57. Thud! Cardiac Arrest
The “experimental section” of Kephir’s project report, aside from the initial setup of the “energy extraction” equipment, was mostly just a matter of waiting.
After all, machines are machines; we can’t just dig for oil with our bare hands, right? Plus, the sampling on Kephir’s side had already concluded, successfully extracting the “new energy” hidden beneath the year-round snow and solid ice of the Rosian Empire. Now, all that was left was to wait for Professor Moriarty’s progress to finish, and then submit the experimental report.
The Siberian region is freezing cold, and even Kephir wouldn’t want to stay there all day. For the next few days, we didn’t need to rush to the experimental site like Professor Moriarty’s group; we just had to wait for the results . However…
An unexpected “accident” that may or may not be considered a surprise did occur.
A few days later, in my dormitory.
As per usual, my dorm had been mostly “taken over” by Kephir and Nilu during the day. My good roommate, Khrushchev, naturally didn’t want to be a third wheel, so whenever Kephir came over, he would sneak out for a drink.
But starting from a certain day, an uninvited guest appeared in my room.
“Diviner, next we need to extract the samples and submit them to the design bureau in advance to avoid any incidents of our project report being stolen, so…”
At this moment, Kephir was discussing the project report with me. God knows if it was because of that night when we literally “squeezed together to sleep,” but Kephir, who used to keep a slight distance from me, had recently taken to crowding me.
I’m not your hand warmer, and this unexpected situation…
“Hey! White-haired girl!”
Sure enough, the displeased childish voice rang out again.
There sat Letty, who shouldn’t have been here, with her legs crossed on a chair, comfortably enjoying the services of Miss Nilu, who clearly wasn’t her maid, while pointing at the blueprints spread out on the floor where Kephir and I were “struggling to establish the main line.”
“Stay away from each other, you two~”
Of course, Kephir wouldn’t listen to that. I was starting to understand why Kephir had been crowding me like a hand warmer these past few days.
“I refuse, Ivan Letty! Not only did you barge in here uninvited, but you also shouldn’t even be here right now!?”
The jealousy in Kephir’s words was almost suffocating, but more than that, I was concerned about Letty herself.
Originally, according to the plan, Letty was supposed to be with Professor Moriarty’s group. She could monitor the professor’s actions while giving the impression of “we don’t seem to be collaborating, just arguing.” But starting a few days ago, Letty had directly come over, and her attitude was particularly terrible. Even if I raised a hand, Letty would misinterpret it as me trying to touch Kephir’s chest.
At this rate, wouldn’t we be completely unaware of what Professor Moriarty was doing!? Knowing we couldn’t wait any longer, I glanced at Letty’s script and, sure enough, there was a… complicated piece of information that caught my attention.
【Leiti decided to follow Ouqi Li De closely out of jealousy.】
My Emperor, can you really be jealous over a “toy”? Leiti looked quite displeased, and Ke Fei Er seemed even more so. She stacked up all the project reports, tidied them up, and then right in front of me, she began to engage in a “stare-down” with Leiti.
In the blink of an eye, there must have been hundreds or thousands of moves exchanged.
If it were an ordinary man, he might have stood up with his hands on his hips, looking proud and disdainful at Leiti, while Ke Fei Er, the proud daughter of the Tian family, faced the Emperor of the Rosia Empire without fear. One tall and one petite, with the perfect combination of attributes—perfect!
But I couldn’t feel happy at all. Ke Fei Er was merely jealous, but Leiti’s jealousy could lead to…
“Empress Leiti, I hope you can understand that we are doing this just to catch spies in the act.”
This reasoning was clearly something I had reminded Leiti of the night she was almost ambushed, but why was she…
I seemed to think of a possible reason, but before I had the chance to ask, Leiti had already unsheathed that twisted sword she named—Zeus.
“Catching in the act? This Empress sees you are just flirting, right?”
During the days when Leiti was attacked and agreed to cooperate, though she was a bit awkward, she had still acted relatively friendly. If I had to pinpoint when she suddenly became so concerned and jealous about Ke Fei Er and me, it would probably be … after the group division!?
Could it be!
I was immediately prepared to follow the script, but even faster than that, was Leiti’s own script! A content I couldn’t talk my way out of, and it appeared as a matter of course!
【Leiti, out of jealousy and displeasure, killed Ouqi Li De!】
“!”
I knew this was just Leiti’s usual bad attitude, but Ke Fei Er didn’t think so. The moment Leiti drew her sword, she was already ready to protect me! In the small room, the atmosphere was tense, and Ke Fei Er’s actions made me appreciate the importance of her presence, but now I had to explain…
However, before I could speak.
Leiti, who had originally prepared to follow the Rosia tradition of “starting a fight,” suddenly frowned and covered her ears. According to Ke Fei Er, it was as if she was listening to someone’s communication.
Then… Leiti’s expression slowly changed, her previous displeasure towards Ke Fei Er replaced by an anxious look.
“What!?”
She thrust the sword into the ground, sparks flying!
“Buleite!”
Immediately after, she cast a frantic glance at me and ran out of the room without looking back! Ke Fei Er, who had been prepared to fight Leiti in order to “protect me,” ended up protecting a lonely space.
After awkwardly putting her weapon away, she looked at me with some concern.
“Why did that short one suddenly run away? Did she get angry and leave like before?”
“No…”
Absolutely not!
“Ouqi Li De? Are you… okay!?”
“Absolutely not!?”
Just now, the script had suddenly turned… bizarre enough to shock me, and I forgot to stop Leiti from “escaping.” It was only when Ke Fei Er reminded me that I finally snapped back to reality!
The result of Leiti running away had already unfolded, but within that script…
—
[The Kephir Project Experiment Failed.]
[Ivan Letty is injured and unconscious.]
But there was nothing that made me happy, and more importantly, the last point suddenly connected Letty’s recent behavior with that person!
[Eugene Lide was framed and killed by Moriarty!]
Letty must have been entangled recently, and indeed, she was deceived by the professor!
That performance right after she received a contact…
If everything continues to unfold according to the script, it would be troublesome!
——
Available at midnight on the 15th, with thoughts to share tonight.
Ah, please send some monthly tickets, I’m so nervous.
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