"Why did you bring a little kid along to catch a wanted criminal?"
Firefly: …
Clara: …
Hearing the words that came out of Yanqing's mouth, Clara's face instantly darkened.
At the same time, Firefly's body went stiff. Then she looked at Yanqing with something close to pity in her expression, as if she already saw exactly what was about to happen to him.
"Do I… really look… that young~?" Clara raised her head, the dark cloud on her face vanishing in an instant.
In its place was a sweet, adorable, angelically pure and kind smile.
Seeing Clara's cute expression, even Yanqing, who spent his days in the company of swords, felt a wave of wholesome comfort soothe his soul.
The wariness on his face gradually faded, replaced by a smile of his own.
"Young? Not exactly, I just think you're quite a cute little girl~"
Clara: …
"Little… girl?"
Heh heh heh~ Heh heh heh~ Heh heh heh~
Under Yanqing's gaze, Clara's expression slowly grew strange. The air even filled with the faint sound of teeth grinding.
"Huh, where's that sound coming from?" Hearing the sudden grinding noise, Yanqing scratched his head in confusion.
"You're Yanqing, right?" Clara suddenly spoke up, calling back the still-puzzled youth.
"Hmm?" Yanqing snapped back to attention, looking at Clara questioningly.
"Die!"
"Urk…!"
But the next second, Clara's little fist drove straight into Yanqing's stomach.
Well… Actually, Clara had wanted to hit him in the face.
As for why she ultimately settled for his stomach…
"A little kid, huh? A little girl, huh?"
"Ow!"
"This beautiful young lady is gonna beat you to death!"
Clara's mouth relentlessly berated Yanqing, but her hands weren't actually hitting that hard. She controlled her strength perfectly.
Just enough to make him feel the physical pain without actually causing any real harm.
"I'm just a bit short, that's all! I am not a child!"
"And it's not like I'll never grow taller!"
Firefly: …
Watching Clara's current rampage, even Firefly, who spent day and night with her, couldn't help but twitch at the corner of her mouth.
'Speaking of which, just how old is Clara, really?'
Firefly couldn't help but feel curious about Clara's age.
She remembered very clearly that from the moment she joined the Stellaron Hunters, Clara had looked exactly like this…
And hadn't changed a bit since…
So, just how old was Clara?
…
"Mmm… That's strange, why does my body ache all over?"
After being beaten up by Clara, Yanqing once again had his memories of that period erased by her. Feeling the aches spreading through his body, he was somewhat confused.
But recalling that his memory showed no gaps, and finding no wounds on his person, Yanqing simply chalked it up to being overly tired lately, which was causing the physical discomfort.
Shaking off the bodily pain, Yanqing turned his gaze to the two girls before him, Clara and Firefly, and asked skeptically:
"Who are you two? And why are you here?"
"…"
Hearing Yanqing's words, Firefly shot Clara a somewhat helpless look.
'Why did you go and delete his memories again…'
"The mouse slipped a bit while I was deleting files, ended up deleting a few extra. No big deal, right?" Upon hearing this, Clara covered her lips with a hand, let out a deliberate yawn, and waved dismissively.
As if accidentally deleting a few extra files was the most normal thing in the world for Clara.
"…"
Yeah, no, it was completely not normal.
Memory deletion, as one of Clara's authorities—how could there possibly be an issue like 'the mouse slipped'?
Clara's real reason for doing this was simply to give Yanqing a little punishment~
But still…
"Hmm… If the memory is gone, what kind of punishment is that even worth?"
Thinking this, Clara couldn't help but fall into deep contemplation.
"What are you two whispering about?" Watching Clara and Firefly, Yanqing tightened his grip on his sword. But the inexplicable pain radiating from his body caused his sword hand to tremble slightly.
"I'm Firefly, and this is Clara. We're here under General Jing Yuan's orders to apprehend the Stellaron Hunter, Blade."
Seeing that Yanqing was about to draw his sword, Firefly had no choice but to repeat what she'd said earlier.
"The General's orders? Do you have any proof?" Hearing Firefly's explanation, Yanqing didn't lower his guard.
"Uh, proof…" At that, Firefly was a bit stumped. She glanced at Clara beside her and blinked at her.
Seeming to hint: 'Change his memory!'
"Just take out your Jade Abacus and send a message to Jing Yuan. Problem solved." Clara, still lost in thought about the meaning of her earlier actions, casually waved a hand at Yanqing.
"…"
Yanqing didn't immediately pull out his Jade Abacus to message Jing Yuan and verify their identities. Instead, he first narrowed his eyes, observing the two of them carefully.
Only after confirming that these two seemingly harmless young women posed no threat did he cautiously take out his Jade Abacus and send a message to Jing Yuan:
[General, I've encountered two individuals here. One named…]
Yanqing briefly typed out the situation and sent it to Jing Yuan.
"It's not that I doubt you two, but until I receive word from the General, I must ask you to… rest peacefully here for a while."
After sending the message, Yanqing offered Firefly and Clara a smile.
Firefly: …
Firefly was no fool. Yanqing's words might sound polite on the surface, but the underlying meaning was a threat.
If Clara hadn't shown no reaction to this, Firefly would have long since transformed into Sam and lit Yanqing up.
Beep~ Beep~ Beep~ Beep~
The moment Yanqing's words landed, just as he was about to sit cross-legged and quietly wait for Jing Yuan's reply, the sound of a message notification suddenly rang out.
Hearing it, Yanqing glanced at Clara and Firefly, slowly retrieved his phone, and looked at it.
[Miss Clara and Miss Firefly are honored guests of the Luofu. Yanqing, remember to protect them well.]
Reading the message on his screen, Yanqing's expression shifted to one of surprise. He looked at the two girls again, then replied with a single "Understood" before sheathing his sword.
"Ladies, my behavior earlier was rash. My apologies."
Yanqing gave a slight bow, offering his apology to Clara and Firefly.
"But please understand, for the sake of…"
"Alright, alright, no need to explain. We forgive you." Firefly, ever understanding, waved her hand at Yanqing.
But in her heart, she'd already made up her mind: she'd find a time later to give Yanqing a proper beating…
'Hmph… How dare you call my wife a child? Just see if I don't burn a layer of skin off you!'
Yanqing (internally): Sis, I don't know anything! I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about!!!
…
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