"Welcome, everyone, to the magic show of Velvie, the genius magician. But first, I'd like to invite one audience member up to be my assistant. Is anyone willing?"
Taking off her top hat and holding it to her chest, Velvie gave a slight bow and smiled at the crowd.
A tattooed man in the audience grew curious and took the lead in volunteering.
What he failed to notice was that Velvie's eyes lit up the moment she saw him.
"All right, audience member, take a look. This is just an ordinary box. Go ahead and inspect it."
As she spoke, Velvie handed the box to him.
The man took the box and carefully felt it over, eventually finding that it was indeed no different from an ordinary box.
"Nothing unusual. It's just a regular box."
"Hehe, now put whatever you consider important inside. I'll make it appear somewhere on your body where you'd never expect it."
Knowing that no one in Twilight Street would dare deceive him, the man placed his most important pocket watch, bracelet, and necklace inside.
He wanted to see just how this genius magician would make them reappear on him.
Velvie's eyes lit up at the sight.
Hahaha, these people's money is so easy to swindle. I've got research funding again, though I'll probably have to start another big escape soon.
Although she knew the consequences, Velvie still had no intention of changing.
She had investigated the place long before arriving. She knew every gang and every member here.
Every one of them was a heinous villain, the sort who would need to be shot for a full minute at execution.
So Velvie felt no guilt whatsoever about swindling them.
Closing the box, Velvie carried it into a larger cabinet.
From inside the cabinet, Velvie called out, "Audience members outside, please use the electric saw I placed on the table to cut this cabinet open."
"Fine, hahaha! You asked for it."
Since he was already the sort who killed without batting an eye, the man had none of the hesitation or fear an ordinary person would feel.
He immediately picked up the electric saw, revved it to full power, and cut into the cabinet.
In the end, the cabinet was split in two, but Velvie was nowhere to be found inside.
The audience below erupted into cheers at the sight.
"Ooh! That's amazing! The space under the stage is clearly hollow, so how did she disappear?"
"As expected of a genius magician. She really is incredible."
However, unlike the cheering audience below, the man onstage did not look pleased.
More than a minute had passed, yet Velvie still had not appeared.
The man immediately roared, "Magician, where are you? Get out here!"
But no matter how many times he shouted, Velvie showed no sign of responding.
Though rather than refusing to respond, it was more accurate to say that she had already vanished.
A minute earlier, Velvie had successfully escaped by using the reflection of mirrors and a combination of other factors.
"Whew, those idiots' money was so easy to swindle. But it's ill-gotten wealth anyway. Using their money for inventions that benefit the whole world can count as earning merit for them."
Of the three items, one was a gemstone-studded necklace, one was a pure gold watch, and one was a pocket watch with several hands polished from extremely rare gemstones.
The money from selling these items alone would be enough to fund her research for a month.
"Mm, even if those people are bad guys, deceiving people is still wrong."
"Wah—!"
The sudden voice startled Velvie so badly that she nearly dropped the box in her hands.
Looking toward the source of the voice, she saw fourteen-year-old Airi and eighteen-year-old Chang Yuan.
"Who are you two? Don't tell me those people sent you to catch me."
As she spoke, Velvie reached one hand into her pocket.
After feeling her specially made smoke bomb, the tension in her heart eased somewhat.
"We were in the audience just now. They didn't send us to catch you."
"Whew, that's good, that's good. Uh, so what did you come to see me for?"
Seeing that they were not enemies, Velvie breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as they were not enemies, anything was fine.
"Nothing. We just thought your magic was amazing, and that deceiving people is wrong."
"Tch, those guys are bad people. Don't you know that? Every one of them has the blood of countless people on their hands.
I only swindled their money. If I had the ability, I'd want to avenge those people myself."
Velvie spoke with a righteous expression.
"No, I feel like that's only secondary. The main thing is that you want to sell those things and use the money to do what you want, right?"
"Huh? How did you— Ahem, who says that? I was planning to donate the money, okay?"
Stare—!
"Really, you have to believe me. I swear it on the name of the genius magician."
Stare—!
"All right, all right, I have selfish motives too, okay?"
Under the combined stares of Chang Yuan and Airi,
Velvie had no choice but to admit that she had selfish motives.
Just then, a jumble of noisy voices rose nearby.
Velvie knew it was time for her to leave. Reluctantly, she took out the pure gold necklace, the least valuable item among them.
"This is for you. Everyone who sees it gets a share. Don't expose me. If fate allows, we'll meet again."
Without even waiting for Chang Yuan to take it, Velvie tossed away the pure gold necklace, turned around, and continued running.
Chang Yuan quickly threw the pure gold necklace into an inconspicuous corner.
After doing that, Chang Yuan swiftly scooped up some mud from the ground and, without a word, smeared it across Airi's face.
Airi did not even have time to react before her face was covered in dirt. Even so, it could not hide her beauty.
But it was enough.
Just as they finished all that, a group of armed men arrived.
"Hey, kid, did you see a woman around here just now? She was wearing a top hat and had two-colored hair."
Upon seeing Chang Yuan, the man asked bluntly.
Chang Yuan immediately pointed in a direction completely opposite to the one Velvie had fled in.
The man gave Chang Yuan a long look, then noticed the pink figure Chang Yuan was shielding behind him.
But when he saw the dirt covering her face, he immediately lost interest.
Their boss was already close to losing his mind. This was no time for anything else. Besides, she was not pretty enough to risk offending the boss and getting beaten over such a trivial matter.
So after only a few glances, the man led his group running in the direction Chang Yuan had pointed.
Only after everyone had left did Airi puff out her cheeks and glare at Chang Yuan in dissatisfaction.
"You, next time smear it better. It almost got into my mouth."
Before you continue