In the lounge of the Purple Illusion Café, the tale kept simmering, like steam curling over a dark roast.

“Huh?”

“The World Tree Maiden?”

“Xiao Yue!? You can’t just blurt that out like tossing pebbles into a pond—”

All the girls showed shock, like wind-shaken reeds, while only Yin Mu wore a blank, moon-dazed look and asked, slow as falling snow:

“The World Tree Maiden… what kind of role is that?”

“Uh… basically a super handy support, like a living conduit, pouring out life force and keeping the whole forest’s balance steady.”

Yue Liuyi tried to make it simple, her words landing light as leaves.

“Ah… that sounds powerful, like thunder behind clouds—no wonder you’re my Master!”

“Impossible… you could not be the World Tree Maiden!”

Suddenly, Purple Illusion burst out, her voice cracking like ice:

“I spent three years searching! Dreamwood Star has no World Tree Maiden left! Don’t you dare try to trick me again, don’t you dare use me again! I’d rather die than let your plan succeed!”

“Huh?”

Yue Liuyi glanced at herself, like a river seeing its own reflection, and knew she was far from that title right now.

This low-power form drew no great energies like circling fireflies; even her mind and brain loops were just those of an ordinary boy, plain as dry bark.

But the good thing was, Yue Liuyi didn’t need to become a “little loli” to sway Purple Illusion, like rain doesn’t need thunder to fall.

“Purple Illusion, you’re a sharp girl, like a blade kept oiled. You know there’s no second path now, except trusting me.”

“H-huh…?”

Purple Illusion’s eyes went wide, like lanterns suddenly lit, and she saw her cornered place.

“Also, we’ve got special ways to test lies, like salt to draw out hidden stains. So tuck away the tricks—don’t reach for crooked doors.”

Yue Liuyi untied the rope on Purple Illusion’s wrists; to the truly despairing, death is a quiet shore, easy to accept.

What’s hard is a road called hope.

Because it means effort again, like rowing against current.

Because it means facing your past again, like walking back into fog.

Because it means tasting despair again, like bitter herbs on the tongue.

But for Purple Illusion,

none of that mattered now, like background rain behind the drumbeat.

The blue-haired girl was right—there was no path left to choose, only this one, like a single bridge over a chasm.

So—

“Please save my sister! I’ll do anything, anything you ask!”

With a soft thud, she dropped to her knees on the couch, like a flower bowing in storm wind.

Begging an enemy is shameful, like mud on silk.

But ever since that night, she had stopped asking for dignity, like a moth that sheds its old husk.

She had lied, flattered, flirted, lured butterflies to her sleeves—things that grind pride to dust, like stones underfoot.

So even if the girls before her meant to use her, to push her down, to keep her as a plaything—if there was even a candle’s worth of hope to save her sister, Purple Illusion would do it.

Facing the girl sprawled over the couch, Yue Liuyi nodded, her voice steady as a metronome:

“Alright, then I’ll give you three orders. Complete them, and we’ll go save your sister… and there won’t be more orders after.”

“Three orders?”

“Mhm! First one.”

She unlocked her phone, the map blooming like a night city seen from space, and slid her finger to the Xinke District: “Right now, the Council forces hold most of it, but StarGel Corporation and Fu Tong Industries headquarters still stand outside their grip. We need you, Purple Illusion, to give us everything you know.”

“If it can save my sister… I’ll tell you everything,” she said, the words falling like nails driven true.

“Good. Second—”

Yue Liuyi swiped the map like a breeze turning pages, landing on the Winterwood District: “In Winterwood, which area feels right to you? I like that riverside kindergarten—plenty of trees, and buildings with different flavors, like a small city of lanterns.”

“Huh? Feels… right?”

Purple Illusion blinked, her mind catching up like a kite in crosswind.

“For the café’s location. The Winterwood district will need a cluster of services, like blossoms around a hive. You’ll be the manager.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“It’s also a way to make steady coin, like a mill on a stream. No rush—take your time. Then comes the key, the most important, the third condition.”

She paused on purpose, the way a hunter pauses in tall grass; her pale blue eyes fixed on Purple Illusion with a ‘lecherous’ glint, and the corner of her lips lifted, like a crescent moon.

“What’s the third…?”

Purple Illusion swallowed, the sound small as a pebble in a well. This third must be the crux, she knew—she just didn’t know if this blue-haired girl was the type who schemes from the shadows, or the type who seduces with a smile.

“Obey the rules and the law. Don’t lie to us.”

“Huh?”

“If you keep making trouble, I’ll come teach you a lesson. And once you’re in the little black room, you won’t be with your sister.”

Hearing that, Purple Illusion froze, like frost caught by dawn.

“T-that’s… that’s it? You don’t need me to… serve you?”

“Of course not! I’m a decent person, not like Trunks, okay? (LittleSnow, stop poking my waist! If I laugh now, I’ll look ridiculous!)”

“(Mm… but watching little Yue act so smug, I really wanna tease you.)”

“(It’s not smug, it’s confidence! No teasing!)”

…

…

And so, the talk in the lounge wound to an end, like a kettle settling.

Purple Illusion shared every scrap of intel she had with the girls, and after Dixue organized and sifted it like a weaver at her loom, she sent it on to Zixin at the front.

When Yue Liuyi finished, she went to meet Teng Ying and Lidashi, like stepping from backstage to bright lamps.

“Miss Teng Ying, did you get through to the old guard?”

While she’d been speaking with Aya earlier, Lidashi and Teng Ying hadn’t been there, like missing notes in a chord.

At that time, the heiress and that not-so-little ‘loli’ were busy on comms, reaching out to the old guard of Teng Capital, like throwing lines across a stormy river.

“Yes, we got through. The picture’s better than we feared—most regular staff and mid-level operatives are in touch. They’re sheltering in nearby districts, like flocks tucked in hollows.”

“Good. We’ll need them to help handle the final asset transfers,” Yue Liuyi said, her tone even as a plumb line.

Neither Yue Liuyi nor Yue Dier lacked worldliness, like travelers with many stamps; but when it came to the machinery of capital, they were all thumbs, like pianists wearing mittens.

If Teng Capital can liaise with the Council, the process will smooth like ice under skates, and the losses for regular staff will shrink like a tide going out.

“I’ll have them front it. It’s just…”

“What is it?”

“The senior brass of Teng Capital have vanished, like stones dropped into deep water—haven’t reached a single one.”

The dark-green-haired girl frowned, lines rippling like wind on a lake, her thoughts turning heavy.

“Did Fu Pi and Linoket grab them?”

“Doesn’t feel like it… they all had separate bolt-holes, like foxes in scattered burrows. It’s hard to imagine Fu Pi found them all in one day.”

“Huh?”

“Miss Yue, I’ve got a bad feeling, like thunder you can’t see yet… Maybe this isn’t as simple as I thought.”