Ye Xingyao leaned against the wall at the entrance of the Safehouse, quietly replaying the mission in his mind.
‘He always felt something was wrong with the situation.’
Since the Human Alliance knew about the descent of the Star Elf, why did they only send a few squads with strengths lingering between Hanguang — Chuye? According to the revelations from the Elf Race, the Star Elf likely held a pivotal position within their race and even the entire world. Why were the Wuye-level combatants of Satellite City remaining idle at a time like this?
‘It couldn’t be because Satellite City is too far from the Elven settlements, or because the Magical Girl Society headquarters isn’t located here, and the Human Alliance’s makeshift team was just careless.’
That seemed unlikely.
However, he could only be thankful that the Wuye-level combatants of the Human Alliance had not intervened. If even one of them had been present, he would never have been able to rescue Yi Shiyue so easily.
According to Ye Xingyao’s estimates, using the strength rating of “Hanguang — Chuye — Rumeng — Wuye — Xingan — Zhongye — Poxiao,” he could at most trade a few moves with a Wuye-level combatant by relying on the external items he had prepared in advance.
Although he had killed a considerable number of Wuye-level targets, those were ultimately Monsters, not humans with tactical awareness.
‘Forget it. Instead of thinking about such distant things, I should ask my “childhood friend” first. With her status as a Moon Elf, she might know much more than I do.’
With that thought, Ye Xingyao deactivated his camouflage, removed his hood, and pressed a sequence on the electronic lock — *beep, beep, beep*.
He walked into the Safehouse and turned to close the security door in one fluid motion. However, when he turned back…
He came face-to-face with the Moon Elf, who was half-naked and struggling to apply medicine to her wounds.
“Eh — ?!”
“Ah!”
The girl’s slender figure was fully exposed to his sight. It had to be said that the black-haired girl he knew in his daily life already had beauty and a figure far above average. Whenever he thought about such a beautiful girl being his childhood friend, a sweet feeling would well up in Ye Xingyao’s heart.
At this moment, her waist-length, snow-white hair and the way her blush spread from her cheeks to the tips of her ears were even more captivating.
“Uh… sorry?”
“Ugh… fine, just turn your head away first!”
“Do you need help?”
“No, no need!”
Listening to the *rustle, rustle* of clothes and the muffled groans of the beautiful elf enduring pain, and then thinking of the usually gentle and lovely Yi Shiyue, a certain sense of transgression slowly rose in Ye Xingyao’s heart.
After a long while, Yi Shiyue had mostly finished tending to her wounds. Having calmed her heart, she spoke.
“Xingyao, you can turn around now.”
“…”
The Safehouse was not large. The girl sat on the bed while Ye Xingyao pulled over a stool to face her.
“Who goes first?”
“Should one of us explain first?”
The two spoke simultaneously with perfect timing. Of course, at this moment, both of them wished they did not share such a rapport.
“…”
Another simultaneous silence followed.
“How about I go first?”
“I’ll go first.”
Once again, they spoke in unison.
“…”
Once again, there was simultaneous silence.
“Forget it, let’s do one question and one answer, then switch after a round. How about it?”
Finally, Ye Xingyao proposed a plan. The girl nodded, and he continued.
“Then I’ll ask first. Something urgent: what is the Star Elf’s current state?”
“…Xingyao, I don’t want to lie to you. Can I first ask about your attitude toward Elves?”
‘Sigh, so much for the one-question-one-answer rule. Oh well, who told us to be so close?’
“As a Moon Elf, you should know that even in human society, there are families with cooperative relationships with the Elves. My current skills are also thanks to my good relations with the Elf Race. As for my identity… I’m currently something of a Monster Hunter.”
“There were probably a few Monster Hunters among those who attacked you earlier, and many took the commission from the Human Alliance this time.”
“Furthermore, my father was not only close to the Elf Race, but also one of the top researchers of the Elven language among humans. My mother was also an Elf. Of course, I only discovered that from their belongings.”
At the mention of Ye Xingyao’s parents, a look of guilt appeared on Yi Shiyue’s face.
“Aunt and Uncle haven’t been confirmed dead yet…”
“Shiyue, no need to comfort me. It’s been so long; I’ve already made peace with it.”
“Then… does little sister Ye Xingling know about this?”
“My sister… she probably doesn’t. I plan to tell her after she graduates from university.” Ye Xingyao paused. “In short, regarding my stance, I’m more inclined toward the Elves’ side. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken the commission regarding the Star Elf.”
Yi Shiyue relaxed as if a heavy burden had been lifted, her pretty face now etched with exhaustion. For her, having a different stance from her childhood friend was a form of torture. Only after knowing that Ye Xingyao was still the person she knew could she lower her guard.
“I believe you, Xingyao.”
“The Star Elf hasn’t appeared, but as an Elf, I can feel that he is right here.”
Yi Shiyue reached out and showed Ye Xingyao the Night Blue Gemstone in her hand. For some reason, the gemstone was currently flickering with points of starlight.
“This is the Star Elf?”
Ye Xingyao was somewhat surprised.
After all, no matter how mysterious or powerful Elves were, they relied on a human-like form. No matter how extraordinary this “Star Elf” was, it shouldn’t deviate from Elven characteristics. — This had been Ye Xingyao’s expectation.
He had even thought about how to communicate with the other party. Otherwise, with his communication skills, he wouldn’t have been able to answer Yi Shiyue’s questions so fluently.
“So, the Human Alliance fought you to the death just to snatch a stone like this?”
Hearing this, Yi Shiyue’s expression became somewhat subtle, and her voice grew much weaker.
“It seems… so.”
“Then what do you plan to do next? Satellite City is far from the Elf Race’s territory. You can’t just hold onto this stone for the rest of your life.”
Ye Xingyao was somewhat worried.
“I… I don’t have any plans. I don’t really feel any sense of belonging to the Elf Race. We grew up together, and I put my identity as an Elf behind me long ago. But a few days ago, an anonymous caller contacted me, telling me to shoulder the ‘responsibility of a Moon Elf.'”
“Saying this might ruin my image in your heart… but I don’t want to hide these things from you. The Elves never cared whether I lived or died, yet they repeatedly emphasized how important the Star Elf and I are to the Elf Race, telling me to find the Star Elf no matter the cost.”
“I was very selfish in that regard and naturally wouldn’t agree. After I refused them, they… they used you and Ye Xingling to threaten me. They said if I didn’t help those Elves find the Star Elf, they would cause trouble for you.”
“I didn’t want our peaceful lives to be disturbed, so I pretended to give in to their threats. I came here wanting to help this Star Elf leave this place of conflict, so that he wouldn’t be bound by some nonexistent ‘responsibility.'”
“Xingyao… am I being very selfish? Selfish and incompetent, and even naive enough to think I could solve everything. If you hadn’t arrived in time, I…”