Chapter 144: Chapter 43: You Are Not Her
Siegfried widened his eyes, trembling as he wanted to touch the Valkyrie's hand again, but hesitated, fearing that any movement might make the white-haired beauty in front of him disappear.
But soon he realized something was wrong. Siegfried vividly remembered that Cecilia had perished in the second eruption. So, what was this white figure appearing before him?
"Daddy!"
Siegfried lowered his gaze and saw the smiling little girl with golden eyes staring at him. He gasped, "Sirin!?"
Instinctively, he prepared to draw Shamash from his pocket to shoot at the purple-haired girl, but was quickly stopped by Luo Lin.
"Siegfried, calm down!"
Feeling the strength on his wrist and the familiar scent lingering around his nose, the white-haired man slowly asked, "Cecilia?"
Luo Lin watched the emotions surging in Siegfried's blue eyes, a mixture of anger and fear. He struggled intensely, his gaze complex, leaving her unsure of what to say.
"Sieg..."
The scene froze. The white-haired man and woman stood in the midst of the bustling crowd, one holding the other's hand, with a child and what seemed to be a friend watching, resembling a scene from a third-rate romantic comedy.
But Pardofelis didn't feel the light-heartedness of a comedy. Her keen senses picked up the increasingly ominous atmosphere from the subtle expressions and movements of the two, even the purple-haired girl remained unusually quiet, her golden eyes lowered.
Pardofelis's intuition screamed at her to flee.
She felt like just escaping this street wouldn't be enough; she had to flee to the other end of the city. It's dangerous, her longstanding intuition told her it would be better to leave this city overnight!
"So, this crisis might destroy the entire city..."
Pardofelis rubbed her hands, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.
---Luck, please tell me what I should do now!
A gust of wind blew, and a few leaves appeared in the cat-eared girl's sight. She watched most of the leaves disappear with the wind at the end of the street, while a few remaining ones spun and landed on Sirin's purple hair.
Escape, or...
Pardofelis took a deep breath and made her decision.
She squatted down, delicately removed the leaves from Sirin's head, and softly said, "Are they your parents?"
Sirin turned her head, her golden eyes giving Pardofelis a chilling feeling of discomfort. Confused, she said, "Um... Mom and Dad used to get along very well, but they look strange now..."
"...Why not just tell them you want a hug?" Pardofelis forced back her fear, swallowed hard, and suggested.
"...Okay, I'll try."
Sirin turned her head, opened her arms towards the two still in stalemate, closed her eyes tightly, and shouted, "Daddy, Mommy, please stop fighting!"
...
In the end, the white-haired man lowered his hand, letting go of the prepared gun. The tension in his muscles eased.
Luo Lin also breathed a sigh of relief and squatted down to rub Sirin's head. "Okay, Sirin, Daddy and Mommy aren't fighting. It's just... been a long time since we met, so they're a bit excited."
"Really?" The purple-haired girl asked.
Pardofelis, standing aside, twitched her lips. Clearly not.
But after Sirin's shout broke the stalemate, the tense atmosphere dissipated. Pardofelis stared at Luo Lin soothing Sirin, feeling a sense of relief that her life and the city were safe.
Siegfried naturally heard Luo Lin's words. He glanced around, and now those strange feelings lingering in his heart had an explanation! Turns out, he was trapped in an illusion!
After finally calming Sirin down, Luo Lin turned to look at Siegfried, only to find that the white-haired man had turned away.
"Siegfried..."
"Don't call me that." Siegfried said, "You're not her."
"..."
The man took heavy steps and disappeared into the surging crowd.
Luo Lin pursed her lips, her brows furrowed.
"Mommy? What's wrong with Daddy? Doesn't he love you anymore?" Sirin asked worriedly.
"No, Daddy's just very tired. He just came back from a business trip, and was called back to work by his boss..."
"What's work?"
"A terrible thing that makes people stop loving each other."
Sirin nodded in confusion, extending her hand into a fist. "Can we just get rid of work? Then Daddy will come back, right?"
"My dear Sirin, good idea, but work can't be physically eliminated, okay?" Luo Lin rubbed Sirin's cheek helplessly, gently picking her up. "Alright, Daddy's gone busy again. Looks like we can only go find your sister."
"Mmm..."
Luo Lin turned her head and saw the cat-eared girl trying to slip away cautiously, calling out, "Hey, Pardofelis, I need a little help..."
"Ahaha, um, I've never heard that name before, I'm just a passing cat, nothing else..."
"I'll pay you, a lot of money."
Luo Lin took out a bunch of shiny coins with cat paw prints from her pocket, the crisp collision sound piercing through the noisy street and reaching the cat-eared girl's ears.
Pardofelis slowed her pace, hesitating in her voice, "Although you know me, I'm not feeling well today, and merchants need rest too..."
Luo Lin raised an eyebrow.
So it wasn't just enough?
So she took out a few more gemstones from her pocket. The gems were translucent purple, smooth on the outside but with intricate patterns resembling stars and galaxies inside.
Pardofelis stood still, staring at the things in Luo Lin's hands, sighing, "Starstones? Boss, this quality of starstones is rare. But even with such high quality, they can't buy much..."
"Is this not enough?"
Luo Lin narrowed her eyes, asking softly, "System, give me something big."
[Something big? You mean...?]
"Can you do it?"
[Sure thing, watch closely!]
Accompanied by a crisp sound, the girl felt something new in her pocket. She put the starstone back and pulled out the newly appeared item. It was a translucent, azure object, neatly shaped as if it were naturally meant to be that way.
Held between Luo Lin's fingers, it swayed gently, reflecting a dreamy hue under the sunlight.
Luo Lin looked at it with interest and said, "Pardofelis, how about this instead? Are you interested?"
Pardofelis rushed to Luo Lin's side almost as fast as a sprinter, gazing at the not-too-small object with fascination, sighing contentedly.
"Crystal... you are truly... wealthy." The cat-eared girl shook her head, "So, tell me, what do you need me to do? Let's get one thing clear, if the conditions are too outrageous, I'll still bolt, okay?"
"I just want to know some interesting rumors in this city and then find someone... no, two people."
"Kiana Kaslana and Raiden Mei... Of course, the second person might also be known as Dr. Mei, right?"
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