Chapter 626: Don't you want to have a chat with me?

When the meeting ended, it was already late at night.

The old man stretched as he rose, and his bones made a faint cracking sound.

"I'm getting old, I can't sit still after just a short while."

He said this with a chuckle, probably genuinely in a good mood; they had originally reserved plenty of room for the Church and the Dome to rebut, but the result turned out better than expected, and they hadn't spent much time arguing—how could he not laugh?

Han Huan couldn't smile; as he stood up his face looked grim, he hastily nodded to the old man, then turned and strode out of the meeting room, his two attendants hurrying after him.

Chen Xiaoshuang was the last to rise; she picked up the cup of tea that had gone cold, raised it slightly toward the old man as if toasting, then turned to leave.

"Miss Chen, could you stay a moment?"

Chen Xiaoshuang paused, she turned sideways, a strand of dark green hair slipped from her shoulder, "Old sir, do you still have something?"

The old man waved at the capable-looking woman beside him.

"Xiao Zhao, fetch the red box from the third shelf of my cabinet."

The young woman responded, turned and walked out, then the old man turned to Chen Xiaoshuang.

"Miss Chen, I see you're quite pleased with this tea; I still have an unopened box, take it back with you."

Chen Xiaoshuang blinked slightly, then smiled, "Old sir, you're too kind; I actually know nothing about tea—I just find it fragrant when I drink it, but I couldn't tell you any details."

"It's fine, it's fine, no need to understand."

The old man waved his hand; compared to tea tasting, Miss Chen probably prefers places like bars.

"It's nothing particularly valuable; just consider it a wish that we both can continue cooperating as we are now."

The young woman had returned, holding a palm-sized iron tin box; its deep red base bore gilt lettering, the kind of packaging only old-established shops have.

Chen Xiaoshuang looked at the iron box but did not reach out to take it.

Her gaze lingered on the gilt lettering on the box, then she refused more firmly.

"I appreciate your kindness, sir, but I... cannot accept this."

The old man tilted his head, as if waiting for a reason.

Chen Xiaoshuang lowered her eyes, her fingers lightly brushing the dark pattern on the clasp of her cheongsam collar.

"I'm not really interested in tea tasting; I just picked up a bit of the habit from hanging out with a friend who loves tea."

"Miss Chen, you could also take it back to give to someone else; since I gave it to you, you can decide what to do with it."

Chen Xiaoshuang fell silent for longer this time.

"... It's a pity, my friend who loved tea is gone forever, and I have no other friends interested in tea around me."

The old man slowly withdrew his hand, gripping the iron box, his fingertip rubbing the gilt lettering on its lid.

"I understand." His voice softened; although the otherworldly visitors indeed brought danger to this world, many of them never even got to see this moment.

After all, only a few fled to this safe world; most people remain forever there.

Chen Xiaoshuang lifted her head and glanced at him, "Thank you, sir, I'll be going now."

This time, no one stopped her.

She turned and walked out the door, her heels clicking on the corridor tiles as she receded.

The old man lowered his head to look at the box of tea he hadn't sent out, and let out a soft sigh.

He handed the iron box to the young woman beside him, whispering, "Put it back," his gaze briefly resting on Yang Yixie before he nodded at them.

"You've worked hard today." After saying that he didn't linger, walking away with his hands behind his back.

"Let's go too."

Hua Jian Lei frowned slightly; tonight they'd basically made a pointless trip.

They never even got a chance to join the negotiations; Chen Xiaoshuang's unexpected cooperation already cut off Han Huan's retreat, making this talk destined to benefit the officials more.

Chen Xiaoshuang's level of cooperation exceeded everyone's expectations, single-handedly altering the entire negotiation dynamic.

Yang Yixie had just been about to leave with Bai Mu Yun when he suddenly stopped.

Hua Jian Lei noticed his oddness, turned his head to look at him: "What's wrong?"

Yang Yixie didn't answer right away, narrowed his eyes, and his right hand made a casual slash in the air, as if swatting some tiny flying insect.

"It's fine, let's go."

Before Hua Jian Lei could react, a familiar semi-transparent interface suddenly popped up before his eyes.

【Player "Ying Duo" invites you to join the team, agree?】

【Agree.】

After joining the team, Hua Jian Lei saw the window interface before Yang Yixie.

The screen showed a fair hand, nails trimmed round and clean, the fingertip lightly tapping the lens, making a faint tapping sound.

That was the small robot's perspective.

The image swayed slightly, obviously being held and played with in someone's hand.

The lens sometimes pointed at the sky, then flipped to face the ground; the person seemed to be quickly leaving the officials' territory, finally found a suitable spot, turned the lens around, and aimed it at his own face.

Chen Xiaoshuang's face appeared in the picture.

The night wind blew a few strands of her hair aside, her dark green hair shimmering with a moist sheen under the streetlamp.

She examined the palm-sized metal gadget in her hand; its casing's seam was narrow, yet a phosphorescent green leaked from inside.

Chen Xiaoshuang's gaze lingered on that green light for a moment, then she stared straight at the lens.

Through the cold lens and the wireless signal, that gaze seemed to pierce the camera and see Ying Duo on this side.

"... Don't you want to have a chat with me?" she said in a relaxed, natural tone, as if making casual conversation with an old acquaintance, "About the merging of the two worlds."

This was something that hadn't even been brought up in the negotiations just now, not even by the officials.

The officials suspected this had something to do with the Church but lacked concrete evidence; they could say they brought in entropy increase just to gain an extra move against the Church at the bargaining table, but because the Church was so cooperative, they never got the chance to use it.

The image froze there, Chen Xiaoshuang's face half-lit, half-shadowed in the small window, behind her an empty street and the distant glow of city lights.

But after only a short while, the other party had already left the official base and gone outside.

Chen Xiaoshuang knows many things about Ying Duo, and basically all of them were told to her by Mu Lingxiao.

It wasn't until after that person died that Mu Linyuan proactively found her and begged her, and only then did she learn how much the Pope, who seemed isolated from the plan, had done beyond the plan.

But now saying those things is already meaningless.

"Mu Linyuan begged me; any question you have, I can answer it."