But as long as a Van Gogh-level NPC stayed in a human-inhabited star system, Zero wouldn't even think about bombing them.
Zero was amazed.
"'Erudition' really is smart, huh. No wonder they're a Aeon…" They could actually guess his intentions with absolute accuracy.
Even though "Erudition" had seen through his plan ahead of time, Zero wasn't angry.
What, just because the other side predicted it, he'd stop bombing? Impossible.
The Aeon of "Erudition" understood all things in the universe and sought truth somewhere out there in the cosmos.
And now, Zero knew where they were.
If he didn't bomb them now, wouldn't that ruin the great Aeon's reputation? Wouldn't that waste all their effort?
Zero was a reasonable person, very empathetic, good at putting himself in others' shoes, he'd never let a high-level NPC's name get tarnished.
After all, "Erudition" was supposed to become his dear friend. He still needed that Aeon's believers, too.
Zero opened the high-level NPC panel again, stared at it for a while, and sighed regretfully.
Aha and his dear friend were both Aeons, so that trash carrying one-tenth divine power wouldn't be enough to blow up the "Erudition" Aeon.
'What a pity.' He couldn't bring his friend back to the Xianzhou to dismantle and study them.
Zero sighed again. When he looked up, the Memokeeper shuddered.
Immersed in the frustration of being unable to dissect his dear friend, Zero temporarily gave up on toying with others' emotions and got straight to work.
SSR or not, Memokeeper or not, once the chat was over, everyone should hurry back to their jobs.
Zero quickly adjusted his mood, picked up the files the Chief Strategist had sent earlier, wrote out his own solution on scratch paper, and then pulled up the system to compare with the correct answers.
This process took several times longer than before.
Still, that wasn't a problem, his body was special; he wouldn't die from staying up all night.
By evening, Zero finally finished processing the documents. He stood and went to the bathroom to take a bath.
Bathing always made him feel perfectly calm.
Besides reviewing documents, reading books, and mining, bathing could also be considered one of his hobbies.
Yaoqing's subordinates loved dressing up and cared a lot about their looks. When they heard this, they got all enthusiastic, insisting on finding him a residence with a large bathhouse.
The Xianzhou was rich and powerful now, and his subordinates had become equally extravagant. As for that "large bathhouse" they mentioned…
Zero turned it down immediately.
He didn't even dare to imagine how big it was, wouldn't that waste way too much water?
Estimating the time, he stepped out of the bath in a robe, towel on his head.
Sitting back down at his desk, he pulled out an ancient book. Just as he opened the cover, his Jade Token chimed with a message.
It was from Daiyang.
Daiyang had reached a preliminary consensus with the Vidyadhara. Now, all that was left was for Zero to meet them.
Seeing that it was right around off-duty time, Zero typed out a reply in the chat box, but didn't send it.
He always did this when he got messages from subordinates after hours.
He knew his overachieving subordinates too well.
If he replied, Daiyang would definitely keep working overtime.
He'd just wait until work hours tomorrow.
He even set an alarm, planning to reply exactly at the start of tomorrow's shift.
———
The next day, SSR came to see the Marshal, looking excited.
Before he even stepped inside, he saw his superior sitting at the desk, deeply focused on a book.
Marty was stunned, talk about dedication.
He hesitated, wondering if he should disturb him.
Thankfully, his superior was sharp and noticed him standing there awkwardly, smiling warmly as he gestured for him to come in.
Marty said he had more questions to ask the Memokeeper.
Zero nodded without thinking. "The Memokeeper's yours."
Marty, "…"
He kept his face straight and nodded obediently, while screaming internally.
'Marshal, that sounded way too ambiguous!'
It was like he was handing over some kind of object…
Worried about his superior's communication skills, Marty said nothing and just went off to the Division of Ten Kings to find the Memokeeper.
After a busy morning, he returned to the Marshal's residence and shared lunch with the Chief Strategist.
As he ate dishes he'd never tried before, he sighed to the Strategist, "Every time I come to see the Marshal, he's either reading or working on documents…"
The Strategist casually replied, "Oh, that's normal. He never sleeps."
Marty echoed instinctively, "Yeah, the Marshal never..."
Halfway through, he froze. Then shouted in shock, "Wait, WHAT?! He never sleeps?!"
The Strategist just kept eating calmly. "Not necessarily… Sometimes, when he's badly injured and needs rest, the Alchemist drugs him."
The Alchemist had almost gone insane taking his pulse.
As a healer, whenever he met a patient who didn't take care of themselves, he'd usually lecture them.
But this patient was the Marshal.
After exhausting every argument and still failing to convince him, the Alchemist had no choice but to secretly change the prescription and drug him first, explain later.
To Marty, a new recruit who didn't understand the Marshal's nature, this was too much to process.
He stammered, "D-Drug him?"
The Strategist nodded. "Yes. The Alchemist adds a few sleep-inducing herbs."
Marty, "…"
'Sleep-inducing? More like knockout!'
He was shocked, but also couldn't really say it was wrong.
After all, who could make the Marshal rest?
The Strategist went on, "But those herbs don't seem to work on him… Maybe he's slept a few hours at most."
The Marshal himself probably didn't even notice.
The Strategist always left on time and never worked overtime, so he didn't know the details.
He figured the Marshal just hadn't realized it.
After all, this was a man who never left his desk except for social events, a true workaholic. Even when gravely injured, he was still thinking about his paperwork.
When the Alchemist took his pulse again later and found his medicine had no effect, he almost quit on the spot to go back to medical school.
Marty fell silent.
'So even with the drugs, he basically didn't sleep at all?'
'No wonder the Xianzhou Alliance managed to form relations with so many planets in just a thousand years…'
With a boss who only competes with himself, how could they not dominate the galaxy?
Suddenly, the food in his mouth didn't taste good anymore.
While the Marshal stayed up for the Xianzhou, what was he doing? Mooching off the Marshal's perks. Eating his food.
How could he eat another bite? He should be back in the lab working for the Marshal.
Fired up with guilt, Marty put down his chopsticks, ready to go work.
The Strategist, long used to his superior's antics, easily guessed what Marty was thinking.
He could read any normal person like a book.
With one sentence, he stopped Marty from leading an overtime frenzy.
"The chef just made some king crab. Want some?"
Marty stared at the thick, three-finger-wide crab leg, hesitated, and said with difficulty, "…Yeah."
'Marshal, forgive me this once! After I finish this crab, I'll overwork with you!'
With mixed feelings, he picked up the crab leg and took a big bite.
As he ate, he asked, "Why doesn't the Marshal eat?"
The Strategist replied, "He says it's a waste of time."
Marty, "…"
Now the crab didn't taste good anymore.
What was he doing with his life? At his age, how could he just sit around? He should be striving alongside the Marshal.
Seeing Marty's guilty expression, the Strategist pointed to a small, palm-sized baked crab dish just made by the chef.
"How about you bring that to him later?"
Marty nodded immediately.
'It was a small portion, the Marshal would surely eat it.'
After lunch, he cheerfully took the packed food and went to find his superior.
When SSR found Zero, the Marshal was busy mediating a conflict among subordinates.
The meeting time with the Vidyadhara had been set, but not the location.
Forming an alliance between the Xianzhou and the Vidyadhara was a huge deal. Every general knew about it, and they all started fighting over where to hold the meeting.
For some reason, General Yaoqing, who had home-field advantage, said nothing.
A bunch of fearsome Xianzhou generals started bickering in the chat group, tearing each other apart verbally. After a long argument, Daiyang, who had led the negotiations, came out on top.
Zero didn't really care, anywhere was fine for him.
He sent a message in the chat.
[Let's set it in Luofu.]
Daiyang immediately went crazy in the chat.
[Hehehe the Marshal's coming to my Luofu hehehe]
Other subordinates flooded the chat with ellipses and memes until the message got buried.
Zero, "…"
Yeah right, like he didn't know.
He knew his subordinates too well.
No need to spam, he'd already seen the message.
Their teamwork was too perfect. They must have a private side chat.
They were probably warning Daiyang in there.
Sure enough, Daiyang quickly realized she'd sent the wrong message, withdrew it, and replied in an overly formal tone.
[Grateful for your trust and guidance, my Marshal. I am honored to serve under you. I will not disappoint you on this Luofu mission.]
Zero, "..."
'Ah. There it is again.'
Once his subordinates started buttering him up, they never stopped.
He quickly sent a cat-punching meme he'd saved from one of them, rudely and efficiently cutting off the incoming wave of flattery.
When he looked up, SSR was standing there, holding a takeout bag, who knows how long he'd been waiting.
Seeing Zero notice him, Marty proudly handed it over like a gift.
Zero cooperatively opened the bag, took out a disposable spoon, and tasted the crab meat.
Before leaving, Marty couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you eat meals, sir?"
For a player, eating three meals a day was just a waste of time.
Time spent eating was better used reading more ancient books.
As long as his HP bar was full, there was no need to eat.
"For long-lived species like me, it's nothing."
But facing his fragile, mortal SSR subordinate, Zero spoke earnestly while eating, "Don't learn from me."
After reminding Marty, he sent him off to rest.
After all, it was after work, why make him do extra tasks?
Oh, right, Marty had delivered food. That counted as overtime. He'd get triple pay.
After finishing the crab, Zero used his Jade Token to message the subordinates handling the Vidyadhara arrangements, then went back to reading and reviewing documents.
———
The day before the meeting, Zero and Yaoqing's subordinates departed for Luofu together.
On the ship, with nothing to do, Zero watched his subordinates fix their hairstyles.
He never talked about work during rest time, so everyone was relaxed around him.
Seeing his interest, they eagerly explained their various hair ornaments, ear cuffs, tassel-and-red-cord forehead pieces, golden crowns, and gemstone hairpins.
Zero was amazed.
'So complicated! No wonder it took an hour.'
Once they'd finished styling, Zero asked, "I thought you'd pick Yaoqing for the meeting spot."
General Yaoqing's name was Zhaoyan.
From his subordinates' gossip, Zero had learned their little secrets.
For example, Zhaoyan always put on makeup before seeing people.
And that he spent an hour every morning fixing his hair and appearance.
Zero didn't mind, as long as they were efficient and it didn't affect work, he didn't care if they slacked off a little. Small personal habits were fine.
Daiyang had endless romantic scandals, so why should Zhaoyan be judged just for grooming himself?
The first time Zero saw his name on the panel, he'd been surprised.
The morning glory's other name was zhaoyan, a flower that withers easily, not a great omen. He didn't understand why his parents chose that name.
He didn't pry, though. The thought came and went.
Zhaoyan smiled. "You've done so much for the Xianzhou, if you stayed in Yaoqing all the time, wouldn't that be too much of a waste?"
The Marshal should see the world he'd built, after all.
Besides, as Yaoqing's general, Zhaoyan saw the Marshal often enough already, he was far more privileged than the others.
This time, he finished his own duties early just to accompany the Marshal to Luofu.
And if he could somehow drag his boss along to a vacation planet afterward, even better.
They'd all been forced to take time off before, had already toured every resort planet. Why not make the Marshal relax a little too?
Unaware of their thoughts, Zero dined with Zhaoyan and Daiyang that evening.
The next day, just as they were about to meet the Vidyadhara, his subordinates stopped him.
The two worked in perfect sync.
Daiyang clapped her hands, and attendants wheeled in racks full of clothes.
Zhaoyan pulled out a suitcase stuffed with all kinds of hair accessories.
Together, they declared, "You're the Marshal of the Xianzhou! You can't lose to the Vidyadhara in terms of appearance!"
…In the end, he gave in.
Zero chose the most modest outfit, a black round-collar robe, embroidered with a golden dragon on the shoulders.
As for accessories, naturally, he wore the dragon-shaped jade pendant and dragon-shaped ear cuff his subordinates had given him.
For hair, he picked the simplest red cord they recommended.
His subordinates sighed regretfully and packed up the flashier options.
When they arrived at the agreed meeting spot, Zero smiled politely and nodded at the five dragon lords.
But when he saw one of their outfits, his composure almost cracked.
Wait, was he just old-fashioned, or was that some new trend?
A hole in the chest? Seriously? That was… way too avant-garde.