18

Chapter 440: One Face in Public, Another in Private
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Ye He watched Su Cheng sign the documents and instantly felt satisfied!

"Now that's my precious Lord! My dear, you go ahead and get busy. I'll be off then?"

Su Cheng rolled his eyes. The moment this sly fox arrived, she demanded four thousand sets of armor and even diverted over five hundred troops from the inner city garrison…

"Hurry up, hurry up, get out!"

"Aye aye~" Just as Ye He turned to leave… she noticed a vase that seemed out of place in Su Cheng's bedchamber… "Your Excellency, this vase is absolutely stunning!"

Su Cheng was speechless…

"Take it, take it! I need to rest…"

Ye He couldn't care less. Even if Su Cheng refused, she was taking that vase with her!

With the documents tucked under her arm and the vase cradled in her arms, she stepped outside only to bump into Xun Ye.

"Hey? Little sis, what a coincidence! I'll tell you, I just went to get my gear from that old geezer, and the guy was practically reluctant to hand it over!"

His mood shifted faster than the wind—just moments ago, he’d been calling me "dearest" and showering me with "I love yous."

Once she got her hands on that armor, stepping outside meant facing Old Scrooge…

"I managed to get a few bottles of fine wine from Mengdie these past couple days. I'll bring you two bottles later, okay?"

"Speaking of which, why'd you come looking for that old fart? Doesn't the Blade of Execution just go straight to the treasury for funding? No need to bother him!"

"If that's the case, could you spare me some cash? I need to buy weapons and gear to beat the crap out of those jerks!"

"Oh? Little sister's not talking. Feeling down? Well, I'll be off then. Let's grab drinks sometime!"

From start to finish, Xun Ye hadn't uttered a word, nor had she even glanced at her sister.

But the Big Fox seemed accustomed to Xun Ye's coldness. After sharing her joy, she turned and left.

This was Ye Qinghan's first encounter with the Great Fox in person, and she was vastly different from what he had imagined.

Even Shi Yao, who was usually slow to react, was taken aback!

"So Xun Ye and Sister Xiang don't get along? Aren't they sisters?"

Dafox gave Dongfang Jue the same impression. He could tell she cared deeply for this younger sister.

She had expected to witness a scene of deep sisterly affection, or at the very least, something akin to Ye Qinghan and Li Shiyu's playful bickering and lack of formality.

But Xun Ye seemed to dislike this elder sister, evident in her icy gaze.

Though Xun Ye was mostly like this, when she looked at Xiao Ai, her eyes clearly held emotion—she wasn't an utterly cold-hearted person.

Seeing the Great Fox depart, Xun Ye entered the Scorching Heart Hall.

"Xun Ye, I was just about to come find you. Fifty li west of Qinglong Pass, abnormal spatial fluctuations have been detected."

Xun Ye leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, flicking her golden short hair as she replied coldly, "I've already investigated. Have you seen this thing?"

As he spoke, Xun Ye tossed a black fragment onto Su Cheng's desk. The stone nugget, about two fingers wide and the size of a memory stick, thudded onto the surface.

Su Cheng stared at the stone fragment, his mind blank…

"What is this?"

"I don't know, but it has residual spiritual energy from you and Zero Two—even mine."

"What does that mean?"

"Use your damn brain, will you? You just open your mouth and ask questions! I'd love to pry open your skull and see what's inside!"

Su Cheng seemed to thrive on being scolded. The rebuke perked him right up. He sat up straight and examined the stone fragment closely.

It looked no different from ordinary marble, yet it contained not a single impurity—its purity was exceptionally high…

Pure… marble?

But Xun Ye was right—there were indeed traces of his and Zero Two's spiritual energy lingering on the stone…

But that was strange: "This doesn't make sense. I've never seen this thing before. How could my spiritual energy be left on it?"

Xun Ye remained silent, waving his hand dismissively at the attendant to get lost. He then sat down on the nearby sofa.

Xun Ye pondered: How could someone this foolish become the Revered One? How could he be so utterly stupid?

Pressing his Jingming acupoint, he retorted, "Look at it first. Don't ask me questions. Figure it out before you speak…"

"So you're saying this fragment comes from the future? Did you find it at the site of the spatial disturbance?"

Xun Ye nodded, seeming somewhat exasperated with this pig: "Yeah, it's highly likely related to the authority of time."

"The authority of time…"

Su Cheng visibly sank into deep thought. After a moment, he continued, "If it's a power related to time, why would it contain traces of both your and my spiritual energy?"

At this point, Xiao Ai was merely an intern Blade of Execution. Su Cheng didn't recognize her, so in his eyes, aside from himself and Xun Ye, the remaining spiritual energy traces belonged to complete strangers.

"If we could ask them, perhaps we'd find the answer."

"That person from the future has already followed us into the inner city. Last night, right under my nose, they took the little toy from my desk when I wasn't paying attention."

"I suspect it's likely either my future self or yours who returned to this time. However, for some reason, we cannot interfere with the current development of this world."

Ye Qinghan: ?????????????????

Ye Qinghan's little fox head was now filled with question marks!

How did she deduce this about Xun Ye?

Honestly, aside from the character discrepancy, there was basically no flaw in her reasoning!

Su Cheng pondered deeply for a long while before nodding. "You mean this involves the rules?"

"Yes. His presence might significantly impact future developments. That's why, even if he returned to our present timeline, he couldn't interfere with the current spacetime's progression."

"You mean he followed us into the inner city to retrieve this stone?"

"Highly likely. But I'm still hesitating whether to return it to him, because the urgency isn't on my side right now. I need more information."

"But you mentioned he took the toy from your desk, didn't you?"

"Yeah, that's what puzzles me too. If he wants to interact with this world, it seems he needs to meet certain specific conditions. So far, I've only detected two spatial fluctuations."

It seemed his brain's warm-up was complete, and Su Cheng was gradually grasping the situation.

"You mentioned it happened when you weren't paying attention, correct?"

"Yeah. After that, I tried to pinpoint their location and negotiate with them. But I don't know if I scared them off or if they refused to talk. So far, there's been no further discovery."

"No, no, no. What I mean is—could 'while you weren't paying attention' be the condition?"

"What do you mean?" This time, it was Xun Ye who was baffled.

Su Cheng rose to his feet, his sharp intellect seemingly regaining the upper hand!

"What I mean is, could it be like observing a constant space? Could the act of observation itself have disrupted the stability of that constant space?"

"You mean my divine sense coverage prevented them from intervening in our spacetime?"

"It's quite possible. Following your logic, without obtaining this stone fragment, he likely wouldn't have left either. He might very well be standing right across from us right now."

Ye Qinghan was dumbfounded. Though he didn't fully grasp it, he sensed profound wisdom in their words!

Should she say, "As expected of Master and Lord Xunye"? How the hell did they even come up with this?

Dongfang Jue and Su Muchan shared the same thoughts. Their Master and Lord Xunye seemed to understand their situation even better than they did!

"Want to give it a shot?"

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