“Straw…” Hearing Belle’s excited voice, Jiang Yu turned his head to look.
There, a girl in a white floral nightdress stood at the doorway.
Her hair was somewhat disheveled, as if she had just gotten out of bed.
Beneath the floral hem was a pair of long, shapely, snow-white legs, and her flawless feet were slipped into sandals.
The loose nightdress and her fresh aura combined to give off the perfect vibe of the sweet, approachable girl next door.
For a moment, Jiang Yu stared in a daze, completely forgetting the concept of polite looking.
Belle stared back in a daze for two seconds.
A visible blush rushed to her face, spreading all the way to her ears.
“Ah!” Belle let out a shy shriek and immediately darted out of sight.
“Wise!
There’s a guest in the shop!
Why didn’t you tell me?!” Covering her burning cheeks, she scrambled up to the second floor.
With a loud *bang*, her bedroom door slammed shut.
Belle locked the door and threw herself onto the bed, burying her head under the blanket.
She had only come down in her pajamas because she thought there were no customers or anyone talking!
Who knew there would be someone in the workshop?
And that it would be Jiang Yu of all people!
How annoying!
He saw her looking so messy!
Would he think she was just a sloppy girl now?!
What should she do?
This was so embarrassing!
Wait, did he bring the cream strawberries?
But how did he know she loved cream strawberries?!
…
Listening to the rapid thumping footsteps going upstairs and the final slam of the door, Jiang Yu and Wise exchanged a look, smiling awkwardly.
Wise offered a gentle smile.
“Please, have a seat.” Jiang Yu sat on the sofa, feeling as if he were sitting on pins and needles.
Soon, two Bangboo wearing scarves carried over a small tea table and a large wooden chair.
After setting everything up, the Bangboo brought over the tea set, placed it on the table, and then scurried away in a flash.
Sitting in the large wooden chair, Wise scalded the tea set with boiling water, poured a small cup of tea, and placed it before Jiang Yu.
“Sorry about that.
Belle isn’t usually like this.” “I understand, I understand.” Jiang Yu accepted the teacup with both hands.
Looking at the thick green liquid, he was slightly worried that it might be laced with some nasty drug.
“What’s wrong, Jiang Yu?
Is the tea not to your liking?” While he was hesitating, Wise suddenly looked at him with a smile.
“No, I just haven’t had proper tea like this in a long time.” Lifting the small cup, he steeled his nerves and took a gentle sip.
Even if it was poisoned, with his current physical stats, he could easily withstand it.
Fortunately, the tea was richly fragrant, mellow, and refreshing.
There didn’t seem to be any sign of poison.
It seemed Belle’s brother was quite open-minded.
Both sat in silence, drinking their tea.
Every time Jiang Yu set his cup down, Wise would refill it.
Jiang Yu would drink, and Wise would top it up again.
But neither noticed a large blue eye flashing briefly across the screen.
The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
Just as Jiang Yu was getting full of tea, Belle finally came downstairs, having changed into casual clothes.
With the addition of a cheerful girl, the room’s atmosphere instantly relaxed.
“Thank you, Jiang Yu, for making a special trip to visit me,” Belle said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Her eyes darted toward the box of rich, milky strawberries on the table, a bit sheepishly.
This was the first time a boy other than her brother had ever seen her looking so unkempt.
Thinking back to her messy hair just now, it was so embarrassing!
But those cream strawberries smelled absolutely amazing!
“It’s nothing.
I was passing by and decided to drop in.
I’m just glad you’re okay,” Jiang Yu smiled as he looked at the shy Belle.
Meeting Jiang Yu’s clear, bright gaze, Belle’s remarkably pretty face quickly flushed with a charming blush.
Just then, the large eye appeared on the computer screen again.
After scanning the room with an intriguing look, it vanished.
Wise noticed that Jiang Yu seemed to have already spotted Fairy.
Thinking back to what happened in the Crate Hollow yesterday, he decided not to hide it any longer.
“Fairy, come out and say hello.” Receiving the command, a large blue eye appeared on the screen, and a female voice came from the computer.
“Hello, guest.
Welcome to our shop.
I am a Type III General-Purpose Tactical Integrated AI.
You may call me Fairy.” “Hello, Fairy.
Nice to meet you,” Jiang Yu said calmly.
“Is this what was inside Nicole’s safe?” “Yes.
It was because Fairy was activated that Belle fell into a coma.
Fortunately, it didn’t cause her any actual harm.” Wise answered Jiang Yu’s question.
After all that trouble, it turned out they were fighting over an AI.
He was no stranger to AI; after all, smartphones on Blue Star all came with their own built-in assistants, like Xiao Ai or Xiao V.
The siblings hadn’t expected Jiang Yu to be so calm upon seeing Fairy.
They had been incredibly shocked yesterday.
But the Phaethon siblings had no idea Jiang Yu was treating Fairy like the common AIs from Blue Star.
“Fairy!
Did you see what just happened?” “Negative.
I did not see anything.
Without my master’s permission, I do not observe my master’s private life.” Facing Belle’s interrogation, Fairy answered flatly, without a single trace of lying.
This made Belle fume.
Fairy had actually learned how to lie!
She wanted to argue with Fairy, but seeing Jiang Yu drinking his tea so serenely, she could only deflate and drop it.
Jiang Yu, however, was surprised that this AI could communicate with humans so smoothly.
“Fairy, can you introduce the Outer Ring?” Jiang Yu asked, suddenly interested.
Fairy didn’t answer right away.
She looked at Belle first, who gave a grumpy nod.
Only then did Fairy answer Jiang Yu.
“The Outer Ring is located outside the New Eridu metropolitan area.
It is an undeveloped region close to the Gobi Desert, sparsely populated, and rich in petroleum, a fuel resource from the Old Civilization.
It is also a key resource zone contested by various biker gangs.” Petroleum?
Biker gangs?
Jiang Yu was somewhat surprised.
He hadn’t expected people in this world to still use petroleum as a resource.
It seemed ether energy hadn’t completely taken over this world.
“There is no official presence to handle Hollows in the Outer Ring, so how do the people living there survive?” “Apologies.
No relevant answers have been retrieved from any official data.” Wise picked up the question.
“The Outer Ring has specialized logistics companies.
Their transport routes pass through settlements of all sizes, providing basic necessities for the people there.” Jiang Yu nodded.
He noticed Belle was glaring daggers at Fairy, while Fairy completely ignored her.
It turned out this legendary Proxy had such a cute side.
He glanced at the sky outside the window.
Jiang Yu tactically pulled out his phone, swiped a few times, and prepared to take his leave.
Sharp-eyed Belle immediately caught a glimpse of his wallet screen.
100 Dennies?
He was literally living hand-to-mouth.
Besides, 100 Dennies wasn’t even enough for a decent meal.
She could hardly believe her eyes.
She wanted to take a closer look, but Jiang Yu quickly swiped away.
“Oh, right.
There’s one more thing I’d like to ask of you.” Jiang Yu suddenly remembered his plan to enter a Hollow for a run.
“Go ahead.
As long as it’s within our power, it’s no problem,” Wise smiled.
“Could you help me make a Carrot for the Dead-End Hollow?” Jiang Yu got straight to the point.
Curious, Belle beat her brother to the punch.
“Didn’t you just get out of the Crate Hollow yesterday?
Why do you want to go to the Dead-End Hollow so soon?” Jiang Yu was very direct.
He smiled.
“I’m running a bit low on cash, so I wanted to see if I could make some extra money in the Hollow.” Entering a Hollow as a Hollow Raider was illegal, but the quick money made it irresistible, so his excuse held up perfectly.
Belle glanced at the enticing cream strawberries.
*Poor?
If you’re poor, why did you buy such expensive strawberries!* They had gone up to 19,000 Dennies a box now.
She had been craving them for so long but couldn’t bring herself to buy them.
Wise found it strange.
With the formidable strength Jiang Yu had shown in the previous commissions, cooperating with Proxies on Inter-Knot jobs shouldn’t leave him in such a state.
“Oh?
By the way, Wise, didn’t Shepherd say he was in a hurry for us to help him find a suitable Agent?” Wise was somewhat surprised.
His sister seemed a bit different today.
Perhaps because of that box of strawberries she had craved for so long, she was taking the outsider’s side.
At this moment, Wise finally realized just how detestable a smooth-talking home-invader could be.
He instinctively glanced at Jiang Yu’s hair.
Black.
Thank goodness it wasn’t blond, or he would have closed the door and set Eos on him.
“Yeah, he asked me this afternoon if I’d found anyone suitable.
It seems like he’s dealing with an urgent matter.” Wise looked at Jiang Yu and asked with a smile, “Jiang Yu, would you be interested in taking this commission?”