Chapter 3044 Guests Feel at Home

Did Excellency Corvos also find the administrator before him out of the ordinary?

Even without learning its name, the reaction from one of the Night Watchers' titans was enough to make him feel genuinely valued.

Corvos knew Professor Fu was an administrator, and he knew there was more than one of them.

Yet, when it came to the Warehouse's name, his reaction had been, "Even you?"

Clearly, regardless of how many administrators he had interacted with, Corvos knew they were ignorant of it.

By comparison, he believed Professor Fu was the most likely to know the truth.

As for why he felt that way?

"The Night Watchers truly don't know, but to be honest, I've always placed great hope in you. Your performance has been truly exceptional."

Without needing to be asked, Excellency Corvos quickly adjusted his emotions and explained.

"You are more active, more mysterious, and your growth has been unbelievably efficient."

The subsequent evaluation was filled with equally glowing praise.

Clearly, within the Night Watchers' intelligence network, Professor Fu stood out conspicuously even among the Warehouse's other minions. And as his gaze swept over him, it was evident that Corvos was absolutely certain Professor Fu wasn't a demigod.

Furthermore, no matter how flawless his disguise, he still harbored doubts about Fu Qian's current Tier 2 status.

...

He was doing more than a year's worth of work in a single month. How could he not be active?

His choice of words, however, successfully triggered Professor Fu's reflections on the issue of employee benefits.

Logically, the other administrators stirred up plenty of trouble in the Bookstore World as well. The "active" Excellency Corvos mentioned likely referred specifically to his missions.

The Night Watchers had captured far more of the suspicious historical traces he left behind as an administrator.

Add to that his dual successes—usurping a high position in the Academy while his personal strength surged rapidly.

This also explained why Corvos previously assumed he would know the truth—

As an administrator, Professor Fu clearly enjoyed preferential treatment, appearing as though he were being specially groomed with an enormous expenditure of resources.

Since he was a specially cultivated talent, it made perfect sense for him to know more than the others, didn't it?

Among those expended resources, there might very well be occult knowledge like the true name of the Warehouse. In all fairness, his line of reasoning wasn't entirely flawed.

Unfortunately, it all came back to the same old problem. Excellency Corvos had likely sat in a high position for so long that he couldn't even begin to imagine how low a capitalist's bottom line could drop.

The Warehouse had indeed opted for a high-volume, all-you-can-eat model this time around—only it was feeding him missions.

As for intelligence and the like, if he hadn't intentionally pushed for a higher exploration rating every single time, he felt they would have kept playing the riddler with him until he died of old age.

"You flatter me. Personal growth is inseparable from the system."

Although Excellency Corvos harbored a few misunderstandings, Fu Qian maintained his modesty while ensuring he highly praised the Night Watchers' achievements.

"It is precisely by relying on the excellent order of this world that I was able to achieve what I have today, step by step."

...

A guest should defer to the host, but he couldn't just shove all the heavy lifting onto the other party.

Excellency Corvos truly possessed an astonishing scope of vision, casually tossing out a sensitive topic like the Warehouse.

As the Warehouse Manager, he couldn't afford to lose face either. In return, Fu Qian deliberately used the phrase "this world" to subtly tease out the concept of an outsider.

The speaker may lack intent, but the listener takes heed. Over all these years, the Night Watchers had to have gathered at least some understanding regarding the origins of certain administrators. Anyone else might not have found his phrasing strange, but Fu Qian was confident Excellency Corvos would catch the implication perfectly.

"...Should I also say I'm flattered?"

He did not disappoint. In that moment, Corvos paused his thumbing of the pages, his gaze turning profound and meaningful.

"Although our work still falls short in many areas, I am rather curious—which aspect of our order does Professor Fu admire the most?"

Unwilling to settle for superficial flattery, he actually pushed Fu Qian to praise them in greater detail.

"Every place has its merits. Take Shangjing before us, for example. The municipal officer even manages to retain a bit of ambition to restrict the transcendent."

Highly accommodating, Fu Qian was so immersed in the role that he already treated the space like his own little shop, making guests feel at home.

"Gan Zuoxun... I hear Professor Fu is quite approving of him."

Nodding slightly, Corvos directly voiced a name, and even laid out the Bookstore Owner's political leanings.

"If I were Gan Zuoxun, having my name remembered by your Excellency would certainly leave me flattered and overwhelmed."

Little did he know that Professor Fu possessed an equally astonishing political acumen, casually offering his own flattery.

Even as a prestigious municipal officer of an entire region, someone to whom even ancient transcendent families had to show some face, describing him as a mere insect in front of Corvos wouldn't be an exaggeration.

To have his name remembered under these circumstances—if word got out, it would be a massive political asset for Gan Baobao's father.

"He has indeed done quite well. At the very least, he is one of the less disappointing individuals."

As expected, Excellency Corvos didn't bother hiding his thoughts, openly indicating that the work in Shangjing had been handled decently while tying it back to their previous topic.

"Anything else?"

Though disdainful of speaking too much, he directly demanded more praise.

"There is. Perhaps seniority and ranking are inevitably a factor, but the youth still have a chance to emerge. They haven't been completely stifled by old guys like us."

Still accommodating as ever, Fu Qian seamlessly closed the distance between them, subtly implying that they were both immortal old monsters.

"Just among those I've encountered, there are two outstanding young talents—Northern Jiang En and South Taylor. They refuse to yield to one another, each forging ahead."

After all this time, he was already intimately familiar with the Shangjing Martial Arts Community, immediately dropping the names of the two rising stars.

"Opportunities for the youth..."

Unfortunately, those two seemingly lacked the qualifications to catch Excellency Corvos's eye. Appearing wholly unfamiliar with them, the old man casually repeated the phrase without further comment, his gaze once again falling on the readers beneath the window.

...

So the Night Watchers weren't entirely clear on the background of the "outsiders"?

The lack of reaction toward Taylor and the others was entirely within expectations.

For Fu Qian, the subtle point here was that his self-proclaimed status as an "old guy" hadn't provoked any disagreement.

Regardless, his appearance leaned toward the youthful side for the majority of the time, presenting quite a contrast to such a title.

In the Bookstore World, it wouldn't mean much, but as a visitor from a world without transcendent power, it was undoubtedly a bit contradictory.

Yet, Corvos didn't seem to find any issue with his persona. Did this mean the upper echelons of the Night Watchers had very little intelligence regarding the place he had lived in for twenty years?

Having seamlessly guided the conversation, Fu Qian indicated he had obtained even more potential intelligence—

"It's a pity they don't seem to want to keep trying."

Of course, this didn't stop him from breaking the silence and also looking down below the windowsill.

As the summit continued to heat up, the crowd's journey through the sea of knowledge finally seemed to be disrupted. They raised their heads one after another, glancing around. And at the focal point of their converging gazes, a figure actually materialized.

He was in his fifties with a lean, sharp face.

The municipal officer of Shangjing?