Chapter Eighty-Nine: Oh No, the Secret’s Out!

"Careful. He means you harm."

Lu Mingfei's voice rang out all of a sudden, colder than usual.

The Dream Tapir's target selection had been handled by Focalors. If even Focalors could not sense Lyney's hostility at this moment, then the Dream Tapir likely could not lock on either. If that was the case, then he would have no choice but to resort to slightly more extreme methods and use a far less controllable spiritual incantation.

It would bring a host of side effects and cause one trouble after another. But if it could keep Furina safe, then no amount of trouble mattered.

"Huh?"

Furina really looked shaken.

Lu Mingfei gave a fond, helpless smile and sighed. Though Furina was usually sharp under certain very specific circumstances, most of the time she was just adorable little Furina, especially when it came to matters that had nothing to do with him or with the people of Fontaine. In those cases, she was always rather careless.

She cared far more for the people of Fontaine than she did for herself, and about half as much as she cared for Lu Mingfei.

But that was also part of what made her so lovable.

After a brief pause, Lu Mingfei said, "Lyney hides his expression very well, but that level of concealment can't possibly escape my eyes. His microexpressions are easy to read. I can peer into his true thoughts through the smallest details."

"You can do that?"

Furina asked in confusion.

"Of course. Haven't you ever read about microexpression psychology? That's something from our world. Microexpressions reveal what a person truly feels inside. Especially when they think no one is watching, those tiny expressions become even more honest. So I can absolutely judge his intentions from those details. It's very simple!"

Lu Mingfei spoke with absolute confidence. Before the trial, for Furina's safety, he had devoured those books countless times in the dead of night. His ability to observe and analyze microexpressions had already reached its peak.

Though with his intelligence he could have memorized the contents after one reading, applying that knowledge to protect Furina was invaluable. So he had read and reread them countless times, until he could recite them backward and use them effortlessly in analogy.

"Microexpression details? Then you're pretty amazing," Furina murmured.

But as she spoke, her voice gradually trailed off. She lifted a finger to her lips, thinking it over, and muttered, "Wait... microexpression details? Microexpressions?"

"Uh?"

Lu Mingfei suddenly froze.

He abruptly realized he seemed to have forgotten something very important: there was no way he should be able to see Furina clearly right now, much less Lyney standing behind her.

The prerequisite for microexpression analysis was, of course, being able to see the expressions at all. If he said that...

Wasn't that basically the same as admitting—

Gulp.

His throat bobbed as he swallowed nervously. His eyes flickered with unease. The Lu Mingfei who had been lying on the hotel bed watching Furina instinctively sat up straight. His expression grew more pained by the second, and a faint sense of suffocation crept over him.

This was bad. Something had gone terribly wrong.

She'd figured it out!

"Microexpression details! Details!"

Furina's face instantly changed. Even her usually calm chest began to rise and fall rapidly, a miracle of life itself.

"Y-You can see his expression, even the details?!"

Clenching her teeth, Furina dashed toward her own chambers while frantically questioning him in her mind.

I have to get back to my room, now!

Otherwise—otherwise, if I keep talking about this, I might lose control of my expression management in the middle of the street. If someone notices something strange and asks questions, I'll be utterly embarrassed. Move, move!

"Just... a little. Not that clearly," Lu Mingfei answered awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

But the way his gaze darted away and the reflexive motion of his hand made it hard to believe he had only seen "a little."

"Huh? You said you could tell he meant me harm from the details, and I couldn't even notice it. If you can see it, then you must be seeing more clearly than I am! Since when have you been able to see that clearly?" Furina immediately fired back at lightning speed, not the least bit slowed by her running.

"Uh... is it possible that it's not that I see better than you, but that you're just a bit slow?" Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and replied.

"I'm slow? You said I'm slow!"

"By normal standards of reasoning, just a little."

"And you still dare call me slow?"

"I'm not insulting you..."

"Oh, I can't live like this anymore! You already said I was fat during the trial, and now you're calling me slow! Give you another two hours and who knows what else you'll start saying about me? I can't go on like this!"

Furina's indignant voice rang out in his mind, and her pace toward the chambers only quickened. She was on the verge of rolling around on the ground and going mad.

There are too many people here. I have to keep my dignity...

"Ah, it was my mistake, my mistake. Furina, don't be mad, okay? Don't be mad..." Lu Mingfei hurried to soothe her, while inwardly sighing in relief.

Thank goodness!

Once she started throwing a fit, she forgot about it. There was still a decent chance of muddling through this. First calm her down. He absolutely could not let her discover his Mirror Eye ability, or else...

"No, no, no! That's not important. What matters is when exactly you started seeing clearly. You couldn't have been..." Furina's voice gradually fell quieter.

She suddenly thought of the day she had been bathing. Back then, Lu Mingfei had been worried about her, and in order to respond more directly, she had...

If he had already been able to see clearly from that time onward, then wouldn't that mean...

"Eep!"

Furina lowered her head and ran even faster, as though she were not heading back to her chambers but fleeing from the world that had just publicly humiliated her.

One must know that during this time, she and Lu Mingfei had "video-called" each other frequently. Trusting that he could not see clearly, Furina had occasionally done things that were far from graceful, such as secretly making faces during their conversations or doing all sorts of meaningless little gestures.

If he had seen all of that...

Oh my heavens!!

"Only recently, just recently! My spiritual control has improved very quickly, you know that. I've been training my mental discipline all this time. Once I got the hang of it, I could see clearly. If you work hard at improving your own spiritual strength, you can do it too!" Lu Mingfei explained.

"Really? Not earlier than that?" Furina asked suspiciously.

"Come on, how could that be?"

"Hmph!"

Furina gave a small huff and said nothing more. In the real world, she silently returned to her room and casually asked, "Lu Mingfei, here's a chance for you to make up for your mistake. Do you know where I put my blue hairpin?"

"The blue hairpin?"

"The one I often hold in my hand and play with."

"It's in the drawer on your right."

"Thank you."

Furina revealed a gentle and friendly smile, then quietly closed the door to her chambers. The moment she turned around, that serene expression twisted instantly into something devilish and ferocious as she whispered, "Lu Mingfei, if I remember correctly, you only started training your spiritual strength recently, didn't you? And that blue hairpin of mine hasn't been taken out for a week."

Lu Mingfei: !!!

At that moment, he panicked. He was frantic like an ant on a hot pan and hurriedly said, "Wait, wait! That isn't the important part. The important part is that guy is hostile toward you, and he might do something awful, so..."

"So when exactly did you start seeing clearly? Just how much are you still hiding from me? What else do I not know?"

Lu Mingfei: X_X

"Activate the Dream Tapir. Now. Immediately."

"Ah, okay."

Dreamscape, Fontaine.

On a familiar bench sat a trembling figure, though it was not the Maid. It was Focalors. The reason she had been brought into the dream was simple: crossing worlds to hunt targets with the Dream Tapir was her responsibility. Lu Mingfei had to explain the situation to her so that the Dream Tapir could be used in a restrained, roundabout way to keep any possible danger in check.

Of course, that was only part of it. More importantly, Lu Mingfei did not quite dare face Furina alone right now. Bringing the Maid in felt inappropriate too. He did not want to lose face in front of that woman.

After much thought, Focalors seemed the best choice. In every sense, she was the most suitable.

"You brought me in here... is something the matter?" Focalors asked timidly.

The situation was rather complicated. Furina was clinging to Lu Mingfei's head with all her might, unleashing her fury, and because she was gripping him so tightly and had lunged at him so quickly, Lu Mingfei had not even had time to explain that he had pulled Focalors over before he was already subdued.

"Shut up! Don't say a word!" Furina roared without looking back.

"Hiss..."

Focalors on the chair jumped in fright and even straightened her posture.

What she was seeing was too explosive. She had originally thought Lu Mingfei had seduced Furina, using every manner of coercion, inducement, and even spiritual manipulation to make her serve him and build a closer relationship.

But now it seemed...

As the human side of her own personality, Furina's combat power did not seem weak at all? Lu Mingfei didn't even dare fight back...

How terrifying.

Tsk tsk tsk, how strange. Let me look again! This looks kind of interesting. Oh-ho, do young people these days really play this wild? Hm, I even imagined that pose before. She looks amazing! Ohoho...

Covering her face with both hands, she peered through the gap between her fingers and continued her secret observation.

Do they completely ignore me? Am I part of their game too? Or is it that having me watch makes them even more excited?

Ah...

These two are having so much fun. The way Lu Mingfei looks half unwilling, half yielding makes me want to go over and bully him a little too, but I'm a bit afraid of him, and besides, he doesn't like me. Sigh. How nice it would be if I could be like Furina too.

Too bad. For the sake of protecting Fontaine, I must offer up my life. Sigh...

Ten minutes later.

"Hu..."

Furina had let out enough of her frustration. She wiped the sweat from her brow in relief, a little tired now, and muttered to herself, "That can't be right. I think I just heard someone speaking behind me. Was that my imagination?"

"It was me..." Focalors said softly.

"Hm?"

Furina's whole body jolted. She turned stiffly around to see Focalors looking at her as though she were a monster. She hurriedly waved her hands and explained, "N-No, that's not it. I'm not usually like this. You may have misunderstood... You definitely misunderstood me! This is a misunderstanding!"

"Oh, yes, yes, of course it's a misunderstanding!" Focalors' survival instinct was extremely strong, and she nodded at once.

"Hey, don't do that!"

Furina grew anxious.

She could tell immediately that Focalors was not saying this out of understanding at all. She was saying it simply because she was afraid.

Wait a second...

If she's scared, why are the corners of her mouth going up? Why does that expression look kind of strange?

"Well..."

Lu Mingfei slowly sat up, lightly rubbing the bird's nest that had been made of his hair. Looking at Furina and Focalors trying to explain themselves, he couldn't help but laugh.

Amused.

"This... this was an accident, an accident! You know what I mean? I was in a bad mood just now because he did something wrong, so that's why I acted like that... I'm never like this normally." Furina explained clumsily, looking as though she might cry from anxiety at any moment.

"Mm-hm, I understand. I really do!" Focalors nodded repeatedly, gently patting her shoulder as she continued, "You did very well, extremely well, not a bit wrong. For the people of Fontaine to make you their Hydro Archon is simply beneath you."

At this point, after watching for ten minutes, Focalors' mindset had quietly begun to change. She realized something profoundly important: the relationship between Lu Mingfei and Furina seemed even better, even closer, than she had imagined...

As expected of the most perfect human in my eyes!

With a human's body, he subdued a dark dragon. He's just like the legendary heroes in the tales!

"Oh, stop saying that. If you keep it up, I'm really going to cry," Furina said miserably, quickly glancing aside.

Then she suddenly spotted Lu Mingfei, who was quietly snickering nearby, and snapped, "Laughing? What are you laughing at?"

"Ahem, uh, my friend just had a baby," Lu Mingfei said at once, hastily collecting himself and coughing twice in embarrassment.

"I think you're asking for a beating!"

"Don't hit me, don't hit me."

Lu Mingfei shrank back in fear, crouching not far away as he looked at Furina. He seemed pitiful.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Hm?"

Furina instantly turned her head to see Focalors on her back suddenly behaving like a good girl for one second, then looking at her with a pure, innocent smile. For a moment, she did not know what to say.

In that instant, the towering image Focalors had held in her heart collapsed.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Focalors asked in confusion, as though she had not been the one who had just yelled, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"N-Nothing."

Furina drew in a deep breath and sighed, one hand holding her head. She felt a headache coming on.

"Um... actually, I've wanted to say this for a while, but you never gave me the chance..." Lu Mingfei began weakly, but before he could finish, Furina blushed red and cut him off.

"Stop talking! I can't take it anymore! Ahhh..."