Interlude I: Guest Returns to Bai'an

As a renowned music and tourism city, Bai'an City attracts a steady stream of visitors throughout the year. As the only transportation hub connecting it to the outside world, the Landship Port naturally sees a constant flow of people.

A Landship from Heavenly City arrived and docked five minutes ago. A dense crowd poured out of the Landship, rushing towards the inspection area, afraid that if they were a step late, they would be at the end of the line.

Of course, there are also some travelers who are not in a hurry, taking their time with the mindset that there's no point in rushing. A woman wearing sunglasses was one such example; she was empty-handed and carrying no luggage, strolling leisurely at the back of the crowd.

"Hey, look over there, doesn't that girl look familiar?"

In the waiting hall, a couple who were chatting glanced at the crowd coming out of the Landship. The woman, with her sharp eyes, pointed to the end of the crowd and spoke.

"Who?" The man belatedly looked in the direction the woman had indicated.

"That girl, the one wearing sunglasses, the really tall one!"

The woman patted his hand. "Don't you think she looks a lot like that famous singer... the one your friend really likes, the one from Eastern Isles!"

"Eastern Isles... It's not like I like it, how would I know anything about this?"

"Even if you don't like her, you should know. She's a big star who's on TV every day. I remember her name is... Mari?"

The woman spoke while thinking, then quickly added urgently, "Ah, it's turned a corner! It's out of sight!"

"I already said I don't know, and I can't see it either."

The man searched through the crowd for a while but still couldn't make out who the woman was talking about. He could only helplessly reassure her, "Okay, okay, if you didn't see her, you didn't see her. Anyway, she can't be prettier than you."

The woman, who had been somewhat disappointed, immediately perked up. "Oh, I love hearing that! Say a few more words?"

The young couple instantly returned to their sweet, intimate atmosphere.

Similar incidents continued to occur in the harbor, and many people also noticed the seemingly ordinary woman in sunglasses. However, most people could not determine the woman's identity through her sunglasses; they just felt that she looked somewhat familiar.

The woman in sunglasses walked out of the port with ease and got into a car that had been waiting outside the port. The car immediately started and sped off towards the Bai'an City.

Finally, the woman arrived in the old town by car and got off in a hurry in front of an old music store. She turned back and waved lightly at the driver's seat before striding into the music store.

Inside the music store, behind the counter, a girl with light blonde curly hair was fast asleep, her head resting on the table.

Seeing this, the woman smiled with a hint of indulgence, stepped forward, and gently patted the girl's cheek.

Her movement woke the girl, who looked at the woman with sleepy eyes. Seemingly because the newcomer's identity was somewhat special, she paused slightly, carefully observing her for a moment before asking with some doubt:

"Sister Mu Tonghao? Why are you here?"

The name "Wooden Chrysanthemum" made the woman, who had been smiling, raise an eyebrow, raise her hand, and slap the girl's exposed forehead. "How dare you address someone like that?"

"Ouch!" The girl was jolted awake by the slap. "Why did you hit me?!"

"I've told you so many times, haven't I? Even if you can't call me 'Teacher' properly, you should at least call me 'Margaret' or 'Sister Yuan Xiang'." The woman wearing sunglasses said seriously, circling her finger.

"But isn't Margaret just 'Chrysanthemum Greens'...? The Kingdom clearly gave you the codename 'Chrysanthemum Greens,' didn't it?"

"That sounds too old-fashioned. A title like 'Margaret' would better reflect my brilliance and beauty, wouldn't it?"

Removing her sunglasses, the woman revealed her eyes. "Come, my dear disciple, I'll give you a chance to change how you address me."

What's quite surprising is that the woman, who exudes a mature and aloof aura when wearing sunglasses, suddenly reveals a girlish innocence when she takes them off: her youthful and beautiful appearance makes her seem no older than the blonde girl at the counter, and her pair of crimson eyes are captivating.

"How cheesy!"

However, the girl behind the counter showed Margaret absolutely no respect. "What exactly are you here for?!"

"Why would I come back? Isn't it because of what's going on here? I heard that my hometown is about to be destroyed, so I had to come back and see, right?" Margaret said, crossing her arms.

"Hometown? Mu... Sister Yuan Xiang, aren't you from that Kingdom?" the blonde girl asked dryly.

"Where there is music, there is my hometown!"

Margaret was easily exposed, but without any embarrassment, she replied, "So why are you the only one in the music store? Where are Lantern and the others?"

"They went out on patrol."

"Patrol? Then why are you staying here?"

"I'm in charge of guarding the house..."

The blonde girl fiddled with her fingers, somewhat guiltily saying, "To prevent problems from arising in the old town."

"Real?"

"... Because I got into trouble outside and arrested the wrong person when I was arresting bad guys, I'm currently being grounded by Sister Lantern," the blonde girl murmured.

"You really do enjoy causing trouble as much as ever," Margaret said with a refreshing smile.

"Ugh." The blonde girl pouted in frustration.

"Fine, if it's just you, that's fine too. But do you know what happened in Bai'an City before?"

"Nothing happened before, right?"

The blonde girl pondered for a moment and said, "It's just that Sister Lantern was missing for a few days, but everyone came back in the end."

"This is not what you call 'nothing'."

Margaret spoke up to correct her, "What happened to the Lantern? What did she do?"

"Have no idea."

The blonde girl shook her head blankly. "She only said that she got lost in the Nest of the Aberrant Beast, was delayed for a few days, and then came out after defeating the Aberrant Beast."

"Nest? Pupae have appeared in Bai'an?"

"Probably?" the blonde girl asked, resting her chin on her hand.

"Probably?" Margaret asked her to confirm.

"Probably." The blonde girl nodded again.

"... Never mind, being absent-minded and clumsy is also a cute side."

After a moment of somewhat helpless silence, Margaret smiled and said, "Let's wait until Lantern returns before trying to find out what's wrong with me."

Why do I suddenly feel like I'm being looked down upon?

No.

"It's not like I don't know anything! It's just about those few days when Sister Lantern went missing! The Kingdom sent someone over!"

To prove she wasn't useless, the blonde girl racked her brains. "What's my position again... Inspector?"

"Inspector? Oh, a big shot."

Margaret touched her hair with interest. "It seems the incident was quite serious. Which Inspector was involved?"

"Which one... I think her name is Kingfisher?"

"I've never heard of Inspector with that code name."

"So, you didn't know, did you Yuan Xiang- nee?" Not wanting her answer to be denied, the blonde girl insisted, "Anyway, they came to help, so it can't be a fake."

"Then you've got the name wrong, Kingfisher, Kingfisher, Inspector with a similar name..."

As she read the code name uttered by the blonde girl, Margaret's relaxed expression gradually froze. She released her grip on the ends of her hair, looked at the blonde girl, and slowly spoke:

"Larkspur?"

"--Ah, yes! Larkspur!"

The blonde girl slammed her hand on the counter. "That's the code name! That's right!"

"Are you sure it's called Larkspur? What does it look like?"

"He's just a little kid who's shorter than me."

The blonde girl explained in detail, "Her hair and clothes were blue, and she was wearing a really big hat... Hey, Yuan Xiang? Why are you smiling so creepily?"

Before she could finish speaking, a rare, radiant smile appeared on Margaret's face, and even her deep crimson eyes seemed to shimmer with a light.

"Hmph, Wood Lily." For some reason, Margaret felt much better and spoke with a smile, calling out the girl's code name, "I suddenly remembered something."

"... It doesn't feel like a good thing."

"How could that be? I'm in a rare good mood. What I wanted to say was, do you have any plans to travel to other cities?"

"Where?" Wood Lily asked, slightly intrigued.

Then she saw Margaret open her mouth and softly utter a place name:

--"For example, Fangting City?"