Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 188 - 108: Invitation

Chapter 188: Chapter 108: Invitation

"Jiuyue, you did well, you did very well!"

Duan Mingyuan was in high spirits as he embraced Jiuyue in his arms. The little fox was startled at first but then buried her head into Duan Mingyuan’s embrace.

Mr. Mingyuan first said he exploded a planet, and then suddenly became excited again.

It was clear that Mr. Mingyuan was probably planning to develop in the direction of Das-Vida.

But what did it matter?

Even if Mr. Mingyuan really did become an ambitious person like Das-Vida, aiming to explode other people’s planets, she would help him prepare the explosives.

Duan Mingyuan had no idea what Jiuyue was thinking, but he was very excited now because just moments ago, he had made an exceptional breakthrough in the academic field, which also answered the question that had puzzled him from the start—to why he could see sights invisible to the Sun King’s followers was simply because he had found the way to decode Scorching Sun Power.

Chants praising the Sun King generate a small amount of Scorching Sun Energy, which constructs a bridge, allowing him to review history and glimpse the events that occurred to those followers and the Ashen Church.

Perhaps the Sun King truly existed, yet he was definitely not like the Ashen Consortium believed, a bright light showing them the way forward.

There was enough evidence to indicate that the planet of the Ashen Consortium’s ancestors was blown up by Scorching Sun Energy.

This would shake their faith to its core.

They believed that Scorching Sun Energy was the antidote to cure the "cancer" of their planets, mistaking the source of the catastrophe for the Savior.

In this academic research, Jiuyue had made a tremendous contribution.

She was indeed good at singing, performing the chants with more precision than the newly converted believers in the Imperial Court.

Jiuyue also enjoyed the feeling of snuggling in Duan Mingyuan’s arms, listening to him tell stories about an empire that had been incredibly powerful at one time, yet ultimately destroyed by their own hands.

She gradually understood that it wasn’t Mr. Mingyuan who had exploded that planet, but an archbishop named Zha’erman; judging by their name, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the Ashen Church was the precursor to the Ashen Consortium, the survivors of that planet and the founders of the company.

For a little fox who had come from the mountains, however, the empire Duan Mingyuan described was hard to imagine.

It was difficult for her to imagine that there was another civilization that had developed technology to leave their planet and explore the vast universe thousands of years ago. She had never left Blue Star from childhood to adulthood. The furthest place she had ever been was the Imperial Court—returning to the mountains by train and switching to an airplane took less than five hours.

For the Ashen Church’s exploration team, spending several months roaming the universe was a common occurrence.

This sparked great interest in Jiuyue, "Mr. Mingyuan, is interstellar travel fun?"

"It varies from person to person."

Duan Mingyuan did not dislike interstellar travel, and the existence of the Ashen Church also made him keenly aware of the gap between civilizations.

The Ashen Church’s exploration team had left their planet thousands of years ago, yet until today, Blue Star did not have a flagship of its own that could traverse the universe.

The Third Prince’s salvage operation was in full swing, but repairing the flagship fragments would probably still take some time; after all, this was different from those collectible card games where you don’t get a one-click assembly option when you’ve got the XX Fragments.

The road to ship repair was long and daunting; it was uncertain how long the Third Prince still needed to achieve even a modicum of success.

Jiuyue pondered over this matter and finally concluded, "If Mr. Mingyuan goes with me, it would definitely be interesting."

She felt that she was not as clever as Mr. Mingyuan; many new things were half-understood, and she really needed Mr. Mingyuan to answer her questions.

"Knock knock knock, knock knock knock—"

The sound of knocking arose.

The visitor identified himself through the door, "I am Ying Tian, may I ask if it is convenient for the two of you?"

"It’s not convenient."

Jiuyue still clung to Duan Mingyuan, with no intention of getting up from the bed at all.

She also wanted to hear more about the Ashen Church from Mr. Mingyuan.

"How inconvenient is it?"

The Third Prince called out again, clearly having no intention of leaving.

The phrase "is it convenient" was merely a polite expression; since he had knocked on the doors of Duan Mingyuan and Jiuyue, he was determined to see the matter through to the end.

He had understood this principle since childhood; whenever a minister in the Imperial Court said, "This humble official has something to say but wonders if it should be spoken," even if you told him three times it should not, he would eventually find a way to speak his piece.

"Extremely inconvenient."

"Specifically, how inconvenient?"

"Hands and feet are both occupied, can’t get out of bed, come back another day."

The comfortable nap disrupted by the Third Prince, Jiuyue was already getting a little impatient.

If the Third Prince had any sense, he would grant them some peace before Jiuyue resorted to throwing knives towards the doorway.

However, the Third Prince was obviously not getting the hint, still persistently bothersome.

He knocked on the door again, "No problem, Cai Die has a spare key, I can let myself in."

"If you’re itching for a beating, go find Cai Die to take care of it!"

"It’s about the Inspector."

Facing a killing intent from the other side of the door, the Third Prince quickly disclosed his purpose.

This was a serious matter, having nothing to do with the "Universal Beauty Compendium" or uniform seduction; he believed Duan Mingyuan would surely stop Jiuyue from killing him.

Sure enough, the tightly closed door opened after one minute, and upon entering, the Third Prince saw Jiuyue sitting on a chair in a nun’s robe, discontentedly grooming her tail.

No need for further explanation, the fact that Jiuyue was clad in the uniform proved that Duan Mingyuan and Jiuyue indeed had been very busy, something the Third Prince knew all too well.

Still, not long ago, he too had been interrupted during a busy time, which had spoiled his mood.

"The Inspector contacted me a moment ago, hoping that we could discuss urgent matters on the flagship of the Ashen Consortium."

Of course, this was a sanitized version; the company people had actually been quite rude, more like issuing an ultimatum, demanding the return of the three "Long Branch" Imperial Guards, one reserve member, and the detained staff from the Cosmic Relations Coordination Department to them. Only then would the Inspector consider offering them the possibility of peaceful negotiations.

The term "discussing urgent matters" was merely the Third Prince’s way of giving face, forcibly added to their demands.

"When?"

"Tonight, they have already prepared a banquet for us,"

said the Third Prince.

The so-called banquet referred to the company’s employee cafeteria. According to Fu Ling, the meal service was from 17:30 to 20:30.

It was a trap, a feast set in one’s honor but with ominous overtones.

Of course, it might also be due to fears of the Ashen Consortium’s flagship meeting the same fate as Qing Hua and others, possibly getting blown up.

"The timing is a bit tight,"

Duan Mingyuan mused.

With Jiuyue’s help, he had already unraveled the mystery behind the destruction of the Ashen Consortium’s home planet.

The current problem was how to convince the Inspector of his truthfulness.