The Shadow Queen, Qingque

In the hotel, March 7th suddenly seemed to sense something and stood up at once.

Ouyang watched March 7th suddenly rise in the middle of a meal. Even Stelle, who was holding a bowl and getting food nearby, was so startled that she nearly dropped it.

"What's wrong?"

"Uncle Yang, it's nothing. I just don't know why, but I feel like someone's stealing my things."

"Right, Durandal, do you have an account with the Interastral Peace Corporation? Let's add each other. That way, it'll be easier to contact you when you go out."

"I do. My username is Dominating Moon Sea Fish Fish Cat."

"Is that so? How cute. All right, I've added you. Accept it."

Kiana was incredibly glad that, in a world where everyone used their real names and only a minority used nicknames, her contact username was Dominating Moon Sea Fish Fish Cat.

Otherwise, her identity would probably have been exposed right then.

Fu Xuan had vaguely begun treating her like a younger sister, and perhaps even thinking of her as her successor. If her identity were exposed, Fu Xuan might even become corrupted.

Fu Xuan seemed to have something urgent to deal with and had to leave the house. Her original plan to take Kiana out to buy clothes was forced to end.

"You stay here and don't wander around. I'll go deal with a few matters and be right back. If anything urgent comes up, message me directly."

With that, Fu Xuan left the house.

Only then did Kiana have a chance to sort out her current situation.

First were the belongings she had on her.

One phone.

She had taken it out at the time because she was playing games with Silver Wolf.

Even so, without Ling, Kiana would never have experienced what it felt like to be unable to take a single step without money.

Next was the mask. She had taken it out along with the snacks and then forgotten to put it away, but it wasn't useful anyway.

The rest consisted of a pile of snacks at Kafka's temporary residence and a set of clothes provided by Silver Wolf as a favor.

"Ugh, next time I'll have to see if the company sells any storage tools and buy a couple. I can't have something like this happen again."

When Kiana opened her phone, she discovered that, besides having one more friend, she had also received a message from an unfamiliar account.

She didn't even need to open it to know that the person was definitely Silver Wolf.

Hacker Whose Feelings Were Deceived: "Fine, fine, so it's candy, huh? A sweet and happy school life, huh? Just you wait, you white-haired brat! How dare you deceive my feelings!"

The rest consisted of various compliments directed at Kiana.

Kiana awkwardly wiped the nonexistent sweat from her forehead.

Then she opened the door, ignored Fu Xuan's parting instructions, and walked out onto the streets of Xianzhou Luofu.

She didn't know whether the threads of fate were guiding Kiana.

Or perhaps Kiana had awakened some strange talent for getting lost.

Kiana had originally planned to stroll around the streets, see whether Little Gui and Sushang were still performing, and drop by Kafka's temporary residence to see whether she was still there.

But as she walked, Kiana began to feel that the scenery around her was somewhat off.

"Huh? Where is this?"

There weren't many people nearby, only a few hurried pedestrians. Before Kiana had time to ask for directions, they had already brushed past her and left.

"Never mind. It's still morning. I'll keep wandering around for now. If that doesn't work, I'll call for help."

She hadn't expected to get lost in less than an hour. She even needed to call Fu Xuan for help. Kiana was beginning to suspect that Aha was behind it again.

Meanwhile, at the Star Skiff docks, a beautiful Fox Clan woman walked along the streets of the Luofu.

For some reason, she suddenly couldn't help sneezing.

"Achoo!"

"How strange. Where did that interesting person run off to? Why can't I find her either?"

The people around her were drawn to her beautiful appearance and unique aura.

Several young men and women from the Fox Clan even saw this unfamiliar member of their clan and wanted to approach her.

However, when the Fox Clan woman continued forward toward the nearest Star Skiff, they stopped in their tracks.

"Strange. What was I about to do?"

Kiana stared at the familiar figure ahead. Although she had only checked her phone a short while ago, she still couldn't resist taking it out and checking the time again.

"Bam!"

Kiana knew that Qing Que was very good at slacking off, but she had only just started work, hadn't she?

Why was Qing Que so bold today? She had only been on the job for a short while, yet she had already run out to play alone.

The people playing against Qing Que were not the three figures from yesterday.

Although two of them had youthful faces, the air of age surrounding them made it clear that their ages differed from their appearances.

Kiana had never seen the third person before, but from the looks of it, she seemed to be from the Divination Department as well.

And a newcomer at that.

Her eyes occasionally swept over the surroundings. It seemed that this was her first day slacking off, and Qing Que had brought her out.

"Senior Qing Que, weren't we supposed to come out here for work? Why did we suddenly start playing mahjong?"

"Chow!"

Qing Que pulled a one bamboo tile in front of herself and spoke to the newcomer with the air of an experienced veteran.

"Ah, this is actually part of the job. The Supreme Diviner told us to investigate today, but she never said when. Rather than wandering around outside and wasting time, we might as well ask some old hands for clues."

"Little Qing Que, what kind of thing is that to say? What do you mean, old hands? We're just bored and like wandering around nearby. Besides, we already answered your questions. You were the one who got itchy to play and dragged us here."

"No way. This is all to gather intelligence. I spent a great deal of time gathering intelligence."

The two elders exchanged glances and sighed.

Sigh...

Shadow Queen Qing Que

Kiana approached the pavilion where the group was gathered.

However, this time, her approach was noticed.

Qing Que's colleague wasn't paying any attention to the mahjong game. She was terrified of running into the Supreme Diviner in the wild.

As it turned out, she didn't see the Supreme Diviner. Instead, she saw a beautifully sculpted little girl walking toward them.

She was somewhat flustered, worried that the Supreme Diviner might catch her and give her a harsh scolding.

But when she saw Kiana approaching, she assumed that Little Kiana had come over to play or was the junior of one of Qing Que's two fellow players.

"Click!"

The sound of a shutter caught Qing Que's attention.

When Qing Que turned around to see who had taken the picture, cold sweat instantly broke out across her back.

"Th-this isn't your sister Durandal, is it? I'm doing this for work, for the investigation! I'm sacrificing my own time to find clues! I'm really not playing mahjong. Please don't tell the Supreme Diviner!"

Qing Que couldn't be bothered with the game anymore. She immediately covered her tiles and looked around.

Only after confirming that the familiar figure was nowhere to be seen did she let out a long sigh of relief.

But when she remembered the shutter sound from moments ago, her heart leaped back into her throat.

"Of course turning on the shutter sound was the right choice. If I had simply taken the picture secretly and sent it to Fu Xuan, or used it to blackmail Qing Que, how could I have seen this expression? How interesting!"

Without realizing it, Kiana seemed to be walking farther and farther down the path of elation.

Because she was practicing elation, Kiana's physical constitution had slowly improved despite Aha suppressing it.

However, she was having too much fun to notice the subtle changes in her body.

She merely revealed a sweet smile and looked at Qing Que.

The smile was clearly sweet. Although Kiana's appearance suggested that she was still young, she nevertheless possessed a unique charm.

She looked just like a cute little angel.

But in Qing Que's eyes, the person before her was no angel.

Qing Que even seemed to see a pair of little horns growing from her head, along with a tail behind her.

Even the sunlight spilling over Kiana's fair skin became streaks of blood-red light in Qing Que's eyes.

A pair of little demon wings also appeared behind Kiana.

"Lady Durandal, please spare this lowly one."

Behind her, Qing Que's colleague was so shocked by that sentence that her jaw nearly dropped.

She had only recently joined and didn't know many people.

After hearing Qing Que's words, she imagined Kiana as one of her superiors. As for why she looked so small—

This was the Xianzhou, after all.

Judging people by appearances was a major taboo!

There were even unofficial histories claiming that the Dragon Lord of the Vidyadhara was a little girl.

There were also rumors that the general of the Luofu was a young woman who had used a magical artifact to change her appearance into her current form.

Who cared whether unofficial history was true? It was enough that it was wild.

Qing Que's sudden reaction startled Kiana as well.

Even Kiana, who was gradually developing the traits of someone who enjoyed causing trouble, couldn't help taking two steps back when Qing Que suddenly acted like that.

She looked as though she had been frightened, instinctively clutching the corner of her clothes and keeping a safe distance from Qing Que.

This appearance made it seem as though Kiana were an innocent little girl being threatened by the great demon Qing Que.

At least, that was how it looked to anyone who didn't know the circumstances.

Fortunately, the three people nearby had witnessed everything from beginning to end.

Even so, when they saw the pitiful Little Kiana trembling slightly, they still couldn't help feeling sympathy for her.

However, with Qing Que's ability to read people's expressions, she could be certain.

This little creature before her looked delicate and weak, as though she could be pushed over with one finger, but this appearance was completely fake.

If she hadn't joined the Divination Department and become a civil servant, then with the superb acting skills she displayed whenever Fu Xuan caught her slacking off, Qing Que would definitely have had a place among the next generation of Galaxy stars.

"Ah, the weather's so hot. Little girl, are you thirsty too? Big Sister will go buy you something to drink."

After throwing out that line, Qing Que vanished in a flash.

Only her colleague remained where she was.

The other two players watched Qing Que leave, tidied up the tiles on the table, and chose to depart as well.

"Um... well..."

Looking at the timid newcomer from the Divination Department, Kiana didn't actually feel like teasing her.

As for whether Qing Que would simply run away and never return, given her small brain and the fact that Kiana now had leverage over her slacking, she wouldn't run away for good.

What was more, the person holding that leverage wasn't an outsider. It was Little Kiana, who slept in the same bed as Fu Xuan.

Not long after, Qing Que returned with four drinks.

"This one's yours. Try it quickly. It won't taste good once the ice melts."

Kiana accepted the Star Taro Bobo Qing Que handed her, inserted the straw, and took a small sip.

She found that it tasted quite good. It wasn't as awful as the rumors claimed. No wonder Fu Xuan liked it.