That fellow is called some knight despite being wheelchair bound? That has to be a joke, right? Zu An retorted in his mind. Or is his wheelchair his mount?
“When do they plan to make a move?” Zu An asked.
“Tomorrow.” Fluttering Baldie puffed out his chest. He was proud that he could answer the beauty’s question.
Zu An was confused. “But I... Cough cough, that newcomer is still on the Universal Conglomerate’s spaceship. Does Flame Knight intend to make an enemy out of the Universal Conglomerate?”
“Who says they're going to attack the spaceship? Flame Knight is going to sneak his comrades in and quietly get rid of that fellow. The Universal Conglomerate won’t be able to do a thing without evidence,” Fluttering Baldie said. “Not to mention Dreamland implicitly allows others to steal their invitation letters. That Zu An or whatever only has his weakness to blame.”
Zu An frowned. He felt that something was amiss. There’s no need for Flame Knight to call his companions over just to deal with me. Could he be a surprisingly cowardly person despite his arrogant attitude?
Fluttering Baldie reined in his thoughts and said, “Let’s forget about that fellow and talk about languages. Miss, what languages do you know?”
The only language I know other than the Cultivation World’s language is the monster language...
He risked exposing his identity if he said that, but he, as Firework, couldn’t say that he didn’t know any languages at all. A thought suddenly popped into his mind and he said, “I know Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean...”
Fluttering Baldie was merely asking that question in passing, but Zu An’s answer shocked him. “Miss Firework, you’re well-learned! I've never heard about those languages before. Can you try speaking a sentence or two for me?”
Firework perked herself up. This fellow is more mysterious than I thought.
“(Chinese) Ni hao...”
“(English): Hello world...”
“(Japanese) Yamete kudasai...”
“(Korean) Shibal[1]...”
Fluttering Baldie’s eyes lit up. “Those are indeed new languages! May I know if those words all mean the same thing?”
“You could say so.” Zu An only knew those words from watching clips. He was worried his ignorance would show if Fluttering Baldie continued dwelling on the matter, so he grumbled, “Aren’t you supposed to be teaching me? Why am I teaching you instead?”
He was relieved that Fluttering Baldie, despite being known to be knowledgeable in all languages across the Myriad Worlds, happened not to know those few. It must have been either because Earth wasn't in the known Myriad Worlds, or that it had been countless years since Earth had gone extinct, so no one bothered to pick up their languages.
Both were depressing news to him, though.
When she saw how coyly Zu An was behaving, Firework’s hair stood on end. That crossdresser is faring too well. There’s no way it’s his first time doing this. However, her mind was swiftly drawn back to her face. “Aww, I’m so beautiful!”
Fluttering Baldie was mesmerized. He hurriedly apologized, “Pardon me, I got ahead of myself. Let me teach you first before further consulting you about those languages. So, what languages do you want to learn?”
“The more the better,” Zu An replied without hesitation.
Fluttering Baldie’s eyes lit up. “I’m sure Knowledge’s brilliance will shine on someone as studious as Miss Firework.”
“Are those languages easy to learn? How long will it take?”
“Of course they are! There’s nothing more interesting in the world than learning languages,” Fluttering Baldie replied with a smile. “For starters, we’ll start with the hundred mainstream languages, followed by the ten thousand common languages in powerful universes. Then, we’ll move on to the billions of languages used by the more famous galaxies...”
“Stop, stop! Why are there so many languages?” Zu An was horrified.
“That’s not a lot in the context of the Myriad Worlds. Every universe has many galaxies, and every galaxy has many planets. There are more civilizations in the Myriad Worlds than you can count. A billion languages isn’t that many.”
Zu An frowned. “That sounds fair. How long will it take for me to learn the hundred mainstream languages?”
Fluttering Baldie continued, “The hundred mainstream languages have been localized into countless more dialects. Our most talented Knowledge worshiper took 23 years to learn them. I’m embarrassed to say I’m lacking; it took me 26 years to learn them, putting me in third place in history. Miss Firework, I believe that you won’t fare any worse than me, given your wits.”
Zu An was stunned. “...You’re saying 26 years is already fast?”
“Of course it is! 26 years is nothing but a snap of the fingers to the universe,” Fluttering Baldie replied with a smile. “Besides, Miss Firework, when I’m with you, time can only pass too fast.”
Firework immediately sat up. “How disgusting!” She stared nervously at the video. If you dare let that baldie take advantage of you, I’ll immediately run over and expose you!
To her relief, Zu An stood up and said, “I’m feeling tired. I’ll learn another day.”
You must be joking with me! 26 years? I don’t have that much time! I guess I’ll have to strike a deal with Employee 9527.
Fluttering Baldie anxiously tried to stop him. “If it’s too much trouble, Miss Firework, there’s a simpler way you can learn the languages within a short time.”
“What is it?” Zu An was taken aback.
“We can resonate our brain waves. That’ll allow you to access my knowledge and learn the Myriad World’s languages,” Fluttering Baldie said.
“Forget it.” Zu An frowned. This kind of resonance was similar to mental sex. He still remembered the intense stimulation he'd felt when he joined his soul with Jiang Luofu’s and Yan Xuehen’s. Putting aside the fact that it would reveal his identity and secrets, there was no way he could tolerate having this kind of interaction with another man.
Fluttering Baldie looked at her departing silhouette as he took a deep whiff of her lingering fragrance. His eyes were downcast with melancholy. I was too anxious. I hope Miss Firework doesn’t mistake me for a pervert.
As soon as Zu An returned to his room, Firework harrumphed. “You should be glad you didn’t accept that fellow’s offer, or else you’d never hear the end of me!”
Zu An took off the dress and reverted to his original appearance. “No wonder you rejected his offer. There’s no easy way to learn those languages.”
Firework chuckled under her hand. “You’re stuck in a mental rut. Why do you think those are the only options? Do you think it took me that long to learn your language?”
“That’s right. How did you learn our language so quickly?” Zu An belatedly recalled this detail.
“Knowledge worshipers can fuse their knowledge into a page. You just have to burn that page with your spiritual energy or ki, and you can temporarily acquire the relevant knowledge. All you have to do to resolve your problem is convince him to give you a page about languages, right?” Firework rolled her eyes.
Zu An was overjoyed to hear that. “Why didn’t that baldie mention it?”
“Because you prattled on about learning those languages. To a Knowledge worshiper, such a shortcut isn’t considered learning. I didn’t expect the two of you to be so dumb as to cause such a huge misunderstanding,” Firework huffed impatiently.
Zu An laughed sheepishly. “I guess I’ll have to find another time to approach him.”
“You owe me one for using my identity.” Firework hurled her fist playfully.
“Of course. I’m grateful for your help.” Zu An bowed deeply.
Firework’s eyes curled into twinkling crescents. “That’s more like it. You'd better not turn me down when I ask you for help.”
Zu An was about to answer when their surroundings abruptly shook. Caught off guard, both of them lost their balance and fell together. A beautiful woman was in his arms, but Zu An wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it. “What happened?”
Firework’s expression looked grim as well. “Did the spaceship bump into something? This is bad! Are we going to crash?”
1. The joke here is that the latter two mean something completely different. 'Yamete kudasai' is formal Japanese for 'please stop', but in this context it probably refers to the phrase being used in a lewd context. Meanwhile, 'shibal' in Korean is a curse word roughly equivalent to 'fuck', so he's basically doing the joke of teaching someone the wrong word in a foreign language so they'll embarrass themselves. -Editor Felis ☜