Qingque, unable to control her body, was filled with fear.
Even if Levi went and reported her under his real name, based on her usual personality and behavior, Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan would never believe she had such thoughts.
A slacker famous throughout the Luofu Xianzhou wanting the Ambrosial Arbor? She'd have to be crazy.
Besides, with Levi acting as both the person filing the report and the witness...
Leaving aside whether that would work or not, a single witness wasn't enough to send her in.
After all, she had only thought about it in her head.
She had never told anyone.
Without a second witness, even if she wanted to get locked up, she couldn't.
A real shame.
But...
Turning herself in was different.
As long as what she said was true, and that route really could achieve the goal of stealing the Ambrosial Arbor's fruit, she might actually get locked up.
Even though she hadn't done anything yet.
If she turned herself in now, she'd probably just get criticized and educated, maybe spend a little time inside at most.
But if someone actually did it later...
Within the Luofu, she'd be the first suspect.
'Don't do this on a new account!'
In the end, Qingque waved the white flag and begged Levi not to mess around.
Levi didn't reply immediately. He slowly walked to an open area, raised his head, and looked at the distant Ambrosial Arbor.
Then he muttered to himself, "This doesn't seem like something the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus did."
With that small figure, if the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus could recruit someone like that, Levi would eat on the spot.
"Feels kinda like a tax evader. Could it be one of the Elation followers looking for fun~"
Levi joked half-seriously before speaking to Qingque.
"What were you saying just now?"
'...'
'Nothing.'
Levi, who had been about to head straight to the Alchemy Commission, suddenly stopped.
Something had happened at the Ambrosial Arbor in the distance.
———
[Scalegorge Waterscape]
On the platform, a petite figure stood at the edge, looking out at the waters of the ancient sea covering the Scalegorge Waterscape.
A red toy hammer stood beside her feet.
It even looked inflatable.
Behind her lay numerous masked members of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, sprawled all over the ground.
Every one of them had a huge bump on the back of their head.
Clearly, they had been ambushed from behind and taken out before they could react.
Psssh...
The toy hammer made a leaking sound and, in the blink of an eye, shrank into a thin sheet.
The girl didn't care. She lowered the hand she had been using to shade her eyes and looked down at the round object in her other hand.
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
"Hey hey hey~ Here we go~"
After making a strange sound, she raised both hands overhead and dove into the water with perfect form.
Bang!
"Oww~"
The calm surface suddenly froze.
And it just happened to freeze exactly where she entered the water.
The girl cried out in pain.
Faint laughter could be heard from around her.
She looked around resentfully and complained, "I did all the dirty work and hard work, and you're still tripping me up here. Just wait."
Sparkle held grudges.
'Adding this to the little notebook!'
———
[Alchemy Commission]
The Astral Express trio, still searching for the Stellaron, arrived by the ancient sea.
Leaning against the railing, they looked at the Ambrosial Arbor that seemed close enough to touch.
At the moment, they had no clues about the Stellaron.
Finding a tiny Stellaron in a place as large as the Luofu was no easy task.
Welt removed his glasses and wiped the dust off them. Hearing movement beside him, he turned his head.
"So you just sold me out like that?!"
"Just because you got upset?!"
March 7th's roar was deafening.
It was rare to hear her voice this loud.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
Stelle covered her ears with a pained expression.
March 7th panted heavily, her fierce eyes fixed on Stelle.
No wonder this idiot had suddenly dared to make a promise like "you can do whatever you want with me."
Turns out she planned to use that promise to sell her to someone else.
And the reason was ridiculous.
She was trying to compete with somebody.
What if that person had been some interstellar slave trader? How were you supposed to compete with that?
'You'd end up dragging the entire Express crew into it!'
Seeing March 7th's chest rising and falling, Stelle immediately dropped to her knees and admitted her mistake, hugging March 7th's leg tightly.
"March! I've wronged you!"
Before she could howl twice, a pair of large eyes entered her view.
Bailu, who had been watching the show from the side, suddenly leaned closer and blinked.
"So what you're saying is... you sold me too just now?"
Stelle, "..."
Talking big feels great, regretting it later doesn't.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Ah!"
Bailu rolled up her sleeves.
"Do you know this is a serious crime?!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Awooo~"
Bailu wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"If other people found out, you'd be thrown into prison!"
Looking at Bailu's raised little fists, Stelle shrank toward March 7th in terror.
"I was wrong, I was wrong, I was wrong! I was wrong!"
Bailu took one step forward, and Stelle immediately retreated the same distance.
Seeing this, Bailu nodded in satisfaction and looked at March 7th.
"Cured. If you ever have this kind of need again, just come to me. Free of charge!"
March 7th gave a thumbs-up.
"A miracle doctor!"
Lying flat on the ground, Stelle looked up at the sky above.
She wondered how Lumine, her fellow sufferer, was doing right now.
She really wanted to see her getting beaten up.
"Achoo..."
Lumine, hanging upside down from a tree, sneezed and looked toward the campfire ahead, where two people were eating grilled fish.
"Hey! Let me down! I know I was wrong!"
The swaying figure, combined with the shouting, was extremely eye-catching by the roadside.
Watching Lumine even use the Anemo element to spin herself around, Paimon wiped the grease from the corner of her mouth.
"She says she knows she was wrong!"
"Paimon, don't be in such a hurry."
Focused on grilling fish, Xiangling wiped the sweat from her face with the back of her hand.
"Hanging upside down makes blood rush to the brain. It helps with reflecting on mistakes... We'll let her down at lunchtime."
"Here, this skewer is done. Give it a try."
"Yay!"
Crack!
In the end, the branch couldn't support Lumine's weight and snapped.
Bound up tightly, Lumine wriggled forward until she reached the two of them.
Just as both of them were wondering what she was going to do...
Lumine stretched out her neck.
And swallowed the grilled fish Xiangling was handing to Paimon in one bite.
Looking at the grilled fish that had vanished in a single bite, leaving only the bare skewer, Paimon's mouth fell open.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
"That was my grilled fish!"
Sure enough, this girl hadn't reflected at all.
After realizing this, Paimon didn't even need Xiangling's help.
She personally hung Lumine back up in the tree.
Seeing the expression on Paimon's face when she returned, Xiangling was a little startled.
"P-Paimon..."
"It's fine."
Paimon gently landed on the ground and stared straight at the campfire.
Right now, she was frighteningly calm.
———
Meanwhile...
Across the Xianzhou Luofu, an invisible wave spread through all the various realms.
Immediately afterward, the ground beneath everyone's feet began to tremble slightly.
Welt stopped what he was doing, put his glasses back on, and looked toward the Ambrosial Arbor ahead.
Stelle leaned against the railing and tilted her head backward, looking through the gap and seeing the lush, flourishing Ambrosial Arbor.
'Was this thing... originally supposed to look like that?'
March 7th's mouth hung slightly open.
"The tree... came back to life..."
Stelle froze.
'Came back to life? Came back to life!'
"The dead tree came back to life?!"
"Ow! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
"..."
[T/N: If you are liking the novel so far, considering leaving a review, power stone and comment below the chapter. You can also join the p@treon to support if you want. Enjoy~ Have a great day.]