March 7th held up her hands, tucked in her neck, and carefully pried open the gift box.
Nothing exploded. Nothing strange jumped out, either. But the object lying inside still made her eyes go wide.
"That mask?! But..."
Welt had seen that mask from the VIP seats. The one in the box looked exactly the same.
Hadn't the Family said it was missing?
In fact, he and Himeko had spent quite some time arguing with the Family over that very issue yesterday.
March 7th recognized it too.
"Don't tell me this thing's actually real?!"
"It's unlikely. There seems to be a card underneath it. Let me see what it says."
Welt's sharp eyes spotted a gold-embossed card beneath the mask. Something seemed to be printed on it.
March leaned over and pulled the card free. Written on it were the rules for the grand masked lottery gamble.
But just like before, it didn't explain what the second round would involve.
"This... The Family really is..."
March reacted much like everyone else who'd heard about the event. She couldn't decide whether the Family had gone insane or the Masked Fools were simply ridiculous.
"No. For the Family, this is actually a very successful marketing campaign."
After recently witnessing the power of an Emanator up close several times, Welt had entertained a thought himself. It hadn't shaken his convictions, but if he possessed power on that level, the Astral Express's journeys would undoubtedly become much safer.
And this was Welt.
Even setting Emanators aside, the fact that he could create black holes with his own hands already placed him among the stronger Pathstriders in the universe. If even he had once longed for an Emanator's power, ordinary people stood even less of a chance.
That was especially true for those who'd never possessed enough conviction to truly set foot on a Path.
Their resolve had never been strong to begin with. A one-in-hundreds-of-millions chance was enough to blind them almost at once.
A stage they'd once had no hope of entering could now be accessed with a lottery ticket costing less than a hundred thousand credits. Win the gamble, and they'd soar straight to the top, becoming a powerhouse known across the cosmos.
A hundred thousand credits might've been a fortune to an ordinary person.
But to anyone who could afford to be on Penacony, it was pocket change.
A potential return thousands or even tens of thousands of times greater was more than enough to make most people lose their cool.
Welt didn't know how the Family planned to keep order. But as long as nothing went wrong, Penacony's revenue would obviously surge to an absurd level before the grand prize was finally claimed.
He adjusted his glasses and looked at March, who was fiddling with the mask.
"I wonder whether Sylvia knows about this."
"Oh, right! This mask was supposed to belong to Sylvia! Damn Family, using Sylvia's stuff to make money!"
Only then did March remember that Sylvia was still technically the mask's owner.
Did Sylvia even know the Family was doing this?
With that thought, March pulled out her phone, snapped pictures of the mask and the rules, then tagged Sylvia in the Astral Express group chat.
[March 7th: [Image]]
[March 7th: @Sylvia Look! The Family's pulling another stunt!]
[Stelle: ?]
[Stelle: So that's why everyone's wearing masks outside. I thought there'd been a Sparkle virus outbreak. Damn it, I'm getting one too!]
[Dan Heng: ?]
[Himeko: ?]
[Sylvia: ?]
[Sylvia: Interesting. Sparkle's probably behind it again. I already figured she was planning something.]
[Mei: [Acheron eating a peach]]
[March 7th: Aren't you mad? That mask is yours, right?]
[Sylvia: Nope. I'd rather that mask stay as far away from me as possible.]
[Sylvia: You think I actually wanted to become an Emanator of Elation?]
"Uh..."
March scratched her head with a polite but awkward smile after reading Sylvia's reply. She remembered the spectacular scene that day when Aha had forcibly slapped the mask onto Sylvia's face.
Welt had seen the messages too, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
"Even if Sylvia doesn't care, I still do. I can only hope this doesn't end in armed conflict."
"Mr. Yang, are you saying you want to get off the Express and investigate?"
"Yes. I'll speak with Himeko first."
Welt nodded.
The Family's internal unrest still hadn't fully settled. The IPC was watching from outside, waiting for its chance. On top of that, with the Stellaron sealed, the safety of the shared dreamscape could no longer be considered absolutely guaranteed.
If a large-scale armed conflict erupted now, could Penacony even continue operating?
With that in mind, Welt intended to discuss the matter with Himeko and decide what position the Astral Express should take.
"March, you..."
Welt looked at March's eager expression. He'd originally intended to tell her to stay on the Express and keep out of it.
But forget it.
"If you want to investigate too, find Stelle or Sylvia. Don't act alone."
"Yep, yep! I know. Staying alive comes first. I'll find someone reliable to go with me."
March immediately raised a hand and swore she'd behave.
She was just curious what kind of challenge would begin after all the masks had been handed out. Surely they weren't going to turn the dreamscape into some giant battle royale.
Besides, the rules explicitly stated that the event wouldn't involve armed conflict.
--+--
Meanwhile, Sylvia was still at the Xianzhou delegation's residence, packing her things with Bailu.
After receiving March's message, she wore a very strange expression.
Especially when she stepped outside and discovered people really were running around everywhere in masks.
She desperately wanted to complain, yet couldn't think of a single thing to say.
Sparkle really knew how to cause trouble.
Still, something about these masks felt...
Sylvia studied them more closely, and her brows drew together.
She'd once been the mask's owner. More importantly, after power had been infused into it, she'd carried it around for quite a while.
One glance was enough.
Every mask those passersby wore was real.
Their power was extremely faint, though. It remained dormant, incomplete, and impossible to use.
Sylvia guessed that the original power had simply been divided hundreds of millions of times.
If that was true, and they really intended to choose a single inheritor in the end, then she could already make a decent guess about the second round.
They'd probably introduce a set of rules that let players constantly take other people's masks.
Whoever managed to gather every mask in one place would become the final inheritor.
But that raised another question.
Even if the original mask had belonged to Sparkle, there was no way Sparkle was powerful enough to divide an Emanator's strength into hundreds of millions of perfectly separate pieces, right?
Never mind whether Sparkle could even do it. She did all this for fun. Wasn't she afraid of the sheer amount of work?
Sylvia felt exhausted just imagining it.
Still, once she'd reached her conclusion, she sent her theory to the Astral Express group chat, along with a warning.
[Sylvia: ...So that's what I've found. The masks are real. March, if you want to play, first find out how they're preventing contestants from fighting each other. If they can't guarantee that, you'd better stay out of it.]
[Mei: [Acheron eating a peach]]
[March 7th: ?!]
[March 7th: [Shocked Pom-Pom]]
[Stelle: Come see my new mask! I finally got one!]
[Stelle: [Image][Image]]
[Dan Heng: ...]
[Sylvia: ...]
[Himeko: ...]
Sylvia had only just finished explaining what she'd discovered and the conclusions she'd drawn from it. She'd told March to be careful, wait, and see what happened first.
And meanwhile, Stelle had already found one of the distribution points, spent a small fortune shopping, and claimed a mask of her own.
She was now wearing it while posting selfies to the Astral Express group chat.
"Argh! That idiot! Why's she joining in on this?!"
March's mouth twisted in frustration.
Welt, meanwhile, remained calm and stroked his chin.
"Though to be fair, the mask's color scheme doesn't really suit Stelle's style."
"Mr. Yang?! Is that really what we should be talking about right now?!"
"Hahaha..."
Welt gave an awkward little laugh at March's complaints.
What could he say?
Once he'd seen that Sylvia had already started paying attention to the matter and had discovered something useful, most of his concern had vanished.
Perhaps that was simply the unmatched sense of security an Emanator could give people.
"I don't think there's much need to worry. Neither the Family nor the IPC will let things escalate into bloodshed."
The IPC now wanted a share of Penacony's profits too.
They might fight the Family over ownership, but if Penacony itself stopped making money, wouldn't the Strategic Investment Department's whole operation become pointless?
"Forget it! I'm done worrying about her. I'm going to find Sylvia!"
March stormed off the Astral Express with the mask in hand, cheeks puffed in annoyance. She headed over to Sylvia's train and waited for her there.
--+--
Sylvia, meanwhile, didn't let the mask situation distract her for long.
Especially after meeting Mr. Giovanni.
At least half her concerns disappeared on the spot.
Compared with Sparkle, the kind of Elation this Masked Fool pursued seemed far more harmless.
Still...
"Mr. Giovanni, why'd you come all the way here to find me? And Qingque, what are you doing here too?"
Sylvia and Bailu had just finished packing and reached the lobby of the Reverie Hotel when they ran straight into Giovanni.
The masked man had arrived together with Qingque.
Qingque scratched her head, greeted Bailu first, then grinned at Sylvia.
"Girl, I came to Penacony this time to talk serious business!"
Giovanni nodded beside her. Judging by his reaction, he'd been the one who proposed the deal.
Sylvia hailed transport back toward the train, taking Bailu with her. Qingque and Giovanni came along.
"What kind of business could you possibly be negotiating? Celestial Jade?"
"Bingo! Hehe. Mr. Giovanni wants to turn Celestial Jade into a game that can be promoted across the entire universe."
Qingque looked delighted.
Once she collected the licensing fee from this deal, she really could stop worrying about money, kick back, and coast through life.
The games they'd previously made on the Luofu had ultimately remained limited to the Luofu itself. Custom-made tables were also too expensive to market outside the ship.
Besides, Xianzhou natives preferred playing face-to-face in gaming parlors, so the online version had never become anything special.
But this time, Giovanni's offer was simply impossible to refuse.
And with Fu Xuan away, Qingque's courage had grown several sizes overnight. She'd immediately requested leave and come straight to Penacony.
"Oh? Then don't tell me Mr. Giovanni had something to do with all these Sparkle masks Penacony's handing out."
Sylvia suddenly understood and turned an inquisitive look toward Giovanni.
Giovanni seemed quite sincere. Or rather, his background as a businessman made him exceptionally smooth in social situations.
"Indeed. I happened to hear that a new Emanator of Elation had been born, so curiosity brought me to Penacony. I didn't expect to run into Miss Sparkle by chance."
"Miss Sparkle happened to want to make her game a little bigger. I, meanwhile, saw an opportunity to cooperate with the Family and earn some profit along the way."
Sylvia stared at Giovanni in surprise.
"You actually convinced Sparkle to make the second round of mask collecting into a card game?"
"Haha. It seems Miss Sylvia may hold a few prejudices against Miss Sparkle. In truth, the moment she heard there was a new game to play, she immediately agreed to work with me."
Giovanni sounded completely sincere as he spoke about Sparkle.
He almost made her sound like some sweet and innocent Masked Fool.
And yet...
Sparkle admittedly hadn't done anything truly unforgivable, but "sweet and innocent" definitely didn't describe her either.
Sylvia shook her head.
She still couldn't quite accept Giovanni's assessment, but it didn't matter much.
As long as this didn't turn into a massive disaster, everything was fine.
It was just a universe-wide mahjong tournament, after all.
Still, Sylvia was curious about something.
Why had Giovanni chosen the brand-new Celestial Jade instead of Aetherium Wars?
"Let's put Sparkle aside for now. Giovanni, do you really think that highly of Celestial Jade? Aetherium Wars seems like a solid choice too."
Giovanni smiled and explained.
"In theory, Aetherium Wars is certainly more famous. However, those who can come to Penacony are either wealthy, influential, or both. Aetherium Wars may actually seem insufficiently refined to them. After all, not everyone is willing to set aside their pride and simply enjoy a game."
"Celestial Jade, on the other hand, requires players to sit down, think quietly, and plan their moves. That makes it much easier for the people here to accept."
"..."
Sylvia exchanged a complicated look with Qingque.
Qingque looked a little embarrassed too.
"Ahaha... I actually showed Mr. Giovanni videos from the gaming parlors too. But he said reality doesn't matter. What matters is knowing how to market a good product."
"Then I've only got one last question."
Sylvia turned back to Giovanni.
"Please."
"How are you going to make sure the players don't start fighting?"
"That's an excellent question. In fact, that's one of the reasons I've come to see you."
Giovanni smiled as he directed the subject back toward Sylvia.
"What do you mean?"
"With my power alone, it'd be difficult to guarantee the safety of every contestant. But if Miss Sylvia were willing to honor us with her cooperation, it'd become quite easy."
Sylvia raised an eyebrow.
Well, damn. So he'd come here for her.
"Can't the Family handle that?"
Giovanni shook his head with a hint of discomfort.
"Well... the Family are followers of the Harmony, after all. I can't help worrying that once their power becomes involved, there may be a risk of assimilation."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL