That reaction from the other side left Zero confused.
Could it be that Tengxiao was planning some earth-shattering big move? And Hua was afraid it would drag him in?
[Zero: Don't worry, I'll be fine]
[Hua: No, what I mean is don't scare him]
Zero fell silent.
'Hua, could you please take another look at Tengxiao's double-door-sized body before you say that again? Who's scaring who here?'
He was clearly just a clerical staffer. How could he possibly scare Tengxiao? If the general's mental strength is that weak, then wow.
[Hua: By the way, do you really have to discuss how to bribe the general in front of me?]
Zero, "..."
'Crap.' He was too busy thinking about settling that favor debt.
Zero quietly withdrew the message he sent.
He had guessed at the other's identity before.
Back when Aha gave him that hint, he had only caught a blurry glimpse of the person's back. All he knew was that they seemed to have long gray-blue hair.
Compared to Tengxiao and the other double-door-sized guys, this person didn't look very tall, their frame thin and frail.
On the Xianzhou, both men and women liked to keep long hair, and their builds were all over the place. That made it impossible for Zero to tell Hua's gender.
He had tried to hunt down that news clip online, digging through every corner of the net, but never found it.
He even pinned his hopes on the forums, thinking maybe some netizen would post a photo. He scrolled and scrolled, but still nothing.
No pictures. Fine, second best, at least someone would have written a post describing the Previous General and their entourage, right?
But reality proved Zero was thinking too simple.
No one revealed a single scrap online.
The higher-ups of the Xianzhou had sealed every bit of information about the Previous General's trip, tight as a drum.
Zero could only rely on what little info he had, trying to piece together who Hua might be.
He himself had been a general once. Then Hua's status definitely wouldn't be low. To follow the Previous General to Luofu, they'd have to be the Previous General's close aide, right?
But Hua's reactions were kind of strange… surely they hadn't suddenly gotten promoted all the way, right?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt like he was daydreaming.
What qualifications did he have to have trained up a Previous General? 'Wait...'
His smile froze in an instant.
'What if Hua really was the Previous General?'
Zero suddenly had a very unpleasant line of thought.
If Hua was the Previous General… then what about him? He didn't get promoted, right? He must have just worked at Yaoqing for who knows how many years, then smoothly retired after a few decades, right?
He didn't want to dig too deep into it, and instead started making up excuses for what was clearly a messed-up timeline.
When he had been general at Yaoqing, he hadn't yet been blessed by "Abundance." Conservatively, that was at least five to six thousand years ago… so how the heck had he raised Hua all the way to today?
… In short, he must have time-traveled.
Definitely ran into some special case that let him cross through time, like a starquake or something.
As for the idea of him working his way up so high over five thousand years?
'Impossible. Absolutely impossible!'
[Zero: I'm just a general, right?]
[Hua: Heh, you guess?]
Zero, "..."
'Who turned you bad? How did you end up like Jing Yuan, becoming a damn jokester too?!'
That "you guess" had him clawing at his heart. Just how many years had he been a general? When was he supposed to retire?
Zero had a stomach full of questions, wanting to press Hua for answers.
But the other had disappeared again. No matter what he sent, the only reply was the auto-response.
Zero silently opened his jade token, searched "high EQ wording," and began writing a transfer request.
Once he knew the truth, he was going to give this riddle-talker a good lesson.
Facing his jade token, he cobbled it together with stiff, copied phrases, barely squeezing out nearly eight hundred words before finally finishing the request.
At the end, he wrote his name and the date.
He checked the time. Still plenty left.
Grand Diviner Xiao Lin was always decisive. Whether in meetings or talking with subordinates, he rarely wasted words.
Even counting time to meet with the Diviner, there was still more than enough.
If nothing went wrong, everything could be settled before the lunch break.
He took the request and knocked on the Diviner's office door. After getting permission, he pushed it open and went in.
Diviner Xiao Lin's gaze was blank. One hand holding a book, the other holding a pen, scribbling something down.
Only when he heard Zero's footsteps did he slowly lift his head, his voice weak, "What's the matter?"
Zero handed over the application.
Xiao Lin shut his eyes, unable to look straight at it. He'd been up all night. Revising drafts nonstop! All morning he had been rushing to revise two more versions, only for Tengxiao to reject them all…
He'd never had much of a leader's airs, never liked empty talk or flattery, always treated his subordinates casually.
The Diviner sighed, shaking his head, "Right now I can't even read a single word. Just read it to me."
Zero gave a small "oh," skipped over the eight hundred words of filler, and got straight to the point, "I see you're busy, so I'll keep it short. I'd like to apply for a transfer to the archives."
"The archives? If you want to transfer back later, that won't be easy."
Xiao Lin didn't take Zero's brevity as disrespect. Instead he frowned, considering his situation.
"Is it because of the rumors? Or are you worried about that test result? You really don't need to be. Quite a few people had issues with their results. You've got talent, going to the archives is really…"
Xiao Lin looked troubled.
Being dragged out for overtime by the general was one thing. Now even a promising seedling insisted on transferring to the most idle post…
But he'd always respected his subordinates' choices, so he had to agree.
"Today's Friday, and vacation's just around the corner. Then next Monday, you can transfer over."
His tone full of regret, Xiao Lin reminded him, "Most people rack their brains trying to get out of the archives. But you… fine. When you decide you want to come back, just tell me."
If it were anyone else, Zero would have just nodded politely at those words.
But his Diviner was different. When he said something, he meant it. He'd do it. Never played tricks with people.
A boss like that was hard to find, one who wouldn't fire him just for clocking in and out on time. A hundred times better than those bosses who only knew how to dump messes on you.
Feeling it deeply, Zero sincerely thanked the Diviner.
Leaving the office, he saw colleagues all packing up, gathering in twos and threes. Some were heading to the cafeteria, others banding together to order takeout.
Both the Divination Commission and the Cloud Knights had their own canteens, free for internal staff, a blessing for broke office workers.
The departments with the best food were the Sky-Faring Commission and the Cloud Knights.
The former ran foreign trade, swimming in budget, and the cafeteria aunties' hands never trembled.
The latter, being special in nature, didn't even need supervision. They automatically got the best food cooked for them.
As for the other departments' cafeterias… better not to mention.
The flavors were bizarre, the dishes outright abstract.
When Zero had first joined the Divination Commission, he went with the crowd to the cafeteria.
One look at the food and he was blown away by the staff's "creative" menu.
Strawberries stir-fried with celery. Tangerines stir-fried with peas. Red dragon fruit stir-fried with shredded potatoes…
What kind of combos were these?
Zero got some rice, avoided those three dishes, picked a few little buns and one dish that looked like braised pork with potatoes.
Biting into a bun, he found it was stuffed with diced potatoes.
The potatoes were cubed and cooked with chili bean paste. Barely acceptable.
He moved on with his chopsticks, picked up some "potato" from the braised dish, and nearly died when he tasted it.
The "potato" wasn't potato at all, it was pear.
Pear, the kind you stew with rock sugar.
Zero was shook to his core. That salty fruit was overwhelming and dizzying.
His coworkers weren't surprised. Some even looked faintly gleeful, as if they enjoyed watching others suffer too.
One colleague consoled him with fake sympathy, "You're actually lucky. At least you didn't run into tomato-stewed mooncake, or fried rice balls with corn kernels. Oh, and cold tossed sunflower seeds, yeah, the kind with shells."
Zero, "..."
Compared to those three, meat with pear didn't seem that weird… 'Wait, no, it was still totally wrong!'
After that one cafeteria trip, Zero never went back.
No matter how much his colleagues bragged about it, he wouldn't be fooled.
He already saw through those old workplace foxes, they just wanted to drag another victim down with them.
Normally he joined in on group takeout, and today was no different. The colleague organizing it was handing out the food.
He took his box, said thanks, and headed back to his desk. As usual, he opened his jade token to find some videos to watch while eating.
Unlocking the screen, he saw a message from Jingliu.
[Jingliu: I received a package. I asked my friends, none of them sent it]
[Jingliu: Was it you?]
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