"Haha, that's right, because I'm from another world." Xavier directly stated the truth.
"Eh, really? I heard Mr. Neuvillette just judged a case about an outsider today. I didn't expect it to be you."
Aeval was very surprised, probably not expecting this outsider, who should have been locked up, to appear here.
Furina whispered, "Shh, this is a secret, Aeval. Because Xavier's situation is quite special, that's why I brought him out."
Aeval nodded, "Don't worry, I'll keep this matter completely confidential and won't let anyone else know."
Xavier had a very bad premonition, because people who say such things often end up leaking the secret.
But never mind, he was innocent anyway, just released early.
Led by the group, Xavier drifted through Fontaine on a boat.
Taking advantage of this, Xavier even filmed a video of their sightseeing, with Aeval's commentary in the background.
Under these circumstances, those fans probably wouldn't be able to figure out how these videos were filmed, even if it killed them.
Especially when his hand went into the water, rippling the surface—it couldn't have been more real.
No matter if they said it was special effects or a constructed background set, the effect had clearly been achieved.
After touring all the routes, Furina insisted on taking Xavier to try her favorite macaroni.
"Furina, do you really like eating this so much?"
Sitting in front of the restaurant, Xavier looked at the macaroni.
Although it looked appetizing, eating it every day would probably get tiresome, right?
"Ahaha, actually, it's not too bad. As long as you change up the way you eat it, it won't be too unpalatable," Furina said with a dry laugh.
Lyney took a bite and praised, "Mmm, it does look very good. What do you think, Lynette?"
Lynette also took a small bite of the noodles, then said, "Not bad."
Neuvillette didn't have much desire for food, but he symbolically ate two bites.
He looked up at the sky and asked, "Xavier, I think it's about time. We should head to Blue Star now, right? After all, time waits for no one. It's best if we can conclude this case tomorrow; that would be better for all of us."
Neuvillette's thoughts were clearly different from the others; he preferred to go to Blue Star as soon as possible.
"Alright, it is about time. After all, I've been locked in the interrogation room for almost three hours…"
Xavier was somewhat displeased; he had come to Fontaine to play, but ended up being locked up for so long.
"In that case, let's go together!"
Xavier extended his hand, and everyone's hands clasped together.
"Swish!"
A white light flashed, and it was the familiar living room again.
"What's going on, Bennett? How did you make the kitchen look like this? It's even worse than me!"
As soon as he returned home, Xavier heard Hu Tao's complaining voice.
Even more frightening was that the entire living room was filled with the smell of smoke, making Xavier involuntarily wave his hand.
"Cough, cough… What's going on? Is Blue Star's air quality that bad?"
Navia immediately fanned away the smoke in front of her with a fan, looking very surprised.
"If there's no accident, there should be an accident."
Neuvillette, however, was very calm, and he used his element power to isolate the drifting smoke.
With a wave of his hand, all the smoke also dissipated without a trace.
Only then did Xavier see what was happening: Bennett was leaning against the wall, coughing continuously.
And Hu Tao wasn't much better, her face covered in black smudges from the smoke.
Xavier said accusingly, "What are you two doing? Are you trying to blow up my kitchen?"
Bennett scratched his head and said guiltily, "Sorry, Xavier, I just wanted to cook, but I didn't expect to cause a fire…"
Xavier sighed helplessly. He really didn't know why Bennett suddenly had such an idea, perhaps it was because he had been gone for a long time.
"Where are the others?"
Xavier then realized that there seemed to be no one else in the room, only Hu Tao and Bennett.
"Hmm~ How should I put this? They probably got bored, so they went out to watch a play with Zhongli."
"Watch a play? What kind of play?"
"It's called Huangmei Opera, invited by Zhongli's chess friend. Anyway, I'm not interested, and Bennett only came later."
Hu Tao looked disgusted; she really didn't understand what was so good about that kind of opera.
Meanwhile, in the theater on the other side, Zhongli was leisurely listening to the opera and drinking tea.
"Birds on the tree, a pair~"
Zhongli tapped his foot to the rhythm and praised, "What a wonderful opera. It's quite different from Liyue opera."
An old man with white hair beside him quickly asked, "Excuse me, Master, what is Liyue opera? Why have I never heard of it?"
Zhongli put down his teacup and said, "You and I can address each other as equals; there's no need to call me Master. As for Liyue opera, it's quite rare, so there's not much to say."
This white-haired old man actually called Zhongli "Master," clearly awed by Zhongli's superb chess skills.
It was also this old man who invited Zhongli to watch Huangmei Opera, and he tried every possible way to make Zhongli his master.
Unfortunately, Zhongli had no intention of taking disciples, otherwise this old man would probably be his first disciple.
"Uh, well, Mr. Zhongli, your friends should be fine, right? They seem a bit anxious."
"Ha~ What kind of opera is this? So boring. I shouldn't have agreed to come with Mr. Zhongli."
Kaveh yawned, clearly regretting it.
"I actually find this kind of opera quite interesting. It requires some experience to appreciate its charm, you know~" Lisa didn't think so.
"Exactly. It might seem slow-paced and have strange intonations, but it actually contains rich historical depth, allowing you to hear different stories."
Ei also gave a relatively high evaluation. It seems that opinions on opera were polarized among them.
"Forget it, forget it, let's go back. Xavier should be back by now!"
Itto stretched his body; he really couldn't sit still anymore.
Fortunately, the Huangmei Opera was already nearing its end at this point, and not long after, they returned as a group.
But as soon as they got home, they smelled that pungent smoke, feeling that something was very wrong.
"Wait a minute, what's going on? It's not a fire, is it?"
"It shouldn't be. Even if Hu Tao likes to mess around, she wouldn't burn down the whole house. And by my calculations, Xavier really should be back."
Everyone entered the room with suspicion.
They found that the house hadn't actually burned down, it just had a few unfamiliar faces.
Well, in a way, they were somewhat familiar.
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