The next morning, at the docks of Deep Blue Metropolis.
The sunlight painted the sea around Deep Blue Metropolis a pale gold. Waves slapped the ship's hull, sending up fine droplets of water.
Tendo leaned against the rail of the passenger ferry's deck, eating a tuna rice ball he had just bought from the ship's commissary, looking relaxed.
Just then, Jing Liuli suddenly ran up.
"Tendo! Look at this!"
Liuli arrived next to Tendo, holding a palm-sized seashell.
Although the shell looked ordinary, its interior shimmered with rainbow-colored light.
Holding it up, Liuli said happily: "I happened to pick this up by the side of the ship just now. Isn't it super pretty?"
"Sister Caroline said this is called a 'Rainbow Shell,' and it brings good luck to whoever finds it. It's for you."
Hearing this, Tendo instinctively reached out to take the Rainbow Shell that Liuli claimed would bring good luck.
But the moment his hand went out, the rice ball in his other hand was suddenly assaulted.
Liuli snatched his rice ball, took a quick bite, and then cheekily made a face at him.
"Hehe! Tastes great! It's even better than the takoyaki from the amusement park yesterday!"
Looking at the triumphant Liuli, Tendo dryly commented: "Childish."
With that, Tendo prepared to administer a small punishment to the 'Rice Ball Bandit,' such as messing up the hair she had so painstakingly styled.
However, just as Tendo was about to act, the prepared Liuli, clutching the rice ball, turned and dashed toward the awning, seeking sanctuary behind Caroline.
Not only that, she even made the first accusation.
"Caroline, look! Tendo wants to bully me again!"
Caroline was standing under the awning, holding a cup of iced green tea.
She smiled as Liuli ran over, first wiping a grain of rice from Liuli's mouth, then offering a rare tease: "Oh? But what I saw just now looked like someone stealing someone else's rice ball, didn't it?"
"That must be a mistake, Caroline!"
"Is that so?"
Seeing that Caroline wasn't going to help her against Tendo, Liuli stuck out her tongue, then quickly devoured the rest of the rice ball, her cheeks puffed out like a little hamster.
Her ravenous eating was less about gluttony and more about retaliation for Tendo teasing her yesterday.
Though the method of retaliation was perhaps a little childish.
Ignoring Liuli's small prank, Tendo, in turn, handed the 'Rainbow Shell,' a symbol of good luck, to Caroline.
After doing this, Tendo's gaze swept over the crowd and landed on another railing nearby.
A tall, skinny figure with curly, instant-noodle hair was lounging casually in a deck chair, holding a comic book, with an unfinished bag of tomato-flavored potato chips resting beside him.
Tendo walked over and kicked the person's heel.
"After all this time, you're still as lazy as ever."
Hearing Tendo's words, Jeremiah slowly lifted his head, his half-lidded eyes showing no surprise, as if he had known Tendo would come.
He lowered his comic book slightly and said languidly: "Speak for yourself. You haven't changed much either, still as confident as ever, looking down on everyone."
"Tendo, you know him?"
Liuli curiously edged closer, examining Jeremiah on the deck chair.
However, the adult Jeremiah looked completely different from his childhood self, so much so that Liuli didn't immediately recognize the Stars NO. 7.
Caroline walked over, providing the answer to Liuli.
"That's Jeremiah."
Hearing Caroline, Liuli was even more confused.
"Jeremiah? Who?"
A moment later, Liuli's eyes widened, and she pointed at Jeremiah, exclaiming: "Oh! I remember now! The short squirt from back then!"
"Pfft!"
Hearing Liuli call him a 'short squirt,' the chip he had just put in his mouth nearly flew out, and a dark shadow instantly crossed his forehead.
He rubbed his temples and explained helplessly: "My Frost Giant bloodline hadn't fully activated back then, of course I wasn't tall."
Recalling the incident from their childhood, Liuli couldn't help but laugh.
"But you were really short then! I was taller than you by half a head~"
Saying this, Liuli gestured with her hand above her head, as if recreating the scene across time and space.
Mr. Jeremiah sighed, then closed his comic book.
Because Jeremiah had other topics he was more interested in discussing than the nickname 'short squirt.'
He looked at Liuli and said resignedly: "Liuli, you and I are from the same family, your ignorance makes me feel very non-existent."
"Huh? You're in the Frost Tone Family too? But why don't I remember you at all?"
"That's because right after I arrived, the old geezers in the ctreated me as some kind of 'Frost God Emissary' and sent me to the Winter Domain for training. I've only recently been released."
"Oh, I see. That's so pitiful."
Just as Liuli was saying this, she suddenly realized something.
"Wait! Did you say you're from the Star Frost Faction?"
Seeing Liuli finally catch the key point, Jeremiah shrugged, indicating that he was indeed one of them.
Upon receiving this confirmation, Liuli's face instantly grew anxious.
After all, those old things in the Star Frost Faction had always disliked her.
Could Jeremiah, this so-called 'Frost God Emissary,' suddenly appearing here mean those old geezers were planning to make a move here?
Fortunately, Tendo spoke up just in time, easing Liuli's tension.
"Relax, Liuli. Jeremiah is not what you think; he really just came over to reminisce."
Liuli finally let out a sigh of relief, patting her chest.
"That's good! I thought they were trying to pull some other stunt!"
After saying this, Tendo looked back at Jeremiah and said: "Go on, besides catching up, what else did you want to say by finding us at this time?"
"After all, you appear lazy, but your principles are much stronger than most people's. I don't believe you would suddenly show up during such a sensitive period."
Jeremiah glanced at Tendo, slowly dropped his lazy tone, and became serious for once.
"Tendo, be careful of Chen Kong and the others."
Hearing this, Caroline looked thoughtful, while Liuli scratched her head in confusion.
Tendo, however, knew the reason perfectly well.
It was simply that Isabelle had been taken 'hostage' by the Star Frost Faction, forcing them to cause trouble at the concert.
However, even if Tendo didn't intervene, the original plot had Chen Kong and the others splitting into two groups: one to rescue Isabelle and the other to help Jing Liuli successfully host her concert.
Therefore, Tendo remained very calm about Jeremiah's warning.
"Mhm, understood."
Seeing his composure, Jeremiah reopened his comic book.
"Suit yourself. I've said what I needed to say. Don't come looking for me if things go wrong."
Hearing this, Tendo couldn't help but laugh.
"For someone as lazy as you to make a special trip here, it seems their actions violated your sense of justice, didn't they?"
Jeremiah did not speak, simply looking at his comic book.
But silence, sometimes... is an answer.
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