In this life, Zero's parents had long since succumbed to the demonic corruption.
He had barely spent any time with his elders, so who could have possibly enabled "minor protection" on his account?
He already guessed the truth.
'Hua… truly, well done.'
Zero took a deep breath, calmly ended the call with customer service, and sighed inwardly.
Coincidentally, he didn't have much of an appetite anyway.
After all, he was Xianzhou-born, he wouldn't starve to death.
His three daily meals were just a routine, something to eat simply because it was mealtime.
Zero called Hua via voice chat, and this time the connection was picked up almost immediately.
But it wasn't Hua who answered, it was a man.
The other spoke rapidly, clearly used to taking Hua's calls.
"The Marshal isn't available right now. Please book an appointment 180 days in advance if you have business."
The voice was both familiar and unfamiliar. Zero froze for a moment before hesitantly asking, "Chief Strategist?"
Chief Strategist, "..."
The Chief Strategist instinctively let out a Xianzhou curse.
Zero was incredulous. "You're still alive?"
The Chief Strategist fell silent for a few seconds, then started angrily swearing at him.
Zero, suddenly being cursed out for no reason, didn't get angry. Holding his jade terminal, his tone was filled with emotion, "I thought you'd been dead for ages."
The Chief Strategist took several deep breaths and then asked, "What do you want?"
"Oh, tell Hua to remove the spending limit on my account."
Speaking to an old acquaintance, Zero didn't bother to mention the "minor protection" restriction.
But the Chief Strategist sneered. "Minor protection, huh? Heaven really does have a sense of humor. Hua's back now, tell her yourself."
Zero, "..."
The Chief Strategist passed along Zero's words to Hua.
A woman's voice came from the other end, clearly surprised. "Each of your cards has a daily limit of ten million credits, you spent all of them?"
Zero patiently explained, "No, only one card hit its limit. That's just the going rate for real masters. Even my own talismans sell for eight or nine digits each. Spending ten million to have ten people match our birth charts isn't expensive."
After hearing that, the Chief Strategist immediately burst out laughing.
A diviner of the Divination Commission, especially a former Marshal who'd been gifted in prophecy since his last life, how could he be compared to ordinary people?
"How could you even compare yourself to them? You should read the Ministry of Equilibrium's fraud-prevention notices more often, before someone scams away your retirement fund."
Hua, meanwhile, clearly didn't agree with Zero's reasoning. "The internet's full of all kinds of people. You sure you didn't just get scammed?"
Zero sighed. "You two just don't understand market pricing…"
Hua cut him off.
"Let's put that aside for now. Hmm… about that multi-trillion transfer, do you have any idea what that was? The bank staff were planning to head to Luofu to find you… I stopped them, but I decided it'd be better to let them follow proper procedure…"
Zero was speechless.
So it was about him spending too much and drawing unwanted attention? Worrying it might disturb his peace?
A bank employee's performance was tied to the amount of deposits their clients held.
A trillion-level transaction would attract attention.
As for spending limits, that was perfectly normal; most account holders ran into that problem eventually.
He sighed. "I just bought some jewelry, that's all."
"How about changing each card's daily limit to one billion credits? That should be enough, right?"
Now Hua sounded like a strategist giving advice, speaking earnestly, "A long-lasting, healthy relationship isn't maintained through money and lies. My advice is to be honest with your partner as soon as possible, don't keep secrets."
Zero knew she meant well, but… such advice was meaningless to him.
"There's no need to suppress your emotional side anymore. You don't have to be obsessed with always making the right choice. You can allow yourself to relax."
Her tone softened.
"We're all truly happy that you've found someone you care about. Please, think seriously about what I said."
Zero paused, then agreed.
Hua then asked about the so-called "masters" he'd met. Too lazy to explain, Zero just copied and pasted everything and sent it to her.
The Chief Strategist sounded deeply moved. "What a change, you actually sound like a human being now."
"Of course I do. My mental state's long since matured, you know? Even if I make mistakes, I'll apologize and fix them."
The Chief Strategist sneered. "Ha, apologize? I don't recall ever seeing that."
Zero replied casually, "Well, that's because I was never wrong in the first place."
To the Xianzhou people, who revered him as a godlike leader, the Marshal could not be wrong, nor allowed to be wrong.
Hua, "..."
Chief Strategist, "..."
Indeed, as the all-knowing, all-powerful Marshal, he couldn't make mistakes, nor could he afford human weakness. Otherwise, emotion would lead him to make flawed decisions.
And those who placed their faith in him, the Xianzhou people, would never question his choices. They would execute his orders without hesitation.
No one guided him. No one could guide him.
He had helped countless people, doing everything in his power to protect the Xianzhou. Even on the eve of his death, he had spoken cheerfully with his subordinates, soothing them, mediating their quarrels.
So then, that omniscient, near-immortal man, why did he die? Had he suffered before his end?
His subordinates had no way of knowing, and none of them dared to think too deeply about it.
After his reincarnation, they had silently agreed not to disturb him.
So now, when the Chief Strategist and Hua heard Zero's words, words that would sound absurd to an outsider, they couldn't laugh at all.
Both felt heavy-hearted. They quickly ended the call and began reading through the messages Zero had sent.
After reading the so-called "master's" analysis, the Chief Strategist grumbled irritably,
"That part about wasting credits and being easy to fool, wasn't that describing him? What normal person spends hundreds of thousands, even millions, just to match birth charts?"
"Saying he has 'keen insight'? That's just another way of saying he's suspicious!"
"'A skeptical attitude toward things'? That's just being stubborn!"
"He's thrown away so many credits already, it better be a match made in heaven."
As he went on, the Chief Strategist sighed.
"He really has changed. More human now. He can actually get scammed."
Hua also sighed. "Investigate it. Catch the scammers, and pay off the others to keep quiet."
In his previous life, he'd relied on his immortal body, never eating, never sleeping, that was fine.
But in this life, how could he go and reveal something as important as his birth chart to strangers?
If someone with ill intent learned that information, it could cause serious problems.
That night, Hua found herself worrying endlessly about her so-called guardian.
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