So Ling Xi decisively employed a strategy of advancing by retreating. He invited Mobius first, making her think he was just going shopping normally. That way, Mobius would probably refuse!
"Shopping?"
Mobius thought for a moment, then ultimately shook her head. "I won't be going. The concert doesn't start until eight tonight. If I leave now, I'll just be wasting seven or eight hours, so..."
Mobius smiled. "You go with your friend. I'll take a cab over before the concert starts!"
Klein had said that the friend Ling Xi invited was male, so Mobius did not think much of it. She readily let Ling Xi go shopping with his friend. After all, according to Klein's analysis, Ling Xi did not have any girls he was close to at school.
"Alright, Doctor. Then... see you tonight."
Ling Xi looked calm on the surface, but inwardly, he let out a huge sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had guessed right. Mobius would refuse his invitation because of work!
"Wait, Doctor!"
At that moment, Klein suddenly walked in. "Doctor, leave your afternoon work to me!"
Ling Xi and Mobius both turned to look at Klein, who had appeared out of nowhere!
"The Doctor's afternoon work is nothing more than monitoring experiments. It's all fairly easy work, so..."
Klein said seriously, "I can handle those tasks too. As for anything I can't handle, the Doctor can do it tomorrow. So, Doctor, go into the city and relax with Ling Xi today!"
After saying that, Klein shot Ling Xi a look as though asking for credit, her eyes seeming to say, Why aren't you thanking me?
Ling Xi: "..." I fucking thank you!
"Mm..."
Mobius rubbed her chin as she thought. Clearly, Klein's words were very persuasive. Going shopping with Ling Xi... wasn't that... a date?
"Doctor!"
Suddenly, Cangxuan burst in through the doorway as well. "Doctor, one group of the source cells you had me cultivate yesterday has changed!"
"Oh? Take me to see them!"
In an instant, Mobius's attention was drawn away. She said to Ling Xi, "Ling Xi, you go ahead. See you tonight!"
With that, Mobius directly followed Cangxuan away...
Ling Xi: "..." That was close. Seele almost killed him...
Klein: "..." What a pity. The date had almost succeeded...
Found You!
"Found you, Seele!"
At around eleven thirty in the morning, Ling Xi successfully found Seele at their meeting place.
"You finally came. I waited a whole five minutes."
Seele glanced at Ling Xi and smiled. "But it's fine. At least compared to the two hours last time, you've improved quite a bit!"
Ling Xi: "..."
"I already said that was my fault that day. Can we stop bringing it up?"
Hearing Seele bring it up again, Ling Xi could neither laugh nor cry. This girl really knew how to hold a grudge...
"Hmph, who told someone to do such a thing himself?"
Seele gave him a sly smile, clearly pleased to remind him of how he had stood her up.
"Alright, alright, enough of that. What do you want for lunch? My treat."
Ling Xi directly changed the topic. Smiling, he said, "It'll be noon soon. The restaurants will probably get crowded then, so we should head out early. We need to eat our fill so we'll have the energy to go shopping this afternoon."
"Mm..."
Seele smiled faintly, then pointed somewhere. "Then... how about roast duck? Mm... I think it's pretty good."
Ling Xi: "..." Personally, I think salted duck tastes better...
After lunch, the two began their shopping trip. However... neither of them seemed particularly familiar with Changkong City. Although Seele had been there for nearly a semester, she had not gone out shopping much.
Ling Xi had only been there for two months, and he had transmigrated there at that. On top of that, he had constantly been thinking about escaping Changkong City, so he naturally knew nothing about it. Whenever he went out... he relied entirely on navigation!
Before they knew it, they had already wandered around until evening...
"Ling Xi, want to try one?"
At dusk, while strolling down a small street, Seele suddenly picked up a mask and looked at Ling Xi with a smile.
"This mask... isn't very pretty."
Ling Xi glanced at the mask. Well, it was very Far East in style, and the colors were quite eye-catching.
"Hmph, it's part of their festival."
Seele shot Ling Xi an annoyed look and smiled. "Didn't you notice? Pretty much everyone on this street is wearing a mask. It seems to be... some kind of festival. I forgot what it's called, but wearing masks seems to be one of the traditions."
"Oh, so that's what this is."
Hearing Seele's explanation, Ling Xi curiously looked around. Sure enough, nearly everyone nearby was wearing a mask. Though he did not know why, it actually seemed rather fun!
"How about it? I'll give you one!"
Seele waved the mask in her hand with a smile. "When in Rome..."
"Sure!"
Ling Xi did not refuse. At the same time, he picked up a pink mask and smiled at Seele. "Wouldn't it be unfair if only I wore one? Shouldn't you put one on too?"
"Of course."
Seele did not refuse either. She took the mask from Ling Xi and put it on. After all... it was pretty fun!
"Boss, how much?"
After choosing their masks, Ling Xi paid directly. Although Seele had just said she would give him one, there was no way he could let her spend money on him.
Seele hesitated when she saw this, but she did not say anything.
"Seele, let's go. Let's check out what's ahead!"
After putting on his mask, Ling Xi decided to take Seele farther down the street. There were still two hours until the concert, after all!
"Coming..."
Seele nodded and hurried after him. However...
"Hmm?"
Ling Xi suddenly felt his hand being grabbed. When he turned around... it was Seele, wearing her mask!
"Um... ahem, don't misunderstand. It's not that I want to hold your hand. It's just... with everyone wearing masks, I can't recognize anyone, and I'm afraid... you'll get lost!"
Seele's voice sounded somewhat awkward. But because she was wearing a mask, he could not see her expression at all, which made Ling Xi feel a little disappointed!
"Mm, Seele's right!"
Naturally, Ling Xi was not foolish enough to expose her. Besides... what Seele said made sense. The place was full of masked people. If they got separated, it really would be hard to find each other!
Thus, Ling Xi held Seele's hand with a clear conscience, and the two continued wandering down the street together...
After that, they ate a local specialty dinner together and went to draw love fortunes. Seele had initially been unwilling and insisted that superstitious nonsense could not be trusted, but Ling Xi still dragged her there. However, in the end... when Ling Xi saw that the fortune he and Seele had drawn for their relationship was the worst possible one...
"Mm, superstitious nonsense can't be trusted!"
Ling Xi directly threw the fortune away. What was this? He might as well go draw fortunes at Yae Shrine!
Seele merely smiled at that and did not react at all!
"Seele!"
At seven thirty in the evening, Ling Xi and Seele were already waiting at the venue entrance. Ling Xi also intended to take the chance to tell Seele something. "There's something I need to tell you."
"Hmm? What is it?"
Seele looked at Ling Xi happily. She had had a great time that afternoon, so her usual cold attitude toward him had faded. After all... that was never her true personality to begin with!
"I got a message from my friend earlier. He said he managed to buy a ticket, so..."
Ling Xi looked at Seele somewhat awkwardly!
"So we have one extra ticket left!"
Seele suddenly thought of something. "Ling Xi, we can sell it! I just heard people nearby saying that premium tickets are selling for fifty thousand. Several people were fighting to buy them, so..."
Seele silently raised her right hand and lightly clenched it. "If we sell the ticket, we can make forty-one thousand! Wait... why don't we sell ours too? Then we'd have... one hundred and fifty thousand!"
Ling Xi: "..." What exactly was Seele's relationship with Cangxuan?
"Ahem, Seele, I gave that ticket to another friend."
Ling Xi coughed and interrupted Seele's ticket-selling plan. Although... he was tempted too. Selling three tickets would bring in one hundred and fifty thousand, and after deducting the cost, they could still make a net profit of one hundred and forty thousand. Damn, no wonder there were so many scalpers. With margins like that, anyone would think they were selling something illegal instead of tickets!
"Mm... another friend?"
Seele frowned slightly and looked at Ling Xi curiously. "Mm... I see. A male friend, right?"
"Uh..."
Ling Xi did not dare answer...
Seele: "..."
"Hmph, it's fine. I said I don't care!"
The smile on Seele's face instantly vanished, and she returned to her usual haughty demeanor.
Ling Xi: "..." She was way too honest...
"Seele, listen to my explanation!"
Ling Xi hurriedly grabbed Seele's hand. "She's not a male friend, but... she's only a colleague from the same workplace, understand? Just a colleague!"
Ling Xi gave a simple explanation, but he did not tell Seele Mobius's true identity. After all, Seele was just an ordinary girl!
"A colleague?"
Seele froze for a moment, then asked, "Really just a colleague? Are you sure she isn't something more to you?"
"Don't worry, she's definitely just a colleague!"
Ling Xi patted his chest and said righteously, "She and I are really just ordinary colleagues. There absolutely cannot be anything more between us!"
"So you were here!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded behind Ling Xi. Then, a green-haired woman in a dress pounced on him from behind, wrapped her arms around his neck, and giggled. "Found you, Ling Xi!"
Ling Xi: "..."
Seele: "￣へ￣"
Ordinary Colleagues and an Ordinary Junior!
"Found you, Ling Xi..."
Mobius directly leaped onto Ling Xi's back and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her face close to his in an extremely intimate manner.
Ling Xi: "???"
Caught off guard by Mobius's sudden pounce, Ling Xi instantly panicked and hurriedly glanced at Seele.
But Seele did not say anything. As for the way she looked at Ling Xi... it gradually turned cold.
"Seele, wait a moment..."
Ling Xi did not dare waste even a second. He directly carried Mobius to a corner, set her down, and asked with some frustration, "Doctor, what are you doing all of a sudden?"
"I was just teasing you. Besides..."
Mobius merely smiled, then looked toward Seele in the distance. "Is that your so-called male friend?"
"Uh..."
Ling Xi immediately looked embarrassed and explained, "Doctor, well... since my friend bought a ticket himself, I ended up with an extra one. And then I happened to run into a junior I knew before. She really likes Eden's concerts, but the tickets were too expensive for her to afford, so I invited her."
Before you continue