Chapter 357: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Tianji was dead!

The news knocked every other headline aside, dominating the front pages of all the major websites.

Photos of Tianji's remains were now public, released by the Law Enforcement Agency after their belated arrival at the scene.

By the time Zhao Jiucheng received the news and rushed over, nothing was left inside the building but Tianji's corpse.

Even so, following Luo Sheng's arrangements, he naturally claimed all the credit for the Law Enforcement Agency.

"This isn't Tianji, is it..."

"Right? What is this white monster? How could Lord Tianji look like this..."

"'Lord' Tianji? Makes me sick. Why don't you call your mom 'Lord' while you're at it..."

"Which mom? My biological one, or..."

"Fuck, I can't stand people like the guy above. Haven't you seen the true face of the Seven Stars yet?"

"Heh. When I cursed out the Seven Stars before, they told me my mom had taken flight."

"Permission to return to base granted."

Public opinion exploded online.

Inside a towering high-rise.

Dressed in a black formal suit, Yaoguang stepped up to a vermilion door and knocked.

"Come in."

A voice called from within.

Inside the dimly lit room, seven candles burned on a circular table. The flickering orange flames cast several distinct shadows in varying postures.

"Someone's late again."

The woman in the massive sun hat chuckled softly.

Yaoguang's expression remained perfectly calm. "Muke District is too far from Peace District," he said mildly.

"Apologies."

"I don't think Muke District is what's too far. It feels more like someone's heart has drifted too far away."

The figure resembling a small beast spoke in a flat tone.

"Yuheng, don't be so snide."

The young girl sitting at the far end of the table spoke up in immediate dissatisfaction.

"Whether I'm being snide or just stating the truth, you know better than I do."

The small beast refused to yield an inch.

"Hey, hey, hey, come on. It's rare enough that we all gather, and I certainly didn't come to watch you bicker."

The speaker sat in the third seat—a highly fashionable young man sitting right next to the woman in the sun hat.

Facing the veiled accusations, Yaoguang simply took his seat without another word.

The small beast wanted to say more, but after the figure seated directly opposite the door offered two light coughs, it ultimately kept its mouth shut.

The room instantly fell silent.

"Regarding this incident,"

the figure at the head of the table said,

"Tianji naturally bears the primary responsibility."

"..."

Hearing this, intense frustration flashed through the small beast's eyes.

Especially when it heard the figure's next words—"And next is Yuheng, who was with Tianji"—it finally couldn't hold back. "Lord Tianshu, if it hadn't been for that sudden video, we wouldn't have failed."

As it spoke, it turned its head directly toward Yaoguang. The implication was glaringly obvious.

Facing the small beast's retort, the figure at the head didn't reply immediately. He merely swept his gaze over it.

Under that single glance, the small beast shuddered involuntarily and clamped its mouth shut.

Only then did the figure slowly lower his head to stir the coffee in front of him.

"Yaoguang, explain yourself. Regarding this incident."

Yaoguang's expression didn't waver. "This incident had nothing to do with me."

"I didn't film anything, nor did I arrange any of it."

"What about you, Tianquan? Do you have anything to say?"

The figure turned his attention to the young girl at the far end.

Compared to Yaoguang, the young girl's voice was even calmer:

"My Lord, I had already run scans at the time, and I truly didn't detect any sustained mechanical noise nearby."

"If you require it, I can send you the noise frequency logs from that moment."

"No need."

Tianshu took a sip of his coffee and said softly, "I naturally trust all of you."

"We will leave Tianji's matter at that. The main priority now is handling the aftermath flawlessly."

"I'll leave this to you, Tianxuan."

He looked at the woman in the massive sun hat beside him.

"Understood."

The woman offered a faint smile.

"As for Yuheng," Tianshu continued, "since you lost your partner, you'll temporarily team up with Yaoguang and Tianquan."

"Yes." Though extremely reluctant, the small beast nodded.

"That will be all. Meeting adjourned."

As Tianshu's voice faded, the candles extinguished one by one in sequence, plunging the entire room into pitch-black darkness.

Yaoguang walked out of the building.

He took a taxi to the Café.

Pushing open the door, he saw Tianquan already sitting at a table with two cups of coffee set in front of her.

"You're late again."

Tianquan said softly.

Yaoguang didn't answer.

The two of them met at this Café every time; it was something of a little secret between them.

But once a secret became a habit, it could hardly be called a secret anymore.

God only knew if there were spies from the other Seven Stars members among the surrounding customers.

Yet Tianquan still voiced her question:

"Why didn't you mention anything about that man?"

"You know perfectly well that he's the most suspicious one."

"Did you think Tianshu wouldn't be able to look into him? He's just waiting for you to explain yourself."

"You didn't say anything either, did you?" Yaoguang replied simply, unfazed by Tianquan's interrogation.

Tianquan froze for a second, then raised an eyebrow. "I was giving you a chance."

"You're the one he suspects, not me."

Yaoguang picked up the small spoon beside his cup and stirred his cappuccino.

"Saying something would only deepen his suspicion."

"I understand him far better than any of you do."

"..." Tianquan had lost count of how many times she'd heard that phrase. Yet, whenever she pushed for details, the conversation would abruptly end.

Yaoguang took a sip of his coffee.

"If I keep quiet, he'll just think I'm throwing a tantrum. But if I speak up, he'll start digging—like when the two of us first met, and why we wound up associating with each other."

"He's an incredibly paranoid man. Now that his suspicions are raised, nothing we do will help."

"As for whether that man is actually the one behind this, I'll find out the truth myself."

"No!" Tianquan immediately objected.

"That man is an exceedingly dangerous figure. You can't go see him again. It wouldn't take any effort at all for him to kill you."

"If he wanted to kill me, I would've died the first time we met," Yaoguang said softly.

"I've already made up my mind."

With that, Yaoguang took another sip of his coffee and stood up.

"We're done here."

"Where is he? Where the hell is he?"

Inside the Law Enforcement Agency, Zeng Qing was pacing frantically.

Yan Jing had said he had some business to attend to and dumped the aftermath on her.

But...

But at the very least, couldn't he have taken Zhou Mo's corpse away with him?!

Looking at Zhou Mo sitting quietly right next to her, Zeng Qing felt her scalp prickle with dread.

"Don't be afraid."

Zhou Mo said softly.

Like hell she wasn't afraid!!!

A chill ran down Zeng Qing's spine. She shot up, eager to flee the office, but the moment she pulled the door open, Zhao Jiucheng and Jia Wei walked right in.

"Madam, pressure has come from above. They're telling us to release Zhou Mo."

"Madam, the higher-ups want us to submit a complete report on this incident."

"Madam, did Mr. Luo give any instructions regarding the press release? I've drafted one, could you take a look..."

"Madam, Xu Chao from the Reconciliation Faction wants to arrange a meeting with Lord Luo. There's also Director Wu from Natural Company, Director Li from Demon Qi Technology, and—"

Staring at the dizzying barrage of issues thrust in front of her, Zeng Qing felt her head buzz.

She remembered Yan Jing's parting words: "The time to test you has come."

She hadn't understood it back then, but now...

"Motherfucker, where the hell did that guy wander off to?!"

At that very moment, the Yan Jing that Zeng Qing was desperately cursing was busy making mooncakes with Shen Youran.

When Luo Sheng and Mao Si were left on autopilot, they could handle simple tasks, but they might still mess up anything complex. After taking care of the critical matters, he foresaw the incoming wave of trouble and simply dumped it all on Zeng Qing.

He had just finished clearing up the misunderstanding with Shen Youran.

When she offered to bake mooncakes for him, he just rolled up his sleeves and joined her.

Then, "I like the five-kernel ones," Lin Xiaoran offered as her constructive opinion.

"Anyone who likes five-kernel is a heretic." Beside her, Xu Weizhou and the deadpan Fan Jue formed a united front; both of them preferred salted egg yolk.

Ren Tongtong hadn't come. According to Lin Xiaoran, she had gone to Rainbow City.

"Matcha, matcha." Young Master Yan was entirely absorbed in crafting his own matcha mooncake.

Beside him, Shen Youran unconditionally took Yan Jing's side. The smile hadn't left her face for hours.

"Sigh..."

Lin Xiaoran sighed. "This is why they say rich women are easy to fool. I guess you could call it a late-blooming romance."

Over the past few days, she had seen the woman cry until her eyes were swollen. Every morning she'd force a smile, only to show up the next day with red eyes again.

Right then, her phone rang.

"Hello? Dongchuan, what's up? The Mid-Autumn Festival is almost here, so I'm over at Auntie Shen's making mooncakes."

On the other end was her childhood friend, Zhao Dongchuan from the Precognition Society.

"Aren't there still a few days left before the festival?" Zhao Dongchuan laughed.

"There are."

Lin Xiaoran sighed. "But when do these guys ever have time to gather? We just decided to celebrate together while everyone's free."

"True enough."

Zhao Dongchuan chuckled. "Can I come over?"

"You?" Thinking of the bizarre mechanical creations that had already spread across nearly half of Ling'an, Lin Xiaoran sighed. "I'm afraid that might be a bit difficult."

"What filling do you want? I'll make one and bring it over to you."

"Really? That's great... Then... let's go with five-kernel," Zhao Dongchuan said in a gentle tone.

"What did I tell you?!" Finally finding a kindred spirit, Lin Xiaoran jumped three feet in the air and immediately switched the call to speakerphone:

"Dongchuan, say it again!"

"..." Although a little embarrassed, Zhao Dongchuan smiled helplessly. "Five-kernel is pretty good."

Late at night.

Old Sin City.

Mantou looked at Xiao Xin as it landed beside her, her eyes finally regaining a bit of clarity from the dull glaze of reading documents for too long:

"You... you're here..."

She happily scooped Xiao Xin into her arms and patted its head.

"You... you're sweating so much... Are there a lot of... letters today?"

Because Xiao Xin frequently came to deliver mail, the two had already grown quite close.

"Eeya eeya..."

Xiao Xin happily pulled a mooncake from its pocket and placed it in Mantou's hand.

"Eeya eeya—"

Xiao Xin pointed at the mooncake. At its prompting, Mantou tremblingly unwrapped the mooncake, revealing a slip of paper inside:

"For Mantou."

"This is a mooncake I made myself. Apple flavored. I hope you like it, Mantou."

"Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."

Mantou's eyes sparkled. She handed half of the mooncake to Xiao Xin and stuffed the other piece into her own mouth:

"Happy... Happy Mid-Autumn... F-festival."

At different moments.

Chen Nian in the laboratory, the Old Man meditating in Paima County, Tiger inside a palace of the Path of Destiny, and Fei Yu lounging in her chair all placed a piece of mooncake into their mouths, smiling brightly:

"Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."