Upon hearing Seraphina's sudden and completely baffling remark, Liu Yueyan froze in place, utterly stunned. Her mind raced to catch up. Lin Tian and Mitsuri had merely been conducting a perfectly normal self-introduction moments ago. By what twisted leap of logic had Seraphina arrived at the conclusion that she needed to go turn herself in to the authorities?
It was only when Liu Yueyan noticed the direction of Seraphina's wandering gaze—drifting subtly, yet pointedly, toward Kiyo Terauchi and the trio of little ones standing nearby—that the realization finally dawned on her. She understood exactly what Seraphina was implying.
"Seraphina, you don't actually think... I didn't! It is absolutely not what you are thinking. Stop those wild, fanciful thoughts right now!"
"Is... that so?" Seraphina drawled, her tone dripping with skepticism.
Seeing the look of absolute disbelief plastered across Seraphina's face, Liu Yueyan felt a bit broken inside. She wanted to argue, but she held her tongue. After all, in situations like this, explaining often sounded like covering up, and covering up was practically an admission of guilt. Her desperate explanation might just dig the hole of misunderstanding even deeper.
Seeing Liu Yueyan rendered speechless, Seraphina became even more convinced of her internal theory. If Liu Yueyan were truly innocent, surely she would fight harder to explain herself? The silence was damning.
"Do your uncle and aunt know about your current situation?" Seraphina whispered, leaning in with concern. "And Xiao Xi... she hasn't been led astray by you, has she?"
"Mom and Dad both know, and so does Xiao Xi," Liu Yueyan replied with a deadpan expression, deciding to lean into the absurdity since denial wasn't working. "They all know I hire child labor."
"..."
Seeing Liu Yueyan admit to this crime so frankly, Seraphina felt physically unwell.
Uncle and Aunt, and even Xiao Xi know? And is it really okay for you to just say the phrase 'hiring child labor' out loud in public?
Seraphina glanced around nervously. Surveillance nowadays wasn't like before. In the past, it didn't matter much if a small shop like this didn't have cameras. But now, in this new era where anomalies ran rampant and supernatural abilities were diverse and unpredictable, the dangers were everywhere. Who knew if there was someone lurking nearby, controlling an anomaly that could turn invisible, or perhaps an entity capable of cutting through space itself, listening in on their conversation right now?
However, precisely because she understood Liu Yueyan's character so well, Seraphina began to second-guess herself. Was her suspicion wrong?
She looked at the three girls again. Maybe these three little girls are robots? she wondered. Or perhaps they are new forms transformed by some clone-capable anomaly, created to protect the family more secretly?
Just as Seraphina was letting her imagination run wild with conspiracy theories, seemingly realizing that the sudden tense argument between the two older women was because of them, Kiyo Terauchi and the three little ones spoke up to clear the air.
"Big Sister, we aren't hired by Sister Yueyan," Kiyo said earnestly, her voice clear and innocent. "She and we are friends, just like we are with Sister Shinobu."
"Not hired?"
Hearing Kiyo Terauchi suddenly speak up, Seraphina froze for a moment. She looked closely at the little girl's expression. The child's eyes were pure and sincere; it didn't look like she was lying at all.
"Forget it, I wasted my breath. You watched the news on TV earlier, right?"
Looking at her best friend, whose head was clearly still full of fog, Liu Yueyan felt a mix of exhaustion and exasperation. No matter how she explained things, this girl would just have a pile of new questions popping up. Since she couldn't explain it clearly with logic alone, Liu Yueyan decided to just lay her cards on the table. Anyway, given their personalities where they knew everything about each other's lives, it didn't matter if she spilled the secret.
"I watched it," Seraphina nodded, shifting gears. "Didn't they say the higher-ups exterminated a Super 3S-rank anomaly? What about it?"
Looking at Liu Yueyan's 'risk it all' expression, Seraphina didn't quite understand the connection, but her instincts told her that Liu Yueyan was about to reveal a massive secret.
"Exterminated... well, that word works too, I suppose. Anyway, that is indeed what the officials claimed."
Hearing the word 'exterminated,' Liu Yueyan felt the Ghost Bride hiding within her shadow tremble slightly. It seemed that the devastating attack she had witnessed had left a deep psychological shadow on the spirit.
"Hmm, let me see... Here, this one. Watch this closely."
Liu Yueyan took out her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and played the video the country had released earlier—the one intended to flex their military muscle to the world.
"This?" Seraphina glanced at the screen. "I know about this too. What's so rare about it? Isn't the country being strong a good thing? Look at those netizens from other countries in the comments, that's a whole lot of..."
"This set of armor is Diamond Armor," Liu Yueyan interrupted, her voice serious as she pointed at the pixelated figure on the screen. "The sword in his hand is a Diamond Sword. And that flowing light surrounding his body is an Enchantment effect."
"...That's a whole lot of envy and jealousy—eh?"
Seraphina's rant cut off abruptly. Hearing the terms Diamond Armor, Diamond Sword, and Enchantment coming from Liu Yueyan's mouth, Seraphina froze. She looked up from the screen to Liu Yueyan, her eyes full of confusion.
"Yes, you heard correctly," Liu Yueyan confirmed, meeting her gaze steadily. "Those are products from the game Minecraft."
"Did your dad not tell you about these things?" Liu Yueyan added, tilting her head slightly. "He and my dad are good friends, after all."