Qingque had spent a long time cycling through a dozen different theories about how the online launch would look.
But she never imagined it would turn out like this.
At first, Qingque was blissfully unaware.
She had been merrily pitching Celestial Jade to her usual local parlors, and things were actually going quite well.
At the very least, she'd managed to unload every portable table and set of tiles she had on her; it only took a few rounds for a whole crowd of people to become hopelessly addicted.
Just as Qingque's own hands started to itch—tempting her to jump into a game personally—the parlor owner suddenly let out a strange yelp.
He burst through the crowd and lunged toward her, his eyes a swirling cocktail of three parts disbelief, three parts joy, three parts awe, and one part sheer curiosity.
"Qing... no, Boss Que! This Celestial Jade project of yours... turns out it isn't just the General you've won over, but even an Aeon? I truly had eyes but couldn't see Mount Tai! From this day forward, you are my personal God of Fortune!"
The owner's eyes practically turned into the shape of Credit symbols.
Good heavens.
Inside the Originium System, an identical version of Celestial Jade had appeared, complete with a "Celestial Sparrow Entertainment" signature.
Even wilder, if you played enough and hit certain milestones, you earned a wishing chance—a chance to make a request directly to an Aeon.
This was absolutely terrifying.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Boss Que's influence was simply god-tier!
And here she was, letting a small-timer like him in on the ground floor of such a goldmine. If there were more floor space in the shop, he would have prostrated himself right there and then.
"Boss Que, look... my shop still has plenty of room. I can fit at least another hundred tables. Do you think the Sky-Faring Commission can ship them out today? Just give me a price, I'll pay the full amount upfront to reserve them!"
"Huh...?"
Qingque was left blinking, completely lost in the wake of the owner's frantic rambling.
"Oh, Boss Que, my dear ancestor, please don't 'huh' me right now! The entire universe knows about Celestial Jade and Celestial Sparrow Entertainment. I know you're so powerful that this is probably nothing to you, but a small fry like me is about to faint from the excitement!"
Seeing Qingque's breezy, nonchalant attitude, the owner's admiration for her reached a state of total worship.
He never would have guessed that the unassuming, tile-flicking Qingque he saw every day was actually a hidden titan of the industry.
"Wait a second. What exactly happened? Walk me through it."
Qingque was genuinely clueless. She stared at him with a face full of confusion, unable to grasp the situation.
Just moments ago, this man was saying his shop was small and that he'd need to "test the waters" before giving Celestial Jade any more floor space.
How did he do a complete 180 and start wailing like she was his savior?
And he kept shouting "Boss Que," causing players from every corner of the parlor to turn and stare. Qingque felt like she could curl her toes tight enough to dig a hole through the floor.
"You really don't know, Boss Que?"
"I really don't. I've been busy since the moment I got here. You saw me! How would I know what's going on... and stop calling me 'Boss Que.' It's incredibly awkward."
"Then... take a look at this clip first."
The owner wasn't sure if she was playing dumb or not, but he handed her a recorded snippet of the livestream.
At first, Qingque didn't see the problem. But when her eyes landed on the shimmering, bold letters for "Celestial Jade" within the Originium system, she felt the first chill of realization.
She knew about Originium. It was a cosmic riddle posed to the entire universe by the Arbiter of Myriad Distinctions.
It had even helped resolve some of the structural flaws inherent to the Xianzhou's long-life species.
Because of that, Qingque had picked up a piece of Originium as a souvenir during her time off and had even tried logging into the interface.
But that raised a massive question.
She had only ever played Celestial Jade with General Jing Yuan. How did it end up in there? And with that massive "Celestial Sparrow Entertainment" logo to boot?
Surely even General Jing Yuan didn't have that much clout?
The moment the thought hit her—that her name might soon echo across the cosmos and that Celestial Sparrow Entertainment was poised to become an interstellar conglomerate—Qingque broke into a cold sweat.
Just her job as a lowly diviner at the Divination Commission gave her a headache. If she actually became the head of a galactic corporation, how much work would she have to do?
At the thought of such a bleak, work-filled future, the world started to go dark before her eyes.
Then, the footage showed something that nearly made her pass out for real.
First, there was an achievement system directly tied to Celestial Jade, along with all the associated rewards.
Then, right there in front of the entire universe, the streamer used a wishing chance to actually receive a four-hundred-meter-tall, ginormous mecha-maiden from the hands of the Arbiter of Myriad Distinctions.
A mind as sharp as Qingque's couldn't fail to see the implications.
In the future, even people who had zero interest in tiles would spend their lives studying Celestial Jade just for that wish.
And that "Celestial Sparrow Entertainment" logo in the game interface would act like a beacon for the entire universe.
As the "boss" behind the scenes, there was no way she could stay hidden once the entire universe turned its gaze toward her.
In fact, that Heliobus who was currently parading around with her face was much more likely to be the "hidden player" that no one would notice!
Thinking about how her name and face would sweep through the cosmos like a hurricane, Qingque felt her heart turn to ash at the prospect of being drowned in a sea of work and Credits.
However...
As the crisp clack-clack of tiles and the familiar thrum of the tables filled the air around her, her gaze was drawn back to the game.
She realized something. If she really was destined to become the "Boss Que" of everyone's rumors, her days of lounging around tile parlors and playing to her heart's content were numbered.
Her gaze suddenly turned incredibly determined.
To commemorate her soon-to-be-dead future... she had to play tiles right now!
She had to play like there was no tomorrow, until the sun and moon lost their luster! As for that wicked Heliobus impersonating her? That could wait until she'd had her fill of the game.
"Owner, go ask the Sky-Faring Commission yourself. Just give them my name. Take as many tables as you can carry. I'm going to play—don't bother me unless it's an emergency!"
After barking out those instructions at lightning speed, Qingque let out a sharp cry and dove headfirst into the growing chaos of the parlor. She began a fierce, relentless slaughter against her fellow players.
The owner stood there, blinking in a daze. He couldn't wrap his head around it.
Usually, if someone managed to get a connection with an Aeon, they'd be over the moon. Who on earth would ignore that just to play tiles?
But he didn't dwell on it for long. After all, Boss Que had god-like reach; if she could rub shoulders with the Arbiter of Myriad Distinctions, a little thing like this probably was beneath her notice.
It might be a "little thing" to her, but to him, it was a golden opportunity to strike it rich.
Without wasting another second, the owner bolted out of the parlor and sprinted toward the Sky-Faring Commission.
Of course, compared to Qingque's sheer bewilderment, Jing Yuan wasn't surprised by the development at all.
Considering who was behind it, it wouldn't fit her "Elation" persona if she didn't cause a massive stir.
Jing Yuan himself was currently sitting at the table Qingque had gifted him, playing Celestial Jade online through the Originium.
The digital table had its own chat room where one could send voice or text messages.
After a few rounds, he realized this thing allowed real-time communication with people on the other side of the universe.
That technology was, frankly, terrifying.
Even the Interastral Peace Corporation, with its signal stations peppering the Star Rail across the galaxy, couldn't achieve zero latency over such vast distances.
On a cosmic scale, no matter how much you optimized transmission efficiency, there would always be a delay. To have none at all was a pipe dream.
And yet, this tiny piece of Originium had done it.
Even more staggering was that Jing Yuan had actually matched with a survivor from a world choked by a Stellaron.
This connection had effectively bypassed the Stellaron's interference entirely.
The galaxy was about to get very loud.
Worlds locked away by Stellarons now had a way to talk to the rest of the universe again, not to mention the tempting rewards within the Originium.
Even Jing Yuan couldn't help but wonder what he would ask for if he ever earned a wish.
Though, having looked closely at the achievement system, he saw that earning a wish was incredibly difficult.
Most people would likely never get the chance. But the mere possibility was enough to set the world on fire.
Just like Jing Yuan, the other Generals of the Xianzhou had naturally given Celestial Jade a try.
Among them, General Yao Guang—skilled in the art of divination—sensed something much more subtle.
"The patterns suggest... the key lies in the way the Originium operates. But with my current abilities, I simply cannot decipher it."
Through the eyes of the Hunt, she had spotted the existence of a secret. But while those eyes could find a secret, they couldn't analyze it.
No matter how she observed it, she couldn't grasp the logic. She eventually chalked it up to the fact that she simply wasn't built for research.
So, Yao Guang chose the most practical path available.
"Sigh. I'll just have to win a wishing chance and go ask Madam Bai Ming in person."
She wasn't alone. Many people hadn't been blinded by the immediate rewards and were instead aiming for a wish just to seek answers from an Aeon.
As for the greatest power in the universe, the various departments of the Interastral Peace Corporation had already established research task forces.
They hoped to secure enough wishes from the two existing Originium projects to bolster the IPC's foundations.
As far as the IPC was concerned, they didn't need to make wishes to any Aeon other than the Amber Lord. But as merchants, they weren't about to pass up an opportunity for such massive profit.
However, considering that particular Aeon was... unconventional, and prone to wandering the mortal coil, the Board of Directors had a different plan.
They instructed Diamond to try and get in touch with 'Qingque.'
They didn't expect a miracle; they just wanted to figure out where her "bottom line" was to make their own operations easier. It would be a net loss if they accidentally stepped on her toes one day.
With the Amber Lord at their back, the IPC wasn't at risk of being physically wiped out, but even the destruction of a single branch office would be a massive headache.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL