He tapped his pipe against his palm, his eyes gleaming with the manic, delighted recognition of a mad scientist who had just discovered someone else was building pipe bombs in the sandbox.
"Whoever cooked this up," the man whispered to the wind, "is either a complete, raving lunatic, or the most brilliant structural architect born in the last five centuries."
He turned his gaze toward the guest pavilions, his smile deepening into something dangerous and highly anticipatory.
"I think it is time I met this Chef. I have a few... structural critiques regarding their seasoning."
The deity had arrived.
And the Vanguard Tour was about to gain an advisor who was just as chaotic, just as brilliant, and infinitely more unhinged than the Apex Anomaly herself.
***
Back in the Azure Zenith Pavilion, Ji'an had successfully pushed her nostalgic melancholy back into its designated iron box.
She had a job to do.
