The players' emotions surged up and down because of a single drowsy mutter from Pardofelis.
i, too, grew suspicious.
And while she pondered silently…
The scenery around her suddenly shifted.
As if awakened abruptly from ditation, i snapped back to herself. Two pairs of eyes were watching her with concern.
"Looks like this segnt is over. Dear audience, what did you see?" Vill-V asked.
Pardofelis quickly added, "i-nee, you saw it, right? On the day Boss Kevin disappeared, I never even saw him."
i didn't respond.
She simply stared at Pardofelis without a word.
Pardofelis instantly turned her head aside in discomfort.
"Don't look at like that, i-nee, it's nerve-wracking. I really didn't do anything."
i frowned slightly at her words.
True enough, while Pardofelis had muttered sothing strange in her sleep, she indeed didn't do anything that night.
Still, the weird muttering did happen.
After brief consideration—
i, recognizing ti was short, got straight to the point:
"That night, before you fell asleep, you said you were going to do sothing behind my and Elysia's backs. Pardofelis, is there still sothing you're hiding from us?"
"M-i-nee, what are you talking about? There's no way I'd keep secrets from you!"
Faced with i's question, Pardofelis clearly didn't want to answer and started dodging it.
The audience, seeing her unusual behavior, focused even more intently, waiting for the mont the truth would be revealed.
i, of course, wasn't going to let Pardofelis off the hook so easily.
Under her logical reasoning and direct questioning—
Pardofelis had no choice but to confess in a mumble.
"It's just business… really, just business."
But such an answer only raised more eyebrows.
Business with Kevin? What kind of business? Did you open an ice cream shop together?
Oh, that would be just too cool~~
i looked confused. "What kind of business? One you need to hide from Elysia and ?"
"It's about…" Pardofelis beca even more evasive. "That…"
"'That'?"
"That… your horn."
Her horn?
What was Pardofelis trying to pull?
So people didn't get it at first.
i, too, was confused and repeated blankly, "Horn?"
At last, Pardofelis mustered so courage and blurted everything out in one breath.
"I was planning to see if I could rent out your horn for others to touch. If Elysia found out, she'd totally announce it everywhere, and then you'd definitely get mad."
[??? I'm speechless. So it's because of this? That's it? That's it?]
[Catcat really is a business genius.]
[If it were anyone else, I'd doubt it—but coming from Pardofelis, it makes perfect sense.]
[i: speechless.exe]
[Once again confird: Catcat truly has no ill intentions. And thinking carefully, she made this plan before Kevin disappeared, and she still thought Elysia was alive. So she can't be the culprit. Nearly forgot that.]
...
The audience didn't know whether to laugh or sigh at Pardofelis's shaless confession.
Elysia, anwhile, curiously turned to Kevin and asked, "Kevin, would you want to touch i's horn?"
Kevin: "..."
He thought about it and borrowed a phrase Elysia herself had once used.
"Elysia, not everyone has a 'horn-touching devil' in their heart, and not everyone is as fascinated with 'horns' as you are."
"Oh my."
Faced with Kevin's jab, Elysia responded in her signature style: "You rembered sothing I said so long ago? I'm suddenly very happy!"
Kevin: "..."
Indeed, when it ca to taking the initiative, Elysia never lost to anyone.
Though she was a bit disappointed Kevin had no interest in horn-touching and couldn't be recruited into her self-founded "So Curious About Horns Society."
Otherwise, he could've been tasked with distracting Kalpas while she took the chance to rip off his mask for a good look.
Because the society's motto wasn't just about touching horns—it was about "acting with fiery passion to satisfy your curiosity!"
But…
She needed to get back to the main story for now.
...
Pardofelis's resigned confession left i speechless and had Vill-V laughing so hard she could barely stand.
Still, this confird that Vill-V's [Cognition Collector] really worked.
"Next, we'll use this thod to review each Fla-Chaser's mories and clear their nas. Though… perhaps… not everyone will be so willing."
That much was clear...
Players could already think of several Fla-Chasers who definitely wouldn't cooperate.
But before they could ponder further, the ga's POV switched once again—
To Su and Hua.
"Fake main plot: i's investigation in the Realm. Real main plot: Su and Hua's mission."
As i and the others were testing the Cognition Collector, Su and Hua were trying to handle the Kalpas problem.
Su had already foreseen they'd have to fight Kalpas and that it would be dangerous.
But Su firmly believed in Kalpas and was convinced he wasn't the traitor.
"A consensus easily reached—Kalpas is not the traitor."
"Indeed," Hua nodded in firm agreent.
"So what you're doing… is to protect him instead?"
Su shook his head. "It's not protection exactly… but Kalpas's recent behavior, if exploited by certain parties, could be used as a reason to [remove him from the equation] or [eliminate him entirely]."
"For us, being able to trust soone is… crucial."
Players straightened up in excitent after witnessing Su's maneuvering.
Was a Fla-Chaser finally stepping up to carry the plot?
Kalpas: That's right, it's —
Cough cough cough.
[So Su locked Kalpas up… to protect him?]
[This is the high-level play—Su's finally making his move.]
[I get it now! Next plot: Su and Hua calm Kalpas down, and the three form a second investigation team.]
At this point, players were placing all their hopes on Su and paying less attention to Kalpas.
They assud the upcoming plot would be Su and Hua calming Kalpas and then teaming up.
But… would it be that simple?
After understanding Kalpas's intentions, Hua asked Su:
"Then what about ? Do you trust ? I can understand why you want to co along, but I don't see any reason why you would fully trust ."
Very Hua-like honesty.
But she had a point—why did Su trust her? Surely not just because "Shenzhou people don't betray Shenzhou people," right?
Su responded that—
On one hand, he trusted Hua's character. On the other…
"If necessary, should I need to use my unique abilities within the Realm to suppress—or even erase—a mory construct… Hua, you would be the one that cos at the least cost."
Su phrased it diplomatically, but the implication was clear enough.
And sure enough, Elysia's livestream chat lit up imdiately.
[So Su is saying—Hua, you're too weak?]
[High EQ: "least cost." Low EQ: "you're too weak."]
[No way, is Hua really that weak?]
[He probably ant that Hua, due to special circumstances, has a low data load, so she's easier to deal with—like deleting a 1GB file takes longer than deleting a 1MB one.]
...
Elysia took a glance at chat, and with their explanations, she understood why Su said what he did.
As expected—though the Hua in the Realm lacked 50,000 years of growth, she couldn't be that weak.
After all, she had witnessed with her own eyes how Hua used inch-force to "educate" the Herrscher of Sentience into submission.
Mm… though that was sothing from reality.
Still, maybe 'Otto'-san would recreate that scene in an event or official fan content.
She could look forward to that.
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