After some thought, Ye Chuqi changed into something less conspicuous. Her dark green uniform was too distinctive, and from what she had seen, there was little greenery at the Town Office. Ordinary, drab gray clothes would work better.
"Are you going to cover your face...?" San San asked, half teasing, half egging her on.
There was no need to cover her face. In broad daylight, would she be pretending to be a rogue? Still, Ye Chuqi used a bottle of Dye Potion to turn her striking silver hair black. Honestly, silver looked lovely too, but she still preferred black.
Keeping out of sight and moving stealthily the whole way, Ye Chuqi reached the place where San San had confirmed Akes's presence without a hitch.
This was the Town Office's rear garden, one of the few places with abundant greenery. The riot of flowers looked beautiful this time of year. Paths paved with gray-white stone slabs ran throughout the garden for easy walking. The slabs bore no decorative carvings, only the original marks left when they were cut, lending them a rustic charm.
At the center of the garden stood a fountain with a solid, imposing presence. Rather than any symbolic statues, it held only an enormous black rock. Ye Chuqi was already quite familiar with this material and recognized it at a glance as black ghost stone, still in its natural, unpolished form.
"The space underneath should be lined entirely with black ghost stone," Ye Chuqi told San San through a mental transmission. "Black ghost stone can block my perception, but lining such a huge space with it creates an enormous blank spot within my sensory range. It's one thing if I didn't notice it before, but when I'm deliberately looking for it, that's practically a massive bug."
"Most people