"Really strange, really strange…"
Kiana looked at Bronya's expressionless face and felt something was off. She frowned and asked,
"Board Duck, what are you trying to say?"
"…"
Bronya's body stiffened. On her emotionless face, a rare trace of coldness appeared.
She took a deep breath.
"Bronya's name is Bronya. Bronya hopes a certain grasshopper will stop getting it wrong."
Kiana snorted. "My name is Kiana. I hope a certain Board Duck also stops getting it wrong."
"Grasshopper."
"Board Duck."
"Grasshopper grasshopper grasshopper."
"Board Duck board duck board duck!"
While the two were hurting each other back and forth, Raiden Mei had already finished tidying up the dishes.
She went to the kitchen to clean them.
"Hey, Board Duck." Kiana walked over to Bronya's side and asked with a grin, "What were you finding strange just now?"
Now that she had the nickname 'Board Duck,' Kiana found Bronya much more pleasing to look at.
Bronya spoke in a flat tone, "Really strange. Why does Levi have the same name as Levi?"
"Kiana, do you know the reason?"
And also...
"Why haven't we seen Levi recently? Did something happen to him?"
That question was easy to answer. Kiana had already thought about it.
Putting on a very convincing look, she crossed her arms and said, "Isn't it because something went wrong in the last assessment! He used up too much energy, so he had no choice but to fall into a deep sleep to recover his strength."
Bronya nodded. That explanation was fairly reasonable.
Then what about the first question? About the name... how would Kiana explain that?
"That's her privacy. He should decide for himself whether he wants to tell you."
Kiana put her hands on her hips and decided to toss the problem to Levi to deal with himself.
"When he wakes up, I'll tell him your question. You can ask him yourself."
"Let's see if he'll tell you."
"..."
'Perfect, no flaws! Since when did Kiana become this smart?'
'She actually came up with an excuse like that.'
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
Theresa answered very decisively, as if such a thing could never happen.
'It feels like this isn't the first time she's said that today.'
Himeko quietly undermined her, "Don't say it so absolutely. I'm still waiting for your leap of faith without protection."
"What what! When did I ever say that!"
"From the sound of it, Theresa, are you trying to go back on your word?"
"Don't slander me! I never said 'without protection'!"
Himeko was at a loss for words. She didn't expect Theresa to get serious about it.
Theresa fell silent for a moment, as if she felt that what Himeko said had some possibility.
That guy came and went without a trace. Sneaking into her room quietly wasn't impossible.
But she had locked it, and there were no signs of it being forced open.
There weren't even signs of it being opened at all.
The marks she left were all still intact.
"Is it possible that he saw all of this?"
After all, the other party claimed he could see the future. Then seeing Theresa's actions and knowing the password and the existence of the marks would be normal, right?
After the two analyzed it back and forth, the final suspect list only had one name.
That was Levi.
Now it could basically be declared... the one who stole Theresa's bitter melon was Levi!
"Sigh~"
After hanging up the phone, Theresa collapsed onto the sofa, looking extremely dejected.
Even her smooth face seemed to develop wrinkled lines.
In just a short moment, it felt like Theresa had aged decades.
Her eyes stared blankly ahead.
"In the end, I still couldn't keep it…"
'I can't protect anything…'
As the reward she had originally promised Levi, even though she used a small trick to make him agree not to take it...
But since he really did take it, Theresa had no way to go trouble him over it.
"..."
"Looks like I can only activate the backup hidden energy!"
Although it hurt to have it taken, Theresa had actually grown quite a lot of that type of bitter melon herself. The yield was just a bit low.
That was why she was reluctant to part with it.
But now that everything was settled, no matter how reluctant she felt, she still had to go pick a fresh one again.
———
[Luofu Ship, Divination Commission]
Herta and Ruan Mei found Fu Xuan, who was observing the Omniscient Array.
Hearing footsteps behind her, Fu Xuan turned around. Seeing it was the two of them, she showed no surprise.
"The purpose of your visit has already been informed to me by the general."
"So, where is he?"
Herta looked around. Among the nearby diviners, she didn't see Levi.
"He is not at the Divination Commission."
Fu Xuan spoke quietly, a hint of helplessness in her expression.
Today even Qingque had come to work, yet Levi was still nowhere to be seen.
Since he joined the Divination Commission a few days ago, had he ever seriously come to work?
No... rather, had he ever asked her, or anyone else, what exactly his job was?
And about asking Levi to be a guide...
Clearly Jing Yuan could have directly issued an order to assign him, yet he pushed the task onto her instead.
Just increasing her workload for nothing.
"I remember this should be Luofu's working hours, right?" Ruan Mei asked.
Fu Xuan nodded. Then she shook her head again. "You can understand it as him skipping work… the message I sent still hasn't been replied to."
Very likely, he put her into the list of people he doesn't respond to.
Right now, she didn't even know where Levi was, unless she used the Omniscient Array to divine it.
But doing that would be making a big deal out of nothing.
Suddenly, a green figure flashed through her mind, and she raised an eyebrow.
She said to Herta and Ruan Mei, "You can go find Qingque. She's a diviner under me, and she has a close relationship with Levi. They usually eat together."
They're practically sleeping together.
"For now, Levi hasn't replied to me, so I don't know his exact location. You can go ask Qingque... she definitely knows where he is."
As she spoke, she took out a token from her pocket and handed it to the two of them. Otherwise, Qingque might think they were scammers.
Offending the two of them wouldn't be good.
Of course, by "not good," she meant Qingque might end up in danger.
After all, the so-called Genius Society had another name.
The Madman Club.
There were quite a few crazy people in it.
After leaving Fu Xuan, Herta played with the token in her hand, pinching her chin.
"Why do I feel like we're being kicked around?"
"Forget it. If the next person does the same thing, I'm going to go demand an explanation from Jing Yuan!"
"..."
———
[On The Other Side, Cloudford]
Just as the Astral Express group stepped onto Luofu, Levi's voice rang out around them right on cue.
"Welcome to Luofu! My dear friends!"
Levi's figure appeared, smiling as he walked toward the three of them.
March 7th waved at him with a smile. Yang suddenly gripped the top of his cane tightly, as if even his breathing had stopped.
Stelle straightened her collar, keeping a smile on her face as she walked toward Levi.
The two of them opened their arms at the same time, as if about to embrace.
Just as they were about to make contact, Stelle raised her voice, wanting to say a few lines she had learned from TV.
"Ah! My dear friend… wait! Where are you going?!"
Levi's body turned illusory, strangely passing through Stelle's body.
This made them realize that the Levi here was only a projection.
The projection came to Yang and gave him a big hug.
"Ah, my dear friend, long time no see."