"Captain, what's... what in the world?"
Outside the door, Lu Hao and Mu Yao noticed that Chen Yuxuan was dazed; after a moment's hesitation, they decided to take a peek. As a result, the first time Lu Hao laid eyes on the woman before him, his face uncontrollably flushed bright red. As a young lad, where would he have ever seen such a mature beauty?
However, he suddenly realized something was wrong—where did this woman come from? Yan Xi and the others had thought of this as well. Yan Xi first cast a subtle glance at the silver bracelets on the woman's wrists, then turned a questioning look toward Chen Yuxuan.
Yan Xi (⊙_⊙)?: "What happened to the little girl in the strange outfit we agreed upon?"
Chen Yuxuan ¯(°_o)/¯: "I don't know either?"
Then, he looked at his teammates in confusion. "Little Sparkle, where is she?"
However, Lu Hao and Mu Yao kept shaking their heads, indicating they had no idea. Seeing this, Chen Yuxuan's expression became even more complicated. His teammates had no reason to lie to him, but this woman before him was... He recognized the things on her wrists. Those were special handcuffs capable of suppressing an Ability User's Supernatural Ability; tests showed that even a Special Grade Esper could hardly break free, let alone use their Supernatural Ability.
Chen Yuxuan's eyes narrowed slightly as he stepped forward to ask tentatively. "May I ask who you are?"
The woman replied with a smile. "Kafka."
But in the next second, Kafka moved her hand and slapped away Chen Yuxuan's hand as he tried to touch her. Then, she swiftly raised her long legs to hook around his neck, taking Chen Yuxuan down to the ground in one magnificent, fluid motion. Her hands were still bound by the silver bracelets, yet she pressed down heavily on his head, preventing him from getting up.
"Little cutie, it's not nice to get handsy so casually, you know?"
This all happened in the blink of an eye; by the time the others reacted, they found their captain already pinned to the ground. Seeing this, Yan Xi didn't move, thinking to herself, 'Such fluid movements; this woman is definitely not simple.'
Once Lu Hao and Mu Yao regained their senses, they immediately moved forward to help their captain. But they were sharply stopped by the captain.
"None of you move a muscle!"
Though the two hesitated, seeing the Director's calm expression beside them, they chose to follow orders. Meanwhile, the completely suppressed Chen Yuxuan was incredibly shocked.
'She feels real, it's not an illusion. But I didn't expect her reactions to be so fast, and for such a seemingly frail body to hide this much power.'
Chen Yuxuan realized he couldn't break free with physical strength alone, so... just as he was about to activate his Supernatural Ability, the weight on him suddenly vanished. Kafka had already returned to her original spot, hands placed in front of her, sitting quietly like a prisoner waiting for interrogation.
After Chen Yuxuan got back up, he looked at Kafka with a complicated expression. To be honest, he wasn't sure at all if the person before him was a substitute named Kafka... or Sparkle in disguise. After all, their body types were completely different yet she felt real. More importantly, she was wearing Suppression Handcuffs; logically, she shouldn't be able to use any Supernatural Ability.
Beside him, Yan Xi was also thoughtfully observing Kafka, trying to discover something. Unfortunately, she couldn't read any emotion from those hollow eyes. Thus, Yan Xi sat calmly opposite Kafka and asked in a level tone.
"Since that's the case, Kafka, is it? Would you mind explaining who you are, or rather, why you're here?"
"Oh? Little cutie, even with handcuffs, it seems you all~ can't stop me, can you? So why should I answer that question?"
Kafka maintained her faint smile, but the others could clearly feel the contempt from the person before them. Yan Xi wasn't annoyed, though. "Fine, let's set Miss Kafka's question aside for now."
Immediately after, she flashed a charmingly wicked smile. "Then may I ask... about your identity, little Miss Sparkle?"
As expected, upon hearing this, a hint of surprise finally appeared on Kafka's face. But soon, she resumed her look of complete ignorance.
"My little cutie, what are you talking about?"
Yan Xi didn't answer, but instead explained. "My Supernatural Ability, 'True Words', isn't as powerful as Chen Yuxuan's and the others', but it can easily distinguish lies. And just now, you said you were~ Kafka?"
There was no need to say more; everyone understood. Rather than it being a pseudonym, it was more like... "Hahaha, big sister is quite impressive! Even Chen Yuxuan wasn't sure."
Many red particles floated around Kafka's body, and then she slowly reached out to take a half-white, half-red fox mask off her face out of thin air. The group saw the mature and charming woman before them transform into a petite and delicate little girl in the blink of an eye.
"So this is little sister Sparkle's original appearance?"
Yan Xi's attention was on the mask in the other's hand, thinking, 'Is it this mask that has the ability to disguise, which is why it's not affected by the bracelets?'
Chen Yuxuan's thoughts coincided with hers. However, Sparkle didn't care at all, even giving a cute wink.
"Yep! So, isn't little Sparkle a super cute beautiful girl?"
But after waiting for a while without an answer, she could only pout in boredom. "Tch, how boring."
Yan Xi continued. "Now, can little sister Sparkle answer big sister's question?"
At the same time, Chen Yuxuan and the others also took their positions, creating an atmosphere of an interrogation. But Sparkle just put on the expression of a little brat, staring at them with a playful smile on her face.
"Oh, little sister, you are indeed very interesting. But why do you think I would answer your questions? You don't think that just because I'm cute, things will be different, do you? Hehehe, what a naive big sister!"
That cute and playful look, combined with her blatant contempt, made veins throb on their foreheads. The Sparkle before them looked completely fearless, as if she didn't care about her current situation at all.
However, Yan Xi understood that according to Chen Yuxuan, Sparkle had offered almost no resistance and had voluntarily put on the handcuffs to come back with them. So, whether it was the mask or Sparkle herself, it seemed she still had no way to deal with her. Even this interrogation itself might be something the other party wanted to stay for.
Yan Xi suppressed the twitching of her mouth and stared at the other. "I've seen through your little trick; can't you give me an answer? Besides, you haven't left even now, which shows you don't care about any of this. So why are you unwilling to speak?"
Sparkle, who hadn't expected such a response at all, immediately looked surprised, her bright eyes carefully scanning Yan Xi's expression. Yan Xi refused to be outdone, meeting her gaze head-on. Feeling Sparkle's mysterious gaze, which was like the deep starry sky, at this moment, Yan Xi truly felt as if she were being seen through by the little girl before her.
'Extremely mysterious, extremely dangerous.' This was the label Yan Xi mentally assigned to Sparkle.
The two were at a stalemate for a moment, and even Yan Xi began to feel a bit unsure of herself. She was gambling; according to Chen Yuxuan, this Sparkle seemed very mischievous and liked to play tricks on people. So Yan Xi wanted to use this to provoke her.
Sparkle naturally saw through her thoughts, but wasn't this also quite interesting?
"Hahaha, big sister, you're even more interesting than I imagined! You should properly thank Lord Sparkle! I'll reluctantly answer your questions then."