Caelus's chat with Silver Wolf was very fruitful.
The travel logs of the Blazing Prairie Fire Merchant Guild's ship had been altered; it had lingered for a long time in a star system with no trading partners midway through its journey. This, combined with the news of a Lord Ravager's descent...
With all these clues, if Caelus was only five percent sure of Tingyun's identity before, he was now over fifty percent certain!
All he needed was one decisive piece of evidence to put the nail in the coffin.
Even without evidence, it didn't matter. In any case, Caelus could now let loose and mess with Tingyun without any scruples!
Caelus wasn't surprised by this outcome; he had always trusted his intuition.
What did surprise him was that Phantylia attacked the Blazing Prairie Fire Merchant Guild's ship and actually left survivors?
Are the Emanators of Destruction these days even competent?
Their work is so sloppy.
Putting himself in the shoes of a Lord Ravager, if Caelus were to infiltrate the Luofu using Phantylia's method, he would either alter the memories of the non-essential merchant crew and spare them, or if he really had to kill them, he'd destroy all traces of the bodies—even scatter the ashes to the wind!
But for a passing ship to have allegedly found survivors from the incident was a bit strange.
The merchant ship had an escort of guards, soldiers from a subordinate department of the Cloud Knights, but no Pathstriders.
Ordinary soldiers would be turned to dust in an instant under the terrifying power of an Emanator-level being!
Forget surviving, they'd be lucky if a piece of bone or flesh remained. For someone to survive such a situation... it couldn't be explained by luck alone. There must be other factors.
A special identity, perhaps?
Caelus pinched his chin, lost in thought.
The current clues could only lead this far. The rest depended on whether his Wolfie could find the ship that encountered the survivors.
With Silver Wolf's hacking skills, following the faintest trail to find the target would be absolutely no problem!
Caelus had great faith in her.
Shirley the utility wolf, forever the GOAT!
At the end of their chat.
[ReturningWolfKing: By the way, you've already met Kafka, right?]
[CaelusWhoWantsToMarryAsta: Yep, what's up?]
[ReturningWolfKing: According to Elio's script, I can now disable the communications jam between you and the Express. I'll unlock yours first. As for the others, we'll just wait for the interference program to self-destruct.]
The screen flickered for a brief moment, so fast that if Caelus hadn't been expecting it, he might have thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Caelus clicked his tongue softly, sent a Seele sticker, and then switched to his main account.
A cascade of notification sounds chimed—all messages Dan Heng had sent while there was no signal, now popping up all at once after the connection was restored.
[DataBankAdmin: ...That just happened. I've arrived on the Xianzhou. Are you all okay?]
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: What happened? Is the Express okay? Why are you on the Xianzhou?]
Caelus feigned ignorance.
[DataBankAdmin: I'll just assume your reply meant 'we're fine'. The Express is fine. I came over on my own.]
[DataBankAdmin: What's the situation on your end?]
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: It was a piece of cake, obviously!]
[(Photo of Caelus and the Express crew having a team-building activity with Kafka at Divergent Star Port) x5]
[DataBankAdmin: ?]
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: We've already captured Kafka.]
[DataBankAdmin: ???]
Dan Heng, who was lost in Cloudford, stopped dead in his tracks. He stared, wide-eyed, scrolling through the photos, each one radiating an atmosphere of complete harmony and joy. Question marks popped up over his head one after another until he was completely drowned in them.
You call this 'captured'?
This is clearly a family dinner!
It's one thing for March 7th to go along with it, but why is Mr. Welt eating there too?
Dan Heng rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
However, after all this time, he had started to build up a resistance to Caelus's capacity for stirring up trouble. He quickly calmed down.
[DataBankAdmin: What about Kafka's companion? Have you seen Blade?]
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: Nope. Uncle Yang analyzed that Blade escaped from prison. But when we met Kafka, she was alone. Why?]
[DataBankAdmin: Be careful. That man is extremely dangerous...]
Looking at the intimate photo of Caelus with his head resting near Kafka's, Dan Heng fell silent again.
[DataBankAdmin: Probably.]
Dan Heng suddenly felt he might be worrying for nothing. Given the relationship between Caelus and Kafka, Blade likely wouldn't harm them.
Besides, if Caelus really sees Kafka as his mother, how would he treat Blade?
Dan Heng had a bad feeling.
Hopefully, he won't be that much of a troll.
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: Don't worry, we'll definitely be fine. What about you? Since you're on the Xianzhou, come find us.]
Caelus continued to feign ignorance.
[DataBankAdmin: I'm in Cloudford with a Cloud Knight and a merchant. I'll meet up with you once I get out of here.]
"Brother Dan Heng, what are you standing there for? Let's go! The dock should be just up ahead. This time, with Luocha... ahem, with Luocha leading the way, we definitely can't be wrong."
The young woman, dressed in a white plum-blossom dress with brown, ankle-length hair, turned to call out to the motionless Dan Heng behind her, a hint of confusion in her heart.
[Moon Shade, what is that square thing Brother Dan Heng is holding? I've seen him take it out and stare at it intently every so often.]
After spending more than a day together, Li Sushang and Caelus-Sushang had become quite familiar with each other. They were, after all, the 'same person'!
To make it easier to address each other, Caelus-Sushang had suggested that Li Sushang call her by her codename.
[That thing is called a 'phone.' It can transmit messages across trillions of miles in an instant.]
During this time, Moon Shade had been continuously briefing Li Sushang, this ancient from the 15th world, on the basic common knowledge of the interstellar era.
Occasionally, she would retake control of the body to converse with Luocha, trying to fish for some information.
The results?
She found nothing unusual about Luocha, nor was she able to lift the coffin lid to see if a white-haired beauty was inside, but Moon Shade wasn't entirely without gains.
In her casual chats with Luocha, Moon Shade discovered that he knew a great deal about the Aeon of Propagation and even shared some stories related to the Aeon that weren't recorded in the Express's data bank.
[Trillions of miles in an instant!?]
Li Sushang was stunned. This distance was beyond her comprehension.
[It's actually even farther. Messages can be transmitted instantaneously across any planet covered by the Interastral Peace Network.]
After saying this, before Miss Ten-Thousand-Whys could ask another question, Moon Shade took the initiative to explain the Interastral Peace Corporation.
Not far away, Dan Heng heard Li Sushang's call and quickened his pace.
[DataBankAdmin: That's all for now. We'll talk in detail later.]
[SunnyAndCheerfulBigBoy: Okay.]
Through Li Sushang, Caelus had long known about Dan Heng's arrival on the Xianzhou, but he certainly couldn't communicate with Dan Heng directly in his capacity as Li Sushang.
If nothing unexpected happens, 'she,' Dan Heng, and Luocha would soon be able to leave Cloudford by starskiff. As for what comes after...
There's a real Sushang in Cloudford, so it's better for Moon Shade to keep Li Sushang away. She was considering whether to tail Luocha to see what that blond guy was plotting.
The main problem with doing this was how to convince Li Sushang to cooperate. On her own, even using this body that possessed a Sword Heart, Moon Shade couldn't conceal her presence.
After they get out, it would be best to familiarize Li Sushang with the Xianzhou environment.
While this part of Moon Shade's consciousness was contemplating, Caelus wasn't idle either. He was doing something very important.
Focusing his attention on his mental space, Caelus opened the system interface.
[Commission Quest: A Filial Mouth Gathers Good Fortune (Completed)]
[Quest Reward: 60 Crystals.]
1582 + 60 = 1642 Crystals. Another ten-pull.
He eagerly opened the gacha interface and rubbed his hands together.
"Screaming at Da Wei brings miracles, let's go!"
Shouting a gacha-pulling incantation from ancient times, Caelus slammed his hand, formed of pure will, onto the ten-pull button.
A dazzling meteor pierced through the fluffy white clouds, falling from the high heavens at an illusory speed. One moment it was far on the horizon, the next it was right before his eyes, as if it had transcended the shackles of time and space.
The meteor shower revealed a glint of gilded gold.
"Gold! A Golden Legendary! I got it! I got it!"
The moment he saw the golden light, Caelus became ecstatic, like Fan Jin seeing his name on the list of successful exam candidates.
The not-at-all-heartwarming white light revealed familiar Advanced Learning Chips. Not useless, but he skipped right past them.
In the pale blue light was an old friend, a white-haired beautiful girl holding a giant axe.
[Item: Stigma — Ottovira]
[Effect: An artificial Stigma created by Schicksal. Increases the wielder's physical attack and slightly raises critical damage. When equipped, provides a certain boost to proficiency with swords and blades.]
Although it wasn't a powerful Stigma, it was better than nothing.
The third item.
[Item: Sakura Will]
[Grade: ★★★]
[Description: Formed from the crystallization of a large amount of Honkai source energy released on Fireday. When used, it can increase a weapon's level to a certain extent.]
"They still have this?"
Caelus was a bit surprised.
This stuff was old-school fodder. It had long been removed with the version updates of Honkai Impact 3rd, replaced by Soul Crystals. He didn't expect the system to still have it.
Caelus opened the detailed description page and took a closer look.
Both Sakura Will and Soul Crystals were weapon enhancement materials, but their uses differed slightly.
This item could only enhance ordinary weapons. It wasn't useless on weapons with awakened god-forms, but the cost-effectiveness was extremely low.
"Got it. Feed it Sakura Will in the early game, and Soul Crystals in the late game."
After reading carefully, Caelus nodded in realization.
His hand of consciousness tapped, and the purplish-red tail flame of the meteor dissipated into ribbons of light, revealing the item wrapped within. Caelus's eyes widened, and he cried out in shock.
"Holy crap!"
At first glance, the initial impression was of a lotus flower.
However, upon closer inspection, one could see that the lotus petals were actually feathers—crimson feathers shaped like lotus petals, white at the quill and fading to a vermilion at the tip. At the lotus's heart, golden trigram patterns flowed like light.
[Item: Fenghuang Down]
[Grade: ★★★★]
[Description: A Divine Key made from the core of the Previous Era's 8th Herrscher. It controls brain signals and governs consciousness.]
The Key of Sentience—Fenghuang Down!
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