"Twiggy!?"
On the Cunning Hares' side, not to mention Nicole, who finally breathed a huge sigh of relief after seeing Arden—Anby was also extremely surprised when she saw Yiji.
Rather than Yiji, Anby was even more shocked, so shocked that her jaw practically dropped.
After all, Yiji had already been given a heads-up by Arden, knowing that Captain Anby was still alive. But on Anby's side, there was no divination master to tell her that besides No. 11, whom she had personally protected, there were other surviving Silver sisters.
Unfortunately, Anby was a classic three-no poker face, so outwardly she didn't look as exaggerated as Yiji.
As for the other two members of the Cunning Hares, after feeling reassured upon seeing Arden, their expressions quickly turned ghostly.
Especially Billy—his CPU was already overloaded.
"A-Anby… there are actually two of you!? Have I stayed in the Hollow for too long, had my circuits corroded by ether, and started hallucinating?"
Billy clutched his robotic head and shouted in panic.
"Stop talking nonsense. Can't you see she's wearing a Daoist robe? She's clearly a disciple of Yunkui Summit."
Nicole rubbed her hand; Billy's head was still far too hard for her flesh-and-blood body.
Although she was also very surprised by Yiji's appearance, compared to Billy, she was much calmer and managed to analyze something from the situation.
"Daoist Arden, Boss Xu, what's going on here?"
Nicole asked Arden, who was watching the excitement unfold without a shred of concern. "This isn't some Yunkui Summit spell of yours, copying Anby, right?"
Alright—seems Nicole didn't analyze that much either, and even jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"Uh… how should I explain this… forget it, let them explain it themselves."
...
"We are sisters of the Silver Squad."
"If clones from the same batch can be considered sisters."
Anby and Yiji spoke one sentence each.
"Silver Squad… clones…?"
The completely new terms made Nicole rub her temples in pain, then she tried guessing, "So… you're not twins, are you?"
"No!"
"If I really had to say… maybe… twelve-tuplets?"
Unlike Anby, Yiji—having spent a long time with Arden—still retained some sense of humor.
"..."
However, Yiji's sense of humor seemed a bit defective. Her joke caused black lines to fill Nicole's forehead.
Twelve-tuplets? That was way too absurd.
"Oh, so Anby has that many sisters! How enviable."
Billy took Yiji's joke completely seriously.
"Captain, you're really alive… that's wonderful."
After steadying her emotions, Yiji happily threw herself into Anby's soft embrace. Although the jacket was a bit thick, it didn't stop the sisters from using their bodies to express the joy of reunion after a long separation.
"Twiggy, that's something I should be saying instead."
Anby gently patted Yiji's hair.
Soft, smooth—it seemed she had been living quite well during this time.
"Was it you who saved Twiggy?"
Anby turned her gaze toward Arden at the side.
She had heard of this old client of the Cunning Hares before, but this was their first meeting.
From the very beginning, Arden hadn't interrupted the sisters' reunion. He merely watched quietly, a faint smile on his face.
Arden knew very well how much Yiji admired Anby, the Silver Army's captain.
In the beginning, Yiji would constantly bring up Anby in conversation. Even now, at night while sleeping, Arden could still hear fragments of her past with Anby and the Silver Army from her sleep talk.
Perhaps those memories were not beautiful—but they were precious, irreplaceable memories for Yiji.
"That's right—my husband saved me!"
While acting spoiled in Anby's arms, Yiji admitted it openly.
It was just that the word "husband"…
"H-Husband!?"
Hearing that word come out of such a young girl's mouth, the gazes of the three Cunning Hares members toward Arden instantly changed.
"She wouldn't be one of the four brides from the wedding, would she?"
"Twiggy, if you've been wronged in any way, say it out loud—your captain will stand up for you!"
Anby tightened her arms around Yiji.
"Do you need me to carry out justice?"
Billy even placed both hands on his guns.
"Captain, it's not like that! I married Brother Xu of my own free will!"
However, to the surprise of the three Cunning Hares members, Yiji broke free from Anby's embrace and stood beside Arden. "And besides, my name is Yiji now—not that Twiggy who couldn't do anything right anymore."
As she spoke, Yiji pointed at her restored eyes with one hand, while the other patted the talisman pouch hanging at her waist.
"Hey! What do you take me for!?"
Arden also rolled his eyes at the three of them, expressing his dissatisfaction. "I'm a disciple of Yunkui Summit—no, a Master's Master!"
After forming ties with Yixuan, the Grandmaster, Arden's status rose from "Second Senior Brother" to the "Master" of all Yunkui Summit disciples.
"Born from a prestigious righteous sect like Yunkui Summit, and a hero who saved Elina—how could I possibly force an innocent girl to do something like that!?"
"Mm… Daoist Arden, I've always trusted you. That was just a misunderstanding."
Not wanting to offend a long-time client, Nicole immediately changed her expression.
"Sorry, I misjudged you! I remember now—I've seen you in the news before. No wonder you looked so familiar."
Billy looked at Arden with envy. As someone who always styled himself as a glorious knight, righteous sects like Yunkui Summit and heroes like Arden had always been objects of his admiration.
"I see. As long as you weren't wronged, that's good."
Anby also finally relaxed.
"Um, although this might ruin the mood a bit, could we put the reminiscing on hold for now?"
"Who is it!? Daring to interrupt at such a crucial moment—watch me—Proxy!!"
Billy was originally dissatisfied with the sudden voice that ruined the mood, but when he lowered his head toward where the sound came from, it turned out to be Eous!
"Manager!! You're finally connected again!!!"
"Proxy, is it really you?"
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Actually, we've been online for a while now. It's just that you were all busy with… um, busy with 'sisters' and 'husbands' and such, so you didn't notice, right?"
"Huh? So, you heard everything we said earlier?"
"Crystal clear—'not wanting to be used as a sacrifice by some creepy house, and Daoist Arden from Yunkui Summit,' pfft~ pfft~~!"
On the other end, Belle couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Ugh, ugh ugh ugh… hehe!!"
Arden was fine—after all, he had thick skin—but having her sentimental ramblings heard so clearly by the Proxy siblings made Nicole's pretty face instantly turn as red as her hair.
"Alright! Don't be shy, Nicole—bring out the same momentum you use when bargaining." Arden encouraged her casually.
"Ahem, ahem!"
Forcing herself to calm down, Nicole changed the topic. "Enough nonsense. What exactly happened earlier?"
With the Proxy responding and strong reinforcements arriving, Nicole no longer needed to worry about the Cunning Hares' safety and began considering bigger matters.
"Just now…"
Belle briefly and concisely explained the reason for the disconnection and everything that happened during that time.
===BREAK===
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