She didn't press Elio any further.
'Jingliu' had already started pushing forward with the video production.
Had to admit, the production software in this world was really well-developed and incredibly user-friendly.
As long as you had the imagery in your head, it could recreate pretty much anything you imagined. Of course, things like pacing, duration, and background music still had to be carefully matched by hand.
But the good thing was, no matter what you were doing, it was all very convenient.
Plus, she already had the finished product in her mind.
A very long video might be tricky, but a few minutes? Definitely doable.
'Jingliu' wasn't in a hurry to leave this place. After all, it was the same wherever she went, and here it was quiet.
One nagging issue, though: in the original video, the narration was done by Black Swan.
But having Black Swan voice the narrator role now felt... somewhat inappropriate on one hand.
On the other hand, she wasn't sure where the 'emotional value' would end up flowing.
Changing it to Sparkle? Well, that could work too.
It just didn't feel as fitting as having a Memokeeper's identity. Memokeepers specialize in dredging up memories, so knowing a bunch of secrets made sense.
But a Masked Fool? Wouldn't that just be pure nonsense here?
And if she changed it to Sparkle, it seemed to lose a certain meaning.
If it's a Masked Fool, of course it'd only be right to wear a mask.
'Jingliu' looked at the still frame before her.
There were two versions: one with Black Swan, one with Sparkle.
After turning it over in her mind, 'Jingliu' tried blurring out the appearance of the character.
No full face in the ending segment either, just a hand, the divination card table, maybe adding a bell mask or something like that.
That should work.
Leave a few clues, don't reveal their true face.
But still make it possible for people to figure it out. Probably no one besides those very familiar with Black Swan or Sparkle would connect it to them.
Now it had the right feel.
Thinking this, 'Jingliu' quickly settled on her decision.
Next was handling those scenes.
That was relatively straightforward.
But she was still pondering whether to include Noa or not. Information about Noa was currently in a state of almost complete unknown to everyone, because they had never appeared.
So no one knew what they looked like at all.
Of course, mainly because they couldn't appear even if they wanted to.
Hmm...
Including them would be easy enough, just place them later, flashing by along with the other Paths that appear for a split second.
She was considering whether to release this information or not.
After all, they were kind of her 'child', born from her efforts...
Maybe better to keep this card hidden a little longer?
Just a single image, no lines?
And as 'Jingliu' thought about it more carefully, she realized she didn't even know what lines would be appropriate to add.
Although she had a general sense that some change had indeed occurred at the universe's end, who knew what it looked like now?
Better not to make things up.
It was just a single, fleeting image anyway.
'Jingliu' meticulously recreated the scenes from her memory, noting down each line of dialogue.
The difficulty wasn't particularly high, but the fine-tuning of details was quite tedious.
And no matter how user-friendly the software was, directly generating images from her impressions always resulted in slight distortions that needed manual adjustment.
It was still expected to take some time.
Fortunately, 'Jingliu' had plenty of time.
She could finish the video early, and once she started impersonating Sparkle, she could just add the voiceover and release it directly.
Honestly, 'Jingliu' would have preferred to make things more difficult for Zandar's plans.
That guy was secretly holed up in some obscure corner cooking up schemes, and there were probably eight others like him with the potential to cause trouble?!
If a single 'segment' could create something like Irontomb, who knows what the others were capable of.
But releasing a PV about a Lord Ravager was risky, and it was hard to effectively hinder Zandar specifically that way.
So it remained just a backup option for now.
And in a place 'Jingliu' hadn't noticed, the mask she carried with her was quietly observing the gradually constructed scenes.
A thoughtful expression seemed to flicker across its strange, smiling face.
--+--
Roughly half a day later, Jingliu had finally sorted out her feelings.
She walked out of her room and then she saw the other her, focused on making a video.
Although she didn't know what she was doing, Jingliu swallowed the greeting she had prepared.
"Elio, what is she doing?"
"A video. It should attract quite a bit of attention once released."
Jingliu nodded, only half-understanding.
She wondered what kind of video would prompt Elio to say such a thing.
"So, Jingliu, our agreement is fulfilled. What will you do now?"
Elio straightened up, staring directly at Jingliu, awaiting her choice.
But just as he had foreseen, Jingliu did feel some desire to follow Bai Ming on her adventures.
But reason told her that following might not be the best choice.
And besides, Elio had pulled her back during the increasingly severe period of her Mara-struck affliction.
And he had let her see Bai Ming again.
Perhaps in the future she would leave the Stellaron Hunters, but for now, she chose to remain here.
"I will continue staying with the Stellaron Hunters. If what you told me is true, then I should contribute my share."
Elio nodded.
"In that case, it's time we departed for the next stop."
"The next stop? Where? And so soon?"
Jingliu was slightly taken aback, surprised Elio was in such a hurry to leave.
She had originally hoped to talk more with Bai Ming.
Even though those erroneous feelings of hers had been resolved by Bai Ming, how could there not be any remnants left at all?
Even if Jingliu now remembered that she had initially only used Bai Ming as an excuse...by now, whether it was still just an excuse...even Jingliu herself was no longer sure.
After all, these centuries of searching couldn't be fake.
Elio glanced at Jingliu:
"Planet Pteruges V: New Babylon. We're going to find a rather dangerous hunter. Of course, she will also be our future companion. As for the timing... staying a few more days here is fine. Time isn't that tight. You can catch up with the person you wish to see."
"It's been so long, and you're finally willing to recruit someone new?"
Jingliu nodded, already feeling anticipation for this so-called new colleague.
A long time had passed since Elio found her and brought her onboard, but it had only been her the whole time.
She never saw Elio show any interest in recruiting others.
She had started to think the Stellaron Hunters were just like that, so she was surprised to hear about a new member today.
"Yes, and you'd best be careful. That woman isn't easy to deal with."
Elio offered the warning.
Honestly, if he brought 'Jingliu' along, the risk would be much lower.
But accordingly, there was a chance she might lead Kafka astray, preventing her from joining the Stellaron Hunters.
Considering 'Jingliu''s unpredictability was simply too great...
What if she took another disliking to something, causing the future to change drastically, resulting in Kafka not joining?
Then Elio would have to go find a corner to shed a few 'little pearls'.
And it wasn't just Kafka.
He couldn't let 'Jingliu' get involved with any of the other future companions either.
So after witnessing 'Jingliu''s capabilities, and finding himself utterly unable to discern any problems with her no matter what, Elio completely abandoned that idea.
Unless she chose to join the Stellaron Hunters herself.
Then it would be a different story.
As for the launch time of the Astral Express that 'Jingliu' was concerned about, it was unknowingly just around the corner.
The universe wouldn't have to wait long before the Astral Express, repaired by that red-haired girl, would set off once more, returning to the starry sky.
And the operations of the Stellaron Hunters would officially commence thereafter.
--+--