The next day, Zero did as he usually did. While Hua was at school, he stayed behind and worked overtime to deal with documents.
After he finished his work, Guanliang came over to his side.
Recently, his subordinates had been running around everywhere looking for ways to relieve stress and control emotions, and every now and then they would give him some kind of item.
For example, yesterday it was a guqin. Before that, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones…
This time was no exception.
Zero looked at the box of cigarettes placed in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.
"You really are… grabbing at anything in a panic."
Guanliang sighed along with him.
What else could he do?
Of course he had to try everything.
People who have a habit of smoking generally believe that tobacco can relieve stress and keep the brain clear.
Doctors, however, hold the opposite view. They say smoking has nothing but harm and no benefit. Not only does it fail to relieve stress, it actually makes a person's condition worse.
Still, compared to human lives, these side effects don't really count for much.
No matter what, it's better than the boss stabbing him and then dying, right?
Weighing the lesser of two evils, Guanliang prepared tobacco for his superior.
He picked up the cigarette case, tore open the packaging, took out a cigarette, and handed it to the marshal.
"Don't worry about whether it's good or bad. Try everything once first. Just treat it like trying to save a dead horse as if it were alive."
Zero didn't take it.
Seeing this, Guanliang put the cigarette back and asked, "Then… exercise? Jogging, golf, badminton? Or maybe raise a pet? Come to think of it, you haven't taken your annual leave. How about going to a vacation planet to relax?"
Zero paused for a moment, then said in a light tone, "Forget it. Don't try any of that. Let it be."
Guanliang fell silent for a long time. In the end, he made up his mind and spoke frankly to his superior, saying what was on his mind.
"Honestly, in your current condition… I don't think you can hold on until that time."
If it were any other boss, hearing a subordinate bluntly say that they wouldn't live much longer would probably have made them fly into a rage.
The marshal, however, showed no strong reaction. He simply raised his hand, signaling for Guanliang to pass him a cigarette.
Zero didn't speak in absolutes. He only said, "I'll do my best."
He held an unlit cigarette between his fingers and fell into thought.
At the dinner gathering, Zandar had taken the initiative to provide information.
Zandar really was his teacher, and he had only ever taken one student.
Setting aside the insults mixed in with personal bias, what caught Zero's attention most was the parable Zandar told.
The little animals endured countless hardships and finally succeeded in saving their homeland.
This implied that they would eventually succeed.
After that, Zero said that parables and reality were different. Zandar denied this, and used experiments to refute him, saying that as long as there was enough data and enough time, success was inevitable.
Zandar repeatedly emphasized time. Was he trying to get him to keep waiting?
Whether they could succeed or not, Zero didn't want to wait anymore.
It was like a gacha game. At the beginning, for the character and weapon you wanted, you wouldn't want to miss a single treasure chest.
You'd run all over the map and max out exploration progress just to save up one pull, then another.
You'd rack your brain, even spend money on the game, all to slowly increase the chance of pulling something good.
But now, you lacked neither characters nor weapons. If this were another game, you'd probably have already cleared it and started over.
After all, every game eventually gets boring.
No matter how many nights you stayed up for it, no matter how much money you poured into it, there comes a point where you just can't keep playing anymore.
This made Zero think of a term from the financial field, sunk cost.
It refers to costs that were invested in the past but are irrelevant to the current decision.
Zero had invested a great deal of time, money, and energy into the Xianzhou and ascension. If he weren't rational enough, sunk costs could very easily influence his original decision.
Fortunately, he had never been someone who fussed over gains and losses, and he didn't care about what had already been paid.
If a game needed to be uninstalled, he'd uninstall it.
No matter how much money he'd spent before, no matter how much the game company pestered him, he would never force himself to keep playing.
His resolve would not be shaken easily.
In any case, he had done everything he could.
The rest would be left to others.
Even if some subordinate suddenly got the urge to take on the position of marshal, that would be fine too.
At worst, they could negotiate among themselves.
The deterrent power of the Xianzhou Alliance was already maxed out, and their reserves were plentiful. They could completely withstand some turmoil.
As for the originally designated successor, Hua, if she didn't take over his position, would she count as a deposed crown princess? In ancient times, she'd definitely be targeted by others.
Zero wasn't worried at all.
Hua was adopted by him. The subordinates wouldn't lay a hand on her.
Besides, how old was Hua now? She could already smash a stone bench into dust with one punch. If she grew a few more years… who knew, she might even be able to catch a missile with her bare hands.
While Zero was thinking, at some point the cigarette in his hand had been lit by Guanliang and was now half burned.
He raised his hand and took a drag.
Zero lowered his head, staring at the flickering red ember, carefully sensing his own emotions.
So much for smoking relieving stress, it was completely useless.
Just as Zero was about to tell Guanliang this conclusion, Hua walked in.
He had originally wanted to put out the cigarette so the child wouldn't smell secondhand smoke.
Unexpectedly, Hua moved extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, she was standing in front of Zero, then began praising him with a blank expression.
Zero, "..."
He blinked slowly, picked up the cigarette he'd intended to extinguish, and took a deep drag.
Beside him, the documents in Guanliang's hands fell all over the floor.
He stared in disbelief, first at Hua.
The child was praising her guardian with a completely expressionless face.
That tone, cold, like the heart of a fishmonger who had been killing fish in the market for hundreds of years.
Then he turned to look at his superior.
The boss was utterly shaken, completely unsure how to react, and could only smoke mechanically.
Fortunately, relying on the basic composure of someone who had ruled for thousands of years, he still maintained a calm expression and didn't reveal any cracks in front of Hua.
Guanliang stiffly crouched down and picked up the scattered documents.
Hua enunciated clearly, her tone flat as she repeated the praise she'd heard from the bodyguards.
There was no way she could praise her guardian herself, so she could only copy other people's words.
Separated by the white smoke, she talked for quite a while. Her guardian didn't even furrow his brows once, silently smoking the whole time.
Seeing this, Hua deliberately pulled out a few lines from the Father's Day essay she had fabricated herself.
"You shield me from wind and rain, you remove all obstacles for me. I just want to say, I will always love you, "
Zero, "..."
Without changing expression, he stubbed out the cigarette and listened quietly.
After finishing the content of her essay, Hua still refused to give up.
She simply started copying her deskmate's essay.
As she recalled it, Hua read it aloud, "Even if separated by time, separated by life and death, even if forever divided between heaven and man, I..."
Hua's expression suddenly changed. She abruptly stopped and said nothing more.
The two adults couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
Good grief. To get a perfect score, this kid really spared no effort.
She even directly wrote the father dead.
Laughing, Guanliang placed the neatly organized documents back on the desk.
Zero beckoned to Hua, signaling for the child to come over.
Hua turned two steps into three, walking over at an extremely slow pace.
Zero spread his palm and said, "Let's take it one thing at a time. Come on, give me the essay."
Hua pressed her lips together.
That line about "forever divided between heaven and man" was written by her deskmate. The other kid wasn't good at essays, but couldn't afford to give up the essay score.
To pad the word count, the deskmate wracked their brains, and as they wrote, they ended up writing their still-living dad out of existence.
The teacher didn't know the truth. Seeing the essay, she felt both heartbroken and moved, immediately gave a perfect score, and even went to the deskmate's mother to express concern, only to run straight into the deskmate's father.
The three of them talked it out, half angry and half amused, and the perfect score was promptly revoked.
As for Hua's essay, it was in her schoolbag.
Even though she hadn't written her guardian dead… to pad the word count and get a higher score, she'd written a lot of super cringey lines. How could she possibly let someone else see that?
What should she say? Lie and say she'd left the essay in her desk at school?
No, that wouldn't work. What if this person actually sent someone to fetch it?
Hua's expression shifted back and forth.
Zero waited for a bit, appreciating Hua's awkward, conflicted look.
For once, he didn't mess with her on purpose.
With Hua's temperament, if she got embarrassed and angry… she'd probably start destroying things again.
Every ornament in Zero's study was worth a fortune. If she broke one, there'd be another deduction from her allowance.
He sighed and took the initiative to back down.
"Forget it. Come here, let me feel your forehead."
Hua instinctively stepped forward.
Zero raised his hand and touched the child's forehead with the back of his hand, checking her temperature.
He looked at Guanliang with feigned confusion.
"That's strange. She doesn't have a fever. So why is she talking nonsense?"
Guanliang held back laughter and replied, "Should I call the Alchemy Commision over?"
Hua endured it again and again.
Zandar's method was completely useless.
But she'd already said so many nice things…
After weighing her options, Hua steeled herself and lied. "I don't have a fever. What I said just now wasn't nonsense. It was sincere."
Zero closed his eyes briefly, and a plan quickly formed in his mind.
He looked at Hua gently, met her gaze, and when he spoke again, his tone was softer than it had ever been.
Zero copied Hua's earlier words, replacing the inappropriate phrases.
From his tone, it didn't sound like he was praising someone. It was more like coaxing an unruly child.
Hua and Guanliang had completely different expressions, but both felt goosebumps rising all over their bodies.
The person in front of them had a face that carried no aggression at all, one that made people feel incredibly close.
Combined with those gentle eyes that seemed to hold everything with tolerance, even the most outrageous words sounded believable coming from him.
If they didn't know his true nature, they might really have believed it.
'This was way too cringey!'
'You went way too far just to counterattack!'
The two of them fought the urge to rub their arms and braced themselves to listen to Zero speak.
As he went on, Zero's expression grew increasingly gentle.
He raised his hand and lightly rubbed the top of Hua's head, saying firmly, "I will shield you from wind and rain. I will remove all obstacles for you..."
After saying this, Zero suddenly laughed softly, then continued, "These two things, even if separated by time, separated by life and death, even if forever divided between heaven and man, I will still do them..."
Hua clenched the strap of her schoolbag, turned around, and fled in panic, only managing to throw out one sentence.
"I'm going to do my homework."
She hadn't even run halfway when she heard Zero unhurriedly add another line behind her.
"Hua, what I said was sincere."
Hua's steps came to a sudden halt. With her back to Zero, she stayed silent for a long moment before dryly saying, "Oh," and then lifting her legs and running out again.
Zero calmly tidied the documents and miscellaneous items on the desk.
He curved his lips into a smile and said in a light tone, "One to zero. Complete victory."
Guanliang, "..."
He knew it. Whenever something's off, there's definitely something going on.
Given the boss's personality, there was no way he'd be comfortable saying such mushy things.
Sure enough, this was all for revenge.
'Hua, you really have it rough!'
Zero said with interest, "She won't give up so easily. Guanliang, want to make a bet with me?"
Guanliang asked, "What are we betting on?"
Zero already knew who the mastermind was.
Who else could it be besides Zandar?
When he had time someday, he'd go give Zandar a nice round of praise.
Zero smiled and said, "Let's bet on when she gives up."
Guanliang thought about it and said, "I'll bet about a week. What's the stake?"
Zero didn't have an answer yet.
"I'll bet half a month. As for the stake… I don't know yet. We'll talk about it then."
Guanliang glanced at the trash can beside the desk and saw the cigarette butt, burned down to half.
"Didn't the tobacco work?" he asked.
Zero nodded.
Guanliang said, "If I win, whether it's exercise, sleep, or traveling, you pick one."
Zero joked, "If I go traveling, will you reimburse me?"
Guanliang was momentarily speechless, then said irritably, "Reimburse you, okay?"
Zero had no intention of taking advantage of his subordinate and quickly made a decision.
"If you win, I'll sleep every day. If you lose, then… agree to one thing I ask."
Guanliang's mouth twitched.
"Do you think that's fair?"
What if the boss wanted him dead?
Zero quickly reassured him.
"I just can't think of anything right now. Don't worry, I definitely won't let you suffer."
Guanliang rolled his eyes. "...You'd better not."
On the other side, Hua returned to her courtyard and met Zandar.
She put down her schoolbag and, accompanied by Zandar, finished her homework.
Closing her textbook, Hua said stiffly, "The method you mentioned doesn't work at all."
Zandar raised an eyebrow. "How did you say it?"
In a flat tone, Hua repeated what she'd said earlier to Zandar.
Zandar immediately understood.
He knew his student. In front of someone close, she simply couldn't say things like that.
His student had feelings for Hua's guardian, but not many.
Zandar pondered carefully, trying to find more tactful wording in his mind, but no matter what, nothing came to him.
He lowered his head and tapped on his communication device a few times. Soon, the artificial intelligence began delivering flattery with far more emotion than Hua, rising and falling in tone.
Zandar suggested, "How about learning from the AI?"
Hua, "...Oh."
She took out her jade terminal and practiced with the AI for quite a while, then specifically went on the star network to search for and memorize more than ten cringey lines.
Tomorrow, she had to win back a round.
The next day, Hua went out full of confidence, but before long, she returned dejected.
She couldn't help but start questioning life.
How could her guardian say things like that? It was way too cringey.
What did he mean by saying he had no requirements at all for the successor of the Xianzhou?
What did he mean by calmly accepting everyone's favoritism and protection?
Hua thought that the Xianzhou Alliance was truly doomed.