A Date Together

"But why is the target Niya?" Feili asked timidly, "Is it because she's... a serial killer?" "Exactly." Yaxiu nodded. "Simply put, all of us are searching for an entity known as an 'angel'. The distinguishing traits of an angel are distorted values, antisocial behavior, and contempt for life. Taking all that together, a serial killer is obviously the prime suspect." Feili raised an objection: "But don't bosses of organized crime syndicates fit those criteria as well?" "No, organized crime bosses aren't truly antisocial. They merely want to rebel against the existing order and construct a new one centered on themselves. An angel's antisocial nature lies in its total inability to integrate into any social group," Yaxiu explained. "To an angel, hiding among us is like you hiding within a flock of sheep. Could you distinguish every individual sheep's face? Would you abide by the order of a flock of sheep?" "We infer that an angel has contempt for life also because we wouldn't care about the life and death of a sheep. If a sheep offended you, you might have plenty of reasons not to kill it, but not a single one would be 'because the sheep is my kin.'" Feili listened in a daze. "Just... what kind of creature is an angel?" "I don't know either, but it looks human." Yaxiu turned to Rose. "Besides Niya, are there any other targets that fit the criteria?" "There are three in Jiashi," Rose said, pushing up her blue-light-blocking glasses and glancing at her phone. "The 'Sheepskin Killer', the 'Surgeon of Death', and the 'Sewer Butcher'." "We can move against them at any time," she stated calmly. "I have business dealings with them. I have ways to lure them into cages at an abandoned suburban factory. It's desolate and remote; no one will ever know what happens there." Business dealings...? Feili suddenly remembered something. "Do angels have superpowers too?" "We can't rule it out, but since no supernatural mystical incidents ever occurred in the Country of All Stars previously, we can assume they don't." "Then you could capture Niya without me, couldn't you?" Feili glanced at Rose. "You can mobilize so many societal resources—" "I encountered Niya before. Without sorcery spirits, her strength surpasses mine." Yaxiu said, "That's why I need your demonic power. Even if it merely allows me to use sorcery spirits, I will be a hundred percent certain to capture Niya." "Moreover, I want to capture her myself. I don't want any mishaps." "Actually, I could capture her too," Vichy remarked casually as she ate her sixth steak. "As long as Dead Frenzy's swordsmanship hasn't entered the divine realm, my spear and halberd are more than enough to smash her flat along with her sword—" "Ah, I forgot to tell you, Vichy. Igola didn't even put it on the command list, honestly..." Yaxiu rested his hand on Vichy's bare, snow-white shoulder, turning his head to gaze at her, half of his face cloaked in shadow. He said in an unhurried voice, "If you dare lay a single finger on Niya..." "I will kill you." Feili blinked. If she remembered correctly, hadn't Vichy always wanted Yaxiu to kill her? Was a threat like that really effective? Yet the demon maid Vichy merely looked quietly at Yaxiu. After a moment, she lowered her noble head and answered softly: "Understood, Master." Sensing the strange tension in the air, Feili hastily changed the subject: "Did you dye your hair, Miss Vichy? I remember your hair was wine-red before." Although she had nearly been killed by Vichy, Feili wasn't one to hold grudges, and she hadn't been hurt. More importantly, Vichy's aura was simply too overwhelming; in front of the maid, Feili felt reduced to a little sheep. "I didn't like her having red hair as well, so I had her change the color," Yaxiu said calmly. "Do you see, little Feili?" Vichy winked at the blond girl. "Red is the color most capable of arousing Master's desires." "Where are Mr. Igola and Mr. Harvey?" Feili could only switch topics again. "Both are preparing for the upcoming battle," Yaxiu said. "Harvey is processing temporary corpses. Igola... I'm not sure what Igola is up to, but he spends an enormous amount of money every day, which makes him very reliable." "Rose's work requires her to stay with me, and I genuinely need her help. As for Vichy, she's the only one I don't trust to leave home alone, so I have to keep her glued to my side." "Master really loves me too much," Vichy spread her hands. "He insists that I accompany him even to the bathroom and the shower. Having me support him is one thing, but sometimes when he's in a hurry, he even uses me directly as a—" Yaxiu immediately delivered a knuckle chop straight to Vichy's forehead and explained to Feili, "When attending to personal hygiene, I leave her in someone else's custody. Don't misunderstand." "I don't misunderstand at all," Feili hurriedly clarified. "By the way, Senior Dimi'er..." "Of course there's no problem," Yaxiu said, suddenly breaking into an odd smile that reminded Feili of Senior Liya watching romantic comedies. "And we can help even more." "What?" "Help play matchmaker between you and Dimi'er!" Yaxiu said, throwing his hands out. "Originally, our choice to give you an extra award was just to let you shine in front of the whole school, and leave a deep impression on Dimi'er while we were at it." "Who knew you'd do even better than we imagined? You stood up to the school administration for his sake; that will definitely earn you massive points in his eyes. Now all we need to do is ask him out in your name, and you two will naturally become a couple—" "No!" Feili's resolute rejection caught Yaxiu off guard, even making him doubt his own judgment. "Don't you like him?" "Fine, even if I really do have feelings for Senior Dimi'er, that's only natural," Feili said helplessly. "There are countless people who like Senior, just like me." Yaxiu: "Beauties belong only to the strong!" Rose and Vichy glanced at him and continued eating. "But in all these years, there has never been a single rumor or scandal around Senior. He devotes himself entirely to his studies and research, which means he has no intention of pursuing a romantic relationship." Feili hung her head, rubbing her hands together. "If I rashly make a move, the most likely outcome is... remaining friends, just like now." "Besides..." Her voice grew quieter and quieter. "If I ask him out and get rejected... that would be way too humiliating..." Yaxiu pondered for a moment. Dimi'er being single for years was probably because Dimi was single in reality. Although he wanted to say there was no shame in failing to get a date, thinking back carefully, even he had felt terribly nervous going on a date with Sword Princess, whom he knew inside and out, let alone the innocent little Feili. "So, do you want him to ask you out instead?" Yaxiu mused. "That's not impossible..." Rose immediately chimed in, "Blackmail him with leverage?" Vichy also offered a suggestion: "Kidnap his family?" "No!" Feili looked on the verge of tears. "I don't want to ask him out, and I don't want Senior to ask me out either..." "All right, I completely understand your request." Yaxiu nodded in comprehension. Feili breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Yaxiu pull out his phone and dial a number. ...... ... On the other side, backstage in the auditorium, the dean of students was throwing a furious tantrum at the students. "Do you think our school hasn't lost enough face?" He pointed outside. "The lab building will take months to repair, and people outside will laugh at our school for months! A gas explosion blew up half the lab building, and just because our fire safety rating wasn't high enough, our school ranking dropped three places—before us, no school had ever dropped in the rankings over fire safety!" "Making history," Liya whistled. "And yet, you had to pull this stunt at such an important awards ceremony, with reporters watching!" the dean scolded. "Couldn't you appeal and discuss it afterward? Did you have to strip away every shred of the school's dignity?" "The school lost face because some people have no shame..." Liya muttered, eyeing Wulusi and Lasikasi beside her. "Shut your mouth!" The dean snapped at Liya, then glared at Dimi'er. "Dimi'er, I thought you were the good student I had to worry about the least, yet you joined in on making a scene? If you had a conflict with Wulusi and Lasikasi, couldn't you have discussed it properly in private? I thought you were the one who understood the bigger picture and valued the collective interest most. How could you be so thoughtless?" Dimi'er kept his head down, offering no response. After venting his anger, the dean sighed. "You disrupted Wulusi and Lasikasi's awards ceremony. Don't you have anything to say for yourself? Fellow students should be kind to one another; how could you treat each other like enemies? Whatever the issue, it must be resolved through proper channels. Acting recklessly like this was wrong. Apologize to your classmates at once!" Wulusi and Lasikasi wore subtle expressions, casting sidelong glances at Dimi'er without saying a word. Liya opened her mouth to speak, but seeing Dimi'er's silent posture, she turned her head away and said nothing. After a moment, the dean's voice deepened: "Dimi'er Vosloda!" Hearing his surname, Dimi'er trembled slightly. He let out a long breath and said, "I..." Ring ring ring— Everyone froze. The dean took out his phone to answer. A respectful expression appeared on his face as he nodded repeatedly, but his countenance quickly turned extremely unsightly. The few "All right"s he finally forced out sounded as though they were being wrung from a dry towel. He lowered his phone and looked at the students before him with an intensely complicated expression. "The University Cup Committee is launching a review mechanism to re-evaluate the eligibility for the Chemistry Award. If any fraud or falsification is found, a formal reprimand will be issued and recorded in their permanent records." Wulusi and Lasikasi instantly turned pale as sheets. Then the dean looked at Dimi'er, speaking in a thoroughly helpless tone: "Mr. Heath just called to inform me that he wants to invest in your research team, and asked if you'd be available three days from now to discuss the details with his secondary assistant, Feili Lena." Liya's eyes went wide. "What!?" Dimi'er was stunned, then immediately replied, "Yes!" "He also told me to pass on a message," the dean said. "You should properly thank his assistant. If not for her, he wouldn't have known about this matter." "Feili became Heath's assistant?" Liya mumbled. "How is that possible? Is Heath her long-lost brother or something?" Dimi'er was equally stunned for quite a while. After a moment of silence, he suddenly turned to Liya: "Miss Liya, do you have time to tell me about Miss Feili?" ...... ... "ARE! YOU! INSANE!" Feili lunged straight at Yaxiu, only to be caught and held back by Rose. Grief and indignation surged through the blond girl. "Why did you do this to me?! Are you pranking me or what?!" "What's wrong now?!" Yaxiu was flabbergasted. "I only set up a date for you! You two just need to have a business discussion and go on a date while you're at it. No one's chasing anyone, no one asked anyone out—it completely satisfies your requirements!" "But I... but I... I can't go on a date with Senior Dimi'er!" "Why?" "In front of him, I get so nervous I can't even talk, I even stammer!" Feili was beside herself. "How am I supposed to date like that?!" Yaxiu didn't take it seriously. "You're just too nervous. You'll get used to it with practice." "Besides, I don't even know how to date! What are people supposed to do on a date?" Feili asked. "What if I mess up and make him hate me even more?" "Leave that to us," Yaxiu said lightheartedly. "We can definitely help you—" He glanced back, and his voice ground to a sudden halt. Rose: clearly a social misfit who had never been on a date. Himself: had been dropped into the Country of All Stars right before his very first date. In the end, Yaxiu could only look at the mischievously grinning Vichy. "Someone like you has been on dates?" "Regardless of race or gender, I have extensive experience interacting with people," Vichy smiled. "After all, there were always some targets I had to catch off guard to be sure of killing them." "Besides, during the two days I arrived before you, I already explored all of Jiashi. I know all the fun places and the spots worth visiting. You're asking the right person." Yaxiu: "I could still ask Igola." "Igola comes back so late and exhausted every day. Would you really want to bother him?" "Tsk..." "Leave it to me, Master," Vichy said politely. "However, even though I can craft a flawless itinerary, little Feili is going on her first date, and she has such severe social difficulties. I think we need to conduct a rehearsal beforehand. Otherwise, even the best plan will turn into a disaster." "A rehearsal?" "Let's go on a date together, Master." Vichy licked her lips, offering a faint smile. "You can also use this as preparation for your future date with the Sword Princess."