Until today.
"Self-drawn! All One Suit! Hu!" The grey-haired girl slammed a tile onto the table, radiating a vibrant, confident glow.
"Dammit, Qingque, your luck is too good! How do you get a self-draw every single time?" The burly man in a black suit opposite her stared with bulging eyes, his expression sour with envy.
"Hehe, thanks for the game," Qingque said, cupping her hands in a mock martial arts salute. "You've only been playing for a few days. If there's anything you don't get, just ask. I, Qingque, will tell you everything I know."
"Wait a second, Qingque. Aren't you a clerk at Port Mafia? Why do I see you playing tiles here every day? Is the job really that idle? And putting aside a bottom-tier grunt like Oda—Watanabe, you're a combatant, aren't you? Why are you here too?"
Takemoto, the restaurant owner sitting to the left of the table, fanned himself with a folding fan, looking utterly perplexed.
The red-haired man to the right felt the cowlick atop his head twitch. His voice held a touch of world-weariness. "The Port Mafia isn't idle." As a bottom-tier employee, he spoke with authority.
Watanabe's rugged, fierce face flickered with embarrassment. "Well, I finished my patrol and nothing was happening. Didn't run into any troublemakers, but I did run into Qingque, so I just... I just... Wait, Pung!"
Watanabe hadn't played many rounds, yet he already acted like a seasoned veteran.
Of course, Watanabe found his own reaction strange. He wasn't even that close to Qingque, so why did he feel all lightheaded and follow her here to play tiles after just a few words?
'But this game called Celestial Jade is just too fun. Once I pick it up, I can't leave the table.'
"On the other hand, Oda... that guy Nakamura is hard to deal with. He watches people like a hawk. Leaving early counts as an absence."
Watanabe was a team leader and field agent, so no one cared if he slacked off occasionally. Sakunosuke Oda was a bottom-tier mobile unit member—to put it bluntly, a brick to be moved wherever needed. He occupied the very bottom of the food chain; whether he could slack off depended entirely on his boss's conscience. The problem was that while the Great King might be easy to deal with, the little ghosts were troublesome. Minor supervisors were often the hardest to talk to.
A hint of genuine admiration appeared in Oda's eyes. "Qingque helped me. I was supposed to mediate between Manager Kato and Mrs. Kato today..."
"Manager Kato? Wait, you mean the Mobile Division Manager whose mistress got pregnant and caught by his wife? The guy whose lifestyle is funded by his wife's family? They're fighting so hard they both want the other to leave with nothing. It's a mess; the whole Port Mafia almost knows. Mrs. Kato's family are allies of our company, and the Manager himself is an ability user. It's a family matter, so even the Boss doesn't intervene much. You were assigned to that? Nakamura is a real piece of work. Dirty move! Chi!"
Watanabe snatched a tile mid-sentence and continued gossiping. "You're in the Mobile Division. Interfering in your top boss's family affairs is a death wish. Wait, did Nakamura dump his own job on you?"
Oda's eyes held a sense of "clear idiocy." "I didn't think that much. He's the leader. I do what I'm told."
Qingque looked at him with exasperation. "You're just too honest; that's why you get jerked around. You're doing twice the work of anyone else."
Watanabe was shocked. "That much? Oda, do you want to work for me? Fieldwork isn't bad. I just patrol the streets, and there's plenty of free time."
Oda replied seriously, "I don't kill."
Watanabe remembered. "Oh, right. I forgot you had that quirk. Otherwise, how could a dignified ability user end up like this? But patrolling doesn't always involve combat." Currently, the Port Mafia was one of the top organizations in Yokohama. Even with minor gangs remaining, they no longer dared to challenge the Mafia's authority.
Oda answered honestly, "The Mobile Division gives higher subsidies."
Qingque chimed in, "He has five kids to raise."
Watanabe sucked in a breath. "Five? Your wife is quite..."
"Don't misunderstand. None of those five children are his biological kids," Qingque added like a narrator.
Watanabe's gaze immediately shifted to sympathy, then indignation. "Tell me who the other guy is, I'll help you hack him to death!"
"They are adopted. I don't have a wife," Oda quickly interjected to stop Watanabe's runaway imagination.
Watanabe's expression turned awkward. "Haha, you should have said so earlier. Anyway, why are you in the Port Mafia with kids to raise? We're all single guys—one person eats, the whole family is full. If we die in action, there isn't even anyone to collect the pension. It's different for someone with a family like you."
Oda was about to answer when he was interrupted.
"Hu!" Takemoto, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. His face wrinkled into a smile like a blooming chrysanthemum. "Sorry, I'm stealing the win this round."
The three chatty players: "..."
After winning, Takemoto finally grew curious about Qingque's life. "So why are you always idle? Mr. Watanabe is fieldwork, but you're a clerk. Why are you running around everywhere?"
"Hehe, being able to come out is thanks to my 'Secret to Happy Working.' But most importantly, my boss is a truly wonderful person! If the Master Diviner could learn a thing or two from him, I'd be set for life." Qingque shared her work philosophy with pride, ending with a small sigh.
"I'm so jealous," Watanabe said sourly. "Lord Chuuya is undoubtedly the most popular boss in the Port Mafia, bar none."
"Also, who's the Master Diviner?" Watanabe asked curiously.
"My former boss (Fu Xuan: Qingque! Have I already become a 'former' boss?!). She's an excellent person, but for some reason, she always loves to keep an eye on me. She dumps all sorts of work on me even though I was demoted to guarding the archives—the lowest of the low. For a dignified Master Diviner, she's a bit too fussy." Qingque grew depressed talking about it. Her peaceful, happy life... why couldn't she just lie down and be a slacker?
"Child labor?" Watanabe looked Qingque up and down. Given her height, she was truly a Pipishi—four-foot shrine selection.
"Watch it. I'm an adult. That's why I have to work to support myself. Besides, does the Port Mafia have the right to call out child labor? Lord Chuuya isn't an adult either, is he?"
Watanabe fell silent. He didn't dare gossip about an Executive Candidate, even if Nakahara Chuuya had a good temperament.
"Qingque, watch yourself. Sooner or later, you'll die because of that mouth of yours," Watanabe warned kindly.
"It's fine. Lord Chuuya won't hold it against me. Oh dear, it's almost clock-out time." Qingque glanced at the clock and finally stood up, brushing non-existent dust from her skirt. "I need to go back and clock out. I'm off. See you later."
Watching Qingque's carefree silhouette disappear, Takemoto couldn't help but ask, "Is the Port Mafia still hiring?"
"Forget it. Not everyone is as at ease as Qingque." Watanabe sighed. "I'm leaving too." He got up and left, leaving only Oda and Takemoto.
"One bowl of extra spicy curry," Oda ordered practicedly.
"Coming right up!" Takemoto snapped into work mode.
★ ★ ★
At that moment, Qingque was leisurely heading toward the five iconic skyscrapers of the Port Mafia. To understand how the Divination Commission's number one slacker, the Luofu's own Qingque, became a low-level clerk in the Port Mafia, one must start with a universe-shaking car crash.
That day happened to be the third anniversary of the birth of our lovely Galactic Succubus, the Trailblazer, as well as the third anniversary of them joining the Astral Express. Given the Trailblazer's reputation, every notable power in the universe had come to offer their blessings.
Qingque, of course, wouldn't miss such a legitimate excuse to slack off. She followed her Master Diviner onto the train. When the atmosphere was at its peak and the wine was flowing, the Trailblazer—unnoticed by Kafka—surreptitiously downed a whole bucket of booze. They then proceeded to throw a drunken fit in the cockpit. In a moment of carelessness, they crashed into Aha.
Aha: "Hahahahaha! Aha has no face! Aha has no face!"
It was hard to say if the Aeon did it on purpose or by accident, but a flick of a mask sent the Express spiraling. Simultaneously, a group of passengers was flung who-knows-where. Qingque was among them. When she woke up, she found herself lying on a beach. A weary-looking middle-aged man (at the time, she didn't know he was only twenty-three) was considering whether to take her to a hospital.
According to the red-haired man, he had seen a figure in the sea. He originally thought his friend had drifted by after another suicide attempt, but upon closer inspection, he found a young girl and rushed to save her.
Although she didn't know what this "Yokohama, Japan" place the red-haired man mentioned was, and felt there was much to nitpick about his statement, Qingque still expressed her gratitude.
Sakunosuke Oda said flatly, "No need for thanks."
"Are you a foreigner?" Oda observed Qingque. As a port, Yokohama often saw foreign friends and stowaways. "Your clothes look like the style of the Hua nation. Are you from there?"
"What are you saying? Wait, don't you have a Synesthesia Beacon?" Qingque was surprised. Ever since the IPC replicated the Synesthesia Beacon, it had become a necessity for galactic civilizations. A single injection allowed one to ignore language barriers and communicate seamlessly.
'No Synesthesia Beacon means there's likely no Galaxy Network either.' Qingque made a hand gesture, signaling for him to wait.
As it turned out, body language is universal throughout the cosmos. Oda nodded and quietly watched the grey-haired girl's shifting expressions.
Qingque took out her Jade Abacus and opened the chat interface.
Unread Messages: 99+
Not only were there the Trailblazer's wails of concern and apologies, but her good friend Lynx had also sent greetings. Most terrifyingly...
Fu Xuan: Qingque, are you alright? Where are you? I'm sending people to get you immediately!
Lingsha: Qingque, the Master Diviner has been divining your location constantly, mumbling that you aren't allowed to skip work.
'What do you mean skip work? This was an accident! Besides, half the Luofu went to the Trailblazer's party. What does it matter if one tiny diviner is missing?'
Qingque checked herself over with a grimace, hoping to find some injury. Unfortunately, the constitution of a Xianzhou native was simply too strong. Even if Oda hadn't rescued her, she wouldn't have died drifting at sea.
Her clothes were specially made too; they were already dry and hadn't wrinkled or developed an odor from the seawater. It was rare for the red-haired man not to be curious.
'No! After finally running into such an accident, I must be injured! If it doesn't show on the outside, then it's an internal injury. A heart injury. In short, no one is going to stop me from taking medical leave!'
She would write a report. The Astral Express crashing into the Joyous Ceaseless had caused her immense mental trauma. She needed a decade or so to recover—preferably an early retirement due to illness. This would be a newly discovered terminal disease called "Express Warp Syndrome."
Although she felt a bit sorry for the Trailblazer, Qingque had already planned out the next few centuries of her life. She couldn't help but laugh out loud.
First, she tried to send a private message to the Trailblazer.
[ I don't know where I am, don't come looking for me yet!!! ]
Message failed to send.
User is outside the communication service area. Please try again later.
After several failed attempts, Qingque finally accepted one fact.
She was disconnected.
'So much for the IPC network covering the whole universe. Combined with the lack of Synesthesia Beacons, there's only one possibility: this place is somewhere the Pioneers haven't reached.'
A lowly diviner of the Divination Commission, wandering in a foreign land, unable even to contact the Xianzhou... this was... this was wonderful!
"Isn't this the paid vacation of my dreams?! I can even use this as an excuse for medical leave in the future. It would be even better if I could retire early!" Even though the Xianzhou native's vitality meant she hadn't even scraped her skin, Qingque was already fantasizing about the future.
"I remember General Jing Yuan was also flung out. Hehe, the Master Diviner can be the Acting General again. Miss Robin, the IPC executives... so many big shots are missing. No one will notice a mere diviner like me. They'll look for them first. This is perfect."
Struck by a wave of immense happiness, Qingque's smile toward the local inhabitant grew increasingly radiant.
"Thank you for fishing me out. If I had drifted further and didn't run into a passing ship, swimming back to shore would have been a pain."
She was a Xianzhou native and a Pathstrider; drowning was impossible.
"By the way, my name is Qingque. I'm just a low-level diviner from the Luofu, but next time you visit the Xianzhou, I'll definitely treat you!"
Though he didn't understand words like "Xianzhou" or "diviner," the red-haired man still nodded. "I am Sakunosuke Oda."
"Are you introducing yourself? Sadly, I don't understand," Qingque guessed. "Mr. Oda, do you have a Jade Abacus? Or a device that can connect to your world's network? I need to download a language pack for my Synesthesia Beacon."
Oda, being who he was, quickly grasped her request and took her to a net cafe to use a computer.
"What a primitive Jade Abacus. It's bulky and uses wired connections. Luckily, my Abacus can connect directly." Qingque might look like a lazy, slacking diviner, but she was an undeniable genius. In school, she always manipulated her scores to be exactly 60—a feat more incredible than getting a perfect score.
Even facing unfamiliar, backward equipment, her intellect allowed her to quickly understand the principles and download all the languages of the planet.
She also learned from various "dark nets" that this world hadn't reached the stars yet. People possessed "Abilities" distinct from Pathstriders, though these abilities were quite specialized and easily countered.
In this country, ability users were mostly concentrated in Yokohama, and many had turned to crime.
Of course, Qingque only gained a general overview and didn't dive deep.
"Speaking of which, the language system of the Hua nation is very similar to the Xianzhou. Even the culture is close. No wonder you thought I was from there, Mr. Oda. Could it be a civilization spread by the Xianzhou's home planet? But since this planet hasn't left its home star, it's probably just a coincidence." Qingque adjusted her settings and tried speaking to Oda. "Can you understand me now?"
From Oda's perspective, Qingque's actions were bizarre. He heard fluent Japanese, but looking at her mouth, she wasn't speaking Japanese at all. Then, after some tapping on that phone-like device, communication suddenly became effortless.
However, Oda was always emotionally stable. In a world with special things like ability users, he focused on the previous concern. "Do you really not need to go to a hospital?"
"Ahem, I'm fine, really. Thanks again for fishing me out. Although I don't have any of your currency right now..."
Extreme joy leads to sorrow. Qingque soon discovered that IPC Credits were not accepted on this remote planet. Even if Oda could help her get a fake ID, her appearance made her look like child labor. Combined with a lack of educational credentials, she couldn't find a proper job.
Fortunately, Sakunosuke Oda—who looked forty-three but was only twenty-three and already raising five kids—was reliable. He didn't disbelieve her self-introduction, merely marveling that aliens actually existed, and then took her in.
Amid her profuse thanks, Qingque actually became proactive in looking for a job. Despite her small stature, her age was vastly greater than Oda's. No matter how lazy she was, she wasn't thick-skinned enough to freeload off a man burdened with five children. After careful investigation, Qingque joined the Port Mafia where Oda worked.
No ID required, good pay, little work. Aside from being a mafia, it was perfect. That was Qingque's heartfelt summary after one week on the job.
As for the Master Diviner? She was a 'former' boss now. (Fu Xuan: Qingque!!)
★ ★ ★