[Stelle: Holy shit! He got out of bed!]
[Stelle: He got out of bed! He got out of bed! He got out of bed! He got out of bed!]
[Stelle: AHHHHHHH!]
[Kiana: ...]
[Elysia: ...]
[Asta: ...]
[Lumine: ...]
'Why was she acting like she'd just seen a ghost?'
"Awwooo, let me bite just once! Just once!"
"Yaaah!"
Hearing the commotion, March 7th and Mr. Yang, who were walking through the hospital corridor, both stopped in their tracks. March's eyes widened.
"That's Stelle's voice."
The hallway lights flickered nonstop, likely because they were so old.
If there hadn't been patients in the nearby rooms...
March would've thought she'd wandered into some kind of horror movie.
'No, wait!'
'Having patients around makes it even scarier!'
Staring at the eye peeking through the crack in the door, March shuddered all over, her pupils trembling.
"YAAAH!"
She screamed even louder than Stelle.
Seeing March suddenly bolt away, Mr. Yang immediately chased after her.
After running for a while, when they passed a hospital room, Mr. Yang suddenly reached out from behind and grabbed March's arm.
"Star of Eden!"
He shoved the door open, faint waves of power spreading from his cane.
Gravity…
The moment he saw Levi attacking someone, Mr. Yang's eyes instantly sharpened, his bangs lifting without wind.
"Zero Rated Power!"
Bzzzt!
Like tinnitus, all sound vanished except for his own breathing.
Everything in sight twisted and warped.
"Pseudo…"
As though sensing danger, the temperature inside Levi's body skyrocketed instantly, and clarity returned to his eyes.
He looked at the slender leg in his hand, then at Stelle's violated-looking expression, and immediately felt a chill crawl over his whole body.
He hurriedly let go, dropped to one knee beside the trash can, and started vomiting nonstop.
Seeing this, Stelle froze.
'No way!'
'What kind of attitude was that?!'
'Whether it was being taken advantage of or getting hurt, she was clearly the victim here!'
'So why was he acting like he was the one suffering?!'
'Bleurgh!'
"…Black hole!"
"Star of Eden! Zero Rated Power! Pseudo Black Hole!"
Hearing this, Levi raised his head and glanced toward Mr. Yang standing at the doorway.
After seeing the stick in his hand... And the black sphere flying toward him...
He twitched the corner of his mouth.
Then raised his hand and clenched lightly.
Flames and crimson light erupted together.
"Jizo Mitama! Slash!"
The moment the blade touched the pseudo black hole, it instantly completed its corrosion, severing its connection to the Star of Eden.
Watching the pseudo black hole split in two and vanish, Mr. Yang instinctively took several steps back.
"You've got some nerve… using a big move like that here. Trying to kill every patient in this hospital?"
Jizo Mitama pointed directly at Mr. Yang's throat.
Levi said coldly, "Members of the Astral Express, explain yourselves truthfully. What exactly is your purpose in entering the Luofu?"
Hearing Levi's words, Stelle was about to say something.
But he stopped her with a look, then continued staring coldly at Mr. Yang.
Stelle couldn't understand what Levi was thinking.
Nor could she understand what Mr. Yang was thinking.
Why had he suddenly unleashed such a powerful attack against Levi?
Levi stared icily at Mr. Yang.
'Need to get this guy locked up.'
He didn't want to deal with pseudo black holes every time he ran into Mr. Yang.
Although that level of power posed no threat to him. As long as he destroyed it before it fully formed and expanded, it was manageable.
But annoying was still annoying.
He was already too lazy to even do his job properly, let alone waste extra effort dealing with someone like Mr. Yang.
Mr. Yang removed his glasses and wiped away the dust on them.
"Sorry. I got emotional just now…"
Because of his prejudice against Herrschers.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Levi's words. It was simply that the probability was too low.
At present, the only Herrschers who retained human consciousness and stood on humanity's side were Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya.
Compared to believing Levi was a Herrscher with human awareness...
It was easier to believe he feared the Xianzhou's strength and was lying in wait for an opportunity to strike.
Combined with that bias and seeing Levi attacking Stelle earlier, Mr. Yang hadn't been able to stop himself from using Zero Rated Power.
Fortunately, because the other party was present, no major damage had occurred.
'Oh? Looks like he's become a lot friendlier toward me. But…'
"If apologies worked, why would anyone need the police?"
Levi sneered twice and put away Jizo Mitama.
At that moment, after hearing the disturbance, staff members accompanied by Cloud Knights arrived at the scene.
What he didn't expect was that the person leading them was Fu Xuan herself.
And Fu Xuan wasn't the only important figure who had arrived.
After listening to Levi recount what had happened, Fu Xuan nodded to show she understood.
She looked calmly at Mr. Yang.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Mr. Yang opened his mouth, glanced at Levi standing behind her, then shook his head.
Although Levi had concealed some things, the overall account was correct. What he said was indeed true.
Clap!
'One VIP seat reserved in Shackling Prison!'
Still utterly confused, March 7th and Stelle stood together, both staring blankly as Mr. Yang was escorted away by the Cloud Knights.
What the hell was going on? They had only just received permission from Jing Yuan, so why had Mr. Yang suddenly been arrested?
'What exactly are you doing, Levi?!'
'Without Mr. Yang, how are we supposed to capture Kafka?!'
"Simple. I'll help you catch Kafka instead."
Levi smiled faintly.
Noticing Fu Xuan's gaze turning toward him, he added, "Just kidding. At most, I can provide support. Whether you catch her or not depends on yourselves."
Fu Xuan withdrew her gaze. Before leaving, she specially reminded Levi of one thing.
"Remember to come to work tomorrow."
The door shut behind them.
Inside the room, only March 7th, Stelle, Levi, Herta, Ruan Mei, and Qingque's spirit-despite-her-absence remained.
March stared blankly as Levi pulled out a black-and-white photo of Qingque and placed it on the table.
The Qingque in the photo smiled brightly.
Yeah. Probably never imagined it'd be used for this purpose.
After setting the photo down and lighting a few sticks of incense, Levi turned toward Herta and Ruan Mei.
"What brings two important figures like you here?"
Herta withdrew her gaze from the photo.
"Looks like your boss didn't tell you about it. Or maybe you just haven't seen it yet."
The former was obviously unlikely.
Which meant it was probably the latter.
When she saw Levi freeze and reach for his jade abacus, she became almost certain it was the latter.
Not intending to wait for him to finish reading, Herta spoke directly.
"You've probably already heard my purpose for coming here, right? For the next period of time, you'll be assisting me around the Luofu in questioning Mr. Cold Feet."
After hearing Herta's words, Levi visibly relaxed.
At first, he thought she had already discovered his true identity.
He had even prepared himself to run away or destroy this puppet body of hers.
But it turned out she just wanted his help finding Mr. Cold Feet.
What reason would Levi have to refuse?
He smiled in response.
"No problem, Miss Herta."
After replying to Herta, Levi shifted his gaze toward the downcast Ruan Mei beside her.
"Then what about you, Miss Ruan Mei? What brings you here?"
Hearing the question, Ruan Mei's face remained expressionless, but the look in her eyes seemed conflicted.
Herta walked several steps to the side, turned around, and watched her with great interest.
Ruan Mei's thin lips slowly moved.
"Insult me…"
"..."
"Huh?"