Chapter 51 - Return (1/2)

Their ship had already set sail for two hours, and the rabbit had already woken up, but Intron was still immersed in the great shock he received just now.

Every day, he had been dealing with Zhong Yan with his heart in his throat. Anytime Zhong Yan’s calm and unfathomable gaze brushed over him, he would wonder with his heart pounding whether he had messed up anywhere. But now he’s telling him that the one in this battle of wits was actually his real superior?

When Zhong Yan verified his identity with him, he had done it so simply like nothing had happened and told him to go put the rabbit away just like usual.

……

Intron watched soullessly as the little rabbit nibbled on its rabbit pellets when suddenly, his terminal lit up.

They’ve just entered an area with a stable signal. Intron looked through the news that had just come in, and slowly stabilized his expression before getting up to look for Zhong Yan.

He knocked on the door of Zhong Yan’s Office. When he heard the call of “come in” from inside, he opened the door and went in. The terminal screen was not on, and Zhong Yan was not working. He seemed to be in a daze.

“Sir Zhong, we’ve just received news,” Intron said, ” The Interim Council Head of Leber System has arrived in Labor System.”

“Did he just arrive?” Zhong Yan asked. “That means he just passed us by, didn’t he?”

“No, he seems to have arrived a long time ago.” Intron shook his head. “Perhaps the message was delayed.”

Ever since separating from Adrian in White Aegis, Zhong Yan had been feeling restless. He rubbed his temples and gave it some thought. “Show me information on Qu Yongyi.”

Intron was surprised, and he asked, “Do you suspect that there’s a problem with him? Do you want to look at the official information, or…”

“The information we built on him is not official,” Zhong Yan said. Intron was a very orderly worker and soon sent over all the files regarding Qu Yongyi to him with his terminal.

Zhong Yan did not ask him to leave, so he stood beside Zhong Yan, and went through the files with him.

If Qu Yongyi was placed in the general public, he would definitely become a successful person at the top of the pyramid. After all, he worked in the Capital’s Supreme Council. But if you were to hand in that resume to the internal departments of the Supreme Council, he could only be said to be unremarkable. His father was also a councilman, but he had only worked in the council house of a second-tier planet. After transferring into the Supreme Council of the Capital, his connections were lacking, and his rate of promotion was also slow. He was only in his thirties when he entered the Supreme Council, which was considered a relatively young age for them. Now that a decade has passed, he was no longer the “young” one. His political achievements were bland and unremarkable. Adding on his reserved personality, he was practically buried in the Supreme Council where the elite gathered and became a wallflower.

This time, when “Butterfly” suddenly launched an issue with the Leber System, the interests of many parties were locked in a stalemate, which was how he came to be pushed out. Zhong Yan originally thought that he would not be able to come to work so smoothly, but he had already arrived, and he did not seem to have stumbled at all.

But how?

Zhong Yan looked through the files of this middle-aged man with a frown between his brows. After wasting so much effort through the ups and downs, there’s no way Pearson would be willing to just let this go. But now that Qu Yongyi had already headed off to work, what were they going to do now? Drag him down again? That would be too unsightly, and it’ll be hard to just brush this over.

The Leber System is close to the Navi System and has large amounts of mineral resources. The reason why Pearson put his hands on Leberr was so he could put the star system in his bag. Zhong Yan didn’t feel like any of this was worth his curiosity. He had also screened Qu Yongyi’s information a long time ago. From the looks of it, he was just someone who happened upon a catch birthed from conflict, and nobody could say for sure whether it was good or bad. But today, he was feeling vaguely uneasy about all this.

“Have we left Leber yet?” Zhong Yan asked.

“Not yet,” Intron responded, “We have a while to go.”

“How far is the next signal zone?”

“We passed one just a while ago, so the next one…” Intron checked the map on his terminal, “should be half an hour away. This area is densely populated, so there are many areas with stable signals.”

Zhong Yan looked at the time. There was less than half an hour to go for his and Adrian’s penalty deadline.

He had already paid him half of the fines after taking off. Adrian said he had set up an automatic transfer, but even though he did not know how long in advance his transfer was set to go, he was sure it should be right before the deadline.

In other words, when they receive a signal in half an hour, he should receive news that their marriage contract has been dissolved.

“Is everything settled on the public relations side?” Zhong Yan asked.

Intron did not ask him what he meant. After the ideal marriage partner is announced, there is a one-month buffer time before the spousal relationship is officially announced. If they wish to refuse the proposal, they also had to pay the fines within that timeframe. The list updated last month on this very day will officially be announced soon. Today, the various platforms of the virtual community were counting down, especially as the times were coming closer, and the two had yet to pay the fine. Intron even thinks that most everyone in the Federation was likely on their terminals, eagerly awaiting the news.

“Everything is ready, don’t worry,” Intron responded.

“What about Navi’s Public Relations Department?”

“I contacted them this morning. The drafts on both sides are ready. As soon as the news of the dissolution of your and Commander Yate’s relationship is announced, we will be able to follow up immediately after to control the situation.”

“Good. Where did Councilor Cayman head to?”

“He returned immediately after talking with Commander Yate yesterday. We just contacted their fleet earlier. They’ve passed the Glory System, and all is safe.”

After asking about all the little details, Zhong Yan finally eased up and allowed Intron to leave.

Half an hour soon passed. As soon as their ship entered a stable signal zone, the notification bell of his terminal beeped without a moment’s delay.