“No way! I still have to go check on the warehouse!”
On the second floor of the house, in a locked room, the restless Luo Keke abruptly stood up with a “bang,” her eyes full of worry.
“The batch of new wine my dad just brewed yesterday was stored in the warehouse. I really can’t relax about it…”
Hans nearby worriedly tried to stop Luo Keke, but he couldn’t persuade her against leaving.
“Sorry, Xiliya… You just hide here. I’ll go find the City Guard on the way. Lock the door tight; those robbers probably won’t come here!”
Ximo nodded silently, not worried about Luo Keke at all, because she knew that according to the plot’s development, Luo Keke wouldn’t be hurt.
The current direction of the plot matched the System’s description exactly. Not long after Luo Keke left, the Beastmen who had sneaked into the estate set fire to a small warehouse nearby that stored dry grass.
While everyone was busy putting out the fire, the Beastmen took advantage of the chaos to loot the estate’s only house—the very one Ximo was hiding in—before fleeing the scene.
In her previous life, Xiliya had the misfortune of being discovered and injured by a Beastman who broke in the door. Fortunately, the other party was in a hurry to grab things and run, so it didn’t further harm Xiliya.
In other words, as long as she waited here, everything would be fine. The System had guaranteed it: the Beastman that burst in would follow the plot exactly and wouldn’t take her life.
Luckily, Xiliya had given her the order to sneak into the warehouse ahead of time, allowing her to complete the plot task almost without doing anything. Ximo felt delighted inside right now.
So, for future plot tasks, could she complete them in this way too?
Ximo crouched in the corner, pondering for a moment, when she suddenly thought of something—after so long, why was there no noise from outside at all?
She quickly crawled to the window. Outside was pitch black, without a hint of firelight. It didn’t look like anything had caught fire at all.
[The plot has deviated. The task “Visit the Chamber as a guest and get injured in the attack (Incomplete)” is about to fail. Please complete the task as soon as possible.]
“Huh?”
Ximo was dumbfounded. She hadn’t done anything to deviate from the plot, so why was the task about to fail?
She couldn’t stay holed up here any longer! Ximo couldn’t sit still. She stood up to leave the room. If the Beastmen wouldn’t come to her, she’d go find the Beastmen.
Thinking that she might run into Xiliya outside, Ximo took off the necklace and reverted to her original appearance.
By the time Ximo secretly changed into her maid outfit and hurried toward the warehouse, she ran right into Xiliya and Luo Keke. Seeing the unharmed Ximo, Luo Keke’s eyes lit up.
“Ximo! Great, you and Xiliya are both fine. You scared me to death!”
“Let me tell you, what happened earlier was so surreal! I never expected the robbers to be a bunch of Beastmen!”
“And the guards told me those Beastmen were originally going to set fire to the warehouse, but a Mysterious Black-Robed Man suddenly appeared, subdued all those Beastmen in a few moves, and then vanished!”
“Uh…” Ximo froze in place. “You mean… all those Beastmen are tied up now?”
“Yeah,” Luo Keke nodded. Seeing Ximo’s odd expression, she patted Xiliya’s shoulder. “Relax, your young miss is fine. I ran into her right when I was about to go find the City Guard.”
“Then… good.”
Ximo forced a smile, but inside she was extremely anxious.
So Xiliya had subdued all the Beastmen? Then who was going to make up for her missing task?
“Luo Keke, can I go see those Beastmen?” Xiliya suddenly spoke up with a smile. “I’ve never seen what Beastmen look like. I’m a bit curious.”
“Um… sure, they’re all tied up anyway,” Luo Keke nodded. “Just be careful. I need to go find the City Guard first!”
With that, Luo Keke hurriedly ran off, leaving the two of them to continue toward the warehouse.
“Master, did you really take down all those Beastmen?”
Ximo still clung to a sliver of hope and asked, unwilling to believe it.
“What else?” Xiliya glanced sideways at Ximo. “Should I have just watched them burn down the Black Currant Chamber’s warehouse?”
“This is also a good opportunity. Before the City Guard arrives, we can try prying some information out of them first. I feel like this incident isn’t that simple.”
In her previous life, Xiliya hadn’t hidden in the warehouse; she only knew that the Beastmen Clan robbed the place, set a fire, and ran off. She had thought they did it out of necessity, burning the warehouse to create chaos for their escape.
But from what she had just observed, those Beastmen could have fled immediately when the door guards spotted them, yet they deliberately smashed things in the warehouse and wasted time setting the fire. That didn’t seem like it was for escaping—it seemed like they were intentionally creating chaos.
“I’ll do it!” At that moment, Xiliya suddenly heard Ximo volunteer from the side. “Master wants to interrogate those Beastmen, right? I’ll do it! I’m great at interrogations!”
Although Ximo knew nothing about interrogations, she knew this was her last chance. Once the City Guard came and took all these Beastmen away, her plot task would be completely ruined.
“You?”
The moment Ximo said “great at it,” Xiliya couldn’t help but think of Ximo eagerly running off to the Adventurers’ Association to post a commission.
“Fine, you do it then.”
“But Master, I think for the interrogation, I should go in alone.”
“Why?”
“You know… Our kind of assassins have very bloody and cruel methods for interrogations. I’m afraid it’d dirty your eyes…”
“Oh?” Xiliya narrowed her eyes slightly. “Sure, go in and interrogate them yourself then.”
Ximo hadn’t expected Xiliya to agree so readily, and she inwardly breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She couldn’t care less about actually interrogating them right now. She had to seize this chance to complete the task quickly!
—
Lager felt he was truly unlucky. He shouldn’t have taken this job.
Lager was a loafer from a Northern Border tribe, skinnier than most Beastmen, with no proper work on ordinary days. This time, he had been hired for a decent payout just to cause some chaos in a human city.
He had thought it was an easy gig at first. The client swore up and down that the chamber they were targeting had weak security—they just needed to make a big enough commotion and they could escape.
Bullshit! Lager remembered clearly: that black-robed figure who came out of nowhere took on six or seven of them alone and subdued everyone in a few moves. Weak security, his ass?
Lager was anxious inside. He didn’t know what would happen if the humans caught him, but it definitely wouldn’t be good…
As he was lost in his wild thoughts, the warehouse door suddenly opened. Lager saw a cute girl in a maid outfit poke her head in. After looking around, she locked eyes on him.
Lager watched as the girl trotted over, wordlessly loosened the binding on one of his arms, and then spoke earnestly with sincere eyes.
“Beastman uncle, help me out, okay?”
The girl leaned in close: “Hit me.”
Lager: “???”
