Hearing that, Guanliang lifted his head and glanced at the little girl.
He didn't say anything. He lowered his head and continued looking at the jade terminal.
When the two of them had just passed through the corridor earlier, they happened to see a promotional display for a Tarot card club.
His superior casually remarked that it looked interesting, and then, right after turning around, they ran into this little girl.
She looked about the same age as Hua, not shy at all. She proactively came up to two complete strangers and started talking about Tarot cards.
The two of them instantly sensed something was wrong.
They quickly recalled the assassins they'd encountered before, either special races that never grew up, or mechanical lifeforms disguised as children.
Suspicious. Way too suspicious.
Relying on their extensive experience of being assassinated, the two reacted quickly and split up the work.
The superior, who seemed to have caught the enemy's attention, was responsible for drawing aggro and diverting attention.
Guanliang, meanwhile, was in charge of sending messages to the guards hidden in various places.
Considering that there were many Xianzhou people on the sea, most of the guards had been dispatched to other yachts.
They were tasked with eliminating hidden dangers and protecting all the Xianzhou people present. At the same time, they had to pilot the yachts away from the area where Guanliang and his superior were, to prevent any accidental harm to others.
Out of the corner of his eye, Guanliang saw the surrounding yachts heading off in other directions, and he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Looks like they hadn't noticed anything amiss.
As for the small remaining group, they were already heading toward the two of them.
The superior looked very interested in Tarot cards. He even leaned down slightly and asked follow-up questions about the meanings of the cards.
Zero's eyes held a smile as he looked at the little girl in front of him and asked softly, "So, what do these four cards mean?"
The little girl took out one card. On it were three swords coming from different directions, stabbing into a heart.
She said, "The Three of Swords represents that your upcoming journey will cause you harm from different directions."
"Three swords strike straight through the heart, hitting a vital spot. This is a wound that's hard to heal. It will drive you into mental chaos and may even result in irreparable loss."
Zero blinked and met the little girl's gaze.
She returned a smile. That smile looked as if it had been carved from the same mold as Zero's, even the curve of her lips was exactly the same.
Zero thought, 'So it's a machine after all.'
'Then there's no need to hold back.'
He might as well make a big scene of it, he could use this opportunity to suppress the mechanical race once again.
He didn't believe a word of what mechanical lifeforms said.
Things like Divination, Tarot cards, and the like… as long as there was any ominous interpretation, he wouldn't believe it.
Just like superstitions about your left eye twitching meaning wealth and your right eye twitching meaning disaster.
Zero didn't take it to heart. He straightened up, smiled good-naturedly, and asked, "Then what about the second card?"
The little girl tilted her head up, revealing a sweet smile. Her tone was extremely gentle.
"The Judgment card. As the name implies, it means the heavens will judge the crimes you've committed. You must reflect on yourself and repent for your sins. Only then can your soul ascend to heaven."
Guanliang listened from the side.
The more he listened, the more ridiculous it sounded.
This kind of mystical assassin… it was really his first time seeing one.
Next, the little girl started talking about the third card on her own, the Tower.
She showed the card to the two of them.
A tower soared into the clouds, but it had been struck and destroyed by lightning. Two people were falling from the collapsing, burning tower.
"This lightning is a punishment sent down from the heavens. The deity is enraged by everything you've done, so no matter how much power or wealth you possess, you can't escape divine punishment."
The little girl stared straight at Zero.
"As for Death… just like what's shown on the card, before death, all beings are equal. Kings, clergy, women, or children, everyone will die in the end. No one is an exception."
Guanliang put away the jade terminal.
The guards had already arrived at their side. If this little girl really was an assassin, then the guards would take care of her.
The little girl's tone sounded very sincere.
"You'll be betrayed by someone you trust. You'll be heartbroken, because this is the karma of your own sins. You deserve to bear all of this."
"What a pity, you drew Judgment, the Tower, and Death all at once. If you had drawn another card that hints at death, like the Four of Swords… that would be death in the truest sense of the word, physical death."
The little girl tilted her head and smiled.
"If you kill yourself to atone right now, it's still not too late."
The guards hidden around them finally couldn't hold back anymore. One of them moved swiftly and struck first. In an instant, machine oil sprayed everywhere.
Zero looked around. Seeing that there was only their yacht nearby, he smiled at his subordinates and said, "In that case, let's make it even bigger. Remember, you've only got thirty seconds."
The subordinates acknowledged the order. Some headed into the yacht, while others jumped straight off the deck into the sea without hesitation.
Zero lowered his head and looked down at that steel-forged head.
He stepped back to avoid the machine oil spreading across the deck, shook his head, and sighed.
"Sin? What sin could I possibly have?"
Putting on a look of regret, Zero spoke in a tone like he was reciting poetry, "The one with sin is you. You've destroyed thousands of years of effort by the mechanical race."
"They worked so hard to ingratiate themselves with humanity, trying to secure more rights for their kind, trying to join the Star Sea Council."
As if feeling indignant on behalf of the mechanical race, Zero frowned slightly and said gently, "This time, I was originally planning to agree. I saw their sincerity. I saw how hard they were working to maintain peace in the Star Sea."
"What a shame. Because of you, all of their efforts went to waste."
"Whether I can go to heaven or not doesn't really matter. Anyway..."
Footsteps were getting closer. It was the subordinates who had gone off and now returned, jumping into the sea one after another.
Seeing this, Zero smiled even wider.
His brows curved, his eyes were pure, as if he were looking at some amusing toy, yet the words he spoke were exceptionally cruel.
"Your home planet has been turned into a mine..."
Guanliang, "..."
'Can you stop drawing aggro already?! Don't you know villains die because they talk too much?!'
Zero withdrew his gaze and grabbed Guanliang like he was picking up a chick.
Ignoring his curses, he flung him toward the guards.
Zero then flipped over the yacht's railing and jumped down as well.
He dove into the water. Several guards beside him hurried over, anxiously grabbing and pulling at him.
Very soon, a deafening explosion sounded behind them.
The crowd in the distance, who were about to start watching the competition, froze on the spot.
'What was that sound just now?'
Living in an era of peace, the Xianzhou people couldn't even imagine the existence of bombs, and instinctively chalked the accident up to a gas explosion.
'A gas leak exploded? That shouldn't be possible, right? Isn't every kitchen equipped with an alarm?'
Hua looked toward the direction of the loud noise, her heart sinking.
The teachers wore worried expressions. They quickly made a decision, the competition was suspended. From yachts to speedboats, they would inspect safety hazards one by one to prevent another accident.
Hua patiently listened as the teachers gave their instructions. She waited and waited, and finally they let everyone go.
When she turned around, a familiar guard was standing not far away. One led the way, one followed behind. The entire walk was silent.
Before long, they arrived. Hua slowed her steps and walked over calmly.
A group of people stood under a huge sunshade. They didn't have time to change out of their soaking-wet clothes and could only drape towels over themselves for now.
Guanliang looked hesitant. He was very concerned about those five Tarot cards and turned to ask his superior what he thought.
Zero was quite helpless.
"Why are you actually believing it? It was obviously that inorganic thing cursing me."
It was clearly slipping in personal bias.
Guanliang was still uneasy and buried his head in using his connections to look for a Tarot reader.
Zero tapped on the jade terminal. He slightly embellished what had just happened and relayed it to the company's shareholders.
The shareholders immediately understood the implication and at once condemned the mechanical race for being two-faced, acting one way on the surface and another behind the scenes. Truly chilling.
Come on, that was the Xianzhou with the best public security in the entire Star Sea! That was Yaoqing! How dare they?
If they were allowed into the Council… wouldn't that mean another "Imperial War"?
The shareholder very tactfully stated that he would once again represent the company in submitting a proposal to the Star Sea Council, to exterminate all mechanical life in the universe.
Zero was satisfied and put away the jade terminal.
The rest didn't require his attention anymore. The shareholders would naturally charge ahead for him and help blow the roof off.
He hadn't originally planned to have his subordinates blow up the yacht. It was just unfortunate coincidence, the assassin happened to be an inorganic being and had said something extremely ominous to him.
Zero didn't believe in superstition, but he still couldn't help feeling unlucky.
Just like someone who doesn't believe in lucky charms, but still gets annoyed when someone curses them to lose money.
He really didn't believe it, but hearing that kind of thing would still make anyone angry.
Didn't Zero have every right to strike back?
He thought it was perfectly reasonable, absolutely reasonable.
Anyway, as long as he stayed in his current position, the mechanical race could forget about entering the Star Sea Council.
As for mistreating intelligent machines… he really hadn't. He simply gave preferential treatment to humans and abolished human slavery, that was all.
As for the oppression suffered by intelligent machines at the hands of other forces in the universe because of this galactic law, that had nothing to do with him.
Who told intelligent machines to have a criminal record? They'd triggered the "Imperial War" twice already, and no one knew how many people had died. Zero not wiping them out entirely was already an act of mercy.
Zero was in an excellent mood.
When the time came, he'd let the shareholders blow things up, then step out to mediate. Taking advantage of this turmoil, he'd propose a new bill.
Once any planet in the Star Sea experienced out-of-control intelligent machines or an insect infestation, it could request aid from the Star Sea Council, who would proactively extend a helping hand.
When disaster destroyed an entire planet, they would deploy planet-destroying weapons.
This was paving the way for Hua. Given Hua's personality… she'd probably only focus on dealing with abominations.
After the bill passed, intelligent machines and insect races could be completely crushed in one go.
The native inhabitants of a planet, of course, wouldn't easily accept help from other great powers.
But once that door was opened, what would happen afterward… wouldn't be up to them anymore.
Everyone knew that free things were the most expensive.
Other great powers helped you resolve a disaster, surely you had to give something in return, right? Lower your tax rates a bit, perhaps?
To prevent the disaster from returning, we need to station troops on your planet. That's not unreasonable, is it?
Therefore, the natives would do everything they could to fight the disaster themselves. Of course, if they stubbornly refused help from the Star Sea community… then there was nothing to be done. To protect the other planets in the Star Sea, they could only use planet-destroying weapons.
The proposal Zero envisioned would take a long time before it could actually be implemented.
He didn't even need to think about it, when the meeting came, it would definitely be endless arguments, everyone talking over each other.
Other forces in the universe would need to deliberate repeatedly, guarding against becoming the "helped" nation, while also wanting to be the "helper."
Zero wasn't in a hurry at all.
Laws needed to be revised and supplemented again and again before loopholes could truly be sealed.
His original intention was to prevent war from breaking out again, not to turn his proposal into a blade pointed at innocents.
If it weren't to prevent intelligent machines and insect disasters from wiping out cosmic civilizations, he really didn't want to fight wars.
Zero looked at the heir beside him.
The other party had roughly guessed the truth and looked hesitant.
Zero calculated the time and realized that they hadn't known each other long, yet the other person had already witnessed two assassination attempts.
He reassured them. "You weren't scared, were you? Don't worry. Once you sit in my position, you won't run into this kind of problem anymore."
"Of course, when you encounter people who harbor malice toward you, there's no need to take it too seriously. Go take a look at the Xianzhou map and tax revenues, and you won't care about the opinions of ants anymore."
"The territories and tax income of those forces, even after thousands or tens of thousands of years of effort, they still can't reach the knees of the Xianzhou Alliance."
Hua was full of questions and asked, "What about you, then?"
Normal people would still have negative emotions, right?
Unfortunately, the Zero standing in front of Hua was not a normal person.
Zero paused for a moment, then replied in a casual tone, "I don't care. Just thinking about how they're terrified that I might make a move against them, how they soak in fear every second, tossing and turning in bed, sleepless all night, that makes me not care at all."
Half-jokingly, he added, "If one gets scared to death, that's one less."
Hua, "..."
Guanliang, "..."
The guards present all applauded and exclaimed in admiration, "As expected of Marshal Zero..."
Zero thought for a moment and felt he should guide the heir a bit.
They would eventually face the same problems in the future.
Continuing along that line, Zero advised gently, "There's no need to feel upset over negative evaluations. If you're obsessed with changing how others see you, that just shows you have an overly strong desire for control."
"You can't control them, so just listen and let it go. No matter how vicious their insults are, can they make one zero disappear from your savings?"
After he finished speaking, Guanliang asked from the side, "When you drew the first card, what question were you thinking about?"
Zero, "…Hey, didn't I say you don't need to worry about it?"
'Why are you still thinking about Tarot cards?'
Guanliang pressed on.
"What exactly was the question? Each card can have different interpretations in different contexts. You have to say it for there to be an accurate answer."
Zero thought for a moment and said only, "I asked whether I should trust someone."
Guanliang replied while looking at the jade terminal, "The answer is, you should trust them."
He continued, "What was your second question again? About travel, right?"
Zero hummed in response.
Guanliang looked at the jade terminal, his expression hard to describe.
"This is unbelievable. What kind of luck is this? The Tower, Death, the Three of Swords, there are seventy-eight Tarot cards in total, and only these three are the most ominous. And by sheer coincidence, you drew all of them…"
As he spoke, his voice trailed off.
After a long silence, Guanliang said sincerely, "Why don't you just not go anywhere and stay in Yaoqing?"