Volume 9, Chapter 25 – An Old Thousand-Layer Pancake

“Eh, are you sure the elf you’re looking for lives over by the Mother Tree?”

Even though Samael didn’t look like she was lying, it was still necessary to confirm it.

After all, every elf who lived near the Mother Tree held high status and great authority. Although the elf race didn’t have particularly rigid class divisions, anyone qualified to live near the Mother Tree was without exception a powerhouse among the elves.

And as one of the Eight Great Factions… ah no, the Ninth Faction, Nature, the elves who stood at the top were certainly not simple figures.

“I’m sure… but what’s so surprising about that? Could it be that place doesn’t allow a stranger like me to go?”

To be honest, although Samael had lived through countless ages and could be considered an “elder”, her understanding of Nature really wasn’t much better than that of an average specialist.

This point had already been made very clear just from how, back when she was with Tianyin, she didn’t even know how to get to Inferno.

So when faced with the elf girl’s incredulous expression of shock, Samael thought that maybe she had said something inappropriate.

“It’s not that you can’t go, it’s just… are you really really sure your elf friend lives near the Mother Tree? Wait…”

What had clearly started as a firm question suddenly turned suspicious in the elf girl’s expression.

“You… you’re not some spy sent by another faction to scout for intelligence, are you? Even if you don’t look hostile, coming here and immediately saying you want to go to the Mother Tree no matter how I look at it is super suspicious!”

Shocking!

The elf girl who had looked naïve and sweet just moments ago seemed to suddenly have an epiphany.

“Huh? How could that be, I really do have an elf friend I’m looking for…”

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“No, no. If you’re looking for an acquaintance, wouldn’t you have arranged a time and place to meet in advance? And if the other party really lived here, there’s no way she’d just leave you alone as a friend, right?”

That was indeed the case. Samael’s earlier lie had been full of holes to begin with, and if one thought about it carefully, many parts simply couldn’t stand scrutiny.

And Samael’s biggest lie was actually creating a friend out of nothing. Of course, in a certain sense, love could also be considered a kind of friendship. It was just that Samael knew Xingyu Muxi, while Xingyu Muxi didn’t know Samael.

So this situation was one-sided and rather special.

“Hmph, can’t explain it now, can you, miss unknown spy!”

Seeing Samael left speechless, the elf girl smugly puffed out her chest, wearing an expression that said she had seen through everything.

“Sigh, I really didn’t think of that…”

Samael hadn’t expected her lie to be exposed. However, now that it had been uncovered, she had no intention of continuing to hide it.

Of course… having her identity as an “illegal border crosser” exposed wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Even before her lie was seen through, a new plan had already formed once again in Samael’s mind.

After all, finding one person in the vast Nature Plane was like looking for a needle in the sea. If there were no time limit, Samael wouldn’t be in a hurry. But the problem was that she only had about seven days.

So the question was how to find Xingyu Muxi in such a huge Nature Plane.

Relentlessly searching on her own might eventually lead her to the person, but the efficiency of that method was far too low. But if she changed her way of thinking, and let the person being sought come looking on their own… or let that person actively show themselves.

Wouldn’t that be much faster?

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Her thoughts raced, and just as Samael made her decision, the elf girl who had been listening to Samael muttering to herself asked curiously.

“Eh, what were you just saying?”

“Nothing.”

From the elf girl’s perspective, the beautiful girl with long blood-red hair who was suspected of being an “invading spy” suddenly revealed a somewhat frightening smile.

Then, the girl standing before her suddenly vanished.

“Eh?”

She let out an uncertain sound of surprise, and in the next second, the elf girl felt her vision go dark, followed by losing consciousness entirely.

“Haa…”

Gently placing the unconscious elf girl in a relatively concealed spot, and after confirming that she wouldn’t be discovered until she woke up, Samael let out a somewhat helpless sigh.

“I didn’t expect that after going in circles and regaining a body, the first thing I’d do would actually be to create chaos.”

“Although this method is a bit excessive, if it can draw her attention, then maybe there’ll be a chance.”

When it came to Xingyu Muxi, although Samael didn’t understand her as well as Tianyin did, she was very clear about Xingyu Muxi’s feelings toward Tianyin.

And when it came to understanding Tianyin, Samael believed she was no worse than anyone else.

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“So creating chaos to attract attention is the first step. The second step is to leave some information related to Xiaoyin within the chaos.”

Yes.

This was the most core part of the plan Samael had just come up with.

Creating a disturbance to draw eyes was only the first layer.

The second layer was to leave information about Tianyin that only Xingyu Muxi would be able to understand amid the turmoil.

Of course, that was only the second layer.

The third layer was that while leaving the information, she also had to subtly express her goodwill and her stance, so that the eventual meeting wouldn’t turn into a situation with swords drawn.

Well, as for how many more layers there were, Samael had already thought through most of them, although she hadn’t yet figured out how to implement them specifically.

However… making Xingyu Muxi take the initiative to step forward was something that absolutely had to be achieved.

“Haa, now that there’s a plan, the next steps will be much easier.”

With no idea at all where Xingyu Muxi’s exact location was, being able to think through so much already counted as quite impressive for Samael.

Mm… don’t just look at Samael as a knight. When it came to brains, she wasn’t someone to be trifled with either.

That’s right, Samael was an old thousand-layer pancake.

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……

After handling the dissatisfaction from her family and noble houses, Xingyu Muxi finally came back online.

Although the anomaly in the real world had caused the two bodies in the devices to merge into one, as a player, Xingyu Muxi was still able to freely go online and offline.

Of course… all players could do this. It was just that in the past, going online and offline meant the consciousness entering and leaving, while now it had directly become the whole person going online and offline.

“Your Majesty—”

Just as Xingyu Muxi came online, an elf who looked quite pretty walked over in a nervous manner.

Although Xingyu Muxi hadn’t been in the position of Elven Queen for very long, she still had some impression of certain elves around her.

And the elf walking toward her now was actually a “messenger” responsible for delivering important information.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Your Majesty… please see the elders’ report for the detailed information…”

As the messenger spoke, she handed over a scroll that looked rather exquisite.