Master of the Stars

The group of people in the sofa corner listened to Luo Nan use the concepts of gears and order frames to explain Ouyang Chen’s great technique. Some of them blinked their eyes. Some of them furrowed their brows. Some of them scratched their heads. They expressed themselves differently, and they inevitably made eye contact with each other. The atmosphere became quite odd.

Zhang Yingying relied on her flash of enlightenment just now to barely follow Luo Nan’s train of thought. She casually flung a wisp of hair as she asked, "According to you, President Ouyang takes the heaven and earth.... Okay. He takes the spatial structure as an exoskeleton and controls it that way?

"Using Formatting Theory as an interpretation, he’s using his Self-Format to distort the Heaven and Earth Format. And the Heaven and Earth Format may be able to explain the coupling relationships of many relatively independent ’gear sets’. President Ouyang transforms them from their previously distant distribution of space-time."

Luo Nan suddenly stopped here, like he had jammed. He only whispered several seconds later, "Yes, it’s ’space-time distribution’. No doubt about it. The lag caused by the distribution of space-time can be reduced through this method."

It’s happening again!

Zhang Yingying propped her forehead up with her hand. She made a silent sigh. Luo Nan, in this self-talk state, was quite refreshing when used to disgust enemies. But when used upon his own people, it was really quite heartless.

Luckily, this state didn’t persist for too long. Luo Nan raised his head and turned to hold her gaze. His brows even furrowed. "Isn’t being a ’Mind Controller’ the same as being a ’Psychic’? As long as your mind is set to it, you’ll be incessantly annoying?"

Papercut puffed with a poof.

Zhang Yingying’s brain churned. Oh wow, that really is a thing.

There was a nanosecond instant where Zhang Yingying really did consider throwing out a small apology, but then she just laughed as she extended her elbow around Luo Nan’s shoulder. She moved closer to him, bringing out the attitude of a bro. "Don’t carelessly throw words together. However, it’s a very interesting way of talking, talking about those gear sets and space-time distributions. Oh! Isn’t this the intelligence that the group from Headquarters want to know? Is it really okay for you to just spit it out like this?"

"I didn’t start talking about these things because someone was acting horribly." Luo Nan didn’t believe that the Logic World was any mystery. Perhaps An Weng’s actions could barely count. However, He Yueyin didn’t warn him that the group from Headquarters didn’t have any patience for questioning.

Zhang Yingying’s lips twitched. "You talk about it quite easily. The matter with An Weng—I asked my boss. She only spoke vaguely about it."

"This may be because she doesn’t understand Formatting Theory."

Luo Nan clearly knew that Zhang Yingying’s boss was the famous and outstanding Her Majesty Wu Huang, the Martial Empress. But due to his subtle mood, he blurted out jokingly, "From my perspective, the facts are very clear. It is precisely because of President Ouyang’s technique that An Weng found it easy. He took advantage of the situation to lock on to a place that was originally very distant. He jumped over there through a shortcut."

There still wasn’t anyone who could truly understand his Formatting Theory and Coupling Theory. But with the logic behind them described clearly, Zhang Yingying and the others imagined the situation and got the gist of the picture.

Luo Nan didn’t want to be associated with the title of ’Mind Controller’. He had zero idea what this title meant. So he asked, not understanding, "What sort of profession is the Mind Controller?"

"It should be considered the next step of a Hypnosis Master. Mind Controllers are experts in leading and controlling the minds of people. They are very popular in all sorts of religious orders. The weaker ones can be responsible for preaching and sermonizing work. The more powerful ones can become core priests. There are some who are simply the leaders of their orders.... Speaking of which, we haven’t gone over this before?"

The person who had spoken wasn’t part of the people within the ring-shaped sofa. It was Bamboo Pole, who had just walked into the sofa corner. He was an expert on secret orders, having done extensive research on them. He started Luo Nan off with the powerful people of every major order in his "Notes on the Major Characters of the World" course. This was a very important part of his course.

Luo Nan shook his head. He didn’t have the faintest of an impression.

By now he saw He Yueyin. She stood by Bamboo Pole’s side, but he felt that she was acting a bit quiet and low-key.

Luo Nan’s limbs felt weak. His body’s reactions were half a beat behind. He could only wave to the people coming over as his greeting. By his side, Xue Lei instinctively got up to give them his seat. He was worried about being polite to He Yueyin, and he simply jumped over the back of the sofa.

With this, He Yueyin gave Xue Lei a word of thanks as she walked through the entrance of the ring-shaped sofa. She sat by Luo Nan’s left side, while Zhang Yingying remained sitting on the right.

The sofa was quite soft. The three people were pulled close to each other, making it quite crowded.

Bamboo Pole, on the other hand, didn’t join in on the fun. He simply walked to the bar to the side of the sofa corner and took up one of the only two spots there. He ordered a martini, and he beamed as he saw the group of people rub closely against each other in the ring-shaped sofa.

Papercut felt a bit regretful seeing this. He also wanted to order a few cups. As he got up, he said loudly, "Get me a rum and coke."

Bamboo Pole shook his head. "Stay there. Crag Burst will be here soon. With the size of his body, don’t invite him to go over to where you all are. It will be torture."

He waved to Xue Lei behind the sofa. "Leister, fancy a cup?"

"I’m not old enough." Xue Lei wasn’t of drinking age, and the public venue managed things very strictly. He could only politely decline this sort of recreation.

As he spoke, Xue Lei walked to stand behind Xie Junping and Hu Huaying.

The topic that was discussed here a moment ago and the odd atmosphere made the two second-generation rich people stupefied. They saw Xie Junping come over and subconsciously sighed in relief. Xie Junping asked in a whisper, "Everyone here is...?"

Xue Lei didn’t know how to respond for a time.

It was the mass that was Papercut sitting next to them who lit up with a smile. "We are people of the same profession in the same society. It’s like your school’s Mystic Arts Research Society. Our field is similar."

Xie Junping went, "Ohhh.” His thoughts were undecipherable,, but his expression turned very odd and unusual.

At the other side, after being seated for several seconds, He Yueyin spoke in a low voice, "Apologies, Mr. Luo. I made a mistake in my work, causing this situation to emerge...."

Luo Nan didn’t talk. He wasn’t angry at He Yueyin. However, saying a few words like "It’s okay" was an absolutely impossibility for him.

He really did mind when all was said and done. How could he not?

Seeing and experiencing how Headquarters had no lower bounds in their methods, Luo Nan’s mind was filled with thoughts on how to deal with the arrival of enemies in the future, on how to deal with this problem.

He wasn’t alone. There were his aunt and uncle. There were his close friends living in Xia City. There was also Gear, which couldn’t be moved at all.... All kinds of restraints, all of which must be handled. All respects must be thorough. It was an impossible task to accomplish, no matter how he looked at it.

Before a clear path ahead could be seen in one’s train of thought, one’s thoughts would naturally trace backward, upstream to spread to various ’what if... then maybe...’, ’in the event that... so...’, and similar lines of thought. Reproach, regret, and similar emotions came with these thoughts as well.

Luo Nan didn’t have enough mental energy to imagine what had yet to happen. But those vague emotions still existed as before. Following He Yueyin’s honest apology, his emotions, which were like inferior wine that had yet to finish fermenting, broke through the barrel wall to spill out.

He didn’t have the leisure to mull over how to express himself. He spoke bluntly, "I need a solution. My—my family. My mother’s heart and blood.... Those scum are willing to do anything!"

He had spoken these words to Xue Lei. He had spoken these words to himself. Right now, he spoke these words to He Yueyin. Before, he spoke rationally, but now he was venting his emotions.

He Yueyin responded in a low voice, "President Ouyang has already sealed off Headquarters’ defensive privileges on the Psychic Wave Network. Gong Qi will be leaving Xia City early tomorrow morning."

Luo Nan wanted to listen to more, but He Yueyin stopped talking just like that. He glared at her. "Then what?"

"The branch is researching the relevant security plan. I take full power and responsibility over the completion of this concrete item."

The sofa corner sank into a ridiculous silence at once.

Luo Nan was stunned. It took a while before he said, "Just like this? Where’s a concrete operation? Personnel deployment? Is there a guarantee? This...."

Papercut saw that things weren’t going too well. He instinctively acted as a peacemaker. "Nanster, it isn’t that the Secretary isn’t going to do anything. The ’asymmetric warfare’ of ability users targeting normal people is a very difficult worldly problem. There are countless permutations, so it’s fundamentally impossible to make a contingency plan. The Secretary says she will use her full power and take full responsibility. She’ll certainly shoulder this. Everyone will also do their utmost to help, right?"

Papercut had good intentions, but Luo Nan’s mind grew heavier and heavier. He absolutely didn’t doubt He Yueyin’s sense of responsibility, but he felt that doing their utmost might not be effective. It seemed that things were headed to the worst possible outcome!

Putting himself in another’s shoes, Luo Nan understood that if he wanted to make a psychic move right now and kill any normal person in Xia City, only Ouyang Chen and Her Majesty the Martial Empress, only people like them whose levels were incomprehensible to him, could protect civilians from him.

Aside from these people, any and all security routine methods were meaningless. Even if He Yueyin mobilized the army to surround the target so that not a drop could trickle through, it would also be useless.

Perhaps the amount of ability users who possessed techniques like his were few, but Headquarters wasn’t lacking in powerful people on the same level or higher... and there were even the Order of Justice, Quantum Corporation, and various powerful organizations. How wouldn’t there be countless permutations of techniques?

All right, how did he end up standing in opposition against these powers?

Luo Nan possessed a mere vague answer in mind. He was unwilling to jump to conclusions, so he simply took a deep breath, put his head in his hands, put his elbows on his knees for support, and pondered with a hanging head.

After the horrible consolation by Papercut, not a person answered next. Another long silence reigned, so long that it was suffocating.

It wasn’t that there were no misunderstandings between them; it was just that there was an enormous difference in the burden of responsibility. It permeated deep into the foundation of the conversation, making it hard to continue this topic.

But some things couldn’t be avoided. Luo Nan was a member of the Society, but the Society was unable to provide assistance nor protection. The upper levels of the Society even persecuted him. The difference in the branch and Headquarters was a ridiculous gap that could not be filled by a few promises.

As for He Yueyin, she did not wish to say much more.

She had been in charge of secret, classified work ever since she entered the Society. She tried to change the circumstances of the Society to stop it from leaking information all over the place, but this time, the leak of intelligence regarding Luo Nan produced devastating consequences. Strictly speaking, Headquarters’ actions were her responsibility. This was also her largest setback after she retired from the military.

She had to reflect on herself.

And so, two people sat shoulder to shoulder like this. One sat ramrod straight. The other was stooped. They both sat in silence. The other people looked at each other in dismay, finding it harder and harder to open their mouths.

"Oh, things have gone lively in just an instant."

An external force came suddenly, and it broke the wall of silence in the sofa corner. Following the sound came a group of people entering the dusky corner. They were rather hard on the eyes.

He Donglou, in his well-ironed military uniform, held two beautiful women for show in his left and right hands. Behind him followed his silent ’old chauffeur’. This should be a first-class bodyguard. As for Feng Jiajun the martial artist and his female companion, not a trace of them could be seen.

He Donglou had fun all around the party venue, but he still preferred the atmosphere in the sofa corner. It would be perfect to play some small games with the pretty faces by his side. But when he came back, he was stunned seeing the grave people there.

Actually, a few more people could be stuffed inside here, but the place was already unsuitable for ’playing games’.

"Tsk. How disappointing."

For the sake of atmosphere, there was nearly no lighting in the sofa corner. The clearest source of light was the rippling deep blue of water pouring from the central crystal pillar.

The first person He Donglou was able to identify was Xue Lei, who was standing behind the sofa. A person of that size easily stimulated his memories. He remembered this big man, who nearly started a conflict with his attendant.

His gaze glanced down after recognizing Xue Lei. He then saw Xie Junping and Hu Huaying.

I know them all!

He Donglou opened his mouth as he used his chin to point through the air, "You guys also know the benefits of this place? Come come come. Make some space. This party is really boring, but the quality of the women here are good."

His words drew coquettish anger and laughter from the two pretty faces, while Xie Junping and Hu Huaying in the ring-shaped sofa glanced at each other. They got up at the same time, and Xie Junping greeted, "Young Master He. We just so happened to meet, but this place is too cramped. We’ll go to a different place—”

"Just stay here, being a bit cramped is nothing. Right now we should squeeze in together." He Donglou was no master who could be easily persuaded by others. Moreover, he just saw Tian Si sitting upright with downcast eyes at the entrance to the ring-shaped sofa. Her appearance was dignified and elegant, the type he loved the most.

The space next to her just so happened to be relatively empty.

He Donglou didn’t care about the maximum load of the nearly full ring-shaped sofa. He seized the two pretty faces and made his way inside, obviously to Tian Si’s side.

Though He Donglou could act carefree, the ’old chauffeur’ behind him had to be responsible and diligent. The ’old chauffeur’ felt that something was off during the gap in speech. He looked around and was the first to see a familiar face.

Zhou Hu.

A cold and clear gaze cast over from a different direction right when the ’old chauffeur’ wanted to speak. The instant their gazes met, the ’old chauffeur’ immediately stood at attention, sealing his mouth.

He Donglou wasn’t really a serious hoodlum, but he already had his mind set on chasing women. As he walked into the ring-shaped sofa, he deliberately rubbed against the pair of legs beneath Tian Si’s long skirt. He revealed a smile as he said, "Excuse me, beautiful."

Tian Si was able to tell from Xie Junping’s and Hu Huaying’s reactions that this Young Master He’s status was out of the ordinary. She frowned slightly, but she didn’t look up. She just withdrew her body a bit.

He Donglou smiled as he sat down. He was about to tease her again when someone made a soft chuckle diagonally opposite to him. The timbre was excellent, like the cry of a lark. It made his heart itch hearing it.

He Donglou raised his head and saw a youthful, bright, and beautiful young lady. She laughed willfully without restraint, revealing a mouth full of white teeth. She didn’t hide them at all, seemingly lighting up this dusky corner.

Hot damn! This one is nice!

He Donglou was at a fun-loving age. He loved playing the magnanimous lord the most. He changed his target at once, and his gaze swept once across the young lady’s body as he smiled in greeting, "Beautiful, you’re dressed as...."

"A student getting pampered by her sugar daddy, of course." Zhang Yingying had been stifled very uncomfortably by the moment of silence before. She had found it hard to speak, but now there was a chance to have fun. She naturally conformed to it. She beamed while hugging Luo Nan’s arm, even rocking back and forth. "This is our boss."

"...."