Legend Management Bureau Chapter 111

[ … words ]

“Old Zhan, Old Zhan!” Du Yu suddenly called out.

“Huh?” Zhan Qisheng was flying alone over a vast desert. He had never expected anyone in this world to send him a telepathic message and was startled. Recovering his wits, he asked, “Du Yu?”

“Haha, it’s me! How have you been lately? Is work going smoothly? How is your health? Where have you been making a fortune these past couple of years?”

Zhan Qisheng frowned slightly. “Why does your transmission sound like a New Year’s greeting… Just tell me what you want.”

“Haha,” Du Yu laughed awkwardly. “I have some good news and some even better news for you. Which one do you want to hear first?”

Zhan Qisheng knew that Du Yu’s thought process was highly erratic, but he hadn’t expected to be completely unable to keep up with him now. He could only ask, “What do you mean by good news and even better news? Can’t you just say you have two pieces of good news?”

“That would ruin the surprise,” Du Yu countered. “Take your pick.”

“Then… let’s hear the good news first,” Zhan Qisheng said helplessly.

“I’ve already convinced the Queen Mother of the West to pardon all your crimes. Now, none of the immortals will treat you as an outcast anymore. You can do whatever you want to your heart’s content,” Du Yu declared.

“It’s true. Your scroll of sins has been burned. It happened right in front of me; I saw it with my own eyes.”

Zhan Qisheng fell silent for a moment before asking, “Then what is the better news?”

Du Yu pondered for a moment before replying, “Before I tell you this second piece of good news, I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Have you ever regretted it?”

Zhan Qisheng was slightly taken aback. “What exactly are you referring to?”

“Everything you’ve done. Including your departure from the Legend Management Bureau, and including your abandonment of Yingning. Is there anything you regret?”

Zhan Qisheng let out a slow sigh. “People always say there’s no medicine for regret in this world. So even if you catch the disease of regret, there’s no cure. Why bother asking?”

“You’re wrong,” Du Yu said seriously. “What I’m saying is that I’m currently recommending a potent medicine for regret that takes effect in just one treatment course. Are you interested in finding out more?”

“Medicine for regret?”

“Yes. You now have the chance to stay by Yingning’s side. The Legend Management Bureau is preparing to rehire you.”

“Rehire me?” Zhan Qisheng was stunned. “Whose idea was this?”

“Mine,” Du Yu replied.

“You…?” Zhan Qisheng pondered for a long time before asking, “Are you the Director now?”

“Not exactly. Barring any accidents, the Director is the Queen Mother of the West. But she probably won’t care about these trivial matters, so we can work out the specifics among ourselves.”

The voice on Zhan Qisheng’s end went quiet for quite a while before he finally spoke. “Du Yu, after these thousands of years, I just want to live a good life with Yingning. I don’t want to be an Operator ever again. I’m very grateful that you gave me this opportunity, but as for being an Operator…”

“Who said anything about making you an Operator?” Du Yu interrupted.

“Huh?” Zhan Qisheng was utterly bewildered. “But you just said…”

“I said I wanted to rehire you. I never said I was going to make you an Operator.” Du Yu feigned confusion. “You’re a strange guy. The Operator position is highly prestigious. Did you think you could just take it whenever you wanted?”

“I’m not quite following.” Standing in the vast desert, Zhan Qisheng stared blankly at the swirling sandstorms and asked, “If you aren’t hiring me as an Operator, what are you bringing me back to do?”

“To be our Architect,” Du Yu declared. “The Legend Management Bureau was destroyed, and you have to take full responsibility. Not only am I willing to let bygones be bygones, but I’m even rehiring you as an Architect. This is entirely out of respect for our friendship.”

“Wait, hold on.” Zhan Qisheng furrowed his brows. “The Legend Management Bureau was destroyed, so why do I have to take full responsibility? What does that have to do with me? You’re being completely unreasonable.”

“Let me ask you, who destroyed the Legend Management Bureau?”

“How should I know?!” Zhan Qisheng retorted. “You never told me! Besides, I’ve been separated from the Bureau for nine hundred years…”

“It was He Suoyi after he succumbed to his inner demons!” Du Yu exclaimed. “Now let me ask you another question. Why did He Suoyi turn into a demon?”

“That…” Zhan Qisheng seemed to realize where Du Yu was going with this.

“It’s precisely because you left! Old He was left with no other choice. A perfectly kind and gentle old man, just sitting in his house, and boom, he turns into a demon!”

Zhan Qisheng gently rubbed his forehead, thinking to himself, ‘Why did I ever get involved with someone like Du Yu?’

“So tell me, how are we going to settle this?” Du Yu pressed.

Zhan Qisheng remained silent for a full five minutes before finally speaking.

“For Yingning’s sake, I can come back and help you out. But I will never admit to being the main culprit,” Zhan Qisheng said helplessly. “Where are you right now?”

“I’m right here at the Legend Management Bureau,” Du Yu replied.

“Where is the current Legend Management Bureau?”

“Twenty kilometers outside the Gates of Hell, there is a mountain called the Mountain of No Return. The Legend Management Bureau is situated right at the foot of it.”

A sudden fluctuation of light rippled through the air in front of Du Yu, distorting the space itself. In an instant, a figure clad in black slowly materialized from within.

“Holy crap…” Du Yu hadn’t expected the man to actually show up the moment he was called.

Zhan Qisheng landed steadily and cast a bewildered look at Du Yu.

“Am I in the right place? Were you the one who invited me?”

Du Yu almost forgot about Zhan Qisheng’s old habit. Feeling a sudden urge to tease him, he asked:

“Why are you here? I never invited you.”

A trace of embarrassment flashed across Zhan Qisheng’s face. “Is that so… Were you getting ready to send me a telepathic message?”

“No. Things are perfectly fine over here, why would I send you a message?”

“Uh…”

Zhan Qisheng’s expression almost made Du Yu burst out laughing. Waving his hand dismissively, Du Yu quickly clarified, “I’m just messing with you. I was the one who called you over. Your time travel is incredibly precise now, accurate to the exact second.”

Zhan Qisheng let out a cold snort and ignored Du Yu. Instead, he turned toward Yingning. He was just about to say something when he suddenly noticed that Du Yu and Yingning were holding hands.

“What is this?”

“Ah!” Du Yu hurriedly let go of her hand. “It’s a misunderstanding, a total misunderstanding! Weren’t we just communicating telepathically? I don’t have any magical power, so I couldn’t transmit the message myself. I had to ask Yingning for help.”

Zhan Qisheng didn’t press the matter further. He simply asked Yingning in a soft tone, “Yingning, have you been doing well lately?”

“I’ve been doing absolutely wonderfully,” Yingning replied. Without even sparing Zhan Qisheng a glance, she turned and walked away.

“Haha, just ignore her,” Du Yu said. “Let’s quickly discuss the reconstruction of the Legend Management Bureau.”

Zhan Qisheng slowly raised his head, gazing at the white marble architecture of the Legend Management Bureau. A sense of doubt welled up in his heart. ‘This Legend Management Bureau looks even grander than the one in the Heavenly Court back in the day. How much more reconstructing could it possibly need?’

“Ah, Old Zhan, seeing you just puts my mind at ease. Come with me for a second.”

Du Yu grabbed Zhan Qisheng by the arm and dragged him into the main hall of the Legend Management Bureau.

The two sons of Kua’e had completely finished their work and were currently resting in the main hall.

Meanwhile, Xiao Qi was whispering an explanation about something to Qu Xi. Because her voice was so soft, Qu Xi had to lean in close with her ear just to listen.

The moment Du Yu and Zhan Qisheng appeared, everyone turned to look at them.

“Zhang Mazi?!”

Xiao Qi stared at the man in sheer shock. She thought to herself, ‘Zhang Mazi is just a figure from legends. How could he possibly appear in the modern era?’

Seeing Xiao Qi for the first time, Zhan Qisheng could only offer an awkward smile. “My name isn’t Zhang Mazi. Don’t listen to the nonsense this brat Du Yu makes up.”

“Ah!” Upon hearing that his name wasn’t Zhang Mazi, a look of profound relief actually washed over Xiao Qi’s face. “Then, may I ask…”

“Zhan Qisheng.”

“Oh! See, I told you… The name Zhan Qisheng sounds so much better than Zhang Mazi…” Xiao Qi froze instantly before she could even finish her sentence.

Wait. Zhan Qisheng?!

“Are you by any chance ‘that’ Zhan Qisheng?”

Du Yu walked up and flicked Xiao Qi on the forehead. “You brat, why didn’t you have this many questions when you met me? Yes, he is ‘that’ Zhan Qisheng. Now go back to whatever you were doing and don’t interrupt our work.”

Xiao Qi pouted, her face full of confusion.

Why was Zhan Qisheng back?

Didn’t he leave the Legend Management Bureau?

Wasn’t he a wanted criminal?

However, none of that mattered to Xiao Qi.

She turned her head and whispered to Qu Xi, “Isn’t this guy super handsome?”

“He really is,” Qu Xi agreed. “He looks exactly like one of those gorgeous period drama actors on TV.”

“Hehe.” Acting as if she were the one being complimented, Xiao Qi let out a silly giggle.

Du Yu shook his head in resignation, thinking to himself, ‘The team isn’t big, but they’re getting harder and harder to manage.’

“Old Zhan, look at this.” Du Yu pointed at the only display screen that was still functioning. “This is the only piece of equipment we have left. I heard you were the one who built the equipment back then. Do you think you can make another batch?”

Zhan Qisheng surveyed the scene before him and sighed. “Just how devastating was the battle you went through? Those devices were all forged from impenetrable diamond. They should have been incredibly difficult to destroy.”

“As for the battle, you can ask Xiao Qi about it later—the lovestruck girl from earlier,” Du Yu said. “After all, I wasn’t at the scene either.”

Zhan Qisheng nodded slightly. “Du Yu, forging another batch of equipment won’t be hard. You just need to give me three years.”

“How long?” Du Yu was dumbfounded. “Three years?!”

“That’s right,” Zhan Qisheng affirmed. “The process of forging the equipment isn’t difficult, but the materials are incredibly hard to find. I need to locate diamonds imbued with dense spiritual energy, harvest them, and polish them into shape. Finally, I’ll enchant them with time magic. But diamonds are already tough and inherently difficult to mine, and ones containing spiritual energy are even rarer. Back in the day, when He Suoyi and I searched for the raw materials, it took us a full five years. Even though my cultivation base has improved since then, searching for them all by myself will still take at least three years.”

Du Yu shook his head. Let alone three years, even a single month was far too long.

“Old Zhan, I need this batch of equipment built within seven—no, six days.”

Zhan Qisheng shot Du Yu an exasperated glare. “If you’re going to put it like that, fine. Bring me the fully polished materials right now, and I’ll have them ready for you within two days.”

“Diamonds?” The two sons of Kua’e suddenly interjected. “If the Operator needs them urgently, us brothers can gather tens of thousands of kilograms of diamonds within two hours. No matter what shape the Operator desires, the two of us can carve it out. After all, we’ve been proficient in earth-attribute magic since childhood. It’s just that… we can only gather ‘ordinary diamonds’.”

Du Yu blanked for a second after hearing this. That was right! He had the two sons of Kua’e by his side. They could move mountains, so harvesting a bunch of diamonds would be a piece of cake!

But how were they supposed to find diamonds imbued with dense spiritual energy?

Right at that moment, a person slowly walked in through the entrance of the Legend Management Bureau. The man was carrying a massive bundle on his back. Looking around and seeing no one in his immediate vicinity, he could only call out loudly:

“Excuse me, is this the Legend Management Bureau? My name is Shen Shi, and I’m here for my first day of work.”