"Ah~ Ah~ Ah~"
"Mmh~ Mmh~ Mmh~"
Inside the beauty salon, every muscle in Feili's body was taut except for her face. Teetering on the verge of tears, she whimpered, "Senior Liya, you never said it would hurt this much!"
"I did say so! Ah~"
"You only said it would hurt a little bit!"
"Well, tell me: isn't the area that actually hurts just a tiny bit?!"
"You... Mmh~"
Once it was over, the two lay on plush chairs with facial masks on. Yet the stinging pain in their faces lingered deep inside their pores. Feili said weakly, "I'm never coming in for blackhead needle extraction again."
"Reality isn't the sorcerer world created by Mr. Heath, where miracles are within arm's reach." Senior Liya had managed to recover, drawling lazily, "If you want to be pretty, it's either tiring, painful, or troublesome. And if you want to become prettier fast, you're stuck with all three: tiring, painful, and troublesome."
"Uuuu..."
In truth, both Feili and Liya were naturally gorgeous, but no amount of natural beauty could completely escape the joint tyranny of hormones and metabolism. Earlier today, Feili had suddenly sought Liya's advice on how to get rid of blackheads—and demanded immediate results. Left with no other choice, Liya had brought her here for needle extractions.
To put it simply, the procedure involved poking the skin with a fine needle to open up the pores and squeezing the blackheads out. Because the needle was so thin, there was no bleeding, but it hurt, and it was terrifying—having a sharp needle prodded all over your face felt like one slip of the hand would pierce straight through your cheek.
"Still, the pain you suffered was worth it. Your face is completely flawless from every angle now. You wouldn't find a single blackhead even with a magnifying glass. You've beaten ninety-nine percent of people your age," Liya said. "Any man would want to plant a kiss on that smooth, peeled-egg face of yours!"
Yet Feili showed little enthusiasm. "That's still only beating ninety-nine percent of mortals."
"Has becoming Mr. Heath's assistant inflated your head that much? Mortals' praise can't satisfy your growing appetite anymore?" Liya teased. "Fine, you've beaten ninety-nine percent of fairies and succubi, happy now?"
"Not at all."
"Why do you sound like you've actually seen a fairy or a succubus?"
"It only makes sense," Feili said softly. "In a world where miracles exist, people could surely use miracles to make themselves utterly perfect and breathtakingly beautiful, right?"
"Well, of course. For instance, they could clear blackheads with a miracle, without any of the pain of needle extraction—or they might not even get blackheads in the first place!" Liya said seriously. "More importantly, they probably don't need to poop! Have you ever seen a fairy or succubus in a fantasy work take a dump?!"
Feili froze, then slumped dejectedly. "Right... No matter what I do, I still..."
"So why are you comparing yourself to fairies and succubi who don't need to poop?" Liya asked. "Isn't being better than ninety-nine percent of normal people enough?"
"Not enough."
"How is it not enough? No matter how high Dimier's standards are, you'd score a perfect ten regardless, wouldn't you?"
"Huh?"
Noticing the blank confusion in Feili's tone, Liya looked puzzled instead. "Didn't you drag me along for needle extraction just to make a perfect first impression on Dimier tomorrow?"
Right then, a commotion of shouting and cheering erupted outside. Turning their heads toward the window, they saw the street bathed in a drift of silvery-white feathers.
Feili immediately peeled off her facial mask, wiped her face with a towel, and rushed to the window to look out. Innumerable people on the street had stopped to take pictures. The entire capital of Jiashi was submerged in the breathtaking spectacle of drifting silver feathers.
She reached out her hand, hoping to catch a falling silver feather, but the moment it touched her skin, it dispersed into starlight and vanished without a trace.
"So pretty!" Liya walked up beside her, her gaze captivated by the sky full of drifting feathers. "Is there some kind of festival today?"
Feili murmured, "Not a festival... a sacrificial rite."
"What's the difference?"
"A sacrificial rite has an offering." Feili stared up at the sky. "Senior Liya, don't you think these feathers look like they were plucked from an offering?"
"What kind of offering would have this many feathers?"
"Probably... an angel."
At this moment, Feili finally believed Yaxiu's claims completely. If miracles could be explained away as special effects and personal experiences as acting, this shower of silver feathers blanketing the entire city had completely transcended the bounds of 'reality.'
Moreover, Yaxiu had warned that a large-scale anomaly would likely break out soon due to the angel hunt. Feili had assumed it would be a torrential downpour, an earthquake, or perhaps a meteor strike—some sort of natural disaster. Who could have imagined a mythical scene like this?
Then again, an angel hunt was the stuff of mythical epics to begin with.
So Igola and the others really were sorcerers from a parallel world, and Miss Vichy truly was a grand villain.
So they really were here to hunt an angel, and she was the 'demon' tool they needed.
So Yaxiu wasn't a delusional lunatic having hallucinations; he truly had two sweethearts, the Sword Princess and the Witch...
Feili took out her phone, just about to dial Yaxiu, when a shout carried up from far below: "Feili! Jump down, quick!"
Turning her head, she saw a six-seater stretched convertible sports car roaring down the road. Yaxiu, sitting in the passenger seat, blatantly defied traffic laws by standing up and waving at her. "Jump down! I'll catch you!"
*How do you know I'm here... Why can't you just stop the car... Why do I have to jump...* Countless questions choked in her throat, but by the time she gathered her wits, the sports car was already hurtling across the street below. She had no time to ask or think!
"Why is he always like this!"
Feili complained helplessly, scrambled onto the windowsill, and called to Liya, "Pay for me first, I'll pay you back when I get home!"
"My treat—"
Before Liya could finish, Feili sprang from the third-floor window. Her blonde hair fluttered in the wind like a canary soaring toward the sports car. But she had jumped a second too late; the car was already passing beneath, while she was still in midair.
Just as it looked like the blonde college girl was about to slam into the pavement and splatter into a gruesome picture, Yaxiu leaped backward straight out of the passenger seat. He caught Feili around the waist in midair, and Igola, seated in the row behind, grabbed Yaxiu's ankle and yanked him back.
Yaxiu spun once in the air and landed steadily back in the front seat, neatly depositing Feili into the middle row in the process. By the time the stunned pedestrians gathered their wits and started clapping, the sports car had already blown through a red light and zoomed past the intersection.
After running three red lights, Feili was still in a daze when the petite maid beside her patted her head. "Good afternoon, little Feili."
"Good afternoon, Miss Vichy."
Snapping back to reality, Feili looked around. She was sitting with Vichy, Harvey and Igola were in the back, and Yaxiu and Rose were in the front. "Mr. Igola, Mr. Harvey, Miss Rose, Mr. Yaxiu, good afternoon."
"First of all, you don't need to add 'Mr.' or 'Miss.' Those extra syllables only add unnecessary communication overhead," Yaxiu said. "Second, if Vichy touches you with malicious intent, feel free to slap her straight across the face. Don't hold back."
"Malicious touch?"
"To put it simply, if she violates you with her gaze, you can gouge her eyes out—she can heal them herself anyway. Making bare-skin contact with a vital area like your head already counts as first-degree malicious touch."
Vichy looked at the little lamb with teary eyes. "Little Feili, would you really hit me? Do you mind being intimate with me?"
"No, no," Feili waved her hands frantically. "I don't mind."
"Master, did you hear that? She doesn't mind!" Vichy hugged Feili as if staking her claim, then asked, "Then little Feili, would you mind being intimate with Master?"
"I don't... Ah, I... I..." Feili caught herself just as she was about to answer, dropping her head to avoid the maid's teasing gaze.
"You can ask Harvey for a hook, preferably to snare this viper's tongue and hang her from the rafters," Yaxiu said coldly. "You don't have to answer her at all."
"And Vichy, have you forgotten my orders?"
"Teasing among friends doesn't violate... Fine, fine, you're the master, you call the shots. I'll drop it." Vichy shrugged. "Little Feili, how was your day?"
"Pretty good."
"Miss Feili," said Rose from the driver's seat, "you've become prettier."
"Huh?" Feili cupped her cheeks, blushing slightly as she glanced at the back of Yaxiu's head. "Is it that obvious?"
"I wouldn't know; I didn't look at you," Rose replied. "However, since you just came out of a beauty salon, you have statistically become prettier. This is a situational greeting derived from your activities today, a technique I learned from *Ninety-Nine Rules of Daily Social Interaction*."
Yaxiu asked, "Do we have that book at home?"
"Tonight, I will compile a book report for you containing thirty-three practical rules that I have personally verified."
"Thanks." Yaxiu turned back. "Feili, I hope this sudden operation hasn't ruined your mood, but it's time for us to get to work."
"I'm mentally prepared." Feili took a deep breath. "I'm still very nervous, but I... What is that awful smell?"
The others exchanged glances, and Yaxiu was the first to realize. "Ah, are you talking about the smell of rotting corpses?"
Feili froze. "The smell of rotting corpses?"
"Yes, I brought five corpses with me this time," Harvey said. "The three in the trunk are still fairly fresh. I've finished the necromantic prep work, but I haven't had time to apply preservatives yet, so there's a bit of an odor."
"You brought five, but only three are in the trunk." Feili counted on her fingers. "Where are the other two?"
Igola said, "Haven't you noticed the floor mats are rather bouncy? Aside from the driver's footwell, which simply couldn't fit one, Harvey squeezed every inch of space out of this car."
Feili looked down at the floor mat under her feet, and a violent shudder racked her body. She looked up at Yaxiu with pitiful, doe-like eyes.
Yaxiu scratched his head. "Can you drive?"
Feili's voice trembled. "I have a license, but I never drive."
"Then the only option is for you and me to switch..." Yaxiu started to stand, but after glancing at Vichy, he sat back down. "Never mind. I'll drive, and Rose, you switch seats with Feili."
"Understood."
Paying no heed to the sports car tearing down the road, the three of them swapped seats on the fly. Stepping onto the solid floor of the vehicle, Feili finally breathed a sigh of relief. With her nerves settling slightly, her brain could process other thoughts. "By the way, how did you know I was at the beauty salon?"
"Because we tracked your phone," Rose explained. "We are fully aware of your movements."
"What?!"
"In addition to the GPS tracker, your microphone and camera are also accessible to us," Rose stated casually, openly admitting to her illegal actions. "If you wish, I can play back the sleep talking you did last night."
Feili's voice shook. "I talked in my sleep last night?"
"I am unsure. Would you like me to look into it?"
"No, thank you!" Feili gave up entirely on defending her privacy and changed the subject: "With such a foul stench, aren't any of you bothered by it? Aren't you scared of being around corpses?"
First, Yaxiu, Igola, and Harvey looked at each other with blank expressions. "Foul stench?"
Then Vichy, who had slaughtered countless multitudes and created enough corpses to fill all of Jiashi, tilted her head in confusion. "Scared?"
Finally Rose blinked. "Bothered?"
*Just what kind of monstrous criminal gang did I join...* Feili let out a soft sigh and muttered, "I thought you'd be a bit cleaner..."
"Why?"
"Because you have miracles!" Feili said with longing. "You could use miracles to wash dishes, mop floors, bathe, clean, keep the air fresh, and keep your bodies spotless... Oh, by the way, Yaxiu, do you have bathrooms in your world?"
Yaxiu blinked, startled. "Why on earth would you ask that?"
"I was wondering if you might have miracles that exempt you from bodily functions..."
"Of course we do, of course we do," the Swindler chimed in solemnly from the back. "In our world, sorcerers don't need to excrete."
Feili was shocked. "Really?"
Igola nodded. "Indeed. You know about spatial teleportation, right? We sorcerers simply teleport our waste onto ordinary people, so we never have to use the toilet ourselves."
Feili began trembling all over again. "That's terrifying!"
"Indeed. By comparison, even though your world lacks miracles, it really is far more peaceful." Vichy scratched the back of Feili's neck. "Ordinary people like little Feili over there would only end up serving Master as—"
Yaxiu freed a hand and smacked the maid upside the head, scolding in exasperation, "Don't listen to their nonsense! Of course we have bathrooms. Miracles are meant for convenience, not for turning us into perverts! Unless one undergoes a complete transformation of their lifeform, sorcerers aren't physically much different from normal humans!"
Feili breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Then do you use miracles for beauty treatments?"
"We do." Yaxiu pointed at himself. "My face is the result of several cosmetic miracles."
"I knew it..." The little lamb lowered her head, muttering, "Then there must be plenty of people prettier than me, right?"
Yaxiu crooked a finger at Feili, signaling her to lean closer. "Look at me closely."
"Huh?"
"Look closely at my face!"
"Oh, okay!" Feili blushed slightly. "I'm looking!"
"Am I better looking, or is Igola?"
Feili blinked, her face turning crimson as her lips twitched. Finally, she shut her eyes and mustered her courage: "Of course it's—"
"Of course it's Igola," Yaxiu cut in. "With his Veela bloodline granting him the face of a beauty, how could a mortal like me ever catch up through miracles alone?"
"So someone as pretty as you, Feili, wouldn't be outdone no matter what world you were in," Yaxiu added casually. "Beauty has no hierarchy; it only depends on whether someone likes you or not."
"Then..." Feili asked softly, "will someone like me?"
Yaxiu glanced at her in disbelief. "Of course! You should be asking who *doesn't* like you. Igola likes you, Vichy likes you, I like you—Harvey and Rose are a bit weird, so they don't count—look, we've only just met you, and we all like you already!"
"So don't worry. Dimier will definitely like you!"
Feili stared blankly at Yaxiu. A smile slowly bloomed at the corners of her mouth, and tears welled in her eyes. Rubbing her eyes, she nodded vigorously. "Mmh!"
Yaxiu found it amusing. "Why are you so lacking in confidence? Have some faith. The person you like is bound to like you back, because you're cute and kind-hearted, and you deserve a sweet romance."
"Mmh!..."
Yaxiu sighed. "Sigh, the Sword Princess used to lack confidence just like you. She was always doubting whether I liked her, which is why it took us so long to make things official..."
"Mmh... Uuu..."
"Why are you crying harder and harder?"
"The corpse stench is stinging my eyes..."
Chapter 820