In front of the giant floor-to-ceiling window of the director's office at the Special Service Bureau Building, Baili Qing looked at the fluctuating fog outside and pressed her temples a bit wearily.
The outlines of things in the fog slowly flowed, presenting scenes from throughout Boundary City, occasionally pausing at some main Exotic Realm entrances or unstable Space Rifts.
A pair of giant eyes quietly emerged above the fog, swaying up and down against the glass of the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Sis, I'm back."
"Anything new?"
"Nothing at all," Baili Xue's voice sounded a bit dejected, "I've been watching the whole city for several days, and it seems the 'Knight' really won't act in the real world."
Baili Qing simply nodded without saying anything for the moment.
Baili Xue floated out from the window, lazily drifting to hover beside Baili Qing, swaying back and forth.
"Sis, what's the deal with that Knight anyway? Do you know him? Or know where he comes from?"
Baili Qing raised her eyebrows: "You just came back from the Council Tower, didn't you ask the chairman?"
"I wouldn't dare ask! That old man is always so intimidating, if it weren't for monitoring the entire city, I wouldn't go to that place…"
"Got it, got it," Baili Qing sighed, waving her hand, "About that Knight… I don't know his name or background, none of the other council members know either."
"Huh… huh? Really? Then why do you all seem so tense? If it's just some wandering entity that popped out of nowhere, you wouldn't need to…"
"Although we don't know the specifics of that Knight, we suspect he came from the 'past'." Baili Qing said blandly.
Baili Xue blinked.
"Huh?"
"Kant found some unstable signs beneath the Council Tower, and when I went for a retrospect, I saw a figure climbing out of a rift— a tall Knight covered in armor," Baili Qing's expression was calm, but her tone carried some weight, "Moreover, the aura emitted by that Knight is somewhat… familiar to us."
Baili Xue's eyes widened slowly, and after a while, she suddenly whispered in surprise: "...I get it, you want to capture him as the sixth council member!"
Baili Qing: "..."
Baili Xue, seeing her sister's reaction, was puzzled for a moment: "Isn't that the case?"
"Sometimes I really don't know if your increasingly rich humanity is good or bad… That composed, suppressed, deep-thinking you used to have is gone, now you're becoming more like those guys from the travel agency."
Baili Qing seemed to change the topic, and the pair of eyes floating beside her noticed, refraining from chasing the question, instead swaying lazily in the air: "I feel pretty good, unprecedentedly clear-headed, and the void feeling is gone… Was I really deep-thinking before?"
"Perhaps, I could never figure out what you were thinking back then, none of us could."
Baili Xue remained quiet for two seconds before suddenly speaking: "Could it be that deep-thinking is due to confusion?"
"…Thinking about what? Have you figured it out now?"
Baili Xue's voice sounded quite happy: "Now I don't think about it anymore."
Baili Qing was taken aback, her gaze subtly directed at the eyes floating in mid-air.
She still didn't know what the other was thinking.
A series of footsteps from the corridor interrupted her thoughts, followed by a knock on the door.
Baili Xue instantly disappeared into the air.
Baili Qing looked towards the door: "Come in."
The door opened, Song Cheng walked in, holding a stack of documents.
"Director, take a look at this."
"What documents are worth your personal delivery?" Baili Qing said as she accepted the files from Song Cheng, her gaze quickly falling on the top report.
The report was accompanied by a photo, showing a long-haired girl with cat ears on her head, her head slightly tilted—this wasn't surprising, Gyprolian ID photos tend to be a bit askew, they seem to resist sitting straight in front of the camera, usually turning their head as the shutter clicks.
Next to the photo was the girl's basic information—Agate, senior Spiritual Ability User, attendant, 17 years old (Gyprolians reach adulthood at 14), Terra nationality, currently residing in Boundary Land, symptoms appeared after returning to Boundary Land upon completing external duty…
Baili Qing lifted her eyes: "Another one?"
"Yes, another one, reported just this morning—the last was that little girl Lingdang beside Xu Jiali," Song Cheng said, pointing to the materials in Baili Qing's hands, "There are a few others in your hands, recently reported, I've summed them up."
Baili Qing frowned slightly, silently flipping quickly through the documents.
"There are long-term residents of Boundary Land Spiritual Ability Users, as well as outsiders just passing through, and ones like Lingdang and Agate who returned after completing their duties," Song Cheng continued, "The common point is the illness manifestation in Boundary Land."
"Severity of symptoms?"
Song Cheng nodded: "Not severe, mostly mild, only one moderate, and they all swiftly entered recovery after treatment—the main issue is the number of cases this time, appearing so many in a short time, it's noticeably above normal levels."
"... I understand, the Council will intervene to handle this matter."
"Okay."
Song Cheng left, and Baili Qing returned to the desk, skimmed through the documents once more, and casually put them back on the desk, rubbing her brows.
Baili Xue quietly popped up again, reflected on the smooth surface of the desk.
"I'm going to the Council Tower," Baili Qing said casually, "You stay here, you don't like the council members anyway."
"Alright!"
...
The world view of cats and dogs is really quite baffling.
— The cyber fox is also a canine, and the psychic cat lady is still a cat.
In Lodge Valley, near Fairy Tale Town, by the winding river, Yu Sheng set up a deck chair on the grass, sitting there while awkwardly watching the two figures by the riverbank.
Lingdang sat on a large rock on the riverbank, holding a fishing rod with a serious face waiting for a fish to bite, while Hu Li watched expectantly beside her, with several flames dancing at the tip of her tail, ready to start grilling once the fish was caught.
Just looking at this scene, it's hard to imagine these two were fighting fiercely not long ago.
You could say the experience of cleaning up foam plastic balls together helped them forge an unbelievable friendship, even turning around to form a fishing alliance...
Whether this alliance is unbreakable or fragile is hard to say — anyway, according to Yu Sheng's estimation, everything would be fine if they caught fish, but if they didn't, it would likely lead to chaos.
Even if they managed to catch fish, if the spoils weren't evenly divided, chaos would ensue.
Xu Jiali was also next to Yu Sheng on a deck chair, enjoying the breeze with him. The two-meter tall burly man slightly shifted, causing the chair to creak under his weight.
"Actually, at first I refused to have this cat as my spiritual servant — When I graduated from the military academy, my planned partner was an Algredian, but he suddenly came into contact with a long-lost second uncle who left him two shipyards and 77 commercial satellites, and he went back to inherit the family business the very next day, since spiritual servants are essentially employed individuals, with relative freedom to come and go, and at that time we hadn't yet entered the formal combat adaptation process...
"And then? Well, the higher-ups tossed this dizzy cat to me...
"About Gyprolians, well, their spiritual abilities are indeed high, but when they act neurotic, they truly are neurotic. You might have heard of my situation; I was trapped in the Exotic Realm for a long time early on, so I ended up solitary and difficult, and especially couldn't stand noisy surroundings. The coach told me, 'We're going to give you a lively assistant to help you with psychological counseling' — those first two months were so irritating..."
By now, Yu Sheng was getting drowsy from the wind, barely keeping his eyelids open: "And then? Did you adjust?"
Xu Jiali: "Adjust my ass, I was driven nuts, had a fight with Lingdang, and didn't bring her on the second mission. I went to the Exotic Realm on my own..."
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng had a realization, thinking to himself he was familiar with this script; this big guy probably encountered trouble in the Exotic Realm, and knowing Lingdang's character, she would surely go to rescue him, leading to a dramatic, life-and-death moment that established their initial trust and understanding...
Xu Jiali: "As soon as I left, she went to the captain to report me. I got dragged back and spent half a month in confinement, writing a review every day."
Yu Sheng: "... So what happened then?"
"Confinement was so quiet," Xu Jiali looked up at the bright sky, "I realized I couldn't stand the silence anymore."
The wind blew through the valley, comfortably neither too cold nor too hot.
Yu Sheng turned his head, watching the hungry fox girl by the river and the cat lady diligently fishing, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face.
Then he saw the fishing line on the river surface suddenly jerk.
Hu Li immediately jumped up: "It's a catch, it's a catch!"
Lingdang instantly gripped the rod tightly and began reeling in: "Such strength! Such strength, meow! We're pulling in a big one!"
What followed was a bout of tug-of-war, a commotion by the riverbank, and after repeatedly dragging back and forth, Lingdang vigorously lifted the rod, only to see a spray of water as a girl with sleek black hair, a humanoid upper body covered with scales and fin-like structures, and a bright blue fish tail jumped out along the riverbank.
The girl held the fishing line, which was tangled at the tip with a hook caught in her hair.
"Meow?"
Lingdang was momentarily stunned, and the mermaid jumped in front of her, slapping her and Hu Li each with her tail.
"Fishing, fishing, fishing all the time! Didn't you see the big sign saying no fishing by this part of the river near the town?! I was swimming halfway below when suddenly my body floated up, I thought I finally learned how to..."
Lingdang was slapped into confusion, while Hu Li remained unfazed, naturally replying: "But we're hungry."
The mermaid glanced at Hu Li, then at Yu Sheng not far away, sighed heavily: "Alright, wait here."
Saying this, she turned and jumped back into the river, causing splashes and then fierce ripples spreading in the water, with a few fish floating belly-up on the river surface.
Two minutes later, the mermaid crawled up the riverbank again, holding two large fish stunned by her; she threw the fish by the riverbank: "Here you go."
Yu Sheng watched from the side, completely stunned.
The good news was that Lingdang really caught something, the bad news was that the process was nothing like he imagined...
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