At the Exalting Sanctum.
"Hey, Shopkeeper Sylvester. It's rare to see you this free." A slightly stooped old man stepped into the shop, greeting Sylvester.
Sylvester set aside the strange tale novel he'd been reading from the Spare Time Book Shop and looked up at the visitor. It turned out to be his former landlord. The shop had once been rented from him, but after making his first pot of gold, Sylvester had bought the place outright. So now, the man could only be considered his ex-landlord.
"With the Martial Exhibition Ceremony about to begin, guests from all over the cosmos are pouring in. Everyone's busy chasing the excitement, so naturally, there are fewer people around." Sylvester stretched lazily and gestured for the old man to sit down. Half-jokingly, he added, "Do you also want to open up a trash can?"
"Hahaha, this old man will pass on that. I came here today because I'll be moving to live in Aurum Alley, so I wanted to stop by and bid farewell to the neighbors." Speaking of this, the old man's face was radiant. After a sip of tea, his joy only grew, and he couldn't stop talking: "All my properties in Exalting Sanctum have been rented out, and they're all ten-year contracts. Isn't that wonderful? Saves me the headache of one tenant leaving today and two tomorrow."
"But that means, of course, I don't have a place here anymore, so I'll just go live back in my old house at Aurum Alley."
"Ten-year tenants? You still have two properties here, right? Both for ten years?"
With nothing better to do, Sylvester was happy to chat with his old neighbor.
"That's right. And wouldn't you know it, both groups came looking for me almost back-to-back, and they didn't seem to get along with each other either. But they paid plenty, double, in fact. Only condition was I had to sign some kind of contract with no backing out midway." The old man finished his tea and stood up to leave. "Alright then, I've got to check on my next place. Won't stay any longer."
"I'll see you off." Sylvester came out from behind the counter and escorted the old landlord to the door.
Watching the old man's figure fade into the distance, Sylvester glanced at his two neighboring shops. Of course, he knew they had just moved in, but he hadn't expected both to sign ten-year leases and even offer double rent.
That was… a little strange.
He stepped into one of the shops, using for the first time his special ability [Eye of True Sight].
It could probe information about anyone or anything within sight and even identify lies.
He focused his gaze on the building.
Streams of information flooded Sylvester's mind—wall measurements, lists of former tenants, the old landlord's life history—sweeping through like a raging storm.
Yet despite the torrent, his mind remained perfectly clear. As soon as he thought of what he wanted, the data appeared in his head. Not sound, not words—just as if a memory had been planted there.
Looking at the selected information, Sylvester gave a wry smile. Sure enough, the tenants of this house were here for him. Inside lived employees of the Interastral Peace Corporation.
Well, not surprising. The Company wouldn't give up on buying trash cans, but it was impossible for members of the Ten Stonehearts to linger around him every day. Setting up a little liaison station here was certainly the convenient choice.
He turned toward his other neighbor. Surely, this one was a representative of the Xianzhou.
Just as he was about to look, he suddenly heard a voice.
"Hey, Sylvester. I was just about to drop by and say hello to you, but you came over first."
Following the voice, Sylvester saw her—dark green and black dress, an air of laziness mixed with youth, a petite stature, and the aura of a champion at slacking off. Who else could it be but Qingque?
"So, it's you. Weren't you at the Divination Commission… uh, I mean, working as a librarian? Why'd you rent a place here? Isn't it a bit far from the Divination Commission? Aren't you afraid of being late and getting scolded by Fu Xuan?"
"Ugh. It's because I got caught slacking off that I was sent here." Qingque sighed, recalling her ordeal earlier that morning. "And besides, it's called Curator, not librarian."
"Too much slacking, so you got… 'optimized'?" At that, Sylvester felt a bit of sympathy. If she'd been dismissed for misconduct, that meant no severance pay, right? Then how did she even afford rent?
Probably Fu Xuan, furious, had just dumped her here.
"That's not it at all! Public service on the Luofu doesn't have such a cruel system." Qingque pouted, then muttered sullenly, "I was just reassigned by the Master Diviner."
So, it really was banishment!
"Master Diviner is so stingy. I mean, I made great contributions to the Luofu with my card playing! I completely wiped the floor with that lucky star from Sigonia." Qingque put her hands on her hips, venting her frustration.
Aventurine lost again? That doesn't sound right. Even with Celestial Jade, he shouldn't lose that badly… utterly defeated…
Did Jing Yuan come up with some 'unexpected stratagem' again?
Sylvester stroked his chin, pondering for a while, then dropped the thought.
It had nothing to do with him—not a single Credit's worth. Why waste time thinking? He shook his head and cleared it away.
Qingque, though, might have gotten the worse end of the stick by being reassigned here.
"From now on, I'll be stationed here permanently. This is just…" Qingque recalled Fu Xuan's furious face when she caught her slacking, and her own awkward state at the time, and let out a long sigh.
"This is just too amazing!"
Her face flushed with excitement, almost on the verge of cheering out loud.
Her joy burst forth like a broken dam: "Monthly rent and utilities fully reimbursed, a single-person bed all to myself, salary unchanged, full benefits, insurance all covered. No colleagues hovering, no supervisor inspecting outside my door every so often. My only job is to record what Curios you sell, and judging by your business, that's maybe two hours of work at most each day. The rest of the time, I can do whatever I want!"
"How could there be such an incredible job in this world?!" She swung her fists in the air, utterly ecstatic.
Then she placed one hand on Sylvester's shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up with the other.
Qingque's face suddenly brimmed with conviction as she declared, "Sylvester, you must run this shop for your whole life. If there exists an Aeon of Lollygagging, THEY would surely acknowledge and watch over you!"
Hey, hey, that conviction is pointed in the wrong direction.
Sylvester could only nod helplessly. If he had such a subordinate, he might be even more short-tempered than Fu Xuan.
"What a shame. No slacking off during work hours—it's so unfulfilling." Qingque closed her eyes and sighed, as though reminiscing about those glorious days of outsmarting her superior, sneaking messages to the Trailblazer, and going offline ten times in a row.
The days of gaming on her phone when the boss wasn't around, then hiding it under the drum when the boss appeared—was gone forever!
Sylvester's eyelid twitched.
No fulfillment? Then straighten that grin off your face, at least!
Fu Xuan had been far too lenient with her. He finally understood—this wasn't banishment. This was early retirement. Fu Xuan had just saved Qingque a few hundred years of detours.
She's truly hopeless. I could cry.
"Hey, shopkeeper around? You've got customers!"
A cheerful voice called from behind Sylvester. Before he could turn, another voice followed: "March, this shopkeeper is someone of great significance. Don't be rude."
But the pink-haired girl was unimpressed. "Yeah, yeah, you've told me that a dozen times on the way."
She planted her fists on her hips and asked the gray-haired girl beside her, "Trailblazer, do you know who this shopkeeper is?"
Stelle thought for a moment, then answered solemnly, "A philosopher as profound as myself. Their understanding of the Trash Can School rivals my own."
"Ah, ah?" March 7th was stunned, her voice dry.
So now I've got to deal with two Trailblazers?!
Sylvester turned to face the trio not far away.
Well now—the big three had arrived.