Zheng Fan yawned.
“Did Toast break a bone somewhere that I didn’t notice?” He touched his chest, feeling a strange discomfort.
It seems he can’t spoil Toast too much in the future; the child is going to enter a rebellious phase if this continues.
Arriving at the long-unseen, highly popular agency, Zheng Fan noticed that people who saw him immediately cast wary glances.
He strolled grandly down the path, and everyone around him made way; there was no one so clueless as to directly bump into him, provoke him, and fail to recognize his identity.
Zheng Fan didn't pay much attention to Banme's side; Binary Little Sister really has a talent for business.
He arrived outside his studio.
He could see that the exterior of the studio had been adorned with many personalized decorations.
But when Zheng Fan saw the Black Sparrow design, he really couldn't hold back.
This must be hinting at Zheng Fan, right?
He had only transformed into sparrows a few times, hadn't he?
Suddenly, he remembered that Lin Yilin had indeed asked him some time ago: “Mr. Illusion, do you like birds?”
Zheng Fan: “Of course, I do. They are the marvelous modern forms of ancient dinosaurs, varied in shape and colorful. They can be cute, they can be handsome. What could be better than them? Is that Toast over there nudging a plant person?”
“Owoo?”
Lin Yilin nodded: “Then, among birds, which one is your favorite, Mr. Illusion?”
“Red-tailed robin.”
Lin Yilin froze.
“What’s wrong? You can also call it ‘magnificent aqueduct’.”
“No, I thought Mr. Illusion would say something more common. This one is a bit too unfamiliar for people who are not very familiar with birds,” Lin Yilin said.
“Something common? Then sparrows,” Zheng Fan said casually.
“sparrows? Indeed, Mr. Illusion really likes to turn into sparrows. But I thought Mr. Illusion would prefer crows.”
“Why?”
“Because if Mr. Illusion likes black, then when people think of black birds, many people’s first impression is crows, right?” Lin Yilin said.
“Ha, when I was little, crows stole my pocket money. I fought wits and courage with them next to my house until I moved. It was too bad; there’s no way I could like them,” Zheng Fan gave his reason.
“I see, no wonder. In that case, sparrows it is, Black Sparrows.”
“Mhm.”
Then Zheng Fan’s attention was drawn by Toast, and he didn't ask Lin Yilin what she wanted to do with this information.
Now, standing at the studio entrance, he fell into contemplation.
Looking at the logos of other studios, they featured various animals and plants, like totems, or were simple yet grand, rich in meaning.
Then he looked at his own studio: Black Sparrow.
How cool.
Zheng Fan pushed the door open.
The subordinates inside were startled to see Zheng Fan.
“Holy moly! It’s Fei Ge!”
“It’s the living Fei Ge!”
“The legendary Fei Ge!”
“Is Fei Ge actually real?”
Zheng Fan: ?
It hadn't been more than a month since his last visit, had it?
What did these subordinates mean?
However, Zheng Fan glanced around, vaguely recalling that many people in the studio seemed to be new faces; it shouldn't be a problem of him not remembering people.
“Ah, Fei Ge, long time no see!” Finally, a familiar face emerged, respectfully approaching Zheng Fan. It was Little Zhao, who had previously been the number one to show loyalty. He was now a deputy-level figure, and Lin Yilin had trained him extensively.
“Uh, you’ve changed quite a bit,” Zheng Fan scrutinized Little Zhao.
Little Zhao was now wearing a suit, a gray trench coat over it, and a beret, exuding an unpretentious yet formidable spirit.
His eyes were also much more energetic than his previous bewildered look; while you might not see a lion in his eyes, seeing a wolf would probably be no problem.
Zheng Fan couldn't help but praise him silently, then said:
“Aren’t you hot dressed like that?”
Little Zhao had originally prepared to impress Fei Ge, but hearing this, he was a little embarrassed: “Yes, it’s quite hot. How about you, Fei Ge?”
Zheng Fan looked at himself.
Well, this body naturally had no right to change clothes; who would bother to change them for him? Most of the time, Zheng Fan relied on his regeneration ability to casually mend his clothes as well.
“I’m not hot. Mind your own business,” Zheng Fan patted Little Zhao’s shoulder.
Little Zhao nodded in agreement, then introduced: “The studio’s development has been good recently, and many people have joined us because of our reputation, so there are many new faces. Thanks to Fei Ge’s tireless teachings every day. Although Fei Ge is rarely here, it must be hard work running connections for us every day.”
“Ah, mm, yes, that’s right,” Zheng Fan responded.
“Haha, and even so, we often have to consult Fei Ge for various trivial matters, which is truly embarrassing. However, we have not failed Fei Ge’s expectations so far. These are our achievements during this period.”
Although Zheng Fan was just showing his face casually, he felt that Little Zhao seemed to have misunderstood something.
Perhaps he took his personal appearance as a sign of distrust in them, and that he had come to inspect them personally.
After all, he had been “behind the scenes” for so long without appearing, and his sudden visit this time made these subordinates worry if they hadn't done well enough.
In a sense, this was also the deterrent effect Lin Yilin hoped for.
But from Zheng Fan’s own perspective, it was somewhat complicated.
Because he really just didn’t want to use Cheng Fei’s skin anymore.
“These are probably our achievements during this period. Our overall performance has reached seventh among all eleven agencies. Among the top six, four are under Qingye’s coalition, and the other two are Su Hongyuan and another’s alliance.”
Zheng Fan hadn't listened carefully to the previous content, only catching this last sentence.
“Oh, so that means?”
“Aside from the higher-level factional struggles, in terms of agency function alone, from late June to mid-July, we are already far ahead,” Little Zhao said confidently.
“Hmm, I already know that,” more accurately, Lin Yilin definitely knew, but Zheng Fan couldn't really slack off at this moment.
“You’ve done very well. I am very satisfied with your work. This will not be our end point,” Zheng Fan said with a profound gaze.
Although his mind was empty when he didn't want to think, Zheng Fan was top-notch at putting on an impressive air.
A black aura swept out, making the entire studio seem to fall into a black vortex.
This was also something Zheng Fan had been practicing recently.
This “aura” thing is very mysterious, but for Zheng Fan, it was a prototype of his “phenomenon distortion” ability. Some Illusions are born with this, like the knocking Illusion he first encountered; further development leads to panic-inducing Illusions.
But a fundamentalist Illusion like Zheng Fan could only slowly explore and train himself.
Currently, it had consumed many singularities, but this ability seemed to only be able to achieve the effect of giving people within the range an instant hallucination.
It's similar to the effect of a common “aura.”
Simple effects like making people feel a sudden darkness, a drop in temperature, a sharp increase in pressure, or an odd atmosphere.
Right now, it was just a mood setter, but it was more than enough to scare people.