Seeing the rather chaotic scene, Su Xing summoned Feng Jun.
In this art capital, bustling with celebrities, Spirit Masters were a common sight, so no one was surprised by Su Xing’s fox.
Feng Jun excitedly looked around, it was its first time at a human market, and everything seemed incredibly interesting.
Su Xing was excellent at finding her way.
Even without the animated map, she used her memory to successfully locate the hotel arranged by the school.
She was grateful her student ID was with her; the school had clearly made arrangements beforehand.
The hotel manager immediately led Su Xing to her room.
It had been agreed this trip was essentially a publicly funded tour, so the school’s room was naturally top-notch.
She had a single room with a large bed and a balcony with good lighting.
What pleased Su Xing most was that the boys had a triple room.
As the only girl in the team, the school definitely gave her preferential treatment.
Indeed, no comparison, no harm.
***
Not long after, Quinn and Evans also returned.
The three looked at each other, and finally, Su Xing spoke first, “You… none of you met Kaka?”
This was bad, wasn’t it?
The three exchanged glances, immediately preparing to contact Kaka with a large ear conch.
Before they could act, Su Xing’s conch rang. When she answered, it was Kaka.
He spoke with a crying voice, “Su Xing, the painting’s gone!”
Su Xing breathed a sigh of relief: “It’s good that you’re okay.”
Evans: “Ask him where he is now.”
Su Xing immediately asked as instructed, “Where are you now? We’ll come pick you up.”
***
Soon, the three arrived at the boundary marker.
The so-called boundary marker was the iconic landmark of the art capital, a large stone sculpture at the entrance.
Kaka was indeed there, crestfallen, his backpack missing. Su Xing quickly went over, “Kaka, are you okay?”
Kaka looked up and saw the three of them approaching, his eyes red, “I’m fine, but that painting was taken.”
“By whom?”
Su Xing keenly realized that Kaka saying this meant it wasn’t stolen when he wasn’t paying attention, but that someone tricked him and then took the painting.
Otherwise, he would have just said the painting was stolen, right?
Sure enough, Kaka recounted what happened, “After we got separated by the crowd, I took out the map to find the hotel. But I couldn’t understand the map, so I just wandered around aimlessly.”
“Then a little girl approached me and asked if I needed help. She said she was a local and knew the way well. I gave her the map and let her lead me.”
“She led me to an alley, and then someone suddenly knocked me out from behind. When I woke up again, my bag was gone. Then I quickly used the conch to contact you.”
“Do you remember what that little girl looked like?” Su Xing asked.
Kaka gritted his teeth and nodded, “Of course, I’ll never forget her face.”
Su Xing patted his shoulder, “That’s good. Let’s go find the museum curator. He’s also the mayor here, so finding someone shouldn’t be difficult.”
***
Quinn also walked over to Kaka to comfort him, “It’s okay. You see, this person had a clear objective and obviously planned to steal that painting. If it were any of us carrying that bag, we couldn’t have escaped. You just suffered an undeserved disaster.”
Kaka looked at Su Xing and Evans walking ahead with a bitter face, “Do you think they would really be tricked into losing the painting? Evans probably wouldn’t get knocked out at all, and Su Xing wouldn’t be fooled by that girl.”
Quinn was speechless for a moment.
Su Xing raised an eyebrow, “You forgot Quinn. He knows his way around and is very cautious; he wouldn’t easily be led into an alley to be ambushed.”
“Huh?”
Quinn was surprised, not expecting Su Xing to criticize Kaka at this critical moment.
Sure enough, Kaka became even more dejected, lowering his head and saying nothing.
Su Xing continued, “So you need to make progress quickly. At least next time, don’t be tricked so easily.”
As she expected, Kaka suddenly looked up, the aura of a shonen manga protagonist emanating from him, “I will! Next time, I definitely won’t cause trouble for everyone!”
Su Xing chuckled lightly.
This was Kaka, indeed; he wouldn’t be easily defeated.
With his naturally optimistic, thick-skinned personality, he needed a bit of a setback more than encouragement.
Seeing this, Quinn also relaxed, looking at Su Xing with admiration.
***
Because they caused trouble, the four quickly rushed to the museum where the exhibition was to be held.
After showing their student cards, the security guard immediately led them to the curator.
Su Xing’s eyes were already red from her own doing, looking as if she had just cried.
She had instructed the other three, who weren’t very good at acting, to at least lower their heads so as not to ruin her performance.
“Curator Uncle, we… we lost the painting.”
Su Xing’s voice choked.
“A little girl took advantage of our trust, tricked Kaka into an alley, knocked him out, and stole the painting.”
The curator’s face changed when he heard the painting was stolen.
Su Xing continued, wiping tears, “I’m so sorry. I kept telling Kaka that the art capital was safe, which made him less vigilant. Ultimately, it’s our carelessness. But Kaka just woke up from being knocked unconscious, and his head still hurts a lot. Please, if you must blame someone, blame me!”
Kaka secretly peeked up at Su Xing.
He didn’t have a headache! In fact, the person who knocked him out had been quite gentle; he was perfectly fine now.
Evans pressed Kaka’s head back down from behind, signaling him to keep quiet.
Only then did Quinn understand Su Xing’s good intentions.
Su Xing wanted them to lower their heads to prevent them from laughing!
Su Xing’s strategy wasn’t very clever; at least everyone present could see her little trick.
But they were just children, and age was their greatest advantage.
***
Sure enough, with Su Xing saying all that, how could the curator scold these fifteen-year-old children?
He patted Su Xing’s head, “It’s okay. I know some people have been coveting Master Cissero’s paintings. This is really our adult responsibility, letting you children do such dangerous things. It’s a good thing those people didn’t harm Kaka, or our sin would be much greater.”
Su Xing feigned shyness and smiled, pursing her lips, “You are truly a tolerant mayor. But Mayor, we also want to make amends for our mistake. That girl said she’s from the art capital. How about Kaka describes her appearance, and you investigate?”
The mayor’s expression softened as he saw her willingness to take responsibility, “I was thinking the same thing. Then, Kaka, please be as accurate as possible.”
With that, he ordered someone nearby to bring a painter.
This action made Su Xing frown slightly.
As the mayor of the art capital, she remembered he was supposed to be able to paint himself.
Why would he need to find someone else?
The painter arrived; judging by the reactions of those around, he wasn’t a famous master.
Kaka described meticulously, “That little girl was about thirteen or fourteen, with pink hair tied in pigtails. Her eyebrows were thin and curved. Her eyes were very big and round…”
After some adjustments, the little girl’s appearance finally emerged from the painter’s brush.
However, Su Xing keenly noticed that as the little girl’s image became clearer, the breathing of those around them grew quieter, as if fearing to disturb something.
Was there something wrong with this little girl’s identity?
The four exchanged subtle glances.
Su Xing spoke up, asking, “Have you seen this little girl before?”
No one spoke; instead, they looked at the mayor, leaving the opportunity to answer to him.
The mayor’s face was pale, and he let out a wry smile, “To be honest, this girl is my daughter who ran away from home a while ago. This time, messing with Kaka and stealing that painting, she’s probably just trying to annoy me and make me beg her.”
Just throwing a tantrum?
She didn’t look like it.
Su Xing raised an eyebrow, a barely perceptible smile on her face.
Regardless of the truth, the current situation clearly put them in an advantageous position.
She subtly tapped Evans’s hand behind her back.
Evans paused, not understanding.
Su Xing coughed, deliberately saying, “Oh, it’s your daughter, then that’s quite a coincidence.”
***
Evans finally understood and asked unsparingly, “So this is a case of your own family causing trouble for outsiders, dragging us innocent bystanders into it?”
Su Xing feigned anger and lightly slapped him, then smiled at the mayor, “Sorry, my friend is a bit blunt. We all understand you didn’t do it on purpose, Mayor, but it would be hard for us to explain to the academy. So, what do you think about this matter?”
The mayor understood her hidden meaning and offered an official smile, “This is nothing. We won’t report it to the Spirit Domain Academy. The four of you just enjoy your time here, and go back safely after the exhibition ends.”
The other party not reporting to the academy meant that no one would know about their team’s first mission being a failure.
Su Xing nodded in satisfaction, “I also think there’s no need to tell the academy about this family matter. Then we’ll take our leave. We wish your art exhibition a complete success.”
The mayor nodded and winked at his secretary beside him.
The secretary immediately followed, “This is your first time in the art capital, so there must be many things you don’t know about. To show the Mayor’s office’s hospitality, I will be your guide tomorrow. Now, let me escort you back.”
Su Xing clearly saw this as the other party’s excuse to monitor them.
But it didn’t matter; after all, they were indeed innocent, and they even got a free guide.
The four were escorted back to the hotel, and a day of travel had left them very tired.
After returning, they didn’t discuss anything further and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, the four were ready.
Secretary Nick led them to visit the Sacred Art Museum.
Secretary Nick was quite competent, waiting outside the hotel early.
The Sacred Art Museum, where they were going today, was the most famous art museum in the art capital. All past mayors had been its curators.
Although the innermost painting hall was temporarily closed for the Centennial Sacred Art Exhibition, other areas were still open for viewing!
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