Chapter 104 - 104 - Xin Yu, the Intelligence Gatherer

"Ugh! What a pain, what a pain." Xin Yu rubbed his brow, feeling as if he'd just skipped several major version updates. At the same time, he sighed at the crowd of people that was faintly surrounding him. "Sir, your body has not yet fully recovered. You should return to your room to rest," a Cloud Knight advised, trying to dissuade him. "I never thought that curing the Mara-Struck would be such a big deal to the Xianzhou Alliance..." Xin Yu glanced around. Just on the surface, there were no fewer than thirty personnel assigned to watch over him. He estimated there were even more hidden in the shadows, surrounding him layer by layer. It seemed his lack of worldly knowledge was catching up to him. He didn't understand the various situations of interstellar civilizations and had rashly intervened, bringing this trouble upon himself. Still, Xin Yu had no regrets. Given the circumstances at the time, if he had stood by and done nothing, those twenty-four individuals would have truly been doomed to waste away in eternal agony until the eventual peace of death. But that didn't mean he was willing to stay here forever, treating one patient after another. He didn't like that. Perhaps this was what it meant to be selfish? Xin Yu felt that his emotions had become much richer. Perhaps it was because he had devoured the negative sentiments of those twenty-four people and, in the process, witnessed their lives, filling the void of his own past. Now, he felt he could afford to be a bit more selfish, to make a decision that was a little more willful. "What's happening over there?" Xin Yu looked toward a distant, flourishing tree. "The Ambrosial Arbor is reviving, and there is unrest on the Luofu, sir. It would be best for you to rest in your room for the time being. Your body has not yet made a full recovery. If anything were to happen to you, we would not be able to answer to the General, nor to the twenty-four people you cured..." "You're lying." Xin Yu cut the man off directly. He scanned the surrounding Cloud Knights, noting the corruption in their spirits and a certain degree of mutation in their physical bodies. These people had hidden it well, but they couldn't fool him. Perhaps that dream hadn't been a dream after all. Xin Yu focused his gaze on one person, a deep gray color faintly appearing in his eyes. He mimicked his actions from the dream and truly saw the sins clinging to the man—or rather, not sins, but the evidence he was looking for of that person having harmed the innocent. He saw the man's past. "Abundance... Disciples of Sanctus Medicus... So that's how it is. The Xianzhou Alliance still has believers of the Abundance within its ranks, still clinging to the dream of long life and everlasting sight." The words that left Xin Yu's mouth caused everyone present to break out in a cold sweat. The Cloud Knights on the scene all drew their weapons and aimed them at the man they had just been respectfully addressing as "sir." "If I were to act against you now, while I have reason and evidence to justify it, it would ultimately be seen as an act of hostility against the Xianzhou. It wouldn't be a problem for me personally, but I'm afraid it would implicate everyone on the Express." "And it's obvious something is wrong over there. Add to that what the Stellaron Hunters said about a Stellaron erupting on the Luofu... it seems a disaster is about to sweep through this place... No, the disaster is already on the verge of erupting. There's no time left to search for its source. What's needed most right now is time and information." "And luckily for me, time is something I'll never lack. As for information..." Xin Yu let out a breath and then waved his hand at the closing circle of Cloud Knights. "...I won't be lacking that either." In an instant, a strange distortion spread through the area. The Cloud Knights and medics on the scene froze for a moment, only to discover that the man who had been standing in the center was now gone without a trace. A man who looked like a squad leader's face paled, and he quickly ordered everyone, including those in hiding, to begin searching for Xin Yu. As for the present Xin Yu, he had already arrived in the future. After all, to understand the cause and effect of a disaster, the simplest method was to go directly to its conclusion and ask the person who knew the most about it. Dressed in a gray robe with a gray hood pulled over his head, Xin Yu walked through the bustling streets. "My foxy lady, my foxy lady~ One moment she was calling me her gracious savior, and the next, she's a big boss? We had a deal! I was supposed to help with her tail grooming! I haven't even gotten to touch them yet, and she just leaves!" Hearing an extremely familiar wail, Xin Yu turned his head and saw a gray-haired figure with a miserable expression on their face, clutching a cup of bubble tea amidst the crowd. The sight made Xin Yu's face light up. He had been planning to go to the Express to check its database and see if Dan Heng had recorded this incident, but he hadn't expected to run into a familiar face directly. "Stelle." Hearing someone call her name from behind, Stelle subconsciously turned her head and saw Xin Yu, who had intentionally lowered his hood slightly so his face could be seen. The moment she saw his face, a series of memories related to him flashed through Stelle's mind. "...You! The transmigrator in your name means you're a time-traveler... Mmph!" Before Stelle could finish her sentence, Xin Yu clapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her away. The surrounding pedestrians continued on their way, paying the scene no mind. Even the patrolling Cloud Knights didn't step in to stop the highly suspicious act, as if the two of them simply didn't exist. In a relatively secluded alley, Xin Yu released his hand from Stelle's mouth. She took several deep breaths before turning to face him. "You're really something else," she said. "A traveler who can literally cross timelines. Is that the true meaning of being a transmigrator? Don't tell me your Path is Finality?" "Stelle, you know my situation. I want to ask you about the specific events that happened here on the Xianzhou Luofu. Then I'll take that information back to the past to resolve the disaster at its source and mitigate the damage it causes." Hearing Xin Yu's explanation, Stelle's eyes went wide. She couldn't help but give him a big thumbs-up. "As expected of a time traveler, you really play dirty! The rest of us only get one playthrough to figure things out, but you can open multiple save files and even unlock different endings. I can't imagine what it's like to be your enemy. If they don't have time-related abilities, fighting you would be like going into battle naked... Sigh! Xin Yu, you know I have amnesia. Can you help me find out what kind of person I was before I lost my memories?" "You'd have to give me a specific time and place. If you can't even remember where you were before you lost your memory, how could I possibly know?" "...That's a problem. I can only vaguely remember being brought to the Herta Space Station by Kafka, but I have no memories from before that." "Forget it. Let's not worry about that for now. First, tell me the story of what happened here, from your perspective, without me in it." After listening to everything Stelle had experienced from her point of view, Xin Yu nodded, indicating he now understood everything. "I never would have thought Dan Heng had such an unknown past..." "So, the mastermind behind all of this is that Lord Ravager Phantylia, disguised as Tingyun... As for the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, I'll trouble you to find a list compiled by that General, and have him provide enough evidence to convince his past self. I need to send it to the past to arrest those people." "OK! By the way, as payment for running this errand for you, could you do me a small favor?" "As long as it's within my power, I'll definitely help." "Hang on, let me record a short video. Then you can help me deliver it to my past self." "Is there anything I should be aware of?" A short while later, Stelle walked out of the alley with a wicked expression on her face, leaving a completely bewildered Xin Yu behind.