"Ah—I never expected your experience at the Divination Commission to be so interesting..."
On the Xianzhou, inside the same hotel the group was familiar with, Stelle let out a wistful sigh as she listened to Lynelle and March recount their tale.
"Oh? Now you want in on the fun with me, huh? Hmph… too late, I'm afraid?"
"Not really… ever since arriving on the Xianzhou, I've been caught up with matters over at Aurum Alley," Stelle shrugged.
"At first, I just wanted to take Bailu out to try some good food, but somehow I got dragged into that trade war between the IPC and Aurum Alley, and then…"
She went on to give a rough summary of what she'd been through these past few days.
"You know, Stelle's business sense seems downright terrifying…" March mused thoughtfully.
"Maybe after the Express runs out of funds in the future, we should just have Stelle start up a company…"
"What caught my attention was something else—that IPC specialist who's good at mimicking animal sounds… yeah, he's an old acquaintance too."
Unlike March's focus, as soon as Lynelle heard Stelle's description, a name instantly popped into her mind: Scott, the 'Lone Wolf.'
"An acquaintance? Have you met him before, Lynelle?" Stelle asked curiously.
"Uh… no, I haven't actually met him. It's just… the department he belongs to feels familiar to me." Lynelle paused briefly before quickly shifting the topic.
"He's from the Marketing Development Department, and the head of that division, Oswaldo Schneider, was once a Nameless."
"Wow, so he's our senior?" March wondered.
"Not a senior—more like a predecessor." Lynelle spread her hands.
"A lot of the effort Dan Heng is putting in now, repairing and updating the data bank and star charts day after day, is basically thanks to this man… Miss Himeko would probably be happy to fill you in on his story."
"I was just thinking how fortunate it was that this Mr. Scott didn't try to acquire Aurum Alley a day or two earlier, otherwise…"
"Otherwise? Was there some hidden storyline I missed?" Stelle blinked.
"If he'd tried to acquire Aurum Alley earlier, he might have run into Bailu sneaking off to play there alone—without your protection. And as far as I know, at that time… Bailu's 'bodyguard big sister' hadn't been sent to the Shackling Prison yet."
"If she happened to be in a decent mood, Scott would probably have gotten a severe beating. But if he ran into her during one of her… episodes…"
Lynelle shrugged.
"You'd probably get to see Mr. Scott being swept away bit by bit by IPC staff."
"W-wow, as expected of the High Elder…Is her bodyguard really that fierce?" March's eyebrow twitched.
"Should I bring extra snacks next time I see her, then…"
"She's not that bad? When she's not having an episode, that big sister is actually quite gentle." Lynelle thought for a moment.
"But you probably won't have a chance to see her anytime soon. She's traveling with Mr. Luocha, so she should have already left the Xianzhou by now."
"Lynelle, don't go treating your absurdly high affinity as the norm…" Stelle couldn't help but complain, then suddenly seemed to remember something and hurriedly pulled out a Jade Abacus.
"Oh, right, Lynelle, Lynelle! While managing Aurum Alley these past couple days, I also heard some rumors about you!"
"Rumors about me?" Lynelle was taken aback.
"Don't tell me it's more of those weird, dubious historical accounts, good grief… According to Xianzhou's unofficial histories, by now I probably have over two dozen different fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, children, and countless other identities…"
"With a record like mine, even Mythus would need a moment to process it."
"It really is an unofficial story about you, but this one's freshly brewed."
"Do you know a place on the Xianzhou called Fyxestroll Garden?"
Stelle handed the Jade Abacus to Lynelle and said, "I asked Dan Heng about it earlier, and he said Fyxestroll Garden is a gathering place for energy lifeforms called Heliobi—what people usually call 'ghosts.' And this rumor says…"
Lynelle obediently shifted her gaze to the Jade Abacus.
[Have you heard? There's a strange figure wandering around Fyxestroll Garden!]
[Your intel is outdated! My uncle works as a judge in the Ten-Lords Commission, and he told me personally… that wandering presence in Fyxestroll Garden is none other than the hero Nameless that the Luofu recently publicly announced—Lynelle!]
[Actually, she didn't survive that battle. To deal with inquiries from the Astral Express, the Luofu Xianzhou used a brainwashed Heliobus to replace Lynelle! The Lynelle on the Astral Express right now is a fake!]
[And the real Lynelle, having had her identity stolen, completely fell into darkness and turned into a vengeful spirit, constantly roaming Fyxestroll Garden and preying on Heliobi.]
[It's said that to torment the Heliobi who took over her identity, this darkened Lynelle uses extremely cruel methods—she swallows Heliobi whole, then releases them again after a while.]
[And those Heliobi who've been swallowed all end up listless and trembling. A few of the more timid ones even freeze up in terror at the mere sight of Lynelle again.]
[…]
"Uh…" Staring at the thread that had already piled up thousands of replies, Lynelle couldn't help but fall silent.
"S-so, I'm a fake after all?"
"Hehe, that's right!"
At this moment, Stelle teased Lynelle with a mischievous grin, poking her as she said, "Lynelle, Lynelle, you wouldn't want Himeko to find out you're an imposter, would you? Well then…"
"Whoa, since when did classic Edo Star drama plots get mixed in here?"
Lynelle made a strange expression.
"Come to think of it, since energy lifeforms like Warp Trotters and Duke Inferno are subspecies of Heliobi, if I held a Phase Flame and cosplayed as a Heliobus, it probably wouldn't be a problem."
"So, every rumor must have some basis for spreading, right? How did this rumor about a 'darkened Lynelle' in Fyxestroll Garden even start?"
March kept scrolling down the thread, curious.
"Uh, about that…" Lynelle immediately looked guilty.
"About that, you just need to take a look at this picture." Stelle took the Jade Abacus back and deftly pulled up a saved image.
The photo was taken in Fyxestroll Garden at night.
Not far from the photographer, a girl with blue-and-purple coloring, dressed exactly like Lynelle, was tilting her head back slightly and tossing a struggling, flickering Heliobus into her mouth.
The identity of this girl… went without saying.
"S-so, the 'darkened Lynelle' is just Corruption-chan…"
March fell silent for a moment. "Now that I think about it… a lot of the details actually do line up."
"But why did she go to Fyxestroll Garden to eat Heliobi?"
As everyone knew, Corruption-chan, being someone's obedient little daughter, only listened to one person's commands—except when it came to topping up energy.
So, Stelle and March promptly turned their gazes toward the culprit standing nearby, whose eyes were now darting everywhere.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 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.