"Strange…" After discussing the affairs of the Xianzhou, halfway through his explanation, Elio suddenly let out a puzzled sound.
"What is it? Did something unexpected happen?" Seeing the shift in Elio's expression, Kafka asked curiously.
"The Stellaron… has vanished," Elio said, his gaze growing somewhat grave.
Among the countless scripts Elio had simulated, events like the Xianzhou Luofu suffering heavy losses or its general becoming a Voidranger had all occurred in those simulations.
But the disappearance of a Stellaron… this was the first time such a thing had happened across all those countless scripts…
"The Stellaron vanished?" Kafka repeated the words. Without the Stellaron as a catalyst, they couldn't lure the Astral Express to the Xianzhou…
Which meant they couldn't make the Xianzhou owe them a favor.
Clara: …
Listening to their conversation, Clara couldn't help but feel a bit guilty inside, though nothing showed on her face.
Firefly, however, wore a peculiar expression as she looked at Clara.
Hearing what Elio had just said, Firefly's mind also drifted to those two individuals from before.
If she remembered correctly, Clara had snatched the Stellaron from them back then…
"It seems… we'll have to give up on the Xianzhou for now…" Elio scratched his cat-like head, sounding somewhat resigned.
Blade: …
Blade had intended to say something, but his mouth closed again just after opening.
"Hm? Firefly, what's that look for?" Elio, still puzzling over the Stellaron's sudden disappearance, suddenly noticed Firefly staring oddly at Clara.
Elio: …
Elio shifted his gaze to Clara, a possibility dawning on him.
It was normal for a script to go wrong, to deviate slightly—after all, he didn't possess the ability to fully foresee the future.
But… whenever a deviation occurred, it typically had traces, a beginning and an end…
Yet this Stellaron matter seemed to have neither…
Therefore, the one capable of causing such a thing must be an existence that shouldn't appear in his scripts at all…
And as for an existence that shouldn't appear in his scripts… wasn't there one right before his eyes?
Elio: Staring~
"What?" Feeling Elio's highly suspicious gaze, Clara replied without her heart skipping a beat, her face not even flushing, showing not a hint of nervousness.
"You can't just blame me for everything that happens outside your expectations, right?"
Clara said with a touch of irritation, as if the matter had absolutely nothing to do with her.
"..." Elio stared at Clara for a while but couldn't detect any signs of lying from her expression.
Hah, little amateur, got you handled!
Looking at Elio's expression, Clara couldn't help but feel a surge of triumph inside.
Little kitten, don't underestimate the acting skills of us Masked Fools!
"Firefly, you tell me." Knowing he wouldn't get anything from Clara's face, Elio turned his attention to Firefly.
"Um…" Firefly glanced at Clara, unsure what to say.
Clara: …
Sensing Firefly's look asking for her opinion, Clara's cheek twitched slightly.
No one could see through a Masked Fool's acting, and it never went wrong, unless…
Unless that Masked Fool had a pig teammate by her side…
Although she hadn't said a word, Firefly's expression and movements were constantly telling Elio that the Stellaron matter was definitely Clara's doing!
Elio wasn't a fool. He took in Firefly's expression and movements and became certain that the Stellaron's disappearance was absolutely connected to Clara.
But Elio didn't interrupt them, wanting to hear what story Firefly and Clara could cook up.
"…Just tell him 'the truth'," Clara paused for a moment before casually waving her hand.
Even though Elio already knew, she couldn't outright admit it.
So, in her phrasing, she subtly hinted to Firefly.
"Oh, okay." Firefly nodded, seeming to understand the meaning behind Clara's words.
"So, it's like this. Clara previously snatched a Stellaron from two people on a desolate planet."
"From their conversation at the time, it did seem like they were planning to bring the Stellaron to the Xianzhou."
Clara: ???
Wait, you're actually telling him?
After speaking, Firefly even blinked at Clara, as if saying:
"How was that? My performance was perfect~"
Clara: Impressive. Really impressive.
Clara really wanted to pull out her gun and shoot Firefly on the spot.
But then she thought, Firefly was her wife—couldn't shoot her.
If a Stellaron was gone, she could just snatch another, but if her wife was gone…
She could snatch her back too! Hehehe.
Hmph, little Firefly, once you're with me, don't even think about leaving… ever!
Otherwise, don't blame me for dragging you back, locking you up in a little dark room, and then…
Hehehe… hehehe… hehehe…
That's what Clara thought to herself, though she didn't really believe Firefly would ever leave her~
So… silly Firefly, I like you just as you are. Hehehe.
"Hmph, so it was you after all." Hearing Firefly's words, Elio snorted coldly.
"I don't know why you snatched their Stellaron, but right now, you need to hand it back to those two immediately or deploy the Stellaron onto the Luofu."
Elio didn't dwell on why Clara had taken the Stellaron; he just wanted her to fix the disrupted script as soon as possible.
"What do you mean 'snatch'? I clearly borrowed it, okay?" Hearing Elio's words, Clara quickly retorted.
"They tacitly agreed to it."
"You knocked them out, didn't you." Didn't Elio know Clara well enough? He naturally understood what she meant by 'tacit agreement.'
"Ehe?"
"Hmph, regardless, I don't care about the details." Elio snorted again.
"What I want now is for my script to get back on track."
"So, do you understand?"
"Mission guaranteed!" Clara chuckled, reaching out to grab Firefly's small hand. In the next second, she vanished, taking Firefly with her.
"What a living calamity…"
Elio grumbled silently to himself.
…
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