Akivili could not accept it, "…What evil god, what 'Destruction'! Even if you ascended to godhood, you would only become a god like 'Abundance'!"
Besides healing, selflessness and helping others, his best friend had done it all.
Akivili did not say anything more. He promised the other party that within half a month he would remove their wanted notices, and declared that nothing similar would ever happen on the next journey.
Could Zero believe those words? If Akivili was not wanted, would that still be Akivili?
His tone was faint and distant, "Akivili, please have an accurate understanding of yourself."
Akivili was unconvinced, "It's not some accident-prone constitution… Don't look down on gods..."
One god and one human joked around for a while. The Aeon was still not at ease and reminded him again, "Best friend, as long as you and I travel together, you don't need to take action."
"A god will protect Their believers."
Zero smiled.
"Alright."
Half a month later, just as the Aeon had said, They and the Nameless took action. They removed their wanted notices and overthrew the foolish and incompetent ruler.
The natives were overjoyed. They surrounded the benefactors who had changed everything and loudly praised their achievements.
Akivili, who should have been the center of everyone's attention, hurriedly nodded in response after hearing one person's praise, then walked toward his believer.
The Aeon raised Their head and looked at Zero.
Their tone was full of pride, "See? I told you I was right."
Zero chuckled softly. While applauding, he praised, "As expected of the god I believe in. When you don't act, you don't act, but once you do, it's truly amazing..."
Akivili put both hands on Their hips and grinned.
"When traveling with your god, you don't need to use that precious brain of yours. Just follow me and attend the celebration banquet."
The red-haired boy rolled his eyes, smiled as he said goodbye to the excited natives beside him, then came over and said in a sulky tone, "Akivili is so biased…"
Akivili was about to say something, but Zero spoke first.
Zero laughed very lightly.
"How could that be? Bacchus, gods never favor just one person. They love every devout believer equally."
He deliberately emphasized the word "devout."
Bacchus's eyes immediately became burning hot.
He bowed slightly, raised a hand to his chest, and spoke with extreme enthusiasm, as if he regarded Akivili as the only light in his life.
Bacchus used every flattering word he could, praising Akivili at a very fast pace, drawing the surrounding Nameless over as well.
Akivili stood in place, expression slightly stiff, his scalp tingling from what the red-haired boy was saying.
What? Aha believed in Them? And was even a fanatic?
Who would want this kind of believer?
There was a trace of grievance in the Aeon's eyes. They looked toward Their best friend, only to see him smiling with his eyes as he fiddled with the jade abacus device.
Akivili became even angrier.
'Best friend, you've gone too far!'
'Not helping out is one thing… you even have the mood to look at the jade device!'
Akivili forced Themself to keep listening until Bacchus talked until his mouth was dry, and only then reluctantly stopped.
Zero held the jade device in one hand and tapped the screen a few times with the other, saving this recording.
He made backup copies on several apps and then forwarded it to Akivili.
With this kind of fun thing, how could he not share it with his best friend?
Zero gave his evaluation.
"You only praised for fifteen minutes. Not devout enough, Bacchus."
"Let's talk about the strengths first. The tone was good."
"The weakness is that the acting is a bit exaggerated. Next time pay attention to controlling your expression."
Bacchus and Akivili both widened their eyes.
Their thoughts were completely different.
Bacchus stared at Zero without blinking.
'As expected of you, best friend!'
Akivili's pupils shook. 'What? Wait? There's even a next time?!'
Zero thought for a moment and added, "Oh, and the wording. It needs a bit of polishing."
"For example, being wanted multiple times. Does that sound nice? You should say that as an Aeon, They have experienced the warmth and coldness of the human world..."
The Aeon and the people present thought it over and suddenly realized that there was nothing wrong with those words.
Someone was dumbfounded.
"Eric… you're really a good candidate for writing resumes for people!"
Being wanted could be polished into experiencing the warmth and coldness of human life…
What could they even say? They could only say amazing.
Someone else suddenly had an idea and came over with their communication device.
"Eric, my younger sister has been going on matchmaking dates recently. Can you help me look at this person's conditions?"
Zero, "???"
This was truly an unexpected path.
He took the Nameless's communication device and instructed Bacchus, "Bacchus, practice more."
"If you need a review later, you can ask me for the recording."
Bacchus stared intensely at Zero and also leaned over.
The Nameless pointed at a person's photo and introduced, "The matchmaker said this person's family conditions are very good."
"Bold and decisive, able to pick things up and put them down. Someone who can accomplish great things in the future."
"They used to work for the government, but now changed careers and help manage the family business."
Zero fell into silence for a moment.
The Nameless immediately felt something was wrong and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the person?"
Zero slowly shook his head and hesitated before speaking, "I'm thinking about suitable wording."
The Nameless immediately became anxious.
"Ah, it's fine. Just say whatever you want."
Zero was no longer the Zero who ignored the efforts of his subordinates.
Now he considered himself very good at putting himself in other people's shoes.
Zero carefully said, "Don't look at what they said. Look at what they didn't say."
"If they only talk about family conditions, that means the person has problems."
"Helping manage the family business means they don't have a job."
"Bold and decisive…"
"If your sister really likes them…" Zero paused briefly and said sincerely, "I suggest first figuring out whether that government job was actually a prison."
The Nameless's face twisted instantly.
He suppressed the curse words that were about to come out, hurriedly thanked Zero, then took back the communication device and rushed toward a corner.
Even from dozens of meters away, that Nameless's cursing could still be heard.
Bacchus watched the whole process from the side. He came close in an affectionate way, his tone like a melting ice cream cone in summer, sticky and scalp-numbing in an unpleasant way.
And his pair of bottomless black eyes were like a cold poisonous snake, making one's hair stand on end.
Tilting his head, Bacchus asked with a smile, "Eric, you're really amazing! Can you teach me?"
He suddenly paused and said, "I know, as they say in Xianzhou speech, pies don't fall from the sky. I'll exchange meals with you, okay?"
"This planet is about to hold a celebration banquet, and it's our group's turn to help cook… Wait a moment, I'll go find Akivili..."
Very soon, the group members and the god gathered together.
Zero was quite puzzled.
"I thought it was cooking for the Nameless on the Astral Express…"
Akivili looked embarrassed.
"No, just helping with preparation and making one main dish." Bacchus exposed Them from the side.
"Mainly because of Akivili. They always make strange dishes… and say it's some kind of Trailblaze… If They were responsible for every dish, wouldn't we starve to death?"
"If it's during a planet's celebration banquet, then it's even easier. We only need to make one main dish."
Bacchus volunteered and took on all the work by himself.
He still maintained his straightforward minor persona. After this Trailblaze journey, he became determined to become Zero's student and declared he would make the most perfect and abundant meal for him.
Bacchus, with his curled red high ponytail, asked, "Eric, do you have any food restrictions?"
Zero smiled.
"It's alright. I'm not picky."
His speaking speed was unhurried, and his pronunciation was especially clear.
"I don't eat animal organs, animal skin or blood, or animal heads and tails. Oh, and I don't eat fatty meat either."
"As for vegetables, I'm not very picky. I just don't eat mushrooms, radishes, onions, bitter melon, cilantro, houttuynia, celery, chives, garlic sprouts, okra, or scallions, ginger, and garlic."
Akivili accepted this quite well.
Most likely his best friend was deliberately messing with Aha.
The Aeon had roughly figured out how his best friend and Aha got along.
The main theme was mutual harm.
Of course, with his best friend's status, a single sentence could make ingredients he disliked go extinct across the universe.
But his best friend didn't do that. He was just picky. Was there a problem? No.
Besides, Akivili wasn't the one cooking anyway, so it wasn't a big issue.
Bacchus, "…"
His face twitched slightly, and he could not help questioning, "Eric, you might as well just say what you can eat."
Zero continued smiling.
"Bacchus, you're already a mature adult. If even such a small matter still needs me to make the decision for you… when it comes time to cook, do you want me to teach you step by step?"
When he spoke, he deliberately emphasized the words "step by step."
Bacchus could no longer smile.
He decisively raised his hands in surrender and buried his head searching recipes on the communication device, his expression sometimes happy and sometimes depressed, lively and vivid.
If someone who didn't know his identity saw him, they really would believe he was a simple minor.
After a while, Bacchus confidently went to the kitchen of the celebration banquet. Only when the banquet officially began did he come to Zero's side.
He presented a plate of food like a treasure. It looked like shredded potatoes.
Zero understood immediately.
Would Aha miss a chance to mess with him? That was absolutely impossible.
Either this dish was shredded ginger stir-fried with potatoes, or there were no potatoes at all.
No matter what, the head chef Bacchus had to taste the result of his own labor.
Zero immediately picked up the dish and put more than half of the shredded potatoes onto the red-haired boy's plate.
The smile on Bacchus's face instantly froze.
Zero thought, 'So there really are no potatoes.'
It seemed Aha really liked the identity of "Bacchus," even deliberately keeping human taste buds.
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
After all the effort Aha put into staying on the train, what exactly did he want to do?
Without showing anything, Zero urged the boy to eat.
Bacchus endured humiliation and ate most of the shredded ginger.
When he looked up again, the person beside him had a blank expression and was looking up at somewhere.
Bacchus followed his line of sight while asking, "What are you looking at?"
Zero calmly withdrew his gaze and casually said, "Looking at the sniper."
Bacchus suddenly understood and repeated instinctively, "Oh, just looking at the sniper..."
Immediately afterward, Aha seemed to realize this sentence did not match Bacchus's character setting. His expression suddenly changed.
He wanted to scream but was afraid of ruining the celebration banquet, so he could only cover his mouth with difficulty.
Zero patted the boy's shoulder and comforted him.
"Relax. I'll handle it."
He left the banquet early and went to a remote corner, took out the jade device, and contacted the Chief Strategist through office software.
After Guanliang received the message, he became very emotional and sent several messages in a row.
[Guanliang: …What normal person uses office software to chat?! Do you know it's off work hours now?!]
[Guanliang: Also, even if you stopped using your old communication account, you should at least tell me!]
[Guanliang: So many people sent you messages. You didn't reply, and they thought Xianzhou was going to war with them! They all rushed to send you gifts!]
[Guanliang: Give me permission to the private treasury. I need to send return gifts]
While granting the Chief Strategist permission on the jade device, Zero could not help doubting life.
It was just not replying to messages. Was it really necessary to suspect he was starting a war?
Out of the corner of his eye, Zero saw the sniper on the rooftop again and could not help sighing.
He dialed Guanliang's communication number and sighed helplessly, "Help me tell them there's no need to worry about my safety. Let them withdraw the personnel."
"Oh, and the 'Galaxy Rangers' don't need to come either."
Guanliang thought, the boss even brought the Abundance Emanator onto the train. If something still happened…
Wouldn't all the efforts of him and the previous Cauldron Master be wasted?
"You think I didn't try to persuade them? I can try to withdraw the Cloud Knights, but the Galaxy Rangers… I really have no way."
Very soon, he skipped this topic and talked about the successor his boss cared about the most.
"Hua originally wanted to lead the Cloud Knights to bring you back. I stopped her."
Zero, "…"
Fortunately he had used the Marshal's authority to deal with those planet documents… otherwise Hua would definitely have dragged him back to work no matter what.
Guanliang added, "You need to remember this favor."
Zero felt extremely complicated.
"All the national gifts I received are in the private treasury. Take whatever you want."
Guanliang changed the subject and mentioned the potted plant on the Astral Express.
"I heard you took 'Shuhu' away. What exactly were you thinking?"
Zero instinctively felt something was wrong.
It felt like the Chief Strategist really did not want him staying with the potted plant.
Without showing anything, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Guanliang said irritably, "You're the first Emanator of the Reignbow Arbiter. Is it appropriate to stay with the Emanator of the Plagues Author all day?"
Zero thought about it. That was true.
He, Zero, wasn't some kind of devil.
He would not go so far as to torture a mere prisoner.
"I understand. I'll handle it properly when the time comes."
The two chatted a bit more before ending the call.
When Zero returned to the banquet hall, Akivili, who was chatting and laughing with the natives, keenly looked toward him.
The Aeon hurriedly said goodbye to the people beside Them. Passing a waiter, They picked up two glasses of champagne and walked toward Zero.
Bacchus, who was standing in front of the dessert table rapidly eating small cakes, also came over.
Bacchus talked about the Nameless who had previously asked Zero to evaluate his sister's matchmaking partner, speaking with emotion, "Never would have thought that his sister's blind date turned out to be a shut-in who had been divorced three times and served prison time…"
Truly a bold and decisive man who had eaten government rice.