"Let's go, Belle. We'll go together." Xu An took Belle's hand and set off.
Feels pretty nice. Heh-heh.
Good thing Wise isn't here, or I couldn't be this bold.
Feeling the warmth of Xu An's hand, Belle froze too. She didn't pull away, but the tips of her ears gradually reddened.
Xu An: (✿︶‿︶), I really am a genius. My attribute points are going up like crazy this way, haha! Just what you'd expect from a protagonist-the number of points she gives is ridiculously high.
[Vivian felt envious and jealous. Attribute points +5] [Vivian felt envious and jealous. Attribute points +5] [Vivian felt envious and jealous. Attribute points +5] [Vivian felt envious and jealous. Attribute points +5]
Holy shit!? Vivian's here too? Xu An hurriedly scanned his surroundings and spotted a purple figure at a nearby street corner. A pair of red eyes stared fixedly in his direction-or, more precisely, at the hand holding Belle's.
Vivian soon came over.
"Phae... Belle! We meet again! ^_^" Vivian smiled at Belle.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the two of them.
"OAO, Vivian, what are you doing here too! Long time no see! I missed you so much (づ￣3￣)づ╭❤~" Seeing Vivian, Belle slipped free of Xu An's hand and went to hug her.
Vivian stepped forward and hugged her too.
While Belle could still see her expression: hee-hee, so happy ^_^.
When only Xu An could see her expression, Vivian glared fiercely at him with both eyes, as though declaring her claim. Lord Phaethon is mine! òᆺó
Seeing such a strong reaction from her, Xu An didn't mind. He was simply secretly delighted that he had even more attribute points. Hmph (.-`ω´-).
The two separated after a brief hug. Vivian returned to normal, though she kept her hands wrapped around Belle's arm.
"By the way, Vivian, what brings you here?" Belle asked curiously.
"I heard Lord Phaethon was training here. We hadn't seen each other in so long, so I thought I'd come see you. I missed you so much," Vivian said, a little embarrassed.
"Hahaha, okay! I missed you too, Vivian. But my senior brother and I are busy with something right now. Would you like to come eat at the temple once we're done? Our Senior Brother Pan is an amazing cook!"
"Yes, yes! What are you busy with? Let me see if I can help!"
"Emmm, this isn't something you should get involved in. You'd better look around Chenghui Terrace for now. I'll have Belle contact you later," Xu An cut in from the side.
"Hmph! I'm talking to Lord Phaethon. Why are you butting in?" Vivian planted her hands on her hips and said angrily.
Watching the two, who seemed to be at odds for some reason, Belle felt a headache coming on.
"Vivian, this incident has some pretty big implications. I don't want to drag you into it and get you hurt. My senior brother is worried about you too~ Could you go shopping around here by yourself for now? We'll come keep you company once we're done, okay?"
Belle spoke gently and patiently.
Xu An: Why does this feel like Belle's soothing a child?
Xu An glanced at Vivian. She really did look quite young. Forget it, forget it. I'll stop teasing her.
"All right~ There's nothing going on between me and your Lord~ Phae~ thon~ so don't be so hostile toward me. Nice to meet you. I'm Xu An, Belle's senior brother." As he spoke, he extended his right hand to shake Vivian's.
"My name is Vivian." With Belle watching, Vivian couldn't very well say anything more. After all, he had backed down, and this was only a minor matter.
Her tone was flat. She extended her right hand, gave Xu An's hand two loose shakes, then quickly let go.
"Let's go, Belle. We'd better hurry up with the investigation. We can come find her later," Xu An said.
"Then, Vivian, we'll be going now, okay? Bye-bye." Belle waved at Vivian.
Vivian stood where she was and raised a hand, waving lightly in return.
Looking at her dignified bearing, Xu An couldn't help marveling that she really did have style. Seeing that Vivian was looking at him too, he smiled at her, then turned and left with Belle.
[Vivian felt puzzled. Attribute points +5] [Vivian felt guilty. Attribute points +2]
Why's she feeling guilty now? I really don't get it.
Xu An shook his head, then stopped thinking about it.
"Speaking of which, there's still no word on the compensation. Maybe I should go ask about it later."
After walking around for a while, the two heard a middle-aged man standing on a street corner talking about compensation and shaking his head.
They hurried over to ask him about it.
"Hey, buddy? What's this compensation you're talking about? Is it about what happened a while back?" Xu An asked.
Hearing the question, the idle worker first looked at them warily. Once he saw their Yunkui Summit attire, he let down his guard.
"Oh, you're young disciples from Yunkui Summit. That's right. There was a safety incident in the Hollow recently, but there's still been no word about the compensation.
"But I don't know the specifics either. If you want more information, go ask Paro and Eric. Eric's still in the Hollow right now, though."
"What about Paro?" Xu An asked.
"Emmm, he should be over there." The worker pointed to one side.
Xu An and Belle exchanged a look, then thanked him and left.
When the two reached Paro, Xu An spotted Masato there.
They had only just approached when they heard Masato addressing them. "You two... You've been wandering around here for a while now. What exactly are you trying to do?"
Xu An pointed at himself, utterly bewildered. Who? Me? OAO?
Belle froze too.
"They... They must have been sent by Hui Crystal Meike.
"I told you! They definitely weren't going to let this go!" Paro said in a trembling voice.
"Did you come out without your glasses? Are those two balls under your eyebrows just there to let air out?" Xu An couldn't help snapping back.
"Tsk, Paro, pipe down. You're giving me a headache," Masato said, unable to help pressing a hand to his forehead as he listened to Paro.
Then he addressed Xu An and Belle again.
"I'll ask one last time. What exactly do you want?" His eyes narrowed slightly as he spoke, looking ready to throw hands if their answer didn't satisfy him.
"Hey, big guy. Want to fight? These fists of mine aren't made of dough," Xu An said, clenching his fists.
"? If you're here to make trouble, why not get on with it and punch me in the face!" Masato said.
"Oh? You know your law, huh," Xu An said.
"Uh... Why would anyone ask someone to hit them? And senior brother, stop talking!"
"First, you create a conflict, then deliberately provoke someone into attacking, and finally sue them for compensation.
"I've seen plenty of these tricks from Hui Crystal Meike. I won't throw the first punch!
"You can have the first punch." Masato looked as though he had seen right through them.
There is always only one truth.
That meme suddenly popped into Xu An's head.
OAO! "Calm down first. We're not from Hui Crystal Meike. We're disciples of Yunkui Summit. My name is Belle, and this is my senior brother. We just wanted to ask about a few things..."
"Yunkui Summit? Uh, what did you want to ask about?" Realizing he had misunderstood, Masato sounded noticeably friendlier than before.
"We're here to investigate what's happening inside the Lemnian Hollow. We heard there were apparently some safety incidents in there.
"But they've been keeping everything under wraps, so we don't know exactly what happened... Anyway, I'm definitely not a TOPS employee."
Hearing this, Masato's expression softened.
"So you're here to make trouble for Hui Crystal Meike too? Then this really was a misunderstanding. I'm very sorry.
"My name is Komano Masato. A friend of mine was hospitalized recently because of Hui Crystal Meike's safety incident, and he still hasn't regained consciousness.
"That's why I came here to get to the bottom of things and get some payback for him.
"Since you want to investigate this too, I guess we're like-minded." After that string of words, Komano Masato looked every bit a bashful young man. There was no trace of his earlier ferocity.
He scratched his head as he spoke, looking embarrassed. ≦(._.)≧
Xu An, you damned mouth, don't laugh. For some reason, looking at him made Xu An want to laugh.
Paro, standing beside them, relaxed too. "You gave me a fright... I thought Hui Crystal Meike had sent you to make trouble for me. So you're here to investigate the corruption incident too."