Master of the Stars

He continued speaking after a moment’s hesitation: “There are also these line patterns. This should be a magical symbol..... I don’t know very much about the Mystic Arts. Is there someone who’s more of an expert than me?”

Zhang Yingying raised her hand from behind on the spot: “I’ve played with tarot cards before. Does that count?”

He Yueyin could make out what Luo Nan was hesitating to say and she spoke directly: “Mr. Luo, sir, currently you are our only person who’s qualified to make judgments about the Human-Faced Arachnid. There’s no need to draw others in to explain.”

Zhang Yingying stuck out her tongue. Luo Nan scratched his head, but in the end, he continued down his reasoning: “At first I believed that these decorative vines, flowery patterns, and “Magical Symbols”, were just goods; they had no practical purpose. But here, there’s a portion of line patterns that seem to display effects. Like drawing water through a canal, a portion of energy converges together over here......”

Luo Nan pointed to the projector of the lighting fixture.

He didn’t need to use his psychic methods to come to this conclusion, just using his eyes was fine. The remains of those lines and that lighting fixture were similar to the residue of the dark red spores on the warship. They too were slowly “evaporating” from the room.

He Yueyin was unable to see this “residue”, but she took out a small and exquisite mist sprayer from her pocket.

Luo Nan could guess the general purpose of this. It should contain a special substance similar to the Shadow Mist1 and the substance should be able to capture the vestiges of the Darksider lifeform meddling with reality.

“Indeed, there exists the relevant ray residue.”

Zhang Yingying walked over at this time, leaning on Luo Nan’s shoulder and looking at the lighting fixture. A while passed before she spoke to He Yueyin, who was carefully observing the fixture as well: “The situation appears to be complex. Is a Secret Order involved?”

He Yueyin grunted; she didn’t respond immediately.

“Secret Order?” Luo Nan didn’t understand.

“They are a sort of baffling thing. A very troublesome organization of lunatics.”

Luo Nan stared at Zhang Yingying: “You said that ability users haven’t formed any secret societies2!”

“The world doesn’t deal in absolutes. And this isn’t a secret society. It’s an evil cult okay?”

Zhang Yingying saw that He Yueyin hadn’t responded for a time. She shrugged at Luo Nan: “Just think about it. There are 600,000 ability users in the entire world. At most one tenth of them have a relatively complete practice system and train steadily and honestly. Most of the remaining 500,000+ possess certain abilities through a complete mystery. If there’s no one to guide them, many of them grow to have inflated egos. They consider themselves to be some “new human race”. Some “child of god” and so on. They believe that they stand at the apex of humanity, so they believe they can do whatever they please..... Things are quite like this in novels and comics right?”

“Hehe.”

“Going ‘hehe’ is useless. This is the reality. Of course, the majority of these retards will be taught by the police on how to conduct themselves. If they can’t beat exo-armors, then they can’t tout some sh*t about being a child of god or a holy infant. The more annoying ones are handled by the military’s Burners. Then the Society cooperates with the military to welcome them into our organization for rehabilitation and observation.”

Zhang Yingying spread her hand: “But in the end, there are still some very special fellows. They can be considered the Gifted Class of the Gifted Class. Indeed, they are extremely difficult to deal with. Even within the Society, I’m afraid that even the most top notch ability users of the same type would find it hard to communicate with them. They don’t approve of the Society’s Ability System and its designations. They believe that there’s a different ‘explanation’. But their explanation often involves using their abilities to wrap firmly around religion, legends, mystic arts, other existing theories, or perhaps rich imagination, to superficially present themselves. The end result is...... that they start schools and teachings!

“Several secret sects are formed by people to advance their exquisite theories and validate their imagination in this world. The problem is... They themselves may be tremendous, but their relevant theories are extremely absurd. If one were to practice according to their theories, more than half would die tragic deaths...... But this is unavoidable. The illustrious power of mystics and sages is more kick-ass than ten thousand truths. Large quantities of people enter into these sects just as usual. They dedicate everything to these sects and are extremely devoted. These sects are quite a headache for the government. Naturally, they are quite the headache for the Society as well.”

Luo Nan was able to hear the hidden implications: “In other words, the Society can’t take these people.”

“We’re holding back against evil in fear of harming the innocent! The leaders of these sects are morons, but their strength is truly powerful. In addition, these sects are planted deeply in the cities. To rummage through with our current population density... You might as well just set off a nuclear warhead in the middle of the city....... Hey, believe it. Think of the Human-Faced Arachnid and R&D district!”

Luo Nan was speechless for a time and was a bit lost in thought. Do those powerful ability users really possess the terrifying destructive capability of a nuclear warhead?

This information was stimulating. After returning from his thoughts, he simply spoke out the series of questions he had piled up in his heart:

“How does the Society designate things in their Ability System? What’s really considered to be an Awakened? Where do I stand in all of this?”

Zhang Yingying’s mouth had already gone dry by talking so much in her explanation of Secret Orders. She rushed to eat some fruits to replenish herself. She waved her hand to indicate that she heard him and spoke ambiguously:

“You have the HexaEar already. Go look yourself.”

“......”

“I believe that Mr. Luo has already achieved a portion of it, and may have even exceeded the level of an ordinary Awakened. But you’re extremely over-specialized.”

He Yueyin had suddenly entered the conversation, and she had given quite the explicit judgment.

Zhang Yingying went “Hey hey!” and shouted: “Let’s not talk about this for now, how’s the matter with this Order?”

Luo Nan really wanted to whip her!

Ultimately, He Yueyin was more concerned with their proper business. She responded: “I’ve already notified the Society, we will first withdraw......”

“It can’t be. We had such a strong start, but we’re finishing so weak?” Octopus, who was rushing to adjust his drug composition, lifted his head. “We’re ending things just like this?”

“Actually, some leader of this Order has been protesting against the actions of the Society, that we’ve interrupted their ‘Sacred Ritual’.”

Octopus ate some shock: “We’ve been discovered?”

Luo Nan was quite baffled: “How were we discovered?”

Cat Eyes glared at him quite unreasonably: “You blaming me?”

Zhang Yingying’s attention centered elsewhere: “Sacred.....Ritual? Here?”

She immediately threw out the fruit platter, spread her hand, and laughed out. Who was it that spoke of “holding back against evil in fear of harming the innocents” just now?

Everyone in the room had a different reaction, but He Yueyin had the most cool-headed attitude. She responded:

“The leaders of this Order spoke without logic, and the methods of Secret Orders exceed common sense. Regardless of anything, our target is the Human-Faced Arachnid, not some Secret Order. This operation is now terminated. We will withdraw. I will create a briefing on all matters that happened and deliver it to the Society and the hands of every one of you.”

This time, these words were transmitted using the Psychic Wave Network. Then a strange cry of exasperation sounded within the encrypted channel.

Zhang Yingying’s eyebrows shot up: “This Order jumped quite high up in fright! You sure they aren’t colluding with the Human-Faced Arachnid? What’s this Order’s name! Reveal it to me!”

He Yueyin didn’t speak. She just shook her head to indicate to Zhang Yingying to look at the projection equipment of the lighting fixture in the middle of the room.

It was unknown when, but the “burning” pink glow of the lighting fixture could no longer be seen. And on the two sides of it was the emergence of a new image.

There were two thin chains hanging down the sides, each one hanging a flat dish. One dish was black, the other was white. The two were in symmetry, hanging in the air motionless to form the typical style of a Balance Scale.

This time Zhang Yingying’s lips split into a grin. She wanted to talk, but in the end, her mouth remained shut.

It was actually Octopus who whispered:

“Mommy! It’s the Order of Justice!”

1. Shadow Mist (影雾) was mentioned in Chapter 13.2. It was the method that the military used to detect the burning wraith on Ship Lanshan.

2. Zhang Yingying made fun of Luo Nan for believing in secret societies and dark organizations in Chapter 18.2.