A day after the villagers had decided to go along with Jiu Sheng's plans—
"Right, Gui Lian and I will be leaving for the time being. We'll eventually see each other again in the next excavation that is sponsored by the Long Yue family and NPI."
"Do take care of yourselves in the meantime."
Within the rundown single-floor office building, Teng Hao and Gui Lian said these words to Shen Le, Ling Yi, and Chang Ye.
"W-Wait, this is a bit…?"
"Operating this office without supervision is kind of…"
"…"
Despite having been told ahead of time that this might happen, Shen Le and the others are still a bit unprepared.
Looking at the three, who are clearly a bit lost, Gui Lian can't help but sigh, and suggests—
"Well, I guess, you three are welcomed to come with us? At this point, going AWOL probably isn't even that big of a deal."
As the three looked at each other, they nodded at the same time.
Taking one step forward, Chang Ye states—
"I want to master Partial-Apotheosis as soon as possible."
Scratching the back of his head, Teng Hao looks to the rundown pieces of furniture—ranging from the sofas to the tables in this office. Eventually, he remarks—
"Ai, guess this is it then?"
Raising a subtle smile, Gui Lian says—
"Wasn't very long, so I doubt I'd miss this place."
"So, we're leaving right away?"
Glancing at Ling Yi, Gui Lian nods.
Walking out of the rundown office together, Shen Le turns around to carefully close the door.
"Ah…"
Recalling something, Gui Lian says—
"Going AWOL might be detrimental to your dreams of being a city lord, Shen Le."
*Pah!* a tremor runs through Shen Le's body—causing her to give the door an extra push, which causes it to fall forward.
"I…"
Turning to Gui Lian, Shen Le can't help but put on a conflicted look, to which, Ling Yi suggests—
"Just give up."
Adding to this, Chang Ye remarks—
"Childhood dreams are never meant to be."
Shrugging his shoulders, Teng Hao adds—
"I'd have to agree."
Folding her arms, Gui Lian states—
"It's time to grow up, little girl."
Towards all these discouraging words that are being thrown at her, Shen Le grits her teeth, and replies—
"It's too soon to give up! Maybe a miracle will happen! I refuse to give up on this dream!"
Seeing how determined Shen Le is, Chang Ye can't help but ask—
"Why do you want to become city lord in the first place?"
"Because… Because… Because...…- I don't know, something about it makes me feel…- If I can just become a city lord, I'd feel complete?"
"…?"
"…?"
Clear confusion can be seen on the faces of her co-workers, while Ling Yi replies—
"I don't get it."
...…
Back in the office of DB-06-07—
"Man, what a waste really…"
With how well-furnished this office had become—due to the efforts of Yang Ning, Ye Chen can't help but make this remark, as he stands with Li Xue at the doorway.
"Who knows? Maybe, one day, we'll come back?"
Towards Li Xue's remark, Ye Chen types out a text message on his phone, while answering—
"I somehow doubt that. Even if we did, this office would just end up being some other group's by then."
Tapping the send button, Ye Chen sent out a text message to Qing Yue and Long Hua—that the office is closed forever.
"Ai, let's go then."
Opening the door, Li Xue heads out first.
"…"
Snapping a photo of the office space, Ye Chen follows.
Almost as soon as the two had stepped out of the office, rain began to fall from the skies.
"Got an umbrella?"
Shrugging his shoulders at the question, Ye Chen replies—
"I feel like just taking it. It's not that heavy anyways."
"Let's go then."
...…
15 minutes after Ye Chen and Li Xue had left the office—
"Careful, Li, the ground can be slippery."
"I'm fine, big sis."
Dressed in a red coat over a white dress shirt, along with a dark skirt is Li, while holding an umbrella beside the former is Yu Ji—who is dressed in a similar set of clothes, but with a pair of dark trousers.
Having been advised by Jing Yao—that Li should perform some light exercises every day, Yu Ji would take her out for a walk like this after her shift in the Lan Si Restaurant.
Although a treadmill could be an alternative to this, Li had been stuck inside of a cryostasis unit for far too long—causing her to want to stay outdoors as often as possible.
To hide their faces from others, the two are currently wearing a black face mask.
"…"
Stopping in front of an office building together, Li asks—
"So, this is it?"
"Un, but it seems to be closed."
Upon becoming a fugitive, Yu Ji had canceled her original phone plans; hence, she doesn't have a clue that Ye Chen had sent out a text message—informing the office's members that this place will be shutting down.
"Hurry up, pops!"
"How are you so slow? Are you getting on in age?"
Running towards Yu Ji and Li's direction are two children—a boy and a girl, both of which are dressed in bright yellow raincoats, while looking no older than seven years of age.
Judging by how similar the two children's faces are, they should be siblings.
"Take it easy you two, if you slip and fall, I expect you to get back up yourself."
A bit behind the two children is a man with a thin beard—dressed in a grey hoodie with a pair of dark trousers and sneakers. Held in the man's right hand was a large umbrella.
"Hm?"
Raising his head, the man stares at Yu Ji and Li.
"…"
Throwing the man a brief glance, Yu Ji recognizes the former to be Duanmu Chen, as she tightens her grip on Li's hand.
"…"
Sensing tension through Yu Ji's grip, Li tries to act as natural as possible.
Upon waking up from her slumber, Li was informed of all the details by Yu Ji. Having gone through what she did, any other explanation wouldn't have sufficed.
"…"
"…"
"…"
As the two parties walked pass the other, neither side said anything—treating this encounter, as nothing more than a simple coincidence.
Eventually—
"Pops, what happened?"
"You have a really weird look on your face."
The two children turned around and remarked as such, to which, Duanmu Chen answers—
"…I do, do I?"
Turning his head to the side, Duanmu Chen glances back, but Yu Ji and Li were already gone.
For the sake of his children, he had to capture Yu Ji and Li, but he wasn't quite willing to make any violent moves in front of his children.
(Tch, this freaking sucks…)
Heaving a sigh, Duanmu Chen asks the children—
"What do you two want for dinner?"
Exchanging a glance between themselves, the boy and girl replies—
"A happy meal!"
"A happy meal!"
"…So, the usual? Ai, fine."