Xia Luo finally managed to make it down the stairs.
Fei Xiao stood beside her, breathing steadily, without even a hair out of place.
"Done."
Xia Luo looked up.
"Couldn't you at least pretend to be a little tired?"
"Why would I pretend?"
"Spare me some dignity."
Fei Xiao gave it some serious thought.
"All right."
She took a breath, then deliberately panted twice.
Xia Luo stared at her expressionless face and fell silent for a moment.
"Forget it. Just stop pretending."
"Oh."
Fei Xiao immediately resumed breathing normally.
Xia Luo braced herself against the wall and straightened up. Only then did she notice Lin Xi's expression.
Lin Xi sat on a step, her lips pressed tightly together and her shoulders shaking.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
Lin Xi fought so hard to hold back her laughter that her face turned red.
"N-nothing."
Xia Luo swept her gaze over the others.
Chen De stood with his arms folded, his expression calm.
Qin Luoyu had lowered their head, fingers flying across the phone screen.
Qubi lay on top of Chen De's head, tail swishing lazily.
"What exactly are you all laughing at?"
Lin Xi finally lost the battle.
"Hahahaha!"
Clutching her stomach, she fell backward onto the steps.
"Xia Luo, you could've just walked down."
Xia Luo froze.
The Detective's brain instantly went into overdrive.
She hadn't thought anything was wrong before, but now that she'd figured it out, it was simply... unbelievably stupid.
A faint blush crept onto her face, and she coughed twice, pretending to be composed.
"Ahem, well..."
"I was just testing your powers of observation."
Lin Xi laughed even harder.
"Our powers of observation?"
"Exactly."
Xia Luo planted her hands on her hips, looking perfectly serious.
"One of a detective's daily training exercises is to stay calm and think clearly