Chapter 1243: Stingy Scrooge

Millennium Tower, December thirtieth, 2019.

The “company’s” annual gathering was scheduled on New Year’s Eve.

In the afternoon, all awakeners and former awakeners gathered on the underground sixth floor. They spent hours catching up until heading to the exhibition floor for a dinner banquet at five. Nainai, Citrus, Ting Ting, and Quiet Book each donned a different dance outfit to perform an opening routine. Nainai had successfully combined

chuuni

, cute, sweet, and youthful elements, and the resulting performance was surprisingly pleasant.

At the end of the dance, Nainai lifted off the floor and looked down on everyone, giving them a New Year's address from the Empress. It wasn’t much, mostly a jumble of big words and purple prose.

Since it was the holiday, Qing Ling allowed her to finish her spiel.

Then Tang Xiaocong and Sunhu took the stage to perform a magic trick. Sun Hu had recently acquired Magic Tricks, serial number 136, Knowledge-type. Tang Xiaocong was more of a prop than a partner. Sun Hu disappeared and reappeared her elsewhere, always donning a different outfit, while Tang Xiaocong remained visibly confused; she didn’t know what was going on at all.

Following that was a solo performance from Liao Liao. She had acquired Beast King recently. She summoned a group of kittens and puppies to dance and greet everyone.

Lovely Lamb had comprehended Singer—serial number 152, Psyche-type—not long ago, she sang everyone a song.

Those performances were great, but all involved Talents.

The former awakeners hadn’t acquired any new Talents after giving theirs to their companions. They prepared their performances with great effort, too.

Muzitu recited a poem he had penned himself in memory of those they had lost. Bumblebee performed yoyo tricks. Donxote was a ventriloquist.

Lying Wood, Wandering Tune, Rewind, Crimson Bee, and Canary prepared a skit on how an awakener, a regular human, a wanderer, an elite monster, and a Spectre formed an e-sport team without knowing each other’s true identity. Miscommunication and shenanigans ensued, yet they went to the World in the end.

It was tremendously entertaining. The audience erupted into thunderous cheers, laughing and crying.

The gathering was more successful than Vermilion Bird expected.

Approaching midnight, the last “performance” took the spotlight. Xiao Xin, in deep coma, was carted to the stage on his bed. With the concerted effort of Vermilion Bird, One Stone, and Dr. Jia, Xiao Xin’s recovery time was calculated and “calibrated” to the second.

The countdown began. Everyone stood up to announce the arrival of the New Year.

“Ten!”

“Nine!”

“Eight!”

“Seven!”

“Six!”

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Xiao Xin opened his eyes.

“Old Xiao!” Crimson Bee elevated the bed and patted Xiao Xin’s face, then waved a hand before the man. “Still recognize me?”

“Crimson...Bee...”

“Haha!” Crimson Bee gestured at those off the stage. “All good! His brain’s still in working order!”

“I’m...alive?” Xiao Xin asked.

“You’re alive.”

Xiao Xin couldn’t believe it. “Did we...win...?”

“Well, it’s a long story.” Crimson Bee sighed. “Qilin Guild is history. The civil war is over. We face a common enemy now, the Gluttonous Snake.”

Xiao Xin was thoroughly confused. “Gluttonous...Snake?”

“No rush. We’ll explain later.” Crimson Bee seized Xiao Xin’s hand with tears in his eyes. “Just know that while we’ve lost much, we haven’t lost, Old Xiao!”

“Yes, humanity hasn’t lost.” Vermilion Bird took Xiao Xin’s other hand. She turned to look down at everyone else and announced, “Happy New Year, fellows.”

“Happy New Year!!”

Everyone cheered in a chorus.

The curtains of the floor-to-ceiling windows slowly parted to reveal the city illuminated by bright lights and vibrant fireworks.

The Mist World welcomed the year 2020.

“Happy...New Year...” Hot tears rolled down Xiao Xin’s sunken face. His chest heaved as he sobbed in joy. “It’s good...to be alive... It’s good...”

Gao Yang quietly watched from a corner of the venue. One man was absent from tonight’s affair.

He rose to his feet and took the elevator to the underground sixth floor, heading to the Ox Room.

Inside the laboratory, Dr. Jia was as unkempt as ever—hair a mess, face greasy, wearing a loose bathrobe and slippers with a half-eaten cucumber in one hand and his parrot perched on his shoulder. His brows were knitted closely together, and his complexion was dark. It was quite obvious that his research wasn’t going well.

“Not joining the New Year celebration?” Gao Yang asked.

Dr. Jia didn’t even look up. “My time is too precious to waste like you do with yours.”

“What have you been studying?”

“The Heavenly Way.”

Gao Yang waited for more.

Smacking his lips, Dr. Jia mumbled, “The death monsters are gone. Gluttonous Snake should’ve run out of its pawns on the chessboard. Why hasn’t the chess game been won?”

“I think there are two possibilities: first, the world will only change and get back on track when the hundred years come to an end; second, the Gluttonous Snake’s pawns aren’t as important as we think. They are merely obstacles. While the Heavenly Way’s pawns—meaning us—have dealt with the obstacles, that didn’t complete the mission.”

“What is our mission?” Gao Yang asked.

“Hell if I know.” Dr. Jia took a bite of the cucumber. Parry immediately took another bite. It was as if they had agreed to share it.

“Anyhow, I’ve decided to change my perspective and forget about the Mist and the Gluttonous Snake for now, figuring out Heavenly Way’s intention first.”

“The Heavenly Way’s actions must inform its plan to turn things around. As long as we understand its intention, we’ll understand what the solution is. We’ll understand our mission, so to speak.”

“That is one way to look at it.” Gao Yang nodded.

“I have my guesses,” Dr. Jia said. “But I lack the most important data point.”

Gao Yang’s eyes glinted. “Dragon?”

“Yeah. Dragon was the first to propose the idea of the head and the tail. He must know more than he let on.” Dr. Jia stroked his chin. “Heavenly Way is like a master puzzle maker. He gave each of us different information, and we must complete each of our puzzles to get the complete answer.”

“Your puzzle and Dragon’s are the most important.” Dr. Jia glanced at Gao Yang. “But you both hoard secrets.”

“I have no other secret,” Gao Yang said.

The day after his conversation with Baili Yi, Gao Yang had told everyone his biggest secret—his system and his transmigration.

They were all shocked, but their interpretations differed.

Some believed Gao Yang to be a transmigrator and a savior, including Zhang Wei, Old Seven, and Hong Xiaoxiao.

Some, like Baili Yi, believed that the transmigration wasn’t real, including Qing Ling, Vermilion Bird, and Dr. Jia.

And others didn’t care about the truth but about how cool it was—Nainai and Heavenly Dog, naturally.

“I know.” Dr. Jia nodded. “But Dragon still has his secret. A person’s body is more honest than their mouth. As long as I can get my hands on his vital energy and blood, I’ll find the answer even if he doesn’t say anything.”

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“But Dragon has never given you any.”

“Yeah. I asked him for samples a few times, but he always rejected me on the grounds that he had to stay pure.” Dr. Jia harrumphed. “Stingy!”

“Scrooge!” Parry echoed.

Gao Yang fell into thought.

Dr. Jia got even angrier as he grumbled, “And that jerk took the Miracle Rune Circuit! The Rune Circuits combine into different things with different ones as the core. That can be the different solutions. Your Absolute Defense and Vermilion Bird’s Equivalent Exchange have reached level 8. I want to see what new combinations there are, but we can’t see those now.”

“So,” Gao Yang concluded, “You can’t progress your research.”

Dr. Jia shrugged. “I’m missing too many important factors. Still, I have to try.”

“Because?”

“Because what else could I be doing?” Dr. Jia huffed. “So many have died to take us here. While it has no bearing on me, it’s, well, a bit regretful.”

That caught Gao Yang off guard. He smiled slightly. “Happy New Year to you.”

“You too.” Dr. Jia bit into his cucumber and threw himself back into work.

“You too! You too! You too!”