Chapter 294: Its Leaves Are Lush

“So that’s how it is.”

Jiang Jian nodded slightly. “Take out your identity device. I’ll pay you for your clothes.”

“It’s scorching hot outside. You’re dressed like this for cosplay? You don’t look rich. Just forget it.”

The girl let out a bitter laugh, finally giving up on wiping her white shirt, and tossed the tissue into the trash. “Guess I’m just unlucky.”

Hearing this,

Jiang Jian’s expression turned peculiar.

At that moment,

he realized.

The café was filled with numerous cosplayers dressed in varied outfits, sitting in small groups, whispering to each other as if waiting for something.

Earth Gold Bank’s public recruitment had drawn great excitement beyond the Seventh Realm.

Many shrewd merchants, eager to ride this wave of traffic, chose to hold events here.

The large hall not far away was the venue for an exhibition.

Clearly,

the white-shirted girl, seeing his ancient-style robes, mistook him for a cosplayer who had come here to earn money by posing.

“Hello, classmate.”

Suddenly, a boy wearing glasses stepped forward and addressed Jiang Jian. “Have you considered joining our venue for posing?”

He pointed ahead to the hall. “Just stand for about two hours and pose for photos.”

“The pay is 120 Alliance Coins total.”

The glasses-wearing boy spoke with rigid seriousness.

Jiang Jian stared at the boy, silent.

Beside him, the white-shirted girl had calmed down, a smile returning to her face. “Wash it again—it’s still wearable. Let’s just leave it at that.”

After a moment’s hesitation, she extended her wrist. “Add me as a contact. Pay me 20 Alliance Coins. Just to cover it.”

As she said this,

her emotions were complicated.

The ancient-style cosplayer before her was too handsome.

She inexplicably wanted to look at him a little longer.

Jiang Jian glanced at her. “No-contact transfer. No need to add friends.”

The girl clenched her teeth, her tone sharpening. “Then just transfer it to me!”

Jiang Jian nodded.

He opened his identity device and swiped it before him.

At the same time,

Jiang Jian saw on the holographic screen that the inter-realm shuttle was drawing nearer, descending toward the Seventh Realm.

“Received transfer: 2000 Alliance Coins.”

A mechanical voice chimed.

The girl froze, instinctively rubbing her eyes. “2000 Alliance Coins! Did he input the wrong amount?!”

For an ordinary person, this was no small sum.

When she finally snapped back to reality, she hurriedly looked up, scanning the area.

“Huh? Where’d he go?”

The white-shirted girl, unable to find him, turned her gaze to the boy with glasses. “Did you see that guy just now?”

The boy with glasses looked bewildered, shrugging. “I don’t know—he vanished in the blink of an eye.”

The white-shirted girl fell silent, turning her attention back to her identity device.

In the transfer record, there was the sender’s contact card.

“Jiang Jian.”

She stared at the holographic screen, whispering softly.

Unconsciously,

her slender white fingers slid across the screen, hovering over Jiang Jian’s contact card, then tapping “Add Friend.”

The next second,

she stopped.

“Would this make me seem too forward?”

Her mind wrestled with itself as she stared blankly at Jiang Jian’s contact card.

She stood there for minutes, unable to decide.

“Congratulations! You’ve been officially accepted by Earth Gold Bank!”

A strong voice suddenly came from beside her.

The girl looked up, dazed.

A sharp-looking man in a suit smiled at her.

“Me? Accepted by Earth Gold Bank?”

She pointed at herself, mouth slightly agape, eyes wide with disbelief.

The man nodded, smiling. “Yes, you.”

Though his expression remained unchanged, his mind was already calculating.

Not long ago,

he had seen with his own eyes.

The boy in the black robes step down from the Lu family’s skyship.

Even the Lu family’s guards had treated him with utmost respect, escorting him all the way to the gangway’s bottom.

And just now,

he had seen from afar.

This girl, rejected and dressed in a white shirt, had clearly spoken with that nobleman—and seemed familiar with him.

This opportunity must not be missed!

The man in the suit resolved inwardly: he must seize every possible chance to climb higher in his bank’s rank.

At that moment,

several hundred meters away,

the inter-realm shuttle spat out its exhaust flame, slowly rising into the air, heading toward the border of Chang’an Prefecture.

“Your current cultivation level is truly terrifying.”

Zhou Qingyue squinted, scanning Jiang Jian from head to toe.

Her spirit,

however, trembled constantly.

It was an instinctive, irresistible warning from her soul—telling her this man was extremely dangerous!

Jiang Jian sat on the sofa, silent, leaning back against the soft cushion, relaxing slightly.

For some reason,

being inside the inter-realm shuttle, he felt a long-missed sense of peace.

As if, in an instant, he had returned to his days of diligent cultivation at Linjiang Academy.

“Head to Taiping Prefecture.”

After a brief rest, Jiang Jian opened his eyes and spoke softly.

Beside him,

the gray fox wagged its tail and replied obediently. “Alright.”

It raised its paw, activated its auxiliary identity device, and tapped repeatedly.

Within seconds, the shuttle’s route was set.

“Lately, the ghost’s appetite has grown bigger than mine.”

Ji Xue shut off her device, sprawled on the sofa, leaning against Jiang Jian’s side, her tone resentful. “Just send her back to the Zhou family.”

Jiang Jian swept her aside with his sleeve, raised his gaze to Zhou Qingyue, and said, voice slightly stern: “Use your auxiliary identity device to call Zhou Lingling.”

Zhou Qingyue raised an eyebrow, understanding. “Is this about that girl?”

Jiang Jian nodded. “This matter is important.”

Zhou Qingyue replied: “I’ll ask Zhou Lingling if she has any new information.”

She lifted her wrist, pulled up her contact list, and dialed Zhou Lingling.

Beep.

Beep.

After several seconds,

the call connected.

“Ancestress!”

Zhou Lingling’s voice rang out, clearly delighted.

Zhou Qingyue cleared her throat. “Don’t call me Ancestress. You’re making me sound ancient.”

Zhou Lingling said: “But Ancestor, you are one of our Zhou family’s ancestors, and you’re already over three hundred years old.”

“If you count the time when you were a princess during the Shang Emperor’s reign, you’re thousands of years old.”

Upon hearing this.

The ghost’s expression darkened, and it changed the subject: “Has there been any movement from the girl I had you watch?”

Zhou Lingling replied, as if fiddling with something.

After a long pause, a voice came from the other end.

“Ancestor, I’ve checked it out.”

“The girl has no parents; she was raised in the Anhezhou Public Care Center. After graduating high school, she didn’t pass the Divine Gift Exam and became a clothing store clerk.”

“Later, during the spatial current disturbances, Linjiang Prefecture underwent a mass relocation. She was assigned by the prefectural government to Shangzhou in Taiping Prefecture and settled there.”

“Her background is ordinary.”

“But there is one odd thing.”

Zhou Lingling sounded puzzled as she spoke.

“When she graduated high school, she took the Divine Gift Exam with her classmates.”

“During the Divine Gift Ceremony.”

“The talent she received was very strange.”

Upon hearing this.

Zhou Qingyue glanced at Jiang Jian, her expression tightening slightly. “What talent?”

Zhou Lingling said: “Ancestor, I’ll send you the files.”

The next instant, her accessory device beeped.

A message arrived.

According to Earth’s laws.

The Divine Gift Exam is mandatory.

Every Earth citizen undergoes one Divine Gift Ceremony.

The process of the ceremony and each citizen’s acquired talent are meticulously recorded and stored in the database.

The Zhou family holds immense power in Taiping Prefecture; for Zhou Lingling, as a direct descendant, accessing the archival video footage was no difficulty.

“Earth Citizen: Yao Tong.”

“Date of Birth: March 15, 3210.”

“Citizen ID: Hidden.”

“Residence: Anyang Community, Yanshun Road, Shangzhou, Taiping Prefecture.”

“Registered Residence: Anhezhou Public Care Center, Linjiang Prefecture.”

“Original Guardian: None.”

……

As Jiang Jian viewed this on his identity device, his pupils suddenly contracted.

Yao Tong’s date of birth was identical to his own!

That was impossible!

“This registration data is all fake.”

Jiang Jian’s gaze turned icy; he immediately reached a conclusion.

According to his speculation.

The physician passing through Earth and discovering him and Jiang Zhao was merely coincidence.

If his guess was correct,

Yao Tong’s records must have been tampered with!

Beside him,

Zhou Qingyue blinked. “How do you know it’s fake? This data was obtained by Zhou Lingling through connections inside the Taiping Prefecture government.”

Jiang Jian shook his head slightly, opened his identity device, found the identity card for Lu Qingqing, and initiated a live call.

Beep.

The call connected.

Amid the noise of the auction, Lu Qingqing’s surprised voice came through: “Lord of Yinshan!?”

Clearly,

she hadn’t expected Jiang Jian to call her.

Jiang Jian said gravely: “I need a favor. I want to investigate someone’s records.”

Lu Qingqing snapped back to attention and replied bluntly: “Sure. Send it to my identity device.”

(End of Chapter)