The moment her last finger closed, a muffled explosion erupted from the night sky above without warning.
It was an extremely deep resonance, as if space itself was vibrating.
Jiang Lijin instinctively ducked her head.
The next second, she tilted her head up and stood rooted to the spot in a daze.
High in the firmament, a cluster of dazzling light suddenly burst forth. Immediately after, countless streams of light dragging long tails splashed outwards, transforming into a meteor shower that cascaded down in a magnificent display.
Jiang Lijin had once seen a heavily funded fireworks show back on Earth, but even that could not compare to the sight before her eyes. The light from gunpowder was fleeting, but this luminous stardust lingered in the night sky, refusing to dissipate. They even began to rearrange themselves, guided by some specific gravitational field.
The specks of light converged and drifted, finally outlining a massive interstellar character against the pitch-black night sky.
It was her name.
"Li."
While Jiang Lijin was staring at the sky, a sudden warm touch brushed against her cheek.
Tinia had sidled up next to her at some point. Turning his head, he planted a quick peck on her cheek.
He pulled away the instant their skin touched.
Jiang Lijin snapped back to reality and turned to glare at him.
Tinia had already taken a half-step back. His damp blue eyes gazed at her, the corners of his eyes drooping in the exact manner of a puppy that had done something wrong.
Jiang Lijin raised a hand and rubbed her cheek. Seeing Tinia like this, she forced the scolding words she was about to say back down her throat.
"Just this once," she warned with a straight face.
Tinia immediately took a mile. "You're the best! Wait for me here for a second, there's still something I haven't grabbed!"
With that, Tinia stretched his long legs and ran toward the butler.
The lakeside fell quiet for the time being.
[Host, I was just watching the fireworks when the system screen suddenly went black for a few seconds. Do you have any idea why?] Xiao Yi's electronic voice carried a sneaky, gossipy tone.
Jiang Lijin's expression remained unchanged. [It lagged. Go report it to the main system for repair yourself.]
Xiao Yi grumbled twice. [Alright, Host.]
It paused for a moment before letting out a long string of weird shrieks comparable to an air raid siren.
[Ahhhhhh!]
Jiang Lijin's head ached from the noise. [Shut up! What's wrong with you now?]
[Host! Do you know what just exploded in the sky?!]
[Fireworks, what else?] Jiang Lijin replied casually.
[Where would there be fireworks in the interstellar era! Even if there were, the Mastermind would never approve such a polluting project! Besides, could gunpowder really make that kind of commotion just now?]
Jiang Lijin recalled the lingering might of the spatial vibration from earlier. [Then what was it? A holographic projection?]
Xiao Yi clicked its tongue a few times. [This kid is ruthless. He bought 87 abandoned shattered stars on the outer orbit of the main planet, and just now he blew them all up in one breath, just to give you a bang and show you a word!]
Jiang Lijin gasped. [What?! How do you know?]
[The Starweb forums have already exploded!] Xiao Yi directly tossed the titles of several trending posts into her mind. [Shocking! Consecutive Explosions Occur Outside the Main Planet's Defense Ring, Suspected Terrorist Attack!, Update! Not a Terrorist Attack, It's Young Master Tinia Creating an Artificial Meteor Shower!, Scheming Male Blows Up Shattered Stars Just to Make His Wife Smile...]
Xiao Yi continued to twist the knife. [For this kind of orbital shattered star, even abandoned ones, the auction price for a single one is around several million star coins. These 87 consecutive explosions, plus clearing the navigation channels and paying the Mastermind's environmental fines... At a conservative estimate, that little moment just now burned at least five hundred million!]
Five hundred million?!! Jiang Lijin's vision went dark.
Previously, when Eileen transferred one hundred million to her, she had casually called it pocket money.
It turned out that in the eyes of this mother and son, money really was just a string of numbers.
[Damn capitalists!] Jiang Lijin gritted her teeth, her heart aching beyond measure. That was five hundred million! Wouldn't it have been better to just give her the cash? Taking it to blow up rocks just to hear a bang was simply a reckless waste of resources!
At the same time, Baal stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
There were no lights on in the room. His golden vertical pupils contracted in the darkness, staring at the residual halo in the distant sky.
It was a conspicuous character, "Li."
The heir to a financial group spent hundreds of millions of star coins and blew up dozens of shattered stars, all just to create a meaningless meteor shower?
Baal frowned.
Hundreds of millions of star coins... This was equivalent to the annual military expenditure of the federal border garrison. How many advanced new mechas could that buy? How many sets of individual combat equipment could it upgrade?
He could not understand this kind of squandering, but the reason that frustrated him even more was...
His lawful wife was currently with Tinia, standing shoulder to shoulder watching this meteor shower carefully prepared for her.
Baal turned and walked to the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle of strong spirits, bit off the cork, tilted his head back, and chugged it down.
...
By the lake.
Tinia ran back, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands.
In this interstellar era where vegetation was scarce, fresh flowers were a luxury item in themselves, not to mention that the appearance of this bouquet was extremely unique.
The petals displayed a translucent texture, emitting a soft, pale blue halo all over, as if the starlight from the night sky just now had been crushed and woven into these flowers.
"For you." Tinia handed the flowers to Jiang Lijin, explaining as if claiming credit. "This is an extremely rare variety on the market. Ordinary plants wither quickly after being picked, but once this leaves the soil, as long as it is nourished by spiritual power, it can maintain its vitality for a long time. Most importantly, it can help females quickly replenish their spiritual sea and relieve fatigue."
Jiang Lijin took the bouquet. The moment she touched it, a cool energy spread along her fingertips, and her originally tense spiritual sea actually soothed considerably.
She stared at the pale blue petals, and a name blurted out of her mouth.
"Star Crest Flower."
[It's the Star Crest Flower!] At the same time, Xiao Yi in her mind also exclaimed.
Tinia froze for a moment, then smiled even more radiantly. "You really are knowledgeable. I commissioned so many interstellar hunters to inquire about rare varieties suitable for gifting to females, and it took a lot of effort to get this. This is a rare species that disappeared many years ago; ordinary people haven't even heard of it."
Jiang Lijin ignored his flattery.
Her mind buzzed, as if heavily struck by something.
She knew this name, and it had absolutely nothing to do with being knowledgeable.
The first time she saw these words was in the original owner's diary, which was filled with humility.
The original owner had written in the diary that Rex had once given Felwin a Star Crest Flower!
She hadn't paid attention to it at the time, but as she learned more information in this world, suspicions grew like wild weeds in Jiang Lijin's mind.
Rex was just a second-generation rich kid relying on his family's protection. Where did he get this rare plant that even the heir to the Yunlan Group considered extremely scarce?
More importantly...
Jiang Lijin stared at the bouquet in her hands, her fingers trembling slightly.
It was a native plant of Blue Star! But in this world, Blue Star had disappeared ten years ago!
Why would a plant that should have been reduced to ashes along with the planet for a full ten years appear completely intact in the black market of the interstellar era?
How was Rex able to get his hands on it? And Tinia as well?
The erased Blue Star... was it truly destroyed?
