Chapter 27: Washing seaweed! Washing seaweed!

Shocking!

11-year-old girl awakens mysterious crest!

Mysterious witch does *that* to a horned demon!

Why do the monsters in the forest scream all night long?

The Church’s old fogey was beaten to a pulp!

Is there a dark conspiracy behind all this?

Or just a game of chaos…

Next, please read the [Candidate Saintess of Crossroads Market] section in *Estella Weekly News*.

The article, which featured short videos, GIFs, and screenshots, provided a summary of recent events.

“Du Lin, Du Lin! We’re on TV!”

Su Yue pointed at the screenshot on the last page of the article and cheered excitedly.

“Yes, I see, I see—”

Du Lin pressed a hand to her forehead, shaking her head with a sigh.

In the picture, she looked disheveled, her face covered in dust as she held a handful of dirty silver coins.

She had her head tilted, looking utterly speechless.

Meanwhile, Su Yue was holding up her skirt with teary eyes, gazing at her.

Beside them, Luluko’s shoulders were quivering, her cheeks puffed out as she tried to stifle her laughter.

In the background, Lucia was peeking over, and not far away, a passerby’s eyes were practically glowing as they locked onto Su Yue.

The bored masses were leaving all sorts of strange comments under the photo.

In short, it was a “carefully selected” screenshot, and the official editors had even “thoughtfully” provided an explanation for the image.

Those people at the news editorial department definitely did it on purpose!

They had done things like this many times before.

A series of beeping notification sounds rang out as the message inbox hit 999+.

Du Lin opened a thread she had posted a few hours ago titled, *That Time I Became the Teammate of the Little Saintess*.

She glanced at the comments filled with shock, envy, jealousy, and bitterness.

Then, she pinned a new status update: ‘The future Great Sage Du Lin is about to have dinner with the Saintess. All of you, stop being so noisy.’

After that, she directly closed the comment section.

Finally, it was quiet…

She tilted her head to glance at Su Yue and saw that she was currently arguing with someone online.

She leaned in to take a look!

Currently typing: [You little dog!]

Forget it… she couldn’t watch this.

Du Lin walked away, heading toward the campfire.

She picked up a wooden spoon and slowly stirred the vegetable stew in the pot.

This was the only task she could handle; she really couldn’t help with anything else.

Before long, the light giggles of girls drifted from nearby.

Luluko and Lucia were returning from the river after processing their prey.

Luluko was cradling several freshly picked, succulent fruits in her arms.

Beside the campfire, two simple roasting racks were set up, and the aroma of meat began to waft through the air.

“Wow—that looks so rich. It smells so good… *slurp*.”

Su Yue had crept up at some point.

She sniffed the air and approached the pot with a silly grin.

“You dummy, wipe your drool. Don’t let it fall in the pot!”

Du Lin “disdainfully” used the spoon to push Su Yue’s head back.

“Here you go… Sister Su Yue, and… Sister Du Lin.”

Luluko handed them the fruit with a smile, her cheeks flushed bright red.

“Thank you, Luluko… Mmm, so sweet!”

“I am grateful for the food provided. I shall enjoy it with a thankful heart—”

“Is that some parish’s pre-meal etiquette?”

“Don’t mind her, Lady Lucia. She’s just making stuff up.”

“Hehe…”

It was a simple night.

By the light of the fire, the girls sat together, their laughter ringing out as time flowed slowly by.

At some point, three distinct snores began to rise and fall from the makeshift straw beds.

The campfire crackled, casting a warm yellow glow over the forest clearing.

Lucia, who was on watch, leaned against a tree trunk and gazed into the distance.

Tonight, the light from the Magic Energy Lighthouse in the direction of the distant Imperial Capital seemed even more brilliant than usual.

Even the dark clouds in the sky were illuminated.

It seemed as though… the annual festival to welcome early winter was approaching.

‘Maybe I can hold a small banquet in my own little manor?’

***

Back on Blue Star, in Luke’s home.

The lights on the game terminal flickered and eventually faded into silence.

Luke opened his eyes, his head feeling a bit heavy.

His hand felt as if it were being held by something, and a song drifted into his ears: “Wash the seaweed… wash the seaweed… Zoro, you’ve worked hard—don’t cry, I’ll give it to you—he’s been tired all the way—”

“Huh?”

Luke turned his head groggily.

“Eva, what’s 1,000 minus 7?”

“Ah! Master is awake!”

Eva snapped her head around and held up the hand she was gripping.

“I’m almost done trimming your nails. As for 1,000 minus 7, mmm… it should equal ‘I don’t eat beef’?”

“What time is it? It’s still Saturday, right?”

Luke rubbed his forehead.

Eva put away the nail clippers.

“September 9th, 3:00 AM. It’s exactly Saturday.”

She let go of Luke’s hand.

“Phew, I’m starving.”

Luke pulled off the game terminal and rolled off the sofa.

Just as he stood up, he felt a weight on his back.

He looked back and…

“Holy crap!”

His eyes widened.

The slender tentacles at the base of his tail had increased from one to three!

They were now thick and long.

The black watch on his wrist was beeping, and the number on the screen had dropped to 15.

Without a word, Luke grabbed a bottle of SAN-Leda from the table and gulped it down.

As the numbers began to rise, the tentacles behind him slowly grew smaller and thinner…

“The mutation is happening a bit fast, Master. It’s been less than two weeks,” Eva said, reaching out to pinch a slippery tentacle.

“Indeed!”

Luke threw the bottle into the trash can and dragged his tentacles toward the kitchen.

‘I need to bring the skill [Mimicry] into reality as soon as possible.’

Soon, he ran back to the living room carrying a bowl of egg-fried rice.

The tentacles behind him had retracted completely, vanishing without a trace.

Sitting back on the sofa, he opened his laptop on the table and began typing away while shoveling food into his mouth.

Eva suddenly lifted his shirt, peered at his back, and asked, “Master, do you want to eat people?”

“Your father is an octopus.”

Luke raised his hand and lightly tapped her head.

“Oh—okay then, Daddy. Eva is going to go clean up…”

Eva hopped off the sofa and went about her chores while humming a little tune.

The laptop screen displayed the news section of the Estella forums.

Luke also started checking the *Estella Weekly News*.

He wasn’t looking for anything else; he just wanted to see if Ino’s true face was visible in the videos or pictures.

Unfortunately, every frame featuring Ino had her face hidden.

The official developers were as cunning as ever, rarely revealing important information to the players.

If you wanted that intel, you had to find it yourself!

Mmm… not just Ino, but her projections were all blurred out as well, with the label: [Unknown New God], possessing the ability to create treasure chests, strength unknown.

The image with the most comments was a specific picture.

A full moon hung high in the sky, its light reflecting off the shimmering lake.

Wild daisies rippled like waves as the girl smiled like a flower, and a white moon wolf dashed toward her.

The radiance of their crests shone from the contact of their paws, echoing each other.

For some reason, the official team had framed the photo with a border of lilies.

Expertly clicking his mouse, Luke right-clicked and selected “Save As…”

Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, Luke thought for a moment and then briefly re-entered the game.

It wasn’t actually that short; he spent more than half a day in the game before logging out.

His main purpose was to go in and say hello to put Lucia at ease, because once she logged out, Luluko would fall into a deep sleep.

If she didn’t wake up for more than a day, she would automatically activate [Perception Shield].

This had happened once before, and Lucia had thought she was lost…

The reason… was a passive ability of the [Demon King] crest.

It didn’t matter what the passive was; it was just an excuse anyway.

Logging out of the game again, Luke sat on the sofa, staring into space.

Until 6:30 AM, when the phone on the coffee table vibrated a few times.

Only then did Luke stand up, unplug a white metal piece from the terminal, take the briefcase Eva handed him, and head out.

The sky was just beginning to brighten, and the streetlights were still lit.

A man in a trench coat stood by the road, puffing on a cigarette.

Seeing him arrive, the man quickly crushed the cigarette butt and threw it in the trash can, waving his hand.

“Brother Luke! Over here!”

“Oh, Brother Li, you’re early.”

Luke smiled and waved back.

Brother Li grinned and patted him on the shoulder.

“Yeah—I couldn’t sleep a wink all night.”

“So, shall we go?”

“Hehe! Let’s go, let’s go!”

The two of them got into an antique car and drove slowly toward the city center.

*Yahoo!*

A young man with yellow hair drove a sports car with heat venting from its base, speeding past them.

It had no wheels; it was a common creation made using [Estella Tech].

*Swoosh—*

The ambient lights flashed by as the car zoomed away!

“Sorry, the match ended as soon as it began.”

The speeding sports car was suddenly grabbed by an Officer who seemed to appear out of nowhere, and the engine died instantly.

The antique car puffed out smoke rings as it slowly passed by… and pulled over to the side.

Brother Li rolled down the window and waved cheerfully.

“Oop—failed to lose the stars, brother.”

“Man, I ran into the toughest guy in the city, Zhao Laogen. I guess I’m just unlucky.”

The yellow-haired youth took out a card and swiped it on the machine in the Officer’s hand.

“Hmph! Remember to drive a better car next time. This was too slow! The fine is barely anything.”

The Officer named Zhao Laogen put away the machine, patted the youth on the shoulder, got into the patrol vehicle, and drove off.

“Brother, are you going to the city center?”

The yellow-haired youth leaned toward the window with a grin.

Brother Li leaned out and looked at the motionless sports car.

“You’re going there too?”

“Yeah, is it convenient to give me a lift?”

The youth rubbed his hands together and pointed at the sports car, which was now emitting wisps of black smoke.

“It’s busted. I have to go home and get a trailer to haul it.”

Hearing this, Brother Li immediately perked up.

“Oh! Sounds like you’ve had quite a few ‘matches.’ Get in!”

The antique car continued puffing smoke as it resumed its slow journey, drawing many gazes along the way.

On the Blue Star of today, small airships that ran on steam or could fly at low altitudes were common, while gas-guzzling ground vehicles had become rarities.

Especially an antique over a hundred years old like the one Brother Li was driving.

It was quite magical; this was the Blue Star of the present.

Perhaps thousands of years from now, a golden age would appear, allowing for interstellar travel, followed by a robotic crisis, and finally, a powerful hero would descend from the heavens to sit upon a golden throne…

Sorry, that’s getting off track.

Along the way, the youth and Brother Li talked excitedly, eventually exchanging contact information.

Luke remained quiet, leaning against the window and looking outside.

He was contemplating the philosophical question that had plagued humanity for thousands of years: ‘What should I eat for lunch… oh, and for dinner.’

The antique car stopped at an intersection, and the yellow-haired youth got out.

He touched the hood of the car and praised, “Nice car!”

He then waved, watching the two drive away with a hint of reluctance.

The destination was a starfruit-shaped building made of grey-white stone, with only a few scattered windows on its walls.

The usually boisterous Brother Li became as quiet as a quail once they arrived, obediently following behind Luke.

Luke, on the other hand, remained calm, showing no signs of nervousness.

Fully armed security personnel stepped forward and carefully inspected the various documents Luke presented.

After asking a few questions, they gestured toward the back: clearance granted.

The security guards, spaced every three steps, finally cleared the path.

The buzzing sound overhead also gradually faded away.

After passing through the main gates and undergoing several more scans and inspections, the two finally entered the interior.