Lu Heng stood frozen in place.
*No way, right?
I’m supposed to ride in this?
That’s so embarrassing…*
Just as Lu Heng was staring at the pink-furred fox design on the carriage, desperately trying to mentally prepare himself, a subtle scent of cherry blossoms suddenly approached from behind.
“Well?” Yae Miko’s voice sounded faintly in his ear, carrying a hint of dangerous amusement.
“You’ve been staring for so long… Do you have a problem with my ‘Higokumaru’?”
Cold sweat poured down Lu Heng’s back!
“No, no, no! Absolutely not!” Lu Heng’s survival instincts from his past life instantly kicked into overdrive.
He spun around, shaking his head like a rattle.
He looked at Yae Miko and forced an extremely sincere smile.
“Lady Guuji, your carriage is truly adorable yet enchanting, majestic yet domineering! Especially this little fox—it’s so full of life, smart and beautiful just like you, a true vision that could topple nations!”
“Ah… haha…” He gave a dry laugh, trying to mask the chaotic inner voice screaming inside his head.
“Is that so? Since you like it so much…” Yae Miko looked at him with a half-smile, tapping her delicate knuckles against the shaft of the carriage.
“Then get in. For this trip to Tenshukaku, you’ll be driving.”
Lu Heng’s eyes widened instantly, the smile freezing on his face.
“Huh? Wait… me? Drive? Lady Guuji, you must be joking. I’m just a low-level scribe. How could I possibly know how to drive a carriage…?”
“It’s fine. If you don’t know, you can learn. Sakura—”
Yae Miko gestured to the shrine maiden standing beside the carriage.
“Come and teach this great writer how to hold the reins.”
The shrine maiden named Sakura had a neat, elegant black hime-cut, and an Anemo Vision hung at her waist.
She folded her hands in front of her and gave a flawless, slight bow.
“Yes, Lady Guuji.”
Lu Heng’s mind raced with wild thoughts.
Drive Lady Miko’s carriage?
Here?
Taking a quick glance at the passersby staring at him, Lu Heng opened his mouth to protest, but Miko’s violet eyes narrowed in a dangerous half-smile, glaring right at him.
“Get. In.”
Lu Heng swallowed hard and hastily scrambled onto the carriage.
Grief and indignation surged in his heart.
He looked at the bright pink, fox-themed custom carriage in front of him, then at Yae Miko, who was smiling with sly mischief.
He barely held back the impulse to rush over and ruthlessly ruffle the pink fox’s hair.
But he didn’t dare.
In the end, he could only take a deep breath and force a thoroughly strained smile.
“Yes, Lady Guuji.” He then sat down beside Sakura.
There were no horses at the front of this carriage.
Instead, two fox phantoms woven from lightning hovered above the ground, floating in midair rather than treading on the soil.
Lu Heng couldn’t help but marvel at how magical the technology of another world was.
“Lord Lu Heng, please watch my movements carefully.”
Sakura, beside him, spoke in a gentle, soft voice as she skillfully tied back her wide sleeves behind her shoulders with a red cord.
Immediately after, she reached out and gripped the reins.
The instant her fingertips touched the leather, the Anemo Vision at her waist flashed with a sudden surge of teal light!
Deep within her lowered eyes, an unnoticeable flicker of fanatical enthusiasm gleamed.
“Lady Miko dislikes being late. So the secret to driving is—speed!”
Sakura’s wrist snapped back with seasoned expertise!
Anemo elemental power instantly generated a repulsive field beneath the carriage, lifting it three inches off the ground.
In the exact same breath, the pink custom carriage launched forward like a rocket without the slightest warning!
“Holy shit—”
The terrifying acceleration pinned Lu Heng firmly against his seat. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Amid the howling wind, Sakura calmly shoved the reins into his hands and said gently, “It’s roughly like this. Now, please take over, Lord Lu Heng. I will assist you.”
“Wait?! Me take over?! Hey, hey, left! Don’t turn into the ditch, holy shit!!!”
…
Thanks to Sakura using her Anemo power beside him to stabilize the carriage and boost their speed, they were already approaching Inazuma City.
Looking up, the grand and lofty Tenshukaku was visible in the distance.
*Screeech—*
The luxurious scarlet carriage drew a wildly contorted S-curve in the middle of the road before coming to a sudden, violent halt.
The carriage curtain was pulled open by a fair hand.
Yae Miko rested her chin on one hand, smiling brightly at Lu Heng, who sat on the driver’s seat drenched in sweat.
Though she was smiling, her voice carried undisguised disdain.
“My, my… I thought a grand writer full of clever tricks like you would easily master the art of *driving*. To think you couldn’t even manage this… you really disappoint this Guuji.”
Lu Heng, his hair blown into a wind-disheveled mess, looked at Yae Miko with a utterly lifeless expression.
He opened his mouth, desperately wanting to shout at this fox woman.
He *was* indeed great at “driving”!
But damn it, that was in writing!
He genuinely had no idea how to drive a literal elemental fox cart!
In the end, likely finding his driving far too bumpy, Miko spared him, letting Sakura take the reins again while charitably permitting him to scramble inside the carriage.
In any case, he survived.
Lu Heng sat inside the carriage, crying internally without tears.
A faint cherry blossom scent lingered in the air—whether from the sachet inside the carriage or from the fox woman sitting beside him, or perhaps both.
Lu Heng subtly shifted his rear outward, putting as much distance between himself and Miko as possible.
*Still, this official luxury ride hits different.
It really is comfortable to sit in.*
The seat was soft and cozy.
He leaned back, letting his whole body relax.
Drag racing had actually felt pretty thrilling; the intense thinking and stress earlier had given him a throbbing headache, but now he felt much better.
The axle rolled over the bluestone bricks as the carriage entered Inazuma City.
Looking through the carriage window, Lu Heng observed the rows of shops inside the city, their decor transitioning from crude simplicity to lavish luxury.
For some reason, scenes from that village flashed before his eyes again—the starved, emaciated figures, the numb, bewildered eyes.
The stark contrast between inside and outside the window made his breathing gradually quicken, and his hands resting on his thighs unconsciously clenched into tight fists.
The Sakoku Decree, Raiden Ei inside the Plane of Euthymia, the puppet Shogun, the pursuit of stagnant Eternity, and the locked underlying code.
These factors assembled continuously in Lu Heng’s mind like puzzle pieces.
He couldn’t be certain whether the bargaining chips in his hand could truly move the Raiden Shogun.
Because games were just games, but right now he had truly transmigrated to Inazuma.
Everything he had seen and heard along the way had already exceeded his original understanding of Inazuma.
Lu Heng turned his head and saw the pink-haired fox resting her chin on one hand, looking through the window at the magnificent Tenshukaku, her face expressionless, her thoughts unreadable.
*As the person closest to Inazuma and the Raiden Shogun today, maybe I can get some crucial information out of Miko.*
Organizing his thoughts, Lu Heng spoke up.
“Lady Guuji…” Lu Heng carefully weighed his words.
“Since you let me onto this carriage, it means you hope I fulfill a purpose. You ought to give me some bottom line—where are the boundaries of Her Excellency’s Eternity?”
Hearing this, Yae Miko withdrew her gaze from Tenshukaku outside the window.
She turned her head with great interest, her narrow fox eyes sizing Lu Heng up and down, before she suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
“Interesting.”
Miko rested her chin on her hand, a flash of admiration gleaming deep in her eyes.
“If an ordinary person were ‘escorted’ to Tenshukaku like this by this Guuji, they would have been weeping and begging me to save their life long ago. You, on the other hand, are quite special. The first thing you ask is how to deal with her.” Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
“Because begging you would be useless anyway,” Lu Heng shrugged.
“Besides… since I’ve boarded this carriage, I didn’t intend to fail.”
A brief silence fell over the carriage interior, punctuated only by the faint *clack-clack* of wheels rolling over the bluestone pavement.
After a long moment, Yae Miko’s smile grew even richer, her lazy voice carrying a rare trace of genuine seriousness.
“Heh… What an arrogant little fellow. In that case, I shall charitably offer you a piece of advice.”
Miko tilted her head slightly, her violet eyes twinkling with laughter.
“No matter how many brilliant schemes you have up your sleeve, when inside Tenshukaku, under no circumstances should you ever defy her ‘Eternity’. Your trivial cleverness cannot shake her willpower in the slightest. Once she deems you a ‘variable’, only lightning awaits you.”
“Eternity…” Lu Heng repeated the word under his breath, his brain operating at maximum capacity.
As a transmigrator, he naturally understood the puppet’s underlying logic.
Combining it with Miko’s warning, a perfect commercial sales model instantly took shape in his mind.
To persuade a puppet AI whose underlying code was hardlocked onto “absolute stagnation,” he must never talk to her about development or reform!
*I have to reframe it…* Lu Heng gritted his teeth mentally.
*If I can’t talk about ‘change’, then I’ll talk about ‘maintenance’!
I’ll reframe my proposal as the best scheme to execute her ‘stagnant eternity’!*
At this thought, Lu Heng’s tense nerves completely relaxed, and a confident curve even touched the corner of his lips.
He raised his head, smiling with high spirits, meeting Yae Miko’s gaze directly.
“Thank you for the guidance, Lady Guuji.”
Yae Miko paused slightly, clearly not expecting this mortal’s reaction.
But the next second, she gave a subtle nod, the anticipation in her eyes growing even stronger.
*Screeech—* The carriage came to a steady stop.
Sakura’s cool, quiet voice drifted in from outside:
“Lady Guuji, Lord Lu Heng, we have arrived at Tenshukaku.”
Silence hung inside the carriage for a brief moment.
Miko spoke first.
“Little fellow, I won’t be accompanying you up there.”
“With Lady Guuji’s recommendation, I already have half a chance higher than anyone else.” Lu Heng offered her a smile, stood up, and smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothes.
“If this humble citizen successfully signs this massive deal and walks out alive, I’ll treat Lady Guuji to fried tofu again.”
“Hmph, smooth talker. Speaking of which, I haven’t paid you your driving fee yet, have I?” Miko’s lazy voice rang from behind.
Lu Heng turned around in surprise.
He saw Miko looking at him with a smile, a slender finger hooked around an omamori charm.
“Take this.” Lu Heng froze for a moment, extending both hands to accept the charm.
“Keep it safe, alright? This is a lucky charm gifted to you by the wise and beautiful Lady Yae Miko herself.”
Lu Heng looked at the charm in his hand, a glint in his eyes.
In the end, he let out a soft laugh and looked earnestly into Yae Miko’s cunning fox eyes.
“I will keep it safe, wise and beautiful Lady Yae Miko.”
The heavy doors of Tenshukaku slammed shut with a thunderous bang.
Only when the footsteps completely faded away did the beaded curtain of the carriage slowly fall.
The shrine maiden Sakura, who had remained dignified the whole time, spoke with a bit of hesitation.
“Lady Guuji, isn’t that just a regular unsold surplus charm left over in the storehouse from the Grand Narukami Shrine festival?”
Sweet yet wicked laughter echoed from inside the carriage.
“Indeed. That’s why I’m quite curious… if he really gets struck by lightning, how splendid his expression will be right before he dies when he realizes the charm is useless.”
Inside the carriage, Miko leaned lazily against the luxurious padded couch.
Between her fingertips, an identical “unsold charm” had appeared at some point.
As a faint spark of Electro flickered at her fingertips, Lu Heng’s slightly heavy breathing from nervousness echoed clearly from the charm, along with the suffocating silence and hollow resonance inside Tenshukaku.
“Go on, little fellow…” Miko rested her chin on her hand, her violet fox eyes glowing deeply in the dim light with a half-smile.
“Let me see how you plan to tear open a gap in that stubborn blockhead’s Eternity.”
The luxurious scarlet carriage started up once more, swaying gently as it drove off into the distance.