"Gepard said that after we beat him up that day, Clara apologized to him and promised to owe him a favor, which happened to be right here." Cocolia explained.
Stelle: ...
It seems pretty reasonable?
Crack—
While the two were chatting, the battle between the two on the side also gradually heated up. Both of their forearms began to tremble, and the table under their elbows started to emit sounds of being unable to bear the load.
Under such an intense contest, faint shadows of convictions even condensed behind the two:
The shadow behind Huaiyan was a red giant with sharp eyes and arms crossed over his chest, with a majestic headband on his head.
And standing behind Clara was a yellow-clothed bald man who looked extremely simplistic in style and utterly ordinary.
Stelle rubbed her eyes hard and said with some disbelief: "Am I seeing things? These two actually have Stands manifested behind them..."
Cocolia, on the other hand, was somewhat surprised: "What are you talking about? What's wrong with behind them?"
Stelle: "...Never mind, it's nothing."
Crack—
Before the two could decide a winner, the table used as the competition venue couldn't hold up first. With a harsh cracking sound, it shattered into pieces—
Duang!
A fragment coincidentally flew right to Stelle's forehead. The latter leaned back, couldn't maintain her balance, and her body instinctively tilted backward...
Whoosh—
Fortunately, Clara reacted quickly. In a flash, she appeared behind Stelle and grabbed the latter's slender waist, her expression impassive: "Are you alright?"
Stelle squeezed out an awkward smile: "N-No problem, thanks, Sis Clara."
"Oh? Young friend Clara actually knows the friends from the Astral Express too?" Huaiyan, seeing this scene from the side, immediately clicked his tongue in wonder. After all, even though the Astral Express roamed the universe every day, the worlds in the galaxy were as numerous as the stars—running into an acquaintance wasn't an easy thing.
"Yes, before we came to the Luofu, we had just Trailblazed Belobog." Stelle laughed: "A few days ago, when I was kidnapped by Hoolay, it was also Sis Clara who helped out. Today, I came specifically to find her, and unexpectedly, I saw the two of you actually fighting..."
"Fighting? Hahaha, you misunderstand. This old man took a liking to young friend Clara at first sight and wanted her as a disciple, but now it seems that young friend Clara's tempering of her physical body is not inferior to this old man's at all. This galaxy truly hides dragons and crouching tigers."
"This old man has tempered his physical body for two thousand years, yet unexpectedly ended up in a tie with a short-life species girl. In terms of talent, the difference between this old man and young friend Clara is like heaven and earth."
Hearing Huaiyan's repeated praises, even if Clara was ever so taciturn, she couldn't very well remain completely silent, so she could only lightly cough and say: "Thank you for the compliments, old general, but my bit of strength really isn't much. In the mix, being able to fight isn't useful—what's important is having power and backing. You're much stronger than me in that aspect."
"Oh?" Huaiyan asked in surprise: "At such a young age, you've already started mixing in the underworld? This old man thought you were a genius girl nurtured by the full power of your entire planet."
"It's not that extreme..."
At that moment, Clara's phone suddenly rang with an electronic tone: "[Hello, contestant Clara. Your first match is set to begin in ten minutes. Please arrive at the venue within the stipulated time, or you will be considered to have forfeited.]"
"Ah, the match is about to start..." Huaiyan said: "Young friend Clara, go prepare first. This old man won't delay your time. When there's a chance in the future, we'll discuss the path of body refinement properly."
Watching Huaiyan leave, Stelle immediately stopped being so reserved, and the smile on her face instantly became brilliant: "Sis Clara, I've missed you so much after such a long time. This time you've come to the Xianzhou—I, little sis, must properly host you all. If there's anything you want to know, you can ask me!"
Clara shook her head: "Thanks for your kind intentions, but I don't have anything I want to know. I'm just here for the competition."
Stelle asked: "How can that be? Doesn't Sis Clara want to eat anything?"
Clara: "I'm used to standard meals every day. Suddenly changing tastes wouldn't suit me."
Stelle thought for a moment, then asked again: "Then is there any place you want to go? Exalting Sanctum, Central Starskiff Haven, Aurum Alley..."
Clara shook her head again: "At most, they're just some bustling districts—nothing more than eating and drinking. Better to game in the room."
Stelle: ...
Stelle: "Then does Sis Clara have anything she wants to play? Flying mechanical birds, giant automaton golden people like Gundam, Emperor's Qiong Jade..."
Clara: "Aerial mechanical birds? I can fly myself; giant mechanical golden people? The sense of oppression isn't even as good as that old general just now; as for Emperor's Qiong Jade, what is that?"
"Emperor's Qiong Jade is..." Stelle paused, then helplessly sighed: "On second thought, let's forget about that one."
Having such a cute little loli (though she knew this was Sis Clara) play mahjong—Stelle felt like it might be better to just let Clara stay in the room and game.
Sigh, thinking about it this way, Clara really had a tough life. Forced to "grow up" early for survival, and thus lost the things she should enjoy at this age.
By rights, a little girl around ten years old should be running and giggling foolishly under the sun!
Sigh...
"Hey, what's with that expression?" Clara stood on tiptoe and poked Stelle's cheek, saying irritably: "What are you thinking about over there? You look all listless."
"Sis Clara..." Stelle tried to squeeze out a smile, bending down to look Clara in the eye: "After your match today is over, how about I take you around the Luofu?"
"If you want to game, I can also introduce you to a gaming buddy."
Clara was slightly stunned, her heartbeat seeming to quicken a bit. She turned her head away and said indifferently: "Sure, I'll see... I only have this one match today; it'll be over quick. Are you going to wait for me?"
"Mm-hmm, Sis Clara, I'll wait for you."
...
Meanwhile, on the other side, at the competition venue.
"People nowadays really have no sense of time."
On the stage, Scott, wearing sunglasses and holding a long staff, shook his head and said: "There are three minutes left until the match starts, and they still haven't shown up. If this were one of my employees, I'd deduct their bonus for sure!"
That's right, you didn't read it wrong—Scott was also participating in this competition. As for the reason for participating, it was very simple: there was a participation quota in the department.
Although the registration fee had to be paid out of pocket and no one wanted to go, Scott, as one of the few in the department who could handle combat, was unanimously selected by his colleagues to stand here.
Scott didn't mind too much about this. To him, so-called "colleagues" were nothing more than useless passersby in life. If he didn't seize the opportunity to utilize them, there wouldn't be a chance later, so he could accept this.
Moreover, he had his own ideas: as long as he put on an eye-catching performance on the field, he might very well be noticed by some leader or advertiser, and then... heh heh heh heh heh heh!
Whoosh—
It was at this moment that his peripheral vision suddenly caught a white shadow appearing across from him, and he immediately let out a disdainful cold laugh: Finally here?