"Why did we end up in a place like this?" Kiana said, pinching her nose with a look of disgust.
"..." Li Xuan crouched down and examined the manhole cover in front of him with a small knife in his hand. He felt so tired. He was clearly the one who came to help... yet she was complaining about the place where he was looking for clues. Besides, he hadn't even opened the manhole cover yet, so where was the smell coming from?!
"Alright, you dummy Kiana..." Mei helplessly tapped Kiana on the head, turned around, and said gently to Li Xuan, "Classmate Li Xuan, we'll be counting on you..."
"Mm..." Li Xuan raised an eyebrow and started to exert force with his hand... The strength, enhanced by Honkai energy, was transmitted from his hand through his muscles to the small knife in his hand.
"Hmph!" Li Xuan grunted and suddenly used a burst of force... The manhole cover, which he thought would be quite tricky, was instantly pried open by him. It even spun playfully a couple of times due to the excessive force before falling to the ground with a 'clang clang~'.
"Why is prying open a manhole cover so easy..." Li Xuan murmured. He suddenly understood the thoughts of those who stole manhole covers in his previous life... For something so easy, how could one not try to give it a shot?
"It's open..." Mei curiously poked her head out and glanced at the pitch-black hole. Of course, even with the afternoon sun shining on the entrance, it was still pitch-black below, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
"Let's go down..." Li Xuan said flatly, looking at the ladder at the sewer entrance. The brown fur he found at the 'crime scene' had led them all the way here... Although he thought the fur might have been left by a small animal like a wild beast... he had no choice since the two young ladies insisted on looking.
"Okay~ Let's go down, let's go down!" Kiana suddenly shouted with interest, completely losing the reluctant expression she had just a moment ago.
"...Kiana, didn't you not want to go into the sewer?" Mei asked, puzzled.
"Haha, I suddenly realized I've never been in a sewer before, so I suddenly really want to go see..." Kiana said with an excited look.
"..." Li Xuan and Mei looked at each other, but the thought in their eyes was unanimous... What an idiot...
"Then let's hurry down!~" Kiana said with a powerful voice. Without waiting for Li Xuan to speak, she jumped straight down in a clean and decisive manner under Li Xuan's astonished and frightened gaze... down she went...
"..." Li Xuan and Mei were both unavoidably stunned... There was a ladder, why did she have to jump?!
After a long while... Kiana's weak voice came from below the sewer entrance, "Ouch... my butt...."
...................
"Drip!~" Somewhere, a water droplet was slowly dripping. The sound of the waterdrop hitting the ground seemed particularly harsh in this sewer.
"Ouch~ my butt..." Supported by Mei and walking with a slightly unnatural twist, Kiana rubbed her butt and whined with a resentful expression.
"...It's all because Kiana acts without thinking things through properly," Mei said helplessly, patting Kiana's butt, which in turn caused another wail from the certain white-haired furball.
"...A brain is a good thing, but not everyone has one..." Li Xuan said with a sigh, holding a flashlight to illuminate the pitch-black road ahead.
"Huh?... What do you mean?" Kiana, who was beside Li Xuan, didn't react for a moment.
"...No, it's nothing..." Li Xuan said casually, his eyes fixed on the concrete path beneath his feet, paying attention to things like moss that had grown due to the dampness.
They were now walking in the sewers of St. Freya High School. The sewer was surprisingly clean and tidy, far beyond Li Xuan's expectations, and there was hardly any foul smell. The water flowed through the center of the sewer, and on either side of the stream-like flow were small paths for people to walk on.
"After all, the school's facilities are equipped with sewage treatment machines..." Mei explained to Li Xuan, also mentioning that this situation was very common outside. This made Li Xuan sigh... In his previous life, there were those who would dump waste everywhere just to save a little money, causing a perfectly good river to become less clean than the sewers of this world...
"Huh?..." Li Xuan, holding the flashlight, suddenly stopped. He crouched down and picked up a piece of paper that was almost the same color as the ground. "What's this?..." Li Xuan stared at the tattered piece of paper, unable to recognize what was written on it.
"Oh, you can even see that, Li Xuan," Kiana said with a hint of admiration. In a dark place like this, even with a flashlight, you might not be able to see things on the ground clearly, yet Li Xuan could still spot a small piece of paper on the ground...
"Ahem... Of course, otherwise, do you think I'm wearing colored contacts in my right eye?" Li Xuan couldn't help but say with some pride as he turned his head. At this moment, his right eye had turned into a golden orb with a slow input of Honkai energy.
"Wait, classmate Li Xuan!" Mei suddenly shouted at Li Xuan. She pointed her finger in front of Li Xuan and said with some uncertainty, "That..."
"Hmm? What..." Li Xuan shone his flashlight on the pitch-black ground in front of him. On the slightly damp ground, under the light, lay a pair of pure white ladies' panties.
"...This is..." Li Xuan subconsciously picked up the panties and paused... Before he could get a clear look at what was in his hand, the panties were instantly snatched away by the blushing Mei behind him...
"This is Bronya's..." Mei clearly recognized the item in Li Xuan's hand as the personal clothing of a certain expressionless, heartless, and emotionless little loli... After all, in their dorm, only Bronya wore pure white...
"..." Li Xuan watched helplessly as Mei stuffed the item into her pocket as if guarding against a thief.
"Ahem... Everyone, let's speed up. It seems we're getting closer to the clues..." Li Xuan paused for a moment and quickly came back to his senses, saying. Since clues have already appeared... maybe they can find something else...
"Oh oh!~" Kiana's butt instantly stopped hurting when she saw Li Xuan pick up the panties that had fallen on the ground. She stood up straight, looking ready at any moment.
"Uh... I don't think we need to run anymore..." Li Xuan turned his head and suddenly said. "Because..." He shone his flashlight on the sewer wall, revealing a... hole that was a full one and a half meters high. The area around the hole was even covered in fresh soil, rubble, and other things... It was clear that it had appeared recently.
"It seems we've found it..." Li Xuan swallowed, feeling a little panicked. It seemed he had found something incredible.
At the same time... the figure who was comfortably sleeping in the hole seemed to have been awakened by the voices of Li Xuan and the others and the light from the flashlight, and opened its golden eyes.
(End of this chapter)