His icy expression showed a clear crack for the first time, and his eyes widened slightly.
(Wait...)
He abruptly turned his head, looking in the direction of the corridor where "Cyrene" had just left.
It was empty.
He quickly turned back to look at Elysia, who was dancing enthusiastically in the center of the dance floor.
One was here.
Then who was that person just now...?
Kosma felt his brain overloading.
Had Elysia learned cloning?
Or was the person just now really... Filled with doubts, his gaze swept toward the edge of the dance floor.
Eden was sitting on the sofa she usually occupied, holding a glass of wine, a look of helplessness on her beautiful face.
Kosma walked over. Amidst the somewhat noisy music, his silence seemed particularly jarring.
Eden noticed him, turned her head slightly, and gave him a questioning look.
Kosma hesitated before speaking, his voice sounding a little dry because he had to raise it: "Eden."
"Hmm? What is it, Kosma?"
Eden elegantly set down her glass, gesturing for him to sit and talk.
Kosma didn't sit. He pointed at Elysia in the center of the dance floor, then looked at Eden, his tone carrying an urgency he hadn't noticed himself: "Elysia... did she leave just now? Even for a very short time?"
Eden looked slightly bewildered by the question. She shook her head, genuine confusion in her golden eyes: "No, she hasn't. Since I sat down here, Ai-li has been dancing there. Hmm... it's probably been almost an hour now. Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
Kosma fell silent.
His expression looked complicated under the shifting lights, and his eyes were full of confusion.
After several seconds, he finally spoke in a volume close to a whisper:
"...I think I saw someone who looks... very much like Elysia."
"Oh?"
Eden's eyebrow lifted slightly, clearly surprised and curious about this statement. "Very similar? How similar?"
Kosma opened his mouth, but found it hard to precisely describe the high degree of similarity and subtle differences. "...Extremely similar. But, smaller. The temperament is also different. She said her name was... 'Cyrene'."
"Cyrene..."
Eden repeated the name softly, a thoughtful glint in her eyes. "An interesting name. Kosma, where did you see her?"
"In the B7 Corridor. She asked me how to get out, saying she was lost." Kosma answered truthfully.
Meanwhile, Cyrene's situation was no better than Kosma's.
She walked for a while along the direction Kosma had pointed, only to find the corridors intricate and complex, with numerous forks, and many areas looking exactly the same.
She quickly lost her sense of direction. Worse still, she felt she was straying further off course; the surroundings grew quieter, and the lighting dimmed, not appearing to lead to any exit.
(Ugh... Am I lost again?)
Cyrene leaned against a cold wall, feeling a bit discouraged.
This place was too big, and the silence was unnerving.
Just as she was considering whether to return the way she came or simply call out to see if anyone was around, something seemed to move in the shadows of another junction not far ahead.
Cyrene immediately held her breath and looked over cautiously.
It seemed to be a petite figure, crouching in the corner shadow, with its back to her.
The person was wearing a dark hooded jacket. The hood was loosely placed on their head, but a pair of fluffy, triangular cat ears, tipped with a bit of yellow, poked out nimbly from the edge of the hood, trembling slightly with tension.
Even more eye-catching was a long, equally fluffy Tail with ring-shaped markings, sticking out from under the jacket's hem, resting on the ground. The tip of the Tail was rapidly and restlessly twitching in small movements, suggesting its owner was intensely focused on hiding from something and feeling nervous.
This figure, these features... Cyrene's azure eyes widened slightly, and a hint of disbelief and surprise flashed across her gaze.
(Cat ears... Tail... This back view...)
A name was almost spoken aloud.
She instinctively softened her steps, moved closer, and squinted to identify the figure carefully.
(Cipher... Miss?)
Cyrene's heart skipped a beat.
But how could this be possible?
Wasn't Miss Cipher still confined to that "Illusion" by the sunny stream, sitting there "fishing"?
Who was this cat-eared girl in the shadow before her?
Had Miss Cipher "run" out?
Or was this just a coincidence?
Cyrene stood still, hesitating whether to go forward and greet her.
If it really was Cipher, why would she be here?
Confusion, like spreading vines, wrapped around Cyrene's heart.
The cat-eared girl in the shadow seemed to finally notice the gaze behind her. Her fluffy ears snapped backward, and her Tail instantly went rigid.
She turned her head slightly, extremely slowly. Under the hood, a pair of faintly glowing heterochromatic eyes in the gloom met Cyrene's scrutinizing gaze.
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
"Whoosh!"
Cyrene only felt a blur before her eyes.
Her slender waist was encircled by a strong arm, and she was easily "scooped up," her feet instantly leaving the ground.
"Mmph—!?"
Her startled cry was firmly muffled by a soft, warm palm, trapped in her throat.
The next second, the world spun.
Held by the shadow, she was whisked away with a swift, almost gliding motion, "swooshing" into a nearby alcove—which appeared to be a narrow triangular space formed by a decorative wall relief and a structural column, conveniently concealed from most view by a cluster of broad-leafed ornamental plants.
The space was so cramped that it could barely accommodate two people standing pressed tightly together.
Cyrene's back was pressed against the cold stone wall, while her front was pressed tightly against Pardo's slightly rising and falling chest.
Pardo's other hand maintained the position of covering Cyrene's mouth. Pardo herself held her breath, her cat ears pressed tightly under the hood, and the long Tail with ring markings stood rigidly upright, pressed against her leg, the tip trembling slightly due to extreme tension.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
Cyrene's mind went blank, leaving only the discomfort of being restrained and the unfamiliar scent filling her nostrils.
Her azure eyes were wide with fright, and through the gaps in the plant leaves, she stared blankly at the empty corridor where she had just been standing.
Almost simultaneously, a woman's voice laced with amusement, like a snake's belly sliding over stone, drifted eerily from the fork in the corridor ahead:
"Little mouse... where have you hidden now?"
"Taking my 'little toy' comes with a price, you know~"
"Let me think... what reagent should I use this time to test the... 'malleability' of a feline?"
The voice wasn't loud, even carrying a hint of laziness, but every word was like a cold needle piercing the air, bringing a chilling sense of oppression.
Even though Cyrene didn't understand the context, she instantly sensed the sinister nature of the voice's owner, and her body involuntarily grew stiffer.
Pardo's reaction was more immediate.
The moment she heard the voice, her entire body trembled slightly, and the hand covering Cyrene's mouth tightened, as if terrified that the person in her arms might make the slightest sound.
She made her breathing even lighter; Cyrene even wondered if she had momentarily stopped breathing.
The unsettling voice and presence lingered nearby for a moment, seemingly listening or sensing carefully.
Time stretched out endlessly in the silent tension.
Cyrene could hear her own rapid heartbeat, as well as Pardo's faint, slightly hurried breathing, despite her efforts to suppress it.
Finally, the snake-like, chilling voice seemed to lose patience or judged that the prey was not in this spot. Accompanied by an ambiguous chuckle, it gradually faded away until it completely vanished.
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