At the same time, Rita also spotted Liu Bai and Yelan.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Rita."
"I'm the one who troubled you, Ms. Yelan."
Rita exchanged a few pleasantries with Yelan before turning her gaze toward Liu Bai.
"My apologies for having someone arrange this meeting. I truly haven't been able to spare the time myself."
"It's because of work, isn't it?"
Liu Bai could roughly guess why Rita was here.
It was nothing more than protecting Kiana.
But why would she rather protect Kiana on World Serpent territory than move somewhere else?
Was this some kind of game between World Serpent and Schicksal?
"You guessed correctly." Rita smiled and nodded. "But I can set that aside for the time being."
She had no desire to watch over Kiana all day.
She wasn't Kiana's aunt, so why should she keep an eye on her like some temporary guardian whose job was eating, drinking, and having fun?
Even if Rita admitted she had a thing for cute girls, this was still too much.
Spending a day with Theresa would be fine, but Kiana... forget it.
She was completely outside Rita's strike zone.
So Rita decided she would not be accompanying her.
She was going on a date... no, gathering intelligence.
"Still, I didn't expect you to accept an invitation from a strange woman you'd only met once."
Rita revealed a faintly questioning expression.
She was very curious about why Liu Bai had accepted the invitation.
If it were her, she probably would not have accepted an invitation from someone who had not even shown up in person.
No matter how she looked at it, it was somewhat suspicious.
"It was precisely because it was such an unexpected invitation that I came."
Liu Bai's answer made Yelan inwardly cheer.
The implication was that he also wanted to know why a woman he had only met once had asked him out.
It was a little like passing the buck, but the logic was sound, and... it was direct enough.
He got straight to the point without making it feel abrupt.
"I see..." Rita rested her chin on her hand, looking thoughtful. Then her expression turned serious as she spoke to Liu Bai. "Since you are being so frank, I will not beat around the bush either—Mr. Liu Bai, have you noticed that your sister may be involved in illegal activities?"
Oh... straight to the point. Yelan watched from the side as though enjoying a show.
From a third-party perspective, watching these two try to deceive each other was genuinely entertaining.
But in this situation, the first person to speak has already fallen into a disadvantage... Of course, it still depends on how Liu Bai handles it.
In Yelan's own judgment, Liu Bai's debating skills and thinking ability might both surpass Rita's.
Rita's strength lay in being more proactive and more imposing.
Liu Bai was not particularly skilled at overwhelming people with sheer momentum.
"Huh... illegal activities?"
A surprised expression appeared on Liu Bai's face.
"Um... Miss Rita, that joke really isn't funny."
Rita continued smiling as she watched Liu Bai.
"...It seems it isn't a joke. But what evidence do you have, Miss Rita?" Liu Bai seemed to be trying to find a flaw in Rita's expression, but found nothing.
Oh no. It's over.
Yelan pulled over a small chair, sat on it backward, and leaned over its backrest, watching with great enjoyment.
The moment Liu Bai said that, before Rita could even react, Yelan knew it was over. He was definitely going to be toyed with by this man.
"Have you truly noticed nothing at all?" Rita asked in return.
She had not actually had much contact with "Serpent." She had wanted to buy information from Yelan, but Yelan had refused to sell it.
"This..."
Liu Bai showed a pensive expression.
"Indeed... my sister has always left early and returned late these past few years. She keeps buying all kinds of gloomy-looking black clothes, sometimes doesn't come home until one or two in the morning, always washes clothes in the middle of the night, and the money at home keeps increasing..."
Rita: "..."
Wait! Weren't those signs way too obvious?
It was practically spelling it out!
The smile on Rita's face stiffened slightly.
She had thought Liu Bai had noticed some subtle clue. Was "Serpent" really that sloppy in how she handled things?
Could it be that her usual persona was that of a "ditzy older sister"?
Ah... after doing all that, it would be stranger if Liu Bai had not noticed, wouldn't it?
Had her judgment been wrong...?
"Thinking about it carefully, it really does seem suspicious." Liu Bai was still analyzing it with great seriousness.
"Uh... yes, it does require careful thought." Rita's inner complaints disrupted her rhythm. "In any case, it is wonderful that you, Mr. Liu Bai, can recognize this issue."
"I'm joking."
"Huh?" Rita froze.
"I was joking just now—after all, that was far too obvious, wasn't it? Only my sister thinks she hid it well." Liu Bai's words slightly soothed Rita's frazzled mood. "Let's get straight to the point, Miss Rita."
Seizing the emotional shift to take the initiative? Not a bad tactic...
Yelan watched and learned. Although she did not take the path of negotiation, the higher one's disguise, the more eloquence it required.
Disguising herself as an ordinary person such as an angler or hiker was no challenge for her. She only needed to learn through daily life, and the relevant skills, such as climbing mountains or fishing, were easy enough to practice.
But when it came to more high-end disguises, Yelan had few opportunities to learn. Advanced skills often had many different forms of expression.
Ningguang's negotiating methods, for instance, differed from anyone present.
This kid is really good at lying with a straight face!
He looked so honest, but when he started spinning nonsense, he was nearly her match.
"I've known for a long time that, in a sense, my sister and I are no longer in the same 'world.'"
"Mm... y-yes." Why did the atmosphere suddenly feel a little passionate?
Rita found it rather strange.
"Her world level... ahem, I mean, what she is doing now is definitely dangerous, and I'm afraid it isn't moral either."
"That's right. What your sister is doing can hardly be called moral."
"But how can I be sure that you, Miss Rita, are on the moral side?"
Liu Bai abruptly changed the direction of the conversation and questioned her in return.
"Even if I have some doubts about my sister, she is still more trustworthy than a strange woman I've only met twice, isn't she?"
Oh... the tables have turned.
"Proof of morality... You have truly given me a difficult problem, sir."
Rita looked slightly troubled, but she was not as flustered as before.
At least Liu Bai had now proven that his intelligence met her expectations... perhaps a little too well.
All the lines she had prepared to fool him were now useless.
"...Please take this."
Rita took out a silver-white wristband.
"This is a wristband our organization provides to external personnel. Its technology is two generations ahead of the one on your wrist."
"Miss Rita, what do you mean by this?" Liu Bai frowned.
"The meaning is simple. No matter how much I explain, they would only be empty words. Mr. Liu Bai, would you like to learn about the 'world' your sister currently inhabits?"
Rita extended the wristband and issued Liu Bai an invitation.
She was supposed to be the interviewer, yet now she looked as though she were handing out a quest.
Ah... it's over. There's no saving this.
Yelan rocked the chair like a mischievous child, balancing it on one leg.
If this were dating, Rita would have already let him get into her pants. What little lamb? He's obviously the big bad wolf.
This guy might actually suit Ningguang's tastes.
No, from the perspective of chess pieces, Ningguang disliked things she could not control.
Mm-hm... In any case, Yelan was increasingly looking forward to Rita's expression once the truth was revealed.
Still... this matter was not quite so certain.
Yelan took out two dice and played with them. Men and women pairing up, a man luring away a woman or a woman luring away a man—neither would be surprising, especially when they were both attractive and single...
What was more, Liu Bai and Raven were siblings my ass. They had known each other for only two days and had no emotional foundation at all. If Rita performed well enough, she might really lure him away.
Mm-hm~ Luring people away...
No one noticed Yelan's thoughts.
Liu Bai looked at Rita's wristband. After a moment of silence, he showed an expression of resolve and spoke lines worthy of a shonen protagonist:
"In that case, show me, Miss Rita."
Successfully joined Schicksal. Current position: Undying Blade External Assistant (Promotion requirements: Unknown) Current Schicksal Favorability: 0
So I'm serving three masters now... no, I'm a servant of three surnames now?
Isn't this progressing a little too fast?
World Serpent and Schicksal double agent Liu Bai has arrived!
"I'll take a look... Ah, I found the nearest Honkai outbreak point." Rita operated her wristband, and a map of the entire Sky Dome Zone appeared on it.
Several purple points of light, varying in size, were scattered around the edges of the map.
"Ms. Yelan."
"Got it. Let's go. I'll drive. And while we're on the way, you can explain the state of the world to Liu Bai."
Yelan was looking after Liu Bai in her own way.
World Serpent had definitely provided Liu Bai with information, but Yelan would never believe it contained no biased material.
Likewise, Rita would definitely slip her own bias into the intelligence as well.
One biased report was frightening, but two did not matter.
By comparing them slightly, he could roughly determine what was true.
Before you continue