Chapter 105: A Familiar Stranger in Disguise

Albertson was still perusing the menu, but Xiluo’er, on her side, was already starting to panic.

Albertson seemed quite familiar with the establishment, quickly ordering his desired items. Perhaps considering Xiluo’er’s childlike appearance, he was currently choosing between desserts and caffeine-free beverages for her.

Meanwhile, Xiluo’er was staring intently at a single individual seated three tables away from them.

It was an unassuming little girl. Purely from an age perspective, she appeared even more ‘loli-like’ than Xiluo’er herself.

The reason Xiluo’er noticed her was a distinct sense of incongruity. Firstly, the girl wore a scarf that was slightly too large for her, and sunglasses that obscured most of her face. This attire instinctively drew Xiluo’er’s attention.

Secondly, there was a cup of black coffee placed before the girl. The color of the coffee indicated no additional ingredients had been added. Generally, children of that age couldn’t stomach such bitter coffee.

Of course, these initial reasons were somewhat alarmist; using them to prove the girl was problematic felt a little far-fetched.

What truly put Xiluo’er on alert was the realization that, after a second glance due to the girl’s unusual get-up, she actually recognized this person.

It wasn’t the kind of vague recognition, like Jia Baoyu’s line in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, ‘I feel as though I’ve met this sister before…’

No, Xiluo’er genuinely knew this person.

This struck Xiluo’er as incredibly odd. Based on Turing’s behavior yesterday, she should have had no interest in Xiluo’er at all.

So why would Turing personally appear here today? And from her disguise, it seemed she was secretly observing Xiluo’er.

“Miss Xiluo’er, is this acceptable?”

Albertson pushed his glasses up, presenting the selected menu.

“Ah, oh, yes, yes…”

Xiluo’er merely glanced at the menu, her mind completely elsewhere.

With Ellen’s precedent fresh in her mind, Xiluo’er was now exceedingly cautious in such situations.

Moreover, the current subject was Turing. In some respects, the capricious Turing was even more challenging to deal with than the eccentric witches of the Destiny Observation Society.

Mainly, while The Erudite Club was undoubtedly a righteous organization in the game, Turing herself, as a character, seemed to carry many morally ambiguous traits.

Although Turing, immersed in her research, had brought substantial benefits to Lund City, Xiluo’er also remembered that Turing had once forcibly activated a large-scale magic array she had set up across Lund City for her own plans, resulting in the deaths of over a thousand people in the East District.

However, this incident was quite suspicious in the game. Since the protagonist, Eve, who had lost the cargo, never had the opportunity to learn the core details of Turing and Ellen’s collaboration, and Turing subsequently met her demise, the truth of the matter remained unknown to players following the protagonist’s perspective until the very end of the Lund City storyline.

Regardless, Xiluo’er felt she couldn’t simply ignore Turing’s sudden appearance. Why would the esteemed chief member of The Erudite Club suddenly take an interest in a minor ‘internal spy’ like her?

Furthermore, recalling the situation with Ellen, Xiluo’er felt she absolutely could not allow Turing to remain there.

She needed to devise a plan to subtly ascertain Turing’s intentions without revealing her own identity. She also needed to make Turing leave without exposing the fact that she knew who was sitting there.

If Turing had come to monitor her personally, she wouldn’t even need the scarf and sunglasses, as no one in this city knew her true identity, right?

But Xiluo’er *did* know. In the game, Xiluo’er had seen Turing’s… well, her corpse.

Though it felt a bit strange, Xiluo’er had seen what that little loli, sitting not far away, looked like after forcibly activating the magic array and being killed.

After her small hand subconsciously tapped the tabletop a few times, a rather mischievous idea popped into Xiluo’er’s mind.

“Um, could I step away for a moment, please?”

The coffee and desserts had not yet arrived.

Albertson simply nodded at Xiluo’er’s question, not pressing for details.

“If Miss Xiluo’er has something to attend to, please do so.”

Xiluo’er hopped off her seat, casting a sidelong glance at Turing, who was seated not far away, before leaving the cafe without looking back.

‘Hmm, though I can’t confirm her gaze through the sunglasses, she was definitely staring at me just now!’

****

Turing pulled down the scarf from her neck and lightly took a sip of the coffee in front of Xiluo’er.

That little brat had been out for three or four minutes now. Why hadn’t she returned?

Turing was annoyed. She wanted to pull out her notebook from her clothes to write something, but she was worried that too many movements would expose her—after all, Albertson was still sitting over there.

So, Turing could only patiently sit and wait.

A few more minutes passed, and Xiluo’er finally pushed open the cafe door once more.

Only this time, she was accompanied by a… city guard?

‘?’

What was this child doing, calling a guard in for no reason?

Even more perplexing to Turing was that Xiluo’er actually led the guard directly to her.

“Offi… *cough cough*, Officer uncle, it’s her.”

Turing: “?”

‘She understands what this means.’

As Turing observed the two through her sunglasses, the guard was also scrutinizing the lone little girl before him.

Her short stature, brown hair, and the coat that seemed casually draped over her. The large sunglasses on her youthful face looked somewhat out of place.

“Little one, what’s your name?”

The guard bent down, trying to make his voice sound as gentle as possible, and asked Turing.

“I…”

Turing had barely started speaking before her words caught in her throat.

‘Damn it, I really can’t answer that.’

Seeing that Turing didn’t reply, the guard patiently repeated his question.

“Little one, don’t be afraid. I’m a guard from the Lund City Watch. Can you answer a few simple questions for me?”

“What’s your name?”

Xiluo’er, standing beside them, blinked her big eyes and offered help, “En, don’t be scared, this uncle isn’t a bad guy.”

Turing opened her mouth, but not a single word came out.

She had already confirmed that Xiluo’er was deliberately playing a trick on her.

‘You’re intentionally looking for trouble, aren’t you?’

The guard, seeing Turing stammer for a long time without saying anything, frowned slightly.

Initially, when the black-haired girl came to him for help, saying there was a suspicious child in the cafe who might be lost from her family, he had only approached with a routine inspection in mind.

He hadn’t expected that asking a few questions would actually reveal a problem.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I’m a Magical Girl, but My Little Sister Is the Big Bad Villain!

ComedyFantasyFemale Protagonist

Read Now →
Not interested