Only I can make them stronger

Next, it’s time to go home.

Soon, the confused people were attracted by the aroma of food. Having not had a proper meal for several days, they all followed the smell and went downstairs.

The moment they saw the hall, everyone was shocked by the scene before them.

The tables and chairs that were originally placed in a mess have all been put in order, and the greasy tabletops have all been scrubbed clean and bright. A circle of chairs have been placed around the large table in the middle, and the table is filled with delicious dishes.

Needless to say, it was definitely Luo Qi who did it.

"This...this is..."

Fitty stood at the stairs with her eyes wide open, not daring to go down, for fear that what she saw was a dream and it would shatter if she stepped in.

In her opinion, such scenery can only be seen in high-end restaurants or clubs in the city, and is incompatible with the style of the entire West.

"Everyone is awake! Come and eat... Many of the ingredients in the kitchen have gone bad, so I went to the street to buy some, but I feel like I'm still not very good at cooking some of the strange things here, and the meat of the Devil Beast is a bit hard, so please forgive me if it doesn't taste good..."

Luo Qi came out with a plate of exquisitely arranged salad. Seeing that everyone looked dazed, she smiled and greeted them.

When she heard the greeting, Fitty remembered that the other party seemed to have knocked on her door quite early in the morning and said that he wanted to borrow the kitchen and ingredients. She was still in a deep sleep at that time, so she responded casually in a daze.

Didn't expect this level of "borrowing"?!

"No, buddy?" Karen, who had never seen such a scene, was also stunned. He put his arm around Xia Ye's shoulders and whispered in his ear in shock:

"Don't tell me...you guys live like this every day, don't you?"

You know, even though she was a well-paid Phoenix clerk, she still felt that the table was a bit too sumptuous.

Not to mention that when going out on missions, they basically have to live on compressed biscuits and water purification capsules. If they have some free time, catching a Deinonychus and roasting it can be considered an improvement in their diet.

Hearing the surprise in Karen's tone, Xia Ye couldn't help but find it a little funny. Looking at Luo Qi, whose head was covered in sweat, there was a little more tenderness and pride in his expression.

This strong girl does not have strong fighting power, but she always tries her best to create a comfortable and warm living environment for everyone, even when she is away from home.

This is something more scarce than powerful strength on the cold Hill Continent.

"We live a much more comfortable life than this every day." He replied to Karen with a sly smile, enjoying the expression of envy and jealousy on her face.

"What you said..."

"Great! Eat, eat, eat! Leah, eat as much as you can!" Karen wanted to say something, but the girl with short wheat-colored hair had already rushed to the table with cheers, grabbed a part that looked like a chicken leg, pulled it off, and began to chew it without caring about her image.

"Hey! Leah! Leave one for me. I've been eyeing that leg for a long time!" Seeing this, Karen didn't have time to talk nonsense and joined the eating army.

"Ahhh! Usually at times like this the other leg is mine! Get away, big blonde woman!" Anke's screams suddenly rang out.

"What a shame..." Jinelle rolled her eyes, but she stepped forward unconsciously.

Shana shook her head and smiled as she and Luoqi went to the kitchen to carry the dishes. Canaanzi had already sat down at the table and served himself a bowl of soup, drinking it silently.

"Don't you want to eat?" Xia Ye came to Fiti and asked the latter who was still in a daze.

Fitty stared blankly at the other person's relaxed smiling face, then at the sumptuous breakfast.

"Can I...?" She still found it a little unbelievable.

"If you don't go now, they will be snapped up! Hurry up!" Xia Ye felt that this girl was both pitiful and cute. He laughed out loud and simply grabbed her hand and dragged her to the dining table.

"cooked rice!"

98. An Unfortunate Gift

"Luoqi, why don't you consider opening a restaurant in Phoenix? I'll protect you and come to support you every day!" Karen drank a glass of Highway District's specialty prickly ash juice and said proudly.

"How can this be possible! Luo Qi's cooking can only be eaten by the colleagues in Qianshi Office!" Leah refused fiercely.

"Karen...don't embarrass yourself..." Jinelle rested her forehead on the table.

My partner always has different ways of doing things.

Xia Ye looked at Jinniel with some curiosity——

The latter's face, which had been covered tightly, was exposed from the protective suit because of eating, and to their surprise, Genie looked exactly like Karen.

But when asked about their relationship, both of them avoided talking about it.

"Luoqi - you're full! It's time to go home!" An Ke urged Luoqi.

She didn't want to stay in this damn place for even a second longer.

"Yes, it's almost time to go. Mr. Xia Ye, do you have anything else to deal with?" Luo Qi thought for a while and looked at Xia Ye.

The latter's worried face last night still made her a little worried, although he seemed completely relaxed now.

"No, it's okay now." Xia Ye smiled and shook his head.

"That's good..." Luo Qi also breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and said while clearing the plates.

"It's time for us to go too." Jinelle patted Karen who was licking the plate contentedly.

"Ah... we have to leave again so soon." Karen seemed a little disappointed when he heard that.

She always felt that it was particularly happy to get along with Xia Ye and his group, but this time everyone was busy dealing with urgent matters and they didn't even have a chance to have a good chat.

"Don't be so sad, after all, you are Phoenix's [Golden Lion]..." Jinelle said helplessly;

"Besides, I plan to ask Fenghuang for a vacation after I return."

"Vacation? What for?"

"Let's go to the Xia city-state."

The key words in the conversation between the two attracted the attention of the others, but Jinelle did not intend to explain. Instead, she looked at Canaanzi:

"I want to have a good chat with you in person about our affairs."

"Remember to take city commissions, at least 200 city merits. My residence tax this month has been delayed because of the Mercury Merchant Group, and I don't really want to go out to take commissions next." Canaan adjusted his glasses and said lightly.

"make a deal."

"Well, thank you for your hospitality, we'll be on our way."

Jinelle nodded to Luoqi, put on her protective clothing again, and pulled Karen out the door.

"Then... I won't see you off." The other party's hurried look left Luo Qi only enough time to reply with a greeting.

…………

"We are also ready to pack up and go home." After restoring the hall to its new state, everyone sat at the table, and Luo Qi said:

"Miss Fitty, what about you? How have you thought about it?"

"..." Fitty looked at the smooth tabletop, on which she had just feasted with Xia Ye's encouragement.

But her past experiences have always left her with a hurdle in her heart.

"What are you considering?" Xia Ye was a little confused.

"I want Miss Fitty to join Qianshi Agency." Luo Qi blinked at him and gestured.

The latter understood what he meant, and suddenly felt that Luo Qi was indeed the woman who understood him best, so he said:

"It just so happens that I wanted to talk to her about this, how about Fitty, let's go over there and talk?"

"Hmm..." Fiti responded more to Xia Ye's words and stood up and walked to the side with him.

"Fiti, are you still concerned about Crona?" Xia Ye did not get straight to the point and persuade her directly, but instead asked about the other party's concerns.

"Not entirely... it's just that what Mr. Crona said... leaves me a little confused."

"I think she was right in saying that I am an unfortunate person, and this is a power and curse that I cannot escape."

Fitty lowered her beautiful eyes and said while biting her lip.

"That statement was obviously made up to interfere with your will. Why bother with it?" However, to his surprise, Xia Ye didn't care about it at all. Instead, he sneered at it.

"Let me ask you, Fiti, what do you think of me?"

"What...what?" Upon hearing this, a slight blush suddenly appeared behind the white earlobe.

"What kind of person am I?" Xia Ye explained with a helpless smile.

"Oh...I think...you're a good person..." Just like the description in the file.

"So, are you willing to trust me again, just like you trusted Crona?" Seeing that it was almost time, Xia Ye began the speech he had prepared last night:

"Everything here carries memories that make you sad. Instead of continuing to be confused and hard on yourself, it is better to forget them all. Just like the determination you had when you raised your weapon to kill Crona, say goodbye to them completely."

"But, what if it's really like she said..." Fitty's little face wrinkled tightly, showing her inner entanglement and hesitation.

"Then let's overcome it together!"

"If we can get through this hard time, we can get through many more times!"

"If you accept your fate and give up on yourself because of misfortune, then life would be too boring, wouldn't it?"

"Look at them..." Xia Ye gently pointed at his waiting wives, "They also started from nothing and worked hard little by little to get to where they are now."

"Luo Qi, who just cooked for you, had experienced the same painful past. She almost collapsed and lost herself, but she is still very happy to be with you all."

"I believe you can do it, too."

“Whether it’s the future or a bond, if you don’t try hard, how can you know it won’t work?”

Fitty raised her head, but did not follow Xia Ye's gaze to the other table. Instead, she stared at him blankly.

The calmly-spoken man in front of me gradually overlapped with the figure in my consciousness space last night, with flames burning and lighting up the sky.

"Why, are you impressed by my handsomeness?" Noticing the other party's staring eyes, Xia Ye put on a smile that he thought was cool.

"Puchi..." Seeing his pretentious look, Fitty suddenly laughed.

Then she took off the pendant from her neck and handed it to Xia Ye.

"You're right, I should say goodbye to them."

Although she didn't know why Crona would leave this thing to her, it didn't matter.

She was willing to believe Xia Ye and keep moving forward.

"Then let's make it clear first. If you want to work for our firm, you have to complete commissions every month to earn your own residence tax and living expenses..."

"Don't worry! I've wandered in the wilderness before!" Fitty straightened his slightly bulging chest, a hint of strength emerging in his expression.

Seeing the other person's expression, Xia Ye felt relieved and took the pendant from his hand.

The system prompt came:

[Feidi hidden bond mission: Unfortunate gift completed]

[Feidi's favorability increases, and she will join Chise's office and obtain [Crona's Pendant]]

[Requirements to unlock Fiti's factor sharing function: Complete 5 bond tasks, current progress 2/5]

99. You came at the right time

[Complete achievement: First active invitation]

[Achievement Reward: Achievement Point*1, Strength, Agility, Constitution, Intelligence +3, Mental Strength Limit +10]

[It is detected that the host has the analysis data of the flawed device - the hidden seed. Do you want to start the analysis immediately?]

"Can this also accomplish something? Also, this thing actually contains hidden beliefs?" Xia Ye looked at the pendant in his hand in surprise. He didn't expect that just inviting Fiti to join would bring him an unexpected surprise.

But he soon figured it out roughly - he discovered Fiti's existence by accident.

In other words, because of his unintentional act out of curiosity and proactive concern, he allowed Fiti to be inserted into the quest line in an unusual way.

If they had followed the normal path, they would have headed to Sunset Town first, and might have faced Lori and Crona ahead of time, which would have meant they would not have had the opportunity to establish the goodwill and bond with Fiti that they have currently achieved.

In that case, although it would probably be possible to contact Fiti in some way later, the other party's condition and the direction of events would be very different from now.

And it was obvious that the pendant in his hand was the reward for conquering Fiti in a better way.

"But this Crona really pushed me into a desperate situation... and still kept this trick?" Xia Ye looked at the blurry shadow in the pendant.

Although I don't know how Crona sealed the hidden things in it, I'm afraid that if Fiti comes into contact with the things in it for any reason, she will immediately lose all resistance.

The reason why she gave it to Fiti was probably because she and Lori did not reach a consensus. The latter only wanted Fiti to become a low-level monster believer, while Crona wanted Fiti to be a carrier, so she rescued Fiti when she first went to Sunset Town, gave her the pendant, and waited for Fiti to go into hiding herself.

"It's really unlucky to have such a teacher." Xia Ye thought angrily and directly chose to confirm the analysis in the system.

Including the previous time, the resolution of [Hidden Seed] has reached 13%, but judging from the characteristics and the basic abilities it provides, there seems to be no change. Most likely, the resolution needs to reach a certain threshold before there can be a qualitative change.