Time slightly earlier, Starskiff Haven Hub.
Outside the hotel, beneath a banyan tree at the street corner, a figure was crouching.
A black and gold overcoat adorned with golden ribbons draped over her. The clear waist-to-hip ratio accentuated her waist, making it appear increasingly slender.
Gray hair tied into a ponytail cascaded from the opening of a black baseball cap down her back, while the British-style black leather shoes on her feet gave off a cute and naive charm.
However, aside from the baseball cap, the gray-haired girl also wore a black mask and sunglasses, completely obscuring her pretty face.
She held onto the edge of the ancient tree with one hand, slightly poking her head out to peer around, as if spying on something.
She looked utterly sneaky and up to no good.
The Xianzhou natives passing by frowned one after another upon seeing this scene, wondering if they should call the Realm-Keeping Commission to report her.
"3737, this is 9527. Arrived at the designated location. The suspect has entered the transaction point. Over."
The gray-haired figure held a phone in her other hand, her tone concise and rapid.
"9527, this is 3737. Copy that. Stand by in place and await further instructions. Over."
Beneath another thick banyan tree, another figure was crouching.
Even though her baseball cap was pulled down low, cute pink hair still peeked out. Coupled with the mask and sunglasses, they could not conceal the liveliness radiating from the girl.
A silver-gray curly-haired beauty stood behind the two with a blank expression, proving that the consciousness currently operating the body was 'Little Duck' from the Honkai World.
"You two... idiots."
If she had encountered such pig-like teammates in a game, 'Metal Gear Bronya' would have long since started her Russian greeting mode. But considering Silver Wing had repeatedly reminded her to maintain her character persona, Bronya suppressed her helplessness and distress, lightly offering words more fitting for Silver Wing's personality.
One could only say, it was fortunate they were in another world. Otherwise, her reputation as the Silver Wolf of the Urals would likely be ruined in a single day.
Teaming up with these two for a mission was simply harder than taking the idiot Kiana out on a mission.
"When tracking someone, there is no need for excessive concealment. When the target does not possess high-level abilities, maintaining normal behavior is sufficient."
Senior Silver Wolf of the Urals began to impart her experience.
March 7th took off her mask and sunglasses, scratching her small head as she laughed: "Hehe, isn't it rare that we get to cosplay as detectives tracking someone? I just wanted to try learning from what I've seen in novels."
"I am truly amazing!" The single-ponytail Stellaron spirit, fully disguised, held her head high and puffed out her chest.
"Who praised you?"
A question mark popped up over both March 7th and Little Duck's foreheads.
"So, what now? Do we sneak directly in through the main entrance, break down the door, beat the suspect to their knees, and then drag them back to the Realm-Keeping Commission to exchange for the reward?"
Stelle looked towards the captain of their three-person squad, Bronya, who possessed rich infiltration experience in various situations.
"Speaking of which, they're actually meeting in a place like this? Isn't that too weird?"
March 7th looked at the pink heart on the Love Hotel's signboard, her expression a mix of strangeness and traces of shyness. She had never entered this kind of place before!
"No, this is very normal. According to Bronya's experience, Love Hotels are one of the most suitable locations for transactions."
Hearing March 7th's muttering, Little Duck explained casually without changing her expression. She had often gone to such places to assassinate mission targets when she was a child.
"Exactly. So, I think we need to strictly investigate every corner of this hotel room!"
Stelle's expression was serious, but a sinister smile appeared behind her mask.
She felt the suspect's choice of transaction location was really good. After finishing the mission, maybe she could snuggle with Bronya, take a photo, and send it to Caelus to show off!
"Eek, wipe your drool. Big Sister Himeko can hear your abacus clicking all the way from the Express."
March 7th reached out a finger and tapped Stelle's forehead.
Through chat messages on her phone, she learned that Caelus was about to return. Stelle had originally planned to drag the despairing March 7th out for a final raid to sweep the Luofu's treasure chests.
However, just before setting off, a stranger suddenly added her as a friend, claiming to be a Deacon of the Realm-Keeping Commission named Da Hao, who had some matters he wanted to ask her help with.
Initially, Stelle used the excuse 'I am not a Xianzhou native, it is inconvenient to intervene in official business' to refuse being a tool-man.
But unexpectedly, that Realm-Keeping Commission Deacon was so despicable that he actually triggered a mission, and the rewards included Stellar Jade!
She didn't know what Stellar Jade was, but she knew that Stellar Jade could be exchanged for Crystals at a ratio of 1:1, and that was enough.
Although Stelle found it a bit strange—since the ratio was 1:1, why not just reward Crystals directly?
She frowned tight, thinking hard for a good while. After her brain stalled a few times, she solved the problem with ease.
"Who cares about the logic, it is what it is!"
In short, there was Stellar Jade, so she absolutely couldn't refuse this mission!
As for March 7th... all work opening chests and no play makes smart March a dull girl. To allow herself to be abstracted into the shape of Star Rail, March 7th felt it was time to do some normal missions, so she accepted the Realm-Keeping Commission's request without hesitation.
Mood status recharged, returning to Samoyed mode.
Da Hao said the Realm-Keeping Commission had been eyeing an Outworlder for some time. The other party's purpose in coming to the Xianzhou was to seek the elixir of immortality.
This is a grave crime on the Xianzhou!
Of course, the Xianzhou wasn't so unreasonable as to directly treat someone who had sold all their family property and traveled billions of miles to seek longevity as a felon.
They simply subjected the Outworlder to educational outreach regarding longevity and ideological correction. After the Outworlder realized their mistake, they let him go.
But follow-up investigations revealed that the Outworlder had not given up hope.
The Realm-Keeping Commission was also helpless. They couldn't arrest the other party just because they had criminal thoughts, and seeking longevity wasn't that easy.
But unexpectedly, he actually managed to find a lead!
Due to the Stellaron causing the chaos of the Mara-struck on the Xianzhou, the remnants of Abundance hiding in the Xianzhou—known as the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus—had been frequently active recently.
The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus acted secretly and were highly vigilant against the Cloud Knights and Xianzhou natives; it was very difficult to catch their tail.
The Realm-Keeping Commission suspected that the one in contact with the Outworlder was a member of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus organization, and immediately reported the situation to the Seat of Divine Foresight and the Ten-Lords Commission.
General Jing Yuan subsequently sent instructions.
The Ten-Lords Commission was currently short-handed and prone to alerting the enemy. For this matter, surprise troops could be used.
And he gave the contact information of the 'surprise troops' to the Realm-Keeping Commission office.
Jing Yuan only gave Stelle's contact information.
Firstly, Jing Yuan knew Caelus wasn't on the Xianzhou. Secondly, Stelle was more simple-minded than Caelus.
Stelle and March 7th, having accepted the mission, began their tracking investigation. However, the target's counter-reconnaissance was a bit high. After failing to make progress several times, the two chose to call for outside help.
Silver Wing was busy in the Honkai World, so the idle Little Duck was pulled over.
Since Little Duck came over, 'White' Seele naturally wouldn't stay at the inn alone, so she followed along too.
Currently, she wasn't with the three of them; she had gone to block the back exit. If the people from the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus sensed something wrong and fled, Seele, who could use quantum transformation to increase her stealth, would follow them.
The current situation was that everything was ready, waiting only for the command to—
"Catch a turtle in a jar."
The corners of the gray-haired girl's mouth curled into a faint smile. Coming to this world frequently to roleplay as Silver Wing, Little Duck's emotions in this healthy body were becoming increasingly normal.
"Turtle... turtle enters the mud pit." March 7th scratched her head and squeezed out a phrase.
"Pit, pit... pit?"
Stelle's CPU spun at high speed, searching for idioms starting with 'pit', and finally gave an answer:
"I have an 8 AM class!"
Little Duck: "..."
Charge!
Having said that, Stelle took out her baseball bat and charged towards the Love Hotel like a whirlwind.
"Hey, what are you doing? Wait for us, Stelle!"
March 7th hurriedly got up and followed.
Little Duck watched this scene, feeling quite helpless. This was the reason she didn't accompany Seele and instead followed these two fellows.
"Hello, may I ask what the guests would like..."
The young lady at the front desk, whose memories had been adjusted by Fenghuang Down, stood there. As soon as the door opened, she displayed an enthusiastic, business-like voice.
But her words came to an abrupt halt halfway through; she was stunned.
It wasn't because she saw two beautiful girls. Working in a place like this, she had seen combinations of all genders.
Male and female, male and male, female and female, gender-fluid, and so on.
Of the two before her, one was cool and dashing, the other lively and playful. Who was the top and who was the bottom was clear at a glance.
It was just that the moment the cool, dashing gray-haired girl opened her mouth, her temperament was completely ruined. She was holding a baseball bat in her hand, looking full of fighting spirit:
"Guest, what is this?"
"Realm-Keeping Commission business, idlers stand back!"
Shouldering the bat like a delinquent girl, Stelle slammed the temporary work ID given by the Realm-Keeping Commission onto the counter, leaking a silly yet domineering aura.
"Huh?" The receptionist looked bewildered.
"Don't cause trouble."
March 7th pulled Stelle behind her and revealed her signature energetic smile:
"Hello, we are from the Realm-Keeping Commission, here to catch a suspect. Could you lend us the master key?"
"..."
The receptionist fell silent, looking at Stelle who resembled a yakuza boss, then at March 7th who looked like she was roleplaying a secret agent and was clearly excited.
"Cough, it is just as they say."
Another figure appeared; the silver-gray curly-haired beauty placed her temporary ID on the counter.
The three easily obtained the master key card, meant only for emergencies, from the receptionist and immediately went upstairs.
"Let's scout the room next door first."
Bronya commanded with seasoned experience.
Previously, since Fenghuang Down had already been used to control people, why bother registering? He had manipulated the receptionist to check Qingque out as well.
Therefore, when the three checked the suspect's room number at the front desk, the room next door was listed as empty.
"Something's wrong. This room is locked from the inside. There's someone in there!"
Stelle pushed the door of the neighboring room and discovered the anomaly.
"But it was clearly empty when we looked just now." March 7th tilted her head in confusion.
Stelle frowned and thought for a moment, then had a sudden flash of inspiration: "I know!"
"There is only ever one truth!"
"The real room is their blindfold, a protective cover. In reality, they used their own means to enter the room next door."
Stelle issued a passionate deduction.
"Once we breach the 'real' room, they would notice the commotion from next door and flee immediately!"
"Hiss~"
March 7th inhaled slightly, looking at Stelle in disbelief: "Stelle, are you okay? You actually thought of something like that?"
Her brain circuitry was actually normal for once!
"That is indeed a possibility."
Bronya nodded after some thought.
"Hehe~ As expected of me, I am truly smart!"
After praising herself, Stelle hefted her baseball bat. March 7th took out her camera, ready to capture criminal evidence of the suspect and her own heroic figure descending like divine justice.
"FBI, Open the door!"
After quietly unlocking the door with the card, Stelle kicked it open and led the charge inside.
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