After the food was brought over, Xiaoxi nervously ate while quietly observing every move Shandie made.
Taking orders, serving dishes, clearing tables—Shandie carried out all these tasks with a blank expression, her movements swift and practiced.
Her long hair was pinned up, and her wings folded back as much as possible so they wouldn’t brush against the other diners.
The longer Xiaoxi watched, the more she felt the scene wasn’t as disconnected as it first seemed.
Shandie was just part of this everyday environment; few people paid her any special attention.
“Luodie, come serve the dishes—”
Luodie momentarily disappeared from sight, and only then did Xiaoxi notice that the bowl of rice topped with sauce in front of Ye Xinglan was barely touched.
“What’s wrong, Xinglan? Not feeling hungry?”
“No, I’m fine. I actually have a good appetite.”
Ye Xinglan avoided Xiaoxi’s gaze, suppressing her anxiety as she hurriedly took a few bites. She was extremely tense right now.
Ye Xinglan was hesitating over what to do. If the Butcher was caught, she was very likely to be implicated.
The wisest choice would be to leave the Old City and find Molan’er. In the worst case, she might have to leave Summersea City immediately, not sit here wasting time eating with Xiaoxi.
She had originally planned to spend more time with Xiaoxi before subtly revealing her identity, but now?
If she truly had to escape Summersea City, what would happen to Xiaoxi? How could she explain everything?
It suddenly occurred to Ye Xinglan that before confirming any relationship with Xiaoxi, she had no real ties in this city. If something happened, she could just run.
But now it was different. If the Association discovered her identity and she had to flee, how would Xiaoxi see her? Would she think she was a wanted fraud?
Or… maybe she should take the initiative and confess to Xiaoxi before the Association caught on. That way, there might still be room for explanation.
Ye Xinglan couldn’t make a decision and, under such circumstances, she naturally had no appetite.
It felt like a teacher glaring at the students from the podium, asking those who didn’t do their homework to stand up.
You held your blank workbook in hand, heart pounding, debating whether to get up or hope the teacher didn’t notice.
Xiaoxi’s phone notification startled Ye Xinglan, her heart nearly leaping to her throat. Xiaoxi grabbed her phone, frowning deeper and deeper, then suddenly looked up at Ye Xinglan—
“Xinglan, let me try your dish… Are you alright? Why is your forehead sweating so much?”
“It’s probably just the heat? I’m fine. Here, you eat.”
Xiaoxi pulled out a tissue and carefully wiped the sweat from Ye Xinglan’s forehead before continuing to eat.
Ye Xinglan’s grip on her skirt loosened quietly—could the message just received be unrelated to her?
Tentatively, Ye Xinglan spoke, “What’s wrong, Xiaoxi? Your brow is so tightly furrowed.”
“The fugitive we were supposed to catch today got away,” Xiaoxi lowered her voice.
Ye Xinglan exhaled deeply in relief. Although the Butcher was definitely a terrible person, she now felt like she had narrowly escaped disaster.
This meant neither Xiaoxi nor the Association would suspect her for the time being.
But Xiaoxi wasn’t actually that concerned about the Butcher escaping. What troubled her were the last two sentences from Miss L’s message.
“They have preliminarily interrogated others caught at the scene. The Butcher was indeed in the basement making a deal with someone.”
“According to them, the Butcher often lures monsters to the basement under the pretense of a magic power transaction and kills them. But today’s buyer only met the Butcher; they just heard through the door what sounded like a young girl’s voice.”
“However, we didn’t find any suspects nearby matching that description. Did you notice anything? I think I saw you walking past the butcher’s shop with a girl.”
After hesitating for a moment, Xiaoxi replied:
“No, you’re mistaken. That was my girlfriend, coming to meet me for a meal.”
Setting her phone down, Xiaoxi quietly watched Ye Xinglan, who seemed to have finally found her appetite and was eating eagerly, unaware that Xiaoxi was beginning to suspect her.
Xiaoxi still found it hard to believe Ye Xinglan was involved in this, but… the non-conclusive clues pointing to her were too many to ignore, stirring suspicion.
But why would Ye Xinglan resort to buying magic power this way? By logic, she shouldn’t need it.
Could Ye Xinglan be a monster? Was this the secret she was hiding?
Xiaoxi wasn’t sure. She knew that monsters always showed monster traits—like Shandie’s wings or that little fox girl, Huniang.
Yet, after all the time spent with Ye Xinglan, countless moments of honest interaction, Xiaoxi had never noticed a single monster trait on her.
Though exceptions existed—in theory, the higher a monster’s rank, the less obvious their monster traits, because these traits were distortions caused by imperfect control over magic circuits.
The worse a monster controlled their magic circuit, the more obvious their traits.
But Xiaoxi had never met a monster who perfectly controlled their magic circuit and showed no monster traits at all.
If Ye Xinglan truly was a monster, she must be exceptionally skilled in magic control. So then why would she need to buy magic power?
The most plausible conclusion was that Ye Xinglan was uninvolved… but every time Ye Xinglan mentioned hiding something from her, Xiaoxi’s gut instinct told her something was off.
They ate their lunch with heavy hearts. After finishing, neither was in a hurry to leave. Xiaoxi kept secretly watching Shandie work, noticing her expression darken the longer she looked.
After an hour or two, as the restaurant began to empty, Shandie finally sat down across from Xiaoxi with a bowl of egg fried rice.
One major downside of working in a restaurant was the inability to eat properly during busy hours; at least now she could rest and eat.
“Peeking at someone else working isn’t a good habit.”
Xiaoxi smiled, setting her phone aside as she watched Shandie loosen her apron and start eating.
“How can that be called peeking? I just came here to eat and happened to run into you.”
“So—” Xiaoxi lowered her voice, “The Association pays you decently, right? You shouldn’t need a part-time job. I get the feeling the boss lady isn’t exactly… friendly to you.”
Shandie thought carefully as she chewed, not necessarily wanting to get involved in this topic.
She was an insider at the Association; revealing her true situation had no benefit. But……
Suddenly inspired, Shandie wanted to tell Xiaoxi a little story and hear her opinion.
“Aunt Zhang’s just a bit grumpy. She’s actually quite kind to me—do you know how I met Aunt Zhang?”