As native Longcheng residents, Shu Cat, Invincible Bro, and Lü Heng were intimately familiar with the city.
"This train station used to be a small lake," one of them remarked, "but it was artificially filled in to create the structure you see now."
"And this street has been renovated at least three times," another added. "I remember when the tallest buildings here were only two stories high."
The trio casually shared these obscure facts and anecdotes. Firefly and Soup Dumpling stood together as attentive listeners, refraining from interjecting or offering their own opinions.
Although Firefly had grown somewhat familiar with Longcheng, she had only lived there for three months. How could she possibly know these niche details from years or even decades ago?
To put it bluntly, even if Robin frantically searched online at that moment, Firefly couldn't have kept up with the conversation.
So, despite attending the meetup as a "Longcheng native" and the official host, she had quickly apologized and confessed that she was no longer Robin's colleague. This made it obvious to everyone that she wasn't actually a local.
Throughout the day, Firefly enjoyed the VIP treatment of a "guest," which was technically true since she had only arrived in Longcheng the previous day.
The only point of contention arose when it came to splitting the bill. The group had initially agreed to divide all expenses equally among the four of them, allowing the Group Owner to fully enjoy her day. However, now that they realized Peace Dove wasn't a local, Shu Cat and the other two wanted to split the costs among themselves. Firefly, however, insisted on honoring their original agreement and wanted to pay her share.
In the end, unable to dissuade Firefly, Shu Cat and the others reluctantly agreed to the four-way split.
Time flew by with morning chats, a lavish lunch, and an afternoon of leisurely strolling. As evening approached, Lü Heng pointed to a hot pot restaurant ahead and declared, "Trust me, this is absolutely the best hot pot in all of Longcheng—no exaggeration! It's the real deal, no doubt about it!"
Firefly instantly believed him, though not because of Lü Heng's enthusiastic endorsement. She knew Robin and Yu Lin had eaten here before, and Yu Lin's reputation as a food connoisseur guaranteed the restaurant's quality.
Shu Cat, however, remained skeptical. "Are you sure this place is reliable? Maybe you should listen to me. I know a really good barbecue restaurant."
"I bet you just want barbecue," Lü Heng retorted.
"So what? You just want hot pot, right?"
"Ora ora ora ora ora!"
"Muda muda muda muda muda!"
"Meow~"
Just as the two were getting heated in their argument, a sudden meow rang out.
It wasn't someone imitating a cat; a genuinely adorable ginger kitten was slowly and gracefully strolling past them.
"Wow! How cute!" Soup Dumpling immediately knelt down, extending her "human claws" toward the innocent little creature. The kitten showed no fear, even approaching her and rubbing against her leg.
Naturally, the other four leaned in as well.
"This must be someone's pet," Shu Cat remarked. "A wild cat wouldn't be this clean and unafraid of people."
"But isn't this a commercial district?" Lü Heng wondered. "Could it belong to one of the shop owners?"
Regardless, the cat had successfully interrupted the argument between Shu Cat and Lü Heng. Invincible Bro chimed in, "Why not listen to me? I know a great grilled fish place..."
Before he could finish, Firefly, Lü Heng, and Invincible Bro suddenly sensed something and simultaneously looked up at the sky.
A black vortex had materialized out of thin air, hovering about ten meters above them.
A Dimensional Rift!
A faint wave of dizziness washed over Firefly. Having experienced this sensation countless times, she immediately recognized it as an Otherworld-type Dimensional Rift.
Her first thought was, "What a coincidence!" She had scoured the entire planet for Dimensional Rifts and was starting to worry about running out of new ones. Now, one had just spawned right in front of her?
Her second thought was, "How could this be such a coincidence?" The world was vast. What were the odds of a Dimensional Rift spontaneously appearing directly above her? Could her luck really be that good?
Then she considered that Longcheng hadn't seen a Dimensional Rift in quite some time. The last incident had been the White Specter case at the school, handled by Robin. Perhaps a new Dimensional Rift appearing in Longcheng wasn't so unusual after all?
As Firefly pondered this, the bustling commercial street and the adorable kittens vanished, replaced by a dusty, dilapidated school corridor.
Looking to either side, Firefly could even make out the classroom nameplates:
Class 1-1
Class 1-2
"A... Dimensional Rift?!" Soup Dumpling exclaimed, her voice trembling slightly. Barely two seconds after appearing in the corridor, she had pressed herself against Firefly, clutching tightly to her arm. Firefly could faintly feel her shaking.
Shu Cat's eyes, though tinged with apprehension, were mostly filled with curiosity. He frantically scanned his surroundings before noticing a small nameplate pinned to his chest:
Class 2-3, Qin She
"What's this...?"
"What's this...?"
Firefly glanced down at her own chest: [ Class 1-2, Firefly ]. Then she looked at Soup Dumpling beside her: [ Class 1-2, Sima Yiting ].
If the names following the class numbers were real, the Group Owner actually had an extremely rare double surname.
-
P.S.: Invincible Bro's Data Vision can only access information registered within this world. For example, if Firefly didn't disclose her age when registering with the European Union, Invincible Bro would see her age displayed as a question mark. However, since she's registered as 18 with the EU, Invincible Bro's Data Vision shows her age as 18.
Firefly's Profile in Data Vision
Name: Firefly
Gender: Female (18 years old)
Class: Outsider (?? Rank)
Abilities:
[ ?? ]: ???
[ ¥%#...& ]: Data @@@¥% Deleted
[ Tarot Card's Protection ]: Any targeted divination, occult prophecy, or mystical attack directed at the user will be partially disrupted. Additionally, the user's own divination rituals and occult practices performed using this deck of Tarot cards will be moderately enhanced.