Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 512: Care to Make a Bet?
As expected, the scale balls were delicious.
Leaning back slightly in his chair, Steven popped them into his mouth one by one, half-lidded eyes savoring the rare moment of peace.
Traveling, after all, was about eating, drinking, and enjoying the scenery. As long as he felt comfortable, the specifics hardly mattered.
Beside him, Centaurea did not possess Steven's absurd heat resistance.
She carefully picked up a scale ball with her chopsticks, blowing on it gently. After the steam thinned, she parted her delicate lips and took a small bite, chewing slowly, thoughtfully savoring the flavor.
Before she could even comment that it was indeed quite good, she noticed Steven staring at her.
Not subtly.
Not even remotely.
His gaze was almost identical to the way he had looked at the fish balls earlier—as if he might swallow her whole at any moment.
Flustered, she quickly swallowed her bite and tilted her head slightly.
"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Nothing," Steven replied calmly, sending another scale ball into his mouth while keeping his eyes firmly on her fair, refined face. "I was just thinking of some old saying. The phrase 'beauty is a feast in itself' now makes a lot of sense."
There wasn't the slightest trace of embarrassment at being caught staring.
Watching a beautiful girl eat was, admittedly, quite appetizing.
No wonder mukbang streamers had such high popularity back in his previous world. With Centaurea's looks, if she had lived there, she could have easily been a top-tier beauty influencer. She wouldn't even need any particular talent—just sit there eating and sleeping on repeat, and people would throw money at her.
A faint blush bloomed across Centaurea's cheeks, soft pink against porcelain skin.
"I'll take that as a compliment?"
Instead of avoiding his gaze, she met it head-on.
"Of course it is," Steven said with a grin. "If you're beautiful, you're beautiful. Honestly, I almost want to kiss you right now."
He quickly finished the last of his scale balls and smiled openly. There was no point in playing coy. If he liked something, he liked it. Overthinking only tortured yourself.
"Well… maybe wait a moment," Centaurea replied, eyes flickering playfully as she noticed him leaning closer. "You just finished eating. Your mouth's all oily."
Without hesitation, she pressed the half-eaten scale ball she was holding against his lips as a blockade.
Steven didn't protest.
He bit off the portion she had been holding.
He wasn't truly in a rush to satisfy any burning desire anyway.
Some things were best enjoyed in the ambiguity, in the slow simmer of flirtation rather than the abrupt finale. For him, the process was far more appealing than the conclusion.
Seeing her shy expression only widened his smile.
As for Mostima?
Long forgotten.
With the Lungmen Guard Department protecting her, her safety wasn't an immediate concern. He had plenty of time. There was no need to rush after some hidden mastermind.
Besides, he had no additional leads.
The explosion hadn't targeted him directly, so he hadn't paid much attention to his minimap. The wreckage of the sports car had yielded nothing but a penguin blasted into something resembling fried chicken.
At this point, all Steven could really do was wait for the next move.
Since he was playing a defensive counterattack strategy, all he had to do for now was simply enjoy himself and wait.
Just as he and Centaurea were basking in their cozy little bubble—
"Mister, would you like to buy a bouquet for the big sister next to you?"
—A small girl approached them timidly.
She was dressed plainly, though her clothes were clean and neatly kept. Holding up a small flower basket, she offered Steven a shy, almost pitiful smile.
"My little brothers and sisters and I picked these ourselves. They're fresh and smell really nice."
Steven couldn't name the flowers in the basket. They didn't look like cultivated ornamental varieties—more like wildflowers picked from somewhere nearby. Still, whoever had arranged them had nimble hands. The bouquets were simple, yet pleasing to the eye.
Pretty flowers.
An innocent, hopeful child.
And beside him, a slightly flushed Centaurea.
Steven found himself with very little reason to refuse.
He smiled kindly at the girl and gently ruffled her hair before pulling out another stack of Lungmen dollars from his backpack.
"You're quite the businesswoman," he said warmly. "I'll take the whole basket. This should be enough, right? Whatever's left over can count as a reward for you and your siblings' hard work."
Considering that a bowl of fish balls cost less than ten, the nearly five hundred he handed over was more than enough to buy out her entire stock—generous to the point of absurdity.
The little girl clearly hadn't expected such largesse. Her eyes lit up as she accepted the money, and she carefully began packing the flowers together for him.
Moments later, the once-humble wildflowers were nestled in Centaurea's arms.
Against her already exquisite features, the blossoms almost seemed to pale in comparison.
As for the young vendor, after flashing them a bright, grateful smile and offering several earnest thanks, she skipped happily away and disappeared down the street.
Steven watched her go.
Then he slowly turned his gaze back to Centaurea, examining her from head to toe.
After a long look, he let out a soft sigh.
"I suddenly kind of regret buying you those flowers."
"Why?" Centaurea lifted the bouquet to her nose and inhaled lightly before narrowing her eyes at him with a knowing smile. "Don't tell me you're about to say something cheesy like 'these flowers aren't worthy of your beauty.'"
Steven froze.
The exact line he'd been about to deliver got stuck in his throat.
—This is bad. She's syncing up with my brainwaves. At this rate, are we going to level up into some kind of soulmate best-friends tier of telepathy?
He coughed lightly and adjusted course.
"Of course not," he replied smoothly. "I meant… the flowers don't match your temperament. The colors are too bright. You'd suit something more elegant. Softer tones."
A highly artistic excuse, delivered without missing a beat.
Then his tone shifted.
"More importantly though… that little girl was indeed cute and innocent. Whether the flowers were worth the price is beside the point."
He lifted a finger and pointed toward the small pouch hanging at Centaurea's waist.
"She was covering for someone who just lifted your wallet. That's the real reason I regret buying the flowers."
The words fell like a splash of cold water over their warm, ambiguous atmosphere.
Centaurea's eyes widened at Steven's words.
She immediately reached for her small shoulder bag.
Sure enough, the pouch that had been holding her personal belongings just moments ago was now completely empty. If Steven hadn't said anything, she might not even have realized she'd been robbed.
The happiness that had filled her face vanished in an instant. She set the bouquet down, her expression turning cold.
Yes, she had liked that little girl's innocent smile.
But if the child had approached her for the sake of theft—
That was something she could not tolerate.
After all, Centaurea was not truly the delicate, aloof beauty her appearance suggested. Her years working under the Kazimierz underground had left her hands stained with more blood than most would dare imagine. Though she had no intention of returning to that life, that didn't mean she was some soft, easily bullied girl either.
"Relax," Steven said with a small smile, raising a hand to calm her. "The kid didn't steal it. At most, she was providing cover. The real thief was someone else. And judging by how things look… there might even be a twist."
From start to finish, he had observed the entire scene as if watching a play.
The little girl had never touched Centaurea's bag.
The true culprit had been a purple-haired girl who passed by casually while the child was busy promoting the flowers—just another pedestrian, several meters away.
Her hands had been quick.
Very quick.
But that was only relative.
In front of someone like Steven, her deft maneuver—using a tiny hooked tool to fish the contents out of Centaurea's pouch without direct contact—had been impossible to hide.
On the surface, it looked like a typical slum operation: coordinated distraction and theft.
Yet the little girl's smile afterward hadn't seemed fake. The joy of successfully selling her flowers had felt genuine—too genuine to be mere acting.
So, for once, Steven felt like gambling a little.
A thief who kept company with children like that probably wasn't rotten to the core. If he had shown open kindness to the kid and she still couldn't resist greed, then it would simply mean he had misjudged her.
"Did you have anything valuable in there?" he asked.
"Nothing irreplaceable," Centaurea admitted, shaking her head. "But that doesn't mean I should just let someone steal from me."
She looked at him in confusion.
How could he still be this calm?
"That's good," Steven replied lightly.
Then he narrowed his eyes.
"How about we make a bet? Within ten minutes, someone will return your wallet to you."
Perhaps it was the child's innocent smile.
Perhaps it was just whimsy.
But for once, Steven wanted to believe in human nature again.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 617: A Bold Guess[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628