MTLNOVEL Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Oops, I'm surrounded
Chapter 5: Oops, I'm surrounded
The moment he saw the guests, Ai Yue knew that this was a sure thing.
Compared to Sakura who hid her face under a hood, Elysia did not cover her appearance too much. She simply wore a hat, so Ai Yue recognized her at a glance.
Although we still don't know why Elysia came here, as long as her personality is the same as what Ai Yue knows, then tonight will not have the tragic ending in the original plot.
Elysia looked at the young man in front of her and blinked curiously: "Hello, have we met somewhere before?"
There was a hint of nostalgia in the other person's eyes, which didn't seem like the first time he saw her. But Elysia thought about it carefully, but couldn't remember where she had seen the other person before.
"No, I just heard of you." Ai Yue smiled, "My name is Ai Yue, this is Aponia, the director of the sanatorium, may I know your names?"
"Since you know we are from the Fire Moth, how could you not know our identities?" Sakura frowned and took a step forward. "Stop pretending. What are you planning?"
Ai Yue was slightly stunned. He had never expected that Sakura would be so hostile to him: "Miss, is there any misunderstanding between us?"
"Hey, Sakura, don't be anxious." Elysia pulled Sakura's sleeve and looked at Ai Yue and the others with a smile on her face, "Why don't we sit down and talk?"
Sakura looked at Elysia and wanted to say something, but Elysia shook her head at her, obviously not intending to change her mind.
In this regard, she could only give in and choose to follow Elysia's arrangements - after all, in name, the other party was the leader of this mission.
So the four of them sat down like this, but because there were only rows of benches facing the main hall in the church, the two sides could only sit on two benches side by side, making them look like spies who came to make a meeting.
"Come to think of it, we haven't introduced ourselves yet," Elysia spoke first, "My name is Elysia, and as you can see, I'm a lovely girl~"
"Sakura." Compared to Elysia who was posing cutely, Sakura was much more indifferent. She didn't even take off her hood. "Just call me Sakura."
"Sakura is a little shy," Elysia did not force it, but just raised one hand to her mouth, pretending to whisper, "but she is actually a very gentle person."
"... Let's get down to business first." Sakura coughed lightly and changed the subject, "How did you know our identities?"
"I happen to know some rumors about the Fire Moth. It's hard not to know since you two came to Twilight Street so openly." Ai Yue shrugged. "Of course, it's mainly because I saw your box."
"Did you really steal the supply box?"
Sakura stood up suddenly, but was held down by Elysia again: "Sakura, be patient, it won't be too late to see what Mr. Ai Yue has to say next."
"The theft of the supply box was actually a coincidence, but I'm sure you won't believe me if I explain it this way, so I suggest I talk about something else first." Ai Yue skipped this question and didn't answer it directly. "Ms. Elysia, what kind of mission did the Fire Moth send you here to perform?"
"Well, this matter cannot be easily told to outsiders." Elysia shook her head slightly, "Mr. Ai Yue, although I am willing to trust you personally, it is just that for now, we are not yet at the stage where we can confide in each other."
Although Elysia is gentle and kind, and is willing to treat everyone with the greatest kindness, she is not so brainless as to tell everything to a stranger she meets for the first time.
"Okay, then I'll try another approach." Ai Yue also changed his strategy and pointed at Aponia who was sitting next to him. "As you can see, this Miss Aponia is very famous in Twilight Street and is well-informed. If you want to know the news about Twilight Street, the most convenient way is to find her."
Since the Fire Moth would send Elysia to carry out the mission, it would definitely not be a simple pursuit or elimination of ordinary people infected by Honkai, because this kind of mission is dirty work and can be handed over to the people of Poison Pupa to solve.
For Elysia to come forward, the matter must at least be one that requires someone with a good image and good communication skills to solve. The main content of this kind of task is generally not related to violence, so Ai Yue would act so relaxed.
Of course, considering that Sakura is also there, that means this mission will have a less clean backup plan, but Ai Yue believes that Elysia will definitely try her best to avoid that situation.
If it really comes to the point where he has to use force, then he can only close the door and release Brother Kalpas.
"Well, Miss Aponia," Elysia said without hesitation this time, "Do you know why the concentration of Honkai energy in this sanatorium is so high?"
As she spoke, she took out a detector. The warning light on it was light red, representing "the concentration of Honkai energy that can cause damage to the human body."
Aponia glanced at Ai Yue, then nodded: "I know."
She stood up and walked towards the door she came from. "It will be a bit troublesome to explain, so please follow me. However, please be quiet, everyone is asleep."
Sakura and Elysia looked at each other, and their expressions became more serious.
The other party's reaction and the "sanatorium" mentioned earlier all hint at the truth behind it.
The four of them walked quietly through the corridor, patrolling every room. Aponia held a lantern in her hand and occasionally had a brief conversation with the patient who had woken up from a dream, calming him down and helping him fall asleep again.
It wasn't until they walked out of the last ward and into the backyard that Sakura finally couldn't help but ask, "All of them?"
"Yes, all of them." Aponia's expression was calm, "Every one of them is a homeless Honkai disease patient."
Sakura was silent.
She really wanted to ask Aponia if she knew what the consequences would be if so many patients with infectious Honkai energy were gathered together, but she couldn't say the words when they came to her lips.
Because she could understand the feeling of not being able to watch someone die, but if it were her, could she really just sit there and do nothing?
Of course, compared to the centralized rescue that would cause huge consequences, there is another most reliable and cruel method...
"It must be hard to take care of so many patients, right?" Elysia was focusing on another thing. "It's not easy for Miss Aponia."
"Fortunately, with everyone's help and donations, we can still hold on." Aponia said calmly, "But this is not what Miss Elysia wants to say, right?"
Not only Aponia, but even Ai Yue noticed that the other party had been paying attention to the Honkai energy adsorption devices he gave to the patients since she saw them.
"Oh no, I've been discovered." Elysia didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, she said, "By the way, can I just call you by your name?"
Aponia was stunned for a moment, but nodded.
"So, Aponia," Elysia said slowly, "Do you understand the consequences of doing this?"
"A large number of Honkai disease patients gathered together will lead to a more serious outbreak of infection, right?" Aponia nodded, "I didn't know it before, but I know it later."
"Let me guess. Did someone kind enough tell you?" Elysia took something out of her pocket. "For example, the person who made this thing?"
In her hands appeared a Honkai Energy Absorption Device for each of the patients.
Aponia almost subconsciously looked at Ai Yue, but she finally controlled her actions.
However, a split second of reaction was enough for Elysia to make a judgment, so the pink beauty shifted her gaze to Ai Yue: "Ai Yue, do you know the person who made this thing? Or... is it actually you?"
She naturally dropped the word "Mr." from the original address of Ai Yue.
"If I say it's me," Ai Yue sighed, then said, "what would the Fire Moth do?"
Ai Yue was not surprised that Elysia got the Honkai Energy Adsorption Device, because he did not only provide this thing to the sanatorium in Aponia - many rich people were willing to pay a high price to buy it in order to avoid dying from Honkai Energy infection.
Ai Yue sells the Honkai Energy Adsorption Device to others, on the one hand to earn money to continue scientific research, and on the other hand to attract the attention of the Fire Moth in advance and thus change the future of Twilight Street.
The Flame Chasers have only now found Twilight Street based on the Honkai Energy Absorption Device, and its reaction can be said to be slow.
"Of course I'm inviting you to join the Fire Moth." Elysia smiled and stretched out her hand. "How about it, are you interested?"
"Is this your mission?" Although joining the Fire Moth was Ai Yue's goal, he did not shake Elysia's hand. "If this is the case, there is no need to mobilize so many troops, right?"
As he said this, he glanced at Sakura who was standing behind Elysia.
If it was just a mission like this, there would definitely be no need for both of them to go out at the same time, but Elysia's mission didn't seem like one that required Sakura as a backup plan, so it couldn't be a coincidence, right?
"You really know a lot. I'm becoming more and more interested in you." Elysia smiled. "Sakura and I do have different missions, but the final clues all point to Twilight Street, so we came together. As for Sakura's mission, you'll have to ask her."
"'That day, He fell from the sky. People on earth looked up and saw the starry sky.'" Sakura was silent for a moment, and then recited something like a poem, "Have you heard this ballad?"
Ai Yue looked at Aponia - 'Didn't I ask you to sing a different song for the children?'
"It's a lullaby I sang to my children," Aponia said. "But it's been a long time since I sang it - is there anything wrong with it?"
"I don't know." Sakura looked at Aponia with a complicated expression, "But I'm afraid you need to go with us, Miss Aponia."
Aponia seemed to understand something and asked slowly: "After I go back with you, can I still come back?"
Sakura said nothing, and the atmosphere gradually became tense.
Obviously, unlike Ai Yue, if Aponia went to the Fire Moth, she would probably not be treated preferentially.
"Then, please forgive me for refusing." Aponia shook her head, "The patients and children here need me."
She didn't ask "Can the patient and the child be taken away together?" because such a thing was obviously unrealistic.
Sakura continued to remain silent, but her body lowered slightly, obviously making some preparations.
Perhaps due to personal reasons, she was unwilling to do so, but a mission was a mission and it was something that had to be completed.
"Hey, don't make the atmosphere so tense?" Elysia quickly stepped forward to smooth things over. "There must be other solutions, right?"
"That is to say, the children are still sleeping, at least don't fight here, right?" Ai Yue also tried to ease the atmosphere, "If there is anything, we can still..."
He stopped talking before he could finish, because Aponia took the rare initiative to reach out and grab Ai Yue's right wrist, then slowly pulled it towards her.
"I'm sorry, Miss Elysia, I can't let you take him away." Aponia's tone was still calm, but one could hear a hint of determination in it, "Ai Yue is an indispensable presence in the sanatorium, and everyone here needs him."
"Eh?" Aponia's sudden and completely different attitude caught Elysia off guard. "Wait, why don't you just talk it out?..."
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Just as Elysia was thinking about how to ease the tense atmosphere, an abrupt voice interrupted her, making the already tense atmosphere even more tense.
A masked man stood in the shadows. No one noticed when he appeared, but everyone could hear the obvious anger in his words.
"I don't care what you want to do to that woman." The masked man Kalpas slowly walked out of the shadows, "But, it's best not to hurt Ai Yue, otherwise--"
Extremely dangerous.
This was Sakura's first feeling when she noticed Kalpas. The other person standing there gave people a feeling of inhuman brutality and cruelty.
This does not mean that the opponent is as ferocious as a jackal, tiger or leopard, but it is more like some kind of terrifying power that is difficult to resist - such as a volcano about to erupt or a typhoon tearing through the sky.
That is something that cannot be countered by human strength at all.
Ordinary people would tremble in fear and lose the ability to resist when facing such an existence, but Sakura is different. She is a skilled swordsman and a transcendent person who possesses extraordinary powers.
Therefore, when faced with Kalpas, she subconsciously chose to take the initiative.
The large burqa used to conceal her identity seemed very troublesome at this moment, so Sakura simply took it off, revealing a pair of long ears standing upright on her head.
At the same time, she also showed the long sword at her waist to everyone.
"Oh, interesting." Kalpas made an agitated voice, "You asked for this!"
However, the next second, a small cylindrical object rolled down into the open space between the people.
Bang!
With a slight sound, thick and violent smoke instantly spread and directly covered the entire backyard.
Ai Yue recognized at a glance that this was his improved "instantaneous explosion smoke bomb", which could instantly create smoke covering an area of ten meters in radius, but it seemed that he only gave two of this thing to Pardofelis
Before he could figure out what was going on, he felt another small hand grabbing his left arm.
"Brother Yue, we are here to save you!"
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