All at once, that strange space warped, like water rippling under a gust.

When the ripples stilled, Ouyang was still on that patch of grass, like a castaway back on the same shore.

He blinked; his head swam like marsh mist, his mind lagging behind the odd storm he’d just weathered.

Only when Glorious Moon and Xi returned did they see Ouyang staring at the sky, eyes empty as a drained lake.

Xi, spooked, slapped his cheek—smack—like a willow switch in wind.

“Ouyang? What’s wrong—wake up, like you’re surfacing from a river!”

She stared, nerves taut like a bow; in a crowd like a tide, that slap would draw odd looks like arrows.

Luckily, his eyes turned slowly like drifting stars, and he seemed to come back to himself.

From his reaction, it was as if the slap never existed, like dew that never formed.

He looked at Xi and Glorious Moon, blank as someone dragged from sleep at dawn.

“Huh? You’re already back, like swallows to the eaves? Got the info registered?”

Seeing his clueless face, Xi felt something off, like a compass spinning; his state had been eerie as cold moonlight.

And that slap had landed, yet he’d felt nothing, like a statue in rain.

“You... you okay, like you just fell out of a dream?”

“Of course I’m fine, like a rock in the rain; how could I not be? Did you fry your brain in the sun?”

“You are—idiot—you’re the one with a brain baked like a rooftop brick!”

She pouted; something about Ouyang felt off, like grit in gears, so she let the insult slide.

When she saw his vacant eyes, her heart hurt, like the world caving in.

That feeling... like life drained of color, winter swallowing the fields.

But seeing the familiar Ouyang again was a warm lantern in fog, and joy rose instead of anger.

This was the Ouyang etched in her memory like ink on silk.

Back to business, like a blade sliding into its sheath.

After registering the info, Glorious Moon and Xi chose a mission, like archers picking a target under clear sky.

The file said a meteor fell at Sky-Blue Beach, where Aidiluwasha meets the Sea Clan, like iron fire spearing the surf.

Ten minutes ago, a star-stone dropped from the heavens and slammed into the shore like a hammer.

The Sea Clan stirred like a disturbed hive and sent heavy guards to the beach.

Humans sought ways in, like foxes searching holes, to learn the reason.

A meteor falling straight down should be near impossible, like a hawk crossing a palace unseen.

Anything from the void would pass the Gods and the Winged Folk first, like a caravan at city gates.

The Gods would net it before it kissed the ground, like fishermen with cast nets.

Yet this stone reached the earth like a wolf through a fence.

Was it the Gods’ lapse, or did the stone slip past their gaze like a shadow?

In short, Humans and Sea Clan stood locked at Sky-Blue Beach like two tides colliding.

The Hero Association posted a job to uncover the truth of that sea-side meteor, like divers seeking a wreck.

Glorious Moon and Xi took it without a blink, like arrows loosed.

“Wait, when did that meteor show up, like a drumbeat?”

Ouyang was clear now, like wind after rain.

The stone felt off to him, so he asked Xi and Glorious Moon, fishing for threads like a spider.

Glorious Moon flipped the mission card like a leaf and scanned it.

She answered, “The file says it appeared ten minutes ago, like a bell just struck...”

Ouyang gauged the sun like a sailor and realized ten minutes matched when he’d sunk into that strange space like a stone.

At that thought, his interest sparked like flint on tinder.

“Here’s the deal. I’ll head back first; call me if you hit trouble or reach Sky-Blue Beach, like lighting a beacon.”

Ouyang finished, and before Xi could ask, he vanished like smoke on a gust.

He came without shadow and left without trace, like a cat in snowfall.

By Star Spirit rules, Ouyang counted as Glorious Moon’s contractor, like a name carved on jade.

Yet Glorious Moon couldn’t feel him at all, much less summon him, like reaching for a star in daylight.

Only Xi could call him out, which snapped the thread between Ouyang and Glorious Moon like a cut kite string.

In short, Glorious Moon felt tangled about Ouyang’s existence, like weeds around an ankle.

This so-called contractor acted like a palanquin lord—unreachable when called, gone on a whim before she could breathe.

He was, no doubt, a total big-shot, strutting like a peacock.

Back on the Eternal Sleep Continent, Ouyang gave Saya what he’d taken from the Void Waystation, like passing a cold key.

The cipher was arcane as mossed runes; even Saya would need a long season to break it.

Before he could warm a seat, he felt a pull from the Stellar Courtyard, like a hook in his ribs.

“Man, business is booming like summer cicadas. Can’t those two silly girls let me rest under a shade tree?”

He griped a bit like tossing pebbles in a pond, then stepped into the Stellar Courtyard again like through a moonlit gate.

Inside the Stellar Courtyard, clouds packed the sky like slate; thunder stitched it with lightning like white spears...

As usual, Ouyang’s entrance was pure spectacle, like a stage door blown open by storm.

Sour mood pooling like rainwater, he arrived, and his glove flowed into a long blade like quicksilver.

With the blade in hand, he decided to slice whoever caused this into meat ribbons, like a butcher at dawn.

Then he scanned the forest, shadows like ink under leaves, and saw only bedraggled Xi and Glorious Moon.

“What’s this? Didn’t I say only call me if you hit trouble or reached Sky-Blue Beach, like a signal fire?”

Seeing no foe, he figured Xi and Glorious Moon were bored and dragged him out, like kids ringing a bell.

Later he learned the truth: the bullies saw his flashy arrival, took him for God-blooded, and fear blew them away like leaves.

Could he blame Xi and Glorious Moon for that? Nah—blame the trashy opposition, scattered like straw.

While he thought that, a group charged from the far woods like a boar herd.

Their matching uniforms marked them as one squad, neat as a row of spears.

A handsome man spotted Glorious Moon, smoothed his sleeve like a preening crane, and asked with polished grace.

“Beautiful lady, a black light just speared the sky here—do you know what happened? Did a divine beast pass, or did some sacred artifact surface?”

He thought he’d nailed it, keeping poise while fishing for facts, like a fisherman smiling on a bridge.

With looks and grace like spring sunlight, what girl wouldn’t open up?

But how could Glorious Moon answer, with truth snagged like a fishbone?

She glanced at Ouyang, lost for words like a bird with a stone in its beak.

The black pillar was just a self-styled Demon King choosing a cool entrance, like fireworks at midnight.

Divine beast, sacred artifact—those were different rivers entirely.

The man noticed her eyes on Ouyang and drew his own map, like lines in sand.

Clearly they’d found something, and the black-clad man was the keystone, so the silver-haired girl sought his nod.

With that head-canon stacked like bricks, the handsome man felt everything click into place like gears.

The silver-haired girl looked green, sapling-soft.

The girl with sunset-colored hair seemed similar, though steadier, like a rooted tree.

The only one he couldn’t read was the man in black, a shadow behind a lantern...

“Sir, I’m Sade of Future Star, a name like a banner in the wind...”

The man named Sade smiled at Ouyang like a merchant under bright awnings.

He was a Future Star member, a household name in Aidiluwasha, like thunder everyone had heard.

Surely the man in black, if he had sense, would hear that name and know which way the wind blew.

Future Star was the Hero Association’s strongest guild, its members humanity’s future stars in name and glow, like constellations.

Each was a born genius, and the extradimensional beings they contracted were eerie and mighty, like deep-sea currents.

Sade of Future Star—like a banner whipping in the wind!

If Ouyang knew the name, by the usual script he’d obediently spill what happened, like a spring into a basin.

And if any artifact had surfaced, he’d hand it over, hoping to earn Sade’s favor like a gardener courting rain.

That was Sade’s dream, sure, but two of the three here weren’t of this world, like birds blown off course.

Ouyang and Xi had never heard of him, like travelers under an alien sky.

Even if they had, Ouyang wouldn’t care; what ‘genius’ matches Empress Sheila, a god before thirty, like a comet?

As for native Glorious Moon, she came from a remote village like a dew-fed valley.

She knew some famed human heroes, the names that glittered in history like stars.

But Future Star? Sade? Those were blank pages to her.

After Sade dropped his name, he gazed at Ouyang with proud eyes, chin high like a crowing cockerel.

By habit, once his name hit the air, faces should widen with shock like lanterns flaring...

“And then? If there’s nothing, don’t block the road, okay—like a cart stuck in a gate.”

Xi was mildly annoyed; that high-and-mighty look begged for a slap like dust on glass.

People like that had something wrong upstairs, like a loose beam in the rafters.

Divine beast or found artifact, who’d be dumb enough to blab, like tossing pearls into a ditch?

Her words soured the faces of Sade’s teammates like milk in heat.

Future Star members were born under lucky stars; wherever they went, others looked up like sunflowers.

When had they ever been snubbed, like peacocks shooed from a courtyard?

Crack—one woman slapped a tree and snapped it, splinters flying like hail, and glared at Xi.

“You lot, if you picked up any artifact, hand it over now, like laying a blade on the table.”

“If you’re hiding it, do you want to be humanity’s sinner, like a stain on a banner?”

Glorious Moon hadn’t planned to speak; no divine beast, no artifact—explaining would be mud.

But the woman’s near-threat rubbed her wrong, like grit under an eyelid.

“Humanity’s sinner? That’s rich like spoiled wine.

Never mind whether we have an artifact, like a coin under a sleeve.

Even if we did, if we don’t hand it to you, we’re sinners of mankind, like thunder for keeping rain?

Why does not giving you our stuff make us humanity’s sinners, like thieves under noon sun?

What a joke, like a rooster crowing at the moon!”

Even simple-hearted Glorious Moon now saw their ill intent, like thorns under silk.

With Ouyang’s enigmatic presence holding the line like a stone pillar, she had no reason to tiptoe.

At her retort, the woman let out a cold laugh, breath like frost.

As a Future Star, a heaven’s favored, a beacon for humanity, she’d never met someone who dared talk back.

“Why? Because we’re members of Future Star, like torches on a battlement!

We’re humanity’s hope, the brightest talents, like torches on a dark road.

In our hands, an artifact shines with full power and protects our kind like a bulwark.

In yours, it gathers dust like a mirror in a cellar.

Because people like you hoard artifacts, we fall behind against other races, like a ship against the current.

Tell me, aren’t you humanity’s sinners, like stains on the morning flag?”