Chapter 33

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Protagonist:

Xuan Ge

The boundless sea of stars is a tranquil ink-dark canvas.

The massive hull of the Shen Wu Xian Zhou resembles a solitary leaf of dark iron that has withdrawn all its sharp edges.

Following the invisible currents of the universe's depths, it slides toward the predetermined hunting ground in a near-silent posture.

The highest-level strategic coordination is already complete.

The message from Jing Yuan was concise and clear, bearing his consistent style of making light of heavy burdens, yet it outlined a grand hunt spanning several star domains with unparalleled clarity — Jing Yuan is the encirclement, Xuan Ge is the closure.

The Luofu Xian Zhou will, with its colossal mass and prestige, conduct a strategic drive.

Like experienced beaters in an ancient hunting ground, they will light signal fires and drive the panicked herds toward the sole gap left open.

And at the end of that gap awaits not a path to life, but Xuan Ge, and the Shen Wu Xian Zhou under his command, already bristling with drawn bows and nocked arrows.

Order: however many come, kill that many.

Jing Yuan handles the driving, Xuan Ge handles the harvest.

Aboard the Shen Wu Xian Zhou, the people of the Strategic Investment Department also knew the General Shenwei had a major operation underway, but they did not ask; instead, they had the company send over additional supplies.

Company: Well done, General Shenwei, you deploy for conquest, logistics we'll handle!

And just as the two war machines of Luofu and Shen Wei began to mesh precisely and slowly accelerate.....

A — a distinctively shaped ship was conducting an absolutely silent voyage.

Inside the ship, the observation deck section.

The floor-to-ceiling arched window occupying the entire wall was transparent now, framing the desolate starry sky outside into a vast, cool-toned oil painting.

Stars sparse, light cold.

Kafka leaned elegantly on the sofa, her purple-pink long hair meticulously coiled at the back of her head; her fingertips hooked a crystal goblet, its bottom holding a few drops of dark red wine.

Pink eyes gazed at a lone star outside the window, the corners of her mouth holding that habitual, unfathomable curve.

"Ah Ren~" she spoke, voice gentle as a low string plucked: "General Shenwei..... do you have the confidence to persuade him to temporarily look away?"

On the other side of the sofa, Ren was nearly hidden in shadow.

He propped his elbow on his knee, hands clasped, head lowered, his whole being condensed in a silence like frozen ice.

By the window, a purely black little cat sat properly, tail tip elegantly curled.

Its eyes fixed on some point outside the window, as if it could gaze directly upon the warp and weft of fate.

It is Ai Li Ou.

"Yes, and also no." Ren did not raise his head, voice low and flat.

"Ah~" Ai Li Ou let out an extremely light sigh, full of soul-deep weariness.

Its glossy black fur seemed to have dimmed a fraction.

Its great script had just written its first punctuation mark, and a critical node was struck through with a huge red "×", blocked off.

The smile on Kafka's lips did not diminish.

Fear had nothing to do with her, but "trouble" would.

Ai Li Ou's foreseen scene was clear: they would most likely be "invited" by General Shenwei with the reason "my family's really big" to the Shen Wu Xian Zhou to "assist with work".....

The ending being pressed into service as coolies, used as oxen and horses, the script postponed indefinitely.

Ai Li Ou's claws really hurt.

A "chaotic variable" like General Shenwei who acts unconventionally, with inscrutable motives, yet strength outrageously strong, made it feel deeply powerless.

Once General Shenwei takes an interest, he can chase you across the entire universe, reasons ranging from "consult on wearing a coat" to "help check feng shui for Shen Wu".....

And we can't really fall out with him....

Ren raised his head, cold stern face waveless, gaze sweeping past Kafka, brushing over that ball of resentful black fur by the window.

"I'll go try. Worst case, just being kept by him." Ren's tone flat, as if narrating a routine matter.

Worst case is being invited into the Shen Wu Xian Zhou, then "temporarily residing" in some quiet courtyard, nicely named "technical consultant" or "old friend recuperating", actually house arrest.

Food and drink provided, might even have to help him forge, but freedom out of the question.

Ren's thoughts unconsciously dragged back to the time of the "Five Cloud Cavaliers".

Xuan Ge's "Ya Jiao Spear" was co-forged by him and Master Huai Yan.

But that set of "General Shenwei Armor" that shook the universe alongside Xuan Ge's name.

Ink-black base backed by blue-gold lightning patterns, the pair of vivid "one joy one wrath" ghost-face shoulder-guards on the shoulders — was forged by him, Ying Xing, alone pouring countless days and nights of heartblood.

He remembered that day, young Xuan Ge rushed into the Engineering Bureau in a whirlwind, eyes blazing bright enough to scorch, slapping a palm onto his shoulder:

"Brother Ying Xing! Quick quick quick, forge a set of the most domineering, most solid, most able-to-display-my-shenwei armor in the entire Xian Zhou! Must be one of a kind, make people's legs go weak at one glance!"

At that time he was fully concentrated on the final stage of forging "Shi Huo Meng Shen" for Jing Yuan, mind and furnace fire as one, head not even raised, squeezing out from between his teeth:

"Wait, talk later."

Then began what could be called the most "tenacious" client entanglement of his career.

During work breaks, Xuan Ge squatted beside him poking his cheek with a finger;

When squeezing in a meal, Xuan Ge held a big bowl and crowded over, squatting beside him chattering endlessly describing the envisioned armor's appearance;

Even when he had to temporarily leave to solve personal needs, from outside the door would come a faint, expectation-filled urging:

"Brother Ying Xing, are you done yet? Have you thought of what my armor looks like?"

Finally, at the exact moment "Shi Huo Meng Shen" completed tempering and let out a clear resonant hum, he didn't even feel the joy or fatigue of completing a masterpiece......

An urgent feeling of "hurry up and send this ancestor away" drove him to instinctively spread out new blueprints and light another furnace.

The design draft was revised countless times, materials tested again and again, until the armor was completed.

At that time, Xuan Ge was excited like a big kid getting his first armor toy, slapping his shoulder hard, his laughter hearty and shaking the house.

Ripples of memory rose in the deep silent pool of his heart, then quickly sank.

Ying Xing... was already a name annihilated in the past.

Kafka took a sip of red wine and set down the glass.

She folded her hands elegantly on her knees, posture impeccable, pink eyes fixed on Ren, smile gentle yet carrying an unshakable resolve:

"No can do~ Stellaron Hunter, can't be without you~"

"Mm." Ren replied heavily.

He knew Kafka was right, Ai Li Ou's script was interlocking ring by ring.

But... this game can't be broken.

Then, Ren thought of something.

His gaze involuntarily fell on Kafka again, from her meticulously coiled hair, to the elegant lines of her shoulders and neck, then to...

His gaze was like pricked by an invisible needle, swiftly and restrainedly moving back to his own clasped hands.

Cold stern brows, almost imperceptibly furrowing a thread of a crease.

He didn't know whether he should say it... felt like saying it out loud, for Xuan Ge's "Divine Might General" majestic image, it would be not too good...

"Ah Ren, what's wrong?"

Seeing him rarely reveal a hesitant look, Kafka blinked, a trace of just-right curiosity rising in her eyes.

"Nothing." Ren said finally, tone returning to flat steadiness.

He ultimately still did not expose the fact that Xuan Ge "likes big ones".

He could imagine, if Xuan Ge knew it was him who let slip this "likes big ones"...

Especially since it was said to Kafka... the consequences would absolutely be a hundred times more trouble than the Corp's wanted notice.

He felt that after he said it, not only would he not get on the Corp's wanted list, but Xuan Ge would chase him all over the universe first.

The reason would probably be "Ying Xing you motherf*cker actually spread rumors about me?!"

That would be harder to deal with than any enemy in any script.

Kafka smiled and nodded slightly, she did not press further.

She was good at reading the atmosphere, and also respected her companions' boundaries.

Only, Ren's momentary subtle strangeness, she always felt, was a not too good thing...

Ren said: "Let's act first. When the time comes... I'll intercept him."

These words held no full certainty, more like a stance and an undertaking.

As for how to "intercept", whether by force, verbal maneuvering, or using past affection to exchange for a moment of leniency, he did not specify.

This might be the only decision possible in the current deadlock.

Kafka nodded.

She no longer delved into this unsolvable problem, gaze turning to the window side.

She looked at Ai Li Ou by the window, noticing one of its hairs suddenly detach from its body, silently spiraling in the cabin's gentle airflow, finally slowly landing on the mirror-smooth floor.

That lone black hair, under the reflected starlight, seemed to carry some light and destined metaphor.

The corner of Kafka's mouth, that habitual curve deepened a fraction, then she laughed very lightly.