Aside from Ye Qingyi, he didn’t tell anyone about meeting the mysterious person. Their secret couldn’t be exposed lightly—doing so would only invite unnecessary trouble.
Ye Qingyi hesitated slightly before supporting his decision, though she insisted on going with him.
Of course, Su Mo refused. The “mysterious person” had explicitly demanded he go alone.
“Alright, don’t worry. Since they’re willing to seek me out, they must need something from me. Even if this trip doesn’t achieve our goal, at the very least, there shouldn’t be any danger.”
Ye Qingyi rolled her eyes. “Who’s worried about you? I’m worried about my body.”
“Fine, I was being presumptuous.” Su Mo put on an exaggerated look of disappointment, as if no one cared about him.
Even though she knew he was faking, Ye Qingyi still said, “Be careful. If anything happens, message me immediately. I’ll be online.”
“Got it.”
The two exchanged a smile—some things didn’t need to be spoken aloud.
A strange twist of fate had bound them together, making them each other’s closest friend.
“By the way, didn’t you awaken some fortune-telling ability? Give me a reading—see if this trip will go smoothly.” Su Mo teased.
“Fortune-telling? This is precognition,” Ye Qingyi retorted irritably. “And do you think I can just predict things on demand? The toll it takes is huge.”
Su Mo scoffed. “Don’t want to? Just say so—no need to make excuses.”
Ye Qingyi glared at him, deciding not to argue. “Even if I can’t make precise predictions right now, I can still get a general sense of whether something is auspicious or not.”
“Still sounds like fortune-telling to me…”
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they had turned gold.
A faint golden light swirled in her pupils, giving off an arcane aura.
After a long moment, Ye Qingyi frowned in disbelief. “That’s weird… why can’t I see anything?”
“Can’t see?” Su Mo blinked. “Are you messing with me?”
“This is strange. I’ve used this ability multiple times on others without issue. Why is it only failing with you?”
“Could it be because I’m in your body?” Su Mo guessed. “After all, even our Daxia mystics have taboos against divining for themselves.”
“You know what? That might actually be it.” Ye Qingyi nodded in agreement. “I tried reading myself too, and it’s the same result—probably because the soul is mine.”
“Could be.” Su Mo raised his hands in surrender.
But since they couldn’t determine whether the trip would be good or bad, it might just mean there was a surprise waiting for him. So Su Mo kept his spirits high.
At three in the afternoon, they went to the North Star Organization’s branch as agreed to document their gains from the mission.
The process was quick—much simpler than Su Mo had imagined.
The evaluation results came swiftly, and naturally, they passed.
Under the guidance of the branch staff, they collected their official uniforms, identification, and some supplies.
The supplies included a satellite phone, two spirit stones, and a bank card, among other things.
From their explanation, Su Mo learned that this bank card had a higher account tier than normal. Future salaries, bonuses, and the like would all be deposited into it.
As for the spirit stones, while it wasn’t Su Mo’s first time seeing them, it was his first time holding—and potentially using—them.
Excitement was an understatement.
Just then, a female staff member approached him. “Miss Ye Qingyi, Commander Yang wishes to see you.”
“Commander Yang?” Su Mo paused. “He’s in Jing City too?”
The staff member smiled. “This is the Jing City branch—Commander Yang’s actual workplace. He’s just often out on assignments.”
Su Mo smacked his forehead. “Right, how did I forget that at a time like this?”
In Yang Jie’s actual office, Su Mo found him as stern-faced as ever.
“Commander Yang, you wanted to see me?”
Yang Jie motioned for him to sit and handed him a document. “Read it yourself. I won’t recite it.”
Su Mo took the file, puzzled. Was he about to be rewarded again?
The document was only a page long. A quick skim later, and he couldn’t stay calm.
The gist of it was: You’ve got a lot of treasures on you. The organization wants to buy them—with your consent, of course. But if you refuse, that’s fine too. After all, we’re all civilized people here.
What the hell… “Civilized people”? This was straight-up daylight robbery.
“Don’t look at me like that. This is the Elder Council’s decision,” Yang Jie said, sitting up straight, expression unchanging. “Your little side hustle selling artifacts in Jiang City caught the higher-ups’ attention. They had to step in. Blame yourself for not being careful.”
Su Mo took a deep breath, knowing this was just an excuse. “Then… what price is the organization offering?”
Yang Jie raised an eyebrow. “You already got a spatial artifact. What more do you want?”
Su Mo’s face fell. “But I risked my life for these. How is this—”
“Rules are rules,” Yang Jie said flatly.
Unwilling to back down, Su Mo tried negotiating. “Considering how much I’ve sacrificed for the organization, and how many artifacts I’ve recovered, shouldn’t there at least be some kind of reward?”
Yang Jie glanced at him, then pulled out another document. “Read this.”
?????
So it was all a setup.
According to the new document, if he willingly handed over the artifacts, the organization would award him the North Star Medal, grant him access to the Scripture Pavilion, and—depending on the number of artifacts—reward him with a corresponding amount of spirit stones.
That last line was clearly designed to clean out his ring.
The medal didn’t interest him much, but the Scripture Pavilion access was tempting.
Who knew? Maybe there were some insanely powerful techniques in there—perfect preparation for the Qi Sea Realm.
“Commander Yang, I’m not unreasonable. Handing artifacts over to the organization is part of the job. But I do have one small request…”
Yang Jie remained unmoved. “This is all the higher-ups gave me. No more bargaining.”
“Uh…”
Exposed, Su Mo coughed awkwardly before resigning himself with a pained expression. “Fine. Consider it my contribution to the organization.”
Yang Jie’s lip twitched in exasperation.
This girl… since when did she become so shameless? Don’t you care about your image at all?
“Don’t act like you’re getting the short end of the stick. Others don’t get this treatment—especially access to the Scripture Pavilion. With luck, you might even find a high-tier technique perfectly suited to you.”
With that, Su Mo dropped the act and grinned. “Then thank you, Commander Yang.”
“This was the higher-ups’ decision. Don’t thank me.” Yang Jie’s tone was indifferent.
Then, right in front of Yang Jie, Su Mo began pulling out item after item—swords, armor, and more. Even someone as experienced as Yang Jie couldn’t stay composed.
How does she have so much?
Intact, damaged—altogether, over a hundred pieces.
“Keeping one set as a memento isn’t too much to ask, right?” Su Mo ventured.
Yang Jie shot him a look and said sternly, “Is this all? Then sign here. The rewards will be processed in a few days.”