After the tedious greeting, Noir could finally retreat to his own room and the first thing he did was collapse face-first onto the bed, his blank gaze staring out of the window. The main reason why he forced himself to go along with the royal procession, despite his unwillingness, was first, so that he could avoid triggering the death condition and second, to locate the other players.
Since waking up in the royal palace, every one of his actions and words had been scrutinized by the NPC guards, who tailed him whenever he went, making it impossible for him to act freely.
However, he had at least managed to confirm that none of the royalty mbers were players.
It was even easier to identify the players during the royal procession. They didn’t look at him with blind admiration and fanaticism like the ordinary citizens, but they scrutinized him, dissecting his every move in an attempt to determine whether he was rely an NPC or a fellow player.
Noir could sense that kind of gaze very well, and in the end he managed to spot eleven players among the crowd, including Shen Nianzu.
Shen Nianzu’s gaze was even harder to miss— half-eager and half-anxious, it was akin to soft pinpricks of needle on his skin, allowing him to locate the other person without difficulty.
With this, he had confird Shen Nianzu and Jin Jiuchi’s whereabouts, and the only one left was—
Amidst the silence of the room, the dark shadow in the corner abruptly stirred, seemingly as if it had co to live. It coalesced and twisted before coming together to form the shape of a cat, which then separated from the rest of the shadow. Opening its eyes, the black cat revealed a pair of gleaming erald orbs.
"ow~"
Lucious leaped onto the bed and wiped his dusty paws on Noir’s back. Tilting his chin to face the cat, Noir silently questioned him with his eyes. In response, Lucius let out a series of ows, sounding like a mixture of frustration, complaint and anger.
Noir released a barely audible sigh. Even Lucius wasn’t able to find Gu Luoxin. The young man didn’t show up during the royal procession either. This could only an two things— either he was trapped in an unknown place with no way out, or he was caught in a predicant where he couldn’t make contact with others. For the first possibility, Noir had dispatched his divine prop Lucius to help him scout the houses around the Cycle. The fact that the black cat hadn’t brought back any results ant that the situation leaned toward the latter.
Gu Luoxin was currently unable to make any contact with them.
Why?
At that mont, the earpiece inside his pocket buzzed and Noir moved a hand to retrieve it, placing it into his ear before giving it a tap.
"Noir?" Shen Nianzu’s voice ca through.
Noir replied with an affirmative hum.
As usual, Shen Nianzu went straight to the point, "I seem to have received so clues about Xinxin’s whereabouts."
Upon hearing those words, Noir’s half-lidded eyelids fully opened, and his whole attention was focused on the voice coming from the other side. "...Where?"
Tentatively, Shen Nianzu replied, "I could be mistaken about this, but... it looks like he’s been turned into a mouse. There was a mouse creating a ruckus during the procession earlier, but unfortunately when I went to search for it, it’s already gone."
"Mouse..." Noir was stunned. He propped himself up into a sitting position and made eye contact with Lucius, who appeared to regain his energy as his feline body eagerly leaped down from the bed and darted straight toward the shadow in the corner, disappearing into it as if he was plunging into a dark portal. Now left alone, Noir tried to process the information he’d just heard, covering his eyes with a palm.
"Noir?" Shen Nianzu called out, his tone unsure.
The corner of Noir’s lips twitched, and a faint laughter escaped him. "...Haha."
He sounded genuinely delighted.
Shen Nianzu: "..."
Shen Nianzu sounded utterly speechless as he concluded the conversation. "...Well, that’s all. I will reach out again if I have any updates. You should do the sa too."
This ti, Noir no longer paid any attention to the voice coming from the earpiece, for he was too busy trying to suppress his laughter. His head bowed, and his fra shook ever so slightly from the efforts to keep quiet. The pure mirth he was feeling was transmitted to Lucius, who reacted even more intensely and excitedly than he did.
Unable to restrain himself any longer, Noir collapsed back onto the bed and muffled his laughter into the pillow. "Kekeke..."
A mouse— what a perfectly fitting animal to be transford into. Goodness, how did that person manage to bring him unexpected yet pleasant surprises again and again?
Knock knock knock!
A series of knocks landed on the door, followed by the guard’s careful inquiry. "Is there sothing wrong, Your Highness?"
Noir’s laughter instantly faded, though a hint of amusent still danced at the corners of his lips. He took a few deep breaths, making sure that he wouldn’t suddenly burst out of laughter, before sitting up straight once more. "Co in," he responded. "I have sothing to tell you."
The door creaked open, and a guard stepped in with his gaze trained to the floor, humbly placing a hand over his heart and bowing his head. "Is there sothing you need, Your Highness?"
"About the royal ball His Majesty ntioned..." he began, in a strangely good mood. "Proceed with the initial arrangents. On top of that, I’d like to add a stipulation."
The guard responded promptly, "Please speak your mind, my Prince. I will convey your ssage to His Majesty at once."
It was fortunate that the guard had his head lowered, or else he would have witnessed that his perpetually deadpan and expressionless Prince was grinning like a Cheshire cat right now. "A mouse. Everyone attending must bring a mouse, regardless of the color or breed. The most important thing is that it must be unhard."
"A–A mouse?" Albeit startled, the guard dared not lift his head and could only inquire again in confirmation, fearing that he had misheard.
But Noir’s next words successfully dispelled his doubt. "That’s right," he replied with a trace of amusent in his tone. "Recently, I... have been quite taken by a mouse, you see."
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