Everyone's gathering began in Exalting Sanctum, and it also ended in Exalting Sanctum.
Just as Stelle put down her phone, she saw a middle-aged man with thick hair and a handlebar mustache walking over from the distance.
Of course, that was only a judgment based on appearance. After all, this was the Xianzhou. Who knew how old the other party actually was?
The man didn't come over aggressively. Instead, he had a face full of joy.
But after getting closer, he quickly restrained his expression and greeted everyone in a relatively gentle tone.
"Sorry to interrupt, everyone. Please wait a moment."
Originally, Nero had been thinking that since he didn't hold any official position, there wasn't really any work for him to do.
Since he was so free right now, he might as well take everyone to Nightless Marquis for some tea.
But now that they had been called to stop, the group who had been preparing to leave paused their steps.
Although this Xianzhou man looked quite uncle-like, his voice didn't sound rough at all. Instead, it was very clear, more like a refreshing young man than an uncle.
He looked at Nero first, his eyes widening a little.
He had thought the face looked familiar earlier. Wasn't this Nero.
Then he spoke, "Nero, thank you for stepping in earlier with your friends and helping the citizens of Exalting Sanctum out of danger."
"Mm." Nero nodded and asked, "What happened to those guys who suddenly fell into mara-struck earlier?"
"They've already been sent to the Alchemy Commission. Since it was their first time experiencing mara-struck, and because you and Lady Dragon suppressed it in time, they've stabilized for now."
"Uh… especially the few you slapped down earlier. They seem to have completely stabilized already. But… the others will still need to be observed for a while."
The man answered Nero's question honestly, his attitude extremely respectful.
The reason for this situation was Jing Yuan.
After Nero returned to the Xianzhou, he had been rather "mischievous." Just the act of speeding around everywhere on his sword had already given the Divination Commission quite a headache.
After observing him for a period of time and confirming that Nero had a sense of restraint and wouldn't easily cause a sword disaster, Jing Yuan began building momentum for him.
Calling it "building momentum" was actually just a way to make things easier for both Nero and the officials.
Otherwise, every time something happened, Jing Yuan had to personally go to the Divination Commission to pick someone up. It was honestly a bit… troublesome.
If the child's identity hadn't been special, it wouldn't have been so complicated. But after all, he was a fragment of Pure Beauty and extremely talented.
If he were properly trained, the Luofu would have no worries in the future…
As for saying the child was simple, that wasn't entirely true either. Sometimes Jing Yuan genuinely felt this kid was quite sly.
For example, when he was brought to the Divination Commission for speeding, every single time he asked Jing Yuan to come pick him up. He had never once asked people from Nightless Marquis to come get him.
Jing Yuan had once indirectly asked about this matter.
The answer he received was that on the Luofu, Jing Yuan's words carried the most weight, so he called him instead.
The kid really didn't treat him like an outsider.
If it had been Yanqing, he definitely wouldn't have "casually ordered the General around" like this.
Every time Jing Yuan mentioned this matter to Fu Xuan, he would get the same teasing reply.
"Isn't it because he learned it from you? The way you two casually order people around looks like it came from the same mold."
In short, although Nero currently held no official position on the Luofu, his popularity was indeed very high.
This popularity mainly came from three groups.
The first group was children.
They thought Nero running around every day doing whatever he wanted without anyone controlling him was incredibly cool. So they all swore to become someone like him and willingly called him Big Brother.
Even after eating countless servings of "bamboo shoot braised pork," they still wouldn't give up this grand dream.
The second group was ordinary people.
For them, Nero's charm came from his appearance and personality.
In their eyes, Nero was a very approachable kid. Whether he knew someone or not, if he ran into them he would greet them properly and respond to questions sincerely. If something happened, he was willing to help.
And when there were too many people around, he would get shy and run away in embarrassment. That was also pretty nice…
The third group consisted of people within the system.
They understood Nero at a deeper level.
From his ability to break into the Seat of Divine Foresight, they could already see Jing Yuan's attitude toward him.
Jing Yuan had also let them know about Nero's achievements, such as "killing the Doomsday Beast," "recovering a Stellaron," and "defeating and capturing a Stellaron Hunter."
In their eyes, Nero was far more than just a lively and handsome boy…
And the man currently talking with Nero belonged to this third group.
"Eh! So that thing earlier was mara-struck?" March let out an exclamation. Back on Jarilo, she and Stelle had already received some basic explanations about mara-struck from Nero and Dan Heng.
"Nero, you must never turn into something like that!" March grabbed Nero's shoulders, looking a little worried.
"Didn't I say already? I'm still far from the age where mara-struck happens," Nero said.
"Besides, I don't think I'll be affected by that thing. Becoming like that would be way too awful!"
The Xianzhou man listened to Nero and March's conversation. After observing the three members of the Astral Express crew, he spoke.
"I heard from a friend at the Sky-Faring Commission that the General invited several guests. It seems you came specifically to solve the trouble currently happening on the Luofu. It looks like that's you all."
"I'm Dahao from the Divination Commission. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask if you could spare some time to come talk at the Divination Commission's office. I'd like to discuss the problems Exalting Sanctum is currently facing."
After hearing Dahao's request, Nero didn't respond immediately. Instead, he turned to his companions.
"What do you guys think? Should we go now?"
For Nero, it didn't really matter.
Whether they helped right now or rested for a while first was fine. After all, he had plenty of free time.
"Do we even need to think about it? Of course we should go help!" March said directly.
"I have no objections," Mr. Yang said.
Stelle showed a confident smile with a hint of smugness.
"So it's time for the Galactic Baseballer to make her appearance?"
The Astral Express crew's choice was obvious.
Since that was the case, the trip to Nightless Marquis would have to wait until next time.
Afterward, Nero and the Astral Express group followed Dahao to the Divination Commission's office.
When they arrived, before they could even sit down to talk, they heard a Foxian named Songyan sitting behind a desk muttering to himself.
"Ahh~ If only the Divination Commission could just give me money directly so I wouldn't have to go out or work so hard."
"Anyway, whether I handle things or not, the result is more or less the same. Might as well remove all these middle steps…"
Halfway through speaking, Songyan stopped and looked up at the Trailblazer squad standing in front of him listening to his complaints.
Yet he didn't blush at all and continued speaking casually.
"Everyone, eavesdropping on someone complaining isn't a good habit. So, what is it? If it's a big case, please go find Lord Dahao. If it's something else, go find Executive Jingyan."
"Oh, and Lord Dahao is the one right behind you."
The Astral Express crew looked at Songyan, then turned back to look at Dahao.
They realized Dahao had absolutely no reaction.
So either he was already used to this, or the work atmosphere here was just this relaxed.
Still, it seemed pretty good.
Maybe this was exactly the kind of environment Qingque liked.
"So basically you don't have to do anything at all, right?" Stelle looked at the man in front of her and didn't even know how to complain anymore.
Songyan simply shrugged.
Without the slightest embarrassment, like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, he said, "I'm the kind of person who's afraid of trouble. If you have tasks that aren't tiring and aren't troublesome, you can come find me."
"I'm the 'smartest brain-type member in the Divination Commission.' I only show up when both of them can't handle something."
"You see those two? I'm mainly referring to Executive Jingyan. Since she's still working hard over there, there's no need for me to step in."
Hearing that, Stelle raised a hand and pointed toward Jingyan not far away.
"Then I'll go tell her right now?"
She thought that might at least make the man move a little.
But Songyan still sat in his chair, looking like he couldn't even be bothered to lift a finger.
"It wouldn't make any difference if you told her. That person was born with a life of hard work. She never trusts anything I do. Every time, she insists on personally handling the 'pending troubles' I leave behind."
"So if you tell her, you'll just add more worries for her. I suggest you don't do that."
"Aiya, don't look down on me. Even though I'm like this now, I used to work hard too. I was even considered an elite executive in the General Affairs Department."
"Besides, why do you think I'm working in the Divination Commission? If my investments hadn't failed… all the charts were going down, only prices kept going up. If I didn't work, I couldn't survive."
"I tried my best. I failed. Now this is my best working state."
"Hehe. How about you guys don't leave? Stay here and chat with me a little longer. That way no new work will come knocking."
"Uh…" March looked at Songyan helplessly.
To be honest, the Astral Express crew was genuinely shaken by Songyan's perfectly balanced worker mentality.
Among the people present, probably only Mr. Yang had never experienced that kind of feeling.
It was like the man had found the perfect balance between slacking off and living freely.
The more Nero talked with him, the more he felt that Qingque would definitely love this place.
However, everyone still had things to do, so they couldn't stay and chat with Songyan any longer.
Songyan didn't try to keep them either.
He simply said, "If you have business, go find Jingyan. If you don't, come find me!"