With Xiaolu’s silent consent, the news of the “All-Seeing Eye” being stolen exploded like a signal flare rising into the sky—igniting and blazing. That invisible stream of information raced through the nodes of human civilization, radiating and spreading throughout the major cities of the Human Race.
“Look at me, doing something big again.”
Vyea sat atop the highest tower of the Arbitration Office, gazing out at the chaotic city brightly lit under the night sky. Her fair legs swung lazily in the air.
She didn’t know if the monster riots in the many southern border cities were caused by the overthrow of the Demon King throne, but either way, it saved her a lot of trouble.
“That Fraviel actually prepared an heir in advance. Looks like she had this planned all along.”
Sitting at the edge of the tower, the evening breeze blowing past, Vyea’s mind was empty and clear.
But what did it matter if she had long planned it? What did it matter if she was the Demon King of Demons? What did it matter if she lurked by my side, or won my love? In the end, she still got nothing—not even a proper heir. Such poor judgment, hehe.
Serves her right for being overthrown, hehe.
Xiaolu felt a bit strange. Why was Sister Vyea suddenly laughing like that? It was so eerie!
“Sister Vyea…” Xiaolu cautiously spoke.
Vyea raised an eyebrow and slid the mask from her face, revealing her delicate profile. “What is it, Xiaolu?”
“Sister Vyea, if you gain the identity of a Monstergirl who can freely walk in human cities, what do you plan to do then?”
“Hmm…” Vyea paused, resting her hand on her chin in thought. “This time… I think I want to try living an easier life. Yeah, something a bit easier.”
“An easier life?” Xiaolu was puzzled. Did that mean that when Sister Vyea was a Hero before, life wasn’t actually easy?
The strongest in the world, shining brilliantly wherever she went, always accompanied by the super pretty and gentle Sister Fu—that didn’t sound hard at all.
But as Xiaolu thought more carefully, she suddenly froze.
No.
That was far from easy… All the brilliance she once had, the deeply engraved bonds, were gone now—turned into unreachable illusions.
Sigh.
“It really isn’t easy…”
Adult life held no room for the word ‘easy.’
Xiaolu felt a pang of sympathy, but she had no heart, so she just pouted and curiously said, “Sister Vyea, I think I understand what you mean. If it’s easy, does that mean you’ll just sleep all day and wake up whenever you want?”
“Sleeping until you naturally wake up? Is that what you think ‘easy’ means?” Vyea chuckled.
“Everyone says so.” Xiaolu said confidently. “Sleeping is an effective way to stay away from hard things.”
That’s true.
Vyea agreed deeply. If, the moment she was summoned as a Hero, she just lay in front of her Teacher sleeping and sleeping, that Teacher—who had paid a heavy price—would definitely break down and give up on her, right?
If she kept sleeping, she definitely wouldn’t go out to grind levels, let alone form a Hero Squad to grind like crazy.
Without a Hero Squad, the Demon King wouldn’t come knocking.
If the Demon King didn’t come knocking, then none of the following troubles would happen.
Vyea sighed, feeling cold inside, like the ceaseless night wind blowing tonight.
“Sister Vyea… is that expression regret?” Xiaolu slid closer, sitting side by side with Vyea.
“Not really.”
Vyea stood up, one hand on her hip. Her pretty face still carrying a hint of childishness, but mature in expression, she said solemnly:
“If you want bonds with others, you have to accept the risk of tears. I understood that long ago.”
But—
Vyea lowered her head slightly and looked at Xiaolu. Her emerald eyes sparkled like stars in the night.
“I’m not afraid to shed tears, but it has to be worth it.”
“Worth… it?” Xiaolu tilted her head, trying to understand.
“I just don’t want everything I’ve done in the past to be meaningless.” Vyea’s expression turned cold, a proud little huff escaping her lips. “I hate betrayal. Betrayal… is like salt poured onto a wound—it stings.”
“Sister Vyea.”
Xiaolu tensed up, a bad feeling stirring in her heart. “The accident that happened to you and Sister Fu—was it because there was a traitor inside the Human Alliance?”
“That’s right. You and Sister Fu are both so strong—if you join forces, how could you lose to the Demon King?” Xiaolu suddenly became sharp. “There must be a traitor! Someone inside the Human Alliance turned on you! So now, Sister Vyea, you’re like in a vengeance story from story scrolls:
The protagonist, killed by their closest kin, crawls back from the abyss in the form of an evil spirit, killing and killing, no family spared—killing and killing…”
As she spoke excitedly, Xiaolu’s voice suddenly dropped and grew timid. She looked at Vyea cautiously.
“Sister Vyea, did I say something wrong?”
“Stop reading story scrolls so much!” Vyea shot a glare at Xiaolu. “Don’t mess up when we’re doing serious work later, or I’ll auction off your body!”
“Ah, no—you’re so mean!”
The Arbitration Office hadn’t been this busy in a long time. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for them.
Bad news came one after another. The culprit kept causing trouble, yet they still couldn’t catch them.
“What a troublesome season…”
The Director of the Arbitration Office gripped his scepter tightly, loosening and tightening his fist repeatedly. Behind his brown eyes lurked the ferocity of a wild wolf.
“R-Report!”
An Arbitration Knight hurried over, panting heavily. “Director, Minister Hua has asked you to come to the Knight Cafeteria. She says she’s waiting there and has something very important to discuss!”
Hmph!
Why can’t they stay in the royal capital? One after another, they had to come to the border just to seek attention.
The Director hesitated for a moment, then turned around.
“Lead the way!”
The Knight Cafeteria was open 24 hours a day.
But now, inside the spacious and bright cafeteria, there were only the staff and two figures sitting for a late-night snack—a purple-haired and a pink-haired girl.
After hearing the news of the “All-Seeing Eye” being stolen on the late-night broadcast, Hua Shiyu suddenly lost her appetite.
Well.
She had trusted that mysterious big sister at first, but in the end, she was deceived.
“Damn it!”
The pink-haired short girl showed no expression as she poked holes in her egg pancake with a fork, like stabbing a scarecrow.
Usually, she was the one doing the deceiving. How did the tables turn so badly this time?!
She knew it— the prettier the older sister, the worse she was!
Hua Shiyu’s heart burned with resentment. If she had known it would end like this, she would have resisted to the end and left a deeper impression on that bad sister!
“Sister Shiyu,” the purple-haired girl across from her finally spoke, unable to hold back, “I think we should leave soon. I really can’t waste time here anymore.”
“Huh?”
Hua Shiyu picked up the egg pancake full of holes and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing with puffed cheeks. “You, Sister Purple, actually think I’m wasting time?”
Lania said nothing, her purple eyes full of distrust.
“Sigh.” Hua Shiyu sighed helplessly. “I can tell you where that bad little girl is, but you have to keep it a secret.”
Lania jumped up with a creak of her chair, urgency in her voice:
“Where is she!”