Xue Qi glanced at the scarf, then noticed Hua Mi had her nose buried in the shells she was eating. She slapped the back of her clean, white hand.

“That’s probably enough, don’t upset your stomach. While these are still hot, let’s take some back to Old Zeng. “

“Huh? “

“The family’s entire hope rests on him, the governess! “

“Ladies. ” Suddenly, two patterned scarves were extended before them. “These are for equally beautiful you. “

“Wow, thanks, handsome Yishu! ” Hua Mi took one with a brilliant smile.

Xue Qi squinted at the unmoved Yang Zicang, grinning.

He Yishu promptly said, “He doesn’t need one. He already has something better. “

“Ha… how embarrassing. ” Xue Qi accepted after a brief moment of courtesy.

At that moment, a man entered through a door at the edge of the inner hall, passed by an assistant next to the banquet host, and gave the assistant a slight nod.

He Yishu subtly withdrew his gaze.

Once half the people at the table had returned to the ship, He Yishu wiped his mouth with a napkin, dabbed his hands, and nudged Yang Zicang’s elbow.

Yang Zicang, who had been quietly admiring the inner hall’s dance, looked sideways. Seeing the standing man offer him a cigarette, he rose and followed He Yishu outside.

“What’s wrong? ” In the corridor, Yang Zicang handed the cigarette back, since he had already said that afternoon that he didn’t smoke.

｛He Yishu wants to invest for me.｝

｛He Yishu has invested 1N for me.｝

{Just now, around that corner… }

Barely a sentence was spoken when the glow on their chests caught the attention of the islanders in the courtyard nearby.

Whenever the halo on a Fogfolk’s chest lights up, it draws their attention.

He Yishu immediately severed the Telepathic Link. Switching to a mix of half-Cantonese and half-Mandarin, he spoke casually against the banquet music:

“Just now I spotted someone—neither a mechanic watchin’ the instruments, nor a pilot, definitely not office staff—but he hung around the plane for a good while. “

Yang Zicang glanced toward the palm grove, where the plane’s silhouette was dimly visible in the night, cast in a few faint rings of light beneath the streetlamps.

He Yishu lowered his voice: “Three smokes’ time, about seventeen or eighteen minutes. Ya think there’s somethin’ fishy? “

“Maybe just a routine check? ” Yang Zicang furrowed his brows slightly. “Hmm… “

｛Silent Night.｝

The moment the faint energy circuits within Yang Zicang’s body began to stir, two auras radiating terrifying fluctuations suddenly materialized around the island—one of them right inside the house behind him.

Silent Night was like a searchlight, instantly illuminating the presences that were already there.

In nearly half a millisecond, Yang Zicang recoiled and severed the spreading mental energy!

-｛Distributor February. Di’an marvels at my efficiency in conceiving the prelude to Radiance.｝

-｛February. Di’an grants me a Favorable Review!｝

More profound streams of energy spread rapidly through the ground and structures. Yet they lacked the trait of Silent Night—they perceived their surroundings solely through the expansion of their own energy. So even though they detected people everywhere, they couldn’t pinpoint who it was from moments before.

Yang Zicang, body taut and muscles tense, slowly exhaled through his nose.

This damned distributor.Yang Zicang was finally convinced that what the Travelers’ Guild had told him was true. The distributor wasn’t some transcendent overseer from beyond the world who beheld everything with foresight; rather, they were nothing but an arsonist who fanned the flames at the first sign of trouble brewing.

• ｛Distributor February. Di’an eagerly anticipates my transaction at any opportune moment in glorious history.｝ “This damned thing. “

Yang Zicang set his hands on his hips and drew a deep breath.

……

Inside the banquet hall, a man in his sixties, dressed in formal attire, was listening to music when his companion abruptly changed his expression.

He twisted his head and swept his gaze outward. Beyond the partitions formed by rows of wooden “flower stands,” the “Fogfolk” were laughing and chatting in hushed tones, speaking a variety of languages from their own world.

“What’s wrong, Lange? ” The island lord, his companion around sixty, turned his head to look.

“Nothing. Just some outlanders showing off their weird tricks. ” The man stood up. “To prevent these jittery fools—who can’t stay still any better than monkeys—from causing any trouble, I’ll take a walk. “

Not far away, the young General Ross noticed the commotion.

“Something the matter, Lord Ka Yunni? “

“It’s nothing,” the Island Master said with a smile. “Just some rude outsiders. My friend has already gone out to take a look.“

Major General Ross nodded, then turned to a young woman standing beside him—she had a graceful figure and was holding his coat—and said, “Hailikoni, you also go with Long Shander and take a look. “

“Yes, sir! “

The pilot and his mechanic exchanged puzzled glances at the two figures heading off one after another.

……

Lange, wearing a brown jacket, and Hailikoni, in a tight-fitted civilian military uniform, walked out of the banquet hall one after the other.

He Yishu and Yang Zicang, smoking at the entrance, watched the duo come out and glance around. The two instigators feigned looking down, sneaking glances at these natives from the corners of their eyes.

Their auras were sharp at first glance, but otherwise, they were not much different from ordinary military personnel.

The man glanced at Yang Zicang and his companion beside him. “I’ll head to the right. ” With that, he walked along the wooden corridor toward the other end.

The woman swept her gaze across the surroundings, pausing for a second on He Yishu’s handsome face before naturally looking away.

“That beauty probably has you memorized, ” Yang Zicang said, patting the young man on the shoulder as he watched the woman’s departing figure. He Yishu gave a wry smile.

The two returned to the banquet hall. By then, the “Fogfolk ” who had come off the ship had basically finished their meals. But the real feast was just beginning.

Since the hosts here did not wish to dine with the outlanders, the outer perimeter of the venue had been served an early meal.

The main body of the song and dance troupe truly began to enter.

A group of musicians in formal attire walked into the banquet hall with high spirits, playing wind instruments, and bowed to the guests on both sides of the aisle, instantly receiving a wave of enthusiastic cheers from the island’s residents.

“It’s the music troupe from the Chebin Archipelago! “

The servants here had mostly stopped paying attention to the calls of the Fogfolk. Feeling snubbed, most of the Fogfolk either returned to their ships or headed for the seaside hotels they had rented with extra Lifespan Endowment. Only twenty or thirty people stubbornly remained seated at the buffet tables, ready to enjoy the grand song and dance performance about to begin.

— “Tonight, we gather here to send off Major General Ross from the great Haven of Hawk Quake… “

“Let’s go. ” He Yishu picked up his coat, which was draped over the back of a chair.

The two stepped on the faded red carpet that carpeted the entire hall, left the banquet room, and walked out onto the broad expanse leading down to the beach by the house.

He Yishu said in a low voice under a tree, “I think we need to get a closer look at that airplane. “

“There are at least four people hiding in the woods near the plane. “

He Yishu was taken aback. “How did you know that? “

“Those two came out earlier because I startled them while probing with my psychic force. Lesson learned. “

He Yishu stared at Yang Zicang as if he were, well, a monster.

“Then what do we do? The more I think about that man, the more suspicious he seems. Could it be that you’ve already tipped them off? “

“It’s fine. They just came out to check. After all, it’s nothing rare for us ‘Fogfolk’ to use a bit of our abilities. “

He Yishu glanced at the plain protective wristband he was wearing.

“If we want to make something of ourselves in this world, we’d better not pass up every possible chance. I’m still set on checking it out, to see if there’s actually something wrong. “

Trying every single one would definitely lead to a miserable death.

But Yang Zicang understood what He Yishu meant—trying doesn’t necessarily mean having to.

“That person who went earlier, he should be heading to the restroom, ” Yang Zicang said.

He Yishu was slightly surprised. “You can understand the Wutao language too? “

“No. I just perceived the nearby terrain in that instant of probing. I figured the row of public toilets is pretty unmistakable. “

He nodded his head toward the restrooms. “The stall at the end should have a view of the runway. Combined with the fact that he was the first to scout out that direction, that spot should be our initial target for inspection. “

Because that location is already not far from the chain-link fence surrounding the runway.

“I thought you’d find a way to lure the four people in the woods away, letting me head straight over to check the plane… A restroom, huh. “

He Yishu gazed toward that direction from the corner of his eye. “He went there right in front of us, didn’t he? Wouldn’t going there directly expose our ‘curiosity’ a little too much? “

“No, ” Yang Zicang said, his tone growing a bit more serious. “On the contrary, we need to make haste. “

“Why? “

“While his reaction wasn’t extremely fast, he was still clearly a bit anxious about that restroom. If something is actually going on, I suspect he went in there to check on something. In a little while, it might get cleared out by someone else. “

He Yishu nodded thoughtfully, “Right, his actions must have caught the attention of that officer’s men. Ah, I see. “

He looked at Yang Zicang with admiration.

“You mean that the officer’s men will definitely go to check it out later, so the islanders will steer clear, giving us a window of opportunity. And only during this fleeting window can we enter the restroom to take a look. “

-｛Distributor February. Di’an, paying close attention to my every move.｝

“You’re absolutely right. “

Yang Zicang looked at the man and said, “And I have reason to believe that the people that officer left on this island have probably all been compromised. “

He Yishu stared at him, scrutinizing.

“Because among the four men in the woods, one is wearing a uniform almost identical to that major general’s. “