“Whatcha whatcha whatcha doin’?”
Xu Chuyao waved her small hand in front of the girl’s eyes. “Lost for words?”
“No, it’s just… why are you dressed differently than usual?”
“Because it’s spring now,” Xu Chuyao lightly hopped in her little brown shoes.
“Spring means spring clothes, of course.”
The little brown shoes gave a slight leap the kind of kick that could easily topple a big white rabbit.
The magnitude of the tremor was roughly comparable to the X Crystal eruption incident in Freiden Free City.
Shen Ning didn’t want to be scolded by the Reflections when she got back, so after a brief moment, she shifted her gaze down to the girl’s slender legs. Today, she was wearing a pair of white ankle socks, the delicate silk lace edging hugging her tiny ankles.
“You changed your socks again.”
She remembered that Xu Chuyao often changed her socks white silk long socks in winter mostly but sometimes pantyhose, suspenders, or simple long socks. Each time the thickness of the white silk varied; sometimes light as silk, revealing translucent skin tones, other times thick like a snow cake, looking quite delicious.
“I bought these a couple of days ago.” Xu Chuyao said casually, “How do they look?”
Actually, the clothes she wore were mostly lottery prizes those blue sky and white cloud events always included such items throughout the year, various types for every season. She couldn’t even recall which draw she had gotten these socks from.
“They look good, very cute…”
Shen Ning was about to say “very cute” when suddenly she heard the Sexually Repressed Shadow whisper quietly in her ear: “This little girl’s clothing style is called lolita, a kind of British net style~”
Of course, the Broken Shadow vigorously argued that French Rococo was also a style, but the girl was already angry.
[Counter Villain Value +50]
Xu Chuyao, hearing the system alert, was completely clueless.
Hmm, so my girlfriend is a pure white silk stocking fan and can’t accept cotton?
“French style, huh?”
“Aren’t we supposed to go find someone? Let’s go.”
After saying that, the girl lifted her foot and strode ahead, storming off with a sudden surge of distance between them.
“You just walk if you know where to go.”
Reminded by the Sexually Repressed Shadow, the girl silently turned back.
[Counter Villain Value +50]
Feeling puzzled, but now my villain points are automatically accumulating.
That should be a good thing, right?
Shen Ning didn’t know what Xu Chuyao was thinking, only that the Sexually Repressed Shadow murmured in her ear:
“I have experience with this kind of thing. Here’s the plan: first, pretend nothing’s wrong, then at night pretend to say goodbye but secretly tail her, slip into Mom’s dorm room, and strike suddenly—spinning her like a top!”
Although Xu Chuyao’s official title included “Outsider Personnel,” she was actually a formal staff member. Xiao Si Nuo and Flower no longer had to rent a place outside the school gates; the academy provided a special room to use as their office.
After simple decorations and arranging, Flower settled into the office, while Xiao Si Nuo came by every day, pretending to work but always carrying a newspaper.
“Flower, look, this is the local newspaper from Freiden Free City for the past few days, the city Xu Chuyao went to.”
Xiao Si Nuo took out the paper he had brought a couple of days ago from the shoe cabinet and laid it on the table.
“Look, in early February, the morning edition reported a city incident. Since no information was released at the scene, the writing was vague, stating they would continue to follow up. But after that, no even vague reports appeared. The main local freedom paper switched to covering a card game competition held in the northern stadium.”
Flower was watering the potted plants on the balcony these were borrowed by Xiao Si Nuo from the horticulture department.
“What does that mean?” the girl asked.
“It means something big happened. Let me tell you this: when the Trade Plaza battle happened in Center City, the local papers ran multiple days of coverage. The style of reporting was… well, let’s just say it was unusual. I believe Officer Yao was involved,” Xiao Si Nuo lightly tapped the newspaper on the table. “From my perspective, Officer Yao must have fixed the game, clashing with the Freedom City’s ostentatious official power, grinding it into dust…”
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
“Strange, huh?”
“The person who turned the Freedom City upside down.”
Xiao Si Nuo quickly opened the door, scratching his head awkwardly. “Sorry, Officer Yao, I didn’t realize you were back at school. If I had known, I would have come to pick you up.”
Then he looked up and saw a girl standing behind the respected officer.
“Shen Ning? You too…”
“Yes, she’s back too.” Xu Chuyao answered briefly. “Our mission succeeded. Let’s go inside first.”
“All right, please come in.”
The four sat down around the only large square table in the office. Xu Chuyao first told Shen Ning the backgrounds of the two Outsider Personnel how with their help they persuaded the upper leadership to grant the order to deploy troops.
“You told me before that someone at school was investigating the X Crystal research. I thought they might be helpful, so I went to the address you gave me. Together we managed to get enough evidence.”
“It was just a tiny bit of help under Officer Yao’s command.”
Shen Ning felt a bit moved. At first, she thought the team girl was a bit like herself and wanted to help her—turns out, the help ended up saving herself instead.
“Life and death intertwine,” the Broken Shadow suddenly chanted softly, “flowers bloom, flowers wither.”
Emmmm, there really is that flavor to it.
“All right, now I’m going to start talking about some serious stuff.” Xu Chuyao shifted to a proper sitting posture. “Flower, about your father’s situation, and the promise I made to you.”
Seeing her serious demeanor, the others naturally adjusted their posture as well, especially Flower, whose usually serious attitude became even more focused.
“Officer Yao, please go ahead.”
“Actually, what I’m about to say is highly classified, but it doesn’t matter now.”
Xu Chuyao narrated the X Crystal eruption incident in Freiden Free City, emphasizing the radiation effect of the X Crystal that reshaped inorganic objects like building walls into mutations, and the concept of soul imprisonment.
Flower was intelligent and quickly understood her meaning.
“Officer Yao, you mean…”
“Trade conflict.”
Xu Chuyao shot a glance at her girlfriend, and Shen Ning nodded to Flower:
“At the Research Institute, I met one of my elders, who died in the mine three years ago due to X Crystal radiation.”
After a moment’s thought, the girl added, “Xiran’s speech isn’t very clear, but he still recognized me, remembered my name, and cared about me like before.”
“And what about my father?”
Tears brimmed in Flower’s eyes, her body trembling uncontrollably. Xiao Si Nuo hurried over to support her.
“That’s right. So my plan is simple.” Xu Chuyao clapped her small hands. “We need some inorganic materials. Those are everywhere, so no worries there. The key is the X Crystal. If we manage to get a little, we can bring your father back to the living world. The form Xiran takes might differ from your memories, but it will definitely be him.”
“That’s good. I thought I’d never see him again… Thank you.”
Flower’s tears streamed down, and Xiao Si Nuo kept wiping them away.
“You’re welcome. I promised you. Besides, even if we get the X Crystal, we need to study it ourselves. There’s an old codger watching over us upstairs. While they’re still preparing, we’ll strike first and strike hard!”
Hearing this, Shen Ning looked at her in doubt.
“What do you mean?”
“It means just that. Once their new research gets on track, you’ll be dragged into experiments again. So we get ahead of them, complete the experiment first, and then we won’t have to fear anything.”
Xu Chuyao got up and searched around the room, then casually grabbed paper and pen. After returning, she drew a circle on the paper.
“Monroe is interested in the soul space sealed inside the X Crystal. The research focus must be on this. I speculate it’s a soul network. Think about it when they bring you back for experiments, you’ll already be the administrator of the soul network, able to freely manipulate the results. Then there will be nothing to fear.”
Shen Ning looked at her girlfriend in surprise.
“That could work?”
Before Xu Chuyao could answer, the Milky Ning Reflection spoke first: “Of course it can. If Yao Yao says no, it won’t work. If Yao Yao says yes, then no matter what, it will work!
This is a faith-only answer with no logic.”
In reality, Xu Chuyao thought for a moment and gave a very logical explanation:
“Flower’s dad is over there, and dozens of our familiar elders too. We have quite a few connections there, so there’s a chance.”
Actually, saying “ghost connections” would be more accurate, but considering the two present, she used “connections.”
Anyway, both Shen Ning and Flower thought it made sense and felt somewhat reassured.
“That’s it for today. About how to get the X Crystal, I’ll think it through carefully and notify you when I find an opportunity.”
Many things that once left her helpless could now be handled by her girlfriend.
Leaving the office, Shen Ning recalled what had just been discussed, her mood a bit dazed.
“Why think so much,” the Milky Ning Reflection said, “just like Yao Yao—when it’s time to play with your phone, just play with your phone.”
Play with my phone?
The girl turned her head and saw her girlfriend was chatting in the Q Water group. It wasn’t a bad group but a small crisis response team.
Since returning from Freiden Free City, Shi Lei and Cheng Li, having seen the world, shared their thrilling freedom journey in the group.
[Shi Lei: Let me tell you, when the Research Institute collapsed, only a few of us got out. That was truly a matter of life and death, right, Cheng Li?]
[Cheng Li: Officer Xu commanded well, grabbing the Research Institute’s supervisor at the start. Only he knew the emergency passage.]
[Shi Lei: The final battle was three top-tier level threes fighting to the death. That was a real peak showdown. All sorts of raging elements flew everywhere. Even Shen Ning could only provide support. So intense, right, Cheng Li?]
[Cheng Li: Officer Xu’s command was good. Had we rushed in, we would’ve just died. She made us proceed slowly to just the right place.]
[Yu Yuwei: Since that’s the case, team leader, why didn’t you come back with them?]
[Yao Yao, reluctant to eat her fingers: I went to Zhaoying City to attend a hearing, just returned last night.]
[Yu Yuwei: Zhaoying City, huh? I heard it’s a very historic ancient city. Was it fun?]
[Yao Yao, reluctant to eat her fingers: It was okay, nice scenery, and I met some interesting friends.]
Shen Ning just entered the group and saw that last message.
“Who are the interesting friends Yao Yao mentioned?” the Sexually Repressed Shadow said. “So hard to guess.”
[Counter Villain Value +50]
Xu Chuyao turned her little head suspiciously.
“Shen Ning, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Her face was calm, tone indifferent, giving no sign of emotion.
“Well then, I’m going back.”
“Okay, good night.”
The girl said and turned to leave.
Xu Ran didn’t understand what was going on why villain points kept exploding but automatic was always better.
Maybe soon, she could reach level three!
Thinking this, Xu Chuyao happily returned to her dorm room.
“I’m back, Xiaolu.”
“Early today, huh.” Mi Xiaolu looked up, glancing behind her roommate. “Why is Shen Ning with you?”
“What? Shen Ning followed you here?”
Xu Chuyao turned and saw her white-haired girlfriend standing right behind her, equally puzzled. “Yeah, why did you come with me? What are you doing here… ah!”
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