"Oh?"
Stelle brandished her camera, shoving the incriminating evidence in Anming's face. Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
March 7th, initially skeptical, couldn't deny the fresh love bite on Anming's neck. She puffed her cheeks. "Anming! Which dream girl did you sneak off to last night?!"
The mark was new—so new it might as well have been stamped there seconds ago.
This was like March valiantly holding the front lines with her bow, only to turn around and find her strategist buried in a fox spirit's embrace.
"...?"
Anming's eye twitched. When had Liuying done that?! He had zero memory of it! Then again, last night's kisses had been... numerous. Maybe one had strayed.
He swore on his nonexistent dignity—nothing else had happened. They'd just... fallen asleep tangled together.
Qingque shrugged, her expression screaming "Grandmaster, I tried." She'd done her best, but Stelle's nose was sharper than the Divination Commission's Diting hounds.
If they tossed her into the Ten-Lords Commission, she'd solve every cold case in an hour.
Would you rather be a nameless Nameless... or the greatest sniffer in Xianzhou history?
Wait. That sounded wrong.
Stelle craned her neck, peeking into the room—only to see golden flames ignite, followed by a mechanized knight clad in radiant armor stepping into the hallway.
Well. That exceeded expectations.
People could have weird tastes, but this was pushing it!
Stelle gaped. "So you're into... mecha?"
"Wait, isn't that the Stellaron Hunter, Sam—oh, never mind." March pulled up the IPC's most-wanted list, comparing it to the golden knight. "Different model."
Phew. For a second, she'd thought Anming had gotten scammed by a femme fatale too.
Not that she cared! She was just worried he'd get tricked out of his last Mora.
"Leave now, and no one gets hurt."
A mechanical voice boomed from the armor before flames erupted from its core.
"Or I will ignite the sea of stars!"
"So cringe."
"So cool!"
March and Stelle spoke simultaneously.
Stelle, utterly unfazed, reached out to pet the armor. "This is amazing. Anming, next time you cuddle a mech, invite me."
March: "???"
The world had truly gone mad.
Inside the armor, Liuying flushed. She'd long since gotten used to these lines, but saying them in front of Anming? Mortifying.
Then she noticed Stelle—and memories flickered.
"We'll find him!"
A gray-haired girl had once snatched her wine bottle, eyes blazing. "So don't you dare give up. Live—until you meet him again."
Liuying had stared, dumbfounded, as the girl chugged the entire bottle, cheeks flushing crimson before hissing: "If I catch you drinking alone again, I'm draining your savings on booze!"
The irony wasn't lost on her. Like Anming, Stelle had lost her memories—though how remained a mystery. Elio hadn't explained.
Liuying had considered seeking Stelle out. But on Jarilo-VI, her heart had only room for one reunion.
Elio had mentioned meeting Stelle again in Penecony—the planet of dreams. But scripts? She'd tossed those aside.
Now, she was just Liuying—a firefly chasing summer's ghost.
Sorry, Stelle.
She'd chosen Anming first.
"So... you slept with a robot?" March's gaze dropped to her own chest, then the armor's considerably more impressive plating.
...
Oh.
OH.
"You horny mecha-loving hack!"
"Excuse me?!"
Anming pointed at himself, baffled. March had been weirdly aggressive lately.
Qingque's jaw hung open. Could Fu Xuan even compete in this battlefield?! This was heading toward "Great Divination Engine vs. Stellar Ignition"—a clash that'd shatter the cosmos!
This wasn't right!
If she had to suggest a solution? A common enemy.
Nothing united rivals faster than shared hatred.
But what—who—could possibly threaten both Fu Xuan and this armored warrior enough to make them ally?
Qingque's brain short-circuited. Eh, Grandmaster will dream up an answer.
Truly, the Preceptor's wisdom held:
Triangles are the most stable structure.
—Qingque, scholar of applied chaos theory.
"Three Nameless, one Sword Sovereign—remember this."
The mechanical voice faded as golden flames dissipated, revealing flowing silver-gray hair. Liuying—transformation device in hand—faced them all.
"I am Anming's beloved."
Silence.
Qingque's brain blue-screened.
Was this how youths flirted now?!
March's heart lurched. Why did this... hurt? It shouldn't. It didn't concern her.
Yet her heterochromatic eyes dimmed with a bitterness she knew all too well.
Liuying squeezed Anming's hand, then turned to Stelle—those familiar eyes.
Stelle's fingers twitched. "Have we... met before?"
Wait.
Wasn't this exactly like Anming's "I dreamed of a firefly girl" spiel?! Except—oh—those weren't dreams!
Dan Heng, oblivious to the tension, typed meeting notes.
Liuying smiled, offering her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Liuying."
Perhaps it wasn't time for Stelle to remember. But Liuying could wait.
Their shared nights under the stars wouldn't fade so easily.
Stelle blinked. That inexplicable deja vu—like spotting a stranger in a crowd, only to lose them just as fast—lingered.