At the moment, as long as they could find the Stellaron and seal it away,
the crisis on the Luofu could finally come to a satisfactory end.
[Ding dong!]
[Levi: @Stelle, I forgot to ask yesterday. How did you and Jingliu meet?]
[Stelle: We met over tea.]
Seeing Stelle's reply, Levi looked completely unconvinced.
'You could meet someone that powerful just by drinking tea?'
If that were true, then he practically lived inside Sleepless Earl drinking tea every day.
He'd soak himself in tea flavor before finally coming back out.
[Stelle: Nobody believes the truth these days.]
After casually lamenting the decline of humanity, Stelle started explaining in the group how she met Jingliu.
In simple terms, it went like this.
She secretly watched the two of them spar, got jealous of Jingliu's swordsmanship and wanted to become her disciple, and then Jingliu agreed.
Very straightforward.
Originally, Stelle thought Jingliu would refuse.
Or even if she agreed, it definitely wouldn't be that easy. At the very least, she expected to pay some kind of price.
But the moment the words left her mouth, Jingliu immediately accepted her request.
Two seconds of silence passed.
[Levi: Do you have Jingliu's contact info?]
[Stelle: Thanks, but no. She didn't give it to me.]
[Stelle: Also, she promised to teach me, then ran off herself.]
Stelle didn't really hold any resentment over it. She hadn't actually expected the other party to seriously teach her anyway.
Then a gust of wind blew past.
Stelle, who had been walking at the very back, suddenly vanished without a trace.
A small patch of melting ice crystals appeared where she had been standing moments earlier.
[Stelle: !!!]
After sending three exclamation marks, Stelle stopped talking.
The only one left speaking in the group was Bronya, endlessly reminding Kiana to be careful of future enemies.
Kiana's head was about to split from listening to it.
'Who even understands all this stuff?!'
Levi closed the group chat.
What came into view were the two villas he had arranged for Herta and Ruan Mei.
"You're here."
Whether intentional or not, Ruan Mei was already sitting outside early in the morning, holding a book in both hands.
When she saw Levi arrive, she greeted him lightly.
Then she rose from her chair.
Levi glanced at the small bare feet exposed beneath her clothes and nearly couldn't look away. It wasn't until their owner started moving that he finally snapped out of it.
He pulled himself free from the deadly temptation.
Wearing a completely serious expression, he said, "Good morning, Ms. Ruan Mei. I came under Ms. Herta's instructions. Please forgive any offense."
Ruan Mei nodded and looked toward the villa where Herta was staying.
"There was an urgent matter at the space station that required her to return and handle it, so she asked me to wait here and inform you."
An urgent matter at the space station?
After hearing Ruan Mei's explanation, Levi felt puzzled.
The Herta Space Station should've been perfectly safe after Stelle and the others left.
Aside from that one incident where Duke Inferno of the Ever-Flame Mansion invaded the station, there hadn't been any other danger.
He didn't know exactly when the invasion happened. 'Could it be today?'
No, that didn't make sense. If something serious enough to alarm Herta had happened at the station today, Asta definitely would've mentioned it in the group chat.
But ever since briefly showing up after waking up,
Asta hadn't sent another message at all.
Maybe this was just the true reality of being a working employee.
What a joke. She didn't even have time to send messages, at most she could only look at them.
"So in other words, the other matter…"
Levi suddenly thought of the dark story scenario he had prepared, and his expression nearly broke.
If Herta really had imported that thing into the Simulated Universe and started running it, there was no way to imagine what might happen.
Ruan Mei keenly noticed the change in his expression, though she didn't pay it much mind. She simply gestured for him to find somewhere to sit.
Following her instructions, Levi sat on the only nearby chair.
The scent of plum blossoms drifting from Ruan Mei reached his nose.
Rustle!
She turned a page in the book in her hands, though her attention clearly wasn't on the words.
As if casually, she asked, "When will my backpack finish being inspected?"
"Hm? What backpack?"
"You don't know?"
Levi stared at Ruan Mei in complete confusion. Seeing this, she set down her book, a trace of puzzlement appearing on her face.
"Last night, a man came here saying he was acting under your instructions. He took away mine and Herta's backpacks for a safety inspection."
'My instructions?'
'When the hell did I arrange that?!'
"You gave them to him?"
Ruan Mei nodded lightly.
"Herta gave hers too?"
Ruan Mei nodded again.
Levi slowly lowered his head, both hands gradually covering his entire face as he sat there in silence.
Never thought there'd come a day when someone would use his name to scam people...
And the victims were two 'geniuses' from the Genius Society.
'No seriously!'
'This is actually ridiculous!'
'You two are world-famous geniuses. How did you end up getting scammed?'
"There wasn't anything valuable inside, right?"
Ruan Mei nodded once more.
Whew~ As long as there wasn't anything valuable, then even if they couldn't recover it later, he could still afford to compensate them.
Just as Levi let out a sigh of relief, Ruan Mei spoke again.
"There wasn't anything valuable by ordinary standards, but there was one item that's very important to me."
The purple energy collected yesterday from those monsters.
Bang!
Levi instantly shot to his feet, not even caring that the chair behind him toppled over.
"You!"
Just as the next words were about to leave his mouth, Levi sharply noticed the curtains in Herta's villa had opened, and he met Ruan Mei's eyes.
Realizing something, he slammed on the brakes and immediately changed his words.
"What a genius!"
'Why genius?'
"Our Master Diviner at the Divination Commission also wanted to study that thing, but because she's an idiot, she forgot to collect any samples."
"But Ms. Ruan Mei truly is a genius. You actually gathered the stuff and even preserved it properly."
Looking at him, Ruan Mei continued, "Not perfectly. If someone removes it, the energy inside will most likely dissipate immediately."
"..."
The corner of Levi's mouth twitched slightly. If he hadn't already seen through Ruan Mei's plan, if he didn't know she was most likely lying to him, he genuinely would've started cursing.
That thing was so dangerous, and she still dared to hand it over to someone casually.
Looking at Ruan Mei's beautiful face, he had almost fallen for her trap just now. Just a little bit more and he would've walked right into it.
If his reaction had been any slower...
Levi straightened his posture, his expression stern.
"Please rest assured, Ms. Ruan Mei. I'll immediately report this matter to the General. I believe the person who scammed you and Ms. Herta out of your backpacks will be caught very soon."
The plan had failed.
Ruan Mei stared at Levi's serious expression for a long while before a faint look of regret appeared on her lovely face.
A hastily improvised plan really was full of flaws.
Even after drugging him, he still reacted in time.
Maybe she really should consider increasing the dosage...
At that moment, Herta walked out and stopped Levi, who had already taken out his jade abacus to contact Jing Yuan.
"Ruan Mei was just messing with you. Someone did come yesterday, but all they took was a specially made restraint device."
"At this point, Jing Yuan has probably already found the guy and arrested him."
After hearing Herta's explanation, Levi silently put away his jade abacus.
Herta and Ruan Mei exchanged a glance. Levi's expression earlier had clearly looked like he wanted to curse at someone.
Both of them had been looking forward to it.
But unexpectedly, he actually held it back.
No wonder he called himself a gentleman.
His self-control was incredible.
"Now I kind of want to hear him curse at you too."
Herta's competitive spirit had been stirred up. Looking at Levi, whom she had sent off to clean the rooms, she licked her lips lightly.
Standing beside her, Ruan Mei said nothing and merely watched Levi silently.
———
[Some Time Later]
[Ding dong!]
Wearing an apron and helping Ruan Mei make pastries, Levi wiped the sweat from his forehead and opened the group chat.
[Stelle: @Levi, save me! Someone's trying to kill me!]
"All sword techniques originate from the fundamentals, thrusting, slashing, pointing, lifting, provoking... The martial art most suited to you is never someone else's technique, but the one you comprehend yourself through real combat and through life-and-death situations."
"A martial art that belongs to you alone."
"..."
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