Using the excuse of organizing documents, Guanliang quickly adjusted his expression.
Although his position was chief strategist, in practice, aside from his own work, he also had to take care of his superior's daily life.
Fortunately, his superior wasn't picky about food, clothing, or housing. All Guanliang really needed to do was instruct the servants in the residence to regularly send the clothes in the dressing rooms out to be cleaned by professionals.
If you counted carefully, there were several dressing rooms in the residence, and the number of clothes was beyond counting.
Of course, aside from clothes, the number of documents on the marshal's desk was also beyond counting.
How could his superior possibly leave all those documents unread and deliberately go to the dressing room farthest away?
On top of that, the man forgot things from time to time. How could he possibly remember exactly which piece of clothing he'd lost?
Thinking this through, Guanliang wasn't worried at all and directly pinned the problem on his superior.
"The clothes were fine, how could they just go missing? Isn't it just your imagination?"
Just as Guanliang expected, the marshal hesitated.
Considering his own history of memory loss, Zero didn't immediately refute it.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "It's not my imagination. It's real. I've lost several outer coats."
Guanliang asked again about which dressing room it was.
By sheer coincidence, it was exactly the one farthest from the study, the one he thought his superior would never go to.
Guanliang stayed perfectly calm and lied without changing expression, "Probably because their material is pretty special. They can't get wet, can't be tumble-dried, oh, and they can't be dry-cleaned either."
Zero thought, 'What kind of nonsense is that? If they can't get wet and can't be dry-cleaned, then how are you supposed to wash them? Surely you're not meant to throw them away after wearing them once, right?'
Confusion showed on his face as well.
Guanliang pretended to be surprised, then let out a quiet sigh and explained to his superior, "When they design these products, they never consider that someone might wear the same piece of clothing repeatedly."
Zero, "..."
'So they really are disposable?! Isn't that way too wasteful?!'
Guanliang continued, "Just like shoes with soles that can't touch water or dust. When the designer made them, they never considered that someone would wear them in the rain or walk on concrete."
Zero, "..."
'They can't even touch water… then what are you supposed to do on a rainy day? That's way too impractical, isn't it?!'
Guanliang paused, then said considerately, "With your status, you don't need to worry about those problems."
If the marshal wanted to, he could just walk on carpets forever.
Zero, "…Why do you sound so sarcastic?"
Hearing that, Guanliang completely relaxed.
The marshal wasn't going to pursue this matter any further.
Through a mix of bluffing and coaxing, Guanliang finally got past this hurdle.
His superior wouldn't dwell on something so trivial. Compared to tracking down the real whereabouts of the clothes, he'd much rather focus his energy on important matters.
And even in the worst case, what if the marshal did grow suspicious?
He wouldn't possibly suspect Guanliang.
Guanliang once again recalled the prophecy made by the machine.
The machine had said that the marshal would be betrayed by someone he trusted.
That was frighteningly accurate…
As he was thinking this, the marshal said again, "Anyway, there aren't that many years left. I'll just buy my own clothes from now on."
Guanliang was momentarily speechless.
'Not many years left for what? Not many years left to live? Can you stop saying things like that?'
Annoyed, he said, "Is the Xianzhou really short on a few sets of clothes for you?"
Zero shook his head and said, "If the clothes are too expensive to make, then forget it."
Guanliang, "..."
'Can you stop being so stingy with yourself?! Just your participation prize from the annual gala is enough to buy clothes!'
Zero fell into thought.
Earlier, specifically for future travel, he'd bought quite a lot of clothes and accessories.
So why, after all this time… hadn't they arrived yet?
After thinking about it, he casually told Guanliang about it.
Guanliang's mouth twitched.
"There's still at least nearly ten years before you leave the Xianzhou to travel, right? Making preparations now… isn't that way too early?"
Zero replied perfunctorily, "Better safe than sorry. Oh, right, I also need to prepare a new identity in advance."
Guanliang had no choice but to accept the order. He asked, "The name?"
Zero pulled out a blank sheet of paper. Without thinking, he put pen to paper and wrote down a name.
Eric.
He handed the paper to Guanliang and immediately started shooing him away.
"Alright, go get busy. When you have time, help me check on my packages."
Carrying the documents his superior had finished with, Guanliang returned to his workstation. He took out his jade communicator and found that the Sky-Faring Division helmsman had sent him a message.
Perhaps the helmsman felt that, with a shared secret between Guanliang and the upper echelons of Yaoqing, their relationship had grown closer. Her wording had become much more casual than before.
She first transferred a huge sum of money, then brought up the clothes the marshal had just mentioned.
She bluntly said she wanted to keep this batch of clothes and listed her reasons clearly and logically.
For example, with the marshal's status, he should be seeking out the most renowned designers in the star sea for bespoke tailoring, not shopping on online platforms.
Guanliang stared at the images on his jade communicator.
What his superior was wearing right now cost far more than the clothes in the pictures.
Just the spare change would be enough to buy ten thousand of them.
Judging by the fabric and tailoring… if an ordinary person wore them, they'd just look like someone from an insurance company.
But since his superior had a properly handsome face, he probably wouldn't be mistaken for a corporate employee.
Still, if someone in the know saw the marshal dressed like this… they'd probably think the Xianzhou was so poor it could barely make ends meet. That would be far too embarrassing.
Oh, and given how the man casually transferred money to Mati, or sent funds to other planets to build roads and schools…
If he went out following the Aeon of Trailblaze, wouldn't that mean doing charity work on every single planet?
The helmsman made it sound nice, but in reality, she just wanted to keep the clothes, didn't she?
Right after that, the helmsman transferred another huge sum and sent a new message, saying she didn't want such a trivial matter to disturb the marshal, and that she was willing to cover all expenses to prepare identical clothes for him.
Finally, she asked for the marshal's body measurements.
For a moment, Guanliang didn't know what to say.
So this is where the dagger finally shows itself.
Looking at the massive sums of patrol credits that had come in one after another, he felt guilty, for about one second.
Guanliang returned half of the credits.
If the helmsman wanted to keep the clothes, then let her keep them. As for the follow-up… he'd handle it himself.
He'd already stabbed his superior in the back once, he didn't want to keep doing it.
Besides, this money was rightfully his.
If he were a normal person, how could he possibly withstand the mental impact of the marshal's diehard fans?
He had sacrificed his pride and endured humiliation, admitting that he was a marshal fan. Was there anything wrong with taking a little compensation for emotional damage? No, there wasn't.
Guanliang replied to the helmsman first, then found someone to custom-make clothes for his superior, and finally contacted the generals of the other Xianzhou ships to prepare for the next phase of the plan.
A few days later, he counted the talisman papers his superior had drawn and stared at the exhaustion that couldn't be hidden between the man's brows and eyes.
Guanliang kept estimating the timing, and at just the right moment, handed his superior a cup of calming tea carefully prepared by Si Ding.
Zero didn't think twice. He took the tea and sipped it.
Before long, a strange yet familiar drowsiness washed over him.
He instinctively pinched his own thigh, trying to fight off the sleepiness.
Guanliang was left speechless.
'If you're sleepy, just go to sleep! Why are you pinching yourself?!'
Taking advantage of the moment when his superior couldn't focus, he quickly pulled out his jade communicator and sent a message to the "Reignbow Arbiter."
An Aeon really was an Aeon. In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind the marshal and knocked him out before he could react.
Lan looked at Guanliang, hesitating to speak.
Guanliang smiled. "It's just acting first and reporting later. He won't punish me."
Those subordinates were wiped out to the last, didn't the marshal say nothing about that too?
Lan said nothing and watched the chief strategist leave.
He stayed by the bedside, waiting for the marshal to wake up so he could deliver another chop to the neck.
He waited and waited, but the marshal didn't wake up.
While waiting, Lan dealt with several waves of assassins who tried to retaliate. By the time Guanliang returned to Yaoqing and came back to the marshal's residence, the marshal still hadn't woken up.
Guanliang asked quietly, "How many times did you hit him?"
Lan shook his head. "He's sleeping very deeply."
Guanliang couldn't help sighing.
'What a shame. Such a shame!'
The god and the man waited a long time before the marshal finally woke up.
Guanliang leaned in, looked at his superior, eyes unfocused, still slow to regain awareness, and tried hard to hold back laughter.
"You're awake? The assassins are all dead. How do you feel?"
Zero froze for a moment.
How did he wake up to find all the assassins dead?
Though puzzled, he quickly pushed the matter aside.
Zero never wasted time thinking about dead people.
He didn't question Guanliang and instead thought about the question he'd been asked.
After some thought, Zero said with deep emotion, "How should I put it? Very special. Very wonderful. Makes me want to sleep and never wake up."
Lan, "..."
Guanliang, "…You're incredible."