Edited by: La0o9
Proofreader: Arya & Kiwi
Everyone got out of their car and couldn’t help themselves looking ahead.
They saw numerous black-robed Holy Church’s priests.
The ambassador glanced at the driver and gestured with his eyes.
The driver went ahead, then came back after a bit.
“The Holy Church is currently filtering out suspicious characters and managed to find a few members of the revolution”
“Did they get caught?” the ambassador asked.
“They got killed by the Holy Apostle”
Everyone went silent.
After a while, the road started to clear up as more and more cars were able to pass the checkpoint.
The ambassador waved his hand to signal everyone to get in the car, following the flow of vehicles forward.
The stream of cars moved very slow, occasionally there were screams and sounds of gunshot from afar.
At which point, the stream of cars stopped again.
The ambassador sighed and muttered: “It seems that there’s quite a few organizations that want to ruin the banquet”
“The internal situation of the Holy Empire has become so chaotic already?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“Three different factions are all trying to take over, the Fuxi Empire is silently supporting the conflict from outside, Man Killer Fiends and sea creatures are wreaking havoc without anyone to control them” the ambassador answered him.
“Currently, the Holy Empire is nothing short of hell on Earth” another embassy member added.
Gu Qing Shan had already known about all this before, but still couldn’t help himself sighing as he heard so.
In the car, everyone’s expressions became sullen.
Finally, it was Gu Qing Shan’s group’s car turn to pass the checkpoint.
Someone from outside reported: “Report, this is the Confederate’s embassy car, sir”
“The embassy’s entourage… Let them pass” a hard and cold voice ordered.
Everyone looked outside.
Both sides of the road were full of Paladins.
A masculine man wearing a white robe was crossing his arms, evaluating the car.
Holy Apostle Ivan.
He was squinting his eyes, his body slightly leaning forward, like a fierce beast, ready to pounce on its prey at any time.
From the other side of the window, Gu Qing Shan glanced at him.
“Ah?” the Holy Apostle noticed.
He tapped on the window.
Gu Qing Shan rolled down the car door and asked: “What is it?”
The Holy Apostle glanced at his military outfit, then at his Freedom Medal and spoke: “I was wondering what’s going on, so it’s a Confederate military officer”
“What do you want?” Gu Qing Shan asked coldly.
The Holy Apostle had a cruel look in his eyes and said: “I’ve yet to have the chance to fight with a Confederate officer yet, would you like to spar for a little bit?”
Everyone in the car became tense.
Gu Qing Shan smiled and said: “You must be a Holy Apostle. So you stopped my car just to spar with me?”
He appeared very motivated: “Quite fitting, I’ve always wanted to have a taste of your Holy Church’s God’s Chosen Skills”
He opened the car door as was about to get out.
Holy Apostle Ivan was staring at him intensely, then reacted with disappointment as he saw such a reaction.
Gu Qing Shan was quickly pulled back in by the ambassador.
The ambassador peeked his head out and coldly asked, facing the Holy Apostle: “Are you sure to want to fight with our officer? At such a place like this?”
The embassy’s entourage were guests that were invited to join the banquet, being stopped on their way like this is already a very rude thing to do, and then a subordinate of the host provoked the party and wanted to have a match on the side of the road ——–if something like this truly happens, this would become the greatest joke in the history of the Holy Empire’s diplomacy.
And this will also be treated as a provocation towards the Confederate as a whole, with unpredictable consequences.
Because of that, even though the ambassador is only a normal person, Holy Apostle Ivan doesn’t dare to respond to his question.
The Holy Apostle stepped back, too annoyed to deal with Gu Qing Shan and waved his hand: “Let them pass, let them pass”
The checkpoint was opened up.
After a few miles of driving later, an official was about to say something, but Gu Qing Shan swung his hand and pointed at his own ear.
As people capable of working in the embassy overseas, everyone here was extremely perceptive.
Seeing Gu Qing Shan’s gesture, the person instantly stopped.
After a while, when the car arrived at the manor’s gate, Gu Qing Shan spoke: “As per how we discussed before, I’ll handle the ball alone, the rest of you will take orders from the Goddess”
Everyone understood as they heard that, kept silence and got out of the car.
Very quickly, a valet came to take their car for parking, and then a butler-looking person came up, very politely greeted them and lead them into the banquet hall.
This was a very grand banquet.
Society’s celebrities, important officials of the country, as well as national and international guests were all gathered here.
Everyone were lead to their pre-arranged seating and sat down, waiting for the banquet to begin.
It’s not yet time to act as any empty seats will draw the attention of the banquet waiters and waitresses.
If Gu Qing Shan wants to go upstairs to the third floor to look for the Serum’s recipe, he has to wait and look for a chance after the banquet.
The ambassador was sitting in the front row, next to Fuxi Empire’s ambassador.
As a military officer, Gu Qing Shan was seated at the third row.
The people sitting here were all those that didn’t have too important a role, or mid-ranged Holy Empire’s nobles.
Since they don’t have much official business to do here, they’re able to not mind their language too much and were a bit more relaxed.
Two of Fuxi Empire’s military officer were interested in Gu Qing Shan so they actively made conversation with him.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t mind it too much, and he actually knew more about the Fuxi Empire than the Confederate in the past life, so he was able to mingle with them after just a few sentences.
Not too long after, a graceful sound of the piano started.
The performance was gentle, audible, but not too loud, enough to not affect everyone’s conversation while remaining as background music.
At this point, the host of this banquet, Madame Punta appeared.
She was certainly an elegant lady, each of her gestures and actions held a hidden allure and grace.
As she appeared, many important guests came and greeted her with a smile.
After some small talk, she sat down at the front seat of the banquet, sitting on her left was a Fuxi Empire’s prince, while on her right was the masculine white-robed Holy Apostle from before.
“Are you looking at Ivan?” one of the Fuxi military officers noticed Gu Qing Shan’s sight.
“That’s right, a Holy Apostle of the Holy Church, it’s hard to not notice him even if I wanted to” Gu Qing Shan answered.
“They are certainly strong, not to mention total maniacs that aren’t scared of death, very hard to deal with” the Fuxi officer commented.
At this point, Madame Punta’s welcoming speech had ended.
The rowdy chatting air in the banquet hall stopped, as dish after dish was brought up.
The banquet has officially begun.
Right now, the only thing Gu Qing Shan can do is sit still and finish this meal.
Ever since the apocalypse of his last life, this has to be the most lavish meal he’s ever had.
Shark fin boiled in white wine, decorated with chilled oysters, shrimp and other seafood on the side. Each guest is served with a roasted pigeon; smoked chicken; beefsteaks; chunky potatoes stew; iced citrus fruits; freshly baked white bread and sweat butter with jam; jellied fruit served in fruit punch; fancy cakes and ice-cream.
There were also many kinds of alcohol, as the ladies were drinking Champagne or fruit-based wine, while the men drank stronger, distilled spirits.
As Gu Qing Shan picked out a bottle, a servant immediately came up to help him open it and filled up his glass.
The spirit was clear and pure with excellent quality, refreshing to the taste.
While eating and drinking, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but feel emotional.
Numerous normal people are still struggling between the line of life and death, yet many people here are still enjoying themselves with the highest standard of the peaceful era.
As everyone enjoyed their meals, they occasionally discussed one thing or another, letting out soft laughter.
It’s such a well-organized banquet this is that even the pickiest Aristocrat wouldn’t be able to find any fault with it.
Everyone enjoyed the meal very heartfully, even Gu Qing Shan who was under pressure with this and that couldn’t help but admit he was very satisfied.
Next came the ball.
At first, it will just be some gentle tunes to help people accommodate to the relaxing atmosphere.
The ambassador brought his entourage and silently left.
Gu Qing Shan himself stood up, very politely asked for the location of the toilet and stood up to head there.
As he made his way into the toilet, Gu Qing Shan closed the stall door, tapped his Inventory Bag and took out the ‘handheld’ simplified warp device.
“Liao Xing, time to work” he said.
[I’m here, hm, this distance is good, won’t be any mistakes. The warp will start in about 30 seconds, so wait a bit] Liao Xing’s voice came from the warp device.
After 30 seconds.
[Current coordinates set, target set, begin warp] Liao Xing spoke.
Looking down, Gu Qing Shan saw that the warp device has started to operate.
One second later, both him and the ‘handheld’ simplified warp device disappeared without a trace.
