The Golden Courtyard's Big Case

Hua was a bit surprised when she saw Cosmo looking dejected. She initially thought Li Ming had done something to him, but after learning the reason, she couldn't quite comment on it.

After dinner, the atmosphere had eased up, and the group began asking Chrono how he planned to prepare for the banquet.

"Brother Chrono, what do you need us to prepare?"

"Annoying."

"Chrono, we need to know these things."

"..."

"Brother Chrono, speak nicely, or I'll tell Mom Apponia!"

"That annoying woman... Fine!"

Chrono hid his face behind his bowl. "I've already prepared the ingredients, but with only me, it won't be enough for the banquet in three days, so I need to borrow your strength."

"Chrono, be polite. Say 'please'!" Hua stated that they shouldn't corrupt the children.

"Alright, so I need you to please let me borrow your strength."

The four of them exchanged glances. How to put it... this was so typical of Chrono.

Li Ming couldn't help but laugh. "Kid, what are you laughing at?"

"I just think Chrono is actually very gentle."

"Kid, are you looking for death?!"

Despite his harsh words, Chrono didn't make a move. Instead, he cleaned up the bowls on the table, his face hidden behind a tall stack of them.

The four of them chuckled, then went their separate ways to do their own things.

Meanwhile, Li Ming had some issues with the design of the cat mascot costume and wanted to consult Griseo's opinion. After that, Li Ming and Cosmo sat in front of the PSP and started playing games. What, Griseo? Don't know her.

Then, an angry Griseo ran up to Li Ming.

However, as it got late, Hua urged the three of them to go to sleep.

The next morning, the four of them got up and started helping Chrono prepare things. Many desserts needed to be fermented in advance.

Li Ming, Cosmo, and Griseo weren't very good at cooking, but Li Ming and Cosmo had the strength! Griseo helped out on the side, for example, when shaping the desserts, she, as the lead stylist, took charge.

After a whole day of work, from morning till night, Li Ming witnessed Chrono's various methods of hiding his face throughout the day – cabbage, cream, flour...

For the first time, Li Ming clearly perceived how stubborn the NPC settings in the Elysian Realm were.

He asked Cosmo and Griseo, and as expected, they had never seen Chrono's true face either.

Li Ming then stopped doubting the Elysian Realm. Only the system's settings could explain why Chrono's face was always hidden – because the system hadn't modeled it.

After a day of hard work, Li Ming learned some new dishes, such as the "Alolan Ninetales Buns" and a series of "Magical Girl Sweetheart Pies."

Li Ming really couldn't imagine how they would be able to eat these things once they were made!

Although the finished products looked good, good-looking things were like mushrooms; the brighter they were, the more problematic they could be.

In any case, Li Ming, Hua, and Chrono unanimously agreed that it was best not to eat them.

The cake bases and other items were left to ferment and would be ready for production the next day.

Li Ming's mascot costume project also progressed rapidly under Griseo's guidance as the lead stylist. The body part was quickly finished, but Li Ming hadn't decided on the stuffing yet.

However, because they were helping Chrono, Li Ming unusually didn't get dragged to morning training by Hua today. Li Ming actually felt a bit eager to try something out, as he had a new Imprint and wanted to test its effects. But avoiding a beating was a beating avoided.

It could only be said that he was quite cheap.

Even so, Li Ming was still happy. After all, experimenting with Imprints wasn't urgent; there would always be opportunities. Avoiding a beating was a beating avoided. Getting beaten more wouldn't let him eat more bowls of rice, and he wasn't an M.

Wait, it seemed like getting beaten more would let him eat more bowls of rice.

Getting beaten more = more energy expenditure = hunger = eating more bowls of rice.

Getting beaten less = getting beaten more - getting beaten less = a few bowls of rice.

So, the final formula generated was: getting beaten more = eating more bowls of rice.

Yeah, he must have a broken brain to think like this.

Sleep, sleep. Everyone will be here tomorrow, and he could finally meet Pardo, Eden, and our cutest, most adorable beautiful girl, Elysia.

The next morning, while Li Ming was still dreaming of playing games with the cute and invincible beautiful girl, Hua suddenly appeared and hit him with a Rising Dragon Fist, scaring him awake.

Then he realized Hua was knocking on his door. Li Ming felt like he always woke up from nightmares because of Hua. Was this some kind of Fu Hua sensor?

However, Hua was here to call Li Ming for morning training. Because they were too busy yesterday, they skipped morning training. Today, Hua got up even earlier to make up for the missed session.

"Ming, wake up. Martial arts practice should not be neglected." Hua, wearing a training uniform, looked at Li Ming.

"Okay, okay, okay!" There was no choice. Li Ming got up, grabbed a random tracksuit from the closet, and changed. Why were there clothes in the closet? Li Ming attributed it to the system's power.

Come on, if there's a system, wouldn't there be a one-click outfit change and built-in skins?

When they reached the courtyard, Chrono had worked late yesterday and was still asleep. But he would surely wake up immediately when it was time to make breakfast.

Cosmo and Griseo were at the age where they could sleep in during their vacation. Plus, the workload yesterday was immense, especially shaping a whole company of Alolan Ninetales Buns and Magical Girls. Being exhausted was understandable.

Hua looked at Li Ming, striking a stance. "You have mastered the Six Forms of White Tiger Listening to the Wind, and you apply Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds very skillfully. However, your grasp of Inch Punch: Thunderbolt is still not thorough enough."

"So today, I'm mainly going to demonstrate the use of Inch Punch: Thunderbolt, along with its variations and subsequent developments."

Hua struck a stance, Vermillion Bird Treading Clouds, her body sinking slightly. She lunged forward in a bow stance, her hand erupting with power. Her body shot forward, the force hidden but potent, creating a faint yellow glow as she moved through the air.

"Inch Punch: Mountain Collapse!"

Even though Hua stopped herself in time, Li Ming could feel the immense power radiating from her body.

The gale force from her charge flattened the grass in the courtyard, and then Hua twisted, leaping into the air. Her fist swung down with immense power, shaking the entire small courtyard. Where Hua landed, a large pit immediately appeared.

This display didn't just startle Li Ming; it woke up everyone in the Golden Courtyard. Li Ming looked into the pit and saw that the ground beneath the courtyard had been hollowed out at some point. Peering inside, he discovered it was filled with many broken pieces of furniture, like microwaves, refrigerators, ovens, and so on.

What was strange was that most of the furniture seemed to have been deliberately dismantled. Li Ming was curious about who had quietly dug a huge hole in the Golden Courtyard. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"What are you doing, so early in the morning?"

"What happened? What's going on?"

"Whoa, Cosmo, Brother Li Ming, I'm scared!"

The commotion had naturally terrified them. When they came downstairs, they discovered the problem.

"What is this useless thing now?" Chrono, after finishing breakfast, stood by the pit with his hands on his hips, contemplating the amount of work it would take to fill it. He ultimately decided to deal with today's banquet first, as it was the backyard and not usually frequented.

Meanwhile, Hua, Li Ming, and Cosmo struggled to move the items out of the pit. They examined the marks and labels on them.

Hua rested her chin on her hand, looking puzzled. "These look like Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3 units that Mobius had Klein make. They were working fine before, and then they suddenly disappeared one by one. The Model 3s vanished overnight, without any surveillance footage. Mobius thought they were stolen, so the newly made Klein Model units were equipped with tracking systems. I heard Klein had to work 24-hour shifts to add that tracking system."

"Mhm, Grandma Mobius was very angry then and said she'd make sure whoever was responsible would go work overtime with Klein," Griseo said, wearing slippers and steadying a machine. Her pink outfit and hat looked familiar to Li Ming. Wait, this looked like the same one Cosmo wore yesterday. Hmph, I caught you, Cosmo. How do you deny wearing women's clothes now!

"Furniture machines falling victim to foul play, discovered buried in the backyard early this morning. Is this the downfall of morality, or the distortion of humanity? It seems this case has fallen into the hands of the great detective, Cosmo! What do you say, Doctor Griseo?"

Cosmo held a magnifying glass, examining each piece of furniture inside and out. Suddenly, he felt a chill, as if something was watching him.

Griseo had changed out of her magical girl outfit at some point and was now wearing a doctor's white coat, which, being originally thigh-length, looked like a dress on her.

"Detective Cosmo, I believe there's more to this than meets the eye."

"Mhm, I think so too."

Griseo's encouragement clearly pleased Cosmo. The two of them immediately got to work, unfazed by the dirt on the furniture machines.

Li Ming hesitated for a moment before picking up the two of them, preventing them from causing further damage to the scene.

"Hua, could you please fill in this pit for now? We don't want anyone falling in again. I'll go help Chrono with Cosmo and Griseo."

"Okay, you guys go ahead. I'll be right there."

With that, Hua directly took boards from the basement storage to cover the pit. Then, using a shovel, she began filling it with dirt, scoop by scoop. To make it look nicer, Hua even arranged the haphazardly placed furniture robots around the mound of earth in the center.

It took nearly half an hour to arrange everything neatly. It felt a bit strange, though. If a few flowers were planted on the mound of earth in the middle, it might look more harmonious.

Hua wiped the sweat from her forehead, looking at the mound of earth with a sense of accomplishment. Before she could rest, Li Ming's voice came from inside the house.

"Chrono, Hua, hurry and help! The steamer is going to explode!"

Before Hua could even move, a loud bang came from the kitchen, and black smoke billowed out of the window. Several dark objects flew out of the house. Hua squinted, trying to make them out, but couldn't identify them.

"What is that?"