"A rare opportunity—why not take a gamble?"
"Hmph, fine. I'll bet—he's promoting me to P46, right?"
"Hmm, what are you wagering then?"
Aventurine blinked. After all, when it came to scheming, he couldn't outmatch that old hag at the other end. "Real bet or fake? I'm not handing you anything, lest you clean me out.
But if it's just for fun, let's do it like our first meeting—I'll bet my life, lady."
"Interesting. But since it's 'Diamond's' decision, no one can guess the outcome in advance.
I'm on my way to Penacony. Once the remaining matters are settled, we'll head back to Pier Point together and see the cards revealed."
Aventurine let out a sigh of relief. "Sounds like I'm off the hook for now. Does that mean I can enjoy a proper vacation?"
"Leave it to me and Topaz, kid. Thanks to you, the moment the 'Aventurine Stone' was delivered to the Family's stronghold, the company's arrangements were complete.
The seeds sown have taken root and sprouted… and now, it's time for the 'harvest.'"
"Hm?" Aventurine heard a noise from outside. "Let's wrap this up—seems I've got a visitor…"
The next moment, he ended the call.
Bang—
The door was kicked open.
A cowboy appeared in the frame, with two company guards standing behind the door.
Aventurine sized up Boothill. "Oh? Today's full of surprises. A Galaxy Ranger and wanted criminal walking right in?
Taking out two company employees right under the fleet's nose—you know what that means, don't you?"
Boothill raised an eyebrow. "Cut the chatter, fella. Just put 'em to sleep—don't cry over your precious goons. Besides, I've taken out more company dogs than the surplus value you've squeezed. Don't mind a few extra 'zeros' on my bounty."
"I've got questions for you. Be straight." Boothill pulled out his revolver the next moment. "Or I'll love you to death with one shot."
Their eyes locked.
"Tell me… where's Oswaldo Schneider?"
The fourth season reached its final epilogue.
[Another plot hook!]
[Are the Ten Stonehearts finally showing up?]
[Who's Oswaldo Schneider?]
[Head of the 'Marketing Development Department,' and the one responsible for destroying Aventurine's homeland.]
[Yo? This is getting spicy—next step, taking down company dogs?]
[Aventurine: Coincidence, much?]
[Sigh, another drought. So, where's Firefly? And Acheron? No closure for them.]
[Heard Firefly's got some Midsummer Firefly Pact—dunno what that's about.]
[Guess we wait.]
— —
In Interastral City, at the miHoYo office.
Su Chen, Dan Heng, and Jing Yuan were discussing upcoming events.
Su Chen looked at the documents in hand. "Right now, we've got three events pending. First is the Midsummer Firefly Pact, second is the Best Shop Election in Interastral City, and third is the miHoYo Concert."
Dan Heng followed up, "Got it. So, you're handling the Midsummer Firefly Pact, I'm on the Best Shop Election, and Jing Yuan's taking care of the concert, right?"
"Pretty much. Firefly's character arc is too thin, so I'll reshoot some scenes with Firefly and Glamoth, weaving them into the series to strengthen the foundation.
Plus, we need to drop some clear hints about the protagonist's role as a Stellaron Hunter to avoid anything feeling abrupt."
Dan Heng nodded. "That approach makes sense. The script changes are reasonable. But this shop election—you're springing it out of nowhere. With so many people, who knows what chaos it'll stir up?"
"No worries," Jing Yuan said, patting Dan Heng's shoulder. "With Interastral City's growing security force, nothing will go wrong."
Just then, Stelle burst into the meeting.
Stelle smirked slightly. "Hahahaha! Little brother, your days of throwing cringey team-building events are over!"
She sauntered up to Su Chen, ruffling his hair wildly. "Heh heh heh! Convinced yet? You convinced or what?"
Before Su Chen could respond, Stelle moved to Dan Heng. "Listen up—next time, you won't need to turn into a little dragon. The Astral Express only needs me! Just end it with a Cleansing of the World—cool as hell!"
"Oh, and you!" Stelle raised an eyebrow at Jing Yuan. "Captain Jing Yuan, I'm confiscating your Divine Lord. From now on, call me Big Sis Stelle!!! Hahaha!!!"
Dan Heng and Jing Yuan exchanged glances. "Which wire's loose in her head this time?"
"Here's the deal," Su Chen said, fixing his hair and sipping hot tea. "Yesterday, I caught Sampo and Sparkle sneaking around Sixth Street with bad intentions. They knocked out the newsstand dog, disguised themselves, and took over as the stand's owner."
Jing Yuan guessed the rest but played along. "And then?"
"Then Sparkle secretly printed a ton of fake scratch-off tickets."
Stelle felt a chill down her spine. "So my scratch-off ticket from Sparkle is fake?"
"Yup."
"Why didn't you stop her?"
"I thought no one would fall for it, but turns out three people did."
"Three people?" Dan Heng shook his head, already guessing who.
Just then, March 7th stormed in, hands on hips, and marched up to Su Chen. She ruffled his hair, then parroted Stelle's exact words before turning to her.
"You—your job from now on is to perform comedy routines for us, got it?"
Stelle handed her scratch-off to March 7th. "It's fake. Think about it—besides the main characters, who else could get a scratch-off from that stand?"
March 7th's brain took a few loops before it clicked. She laughed awkwardly. "Haha, haha, yeah, why would that husky give me a scratch-off? All fake."
Before her words settled, Kiana rushed into the office, heading straight for Su Chen.
But Stelle and March 7th blocked her, grabbed her scratch-off, and tore it to shreds without looking.
Dan Heng frowned. "So the third was Kiana? I thought it'd be Sushang."
"It is Sushang!" Su Chen glanced at the scraps on the floor—definitely not scratch-off material. Oh no! Those two idiots messed up big time.
"Wahhh!!!"
Kiana collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"My lottery ticket! My first-prize-winning lottery ticket!"