Chapter 191

Chapter 191

"...Then it's settled for now. If there are no further objections, our pre-match meeting concludes here."

A chorus of scraping chairs echoed through the conference room. The Crown Prince, with his dark red hair, smiled as he gathered his documents and was the first to exit, with Mu Huanzhu following close behind like a loyal guard.

Eve, propping her chin in her hand, finally returned from her mental wanderings. Her mind was entirely consumed by the substitute doll she had received yesterday, and she hadn't paid any attention to Anthony's words during the meeting. To her left, Maki Tachibana yawned and grumbled:

"Seriously? Dragging everyone here so early in the morning, only to say nothing useful. They're just toying with us."

"Actually, it's Anthony testing our obedience," Grace chuckled, then turned to Eve, feigning surprise, "Long time no see, Eve."

Playing along, Eve also yawned and replied, "Only four or five days, I think. I went back to handle some things and returned as soon as I finished."

Maki Tachibana couldn’t help but click her tongue. "Juggling so many roles, you really are busy."

They were already exhausted from training and preparing for the competition, yet Eve could still manage to shuttle between the league and the princess's mansion—her energy seemed almost superhuman.

"Haha, perhaps..."

Fearing that further conversation might expose her, Eve quickly dismissed the chatty Maki with a few casual remarks.

With the third round of the competition imminent, the organizing committee had uncharacteristically provided no specific details, only notifying the time and duration. As the round with the highest scoring weight, the students had no choice but to silently intensify their training. Meanwhile, the chief representatives of each school increased the frequency of pre-competition meetings. At least to Eve’s knowledge, the day before the meeting at the First Empire Academy, Blue Star Comprehensive and Imperial University of Science and Technology had already held a joint meeting in the same conference room.

Grace soon called Maki Tachibana away to the training room, leaving only a few people in the spacious conference hall. Eve leaned over and asked Lorca on her right, "Are you free later?"

"Ah, me?" Lorca was somewhat surprised by her direct question. "Of course. What do you need, Xiao Fu?"

Eve let out a mysterious laugh that seemed to drift through the air, inexplicably sending a shiver down Lorca’s spine.

"Come to my room later."

She tugged at Lorca’s sleeve, whispered conspiratorially, and then skipped away lightly, like a chirping bird flying past a window. Lorca was left alone in the empty conference room, stunned for a long moment, before finally comprehending her words as if hearing human speech for the first time.

Eve had just told him to come to her room.

And she had said it privately, when no one else was around.

"......"

For some reason, the usually composed and elegant young master of the Oliver family suddenly blushed, sitting frozen for a while before abruptly jolting to his feet.

"W-Wait, Xiao Fu!"

When Lorca finally found Eve’s room, he patted his cheeks, forcibly suppressing some unrealistic fantasies in his mind, and then gently knocked on the metal door—he didn’t know why he was acting like a thief, but the thought of Eve’s brief message made him feel a strange unease.

*Knock, knock.*

About twenty seconds later, the door was pulled open from the inside. Eve peeked out, glanced around to make sure no one was passing by, and then pulled Lorca inside. "Hurry, come in."

"?!"

Caught off guard, Lorca stumbled in, and only after the door slammed shut did he say somewhat helplessly, "Why so cautious all of a sudden? It’s not like you’re hiding something illicit in here..."

His words caught in his throat as he stared at the silver-haired girl sitting quietly by the head of the bed.

A hand suddenly rested on Lorca’s shoulder—cold, soft, and boneless.

The room’s temperature seemed to drop by a few degrees. Behind the thin curtains, sunlight filtered faintly.

He turned his head and saw another beautiful face, identical to Eve's, leaning close to him, giggling shrilly: "Guess which of us is real and which is fake~ If you guess wrong, I’ll skin you and turn you into a doll~"

Hearing this, Eve by the bed also looked over, as if cooperating with the one behind him. Her clear eyes rolled twice, coldly scanning Lorca’s face, icy and mechanical.

After a moment, she grinned, revealing two rows of neat, white teeth, clearly trying hard to be scary.

"......"

Lorca’s romantic notions were completely shattered by this spectacle. He sighed. "Xiao Fu, let's not do this in broad daylight."

He pressed the control panel on the wall. In moments, bright, soft light filled the room, the temperature control returned to normal, the curtains were drawn, and the ventilation system hummed as it blew warm, dry air into the room.

It was like returning from the underworld to the world of the living. Having done all this, Lorca finished and stepped back, not questioning Eve about her ghostly antics, but simply staring at her, waiting for her to explain everything.

"Alright, I knew these clumsy tricks wouldn’t scare you."

Eve pouted, dropping the twisted grin from her face, and walked over to the bed. She pressed a spot on the back of the other "Eve’s" neck. With a click, the previously lively and beautiful girl vanished from her spot. Eve rummaged through a pile of clothes for a moment before pulling out a brass-colored, human-shaped metal block and handing it to Lorca.

"Look, it’s the substitute doll. Your uncle sent it to me not long ago," she said, pinching the small doll between two fingers and smiling. "A Five-Star Alchemical Tool. I was originally worried about how to play two roles simultaneously in the third round, and then this solution just fell into my lap."

Lorca took the small doll with some surprise. As he examined it, he noticed a faint pink stain on the top of the doll’s head.

"So it’s this," he recognized its origin at a glance. "Its side effects are quite strong. Are you using it already?"

To be fair, while the side effects of this tool were significant, its positive effects were equally powerful. After a moment’s thought, Lorca handed the doll back to Eve. "I can’t believe they gave this to you."

Eve nodded. "The third round is about to start, so I need to familiarize myself with the tool in advance. Besides, the doll’s unlucky nature isn’t absolute—luck is always hard to predict."

As long as one’s sixth sense was sharp enough, it was entirely possible to avoid or transfer bad luck.

For instance, when Family Head Oliver accidentally poisoned the elder, it was hard to say whether he, having carried this source of misfortune for nearly a month, was completely unaware of the undercooked beast meat—Eve doubted he could be that ignorant.

"Compared to this, I think the other two items your uncle brought are even more unreliable," she briefly introduced the other two tools to Lorca before adding, "The tube containing the coordinates of the divine realm is one thing—after all, until it’s opened, no one knows if it’s real or a joke. But that prophecy crystal... I have a bad feeling about it."

"Is it a blue crystal shaped like a butterfly?" Lorca suddenly asked.

"Yes, have you seen it?"

"Not only have I seen it, I’ve used it," he smiled and explained. "Basically, every member of the Oliver family has been tested with that crystal at birth."

Eve was genuinely surprised now. "Is your family that superstitious?"

Her impression of the Oliver family had undergone a significant improvement. Initially, due to the eerie descriptions in the original work, she had distrusted them. But after spending more time with them, Eve began to notice differences from the original portrayal.

Perhaps because they had been involved with alchemy since childhood, everyone in the Oliver family, from the family head down to the youngest members—even Louis Oliver, who had run away—exuded a strong sense of not believing in fate.

It was precisely because they understood mystery that they did not blindly worship it; the more they understood what gods were, the more they believed in human strength.

Lorca’s claim that every family member was tested with the prophecy crystal at birth made Eve suspect that the stone might have a different purpose.

Sure enough, Lorca quickly clarified: "Although that stone is called a prophecy tool, because it’s still an alchemical tool, it’s particularly sensitive to matters related to alchemy. So, the family basically uses it as a touchstone to test everyone’s talent in alchemy."

"However, since the Oliver family already has the Alchemist Association as part of their business, very few actual family members want to become alchemists. So, the stone is mostly used for fun. Over all these years, the only useful result it’s produced is Louis Uncle."

So that’s how it was. Now Eve understood why Gu Zhaoxi had been so eager to persuade her to take the prophecy crystal.

She was probably growing impatient with Eve’s slow progress and wanted to confirm ahead of time whether Eve had the potential to become a Senior Alchemist.

However, unfortunately, Eve has never had much interest in metaphysical activities like prophecy and divination.

"I feel..." she scornfully chuckled, "your Uncle Louis is about to have some bad luck soon."

Because no new Senior Alchemists had emerged for many years, Gu Zhaoxi had to protect every existing Senior Alchemist as much as possible to maintain the balance of the hierarchy. But in recent years, geniuses have frequently emerged. Among the young alchemists with potential, aside from Eve, there are also Luo Lin, Yang Haibo, and Maki Tachibana.

If she were truly tested and found to have the potential to advance to a Senior Alchemist, Gu Zhaoxi would no longer need to continue protecting the existing Senior Alchemists. Without her and the support of other alchemists, someone like Louis, who is unarmed yet possesses extraordinary skills, might not be able to go very far.

—The world is about to descend into chaos.

-

In the extremely deep wormhole tunnel, a fleet of starships sent by the Alliance was desperately struggling to maintain stability amid dimensional fluctuations.

Due to geographical reasons, the Alliance suffered far greater damage from Zerg threats than the Empire. In the past three years, a total of seven Royal Zerg had awakened. Fortunately, these Royal Zerg emerged in remote galaxies, on lower-tier planets or semi-abandoned resource stars. Under the attacks of the Alliance's most elite "Heaven's Punishment" system, the threat remained within controllable limits.

However, as time passed, Royal Zerg had been awakening more frequently and closer to core cities. According to predictions by the Alliance's primary AI, "Nuwa," the Zerg Queen would awaken within two years. Once this supreme Royal Zerg awakened from its slumber, the entire universe would be on the brink of being dragged into a terrifying war.

Time was tight, so the Empire's delegation was quickly invited to discuss matters related to the Zerg war as soon as they arrived.

However, Luo Yunyi was able to finalize the negotiations so quickly with another major assist, which was also the real reason she was sent.

A polite knock came from the door, followed by a clear female voice: "Aunt, are you asleep?"

"Not yet," Luo Yunyi withdrew her gaze from outside the window and replied gently, "Please come in, Cuimei."

A young girl pushed the door open. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old, tall, with jet-black hair tied up with a red silk ribbon. Her face was delicate, and her naturally smiling lips gave her an effortlessly warm expression.

This was Lin Cuimei, the eldest daughter and heir of the Lin family, the foremost family in the Alliance, and also Luo Yunyi's nominal niece.

The Lin and Luo families were originally one clan in ancient times, but later, the two branches went to the Alliance and the Empire respectively, and their relationship gradually grew distant. However, when it came to actually using the connection, both the Lin and Luo families were happy to acknowledge their ancestral ties.

Due to cultural differences between the Alliance and the Empire, while the Empire relied on spiritual power and Alchemy, the Alliance emphasized equality and human rights, depending more on the dominant role of information AI in society. People from both sides were very interested in each other's cultural achievements, and Lin Cuimei was no exception.

At her age, she was particularly prone to being superstitious. Without knowing what she had imagined, Luo Yunyi merely mentioned Alchemy out of obligation to introduce it, and Lin Cuimei persistently clung to her, coming to Luo Yunyi's room secretly almost every night to ask about matters related to alchemists.

"I wonder if I’m still at an age where I can learn Alchemy?"

The girl clasped her hands together, murmured with infinite yearning, while Luo Yunyi could only smile awkwardly beside her.

If the most promising heir of the Lin family were really lured into becoming an alchemist... the fragile familial bond between the Lin and Luo families would surely come to an end.

Given the gravity of the matter, Luo Yunyi skillfully changed the subject.

"Didn’t you tell me a couple of days ago that you wanted to watch the Five-School League first before going to the capital star to meet the Emperor of the Empire?"

She tapped lightly on her terminal screen, and a document was projected into the air via virtual imaging. "A few days ago, I reported this matter to the Emperor. Considering that you will be competing with the Empire’s children later, it is indeed necessary to understand your opponents in advance. This is also part of our hospitality as hosts. After we exit the wormhole, the delegation will split into two groups. The others will return to the capital star with me, while you will be met by another important personage from the Empire who will take you to observe the Five-School League."

"Really?" Lin Cuimei looked overjoyed, rushed over and threw herself into Luo Yunyi’s arms, planted two loud kisses on her cheek, and exclaimed happily, "Aunt, you’re the best!"

"I’m just the messenger. If you want to thank anyone, it should be the Emperor for his kindness. Alright, no more acting spoiled, come down now."

Luo Yunyi helplessly loosened the girl’s embrace and, looking into her bright, dark eyes, reminded her, "The official who will take you to the Five-School League later is quite serious. When I’m not around, you must pay attention to your behavior and manners, Cuimei. You must understand that, as the heir of the Lin family, your actions represent more than just yourself. Understood?"

"I know. I only dare to act like this in front of you," Lin Cuimei said with a grin.

"You must also remember to take care of your sister."

"I will!"

It’s unclear if the Lin family was being overly trusting or simply careless—not only did they send their heir to another country, but they also sent their other daughter along, claiming it was to broaden their horizons.

Judging by Lin Cuimei’s excitement, Luo Yunyi wasn’t as reassured as she appeared.

A sliver of light suddenly pierced through the rift in spacetime as the fleet smoothly exited the wormhole. At the other end of the galactic arm, a medium-sized starship marked with the Five-School League's emblem carried three hundred students, flying steadily toward the venue for the third round of the competition, which had not been disclosed until just before the event began.