"Ah, that's the only way, then. I'll buy the beer and barbecue, and you go order the custom pizza. Once we meet up later, I'll drive you to Exusiai's place."
"Nope."
Shi Lei raised his index finger and shook it as he explained:
"The religion I believe in regards money as the root of all evil, so I never carry any on me."
It was Croissant's first time hearing such a thing, and she looked slightly surprised.
"What about the three hundred thousand or so you got for helping the Lungmen Guard Department wipe out that illegal organization last time? You didn't collect it?"
"Nope. I leave all my money with Texas for safekeeping. You can ask her about ordering the pizza."
"Fine..."
After all, it was his faith, so Croissant had nothing more to say. In the end, it was still her fault. If her motorcycle hadn't been stolen, there wouldn't have been so much trouble.
She drove Shi Lei back to Penguin Logistics, then hurried off to buy beer and other supplies. Croissant did not contact Texas; she could handle these things herself.
So what if she had to chip in some money? She was the one who had messed things up.
After returning to the company, Shi Lei did not hurry upstairs. He turned and headed for the public library first to claim his guaranteed 2 points of Roleplay Value. He could have a grudge against anyone, but not against Roleplay Value.
At four-thirty in the afternoon, Shi Lei returned to the company. Exusiai and Texas sat at their workstations in the office area, timing things perfectly as they waited to clock out at five.
Only then did he realize the problem.
According to the original plan, he and Texas would invite Exusiai out for drinks and a party. They would drag things out until midnight, then head home just in time to give her the motorcycle and sing her birthday song.
But now the motorcycle was gone, and the plan had changed to beer, barbecue, and pizza. If they ate once that evening and then again at midnight, would they even be able to eat?
Shi Lei quickly sent Texas a message about the stolen motorcycle and the change of plans, asking her what they should do.
Not long after, he received her reply:
"Eat something after work, but don't eat too much. Then take her to a shooting range and the cinema. That should kill plenty of time."
Right, movies were great for killing time.
They were always ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes long. If they wanted to drag things out until midnight, this was the only way.
With the plan settled, Shi Lei invited Exusiai to dinner after they clocked out at five. To make it seem less abrupt, he invited Texas too.
Exusiai readily agreed. The difference between eating out and eating at home was that she did not have to wash dishes.
Shi Lei picked a hotpot restaurant. He chewed every bite slowly and carefully, doing his utmost to stall for time.
By the time they finished eating, it was six-thirty. Texas then took them to the shooting range. Exusiai was not particularly interested, easily scoring perfect tens with every shot. Still, since the two of them wanted to play, she did not say much.
It was already seven-thirty when they left the shooting range, and there was still a long time until midnight. Shi Lei said there was a very popular movie out recently and insisted on dragging Exusiai along to watch it.
Since she had nothing better to do and Texas was with them, she agreed. They picked an eight o'clock showing of "The Legend of the Heavenly Silkworm."
By the time the movie ended at ten, Shi Lei suggested watching another one. At last, Exusiai caught on.
"Hehe, be honest. Are you two hiding something from me?"
"Nothing like that. I just wanted to watch a movie. It's not too much to watch two when we've come all this way, right?"
Seeing that he would not admit it, Exusiai shifted her gaze to Texas. But Texas was as expressionless as always, and there was no way to read anything from her face.
"It's not too much. Just don't disappoint me later. If you want to watch another one, then let's watch another one."
Oh no, it felt like she had figured it out.
But Shi Lei had no other choice. He could only grit his teeth and keep acting. They picked a ten-fifteen showing, which would end just in time for midnight.
Once the screening ended, everyone left the theater.
Seeing that Shi Lei kept following her with no intention of saying goodbye and returning to the company, Exusiai finally understood completely. It was only her birthday; there was no need to make such a big fuss. What mattered most was that everyone could be happy every day.
Yet when she returned to the residential complex and saw the motorcycle downstairs covered in her stickers, Exusiai still cried out in surprise and delight.
"Aaaaaah! It's actually the newest model! I love it!"
Shi Lei and Texas looked at each other, unsure what to say. Hadn't it been stolen and impossible to recover?
Croissant, who had just come downstairs, was utterly dumbfounded to see that the motorcycle had somehow returned.
Another Round
"Who gave me this birthday gift?"
"I love it!!!"
Exusiai sat on the motorcycle, stroking it back and forth as if she could not bear to let go, then turned her gaze toward Texas.
Seeing Texas's expressionless face, it probably was not her.
Zhongli? He did not know she liked this, did he?
Even if he had heard about it from their coworkers in private, he should not have known this particular model.
Exusiai looked away from the two of them, raised a hand to point at Croissant coming down the stairs, and smiled.
"You bought it, right? Thank you!"
Croissant was a little dazed. She had no idea when the motorcycle had been returned. Even if the Rat King had found it in the Slums, it should not have been delivered here.
For Messengers like them, who easily made enemies, exposing where they lived was often quite dangerous.
Still, the motorcycle had been recovered. Looking at the result, that was a good thing.
Exusiai stepped forward and gave Croissant a huge hug, repeatedly thanking her. Seeing Croissant standing stiffly at the stairwell entrance, the smile in Exusiai's eyes deepened.
"Hehe, is there another surprise? Hurry, let me see!"
Without waiting for anyone to stop her, Exusiai eagerly ran upstairs. The door was not closed, so she saw everything at a glance.
At the sight of cases of beer piled across the floor, a table full of barbecue, and an enormous pizza, she was like a monkey seeing bananas, letting out a delighted cry at the sight of food she loved.
"Whoa, you even prepared all this stuff for a party! I'm so happy~"
After Exusiai rushed upstairs, the other three followed her up the stairs. Along the way, Shi Lei asked:
"What happened? Didn't you say it was stolen?"
"I have no idea." Croissant spread her hands helplessly. "I figured the motorcycle was gone, so I had to make the rest of it nicer for her. Then I came downstairs and found the motorcycle back. I was wondering about it too."
The urgent matter was the birthday party. They could only roll with it and not dwell on how the motorcycle had returned.
Texas and Exusiai shared an apartment, and Croissant had the former's key, so she could come and go freely. Penguin Logistics actually had employee dormitories, but after some special incidents occurred, everyone began living separately.
Just after midnight, Exusiai's phone rang.
"Exusiai, happy birthday!"
It was a call from Miss Kong, made especially to offer birthday wishes. Although she was not an official Penguin Logistics employee, she got along extremely well with the Messengers.
"Thanks, thanks! Are you free tonight? Want to come to my place for a party? We've got tons of food."
"No, I have an event tomorrow morning."
Perhaps the trouble with being an idol was being unable to arrange one's time as freely as one wished.
"What a shame. When you're done being busy some other day, we'll make up for it with another party."
"Sure, we'll talk about it then."
After hanging up, Exusiai rolled up her sleeves, opened a bottle of beer, and patted the sofa beside her.
"Come on, sit down. Tonight, we're going to have a blast!"
Croissant had come over earlier that day to help clean the apartment, and she was now sitting in an armchair with no desire to get up.
"You should park the motorcycle first, before someone else who wants it steals it."
"No worries. The complex has surveillance cameras. Who would steal a motorcycle here? Besides, if anyone dared steal the gift you gave me, I'd chase them all the way to the Far North Land to get it back."
Though she said that, she obediently got up anyway and headed downstairs with a grin to park the motorcycle.
Shi Lei had eaten dinner shortly after five that day. After the shooting range and two movies, he was already starving.
But today was Exusiai's birthday, so he needed to wait for the birthday girl to start eating before he did. Shi Lei did not know whether Terra had such a custom, but he would respect it on his own initiative.
In the same residential complex, on the rooftop.
Mostima stood by the railing, watching the happy smile on Exusiai's face through the window. It was as if she had been infected by that happiness, and she wore an affectionate, almost motherly smile as well.
"Have you seen enough?"
Fiamma had no interest in Exusiai's birthday gathering. She was merely dissatisfied with Mostima lingering on the rooftop for so long like a peeping voyeur.
"Look at that. What a warm scene. Can't you wait a little longer? You're so short-tempered."
The red-haired Liberi snorted, clearly impatient.
"Warm? I don't think you're someone who clings to warmth. Sometimes you're even more heartless than any of us imagine, as if you do not care about loss at all."
Mostima continued watching the lively birthday party through the window, never taking her eyes off it.
"If I cared, what could I do? Things that have already been lost cannot return. If they can return, then they were never truly lost. They were only gone for a while."
"So you were willing to violate the commandments? And bear alone a secret that even the Pope refuses to discuss?"
At the mention of that matter, Mostima finally reluctantly withdrew her gaze and looked at the red-haired Liberi before her.
"I'm not the tragic, lone hero you think I am. The reason I haven't said anything is simply that there is no point even if most people know. If you're that interested, I can tell you the truth."
Fiamma curled her lip and refused outright.
"No need. If even those old fogies won't let me know, that means it isn't time for me to know yet."
Mostima shrugged slightly and turned back toward the window downstairs. The look in her eyes seemed to say, You're the one who doesn't want to hear it. It's not that I'm unwilling to tell you.
Croissant and Texas were familiar faces.
That man... she had never seen him before.
They were not sitting particularly close together. He was probably a new friend Xiao Le had made?
As if she sensed someone's gaze, Mostima quickly stepped back.
Seeing Exusiai lean toward the window and peer outside as though searching for something, Croissant looked out too and asked:
"What's wrong?"
She looked toward the rooftop of the residential building across from them, but there was no one within her field of vision.
"Nothing. Maybe I saw wrong. Forget it, come on. Tonight, drink big and eat big! There's all the pizza you can eat, so let's get wild!"
Shi Lei was chewing slowly when he looked up and said:
"You don't even have music here. How are we supposed to get wild? And playing music in the middle of the night would probably disturb the neighbors. How about we move to the Safe House for another round?"
"Good idea. That's what I was thinking too."
The group immediately got to work, packing up the remaining beer, barbecue, and pizza and loading them onto Croissant's pickup truck.
Exusiai wanted to take the opportunity to show off her motorcycle, but Croissant stopped her. The company was not far away, so there was no need to ride it. Otherwise, she might end up riding into a ditch on the way home.
Exusiai was still willing to listen to advice. Everyone went to the Safe House for the second round, only returning home very late.
When Shi Lei woke up, it was already noon. He looked at the clock on the wall and sprang upright as if he had springs in his butt. Without even having time for breakfast or lunch, he hurried upstairs to clock in for work.
But Exusiai, Texas, and Croissant had not come in, making him look rather silly sitting alone in the office area.
Still, it felt great.
That Ass Is Pretty Perky
A brand-new employee uniform lay quietly on the workstation. Its overall color scheme was black and white, with exquisite workmanship and a tailored fit. Perhaps to make fighting easier, the pant legs and cuffs were designed to be fairly loose. The Penguin Logistics logo was embroidered on the left shoulder.
Before you continue