Poseidon in Arknights

Old Carp slowly picked up his teacup and said leisurely, "Did you have a fight with the shopkeeper?"

"...Ha, I find you to be quite terrifying." Miss Du appeared nonchalant and indifferent, but in reality, she was perfectly aware of everything.

"People like you are the most terrifying."

Old Li picked up his teacup and gently swirled it: "At least I won't pick up a stool and smash someone the first time I meet them."

"Tell me about it. When it comes to business, we should be honest."

——————Shangshu·Xingyu Inn——————

The sunlight slanted across Xi's face, causing Xi to instinctively raise her hand to shield her eyes: "Hmm... is it morning already?"

"Yo~ my little sister, are you awake?" Just as Xi was still a little sleepy, a very familiar voice suddenly rang in her ears.

"!!!" Xi immediately broke out in a cold sweat, because when she heard that sound, she remembered what he had done last night.

For example, the fact that she can fall asleep while holding Yuuki, and Yuuki can now sense who she is holding.

"Are you awake?" Xi felt his head being touched, a gesture that made him even more stiff. Xi stiffly raised his head and looked at Xi Yue, who was smiling at him.

"Good morning." Xiyue patted Xi's head again. "You slept well, didn't you?"

"Okay..." Xi stiffly moved away from Xi Yue, like a stiff puppet, and rolled off the bed.

Only then did Xi have time to think about something else. Xi looked to the side and saw Nian sitting in a chair with a huge bump on his head.

Seeing Xi looking over, Nian raised her hand and waved at Xi: "Good morning! How did you sleep? You looked like you slept very well, didn't you?"

"You, you..." Xi looked at Nian and didn't know what to say. At the end, she could only ask in a somewhat angry tone, "How long have you been here?!"

"How long have you been here?" Nian's tone was somewhat flippant. "Well, I guess I just slept with you for a bit. How was it? Did you enjoy it?"

"Hmm~~" As Xi listened to Nian's words, it was as if steam began to rise from her head and her face gradually turned red. Finally, she pounced on him and pulled out a greatsword.

"Go to hell!"

"Hey hey hey!" Nian saw Xi pounce on her and quickly jumped off the chair to the side, but her mouth still wouldn't stop, "What's wrong? You just took a nap? Your sister sleeps all the time too~"

"Or are you worried that your sleeping posture will give you away? Don't worry, so far only I've seen it~"

"So you'd better die!" Xi shouted, wielding her greatsword. "Stop right there!"

"Why are you making such a fuss so early in the morning?" Xi Yue shook her head helplessly, and in a flash, she stood in front of Xi Yue, just in time to hug Xi Yue, who was holding a sword.

"Alright, alright, why are you making such a racket so early in the morning?"

“That’s right, that’s right,” Nian chimed in from behind Xi Yue. “It’s so early in the morning, there might still be people asleep, don’t be so noisy~”

"You too." Xi Yue snapped her fingers, and a water hammer instantly appeared above Nian's head and slammed down. "Who was responsible for all that commotion this morning?"

"So yesterday, Xiyue, you let me escape, didn't you~" Nian touched the top of his head. The hammer was soft and didn't hurt much, but what made Nian indignant was that the difference in treatment was a bit too great.

Why did Xi try to persuade her gently, while she immediately resorted to violence?

"Because you're the culprit behind everything." Xi Yue rolled her eyes, making no attempt to hide her bias. "How do you think you got that bump on your head?"

"Oh right." Xi calmed down by now, put away her weapon, and looked at the large bag on top of Nian's head. "I'm only now noticing how you got that bag that looks like it's from an anime?"

"Do you really want to know?" He got excited again when the topic of the year came up. Just as he was about to show the photo to Xi, he saw Xi Yue looking at him with a kind smile.

"..." But Nian was not afraid. On the contrary, he looked at Xiyue with considerable provocation and decisively showed her the photo. "It's just this one photo...!"

——————Shang Shu·Qu Jiang Feng·Mountain Path——————

"Are we really sure it's okay to leave Nian tied up there?" Xi asked with a hint of worry, holding a grilled sausage in her hand. "Won't the inn's cleaning staff think we're kidnapping or something?"

"I thought you were really worried about Nian," Xi Yue smiled. "But it turns out you're really worried about that?"

“Who wants to care about her…” Xi’s face turned red. “Of course we have to worry. If it gets exposed, will our trip be affected?”

"Don't worry." Xiyue patted Xi's head. "Shortly after we left, that guy ran away with his mark. Oh, but before he went out, he fixed the things you guys broke this morning."

"That's good." Xi nodded, then looked at some shops along the mountain road. "But it seems we're too early; many shops aren't open yet."

“This is fine too.” Xi Yue smiled. “We arrived early and there aren’t many tourists, so we can take our time to enjoy the mountain scenery.”

"When there are too many people, it's crowded and tiring, you wouldn't want to come out, right?"

“Ugh…” Xi nodded, then looked up at Xiyue’s head. “I have a question. Why did you suddenly switch back to Liboli’s state?”

"Didn't you say you were here for sightseeing, so you would use your dragon form instead of your Liberi form? Why did you switch back just now?"

"Because I sensed an old friend." Xi Yue smiled and looked at the two people talking to a porter a little further away.

--------

"You're so casual, grabbing anyone and asking them to do things. Aren't you afraid of being scammed?" Master Shen glanced at the departing porter.

Old Carp shrugged: "Being a detective always involves taking some risks."

Master Shen looked at Old Carp and asked, "So you trust him now?"

“He’s barely trustworthy. Many shopkeepers greeted him as he walked by, which means he’s well-liked.” Old Li nodded and pointed to the surrounding shops. “A porter who would cheat a stranger like me for such a small amount of money wouldn’t have such good relationships around here.”

"And it's still better than searching aimlessly like a headless fly. Didn't it just help us eliminate the three peaks?"

Master Shen nodded knowingly: "That makes sense... So where should we go first? Do we have any clues?"

“A clue,” Old Li looked around. “A person that our prefect insisted was in Shangshu, but who can’t be found at all, wouldn’t be staying in this ordinary mountain town.”

"So the problem is probably with that wine cup."

"And the others..." Old Carp was about to continue speaking when he spotted someone waving at him from a distance. Old Carp raised an eyebrow. "That's quite a coincidence."

After a moment of contemplation, Lao Li walked over to the two men and said, "Let's go, Master Shen. Perhaps we can get some strange clues from that person."

Chapter 194: The Drunkard

"Are they friends you know?" Master Shen frowned as he looked at the two people in the distance. "Are they also from Longmen, and came here with you?"

“If I could, I would hope that…” Old Li shook his head, “It would never be a bad thing to have a kind doctor.”

"Let's go, let's go. Whether it's a coincidence or something else, we'll find out by investigating."

"That makes sense." Master Shen nodded and followed Old Carp over.

"Oh my, isn't this Miss Yuzuki?" Old Carp greeted Yuzuki warmly. "And there's another young lady I haven't seen before. Are you two here for sightseeing today?"

"Come to think of it, it has been quite a long time since I've seen Miss Yuzuki. Has the Emperor given you some time to take your annual leave?"

"Good morning, Old Carp." Yu Yue greeted Old Carp with a smile. "It has indeed been a long time since we last met. I was sent to Rhodes Island for medical exchanges by Mr. Emperor."

Then, Yuuki patted Yu on the shoulder: "This child is named Yu. He is a friend who came with us and is also an operator from Rhodes Island."

"Oh, so you're from Penguin Logistics?" Old Carp nodded knowingly, then looked around and saw a tea stall that seemed to have just been set up not far away. "There's a tea stall over there, how about we have a couple of drinks?"

"My treat."

“Of course.” Xi Yue nodded. “Thank you for your trouble, Old Li.”

"Hey, no problem at all." Old Li waved his hand and gave a gentlemanly bow. "Come on, ladies, please."

"Hmm." Xi Yue smiled and led Xi towards the teahouse inside, her eyes glancing intentionally or unintentionally at the alleyway beside her.

"Someone's watching us, Yuuki." Yuuki nudged Yuuki in the mental channel.

“I know,” Xi Yue replied calmly in the mental channel. “Don’t worry, it’s not someone from Si Sui Tai, nor is it watching us.”

"Of course I know they're not from Si Sui Tai." Xi shrugged. "They're only watching us, and they only do it in two ways: either they're looking for experts, but those guys can't even hide, so it can't be me, or they're just staring at us directly."

'It was those two following behind, right? And...'

Xi turned around and glanced at Lao Li, who also sensed Xi's direct gaze and raised his hand to wave to Xi in a friendly manner.

Something feels off.

"Weren't we supposed to stop the tourists on the mountain path?" the men from Xiaodaoli whispered to each other. "How come there are suddenly two more tourists?"

“I think I know that guy from Longmen. Shall we go together?” another person suggested. He had just witnessed Lao Li and Xi Yue talking.

“It doesn’t look like it.” The other person shook his head. “We didn’t receive any intelligence. It might just be a coincidence. Besides, they managed to bypass the brothers guarding the mountain path and avoid trouble.”

"That's true. Let's wait until those two leave before we talk about it. Oh, and we should tell the brothers at the tea stall..."

"I just said, don't cause trouble, don't give bad advice, leave yourself some leeway, so you can meet again someday..."

--------------

"We have some guests. The tea is here." A waiter placed the tea down. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you." Old Li took out his wallet from his clothes and readily paid the money.

After all, if Lao Li wasn't mistaken, they probably wouldn't be able to finish all the tea.

"Alright, thank you, sir." The waiter took the money from Old Li's hand and immediately left.

"Come, come, come." Old Carp picked up the teapot, poured a cup into a glass, and asked casually, "Speaking of which, why haven't I seen Texas and the others?"

"It's been a long time since we've seen Exusiai and Lungmen Texas. Are they here too?"

“They’re not here. They’re still on Rhodes Island.” Xi Yue shook her head and picked up the tea that Lao Li had brought over. “Today, I’m here at the invitation of a friend.”

“An invitation from a friend.” Old Carp nodded, then sipped another cup of tea. “So, is this Miss Xi the friend who invited Miss Xiyue?”

"No." Xi took the tea that Lao Li brought over, frowned as she looked at the tea stems in the tea, "Someone invited me, Xi Yue, and me to come."

"Oh, I see." Old Carp nodded, having a better understanding of the situation. It seemed that the matter wasn't so complicated, at least Penguin Logistics, or rather, the Emperor, wasn't involved.

That makes sense, why would the Great Emperor bother with this if he had nothing better to do? As for Xiyue and Xi, it was probably just a coincidence.

Since they just happened to be here for tourism, he and Master Shen should leave as soon as possible, lest they drag these two into trouble.

Old Li isn't truly powerless. He can work as a private detective in a place like Longmen, and he's even quite famous for it. This isn't entirely due to his ability to judge people.

So Lao Li also sensed that the few people who had been watching them in the alley were probably looking for trouble again. Since they were tourists, he decided not to drag them into this mess.

"Oh, it really is a great place to visit." Old Li raised his teacup and took a sip. "Well then, oh right, it's already this late, I still have work to do. Please enjoy your tea."

Old Li gave Master Shen a look, indicating that they could leave. Then he cupped his hands in a gesture of respect to Xi and Xi, saying, "I'm sorry, you two. I wish you a pleasant trip."

"It's alright." Xiyue shook her head understandingly. "I wish you both success in your work."

"Thank you for your kind words, Miss Xiyue." Old Li stood up. "And I wish you both a pleasant trip."

"..." Xi Yue looked at Lao Li who was about to leave and suddenly said, "When you finish your work, you should also pay attention to safety. There are many people in Shang Shu, so you must remember to leave a way out for others, so that you can meet again in the future."

"..." Old Li paused slightly as he adjusted his hat, and after a moment he said in a low voice, "Thank you for the reminder, Miss Xiyue. I will definitely pay attention."