"Qingque, you can have three days off."

"Really?!" Qingque's eyes, previously dull with dread, suddenly lit up like a supernova. "Thank you, Master Diviner! You're the best, Master Diviner!"

"But," Fu Xuan added, a slight, almost imperceptible smirk playing on her lips, "when you come back, your workload from the Sector of Remote Sensing will be doubled. You've clearly been hiding your true capabilities."

"Wha—?!" Qingque's joy vanished as if sucked into a black hole.

"Wha... (╥﹏╥) ...doubled...?" she whimpered, collapsing back into the chair. The championship trophy in her hands suddenly felt like it was made of lead. "My life... it's over..."

Fu Xuan ignored the devastated diviner. Her gaze shifted to you, sharp and assessing.

"As for Jiang Xuan..." She looked at you. "Come with me. I have your reward as well."

Qingque was left to her despair as you followed Fu Xuan, not back to the main hall, but deeper into her private quarters. She led you past the formal audience chambers to a simple, unadorned door that slid open silently at her approach.

This was her personal room, a place far removed from her public duties. The room was soft, filled with the faint, calming scent of aged sandalwood and old scrolls. The lighting was ambient and warm, a stark contrast to the cold, stark lines of the Divination Commission. Bookshelves lined every wall, crammed with ancient texts, star charts, and jade slips.

"Sit." She didn't point to a formal chair, but to the soft, embroidered couch near her bed.

You sat, maintaining a respectful but relaxed posture. The air felt charged, almost intimate. This was a level of trust she rarely, if ever, showed.

She didn't sit but stood before you, her arms crossed. The casual pink outfit made her seem smaller, yet her aura was just as intense.

"Why did you deliberately lose to Qingque?" she asked directly. No pleasantries, no preamble.

"I felt Senior Qingque was more suited for the championship," you replied, sticking to your prepared, humble answer.

"Hmph." A sharp, unamused sound escaped her. Fu Xuan walked up to you, her steps silent on the thick rug. "Don't take me for a fool, Jiang Xuan. I reviewed your match data. Your 'mistakes' were timed perfectly. Your calculations were precise enough to ensure her victory by the narrowest possible margin. That's not a mistake; that's masterful control."

She leaned down, placing her hands on the couch on either side of your hips, trapping you between her arms. "I am very clear about your strength. Now, tell me the truth."

The distance was dangerously close. You could smell the faint, sweet fragrance of her hair and see the sharp intelligence burning in her orange-pink eyes. She was testing you, pushing you, trying to see past the mask you wore.

You held her gaze, your own expression a perfect mask of calculated honesty. "I don't want to attract too much attention," you said, your voice low.

Fu Xuan stared at you for a long, heavy moment, searching your face for any sign of deception. Finally, she sighed and straightened up, breaking the proximity.

"You... are truly inscrutable, Jiang Xuan." She paced for a moment, her back to you, as if making a heavy decision.

"Since you don't want fame," she said, turning back, "then I shall impart to you something truly valuable. Something more valuable than any championship title."

She turned back to you, her expression completely serious. "The secret art of the Fu clan. The true foundation of the Matrix of Prescience."

Your feigned surprise was perfect. "Master Diviner, I couldn't possibly..."

"It shouldn't be taught to outsiders," she cut you off, her tone firm. "But… you are different. Your talent is wasted on just collating data. And... I want to teach it to you."

For the rest of the night, she taught you this profound secret art. It wasn't just divination; it was about perceiving the 'threads' of fate, the subtle flow of cause and effect, and how to gently nudge them. She spoke of concepts that resonated deeply with your own hidden abilities, and you absorbed the knowledge like a dry sponge, asking insightful questions that made her eyes light up with the rare pleasure of finding a true intellectual peer.

She demonstrated, her slender fingers tracing complex, invisible patterns in the air. You sat beside her on the couch, your shoulders occasionally brushing. The room was quiet, save for her low, focused voice and the soft rustle of ancient scrolls. The intimacy of the moment was purely academic, yet far more potent than any simple flirtation.

Before you knew it, the artificial sky outside the window began to shift, the deep indigo of night bleeding into the faint, pale light of dawn.

"That's enough for today," she finally said, stifling a small, delicate yawn. She looked exhausted but also... strangely content. It had been a long time since she'd had someone who could truly understand her work.

You stood up, bowing deeply. "Thank you, Master Diviner. I will not forget this kindness."

As you reached the door, she suddenly called out, "Jiang Xuan."

You paused, turning back.

She was standing by the window, the new daylight catching the tips of her pink hair. She seemed... hesitant, a rare sight for her.

"From now on... when we are in private... just call me Fu Xuan."

You paused, letting the significance of the request settle. This was a true sign of personal acceptance, a lowering of her highest wall. You smiled, a genuine, warm smile that you had perfected.

"Alright, Fu Xuan."

Upon hearing you call her name, you saw the tips of her ears turn a delightful shade of red. She quickly turned her head to face the window. "You may go."

The next day, as soon as you arrived at the Divination Commission, you were cornered by Qingque before you even reached your desk.

"Tell me! Now!" she hissed, dragging you behind a tall data server, her eyes wide with frantic curiosity. "What secret, forbidden, all-night-long art did the Master Diviner teach you last night? Why didn't you come out the whole night?!"

"It's just some advanced divination techniques," you said vaguely, feigning confusion at her intensity.

"Liar!" Qingque poked you in the chest. "Fu Xuan seems to be in a particularly good mood today! She was actually humming when she came in! Humming! I thought the Matrix was about to collapse! And I saw her ears were red!"

Seeing her pouting, you couldn't help but want to tease her. "Senior Qingque... are you jealous?"

"Who-who's jealous!" Qingque's face instantly turned bright red. "I'm just... just curious! What could make that ice block smile? It's a miracle!"

You just chuckled and left her to her wild speculations.

In the following days, you used your new, closer relationship with Fu Xuan to your advantage. You drafted a detailed proposal and presented it to her during one of your evening "study" sessions.

"Fu Xuan," you began, "your divination is peerless, but it predicts what will happen, not always why. The commission lacks... ears on the ground. We are blind to the undercurrents until they become waves."

"What are you proposing?" she asked, intrigued as she sipped her tea.

"A network of informants. Not spies," you said carefully, "but 'observers.' Placed in every major commission and district of the Luofu. On the surface, they'd be simple liaisons for the Divination Commission, there to report on public morale and minor anomalies. In reality," you lowered your voice, "they would be our eyes and ears, tracking every move, every whisper."

"Jiang Xuan, this proposal is good," Fu Xuan said after reviewing your plan, her eyes gleaming. "A 'safety net' to catch dissent before it forms, to feel the pulse of the Luofu. It's practical. I approve it."

Soon, an invisible net spread across the Luofu, with threads leading back to you, all under the legitimate authority of the Divination Commission. No one suspected a thing.

One day, your most trusted informant, one you had carefully placed deep within the Alchemy Commission, delivered a special piece of intelligence.

"An anomaly at the Alchemy Commission recently?" you read the encrypted message.

"Yes, honored one," the report came back. "Some people seem to have seen strange, dark, shadowy figures lurking in the deepest, sealed-off chambers. There's also talk of... forbidden research. The scent of unknown medicines."

You smiled. It seems Phantylia has already begun to act. "Continue to monitor. Report immediately if there's any situation. Do not be discovered."

After a period of relative calm, your peaceful life as a diligent diviner did not last long.

On this day, as you were sorting data, a piercing, deafening alarm suddenly blared throughout the entire Luofu. It was the highest-level alert, one that hadn't sounded in decades, a sound that chilled the blood.

"EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT! A STELLARON HAS BEEN DISCOVERED WITHIN THE LUOFU'S DOMAIN! ALL COMMISSIONS IMMEDIATELY ENTER ALERT STATUS! ALL PASSAGES ARE TEMPORARILY CLOSED!"

The Divination Commission instantly fell into chaos. Diviners ran back and forth, their abacuses clattering, screens flashing red.

"Silence!"

Fu Xuan's voice cut through the panic like a knife. She stood on her high platform, her expression more solemn than you had ever seen. "Stellaron..."

She immediately activated the Matrix of Prescience, its massive golden core spinning to life with a low, ominous hum.

"Honored one, how are the divinations?" you asked, playing your role as the concerned, capable subordinate.

"Not good," her brows were tightly furrowed, her knuckles white as she gripped the railing. "The divinations are chaotic... twisted... but they all point to one source. This incident... it is related to a wanted organization..."

She looked up, her orange-pink eyes filled with a cold, hard light. "The Stellaron Hunters."

Fu Xuan immediately issued an order, her voice echoing with absolute authority. "Pass down the command! All Cloud Knights and Diviners are to go all out to search for any and all members of the Stellaron Hunters within the Luofu!"