Chapter 593: Turn Around

Chen Ling was quite helpless.

Upon his return from the Era Archive, it was already evening, and the sky outside had completely darkened. Inside the opera house, without electric lights, it was especially dim and quiet. He had originally thought he could finally get some rest today.

But as it turned out, he had still underestimated the enthusiasm of the people around him.

"Envoy," Huang Suyu whispered, leaning close to his ear, "I heard there's a power outage in this district, and I was worried it would affect you, so I immediately sent people to buy and deliver a batch of lanterns for you. Once all these lanterns are hung, the brightness certainly won't be inferior to electric lights."

Chen Ling looked at the two truckloads of lanterns outside the door, his mouth twitching slightly. "...Thank you."

"No need to thank me, it's what I should do," Huang Suyu said, her eyes crinkling in a smile. The glow of the lanterns filling the room reflected in her pupils, like countless stars that couldn't be hidden.

"By the way, any progress on what I asked you to find?"

"Not yet," Huang Suyu shook her head, her expression turning serious. "I've already visited several botany experts and showed them what the petals look like. I even specifically sent people to the South Sea Domain, but no one recognized this flower. A large portion of them believe that this flower doesn't seem to be from Earth."

"...Not from Earth??" Chen Ling was stunned.

These petals were spread right beneath Hongchen Jun. If these flowers weren't from Earth, didn't that mean Hongchen Jun wasn't on Earth? Where else could she be? Did she hide herself in space?

"If it doesn't work out, perhaps I can go to the South Sea Domain myself and reconfirm with those experts," Huang Suyu said.

"Never mind, no need. I'll look for a breakthrough elsewhere."

As the two of them were talking, all the lanterns inside and outside the opera house had already been hung. Dozens of lanterns were evenly distributed in every area, making it the brightest building in the entire domain.

Some residents, bored in the darkness of their homes, couldn't help but come over to join the excitement upon seeing the brightly lit opera house. This led to an unprecedented number of people queuing at the opera house entrance, with crowds almost blocking the entire street.

"Sir! There are too many guests outside today, when should we start the performance?" Kong Baosheng, sweating profusely, ran over and asked.

Since things had come to this, it was impossible for Chen Ling to slack off anymore. He waved his hand helplessly:

"Get ready, let's start on time."

"Alright!"

As Chen Ling turned and went backstage to prepare, the opera house entrance also became busy.

Jian Changsheng and Diamond 10 stood at the entrance with long faces, beginning to sell tickets for today's performance according to the queue order, their movements mechanical and stiff. They were like two emotionless ticket-checking machines. Ever since the audience at the opera house grew, Kong Baosheng alone couldn't handle all the work. So, these two members of the "professional team" were forced to take on part-time jobs, standing guard and checking tickets for Chen Ling.

"This job is really boring," Jian Changsheng muttered quietly.

"Boring, but it's part of our disguise and infiltration," Diamond 10 replied expressionlessly. "Only by doing ordinary work can we blend into ordinary people's lives. Besides, you don't have to stand here every day. Today, Clubs and Heart 9 went to search for the Hongchen base at night; it'll be our turn tomorrow."

"That's true," Jian Changsheng looked up at the endless queue behind them and couldn't help but say, "but there are an exceptional number of people today... Is it because of the power outage?"

"Probably."

"Tsk, wouldn't it be great if the power went out tomorrow instead? It just had to be on the day I'm checking tickets. What rotten luck!"

"Speaking of which, power outages in Hongchen Main City have been a bit too frequent lately."

"Frequent power outages? So what?"

"You just joined the Twilight Society not long ago and haven't had much interaction with other factions... It's normal for your perception not to be that sharp." Diamond 10's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sometimes, you need to see the essence through the phenomena."

"...What do you mean?"

"Have you heard of the Scarlet Sky Cult?"

Outside the opera house.

Liu Qingyan looked at the brightly lit opera house. The moment she caught a glimpse of the red-clad figure, her heart subtly stirred.

A red thread appeared in her vision, seemingly spanning the void and connecting to the red-clad person. The other end of the thread was connected to her heart.

It was him, it really was him...

Even Liu Qingyan hadn't expected that Chen Ling would play three different roles in his three visits to the Hongchen Domain. Furthermore, the transition from the Golden Society Envoy last time to the renowned Hongchen actor this time was a bit too drastic in style. But this further demonstrated Chen Ling's supreme skill in disguise and infiltration.

As ticket checking began, the surrounding crowd started moving towards the opera house. Blending into the crowd, Liu Qingyan also unconsciously moved forward along the queue.

"Only three tickets left! Those who don't get in today, don't be discouraged. We'll be distributing number tags for tomorrow. If you're interested, you can use your number tag for early entry tomorrow."

Jian Changsheng's shouts came from the front.

Ticket after ticket was sold, and people at the front entered one after another. In a short while, most of the audience seats beneath the stage were filled, with only a few remaining. Seeing this, those at the back of the queue immediately began to sigh.

When Liu Qingyan reached the very front of the queue, Jian Changsheng also had only one ticket left in his hand. This would be the last admission ticket for Chen Ling's performance tonight.

Jian Changsheng was slightly surprised to see that the last "lucky audience member" was a beggar, but he still spoke:

"Hello, would you like to buy a ticket? It's one hundred per ticket."

Liu Qingyan reached into her pocket. There were indeed a few banknotes inside. Although she lived frugally on a daily basis, appearing like a beggar, she wasn't actually short on money. She took a deep look at the brightly lit opera house, remained silent for a moment, then shook her head.

"Never mind... no need."

After saying that, she turned and walked back towards the end of the queue, her figure gradually fading into the darkness.

Jian Changsheng was also stunned. He hadn't expected someone to queue so diligently for so long, only to turn and leave just when they were about to get the last ticket. Even if she didn't want to see the performance, buying this last ticket would certainly allow her to resell it for two hundred, making a guaranteed profit.

However, thinking of the girl's attire just now, she might indeed have been unable to afford the ticket price and had no choice but to leave. Thinking of this, Jian Changsheng couldn't help but feel a surge of sympathy.

"Next person, please."

The person behind Liu Qingyan in the queue had already mentally prepared themselves for not getting a ticket and were annoyedly stomping their feet. Upon seeing this, they were immediately overjoyed. Without hesitation, they pulled out money from their pocket, bought the ticket, and skipped into the opera house.

Liu Qingyan silently walked through the crowd, as if deaf to everything behind her.