Chapter 743: Qingque!!

Fu Xuan finally brought the breath that had been stuck in her chest up.

She slapped the table, causing the teacup lid to clink and jump, and with her other hand pointed at the petite girl still staring blankly in the middle of the hall, raising her voice an entire pitch: "Qingque! What's up with your hair! Did you dye it?"

Qingque was stunned by the angry shout.

Her shoulders twitched, her heels shifted back half an inch, and her turquoise eyes blinked blankly, then blinked again.

Only a simple question mark floated in her mind.

What's going on.

She looked around.

Bai Lu sat in the chair, her two dangling feet having stopped trembling, and her blue eyes stared wide and round.

Yukong tilted his head slightly, his purple pupils beneath the teal hair knot scanning Qingque's hair with a scrutinizing look, and the Fox People's keen intuition made him sense something amiss.

Xing didn't react much; she was still immersed in the simple visual contrast of "yesterday brown, today white," trying to recall whether yesterday's Qingque had worn a wig.

Qingque lifted her head and looked at Fu Xuan, who stood at the main seat, her hair tips trembling with anger.

"Um…"

She shook her head slightly.

Her brain was still on the startup screen, the progress bar looping around the thirty‑percent mark.

She knew she was now in Shen Ce Fu's Council Hall, with Fu Xuan before her, and Yan Qing, Bai Lu, Yukong, Han Ya beside her, and on the other side stood the Pioneer she'd met only yesterday and Mr. Walther.

The scene data had loaded, but the key packets "why am I standing here," "what just happened," and "why is Grand Diviner glaring at her with a man‑eating look" were still stuck in the download queue.

Fu Xuan looked at her standard‑issue bewildered face that could serve as a "just woke up" dictionary illustration, and her blood pressure spiked to a level she thought could write General Jingyuan a suicide note on the spot.

These past two days she had been Acting General, grading files until her wrists ached, attending meetings until her throat dried, her sleep compressed to less than three hours a day, and even her proud pink hair knot had tilted a tiny bit on the back of her head from neglect.

And the person before her, during her stint as Acting General, still dared to slack off, dyed her hair a color completely different from before, and now stared at her innocently with a "huh, why am I here?" face.

Fu Xuan, angry, took a deep breath, the circular disc on her chest rising and falling with each breath.

She slammed her right hand on the table again, the force sending the spread dossier on the desk flying up.

"Qing—que!!"

Two characters.

Each character higher than the last.

They echoed under the high dome of the Council Hall several times, rebounding off the carved beams with entwined cloud motifs, then off the colored glass windows.

The lingering sound lingered in the rafters.

Xing trembled.

Her amber eyes flicked quickly; she thought the aura emanating from Fu Xuan could even defeat a Doomsday Beast in a one‑on‑one.

Bai Lu, seeing this stance, immediately jumped down from the chair.

She was short, but her jump was swift; her purple plait swung a curve behind her as she jogged a few steps to Fu Xuan's side, looking at Fu Xuan's iron‑blue face with blue eyes, her voice soft yet rapid: "General—General, calm down! Miss Qingque must have a reason; let's hear her out. Getting angry harms the body, General Jingyuan is still lying down, and if you collapse too, what will Luofu do!"

She spoke while reaching to tug Fu Xuan's sleeve, pulling twice to no avail, then quickly switched tactics, raising the gourd medicine pouch in her bosom: "Want a calming‑fire‑reducing pill? I just mixed it, with mint and rock candy, not bitter at all!"

Yan Qing stepped forward as well.

His palm never left the sword hilt, but his tone was gentle, a youthful mix of slight nervousness and an effort at composure: "General, please calm down. Miss Qingque—"

He glanced at the bewildered girl still blinking in the hall's center, and quickly arranged his words in his mind: "Her condition is indeed off. Perhaps not intentional neglect. Let's give her some time to explain."

Yukong did not step forward; she simply lowered her crossed arms from her chest, her purple pupils shifting from Qingque to Fu Xuan, her voice steady and calm, carrying an undeniable weight: "Grand Diviner, sit down and speak first. Continuous toil makes standing angry even more taxing on the body."

The other officials present echoed in agreement, though they privately wondered how Qingque's hair had turned gray‑white, the immediate priority was to quell Fu Xuan's and Grand Diviner's anger.

If this Acting General truly blew up, Luofu would be left leaderless.

Fu Xuan closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and when she opened them again the Flame in her pink‑gold pupils had been forced down by half.

She crossed her arms, cold‑staring at the petite girl still dazed in the hall's center, her chin slightly raised, the Divination Eye on her forehead glowing faintly.

She would step down the platform, but her complexion remained iron‑blue.

"Fine. I'll listen to you."

Her tone was ice‑cold: "Qingque, what exactly did you do, how did this hair happen, give me a full, detailed account."

Her posture shifted from 'about to strike' to 'you have ten seconds to explain or I'll still strike.'

Everyone's gaze refocused on Qingque.

Bai Lu frantically signaled her with her eyes, and Yan Qing let out a soft cough nearby.

Xing poked half a head out from behind Walther, amber eyes full of onlookers' curiosity.

Qingque finally reacted under the combined gazes, her misty pupils gradually clearing.

Her lips moved, and the gray‑white long hair slipped from her shoulders as she tilted her head slightly.

She glanced at Bai Lu, at Yan Qing, and at Fu Xuan perched above with arms crossed, her face scowling "you'd better give me an explanation worthy of the Luofu annals," and the brain's startup bar finally crept to sixty percent.

Finally, Qingque produced her first conscious physiological reaction since returning to the real world.

She yawned.

The sound echoed in the hall for a full two seconds.

After yawning she smacked her lips, raised a hand to rub the tears at her eyes, then looked back at Fu Xuan with the now‑somewhat‑clear turquoise eyes, her tone as casual as greeting a fellow player in a teahouse.

"Good morning, Grand Diviner. What did you just say—I didn't catch it."