On the morning of November 22nd, in Shibuya.

Taking the Ginza Line to this place, Ren Suo, walking in front, looked down at the navigation, while Qiao Muyi pulled him towards the sculpture where travelers gathered under the sun and said, "It's Loyal Dog Hachiko! Let's go take pictures!"

Ren Suo handed her the phone, but Qiao Muyi shook her head and said, "Your rear dual camera is better than the front camera."

Qiao Muyi has a point, Ren Suo thought, though I can't tell what's so great about dual cameras over a single one. As for the tiny details in photos, who would be so idle as to zoom in until they could see blurry pixels? If phones didn't have cameras, I'd be totally fine with it.

However, after they waited for the current group of tourists to finish their photo-taking and leave, Qiao Muyi pulled him over, leaned her head on his shoulder, and said, "What are you spacing out for? Turn on the camera and switch to the front camera."

Ren Suo was speechless.

After they finished taking the photo, Ren Suo once again passed his phone to her, saying, "If you like to take photos so much, you might as well hold onto the phone. I'm not very good with maps."

"No."

Qiao Muyi, walking ahead, stopped when she heard this and playfully crisscrossed her fingers behind her back as though she were playing the piano. She turned her head back and looked at Ren Suo; her face bathed in the morning sun, she revealed a shallow smile and said, "It's your phone, not mine. You hold onto it."

"But you..."

"You don't want to help a girl take photos?" Qiao Muyi turned her head and spat disdainfully, "Hmph, no wonder you're still a virgin."

Although Qiao Muyi spoke quite softly and it was noisy with a lot of people around, Ren Suo, being a Third-turn Cultivator with "Insight into the Mortal World," naturally heard every word clearly. He walked up with an expression of exasperation and said, "I rarely take photos. You can tell from my photo library that the last photo is from half a year ago when I unboxed the Hell 4PRO console. If I take a bad photo of you, don't blame me."

Qiao Muyi lightly snorted with utter confidence in her voice, "No matter how you take it, you'll only be able to capture my beautiful photos."

"The me you can see will definitely be suuuper beautiful!"

Ren Suo was taken aback. Since I comforted her this morning, Qiao Muyi has completely shed her gloominess. She's back to her usual self-absorbed, happy self, as confident as a child showing off new light-up shoes. Though her venomous tongue and toxic 'chicken soup for the soul' are still present—just greatly reduced.

"Where to now?" Qiao Muyi reached the traffic lights, looking around without a hint of anxiety, seemingly having completely transformed into a tourist enjoying the trip.

Ren Suo joined her and, upon seeing three commercial streets opposite, understood why the game called this place "Central Avenue"—turns out you really do get to choose between three roads: left, center, or right, right out of the station.

"Take the middle one," Ren Suo said.

Qiao Muyi had no objections. When the light turned green, they joined the dense crowd of people moving forward. Qiao Muyi gingerly grabbed Ren Suo's wrist and turned to him, saying, "You have the navigation now, don't lose me. The main character needs someone to look after them for their existence to have meaning."

Ren Suo checked his phone battery. Luckily I charged it fully before leaving. Otherwise, if the phone ran out of battery and I didn't know the way, I'd end up losing both of us in a foreign country... But since we both speak Japanese, such a situation wouldn't occur anyway.

Passing by Taiping Hall Bookstore, Qiao Muyi dragged him in to have a look. Ren Suo casually glanced at the books on the shelves: "Hachiko's Tale," "Enchanting Conversation Art," "Legendary Haunted Experience," "Handsome Heroes Record"... Seems like they publish all sorts of books in Flourishing Sakura.

Qiao Muyi picked up a magazine called "Starry Sky Museum" and after flipping through a few pages showed it to Ren Suo, "Hey, let's go check this place out!"

Conveniently, Ren Suo blinked and said, "I was actually planning to go to Ikebukuro tonight, so we can stop by the Starry Sky Museum while we're there."

The 'Clue Pedestrian' he was supposed to meet that night was at the Starry Sky Museum. Ren Suo had thought he would need to lead Qiao Muyi there himself, but here she was, suggesting it after browsing a bookstore, saving him the trouble.

Upon hearing Ren Suo adopting her suggestion, Qiao Muyi smiled with satisfaction and then continued to pull him along Central Avenue to explore. Ren Suo was bewildered. Wasn't I supposed to be the one taking Qiao Muyi around to play and trigger events?

Was this morning's comfort really so effective? Has Qiao Muyi actually activated her main character aura? Is she about to lead me to break into someone's house, raid treasure boxes, and rummage through wardrobes...?

They strolled Central Avenue for about fifteen minutes, during which they stopped at a roadside shop and bought two beef cups to fill their stomachs. The owner, looking like a Turkish man, used a knife to carve hot beef chunks off the rotating beef column, then shredded them into the cups along with salad greens, reassuring the calorie-conscious patrons, "Though it's a lot of meat, you're eating greens too, so it's okay."

Walking and eating simultaneously, Qiao Muyi suddenly exclaimed and gestured for Ren Suo to look in the direction she was pointing.

Ren Suo glanced over and saw three trendy youths escorting a middle-aged man into a staircase without a signboard. He didn't notice anything wrong. "What's the matter? There isn't even a signboard. Who knows what kind of store that is."

"Follow me," Qiao Muyi said confidently, leading Ren Suo inside. The stairs were so narrow that they barely allowed one person to ascend. When Ren Suo and Qiao Muyi reached the third floor, they heard scolding and swearing coming from outside a door marked 'Mahjong Parlor.'

Qiao Muyi gestured for Ren Suo to stay on the stairs and opened the door to walk in.

Ren Suo saw several automatic mahjong tables inside the parlor, with the three youths cornering the middle-aged man. One youth had even started to remove the man's pants. Ren Suo's eyes widened. Do youngsters in Flourishing Sakura really have such wild tastes? So spicy and heavy? Aren't they afraid of getting hemorrhoids?

However, when Ren Suo noticed another youth holding a camera, he immediately knew what they were doing—they intended to take embarrassing nude photos of the middle-aged man to blackmail him.

They must be well aware of the middle-aged man's background. By taking his embarrassing photos, they could threaten him: 'If you don't XX, your photos will be sent to your company.' In Mysterious Country, this kind of thing is unbearable. Even if you don't lose your job, you lose all face. But you could at least move to another city and start over with a new job.

But in Flourishing Sakura, it's different. For a middle-aged person, social connections are almost fixed: colleagues, family. Once these connections suffer a devastating blow, it's essentially the death of a middle-aged person. Due to the lifetime employment system and other issues, unless the company president actively poaches staff, society members are rarely hired, and changing professions is extremely difficult for middle-aged people.

If he lost his job because of this, the only fate for the middle-aged man, besides taking odd jobs to make ends meet, would be to become homeless. After social relations are completely destroyed, many choose the latter, because fleeing is always easier than enduring.

After Qiao Muyi went in, the owner of the Mahjong Parlor and four burly men playing mahjong immediately surrounded her. Then Ren Suo watched a fight that he had never seen in games, and it was surprisingly easy.

Three minutes later, Qiao Muyi came out with a wallet filled with money, casually closed the parlor's glass door, and said to Ren Suo, "Let's go down. We can continue shopping."

Noticing Ren Suo eyeing her wallet, Qiao Muyi thought for a moment, opened it, took out two Fukuzawa Yukichi bills (10,000 yen each) and gave them to him, saying, "I'll pay for any expenses later. Twenty thousand yen should be enough for you to go on a shopping spree. If that's not enough, come find me."

Ren Suo accepted the 20,000 yen, bewildered. He pointed inside the Mahjong Parlor. Qiao Muyi shrugged her shoulders, pulling him downstairs as they walked and said, "Don't worry, they won't remember me. I smashed their cameras and computers as soon as I went in and performed memory-wiping on everyone."

"Memory-wiping? The Tactical Bureau has this kind of spell!?" Ren Suo was astonished.

"Physical memory-wiping," Qiao Muyi blinked. "It's just that the degree is a bit hard to control, but they will definitely forget everything within the last 24 hours..."

Ren Suo's mouth twitched. "You went in just... for money?"

"What do you mean by 'for money'? They are mobsters who cheated money through tricks. That must be a Mahjong Parlor operated by some yakuza organization. I'm just acting for justice, incidentally seizing some ill-gotten gains," Qiao Muyi said seriously.

"How do you know they cheated to make money?" Ren Suo wondered.

"I wasn't certain before I went in, but once I did, I discovered something was off with their mahjong tables, and that confirmed it," Qiao Muyi said, shaking her head as she walked with Ren Suo back onto the main street. "Anyway, taking money from those bad guys shouldn't be a problem. They won't even dare to call the police."

"What do you want with so much money..." Ren Suo glanced at Qiao Muyi. She isn't usually money-hungry.

As for Qiao Muyi's claim that the Mahjong Parlor was operated by cheaters, Ren Suo didn't doubt it at all. She has the Demon's Heavenly Eye, after all. Her reasoning and tracing abilities are enough to expose any deceit.

"Travel funds!" Qiao Muyi said earnestly. "Can't one enjoy shopping and entertainment just because of a lack of money while on a trip? How depressing that would be... I don't like traveling on a shoestring!"

"I don't want any regrets on this trip..." Qiao Muyi strode forward, glanced back at Ren Suo, and said softly, "This is also my first trip. I wish for it to be perfect in my memory."

Ren Suo nodded in deep agreement. "Yes, the beginning is hard, followed by the middle, and even the end is hard... So if the first trip is relaxed and joyful, then one would be motivated to go on a second and third outing."

When Ren Suo was young, his first trip with his parents was actually to Mount Tai—Heaven knows how nine-year-old Ren Suo managed to reach the summit that year. Since then, he lost any enthusiasm for traveling, preferring to stay home and play video games rather than go sightseeing.

Qiao Muyi chuckled, apparently agreeing with his view.

As they passed an ice cream parlor, they bought two cones to enjoy. Midway through eating hers, Qiao Muyi suddenly handed her half-eaten cone to Ren Suo, saying, "I'm going in to buy something. You finish this ice cream... Do you want to come in with me or what?"

Ren Suo glanced ahead at the shop, its shelves lined with various colored crystal bottles and only women inside, seemingly selling cosmetics.

Having no interest in the subject, Ren Suo naturally finished the crunchy cone then naturally continued with the second cone, pointing at a nearby arcade with a [SEGA] sign and said, "I'll go in and play some games while waiting for you."

"Okay," Qiao Muyi smiled.

As a result, Ren Suo ended up playing video games for an hour. Although there were numerous games in the gaming center, Ren Suo hadn't played fighting games in a long time. He couldn't even beat the computer, and he was unfamiliar with fan-favorite games like 'Ship Girl Collection' and 'Destiny's Throne.' However, he found the Gundam cockpit simulator quite interesting—Ren Suo could sit in a cockpit with three LCD screens and control the Gundam in a similar manner to driving a car.

An hour later, Qiao Muyi came looking for Ren Suo, who was playing Taiko Master, and said, "I think I bumped into someone carrying a clue."

Ren Suo dropped his drumsticks with a CLACK and hurriedly led Qiao Muyi out of the gaming center, anxiously asking, "Where is the person? You should have asked for the clue before finding me— I'm not going anywhere, but the clue might slip away!"

Qiao Muyi didn't seem too concerned, chuckling, "The clue won't get lost. She is a part-time cashier inside."

Entering the cosmetics shop they had just left, Qiao Muyi pointed out a young female cashier who looked like she was probably a high school girl.

"Xiao Suo, aren't you good at chatting up girls? Go on," said Qiao Muyi with a smile, seemingly discussing the matter seriously with Ren Suo.

Ren Suo definitely didn't dare claim that title, shaking his head repeatedly. "How could that be? I've never seduced girls."

Qiao Muyi's smile seemed to freeze. She glanced at Ren Suo and squeezed out a mocking, disdainful sneer. "Hmph... fine, let's go together then."

Thanks to Ren Suo's 'Super Kindness Power' and Fukuzawa Yukichi's 'Money Charm,' it didn't take long for the female cashier to give them the clue.

A boy from her school who had been killed by a Martial Soul Hall Warrior had stopped attending classes at the beginning of the month. After he started skipping school, the classmates from the successful and showy group he hung out with also began missing class one by one.

Only later did she find out that her classmates had been killed by that high school boy.

As she talked about it, she seemed puzzled—because she remembered that the boy had always been the one who was bullied in the showy group. He often had to run errands and was even ridiculed as the clown. He appeared timid and didn't even have the courage to make eye contact with the girls in class.

"So a naturally timid and weak person suddenly gained strength and the courage to kill..."

After leaving the shop with Ren Suo, Qiao Muyi murmured softly, "It must be a power that affects the mind..."

At that moment, Ren Suo also breathed a sigh of relief—thankfully this 'Clue Pedestrian' was a cashier. If Qiao Muyi had missed this passerby, Ren Suo wouldn't have known what to do.

"Hey, Xiao Suo."

Just then, Ren Suo was pulled by Qiao Muyi, and when he came to his senses, he found Qiao Muyi's face was very close. He could almost see his own reflection in her pupils.

"Don't you have anything you'd like to talk to the Young Master about?" Qiao Muyi giggled.

Ren Suo blinked and quickly got the correct information from the 'Listening Headphones.' He earnestly looked at Qiao Muyi's face and said, "You did your makeup."

He pondered for a second and added, "It looks pretty, um."

Qiao Muyi's smile didn't change as she asked again, "Does it look pretty because of the makeup or without makeup?"

Children would make a choice, but Ren Suo's approach was: "Both are pretty."

"If both look just as pretty, then why bother wearing makeup?" Qiao Muyi snorted and her smile faded. "As expected of a virgin, not knowing how to compliment a girl. From the game center till now, you wouldn't have noticed unless I pointed it out."

Wait, did she not ask the clerk for the clue immediately because she wanted to show off her makeup to me first? And does buying cosmetics really take an hour? She probably spent most of that hour putting on makeup...

Ren Suo's mouth twitched. She has a point; I can't argue with that. He could only mutter, "Because your makeup looked so naturally beautiful..."

Qiao Muyi, turning around, heard his words and her smile returned. She said, "There's an Ichiran Ramen up ahead that seems pretty famous... let's go try it out!"

"Would you like to see the orrery? An endlessly shining beauty that never fades, a whole sky of stars waiting for your visit."

At night, following the pleasant female voice of the planetarium robot, Ren Suo and Qiao Muyi arrived at the Ikebukuro Konica Minolta Planetarium.

In accordance with Qiao Muyi's wishes, they bought tickets and waited for the next starry sky journey to begin. Having become quite wealthy from robbing the gangsters, they got the second-most expensive White Cloud Seats—the most expensive Grassland Seats had already sold out. The Grassland and White Cloud Seats are the most central seats in the planetarium, not only offering an excellent view but also a certain pretentious flair, simulating the experience of watching the starry sky outdoors from a grand open-air position.

While waiting outside, Qiao Muyi unexpectedly discovered that a guest in the planetarium was also a key person carrying clues.

After a brief exchange, they effortlessly obtained some fresh intelligence.

Watching Qiao Muyi, who was beside him, deep in thought over the reasoning clues, Ren Suo encouraged her, "See, we've just visited two places and encountered two clue-bearing pedestrians, which is quicker than conducting an investigation. With so many people in Tokyo, it's quite easy to come across someone with clues. Let's continue to go out and have fun over the next few days, and we'll definitely be able to pull the mastermind out from behind the scenes very soon..."

Qiao Muyi hummed in agreement and nodded. "Sure, let's enjoy Tokyo to the fullest."

At that moment, she suddenly remembered something and said, "I need to go to the washroom."

"The next starry sky journey is about to start." Ren Suo asked annoyingly, "Can't you hold it?"

Qiao Muyi gave him a disdainful look. Ren Suo shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the sofa in the rest area, lazily smiling. "Then I'll wait here for you. You don't even have a mobile phone; it'd be troublesome if you got lost..."

Qiao Muyi looked down at him. "Then you just stay here and behave, don't urinate anywhere or bite that security uncle..."

After teasing Ren Suo a bit, Qiao Muyi laughed and walked to the powder room—the women's washroom in Flourishing Sakura was also called the powder room, quite an understated term.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Qiao Muyi suddenly thought, I just casually strolled around today and happened to encounter people with clues. Could it be that I really am, as Ren Suo said, the main character favored by destiny...?

However, I don't really care much about that now. At least, I'm more concerned about what I'm going to do next.

As for the investigation, I'll just let it take its course.

Qiao Muyi opened her newly bought makeup bag, filled with her battle spoils from the day: eyeliner cream, sunscreen primer, concealer, loose powder, makeup remover... even cotton pads, powder puffs, and eyeliner pencils were all included.

Qiao Muyi activated "Detective's Eye," seriously examining her reflection, and realized her skills were indeed rusty—she not only needed to touch up her makeup slightly, but the eyeliner was also poorly applied.

After all, it had been nearly half a year since Qiao Muyi had applied makeup, and she was new to this set of cosmetics, so it was normal to have some oversights.

Half a year ago, after her Awakening, Qiao Muyi had thought she wouldn't need makeup anymore. It was fine in the past, but with the resurgence of Spiritual Energy, it seemed stupid to waste so much time on something so unrewarding. The Tactical Bureau values strength and performance.

Later, as Qiao Muyi's cultivation improved, her appearance also got better and better, and she didn't even need skincare products anymore, let alone remember to use makeup. I never liked makeup myself. I only learned the skill in the past because I knew a better appearance would give me more advantages in the workplace.

As for now, Qiao Muyi still considered makeup a waste of time, but the difference was, I'm thoroughly enjoying the process right now.

I don't need makeup to cover flaws on my face—my face is flawless. However, I need makeup to further enhance myself, to make this beauty even more dazzling, more versatile, more deeply etched in others' minds.

Using what's touted as a 'flexible cushion eyeliner pencil that fills in gaps at the root of eyelashes and accentuates eye contours,' Qiao Muyi carefully enhanced her eyeliner, gazing in the mirror at her beautiful and charming self while softly humming:

"Who, with a few words, stirs up affections,"

"Who, with a frown and a smile, sways the starry nebula,"

"...With you, all grievances seem like fleeting traces..."

"...All I ask for in this life, is you."

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