lord Marshal himself.
Marty took a deep breath. It took him a long time before he managed to type a reply.
[Lord Marshal says this is nonsense. Dispose of the related documents immediately]
He exited the chat software, but then caught sight of an alert he had ignored because his device was on silent mode.
Marty's breathing stopped.
Why had the life signs of the neutron gun bearer… disappeared?
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