Today was the day when the base marshals would meet. If there were no surprises, the marshals would hold a simple joint meeting once they met.
Ya Xiao was in high spirits as he followed Qin Qi to the council hall with the two adjutants, Mist and Soren, following close behind.
The two adjutants were not aware of what happened in the early hours of the morning. They did not even see any signs of the marshal and Ya Xiao staying up late. In their eyes, the two were no different from usual.
When they entered the council hall, the other three marshals from the border bases had not yet arrived. There was only one marshal inside, Guwen from the Third Base.
"Marshal Qin, long time no see."
Marshal Guwen had deep lines on his face, looking very serious. His hair was white and he looked to be quite old. Among the marshals, he was the only one who had gotten married and had children long ago.
"Long time no see."
Qin Qi returned the greeting and sat down beside him.
Ya Xiao, on the other hand, nodded slightly in respect to the butler behind Guwen.
Like Marshal Guwen, the other man's butler was also an old-timer, only a bit more kindly. When he saw Ya Xiao's gesture, he smiled and nodded as well.
"Because Gert and your brother are close, when we came to the central city this time, we brought them here."
Marshal Guwen was not good at communicating with young people and looked a bit rusty when chatting about family matters, "You should already know about these things."
Guwen knew that there might be some sort of conflict between the two brothers, Qin Qi and Qin Chen, and the sudden mention of this matter now was also to support Qin Qi in advance.
"Well, I've heard about it before."
Qin Qi nodded to show that he knew, and his attitude was respectful.
Ya Xiao watched the two marshals talk and kept acting as a backdrop from the side.
Gert was Guwen's son. Marshal Guwen, though seemingly serious and old-fashioned, extremely favored his child and rarely refused Gert's requests.
As time passed, the marshals who were not present walked in from outside.
Ya Xiao followed the adjutant and butlers out of the council hall. This meeting was not considered official. Only the marshals were allowed to attend, and the rest of the people were not allowed to enter.
According to the itinerary, the meeting would last for three hours, during which time the butlers were free to schedule their activities.
"Ya Xiao, want to go out with us to get some fresh air?"
Butler Yan Chi smiled and pointed outside, alongside him were Gabe and Bolton, both butlers of the border bases.
"Sure."
We're sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we're going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ya Xiao explained to Mist, who was next to him, before walking over to his three butler friends.
"Qts vb sbe tjnf ab mbwf bnfg tfgf abb?"
Tjc Jtl uijcmfv ja Dbiabc lc vlruera, "Tbe vbc'a offi jrtjwfv ab rajs klat wf ja atlr alwf?"
Dbiabc tfiv tlr tfjv tlut, tlr rlinfg yjmx tjlg mbwyfv mifjcis, "Yo mbegrf la'r tewliljalcu, yea P'v qgfofg cba ab lcafgjma klat atja ugbeq bo rfmbcv-alfg yjrf yeaifgr."
"What's wrong with second-tier base butlers?"
Ya Xiao said curiously.
"There's nothing wrong with them, but my employer, Marshal Wenbor, dislikes interacting with their employers."
The elegant and dutiful Bolton would not interact with their butlers to support his employer.
Next to him, Yan Chi, in a rare moment, did not talk back as he explained to Ya Xiao, "There's a bit of a disconnect between the marshals of the border bases and the marshals of the second-tier bases."
Ya Xiao instantly expressed his understanding. He was well aware of this matter, and there would be another big fight between the marshals in the coming storyline.
The four butlers walked together to the center square not far from the military building, a large square where many commoners gathered to feed the pigeons.
"And speaking of which, we're also rivals with those butlers."
"The butler representative meeting is going to officially start tomorrow. Ya Xiao, how are you preparing for it? If there's anything, remember to tell anytime..." as Bolton was speaking, he was grabbed by the neck by Yan Chi who was beside him.
"Alright, now that you're out for a break you still have to mention these things, can Ya Xiao not know?" Yan Chi lazily said.
Bolton realized with hindsight that something was amiss. He pulled away Yan Chi's arm and stared at him unhappily, and then did not mention the matter again.
Next to him, Gabe calmed the two down, pointing to a flock of pigeons not far away, "Let's go over there. It's not easy to come out, don't talk about business all the time. The pigeons in the central city are very different from the border bases, so we can go and see them together."
As Ya Xiao watched the three of them talk back and forth, his blue eyes unconsciously showed a smile.
Sure enough, these humans were interesting.
The ordinary people around had avoided some of them when they saw the four tuxedoed butlers. In the central city, the butlers' status was also very high, of course, it was only compared to the ordinary people.
The butlers of the border bases wanted to return to the central city, and it was not without the reason that the treatment in the central city was better.
The white pigeons in the square were fed by the pedestrians, and all of them were also very loved ones. When the few butlers went over, many of them surrounded them.
Ya Xiao was not interested in the white pigeons.
He preferred crows in comparison. When Bolton and the three of them proposed to feed the white pigeons, Ya Xiao didn't go near the flock of white pigeons, but sat down on a bench and waited for them.
It was at this moment that a black cat came out of the grass at a leisurely pace, close to Ya Xiao's feet, and meowed sweetly, revealing its pink belly.
[Host, this cat is very close to you.]
The system was a bit surprised.
[I am already very popular with small animals. The crows, small skeletons, and bats in the demon realm are also very clingy to me.] Ya Xiao looked at the black cat under his feet and answered rightfully.
When he was young, before Fourth Uncle came to the demon world, Ya Xiao barely survived by feeding on the skeletons and bats.
System: ......
Host, let's not mention the blood-sucking crows, skeletons are already beyond the scope of small animals, okay?
Ya Xiao had average feelings for soft beings like cats, but the black cat was in line with his aesthetic. He was about to continue talking to Fourth Uncle when he noticed what looked like butterfly-like black marks on the soft pads of the black cat's front paws. He thought of something and lifted his hand to pick up the black cat.
"Hello, is it convenient for me to take a look at this black cat?"
A crisp male voice rang out.
Ya Xiao slightly looked to the side. It was a brown-haired youth wearing a black trench coat.
Seeing Ya Xiao, the young man's expression was a bit surprised.
"My name is Wei Shi. This is my business card."
Noticing his inappropriateness, Wei Shi quickly returned to his senses, took out his business card from his wallet, and handed it over.
The dark-haired young man in front of him had delicate features and eyes of a rare color, but it wasn't his looks that surprised Wei Shi. It was the fact that he had seen the other man before.
Yesterday, this young man in a tuxedo had followed Marshal Qin.
If he wasn't mistaken, he was Marshal Qin's butler.
Ya Xiao took the business card and curved his eyes before giving his name to the protagonist.
Sure enough, this black cat was the black cat from the plot.
"You recognize this black cat?"
"Yes, its owner entrusted me to find it." Wei Shi said while handing over a picture of the black cat.
In the plot, the protagonist group opened an office that took on any job to make ends meet. They made money on a daily basis from all sorts of strange and bizarre commissions.
"This black cat is well-behaved."
Ya Xiao looked at the protagonist Wei Shi with a bright smile on his face. He didn't ask many questions and directly handed the black cat to Wei Shi.
"Thanks."
Wei Shi was a bit surprised. After thanking him, he didn't leave directly. Instead, he hugged the cat and sat on the bench, intending to get close to Marshal Qin's butler.
He, Qin Chen, and Ah Xing had purposely moved to the central city to further investigate the truth of the destruction of the Seventh Base. Meeting Ya Xiao now was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If he could be added as a friend, they might be able to find out the news of the marshal from this young man.
Ya Xiao's tail hidden inside his pants wiggled slightly when he saw Wei Shi's behavior. His blue eyes were simple as if he didn't know what Wei Shi's purpose was.
"We met yesterday, do you remember?"
Wei Shi asked tentatively.
"I remember, you were standing next to the marshal's brother." Ya Xiao nodded obediently, like a naive youth who was easily deceived.
Wei Shi grew up in the slums. At a glance, he could see Ya Xiao's character. He consciously maintained a distance and subtly gained the young man's favor.
The two sides went back and forth, rapidly getting close with different thoughts. By the time Bolton and the others came looking for Ya Xiao to return, Wei Shi had gotten Ya Xiao's optical brain number.
"Let's have time to get in touch."
Wei Shi hugged the black cat with a raised eyebrow, "When we do, I'll tell you about the interesting things I've encountered on other bases before."
After that, he'd have to find a way to draw the two of them closer together again and get information about Marshal Qin out of Ya Xiao.
If he really found out that they had wrongly blamed Marshal Qin, he would have to tell Qin Chen in a hurry, so that the two brothers could make up quickly. During this period of time, because of Marshal Qin's matter, Qin Chen's state was getting more and more depressed, which made him unable to look at him anymore.
"Okay."
Ya Xiao seemed to have good senses for Wei Shi, his blue eyes overflowing with smiles.
"Who is he?"
Butler Yan Chi asked suspiciously from the side, "Did you guys know each other before?"
"No, just met."
Ya Xiao casually replied as he followed his three butler friends out of the square.
[Host, why did you add friends with Wei Shi?]
The system was a bit puzzled. Wei Shi was obviously trying to set up the villain, adding him would be one more thing to worry about.
[Of course, it's for the villain ah!]
Ya Xiao was well aware of Fourth Uncle's doubts. He flicked his tail a bit and said in a light tone in his heart:
[This way, I can know Qin Chen's location in advance so that the villain can avoid him.]
Ya Xiao was a demon who kept his promises.
By promising not to let the villain encounter Qin Chen, he would definitely not let them suddenly meet again!