Forge a path to success.

Chapter 348 The Anxious

"This doesn't make sense," Chu Hengkong muttered to himself. "Why hasn't the boss arrived yet?"

He sat on a large sofa on the first floor of the bookstore, surrounded by a cacophony of noise: regular customers fussed over the owner, who, with a large patch on his belly, was munching on various nourishing foods; on the water screen projection, Speaker Parlyman, his expression agitated, condemned the "political extremists" who had instigated the riots the day before, declaring that freedom would not yield to violence; on the streets, citizens were fighting amongst themselves, sometimes the opposition was labeled terrorists and beaten, sometimes the supporters were counterattacked by elderly men and women who had come to the scene.

A politician caught in the middle of the two factions pleaded repeatedly, "It's a misunderstanding! I'm in opposition to the bill..."

"But you voted in favor!" A rat with long eyebrows and a mustache jumped up and beat him with a cane. "You betrayed the Allies! Fuck you!"

"I don't know why! I clearly intended to vote against it, but my hand just started moving on its own while I was writing..."

Manager Bangbangji was so annoyed by the noise that he went out and used clouds to shut them up one by one.

The chaos in the city-state is now even more widespread than it was two days ago. The commotion caused by the assassins has been quelled, but its effects are spreading rapidly. The unease stirred up by the commotion, the resentment over the disrupted festival, and the anger over political differences have caused distrust to grow like moss after the rainy season. Parriman, who should have been responsible for calming the public, unfortunately delivered a highly inflammatory speech at this critical moment, completely igniting the powder keg that is Thorn.

The festive atmosphere of the Third Lineage was completely gone, replaced by quarrels and riots everywhere, and the Divine Guard was swamped. Most importantly, this series of events wasn't over yet. Lylena had escaped in the chaos, Guo Yutu was still in hiding, and Wang Quan was nowhere to be found. The operation for the Thorn Flower Festival had failed, but the Blood Alliance assassins still had another chance.

But Chu Hengkong paid no attention to any of these changes. Like a scholar studying diligently in ancient times, he ignored everything outside the window and was immersed in his own inner world. Right now, he only cared about one thing.

Why hasn't Violet arrived yet?
"It shouldn't be..."

Dustless Lands headquarters has a dedicated air route directly to the city-state of Thorn Robe. At normal speeds, important goods can be delivered within a week, and the speed can be even faster if a high-level expert comes at full speed. For the boss, going to Thorn Robe is definitely a top priority. She will use her extraordinary mobility, which makes even magic scholars sigh in awe, to leap from Dustless Lands to the city.

For her in this state, two days is an incredibly lenient timeframe. It's more than enough, absolutely enough. She's the kind of person who can summon the Staff of God from afar, even from a laboratory in the Dustless Land. Even if she were to bring some massive weapon of mass destruction, two days would be more than enough!

To avoid missing Chu Hengkong, she simply stayed in the bookstore for the past two days and didn't go anywhere else. But after 48 hours, she hadn't received a single legitimate signal. No letters, no drawings, no flashing lights, no books hiding videotapes—none of the methods she could think of had been used. His reaction speed was unusually slow; what on earth had happened?!

“Dude, can you calm down?” Vande said. “You’re like a combination of an anxious father waiting for his daughter to come home from school and a young man who’s arrived at the date early and is anxious about his girlfriend’s late arrival. I’ve never seen anyone with such a contradictory temperament that exists in a self-consistent way.”

"You make him sound like a wicked father who's having an affair with his daughter," Ji Huaisu chuckled.

Vande exclaimed in amazement, "Velbert is coming and you can still laugh? I really admire your thick skin."

"Isn't her arrival a good thing? Finally, a proper advisor can join our brainless team."

Chu Hengkong pressed them both back onto the sofa, one in each hand, and said earnestly, "Instead of wasting time talking nonsense, why don't you help me think of the reason? There's no reason why her reaction should be so slow."

Van der wasn't in a hurry at all. Sitting on the armrest of the sofa, he pointed with his tentacle finger: "This time I have to say, you're letting your concern cloud your judgment. This has nothing to do with speed. Put yourself in Vilbert's shoes. If you were her, would you dare to come directly?"

Chu Hengkong grew a little anxious: "Why wouldn't she dare? I'm right here, what is she still worried about?"

"The city-state you're about to visit was a rotten place, riddled with infiltration, just two days ago. What you know includes, but is not limited to, the hacking of the Divine Power Communication Network, the ground littered with Blood Smoke Bombs, Black Death Army soldiers disguised as ordinary citizens attending a play in a grand theater, and a mysterious, elusive, and incredibly skilled fighter posing as the Third Captain greeting everyone on the channel," Vande said. "And you, a remarkably intelligent Path Ascendant, invincible in your own base, practically a bio-engineered chicken without your equipment. Put yourself in their shoes, would you really want to swagger into the city-state and tell the assassins, 'Come kill me!'"

Chu Hengkong covered his forehead and lay on the sofa in despair. The editor, Poison Otter, handed him three cups of lemon tea and casually said, "I really want to tell you not to make fun of me, but reality has me stuck in my throat."

"They're deliberately targeting us!" the big seal yelled, brandishing a board. "Back in our heyday—"

"Yes, yes, back in the day you could treat moon beasts like snacks, now a female college student can take you down in three rounds," said the Poison Otter.

I am a gentleman and would never lay a hand on a woman.

The manager patted the shop manager on the head and said sympathetically, "You have to be brave enough to face reality! You used to be a tough and strong local pig leg, but now you're just a lump of old fat."

[You've regressed even more significantly than I have! You can't even beat the vegetables Gulibo grows now!]

Bangbangji got angry: "How dare you talk like that! Get out of here!"

“Even in the most respectable terms, we should all start arranging rehabilitation,” said Poison Otter. “Tomorrow I’ll ask Huan Ge to help me with some outsider stuff. Everyone, please help settle Chu Hengkong’s matter first, and then the shopkeeper will officially switch to military rations. Does anyone have any objections to that?”

"Jian!"

【eat! 】

Chu Hengkong took the lemon tea: "Does the editor have any thoughts about this?"

“I initially planned to use the bookstore’s hourly promotions. But then I thought about your descriptions…” Poison Otter scratched his chin, “That assassin called ‘Royal Power’ is very good at disguise and concealing his figure, and he’s a fairly high-ranking Fallen One, right?”

"Yes."

“You see, we’ve dealt with the Fallen quite a bit back in the day. Their most common tactic is to build an identical ‘headquarters’ on the battlefield. After a battle, you’re exhausted and heading home for supplies. On your way in, you see familiar faces, and everything seems perfectly normal. But as soon as you lie down in bed, your comrades rip off their masks!” Poison Otter clapped its paw. “You’ll find that the entire camp is filled with Moon Beasts, and your superiors are the Fallen who command these Moon Beasts. By then, it’s too late to react.”

Gulibo, who was listening in, trembled and said, "How scary!"

[On the battlefield, this tactic requires illusions to disrupt one's sense of direction, but it's unnecessary in a big city.] The Great Seal held up a sign. [That assassin could easily create another bookstore in the third phase, using simple information interference; most people wouldn't even notice. If your boss's signal reaches this fake bookstore, things could get very bad.] "It's something it's capable of," Chu Hengkong nodded. "The boss thought of that too, which is why he hasn't acted..."

“Considering that iconic locations are easily imitated, we might as well prepare an environment that even royalty wouldn’t be able to infiltrate,” Vande pondered. “That kind of place should ideally be crowded, making it difficult for infiltrators to pinpoint the target. At the same time, it should have clear directional or cues so that Velbert will immediately recognize this as a signal that you’re looking for her…”

The venomous otter raised its glass: "So, how about we hold a traditional event?"

"……Activity?"

"A friendly, peaceful, and romantic little activity," said Bangbangji. "Let's find our other half under the glow-in-the-dark tree!"

·
The tradition of the "fluorescent tree" has no connection to any major historical events, nor does it have anything to do with honor or justice. It is a rumor spread by young people, a superstition passed down among small animals, and a wind that has been blowing through every leaf in the forest since some unknown time.

The wind whispers that "people with longing hearts will meet their other half under the fluorescent tree." Anyone with experience and worldly wisdom knows that this is nothing more than a rumor fabricated by young people troubled by love to give themselves courage and an opportunity, because there is no fluorescent tree in Thorn Tree.

But people are always good at creating opportunities for themselves. They asked their glowing insectoid citizens for help, they decorated the old trees with lanterns, and they created a mysterious, shimmering atmosphere with glowing ice. There are a million ways to make glowing trees appear. This is a passionate nation, and objective limitations can never stop people's pursuit of romance.

“The traditional approach is to ask passing insects for help, but they’re not very reliable and often cause trouble,” said Lico, who was invited to participate. “So how about we use plants? Something that glows, is fluffy, like dandelions that gently drift down from the sky!”

"Got it? Leave it to me, mwah." Gulibo raised his paw.

Lico grabbed a map, spread it out, and drew a circle not far from the bookstore: "For the location, I recommend the Little Orchid Forest Park to the north. It's a good distance from the bookstore and the third team, making it easy to observe. Plus, the area is open enough with a lot of foot traffic, so you don't have to worry about the enemy easily locking onto the target. In such a large area, they can't play the fake camp trick."

Vande objected: "That way, the monarchy can't pretend to be a friend anymore—if the real one is on our side, it would be walking right into our trap if it showed up—but what if it pretends to be Vilbert?"

“It won’t,” Chu Hengkong said. “It knows I can never mistake the boss.”

"Very convincing. What if they get the information and use it to cause trouble?"

The wind chimes at the bookstore entrance tinkled as Trek waved and walked in: "If you want free security, we have plenty of people here!"

“It’s not good to abuse public power for private gain…” Ji Huaisu was acting out of professional habit.

"Normally, that's how it is, but this time, since it's a great hero who just saved the Third Pulse, everyone will turn a blind eye."

Trek tossed him a flyer: "There's just one small problem. The spot you chose was booked a week ago. The park has been the venue for the Thorn Freedom and Independence Symphony Orchestra's open-air concerts for the past two days—you can tell from the name that they're a well-known extremist art group."

Chu Hengkong stared at the familiar metal mask image on the flyer and said, "I'll go talk to them."

·
"What business do you conservatives have with our band?"

The conductor of the Free and Independent Symphony Orchestra was an old, green-haired tree-man whose long, hooked nose made his face even more unfriendly than his tone, drawing hostile stares from the members who were rehearsing.

After the commotion on the first day of the Jinghua Festival, Chu Hengkong and his group had made a name for themselves in Jingsha. Everywhere they talked about the blonde woman who carried out terrorist attacks and the prosthetic man who was terrifyingly skilled in combat. A few observant individuals even lumped them together with extreme conservatives who were causing destruction. In this environment, the bill's supporters were unlikely to be friendly, and Chu Hengkong felt an urge to flip another coin.

He said calmly, "I would like to borrow your venue to hold a fluorescent tree event."

"A fluorescent tree?" The old tree-man stared wide-eyed. "You?"

He was really bad at negotiating with old men like this, so he simply pulled Vander out of his pocket and let his best mouth speak for him. Vander, as much as possible, gave a brief, localized translation of the story of the two men without embellishment.

The old man's eyes widened in surprise: "You mean, there's a girl you lost contact with for over two years, so long that you thought she was dead. But recently you've rediscovered her whereabouts, and you're worried she won't be able to find you, so you want to borrow our space to set up a glow-in-the-dark tree?"

"Yes." Chu Hengkong nodded.

“The roots of the divine tree, of course!” The old tree-man turned and asked, “Does anyone have any objections?”

"We can provide the venue and music free of charge!" one musician said. "Without music, there's no atmosphere!"

"That's perfect! We can set up a stage in the trees, and we can play music from the treetops—everyone can hear us, and everyone will have a blast!"

The band members started discussing enthusiastically, leaving Chu Hengkong somewhat at a loss.

"Thank you," he said. "I didn't expect...after all..."

"Different stances?" the old tree man asked.

Chu Hengkong nodded.

"Differences in stance are a matter of politics, but whether lovers can meet again is a matter of love," the old tree man said seriously. "How can we ignore a relationship because of differences of opinion? Sir, this is the city of thorns, where love must always be above all else."

(End of this chapter)