### Chapter 3: Intel
Night Star Lan continued her search on video platforms for info on the Group Leader. Most of what she found were mere clips, none featured a complete recording, and their views were lukewarm.
Looks like the emergence of the Group Leader didn’t really cause much of a stir in this world.
Maybe he’d only been here a short time, so nobody noticed anything unusual about him.
Passersby mistook him for some top-notch street performer.
It seems like he didn’t use any supernatural powers during this period, making him seem rather normal.
Probably something like that.
After verifying the situation, Night Star Lan exhaled.
“Phew~ It’s great I haven’t committed any major blunders here. If anything serious happened, I’m not sure how I’d handle it…”
She was somewhat of a loli with a heart of gold. The emphasis was on the “gold.”
While she wasn’t exactly a saint, she wouldn’t let harm come to innocent folks just because she’s one of them.
If something bad were to happen due to the Group Leader and the people here wanted him to atone, Night Star Lan would be truly conflicted.
At least her conscience would still tickle her a bit.
Probably in such a case, she’d have to rely on the Wish Princess to find a win-win solution.
Luckily, this was all just fantasy.
Before the Group Leader caused any big trouble with Kurō, she had to locate him fast.
Once found, she’d deal with whatever was inside him so things could go back to normal.
Following that, Night Star Lan resumed her online search, trying to use the web to pinpoint the Group Leader’s location.
But as expected, the internet has its limits.
The Group Leader’s movements were erratic; one moment he was in one city, the next in another with no clear pattern.
None of the street performance videos showed him staying put in one place for long.
Only luck could help now.
“Ugh~ Gotta take it slow, I guess.”
As night fell,
Night Star Lan bought a box of fries at the roadside and headed back to the Rising Sun Theater to feed Guqiu.
Soon after, members of the Rising Sun Theater Group started trickling in.
They hadn’t found the Group Leader but had left clues everywhere.
These theater members utilized their powers to travel between cities, dropping spatial coordinates, ready to teleport through the Theater Door anytime.
If the Group Leader popped up in a city, they could get there lightning-fast.
Night Star Lan smiled at the returning members.
“Thank you everyone for your efforts.”
Kong Yu Bai sat beside Night Star Lan, picked up a Night Star and placed him on her lap, nuzzling him gently.
“We’ve spent the day looking but haven’t found the Group Leader. The audience performers must be disappointed.”
“It’s okay, we’re taking our time. We never expected to find him so quickly.”
Book Yao sat down, picked up Night Lan, and held her on her lap, whispering softly into her ear.
“The modern world feels familiar, as if I’ve lived in times like this before.”
Night Lan adjusted her position, relaxing fully into Book Yao.
“It’s natural. This place is a modern world too, just less advanced than ours. You can think of this as our past, maybe around seventy years ago.”
“But there are no familiar stars or Star Eclipses here, it’s all so strange.”
Gently stroking Night Star’s hair, Kuro summed up today’s findings.
“Though this world lacks stars and eclipses, it’s not short of supernatural forces. I detected special individuals using [Existence Interference]—they resemble our world’s Star Holders.”
Night Star thought for a moment.
“So, this world isn’t completely ordinary. There may be plenty of talented folks here. As for organizations like the Night Watchers… it depends on what the Announcer gathers.”
Speak of the devil…
Mo Rabbit appeared with an effervescent smile on her face.
“I’m back.”
Night Star Lan gave her a sideways glance.
“Did you manage to grab any crucial intel?”
“Of course! Don’t underestimate me.”
In this world, Mo Rabbit’s [Map and Book of Changes] continued to be immensely useful, and there were virtually no obstacles to gathering information.
“The country we’re in is called Huaxia, and its ancient history is strikingly similar to ours, but the districts are different. They’re divided into twenty-six zones, which are like cities. Each zone here is massive, almost like a province back home. It’s pretty straightforward and memorable, not too chaotic.”
Night Star Lan already knew this from searching online.
Going from Zone A to Zone Z, it was simple and easy to remember with minimal confusion.
But these zones seemed absurdly huge.
Maybe they were managed locally by small groups each handling part of a region.
Night Star Lan urged Mo Rabbit to hit the main points.
“Let’s get to the main points.”
“First, my astrological predictions pointed out some information. I’ve verified portions of it, but more will need confirmation. This world is far from simple, and it has special groups like the Guardians, who have unique mystical powers akin to traditional ‘abilities’, much more diverse and complex than our stars.”
Night Star Lan nodded thoughtfully.
“Mm-hmm, so there are these groups. What do they do? Maintain order like the Night Watchers?”
“Pretty much. But their old responsibilities included fighting off alien life forms.”
Mo Rabbit recalled information she dug up after sneaking into a base today.
“What are alien life forms?”
“They’re dangerous creatures from other worlds. With them comes an unscientific foggy environment that enhances their abilities. They’re known as [Mist Hidden Beasts], a terrible disaster comparable to runaway Star Eclipses in our world.”
Then Mo Rabbit changed her tone.
“But the source of these disasters was extinguished a few years ago, and Mist Hidden Beasts haven’t resurfaced. It’s now a very peaceful and stable era.”
Night Star Lan relaxed.
“That’s good.”
Peaceful times were always a positive.
This meant no weird events to distract them. She could focus solely on locating the Group Leader.
Avoid trouble, and other factors of this world wouldn’t matter.
If she ran into a Guardian, a little bluffing should do the trick.
No need for unnecessary social interactions.
