Chapter 454: The Traveler's Corporate Culture

The puppet gasped softly.

But the next second, she saw the surface of that stone ball return to normal, and the scene of it “opening a mouth” just now seemed like nothing but an illusion.

Yusheng, however, had already heard her gasp. He immediately got up and walked over, asking, “What’s wrong?”

“This ball… just now it seemed to sprout a mouth,” Eileen said nervously, holding up the Omen Wanderstar (Youth Edition) and showing it to Yusheng. “But it disappeared in an instant.”

Yusheng frowned, took the stone ball, scrutinized it closely, then tapped it against the corner of the table and held it to his ear to listen.

In truth, he had no idea how to examine such a bizarre object—those two taps were mainly to create a professional atmosphere.

Eileen immediately grew tense: “Hey, don’t break it!”

“You’re actually worried about this ball,” Yusheng raised an eyebrow, casually tossing the stone ball back onto the orbital track beside Eileen’s head. “I don’t see anything unusual, but this thing itself is pretty off… Seriously, is it going to bite people when left at home?”

“That should be pretty hard. With all the monsters and freaks in this house, even if it grew a mouth, who could it bite? Bite the fox and get a mouthful of fur, bite C-clasp and break its teeth, bite you and get blood spray on its face plus a lifetime commitment—would it bite me?” Eileen muttered, raising a hand to poke the Omen Wanderstar. “I don’t think it’ll bite me.”

Yusheng thought for a moment. “Then keep an eye on it. Don’t let it bite anyone else—I mean, if it really does grow a mouth.”

Eileen gave a vague “oh,” then saw Yusheng across from her rub his chin, wearing a classic pondering expression. The puppet immediately grew alarmed: “What are you going to do again!”

Yusheng looked at Eileen for a couple of seconds, then suddenly asked, “Where are your other bodies?”

The puppet looked wary. “…Two are upstairs gaming, and one is sleeping in the attic. What are you up to?”

Yusheng rubbed his hands together, and an eager research expression appeared on his face. “I just thought of something—this ball keeps orbiting you, right? So what if you call your other bodies over? Not counting the mass-produced units—when the four Eileen mainframes stand together, which one does it orbit?”

The puppet was stunned for a moment. Her first reaction was to marvel that only Yusheng could come up with such an idea. Her second reaction was—hey, this sounds fun, let’s try it!

And then the next second, Yusheng heard the sound of pattering footsteps from the stairs. He looked up and saw two spirited Eileens followed by a third, who was rubbing her eyes and yawning, running down from upstairs.

…Wait, had that puppet actually mastered the skill she mentioned before—sending one body to sleep while the other three played games around the clock?

Several Eileens arrived in the living room at the same time. Huli, who was picking out walnut kernels on the table, and Luna, who was maintaining her blades, both instinctively looked up. Several gazes, all curious, focused on the mini “Omen Wanderstar.”

One of the Traveler’s corporate cultures was perfectly embodied here: the bigger the commotion, the better the show.

The Omen Wanderstar trembled.

The moment the second Eileen appeared in the living room, the gray stone ball showed noticeable tremor and drift during its rotation. As more Eileens ran near it, the stone ball’s tremor turned into a violent swing that was almost unsettling.

Yusheng watched in amazement as the “Omen Wanderstar” seemed to become confused, swaying violently among the several Eileens. Then suddenly, it let out a strange “vrmmm” sound before shooting upward—

Yusheng: “Holy shit!!”

“Bam!!”

With a loud crash, the Omen Wanderstar embedded itself into the ceiling and wouldn’t budge.

Several flakes of paint and cement fragments fell from the roof, landing on Huli’s walnuts.

Everyone was dumbfounded. The few Eileens stood frozen in place, only slowly raising their heads after a few seconds to stare at the Omen Wanderstar embedded in the ceiling.

Puppet x4: “Ah, my ball!”

Yusheng: “My ceiling!”

Huli: “My walnuts!”

Luna: “Mm. Right.”

Everyone, waking from their stupor, reacted at once. The living room erupted into chaos. Several Eileens let out a cry and scrambled up onto Yusheng, demanding he return their ball. Yusheng, flustered, tried to pry the dolls crawling all over him while insisting that the idea had been Eileen’s too. Huli heartily picked up her walnuts from the pile of ceiling debris, muttering to herself…

Only Luna remained silent. She stepped into a corner, started recording video, and uploaded it to the Exo-Traveler database…

But this kind of chaotic atmosphere was another corporate culture of the Traveler, and Yusheng and his gang were quite familiar with it. After brief disorder, the situation calmed down when all four puppets were wrapped into a ball by Huli’s tails and rendered immobile. Yusheng finally breathed a sigh of relief and decided to pry the Omen Wanderstar off the ceiling first…

Considering they didn’t have a ladder tall enough, he borrowed one of Huli’s tails, rode it carefully up to the ceiling to dig out the ball. The four Eileens were tied up in a fox-fur ball pile on the sofa, only their little heads sticking out, looking up and chattering: “Be careful!” “Don’t drop the ball!” “A little to the left, don’t hit the lamp…” “Stupid fox, your fur is stuck in my joints!”

And just as everyone was enjoying this harmonious family moment, a knock suddenly came from the foyer.

The door of 66 Plane Tree Road being knocked on startled Yusheng, but he quickly recovered and called to Luna, the only one who seemed idle (at least apparently so): “It should be the kid. He went to clean that little house after coming back—maybe he has something to discuss.”

Luna went to open the door. Sure enough, Zhengzhi walked in—and behind him, another familiar figure.

Xuanche followed in.

“Mr. Yusheng,” Xuanche said, clasping his hands as soon as he entered, before even seeing anyone, to announce his purpose, “My master invites you to…”

Before he could finish, he froze in place, then stared blankly upward at the scene in the living room.

Four Eileens were wrapped in a fox-tail ball piled on the sofa. Yusheng was riding a fox tail in midair, one hand reaching toward the ceiling while he looked down below.

It was almost dusk. The living room lights were on, their fluorescent halo spreading evenly behind Yusheng. He held the just-pried-off Omen Wanderstar in his hands, sitting in the light—

He looked like a lightbulb-changing immortal.

They stared at each other for a few seconds. Words were frozen, but their cultivator hearts thumped wildly.

Xuanche took a soft breath. “This… what is the meaning of this?”

Yusheng also felt the scene might be a bit weird, but he tried to keep a straight face, slowly descending from midair while casually handing the stone ball he’d just pried off to Eileen: “Nothing, we just conducted a little home experiment and accidentally bounced the Omen Wanderstar into the ceiling. Fortunately, it wasn’t embedded deeply, so I pried it off. Huli, let Eileen go—she won’t cause trouble now.”

Xuanche blinked, unsure whether he should be relieved. He only felt that his decision to follow along had been impulsive—ah, after spending time with Mr. Yusheng at Chenji, he had deluded himself into thinking he could keep up with the “Traveler’s” pace. Clearly, he had overestimated himself.

He gave a dry cough, bent down slightly again, using a formal tone to mask the subtle expression on his face: “Er, my master sent me to see if you had rested. If you’re free, please come to Queyun Palace to discuss some matters after the angel’s fall, and the arrangements for the celebration in a few days…”

“Oh, right, I was thinking this afternoon that your master would be looking for me,” Yusheng quickly clapped his hands. “But couldn’t you have just called? Why make a special trip…”

“This is to show respect,” Xuanche straightened up, his expression earnest. “Master said, friendship is friendship, propriety is propriety. Mr. Yusheng is now of the Feiyu Star Domain…”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Yusheng quickly waved to cut Xuanche off. “I’ll come with you.”

Then he turned around and instructed Eileen and the others: “You stay and watch the house—especially the basement. If the Long-Haired Princess tries to sneak out, chase her back. Little Red Riding Hood just messaged me; she owes three days’ worth of homework…”

“Ah, yeah, I know,” Eileen said, impatiently waving her hand while fiddling with the Omen Wanderstar, which seemed to be recovering. “Come back early tonight.”

…

At the peak of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain, in the main hall of Queyun Palace.

Outside the open palace doors, clouds surged, and a sunset spilled over the clouds. Golden-red rays spread from the horizon all the way to the palace steps.

Yuanling and Yuanhao stood inside the hall discussing matters. When Yusheng stepped through the door, they both looked up.

“I have to say, this place of yours has some beautiful scenery,” Yusheng greeted them with a smile. “Walking near the main peak, I didn’t even want to ‘open a door.’ I felt it would waste the scenery along the way.”

“That’s true,” Yuanling smiled. “I often tell my disciples that in pursuit of the great Dao, one must not neglect the path itself—but unfortunately, few take these words to heart.”

Yusheng looked around. “Yuanhe Zhenren isn’t here?”

“He went to tend to that great serpent,” Yuanhao said casually. “After being struck by lightning, the snake seems a bit off. He’s worried.”

Yusheng gave an “oh,” then gathered his thoughts and expression, turning serious. “Let’s talk business. Where do we start?”

Yuanling and Yuanhao exchanged a glance, then Yuanling broke the silence.

“Let’s start with… the Imperial Lord’s Legacy, and then the Starspawn. We’ve only heard a rough account from your transmissions. Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to carefully go through these matters one by one.”

(End of chapter)