Bai Ci did a quick search of Hugo's house under the guise of trying to tidy up the rooms. During this time, she found letters written to him by his parents, which mentioned his fiancée. Unfortunately, no new clues surfaced; it was merely a secondary verification of the information she already possessed.
Seeing that the hand on the clock tower had been adjusted to eleven, she picked up the metal lunchbox, shut and locked the doors and windows, and instinctively glanced at the house number. No. 7 Red Brick Street, Aether Town—an unremarkable little two-story building. Having seen it, she made a mental note of it.
Stepping out of the house, she found the air outside was still a hazy gray. Following the directions Hugo had given her last night, Bai Ci walked all the way toward the town's central square.
The red brick houses along the way were crowded close together, their walls mostly stained with black coal dust and their corners overgrown with moss. The streets were still filled with hurried pedestrians, most of whom were rushing to factories or heading home after a shift, each carrying a look of exhaustion on their face.
After walking for about ten minutes, the path ahead gradually opened up, and a modestly sized square came into view.
The post office stood on the edge of the square—a relatively low stone-and-brick building with a somewhat faded wooden sign hanging by the door that read “Withered Wood Post Office.”
As soon as she reached the edge of the square, she immediately spotted a figure standing at the post office entrance.
Hugo was standing at the bottom of the steps, glancing toward the direction she would come from every now and then, his toe tapping lightly against the ground. His restless demeanor, which he tried desperately not to make too obvious, made it clear he was waiting for someone.
The moment he saw her, his eyes visibly brightened, his tense shoulders relaxed, and he quickly walked over to meet her.
“You're here,” he said, a trace of imperceptible relief in his voice.
“Mhm, I'm not late, am I?” Bai Ci handed him the lunchbox. “Here's your lunch.”
“No. Thank you.” Hugo took the lunchbox, his fingertips accidentally brushing hers. He quickly pulled his hand back, the tips of his ears flushing red once more. “Why don't you come inside and sit for a while?” he murmured. “The wind is quite strong out here.”
That was exactly what Bai Ci had intended. She nodded and followed Hugo into the post office.
The first floor of the post office was a lobby with simple furnishings. On the left was a counter, behind which stood rows of neat mail slots. On the right were several long benches for people waiting to send or collect mail.
Since it was currently lunch break, the lobby was empty. Hugo led her past the counter and straight into a small breakroom in the back.
“This is our staff breakroom. You can sit here for a bit,” he said as he turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.
Inside was a small room furnished with two chairs, a small table, and a small locker in the corner. Several people dressed in dark shirts identical to Hugo's were resting on a long bench. When they saw Hugo lead a strange woman inside, everyone's eyes turned toward them in unison.
“Hugo, who is this?” a slightly plump, middle-aged man asked with a smile. There was no malice in his eyes, only good-natured teasing.
Hugo's cheeks flushed slightly, and he introduced her with some embarrassment. “This is Lora, my... fiancée. Lora, this is Old Tom. He's been working at the post office for many years.”
“Ah, so she's your fiancée!” Old Tom said, slapping his thigh as realization dawned on him. “I was wondering why you were so distracted all morning. By midday, it looked like you'd lost your mind, checking the door every few minutes. Turns out you were waiting for your little fiancée.”
Hugo's face turned beet red at Old Tom's words. He quickly lowered his head and muttered in a soft, defensive tone, “No, I was just...”
Old Tom chuckled and waved his hand, teasing him no further. He nodded at Bai Ci and said warmly, “Miss Lora, please, have a seat. Hugo is a shy boy and doesn't talk much. I'll have to trouble you to look after him in the future.”
“It is only right, Mr. Tom,” Bai Ci said with a slight nod. A polite, graceful smile appeared on her face, perfectly matching the poise of a young lady from a noble family. She then nodded slightly to the others. “Hello, everyone.”
She took a quick glance at the other employees and immediately made a preliminary judgment. Aside from Hugo and Old Tom, the remaining four individuals surprisingly had East Asian features.
Aether Town was a typical Western town. From the architecture of the streets to the clothing of the pedestrians, everything was Western in style. As a public institution in town, the post office's staff should have been predominantly Western. Why were there so many East Asian faces here?
Hugo's subsequent introductions of everyone only confirmed Bai Ci's suspicions.
First, he pointed to a tall girl with a cold, detached expression. “Lora, this is Lin Wan.”
The girl named Lin Wan nodded at Bai Ci, a polite but mechanical smile appearing on her face. Her tone was flat. “Hello, Miss Lora.”
Immediately after, Hugo introduced the other three in turn. “This is Chen Mo, this is Zhao Yu, and this is Zhou Kai.”
These three also greeted Bai Ci, each with a different tone.
They all had distinctly East Asian names, without a single Western name among them.
These people were, without a doubt, players.
When the system imported the storyline, the players' identities directly used their real names, leaving no room for them to make up their own.
Just like in Bai Ci's previous instance, whatever the players' surnames and names were, they were printed clearly on the detective agency's business cards.
Therefore, this was undoubtedly a multiplayer instance.
Meanwhile, because of her Ghost Bride class passive, she had entered the game as Lora Chaos, in the capacity of Hugo's fiancée, rather than being assigned the same “mail carrier” identity as the other players by the system.
Bai Ci remained expressionless on the surface, but her mind was already rapidly analyzing the current situation.
She cannot expose her player identity. Once exposed, with her current class restrictions that prevented her from using or picking up items, she would be severely limited if she couldn't seize the initiative. She couldn't rely on the conscience of the players in this instance.
The safest approach was to continue playing the role of Lora. She would gather information from the players while providing them with some in return, making good use of the first effect of her Unswerving passive.
The group had only exchanged brief greetings and barely had time to say much else before a middle-aged man in a dark uniform and a serious expression walked in from outside. He said to Hugo and Old Tom, “Hugo, Old Tom, come over here for a moment. I have something to tell you.”
“Coming,” Old Tom said, immediately standing up.
Hugo also quickly said to Bai Ci, “That's the postmaster. Wait for me here, I'll be right back.”
With that, he followed Old Tom toward the postmaster, and the three of them headed into a room further inside.
In an instant, only Bai Ci and the four East Asian players were left in the breakroom.
For a moment, a brief silence fell over the room. The players looked at one another, and finally, the girl named Lin Wan broke the silence, taking the initiative to walk toward her.
The players had mistaken her for a local NPC—and one who was engaged to Hugo, an important NPC at that. Naturally, someone would want to try and fish for information right away.
Rate on N.U.
