Even if he told the truth, no one would believe him.

Nonsense, of course they wouldn't believe him. Every student in the military academy knew that what could five hundred energy crystals do?

More than five hundred energy crystals were enough to support the long-distance wormhole travel of three marshal-level battleships, equip at least eighty-five of the military's latest standard mechas, or support a squad of ten reconnaissance spaceships operating in the universe for two months.

What kind of concept was this?

In the entire Empire, there were only two Marshal class battleships.

Eighty-five mechas were sent out, enough to completely destroy a large city in a short hour.

Ten scout ships operating in space for more than two months was usually the prelude to the beating of the war drums!

How could this not be frightening?

It was practically frightening to death!

It wasn't that the black market didn't have an organization that sold information, but at this moment, without any warning, someone had suddenly purchased energy crystals in large quantities — and it was someone who didn't even bother to hide his military style. The black market merchant, who had a natural sense of danger, naturally sensed that something was amiss.

Of course, at this moment, he wasn't just shocked, he could also smell the rich business opportunity contained within.

For people like him who valued money more than life, what was the best way to make money?

Naturally, it was to make money from war!

At this moment, the man didn't know if he was more excited or nervous.

Was there going to be another large-scale war in the Empire recently?

Was it to expand their territory, or to suppress a rebellion somewhere?

Or perhaps they had received a request for help from their allies?

Or … perhaps it was an internal strife.

The merchant rubbed his hands and looked expectantly at the customer in front of him. He stared at him without blinking, trying to glean some information from his expression.

However, Ji Xiuyun had trained for eight hundred years to keep a straight face even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him. He didn't waver in the slightest in the face of the merchant's prying eyes.

Anyway, no one would believe the truth, so let him guess blindly.

Thus, Ji Xiuyun didn't say anything. After a short pause, he directly left with more than five hundred energy crystals.

The exit led directly to the parking lot. As the exit of the black market, there were no surveillance cameras on this part of the road.

The absence of surveillance cameras also meant that there were people lurking here, waiting for those who were qualified to come out from the exclusive exit of the largest shop in the black market.

Yue An was squatting in Ji Xiuyun's hidden pocket. Out of an animal's instinct to sense danger, he sensed the abnormal atmosphere. His ears were erect, and his beautiful cat eyes were wide open. His gaze was moving back and forth in his limited field of vision.

Cats had a very sensitive sense of hearing. For felines that lived in the wild, even the slightest sound of the wind could wake them up from their sleep.

His ears, which were covered with soft fur, moved around, occasionally shaking slightly.

Yue An caught a few slow and long breaths. His gaze swept across a few blind spots, and a few wisps of lightning appeared on the tip of his claws.

Ji Xiuyun suddenly felt a brief stabbing pain from the place where the hidden pocket was sewn on his waist. It was followed by an instant of numbness. It was as if his hand had been accidentally pricked by a leak of electricity.

His footsteps paused, and he keenly heard a few muffled groans coming from all directions. When he looked up, he saw a few people fall down in the blind spots in front of him. Their upper bodies or heads were exposed.

— — Their hair had an explosive hairstyle, and their clothes had a burnt smell. There were no wounds on their bodies, but they fell to the ground and twitched twice before losing consciousness.

They weren't dead.

There was no need to even think about who had attacked them.

Yue An, who had silently taken care of most of the people, squatted in the hidden pocket and looked here and there. His ears moved back and forth as he carefully listened to the sounds around him. He was satisfied to find that the remaining few breaths had paused for a moment, and then gradually faded away.

Yue An moved around in the hidden pocket and meowed softly through his clothes.

Ji Xiuyun didn't need to think to know what was going on. He didn't stay any longer, and he reached out to grab the chest that was as tall as his waist and walked out. His two long legs could take two steps with each step, and it only took him a few minutes to return to his carriage.

As soon as he got into the carriage, Yue An squirmed out of his arms and jumped onto the chest. He meowed at Ji Xiuyun, who was taking off his brooch, and raised his head with his tail up high. He had an expression that said, "Hurry up and praise me."

Sir Marshal returned to his original appearance. He glanced at the rapidly receding scenery outside the window, and reached out to gently scratch Yue An's chin.

Yue An lay on top of the chest. He closed his eyes as Ji Xiuyun scratched him skillfully. His two ears were pressed down, and the weight of his little head was all on Ji Xiuyun's palm, making a gurgling sound.

Ji Xiuyun lowered his eyes and looked at Yue An, who looked like he was about to fall asleep. Ji Xiuyun stopped what he was doing.

He thought of Yue An's special talent.

When they had first met, he had clearly noticed that there was a difference between the two streams of water that Yue An had summoned.

The second stream of water was thinner than the first.

When they were sitting by the pond and roasting fish, Yue An had summoned a lightning bolt and blasted half of the water in the pond. The cat had been stunned.

At that time, Yue An had just eaten half of an energy crystal.

His cat did not feed on energy crystals. Yue An could eat a lot of things. He could eat anything that humans could eat, but he had a special liking for energy crystals.

Ji Xiuyun had a bold idea when he thought about how Yue An had eaten a few mouthfuls of energy crystals the day before.

He woke up Yue An who could doze off anywhere.

Yue An opened his mouth and bit Ji Xiuyun to show his dissatisfaction. He didn't use much strength, and it only caused a slight sting.

Sir Marshal pulled out his finger and stroked the cat's head to comfort him. He asked, "Yue An, does your talent rely on energy crystals?"

Yue An was lying on the table. He turned around and looked up at Ji Xiuyun. He didn't want to hide anything.

"Meow."

No wonder.

Ji Xiuyun stroked Yue An's head again and again as he looked at the large chest of energy crystals.

My cat that saved my life is so difficult to raise.

As the marshal thought about it, he felt that something was amiss. The money for this box of stones was earned by Yue An himself.

"…"

Sir Marshal fell into silence.

Wouldn't this make him seem a little too useless?

The more Sir Marshal thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case. He asked, "Yue An, is there anything you want?"

The cat's ears shook. He stretched out his paws and patted the chest on which he was lying.

Sir Marshal paused. "Other than energy crystals?"

I want to become a fairy!

Yue An thought about his eight tails. He looked up at Ji Xiuyun, thought for a while, and then turned around to reveal his belly.

"Meow!"

Sir Marshal looked at Yue An calmly for a while. He finally recognized the cruel reality.

He seemed to have been treated as a human massage machine by his cat.

What a sin.

Sir Marshal was not poor. In fact, he was very rich.

He owned a mine and some side businesses. Other than that, he also had a high salary and all kinds of subsidies. In order to win over a young and powerful general, the emperor never cared about money.

However, Yue An did not need Ji Xiuyun's money.

His ability to make money was even better than that of Marshal.

Just as Ji Xiuyun was seriously considering whether he should hand over his salary card to Yue 'an Hua so as not to appear useless, they arrived home.

The car was parked in the garage. Sir Marshal lifted the chest out of the car effortlessly and dragged it into the house.

Yue An lay on the chest as he entered the house. He looked up and saw Marshal Kevin sleeping on the sofa.

Yue An was stunned. He looked up at Ji Xiuyun.

Ji Xiuyun did not show any surprise.

His teacher had always had access to this house. This was given to him by his parents when they were still alive. Ji Xiuyun had never thought of taking it back.

The marshal's movements were extremely light.

The temperature in the house was constant, so he did not need to worry about catching a cold.

Yue An looked at Ji Xiuyun's movements. He suddenly realized that the relationship between the two was not as cold as it had appeared in the morning.

As far as Yue An knew, Ji Xiuyun's interpersonal relationships were too simple.

This made him curious about the Marshal who had access to Ji Xiuyun's house.

He walked over with his short legs and nimbly jumped onto the short table in front of the sofa. He tilted his head and carefully looked at this person.

Marshal Kevin was over 210 years old this year. He had protected the Empire as a Marshal for nearly a hundred years. His body had begun to deteriorate over the past few years. He was about to leave the golden age of a human's life.

Although it was not obvious from his appearance, as a soldier who had spent his life on the battlefield, his body was no longer suitable to stand on the fierce front lines.

However, the consciousness that he had honed over the years on the battlefield had not been erased by the comfortable life of the past few years.

Marshal Kevin woke up under Yue An's scrutinizing gaze.

He immediately saw Ji Xiuyun and yawned. "You're back?"

Ji Xiuyun nodded. "Teacher."

Marshal Kevin nodded. He saw Ji Xiuyun open the takeout menu and walk to the kitchen. His gaze turned to the furball squatting on the short table in front of him.

He tentatively reached out his hand.

Yue An did not dodge.

Marshal Kevin smiled and generously reached out to rub Yue An's head.

When Ji Xiuyun walked out of the kitchen with a glass of warm milk, he saw his teacher holding a bag of meat strips and playing with the cat.

Marshal Kevin saw Yue An straighten up and reach out to grab the meat strips. He walked over and put down the glass of milk in his hand.

Yue An turned its head and smelled the milk in the air. It suspiciously meowed at Ji Xiuyun.

Marshal Kevin took the cat back from its teacher and squeezed its paws. "It's for teacher."

Yue An looked at Marshal Kevin in disbelief.

He was already so old, yet he still drank milk?

What kind of modern setting was this?!

"Drinking milk can help slow down the aging of the skin."

Marshal Kevin said with a serious expression. "I'm different from Xiuyun. I have a family. I have to maintain a handsome image to make my wife happy."

Ji Xiuyun's face was cold. He was too lazy to respond.

"Meow …"

Yue An found it hard to understand how a person like Marshal Kevin could teach Ji Xiuyun to have facial paralysis.

"I'm here for something."

Marshal Kevin put down the glass in his hand. "I just received news that someone suspected to be from the military bought more than 500 pieces of high-grade energy crystals from the black market."

The man and the cat who were playing with their paws paused when they heard this. They turned their heads in unison to look at Marshal Kevin.

Marshal Kevin was also stunned by their unexpected reaction. He seemed to have realized something. He looked at Ji Xiuyun's casual clothes and then at the big box at the door.

"…" Marshal Kevin was silent for two seconds. "You did this?"

Ji Xiuyun did not say anything. It was a silent admission.

Marshal Kevin was incredulous. "You have an entire planet's worth of energy crystals. Why did you buy this?"

"…" Ji Xiuyun squeezed Yue An's paws.

If there was anyone Ji Xiuyun trusted completely, it would be Marshal Kevin.

But to be honest, no one would believe him.

"Are you planning to rebel?"

"… No."

Marshal Kevin looked at his student. "Then what are you …"

"…"

Ji Xiuyun looked at his teacher expressionlessly. He was silent for a while.

"… It's cat food."

Marshal Kevin: …

Marshal Kevin:???

Huh???