Stelle looked at the flame spear in her hand, then at Skott under her feet, utterly bewildered: "What's the situation here? Weren't we just in the fictional narrative? What kind of development is this... Oh! I get it, this must be a trick by the Dragon Master!"
"Now all of this is an illusion, just to trick us into stopping!"
With that thought, the corners of Stelle's mouth curved into an arc, and she sneered: "Too bad, Dragon Master. I don't know what methods you used, but even if you turn into this person's appearance, I'll still beat you without hesitation!"
With that said, Stelle stomped down hard with one foot: "Take this!"
"Stop!"
At that moment, You Ci's voice rang out. "You've already cleared the stage now. Don't fight anymore."
Bang!
Stelle stomped hard on Skott's butt, then turned her head back: "Ah?"
So it wasn't an illusion after all?
Stelle scratched her head and asked: "Then that's not right. We were just beating the Dragon Master a moment ago, so why did it turn into beating Skott in the blink of an eye? This behavior and this guy's entrance aren't reasonable at all. Wait—"
Stelle widened her eyes: "Could it be that all of our actions in the story just now were mapped onto reality? Could it be that we were just talking to ourselves in this... this public place a moment ago, and even fought a match against thin air?"
You Ci: "You listen to me explain first..."
Patta.
Lingsha suddenly picked up You Ci's cage with one hand, her expression particularly terrifying: "You'd better give an explanation that we can accept, or else..."
Creak—
Lingsha exerted a slight force, and the cage immediately began to deform and tremble, emitting a teeth-grinding sound.
Bailu and Clara, off to the side, also had unkind expressions on their faces as they cracked their knuckles.
You Ci's voice sounded a bit panicked: "Wait, don't all of you want to know who told me the secret? I'll say it right now—it's a Heliobus! A Heliobus told me!"
"Last night, a Heliobus possessed a Xianzhou native and asked if I was interested in hearing some blockbuster news. It was that one who told me!"
Heliobus?
Upon hearing this, the force in Lingsha's hand paused. Having lived in Zhuming for many years, she was naturally extremely familiar with this species.
Stelle poked at You Ci's cage with the flame spear in her hand, her face dark as she said: "You'd better explain it in detail."
Knowing she was in the wrong, You Ci didn't hesitate and immediately said: "That was something that happened around ten o'clock last night. I was originally planning to close up shop at the time, but then a red-haired man with a disheveled appearance suddenly came in. He looked like an out-of-towner."
"After he arrived here, he neither bought books nor spoke a word. He just stared at me for a while, then asked if I wanted to sell some blockbuster news. At that moment, I suddenly felt that something was off. After using my unique method to check, I discovered that this guy actually had a Heliobus on him."
"But I didn't pay much attention to that at the time, because if the news he mentioned was released, it really would be a blockbuster. Acting on the principle of 'no need to go against money,' I agreed to sell this information."
"What did that red-haired man look like?" Stelle continued to ask.
You Ci organized her wording a bit and said: "How should I put it... He just looked like the extremely disheveled type—tank top, shorts, flip-flops. But this guy's foundation is very good. If he were cleaned up and dressed properly, he might even be able to pass as a Knight of Beauty."
Red hair, tank top, shorts, flip-flops... Knight of Beauty?
Stelle silently closed her eyes, trying to piece these words together in her brain and generate an image. Unfortunately, her brain's computing power wasn't sufficient; she couldn't imagine it.
"Any other valuable intelligence?" Stelle poked at the cage again with the flame spear, her tone still unkind.
This dead bird had just treated the few of them like fools. Just giving some vague, foggy intelligence wasn't nearly enough to quell the hatred in her heart.
You Ci thought for a moment, then hurriedly said: "There is, there is! That... when that guy left, he seemed to still be muttering something like 'Once I seize the top spot in the Luminary Wardance Contest, I can use the chance to sneak into the Xianzhou and retrieve my fragment, hahaha.'"
Stelle flew into a rage: "You're making this up yourself, aren't you? Which villain would state their own thoughts so openly like that?"
You Ci grew anxious: "It's absolutely true! That's exactly what he said at the time!"
Stelle: "Fine, then let's pretend what you said is true. Now it's time to settle some other accounts."
Upon hearing this, a trace of ominous premonition surfaced in You Ci's heart, and she said: "Wait, before this, we clearly agreed that you all would cooperate with me to complete the story, and I'd tell you the intelligence in return. That's something you all nodded and agreed to, right?"
Stelle let out a cold laugh, bent down, and rummaged around on Skott for a moment. In the end, she pulled out the latter's phone and said: "Can that even be the same? I don't even need to guess to know that this guy definitely recorded all those scenes from just now. How are we supposed to settle that account?"
"Do you know, Mr. Skott is my fated acquaintance—a friend of many years? You caused him to get beaten up by me; shouldn't you compensate me for that?"
You Ci/Skott: ???
"Hey! Who the hell is your friend of many years? Don't insult me!" Skott angrily said: "Also, I got beaten—shouldn't you be compensating me?"
"I was just here to join in on the fun, and I still had to take a beating. Is there still any royal law in the Xianzhou? Is there still any law?!"
Stelle said in an earnest and sincere tone: "You don't understand. The blows that land on your body cause pain in my heart. The wounds on the body will recover after a while, but if the trauma to the heart isn't soothed, it might leave behind psychological disorders for a lifetime."
"Miss Lingsha, you are the Cauldron Master of the Alchemy Commission and hold authority in the field of medicine. Isn't that right?"
Lingsha nodded without the slightest hesitation. "Miss Stelle is correct."
"You all!" Skott was so angry that his head grew dizzy. "You're deliberately teaming up to mess with me, aren't you?!"
No one paid him any mind.
Buzz buzz—
At that moment, Skott's phone suddenly rang. A string of AI voice prompts rang out: "Dear Mr. Skott, your monthly repayment due date is approaching. Please take care not to default, okay~"
Everyone: ...
The corners of Stelle's mouth twitched. With an expression that was somewhat unnatural, she handed the phone back to Skott, scratched her head, and said: "Well, that being said, the person was beaten by us in the end. Giving a bit of compensation isn't out of the question, haha..."
"What do you mean by that?!" Skott said in a fierce manner: "Are you pitying me? Bastard, I won't allow you to pity me!"
Seeing this, Stelle nodded slightly in her heart. Mm, this lone wolf is a bit too anthropomorphic, but there are indeed places on him worth respecting and learning from. He's pretty tough...
"However, if you beg me to accept the compensation, it's not like I can't accept it." Skott abruptly changed his tone and said: "I heard that you inherited shares in the Penacony Group a while back. You're so rich now—compensating me with a few tens of millions shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Stelle: ...
"What?!"
Before Stelle could even open her mouth, Bailu off to the side exploded first. "Tens of millions? Why don't you go rob someone? No... even robbing wouldn't be this profitable!"
"Even if you have money, you can't just spend it so recklessly!"
Skott flopped down onto the ground: "I don't care. If you don't give me money today, I won't get up!"
Bailu rolled up her sleeves and went up for a flurry of wild punches: "Let's see if you get up or not! If you've got the guts, then don't move!"
"What are you trying to do? Continue harming me? Cloud Knights! Where are the Cloud Knights? Murder! There's murder!"