Chat Group: Starting by Swapping Bodies with Elysia?

Hehe, if that kid does well, I can secretly rejoice.

If he messes it up, I'll have more room to drop in rank – and even if I anger the Grand Astrologer and get fired, that's a good thing too!

After all, Qingque has already planned it out. If one day she's no longer working at the Divination Commission, she'll rent a shop in the Perpetual Dream and open a card parlor, spending her days doing nothing and living leisurely. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

What? Why not do it herself? Well, she's still afraid of the Grand Astrologer's menacing appearance, and then there are her nagging parents at home.

Now that her body has been swapped, what's there to worry about?!

Anyway, it's not me who's suffering!

In short – no matter the outcome, Qingque feels like she's already won big this time.

"Speaking of which... this face looks a bit familiar."

The thought of a bright future made her secretly chuckle, but looking at the silver-haired girl in the mirror, Qingque felt somewhat apprehensive. She figured she shouldn't know such a person, but since she looked familiar, it meant she must have seen her somewhere.

Where was it? A TV show? Could it be "Tales of the Xianzhou"... no, it was when passing by the Ministry of Industry, she saw it on a pillar.

Pinching her chin and racking her brains, she finally had a sudden realization – at this moment, Qingque's eyes widened as she looked at the girl in the mirror with a horrified expression, blurting out:

"Stelle... a Stellaron Hunter, Silver Wolf?!"

In an instant, the joy in Que's heart vanished without a trace.

Only one thought remained in her mind.

Crap, am I a wanted criminal now?

You should know that the Stellaron Hunters are wanted by multiple forces in the universe. Although the Interastral Peace Corporation is the main force behind this, the Xianzhou Alliance to which Qingque belongs hasn't participated.

However, due to the Interastral Peace Corporation's extensive operations, the Xianzhou Alliance and the Interastral Peace Corporation do have cooperative relationships.

Becoming a wanted criminal of the Interastral Peace Corporation, even if you're not a wanted target of the Xianzhou Alliance, you won't have a good time – and the words "wanted criminal" clearly say it all. The fate of these people is to wander the galaxy, being hunted by the Interastral Peace Corporation... Thinking of this, the girl's face turned pale.

Damn it, Sparrow just wanted to escape work and slack off happily, but waking up to find herself as a well-known wanted criminal in the universe is worse than continuing to work overtime!

Elysia's Chatgroup

Qingque: @Jiang Qiao, um... did I swap with you?

Qingque: @Jiang Qiao @Jiang Qiao, can you give it back?! Please!

Hu Tao: What's happening.jpg

Yunyun: What's happening.jpg

Qingque: Wuwuwu, although I want to slack off, I don't want to be a wanted criminal!

Seeing the messages in the group, Jiang Qiao instantly understood Qingque's situation and chuckled.

He replied proactively.

Jiang Qiao: It's mine, but not entirely mine.

Seeing this message, Qingque blinked. Are you playing riddles with me?

Jiang Qiao: You've probably mistaken the person, that body isn't a Stellaron Hunter.

"What's a Stellaron Hunter?"

Miss Fat woman, who was also looking at the messages in the chat group, asked curiously.

"Hunters who pursue something called 'Stellarons.' You can think of them as dangerous items similar to Herrscher cores, but with greater potential for harm. They're interstellar criminals wanted by certain forces in that world – and by the way, she looks a bit like Bronya."

After dealing with the bomb Pardo found – a product of the collaboration between the European branch and Schicksal – the information stored in this base was undoubtedly 'evidence.' If everything had been inadvertently destroyed, or if they had been killed by the explosion, the European branch could have recovered the Herrscher core and continued their unfinished experiments. But after Pardo's discovery, all of that was clearly over.

While explaining to Elysia, he inserted a USB drive into the base's central system – next was Vill-V's time to shine.

Once Vill-V was connected, she could obtain all kinds of evidence from this base, which could later become a powerful 'weapon' for MEI to use when she purged the European branch.

In addition—

'Qingque' glanced at Pardo.

After interacting with her, Jiang Qiao had figured out the current situation.

Miss {kiana} who looked 99% like Kiana, and that hot-tempered woman who resembled Kalpas – so this was all your doing!

Clearly, the bottle of 'Man Spring' he had inadvertently given to Pardo had played its part.

No, 'playing its part' wasn't enough to describe it – in Pardo's hands, it was a downright overachievement.

Although he gave it to Pardo in the hopes of seeing some 'comedic' situations one day, she had already managed to screw over two people in Europe with lightning speed. Jiang Qiao could only say – you've done well, Pardo, you've done well!

Keeping this medicine was the right choice. If I had given it to you earlier, wouldn't the entire Fire Moth headquarters have suffered?

But since this wonderful misunderstanding had already occurred, to prevent Pardo from being ganged up on after the truth was revealed, the kind-hearted Jiang Qiao didn't tell the victims the whole story.

"Since things here are more or less settled, I'll take my leave."

Having dealt with the base, the subsequent matters would undoubtedly be handled by MEI. 'Qingque' nodded, planning to slip away lazily – maybe it was because of this body, but he felt reluctant to work, really wanting to slack off...

But in the next moment—

The girl's shoulder was grabbed.

"Bad Jiang Qiao, shouldn't you explain this person to me?"

The pink-haired girl had a bright smile on her face as she pointed at 'Kiana.'

Having finally caught this bad guy, letting him run away like this would be too easy on him.

You should know that Miss fat woman had a long list of grievances, including the delayed response to her call for help and going to Eden's concert without her.

And – Kiana's appearance also revealed another old matter that Elysia wasn't aware of.

That was MEI!

Before, she only knew that the smart version of Mei, who looked like Mei, was someone bad Jiang Qiao had picked up from who-knows-where behind her back. But now, the real deal had come to her door, sincerely wanting to know the former's whereabouts from her... Well, so the pretty girl you're flirting with is my responsibility to deal with?!

Incredibly embarrassed and furious, Miss fat woman planned to properly punish this bad guy – the only problem was that this time he was using another girl's body again... If it were his own body! Humph!

"Look, there's a beautiful girl over there."

"Where—?!"

Hearing this, the originally angry Elysia excitedly looked in the direction Jiang Qiao pointed – huh?

There was nothing there at all!

By the time she turned back, the chestnut-haired girl who had been standing there had vanished without a trace. Now Miss fat woman knew she had been tricked!

Her beautiful face contorted, and Elysia, with her teeth gritted, puffed up her cheeks like an inflated 'shoe insole.'

"Aaaaah, bad Jiang Qiao—!!!"

Elysia: Don't let me catch you, bad Jiang Qiao!!!

Qingque: Uh...

Qingque watched the strange developments with a face full of question marks.

But, speaking of which...

Mistaken identity?

Looking at Jiang Qiao's earlier messages, Sparrow was skeptical.

Is my current body really not the Stellaron Hunter Silver Wolf?

She had heard of a theory – that the same person might exist in different worlds, and maybe there was another Qingque somewhere. If so, it wouldn't be strange to mistake the girl in the mirror for the cosmic wanted criminal Stellaron Hunter.

And if that were the case—

Yay, I can slack off without any worries!

As long as she could negotiate with the body's owner, wouldn't the sky be the limit?

The only problem was... this didn't seem to be the Xianzhou Loufu, and there was no one to play Heavenly Jade Tile with.

Regarding this problem, Jiang Qiao offered a suggestion.

Jiang Qiao: You can go find Welt. Attached image.

Regarding how to slack off – he remembered that Welt and Siegfried, those two unfortunate souls, were professionals.

By the way, the current [Bronya] was docked at Anti-Entropy's Salt Lake Base.

Considering that Bronya herself was diligently pursuing her studies, sending Seele to the Elysian Realm might cause Bronya to lose her motivation. So, thinking of Bronya's well-being, Jiang Qiao had placed Seele at the Salt Lake Base.

Since the current Seele hadn't mastered the power of a Herrscher, for her growth in mind and skill, the Elysian Realm wasn't a particularly effective shortcut. So, it was fine to let her roam freely at the Salt Lake Base.

Meanwhile, Miss Bronya, oblivious to the Elysian Realm, was still training diligently – besides playing games, she now had another interest.

Discussing 'game creation' with Vill-V.

Games were known as the 'ninth art,' and magic was also a way to please others. Vill-V, who had a lot in common with Bronya, had even split off a new personality for this – a game designer.

Combining the games of the Previous Era, they were currently developing a game called – Honkai Impact Online.

Bronya felt that this game would have great potential in the outside world.

Having considered becoming an excellent game developer after defeating the Honkai, Duckie was already laying the groundwork for her future.

...

Xianzhou Loufu

Having hastily escaped from Elysia's grasp, Jiang Qiao returned to where this body belonged.

For him, it was another extremely unfamiliar place.

The room was full of creations with ancient Shenzhou characteristics, with simple screens that seemed very retro and outdated, but the bathroom was surprisingly advanced... 'Qingque' entered and exited with ease, looking at the delicate girl's face in the mirror, covered with water droplets after washing up.

Pulling at her cheeks, a slight arc appeared on the girl's lips.

When he went to help Elysia earlier, most of his exploration was focused on the power of this body. Now, he was examining it from a 'physical' perspective.

Well... as always, not much there.

Maybe it was because he had used too many mecha bodies before. 'Qingque' sighed as he glanced down – he really had a strong affinity for characters with a young girl's physique.

Jiang Qiao, having gotten used to it, couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore.

Closing his eyes – adapting to this body. As the compatibility gradually increased, he could access the 'memories' of this body's owner.

Now he wouldn't face the embarrassing situation he had with [Elysia]. With the improvement of his 'mastery' ability, he was already very skilled at controlling other people's bodies. Jiang Qiao, who could even skillfully call upon the original owner's 'memories' stored in this body, knew that the 'brain' was where life's memories were stored.

Releasing the brain, coordinating the heart, and adjusting the form of consciousness was like putting on clothes, making it fit the body as much as possible and become the body's form. When the girl opened her eyes, her temperament had further changed.

If Qingque were here – she might think she was looking in a mirror.

This lazy, unambitious vibe, isn't that me?

Following the path in his memories, the girl pushed open the door. What came into view was a residential area full of houses, a region not seen in the game – but Jiang Qiao didn't find it strange. After all, the Xianzhou Loufu was essentially an interstellar civilization. Its scale was so large that it housed at least several million people – and that was because the Xianzhou people themselves were long-lived and didn't have a strong desire to reproduce and pass on their lineage.

The scenes in the game were just a miniature version, just like the gacha game next door. The real Liyue Harbor and Fontaine could never be this small.

However, even though he had browsed the scenery of this Xianzhou Loufu in his memories, and even though this body was extremely familiar with this residence, Jiang Qiao, who was theoretically setting foot on this starship for the first time, felt a surge of surprise and unprecedented novelty.

"Di di~"

A sound came from his pocket. The girl pulled out an old-fashioned 'Lingrui' Jade Messaging Device from her skirt pocket. Seeing the name on it, she raised an eyebrow – oh ho, the contact name was Grand Astrologer.

Answering the call, as expected, a familiar, angry voice rang out from the Jade Messaging Device:

"Qingque, do you have any idea what time it is?!"

Well – Qingque was the type to slack off at work, but she wasn't the type to be late. The original owner of this body's style was – go to work on time, leave work on time, and never work overtime, emphasizing stability.

Now that he had taken a trip to the Previous Era, being late wasn't that strange.

But well... in the vast Divination Commission, as a mere Diviner, she received the personal attention of the head of the Divination Commission – equivalent to a ministerial-level existence – and even got a call for being late... cough cough, what attention.

Thank you for the Grand Astrologer's care – 'Sparrow,' I've decided to work hard in the future to repay your kindness!

Full of motivation, Jiang Qiao took a civilian astral express to the Divination Commission.

Unfortunately, he couldn't teleport like in the game – among the six departments of the Xianzhou, except for the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Transportation, the other four departments and even the Cloud Knights were independent areas. To enter them, you could only take the astral express.

It was a wonderful experience. With the morning light shining through the Xianzhou's dome, he could clearly see the towering tree in the center of the Loufu Xianzhou – the Ambrosial Arbor.

The Divination Commission was located at the highest point of the Loufu, both to facilitate astrology and divination and to better monitor the situation of the Ambrosial Arbor's remains.

Taking the astral express and arriving at the Starwatcher Navalia, the entrance of the Divination Commission, 'Qingque' hurriedly went inside, greeting the busy Diviners she encountered along the way.

"Sparrow, want to play a couple of rounds in the Perpetual Dream after work?"

"No, thanks."

"Eh—?"

Qingque's card friends and colleagues were puzzled by her refusal.

If it were before, as soon as they made the invitation – little Sparrow would definitely say: Alright~ See you there!

But today she actually refused, she refused?!

"Could something have happened?"

The colleagues were full of questions – to make Qingque give up playing cards, it would probably take the end of the world.

Could the Lord Ravager of Pestilence have attacked?!

But there were no movements from the Cloud Knights!

"The Grand Astrologer looked really angry. I reckon little Sparrow won't have any free time afterward. She might be buried under paperwork."

"Whoa, that scary? Forget it, forget it, better hurry up and work. The workload this month is insane."

"Tell me about it. With the change in trajectory, there are so many more variables. The Grand Astrologer is also pushing hard on the schedule, so how could it not be a lot... Sigh, if only I had found an easier job."

Along the way, people greeted her proactively – it was clear that Qingque was very popular among the lower-level Diviners of the Divination Commission.

Of course, the upper-level Diviners didn't like this little girl who always liked to slack off.

Although some people thought she was quite cute, when they thought about how some of the Diviners under them had been 'influenced' by her and become a type of 'sun-dried seafood' frequenting the Perpetual Dream, that cuteness turned into 'gritted teeth.'

Everyone was slacking off, so wouldn't work efficiency plummet?

They really didn't know why the Grand Astrologer kept such a 'menace'!

Moments later, in the Duty Allotment Bureau, 'Qingque' met Fu Xuan, who was busy at her desk – the latter, seeing Qingque, said angrily, "Aren't you going to work?!"

Fu Xuan didn't question why Jiang Qiao was late.

With [Qingque]'s nature, there must be a reason for being late. As for whether the reason was slacking off... she didn't care. Holding the concept of efficiency above all else, Fu Xuan didn't want to take time out of her work to 'educate' this unambitious subordinate.

She directly placed a pile of documents in front of 'Qingque' – logically, with Qingque's position as a small Diviner, many of these were beyond her purview. Jiang Qiao picked one up and glanced at it, which even included the calculation of the Xianzhou's main navigation trajectory... Shouldn't this be handled by the Grand Astrologer herself?

Although not the entire thing, just a part of it, but this...

Fine, the boss was pushing work down, there was no choice. Jiang Qiao sighed and could only silently pick up the documents and go to the side, processing them according to the methods in her memories.

He was quite interested in this.

After all, the Xianzhou's divination was essentially a special kind of 'calculation' – and coincidentally, one of the prerequisites for being good at 'playing with authority' was being quite sensitive to this aspect.

Absorbing the 'nutrients' of this body, the girl also became engrossed in it.

Just like controlling [Bronya] – he treated this body as a special 'calculator.'

Or rather, the human body itself was a 'computing device,' but in Jiang Qiao's hands, with the experience of using the 'Herrscher of Reason' and the blessing of some of the carried 'Reason authority,' through certain techniques, he directly had an 'extra calculation device' equivalent to Fu Xuan's third eye.

And that was amazing.

You should know that Fu Xuan herself had to be careful when using that third eye – because the consumption was too great, and there was also the possibility of 'overload.'

But what about Jiang Qiao's version of 'Qingque'?

He didn't have these two concerns – overload? Although he was using this body, 'Qingque' was more like a memory for transferring content for Jiang Qiao.

And too much consumption...

He could just draw energy from the Path.

Imaginary internal energy was endless. Jiang Qiao, who had experience using various Herrscher bodies, directly used the 'Imaginary Tree's Singularity' method to continuously draw energy from the 'Nihility' Path he had opened.

Draw, convert, calculate, and get the results.

The number of documents decreased rapidly – according to Fu Xuan's arrangement, that pile was actually at least three months' worth of work, involving various fields.

Knowing her unambitious subordinate, Fu Xuan figured Qingque was probably working slowly and meticulously, slacking off while working.

Fu Xuan knew that even so, Qingque could definitely complete the task on time – but she also knew that Qingque was purely dragging her feet. If she were serious, those tasks wouldn't take her that long at all.

"Sigh... this one really doesn't make me worry any less."

Sitting at her desk, Fu Xuan sighed.

Knowing Qingque's talent, she had high hopes for this child, even cultivating her as her successor. Fu Xuan believed that as long as Qingque could put that cleverness to good use, she would definitely not lose to her – and even without the blessing of the third eye, it wasn't impossible for this child to surpass her.

Unfortunately, that was just her personality, making her unreliable.

To stimulate her potential, Fu Xuan even had to use her third eye to divine Qingque's movements and work progress. That was why she could appear whenever Qingque was idle – if she put that computing power into work, she could relax several times over.

Of course, that didn't matter.

She could just dump the workload she lost after using the third eye onto Qingque.

Just consider it training for this unambitious fellow.

Occasionally, Fu Xuan would add a little more.

Well, let Grand Astrologer take a look at how that little sparrow is doing with her work?