"SQUEAK SQUEAK (this way, this way)."

Ren Suo made a mouse-like sound. He was observing a piece of destroyed seating when Qiao Muyi let out a helpless sigh and walked over to him.

Ren Suo squatted at the church lectern, pointing to the only section of the black floor beneath it that hadn't been turned to charcoal by the flames. Qiao Muyi leaned in closer and, with the help of the noon sunlight filtering through holes in the ceiling, noticed some dirt on the floor.

The enhanced "Detective's Eye" allowed Qiao Muyi to quickly analyze the origin of the dirt: apart from the priest, no one else would go up to the lectern. Even if the church priest wasn't responsible for cleaning, they would certainly hire someone to clean daily. The church was neither large nor small. On the day of the fire, more than twenty parishioners had gathered for worship, so they could certainly afford to pay for cleaning—perhaps a parishioner even volunteered to do it...

Seeing Qiao Muyi start another round of brainstorming, Ren Suo yawned. He walked behind the broken walls of the church to check if anyone was coming and kept watch for her.

They were now at a church in Adachi District, Tokyo, having spent over an hour traveling here by train from Shinjuku.

The church had been reduced to ruins by fire fifteen days earlier. Twenty-three people were inside attending service at the time of the catastrophe. If it had been a mere fire, perhaps none would have been harmed; however, with the fire came the Source of Disaster.

The Source of Disaster was both the weak point and the trump card of the calamity. With no one able to kill the Source of Disaster, the intelligent, flame-born Source of Disaster had blocked all escape routes in the church. By the time the fire department completely extinguished the flames, they could only find twenty-three charred bodies.

Fortunately, the church was far enough from the two neighboring buildings to prevent the fire from becoming more serious.

It seemed the site had already been thoroughly investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the Martial Soul Hall. It was left unguarded and slated for redevelopment, cordoned off with police tape. When Ren Suo and Qiao Muyi arrived, they saw flowers covering a stone outside the tape, with every passerby bowing their heads in mourning.

The two of them had no choice but to sneak into the ruins. Fortunately, the fire had only blown off the ceiling and slightly damaged the walls, which were still intact enough to shield them from view. This allowed Qiao Muyi to investigate for a full two hours without being discovered.

A full two hours!

In the game, this would have been a mere 'BEEP,' Ren Suo thought. But in reality, it's much more demanding! Qiao Muyi needs over half an hour of brainstorming to find critical clues. Plus, I can't even play with my phone—it's running out of battery, I can't find a place to charge it, and I'll need it tonight.

So, he just stood there idly, silently flipping through "Xiao Suo's Secret Diary" in his mind to see if there were any clues left. Qiao Muyi was capable of finding clues on her own, but having played the game, Ren Suo quickly matched the investigation points to the game scenes and helped her speed up the process.

I should have categorized our relationship as 'father-daughter,' Ren Suo mused. I've truly gone to considerable trouble to help my "daughter" progress.

However, I know Qiao Muyi definitely wouldn't want to call me Dad, so I never brought it up.

After a while, Qiao Muyi stood up from behind the lectern. Ren Suo, relieved, immediately walked over and asked, "Did you find a clue?"

"Yes, I found one," Qiao Muyi replied, her right fist at her lips in a contemplative gesture. "Let's go."

"Go... go?" Ren Suo blinked. "Are we going to eat?"

"Not yet," said Qiao Muyi. "I need to follow this feeling and keep searching. We can eat later."

Ren Suo sighed and had no choice but to agree, following Qiao Muyi as they sneaked away from the church ruins.

However, Qiao Muyi seemed entranced. After leaving, she wandered the nearby residential area, constantly looking down at the dirt on the ground, even picking it up to rub and grind between her fingers. Ren Suo stopped by a drink vending machine to buy himself an energy drink that tasted like Pocari Sweat and even looked like Pocari Sweat...

Upon closer inspection, Ren Suo realized it was actually Pocari Sweat. Looking carefully at the label, he saw it was indeed a sports drink brand established by Flourishing Sakura Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., with the real name 'Pocari·sweat'!

So, you're not made in China? he wondered.

After walking on and off with Qiao Muyi for half an hour, Ren Suo, who possessed "Insight into the Mortal World," suddenly sensed that the patrolling officer on the bicycle seemed to have passed by for the second time!

Moreover, the officer had stopped and was squinting at him and Qiao Muyi!

Ren Suo immediately tugged Qiao Muyi, who looked as if she was eating dirt, but couldn't budge her. Damn it, he thought, we're both Third-turn Cultivators, so why is she so strong that I can't even pull her?

"Young Master, Young Master," Ren Suo called out urgently in a low voice. Only then did Qiao Muyi snap out of her daze, and Ren Suo took the opportunity to pull her away.

After they turned a corner into a nearby alley, out of the patrol officer's line of sight, Ren Suo complained, "Girl, you should be more careful. You're practically a wanted person, yet you're lingering in a residential area for so long. The police will notice you..."

Even though Flourishing Sakura People didn't have ID cards and their household registration system was a mess, patrol officers wouldn't stop them to ask for IDs. However, their unfamiliar faces appearing here were suspicious in themselves. Plus, with so many disasters happening in Tokyo recently, the police had become tense. Being noticed by the police was definitely not a good thing.

Qiao Muyi looked at Ren Suo, unconcerned, and said, "What's there to be afraid of? The police are definitely slower than us."

Unlike Qiao Muyi's optimism, Ren Suo was in uncharted territory regarding the game's plot. He was so nervous that even the urge to urinate subsided. He glanced at Qiao Muyi, who was wiping mud off her hands, and asked, "What were you looking for just now?"

"There was mud under the lectern. I've been looking for which area's soil most closely matches it," Qiao Muyi said, leaning against the wall of a nearby house. "My spell can discern subtle differences between soils. Following the trail here, I've found that the soil in this area is the closest match."

"So... what next?" Ren Suo tilted his head. "Does the soil here taste better?"

"I suspect that during the fire at the church, there was another person present, or someone entered the church before the service started," Qiao Muyi said. "That person is the key to how the Source of Disaster was created."

"The mud on their feet came from around here. Let's keep looking nearby."

Seeing Qiao Muyi's lips were dry, Ren Suo figured she hadn't drunk any water since arriving in Tokyo early that morning. He handed her the energy drink. "Girl, have some water."

"Sure." Qiao Muyi took the energy drink, took a sip, and then sensed something was off.

"What did you call me?"

"Huh?" Ren Suo blinked. He had been thinking their relationship was more like father and daughter, so he had unconsciously called her that. "Well, you see, wasn't it me who reminded you about the church clues? Wasn't it me who pulled you away when the police were watching? Wasn't it me who gave you water when you were thirsty? I think we can change our relationship to father and daughter..."

Qiao Muyi finished the rest of the energy drink, forcefully stuffed the empty bottle back into Ren Suo's chest, squinted at him, and turned to leave.

"Xiao Suo, let's go!"

Looks like she doesn't want to be my daughter after all, Ren Suo mused, shrugging.

Ren Suo looked around but didn't see a trash can—Tokyo had an extreme scarcity of them, rarely seen even in busy commercial areas, and even less so in Adachi District.

He shook the bottle, found a little drink left, opened it, and finished it. Qiao Muyi, observing him secretly from ahead, blushed.

How could you, Ren Suo! Qiao Muyi fumed internally. I thought of you as my close friend's husband, and you actually want to be my dad! And I'd almost finished that drink; how could he still drink from it? Ever heard of an indirect kiss? Did he do it on purpose?

But Ren Suo would actually hand me his half-drunk water, Qiao Muyi guessed, so he probably wouldn't mind such trivialities.

Of course, she didn't know that Ren Suo was the type of person who would even lick a roommate's ice cream clean. If not minding sharing a drink was akin to not minding an indirect kiss, then Ren Suo's level was at least not minding an indirect French kiss...

After another hour and a half of walking, Qiao Muyi finally followed the clues to her destination: a house sealed off by the police.

This was a very traditional single-family home, but the front gate had been torn down. Looking in from outside the police tape, one could see that the glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows near the courtyard was also shattered. Glass shards, wood chips, and other trash littered the weed-ridden yard, making it resemble a junkyard.

Ren Suo was certain this place was not one of the 33 investigation sites from the game—he had ground through those 33 sites dozens of times and knew every scene by heart. He was sure that, aside from the church, there were no other investigation sites in Adachi District.

Qiao Muyi silently observed for three minutes, then turned to leave.

"Aren't you going to go in and have a look?"

"No need. I've already seen what I need to," Qiao Muyi breathed softly. "Let's find somewhere to eat first."

So you finally remembered we need to eat, Ren Suo thought. He was so hungry he wanted to perform a magic trick on the spot: 'Fried Chicken from Thin Air.' But he felt that having fried chicken for his first meal after finally arriving in Tokyo would be too lacking in ceremony. Plus, Qiao Muyi certainly wouldn't join him in eating fried chicken while walking down the street.

They found a small restaurant that served soba noodles. Qiao Muyi ordered two soba noodle sets and whispered to Ren Suo, "That house we just saw, the one sealed by the Metropolitan Police Department, should be the home of the person who was at the church. That person is definitely not a good egg. They probably set up some kind of explosive trap at home, catching the police and the Martial Soul Hall investigators off guard."

Ren Suo was somewhat surprised. "Wasn't that scene the result of a fight?"

Qiao Muyi shook her head. "No, that person is long gone. They were probably killed by the Martial Soul Hall elsewhere, but they might still be on the run... just like me."

"How can you call it being on the run? Have you ever seen anyone on the run with a dad tagging along?" Ren Suo separated his chopsticks and looked at the soba noodle set before him. The glistening, seaweed-topped soba noodles were on a round draining basket, accompanied by a cup of dark dipping sauce and a bowl of potato salad. It looked quite appetizing.

He dipped the cold noodles into the cup of sauce and ate them with a SLURP—so salty!

Maybe I should just pour the sauce over them instead, he thought.

And this soba noodle set really only has noodles, not even a bit of meat, he mused. Is this diet food?

"You want to be my dad? You'd be better suited as my servant," Qiao Muyi huffed, unable to resist a sarcastic jab. "Do you have to define our relationship? Fine! You call me Young Master, and I'll call you Xiao Suo. The master-servant relationship makes the most sense! As a servant, you should naturally prepare drinks for your master, assist with work, and keep watch. That's only natural!"

As soon as Qiao Muyi said it, a hint of regret surfaced. Am I being too harsh? she thought. Ren Suo accompanied me all this way to a foreign country, helping me find clues to clear my name.

However, Qiao Muyi didn't expect that as soon as she finished speaking, Ren Suo would chuckle.

He chuckled so hard he couldn't stop, dimples appearing on his cheeks. He had to cover his mouth to avoid drawing the attention of the few other customers.

Qiao Muyi watched Ren Suo, stunned, feeling as if a large scoop of ice cream had melted in her heart.

If Ren Suo had looked upset, retorted sarcastically, or stayed silent, Qiao Muyi would have been prepared and could have immediately said something to soothe him. But Ren Suo's laughter left her completely unsure what to do. She had always been accustomed to using barbs to protect herself and to defusing others' retaliations. Now, faced with someone willing to be pricked by her barbs, and even foolishly finding joy in it, she truly didn't know how to react.

She pursed her lips and said in a gentle tone, "I'm scolding you, and you're still smiling. You're so naive. You're bound to be taken advantage of in the future…"

"Huh?"

Ren Suo then came to his senses. Oh right, Qiao Muyi was scolding me.

However, her mention of a 'master-servant relationship' instantly reminded him of the game's settings. Ren Suo suddenly realized that the 'master-servant,' 'Young Master Mu,' and 'Xiao Suo' personas were all things he had accidentally created. That's why he couldn't help but laugh.

This sense of fated coincidence is both frustrating and amusing, he thought.

Ren Suo glanced at Qiao Muyi. He actually had a good comeback ready, but her tone was so strange now; she clearly wasn't looking for an argument. So, he swallowed the words he was about to say.

"That person is undoubtedly connected to the Source of Disaster at the church. Perhaps they set the fire there, creating the Source of Disaster," Qiao Muyi stated her final conclusion.

Ren Suo blinked. In the game, this was a conclusion Young Master Mu could reach after checking all the clues, he thought. So why are there so many more steps in reality...? But then again, the game console initially skipped the eight days the Rebel spent leveling up AFK, so it seems normal that it would omit some of Qiao Muyi's tedious investigation process.

"We've been walking all day and are quite tired." After finishing her soba noodles, Qiao Muyi said, "Let's find a place to stay."

"A place to stay?"

Qiao Muyi nodded and took out her wallet to check. She looked a bit troubled. "But we don't have bank cards or a Flourishing Sakura phone number, so we can't stay at hotels. And we don't have much money left either…"

In Flourishing Sakura, there was no such thing as an ID card. The only proofs of identity were driver's licenses and various seals. However, for Flourishing Sakura People to check into a hotel, they still needed some form of verification—either paying with a bank card or leaving a phone number for cash payments. Foreign tourists needed to register with a passport.

Little Fatty's New Year's Money hadn't been much. After Qiao Muyi bought a Dharma Card and two Watermelon Cards (Suica, passes for Tokyo subways and trains), they only had forty thousand yen left. Their living expenses in Tokyo for the next few days would be significant, and the money wouldn't last long.

But Ren Suo didn't seem to care at all. "No worries. Things will sort themselves out. We'll continue our investigation tonight, and maybe we'll find a place to stay in the process..."

At that moment, something occurred to Ren Suo. He hesitated for a moment, then decided to give a preemptive warning: "Qiao... Young Master, if a patient becomes very fond of and clings to a doctor who saved them, is that normal?"

Qiao Muyi blinked, the corners of her mouth tilting up slightly. "That depends on who the patient is and who the doctor is."

"What do you mean?"

"If the patient is a beauty and the doctor looks like a scumbag, then that's not normal." Pointing at the leftover noodle on the draining basket, Qiao Muyi slid her finger gently.

The noodle snapped in two.

"Scumbags like that, who use their abilities to deceive young girls' feelings, deserve to die," Qiao Muyi said, her eyes smiling like a fox's. This was the smile Ren Suo knew best, the one that meant she was harboring malice, ready to be unleashed at any moment.

Bad news, Ren Suo thought. The preemptive warning couldn't penetrate her defenses.

But luckily, I don't look like a scumbag, so I should be able to get through tonight safely... right?

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