On the main street of Liyue Harbor, General Instructor Feng Ji of the Millelith was leading a team to maintain order.
With the arrival of the Geo Archon, the entire city was under lockdown to prevent troublemakers from taking advantage of the situation.
Feng Ji's sharp gaze constantly swept through the crowd, searching for anything suspicious.
Suddenly, a wave of exclamations rose from the crowd.
"Look! It's the divine elixir bestowed by the Archon!"
Hearing this, Feng Ji instinctively looked up—and his eyes widened in shock.
The divine elixir given by the Archon was flying straight toward him.
It slowly floated in front of Feng Ji, and he quickly reached out to catch it.
"Thank you, Lord Rex Lapis, for the divine medicine!"
The surrounding Millelith were overjoyed for him. As the general instructor, Feng Ji was highly respected within the corps.
He not only taught them combat techniques but also always led from the front in battle—earning everyone's trust and admiration.
"Congratulations, Boss!"
"Boss, you've gotta treat us to drinks for this!"
"Yeah, just a few tables at Wanmin Restaurant, we won't ask for much!"
Feng Ji immediately agreed.
Receiving a divine elixir from the Archon—of course it called for a celebration.
"Alright, I'll treat everyone.
But going to Wanmin Restaurant isn't realistic—we all have different off-duty times.
How about this: the next time I have a day off, I'll go to Wanmin Restaurant, bring some food back, and we'll eat together in the barracks. How's that?"
Everyone agreed. As long as there was food, they were happy.
Feng Ji looked at the potion in his hand and drank it in one gulp.
The moment it entered his stomach, he felt incredibly itchy, as if his body were expanding with new flesh.
When the sensation faded, he felt overflowing with energy—an endless surge of vitality.
Suddenly, another wave of astonished gasps erupted from the crowd.
"Oh my! What Lord Rex Lapis said was true! This potion really does grant longevity! Look at Instructor Feng—he looks like a young man again!"
"What are you saying? You think the Archon would lie to us?"
"No, no, that's not what I meant! I'm just too excited! Please forgive me!"
Feng Ji looked down at his hands. The calluses had faded, and his skin looked more vibrant and youthful.
A fellow Millelith brought over a bronze mirror.
"Instructor, take a look!"
Feng Ji stared into the mirror—this... this was how he looked when he was 17 or 18!
As expected of a divine elixir—it had truly rejuvenated him.
Feng Ji's transformation quickly spread throughout Liyue Harbor.
After all, he was the only one who had publicly received and consumed the divine elixir.
His story deepened the citizens' loyalty to Liyue even more.
For example, the Northland Bank ended up in trouble.
Citizens of Liyue Harbor rushed to withdraw their Mora, saying that keeping money in a foreign bank was unfaithful to Liyue.
When Ningguang heard of this, she immediately established a bank of Liyue—Liyue Bank.
As expected of Ningguang—her quick thinking put her ahead of all the other merchants, who were still scrambling to react.
Liyue's citizens began depositing their money into Liyue Bank en masse.
The person in charge of the Northland Bank was utterly dumbfounded. "Seriously? Isn't this a bit much?"
Citizens of Liyue Harbor: It's necessary!
With this move of distributing the divine elixir, Zhongli successfully won the hearts of Liyue's people.
Belobog, inside Bronya's office.
Bronya sat in her chair with a gloomy expression, looking completely defeated.
"It's over. It's all over. The Stellar Jade is gone!"
Seele sighed beside her.
"It's not that bad. At least we reacted quickly and managed to recover some."
Just earlier, Bronya and Seele had gathered Gepard and Pela, leading a squad of Silvermane Guards to the commercial district.
But they were a bit late—Stelle and March 7th, along with Fire Monkey and Bob Seed, had already turned half the shopping street upside down.
All over the street, there were opened and empty chests.
Among them were even three luxurious chests—the kind that held 30 Stellar Jade each!
When Stelle and March 7th saw the officials arrive, they whistled, waved casually, and made a break for it.
Stelle & March 7th: Hehe! We hit the jackpot!
The two girls quickly fled to the lower district to hide out, afraid that Bronya might get mad enough to place a bounty on them.
Of course, that wouldn't happen—they were comrades who had fought life-and-death battles together—but they still felt a little guilty.
Gepard said,
"Lady Guardian, didn't we also successfully reclaim the commercial district this time? All the Fragmentum monsters were eliminated."
Bronya felt a lot better after hearing that.
Indeed, she should be grateful to Stelle and March 7th.
The chests were unowned—whoever could open them deserved the loot.
And while looting, they'd also cleared out over half of the Fragmentum monsters in the commercial district.
"Mm, true."
Bronya took a deep breath, composed herself, and looked seriously at Gepard and Pela.
"Gepard, Pela—I have a very important task for both of you."
The two straightened up immediately, awaiting her orders.
Bronya spoke slowly:
"Gepard, after the succession ceremony, take a squad of Silvermane Guards to search for Stellar Jade. Don't miss a single chest."
"Pela, you'll lead a team to acquire Stellar Jade from the residents of Belobog. As for the price—use your judgment, but make sure the people are fairly compensated."
Gepard and Pela nodded firmly and left to carry out their missions.
After they left, Bronya turned to Seele.
"Seele, after the succession ceremony, will you come with me to visit the Astral Express?"
Seele nodded.
"Sure. I remember Natasha is going out for supplies today too—I'll let her know, and we can go together."
Bronya smiled and nodded.
After Seele left the office, Bronya looked at the box of Stellar Jade nearby.
Thankfully, Seele had reacted in time and come to find her.
Otherwise, these 800 Stellar Jade would've been snatched away by Stelle and March 7th.
The succession ceremony soon began.
Cocolia was the first to appear, explaining the danger of the Stellaron and how she had been seriously injured during the battle with it and needed to rest.
She then formally appointed Bronya as the new Supreme Guardian.
Bronya stepped forward and gave a rousing speech, warmly received by the people.
The citizens of Belobog had witnessed Bronya's strength and leadership firsthand.
No one opposed her succession.
Bronya also publicly thanked Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng for their assistance.
This made Stelle and March 7th—who were eavesdropping by a loudspeaker in the lower district—absolutely delighted.
Stelle & March 7th: Hehe, we're heroes now!
The succession ceremony wasn't overly complicated. After the new Guardian's speech, it concluded quickly.
***
Inside the train.
Herta was still rapidly swiping through the screen.
Asta, on the other hand, had picked out the battleship she wanted to buy, but didn't have quite enough Stellar Jade.
[Product: Galaxy-Class Battleship. Product Description: A galaxy-class battleship capable of housing one million crew members. Fully equipped facilities and includes one star-system-scale dimensional foil. Price: 1,000,000 Credits.]
Asta looked at Ye Yun and pleaded.
"Ye Yun, I really want this, but I don't have enough Stellar Jade. Can you reserve it for me? I'll get someone to collect more when I get back."
Ye Yun smiled and agreed—it seemed like among all his clients, only Asta would be interested in something like this.
Besides, as long as the money was enough, even a hundred of them could be easily supplied by the system.
"Sure, I'll reserve it for you. Let's add each other's contact info. Just message me when you're ready to buy."
Asta was overjoyed and took out her phone to exchange contact info with Ye Yun.
"Thank you, Ye Yun."
Ye Yun shook his head, indicating it was no big deal.
Then Asta went to the side to contact someone to gather Stellar Jade.
Ye Yun looked over at Herta.
"Yo, still haven't found what you want?"
Herta shook her head.
"I did, but I don't have enough money. Can you give me a discount?"
Ye Yun spread his hands.
"Sorry, I can't. Small business—no credit, no discounts."
Herta let out a "tsk" and shot Ye Yun a look of disdain.
"Cheapskate."
She turned around and thought for a moment, then bought a scout drone for 10,000 credits.
[Product: Starling Scout Drone. Product Description: A "Builder" unit from the Starling species, capable of manifesting buildings using projected resources. Price: 10,000 Credits]
Ye Yun looked at the scout drone next to Herta—it had a chunky head and kept scanning things—he couldn't quite figure out what Herta wanted it for.
"What are you buying that for?"
Herta patted the drone's smooth, shiny head.
"I'm going to take it back and modify it. I happen to need a mechanical assistant."
The scout drone looked up at its owner after being patted.
"Beep~ Beep~"
Herta jumped off the tall stool and called out to Asta nearby.
"Asta, let's go, time to head back."
Asta snapped out of her thoughts and followed Herta out of Ye Yun's store.
After the two of them returned to the Herta Space Station via starship...
Herta took the drone straight to her lab.
Asta stood outside the door, and before long, she heard the drone screaming from inside.
"Beep!!!! Beep!!!!"
Half an hour later—
Herta emerged with a newly-modified drone.
Asta looked at it but didn't see any big difference.
"Madam Herta, what exactly did you modify? It looks exactly the same to me."
Herta patted the drone's head.
"Blockhead No. 1, store that flowerpot."
That's the name Herta gave the scout drone—its body was basically just a big round head, so she named it that.
Blockhead No. 1 aimed at the flowerpot Herta pointed to and fired a beam. The flowerpot visibly shrank and flew into the drone's body.
Herta explained,
"I upgraded its AI, added a folded-space storage module, and installed a shrink prism so it can miniaturize objects."
Blockhead No. 1 chirped twice and circled Herta excitedly.
Herta continued,
"This way, I won't have to run around looking for materials during experiments. Blockhead No. 1 can just store them for me."
Asta was amazed.
This Blockhead No. 1 was seriously useful—she even wanted one herself.
She could use it to store her cosmetics, clothes, jewelry, documents—all sorts of stuff.
When she didn't need them, she could stash them in Blockhead No. 1. When she did, she could just ask it to bring them out.
Herta noticed Asta's longing gaze at Blockhead No. 1.
"You go buy a drone from Ye Yun. I'll help you modify it when you get back."
Asta's face lit up with joy.
"Really, Madam Herta?!"
Herta nodded.
"Yeah, it's no big deal. You go ahead. I'm taking Blockhead No. 1 to visit my main body."
Then—
Herta took Blockhead No. 1 and headed to the platform to board a starship.
After Herta left, Asta contacted Himeko and asked her to help buy a drone. She'd pay her back later.
Himeko agreed and helped her purchase one.
Back on the train—
After Herta and Asta left, Ye Yun looked around and suddenly widened his eyes.
Wait a second! Why was Silver Wolf still here? Kafka already left!
In Ye Yun's view—
Silver Wolf had taken over a whole booth. At some point, a huge display screen had appeared on the table.
She was sitting cross-legged on the couch, leaning back against a beanbag, holding a controller in her hand and wearing a headset, completely immersed in her game.
She mumbled as she played:
"Dodge that! Eat my Monkey King's staff! Hehe! I dodged! Silly little tiger—how laughable!"
Ye Yun walked over to see what she was doing, but just as he got close, Silver Wolf suddenly threw the controller.
"Ugh! What kind of stupid mechanic is that?! I don't believe this—I will beat that dumb Tiger Vanguard today!"
Ye Yun interrupted her and pulled off her headset.
Silver Wolf looked up at him.
"What are you doing? Don't touch my headset! Quit bothering me."
Ye Yun asked,
"Kafka already left. Aren't you going back?"
Silver Wolf replied,
"Elio said I'm stationed here from now on. What, you're not kicking me out, are you?"
Ye Yun didn't really mind.
"Nope. But why did Elio assign you here?"
Silver Wolf shrugged while picking up the controller again.
"No idea. That's what he said. By the way, do you have any rooms? Rent me one?"
Ye Yun shook his head.
"No rooms here. You can ask Himeko."
Silver Wolf grumbled but went to find Himeko.
A short while later, she came back.
Ye Yun asked,
"So? Any luck?"
Silver Wolf spread her hands.
"Nope. She said there are no rooms left. Even Stelle is bunking with someone."
She looked at the booth around her.
"Plenty of space here, nice and private with glass dividers. How about renting this booth?"
Ye Yun was speechless.
"You're not seriously thinking of living here, are you?"
Silver Wolf nodded.
"At the base, I mostly live on the couch in the lounge. This isn't that different. So, rent it or not?"
Ye Yun chuckled—this girl really was a gaming addict, probably up all night playing games if she was used to sleeping on couches.
"Forget the rent. If you want to stay here, just stay."
Silver Wolf patted Ye Yun on the shoulder with satisfaction.
"Now that's loyalty. If you ever need anything, just call me. I'll help if I can."
With that, she summoned a keyboard and started using Ether editing to modify the booth.