The conversation with Siegfried thus ended on a sour note. Of course, before that, Fuli, who was in the right, took the opportunity to give him a good beating.
Opportunities to justifiably pummel an S-rank were rare. While it seemed he had the upper hand when "bullying" the Death Knight before, that was mostly because his opponent was being overly cooperative.
「S-rank?」 Prometheus asked in surprise.
「Yup,」 Fuli said.
Siegfried's ability to hide his power was top-notch; he had even managed to deceive a master like Fu Hua with various tricks.
Only his eyes couldn't lie. The way he occasionally looked at Kiana was exactly the same as how Fuli's own parents looked at him.
The little AI nodded, then asked, 「Host, are you not going to expose his identity?」
「No need. He has his reasons for hiding his identity and joining the team. If I expose him, it won't be good for either of us.」
Besides, if he exposed him, what reason would Fuli have to beat him up? He'd be lucky not to get beaten up in return.
And it had to be said, as expected of an S-rank, he felt great to punch.
At that moment, in another room, Siegfried was also grimacing as he pieced things together:
Wait a minute! That kid didn't hold back at all when he was hitting me. He went all out with his exceptional A-rank strength.
If it were an ordinary person, he would have been beaten into a QR code. Considering Fuli isn't a bloodthirsty person, then he must have already seen through my real identity!
Siegfried wasn't worried that Fuli would expose his disguise. Since the other party chose to remind him in this way, it proved that he had no hostility for the time being.
「So his memories related to Schicksal and Honkai before the age of eight were blurred, which is why he doesn't know why his parents disappeared...」
「Or has he vaguely sensed something, but is holding back because of Kiana?」
The man clutched his aching back and sucked in a breath of cold air again.
In the blink of an eye, the group had spent another two days at the Kanas scenic area.
During this time, although Fu Hua was still feeling awkward, she couldn't resist Dr. MEI's urging and continued to share a bed with her non-blood-related little cousin.
That's how it is when you take advantage of a gentleman's principles. An honest person like Hua deserved to be held at gunpoint by Fuli's... big gun.
Unfortunately, while there were many instances of brandishing the gun, it had yet to go off.
It wasn't that the hot-blooded Fuli didn't want to. It was that every time he couldn't control himself and wanted to ask Fu Hua, "Shall we test the sharpness of my treasured sword?", a fist carrying a gust of wind would appear between his eyes, lovingly "caressing" his forehead.
An immortal caresses my head, an inch-force cracks open my skull. You think this is a joke?
With one punch, an oncoming hundred-ton truck would be reduced to a cloud of dust.
The steel coils that were a terror on the internet were nothing more than small dumbbells in her eyes.
Dr. MEI was particularly unwilling to accept this.
「Host! Tonight is the last chance. If all else fails, we'll drug her first, then force ourselves on her!」
On the morning of July 8th, as Fuli was brushing his teeth, the beautiful woman's resounding call echoed in his ears.
「Forget it, forget it. A melon plucked before it's ripe isn't sweet.」
「But it quenches your thirst! I've even prepared a plan for you. Just do this and this, and then that and that, and the mere Hua will definitely surrender to the host's PL-15 missile!」
「It's not like I'm dying of thirst right now.」
The boy's feelings for his cousin were mainly respect. 'Cousin Hua is a woman who could be my mother!'
The recent... arousal was mainly because they were sleeping together all the time, and his body was just slightly leaning forward to show respect.
Think about it. Hua was already insecure due to a certain "deficiency" in her body. If Fuli didn't show any reaction, how hurt would she be?
「I don't think Hua is insecure at all.」
Prometheus rolled her eyes. She was just slender, not completely flat. Such a beautiful, classic Chinese-style beauty, what had they turned her into?
Then she saw Fuli and Dr. MEI both look at her, their gazes slowly moving down to her unremarkable chest, their faces filled with pity.
「Misery loves company.」
「Speaking up for your own kind is the same as speaking up for yourself, right?」
As she said this, Dr. MEI deliberately puffed out her majestic peaks.
The massive objects under her white shirt surged like angry waves, and along with her stylish black striped stockings, they exuded an overwhelmingly strong presence.
「You bastards!!!」
Click!
Fuli quickly cut off the connection with them before the little AI could go berserk, wiped his face, and went downstairs.
A moment later, he was driving his fishing RV to the lakeside.
The rain outside the window wove a translucent curtain. Thousands of silver pearls fell into the ink-jade-like lake, the splashes blooming into crowns, then forming interlocking ripples.
The distant mountains were shrouded in a thick fog, the once clear outlines of the pine forest gradually blurring, turning into a faint ink wash on rice paper.
Due to the drizzling rain, the place was deserted except for Fuli himself.
So he naturally drove the car to the center of the lake, swung the fishing rod transformed from the Sword of Shadows into the water, and leisurely took out a grill pan. He cracked a few eggs and bacon on it, took out some iced lemon water from the car fridge, and stared at the water's surface with a nonchalant air while sipping his drink.
Time passed leisurely, and the rain grew heavier.
The sound of it tapping on the RV's roof changed from a soft whisper to the clatter of jade beads on a plate, occasionally mixed with the light sizzle of bacon grease popping on the grill. The two sounds intertwined in the air, creating a strange warmth.
Rain beat on the lake like a drum, wind strummed the pines like a zither. A lone boat in a car, in the vastness of the world, was like a reflection in a mirror of an inverted sea of clouds.
Until the bobber, rising and falling with the waves, sank slightly.
"Hmm?"
His scattered gaze suddenly focused. Fuli seized the opportunity at the last second and lifted his fishing rod with lightning speed.
The feeling of excessive force told him the reality of being in the "air force." The whitefish used as bait on the hook was gone, meaning something had indeed bitten, and he hadn't just snagged another piece of a person from the bottom of the lake like before.
The boy stood up and looked around, and sure enough, he saw a silver flash leap out of the depths of the rain. The raindrops shattered by the big fish's tail fin formed a fleeting rainbow bridge in the air before it quickly disappeared into the foaming deep.
Judging by the ripples on the water, it was swimming towards the fishing RV floating in the lake.
"Oh? It's not running away, but approaching me instead?"
Fuli wasn't one to get angry at a fish. He calmly baited his hook and cast the line back into the lake.
Soon, the white shadow underwater swam around the RV.
With a crisp sound of breaking water, it boldly poked its head out.
"Eh?"
Catching a glimpse of its appearance, the boy was startled.
"Is this thing a fish? Why does it look a bit like a dolphin?"
It had a streamlined, grayish-blue body about 1.5 meters long, and its scale-less skin looked very smooth. Its blunt, round head was like a water-soaked pottery jar, and its short, broad snout was curved like a natural crescent moon, making it look like it was always smiling.
This was the first time Fuli had seen such a strange creature in Kanas Lake. The fishermen hadn't mentioned this.
He put down his fishing rod and leaned over to get a closer look at the chubby porpoise.
Sploosh!
He got a facial... tragic.
The dolphin-like fish broke the surface, shook its round head, sending raindrops flying, and suddenly puffed its cheeks.
Sploosh— Another jet of water shot straight at Fuli's face, the cold, fishy lake water drenching him.
Seeing that it had hit its target twice, it slapped its tail on the water, spun around, and dived away, leaving only a trail of gurgling, mocking bubbles in the ripples.
"Arrogant! So arrogant! This is intolerable!"
Fuli was furious on the spot. It was one thing to be in the "air force" for another day, but to be mocked by a mere stinky fish!
"Sword, come!"
The Sword of Shadows materialized from the void and transformed into a dense net, covering the water. The "porpoise" swimming freely in the lake suddenly bumped into an extremely soft wall.
The net quickly tightened under Fuli's control, and soon, the "porpoise" was unceremoniously tossed into a bucket.
"Let's go! I'll make a meal out of you when we get back to the hotel!"
He filled the bucket with water to keep it fresh until it was time to kill it. The boy turned the steering wheel and drove back to the city in a huff.
Meanwhile, on the first floor of the hotel.
The girls gathered together, looking at each other.
Seven days in a row with no results. The others were one thing, but at least the enthusiastic Kiana was getting restless.
Not to mention the baby at the next table was crying and fussing, even though no one had stolen her snacks or novels, nor had anyone banned her seventy-six game accounts.
"Let's try to see it from their perspective. It's not easy for anyone," Fu Hua sighed and nodded with an apologetic smile at the woman opposite her.
Hearing this, Kiana stood up, ran over to them, picked up the baby, and lay down in the stroller herself.
"You lied, Class Monitor," she pouted. "I'm still annoyed even though I'm sitting in the stroller."
Is that what "see it from their perspective" means?!! The girl was dumbfounded.
The little baby in Kiana's arms, however, stopped crying. She giggled and reached out her small hand, grabbing the white-haired big sister's hair and refusing to let go.
"The white-hair fetish gene in Shenzhou people has awakened," Bronya said with a confident tone, her inorganic eyes turning to Fu Hua. "Class Monitor, do you have any leads on this?"
"I am merely the successor of the Phoenix." The latter immediately drew a line. What do you mean, the reason everyone in Shenzhou has a white-hair fetish is because of the Phoenix?
If I don't admit it, it's not true!
A moment later, Kiana, who had been playing with the baby, returned in a good mood.
She had even brought back three cups of milk tea, a gift from the baby's mother.
Bronya, holding her cup, commented, "To think she didn't break the stroller. Made in China is really top quality."
"I'm not fat!" Kiana glared at her, then had a sudden idea and placed the milk tea on her chest.
Thanks to the nutritious diet on the Hyperion for four months, her peaks, which had reached the peak of a C-cup and were only half a step away from a D-cup, held it up without much effort.
The girl glanced triumphantly at the other two, her beautiful eyes conveying a "Can you do this? Can you?" challenge, her long eyelashes seeming to speak.
"Guh!"
Bronya was in the same predicament as Prometheus. Not to be outdone, she gritted her teeth and used her Water Dragon's Chant ability to control the liquid in the milk tea, making the cup float up to her chest, where she took a sip.
"Hmph!"
Kiana was delighted to see this. One used talent, the other used a tool. The difference was clear.
Seeing the ducky about to overheat, she turned her gaze to Fu Hua.
She was startled.
"It actually worked?"
As mentioned before, Hua was just reserved, not flat.
With a little bit of technique, she could still do the same thing as Kiana.
After doing this, she secretly sighed. Hanging around young people for too long really does affect your mentality. She would never have fallen for such a simple provocation in the past.
However, just as the girl was about to free the milk tea, the hotel door was suddenly pushed open.
Fuli strode into the lobby, carrying the bucket with the water pig.
His eyes lit up when he saw Fu Hua, and he exclaimed with heartfelt admiration, "Cousin, your internal energy is so strong!"
Fu Hua froze, looked down, and saw the cup still on her chest.
It did indeed look like it was being held afloat by an invisible force field.
A mortal's careful planning is no match for a genius's flash of inspiration.
"Heh, hehe..." The girl looked up, her smile cracking.
"Come here, cousin," she beckoned, her voice as gentle as a spring breeze. "Let me give you a BUFF."
Her gaze shifted, and Kiana and Bronya's faces turned red.
This time, it wasn't from overheating, but from trying to hold back their laughter.
Oh, God of Laughter, please, please don't let me laugh out loud, or Class Monitor will definitely kill me!
"Okay!"
Fuli, completely unaware of the approaching crisis, started walking towards her.
As he walked, he said, "Today was a full-load return! This water pig behind me must be at least two hundred pounds. Let's have a feast tonight!"
"Feast my ass!!!"
A panicked male voice rang out, and Dr. Zhou rushed over with a speed that didn't match his sixty-something-year-old appearance.
He had been chatting with Auntie Wang at the counter just a moment ago. When he casually glanced at the "water pig" on Fuli's back and the familiar shape entered his eyes, he was so scared his heart almost stopped.
"That's a Yangtze finless porpoise! A national first-class protected animal! Where did you get it?"
"Nani? A jail-time beast?!"
Fuli turned his head in shock and locked eyes with the porpoise in the bucket.
Sploosh!
He got another facial.
But this time, he didn't dare to slap it.
Not only did he not slap it, but he also had to thank it for not killing him.
To bow first and then be respectful, the thought is laughable!
Seeing that the situation was not good, Bronya quickly raised her hand.
"Project Bunny, release memory-erasing smoke."
Gray smoke filled the lobby, erasing a period of memory from everyone present.
When they came to, the Kanas action team had all gathered in Dr. Zhou's room.
With Fuli and his prize cornered, Bronya was the first to ask:
"Onii-chan, are you saying you caught this in Kanas Lake?"
"Ah, well, you could say that." Fuli's eyes darted around, too embarrassed to admit that he had used a net.
"This isn't right. It's not right in every sense of the word," Fu Hua said, stroking her chin.
"Why?" Kiana's eyes were clear and stupid, obviously untouched by knowledge.
"In Shenzhou, the total number of finless porpoises is just over a thousand, and most of them are distributed in the main stream of the Yangtze River, Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, and other protected areas—but that's not the point!" Dr. Zhou, who was already working in environmental protection, slammed his hand on the table. "The point is that finless porpoises need to live in a water temperature of 10-28°C, which is in temperate and subtropical rivers. Kanas Lake is in the cold temperate zone, and the water temperature is below 0°C for a long time!"
"In other words," Fu Hua took over, "if it weren't for the fact that the water temperature in Kanas Lake is around 15°C in July, this little guy would never have had the chance to be brought up by you. It would have quickly faced a life-threatening situation."
"Did you hear that? You almost died."
Fuli, selectively ignoring his cousin's "brought up," patted the porpoise's head.
This time, it didn't spray water, but narrowed its eyes and made a cute sound.
His reaction was relatively rational. Dr. Zhou, who had spent his life in environmental protection, had already started cursing.
And he was cursing up a storm, clearly genuinely concerned about the porpoise's situation.
"I don't think that's the point," Bronya waved her hand to interrupt. "The point is why a finless porpoise that should be living in the Yangtze River basin appeared in Kanas Lake, and why it was 'caught' by Onii-chan."
Her gaze swept over everyone present. "The question that extends from this is whether its appearance is related to the Kanas Lake Saint we have been searching for, and in what way."
In an instant, the teenagers and young adults all perked up.
They had already done their best and had a clear conscience during the mission.
However, they were all sixteen or seventeen years old, and their competitive spirit made them unwilling to fail just like that.
Fuli thought for a moment, then took out a small figurine and a notebook.
"Then let's give it a try, shall we? Let's see where this little guy came from."
He waved the two items in his hand, a corner of his mouth curling up.