So pitiful...

They returned to Frontier, but this time, they were not heading to the reception room deep inside.

A Piao took out the diagram. It showed a bird's-eye view of the hall, with a red circle marking the upper-left corner.

Lu Li looked at the vase before him and said, "This is easy. Going by all the tropes I know inside out, all we need to do is..."

As he spoke, Lu Li grasped the vase with both hands and gently turned it.

A rumbling sound immediately reached their ears.

A hidden door ahead of them swung around, revealing itself. It bore the emblem of Jinzhou's Sentinel.

A Piao nodded. "Let's go in."

They passed through a short corridor and an automatic door. Lu Li had not expected the space inside to be so vast.

"Who would've thought Frontier would look so unremarkable outside, yet hide a whole other world within?"

Looking up, they saw several lifelike dragons coiled along the walls high above them. Clear water poured endlessly from their mouths, cascading down like small waterfalls.

There was only one path here, winding toward the center of the space.

That lone walkway stood above the water, almost as though it were floating in midair.

On closer inspection, they could make out strangely shaped mechanisms hidden beneath the crystal-clear water.

A Piao said plainly, "Some of the structures are submerged... This mechanism hides paths by raising and lowering the water level."

"Looks like the puzzles aren't over yet. Let's check out that device in the middle first."

Lu Li grumbled, "Do they have to activate a bunch of mechanisms every time they visit the Huanglan Compendium? Doesn't the Magistrate find that a hassle?"

A Piao said, "Yangyang told us the Huanglan Compendium is Jinzhou's most important archive. A few extra safeguards seem reasonable."

Lu Li made a show of sighing. After all, their plan meant they knew someone was following them. He said loudly:

"That may be true, but we're the ones stuck doing all the work."

"Meeting the Magistrate sure is difficult... Can't she just come out and get us?"

Lu Li pondered for a moment. "Is there any way to make the Magistrate come out directly..."

A moment later, his eyes lit up. "A Piao, why don't we just wreck this place? The Magistrate would definitely come out then!"

A Piao said, exasperated, "...Don't do anything stupid."

"I don't know whether destroying this place would bring out the Magistrate, but it would definitely bring out the Midnight Rangers."

Lu Li said, "...Fair point."

As they spoke, the two reached the middle of the lake, where a machine resembling a musical instrument stood.

A Piao read the instructions on it aloud. "...Gather the five tones, harmonize their melodies. Strike the drum to carry sound, ring the bell to seek the way."

"...With vessels setting the tones, let music ring in harmony, and Huanglan shall finally open."

Lu Li was completely lost. "What, what, what, what, what?"

A Piao smiled faintly. "Look, this console is built like a musical instrument, but it seems to be missing five essential tones, so it can't play a complete piece."

"In other words, we need to supply the data from the five missing Tone Vessels and play the music to open the door to the database."

Lu Li stared blankly at A Piao. "How do you even know music?"

A Piao froze at his words. "Right... How do I even know music..."

Lu Li said, "?"

Lu Li clapped his hands in sudden realization. "I get it! No wonder the Magistrate wants to find you!"

A Piao said, "What do you get?"

Lu Li declared confidently, "You must've been the Magistrate's personal singer!"

A Piao said, "?"

Lu Li adopted a mournful tone. "Poor Lady Jinhsi. Without A Piao's little songs to listen to while she handles official business, she's so upset she's falling apart, crying and throwing tantrums. Boo-hoo-hoo, so pitiful..."

A Piao smacked the back of Lu Li's head. "What nonsense are you imagining?! And what kind of Magistrate would cry and throw tantrums over something like that?!"

Lu Li wore the expression of someone who had seen through everything. "You just don't get it. That's what makes the contrast so appealing!"

A Piao shook her head. Knowing Lu Li was putting on a show for their follower, she ignored his antics. "Look over there..."

A Piao pointed behind the Gong Tone Platform. Lu Li followed her finger and saw a small black object floating there.

A Piao approached to inspect it. After a brief look, she concluded:

"The data in this Tone Vessel should be one of the missing tones. Let's try connecting it to the Gong Tone Platform."

The screen above the Gong Tone Platform lit up, and a nearby mechanism was unlocked as well.

A Piao said confidently, "Just as I thought, a section of the melody on the Score Platform has lit up. It looks like we can strike that Dragon Drum now."

At her words, Lu Li activated the Dragon Drum, and a Dragon Bell slowly rose from the water before them.

A Piao walked over. "A Dragon Bell rising from beneath the water... 'Ring the bell to seek the way.' So that's what it meant."

A Piao struck the Dragon Bell with her sword, adjusting its orientation to the correct alignment. An illusory blue path appeared.

She nodded. "A new path has appeared. That means we've solved the first 'puzzle.'"

"Now we just need to solve the remaining puzzles in order."

The two put in quite a bit of effort...

Actually, A Piao put in quite a bit of effort.

After all, Lu Li was being a complete slacker and had no desire to use his brain. Besides, he was not particularly good at music-related puzzles.

With A Piao here, anything should be possible anyway!

Once they had collected all the Tone Vessels, a golden path appeared before them.

A Piao and Lu Li stepped onto it.

"Now we can open the door to the database."

They passed through the corridor and entered the Huanglan Compendium, but there was no one inside.

"So this is the Huanglan Compendium, the database said to 'answer everything'..."

"It's empty. The Magistrate doesn't seem to be here."

A Piao said to Lu Li, "While we wait for her to arrive, let's see if there's any data we can investigate."

With that, A Piao took out her Terminal and connected it to the database. Before either of them could look through it, however, a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind them.

"Thanks for leading the way, Rover."

Lu Li whipped around. "Scar?!"

Unlike the startled Lu Li, A Piao seemed perfectly calm.

After all, they were supposed to keep up the act to the end, but clearly A Piao had no such intention.

[Option one: Screw the act! Make fun of Scar! Reward: Run Like a Boss increases by one level!]

[Option two: Be a double agent! Tell Scar he's fallen into a trap! Reward: The grandest funeral in Jinzhou]

Lu Li suddenly switched to an announcer's voice. "Here he comes! Here he comes! He's strutting over like he doesn't owe a soul a thing!"

Scar said, "?"

[Ding! Completion reward: Run Like a Boss increases by one level]

Scar took a deep breath. From the bottom of his heart, he did not want to see this man.

He continued with his strategy of ignoring Lu Li, spreading his arms as he declared arrogantly:

"...What a wonderful place. All-encompassing, with nothing lacking. It really makes me want to dig out every last thing, bit by bit, from the inside out... and then destroy it all."

A card suddenly appeared in Scar's hand, glowing faintly red.

He abruptly slashed the card sideways toward A Piao, stopping beside her neck.

But Lu Li reacted with incredible speed, drawing Yamato and likewise placing it beside Scar's neck.

"...Hahaha." Scar laughed with a hint of madness. "You really do have a fine companion..."

He looked in mild confusion at the perfectly composed A Piao. "You don't seem surprised at all to see me, Rover."

"Why is that, I wonder..."

Before he could finish, A Piao and Lu Li suddenly leaped backward.

A shard of ice struck from behind Scar. Its bone-chilling cold left him unable to move, frost covering his entire body.