“Ah! — —!!”

A scream echoed through the banquet hall.

Everyone was stunned.

A few seconds later, hushed whispers broke out among the crowd.

“What’s going on?”

“A new singing technique?”

“Did something scare Miss Rose?”

At the center of attention, Rose’s face was pale, her expression rigid.

She forced out an apologetic smile, bowed, and then hastily retreated from the stage.

Rose’s disappearance left the current crowd even more perplexed.

The colonel, seated in the front row, frowned and looked at Charles, the person in charge, who had just been kneeling in a daze, and asked:

“What’s the situation? Is this some kind of performance effect you guys arranged?”

Charles’s expression shifted, and he managed an uncertain smile, saying apologetically:

“Probably… right?”

With that, he quickly ascended the stage and took control of the increasingly chaotic scene.

“Ah haha, esteemed guests, perhaps this is a small surprise Miss Rose prepared for us. Uh… The Lament of the Tragic Siren? Heh heh, this is related to the new opera we’re about to perform…”

After his impromptu explanation, some people breathed a sigh of relief, some remained skeptical, but most were curious about what would happen next.

“Brother… Is that Sophia?” Molly whispered.

“…….” Li Andy frowned slightly and retreated with Molly behind the crowd.

On the other side.

Rose, her face full of anxiety, rushed into the secret room where Moss was singing.

She saw the gray-dressed girl trembling, kneeling in the middle, somewhat at a loss.

“Moss! What… what’s wrong with you?!”

“I… I… There’s… there’s…”

“What is it! Speak clearly!”

Rose’s reprimand startled Moss again.

She looked up at the glamorous Rose, and the image of Sophia in a red dress gently offering her water flashed in her eyes.

“There’s…”

Moss pursed her lips, swallowed, and said,

“There’s a mouse…”

“A mouse?!”

Rose froze on the spot, her eyes filled with disbelief. Two seconds later, her expression was twisted with anger.

“Slap—!”

A loud slap landed on Moss’s face, leaving a stinging red finger mark.

“Just one mouse?!”

Rose’s voice became sharp with uncontrolled emotion, “Are you crazy! If you want to ruin me, just say so! Independence, independence… Do you want independence too?! Fine, then you go up and sing yourself!”

Moss’s expression immediately became panicked when she heard Rose tell her to go on stage herself. She grabbed the other’s skirt and pleaded in a hoarse voice:

“No… don’t… Sister Rose, I don’t want independence. I… I just couldn’t help it, I’m… I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry!”

Facing her pleas, Rose clutched her forehead in a headache, and gave a mournful laugh:

“Heh, you only know how to hide behind and apologize… Do you know how many important figures are at this banquet?”

Moss trembled, not daring to answer.

Rose sneered and answered herself:

“There’s the Governing Madam! There’s the Empire’s Colonel! One wants us to be independent, the other wants us to surrender!

“That foolish Charles actually wants to offend neither side!

“He doesn’t even know that no matter which side we choose, we’ll be crushed like bugs by the other side!”

Moss opened her mouth, completely at a loss for how to respond.

Rose continued:

“Do you know how much effort I’ve put in for our escape route?!

“Our voices… can only last for two more years at most! Do you want to be thrown onto the street like a rag in the future?!”

“No… that’s not it…” Moss shook her head, her voice tearful, and knelt closer to Rose.

Unexpectedly, Rose pulled her skirt away and looked at her coldly:

“If all of this is ruined by you. Then from now on… you go on stage yourself. Anyway, your singing skills are so good, you don’t need my vocal cords, you can still shine brightly and pay off the debts, right? Heh…”

“Rose! Rose…”

Moss had already called herself hoarse, but Rose still didn’t look back, disappearing mercilessly into the darkness.

Only Moss was left, crying helplessly.

Amidst the lonely sobs, a dark shadow on the ceiling of the room trembled slightly.

Inside the shadow, Sophia, trembling, covered her mouth, witnessing everything, her pupils filled with disbelief.

And beside her, Youxi, maintaining the shadow, frowned slightly.

‘That Miss Rose, was she faking her singing all along?’

‘No, not entirely faking….’

‘It’s using Moss’s technique, combined with her own vocal cords, to complete it… a duet?’

‘Paying off debts… vocal cords only lasting two years….’

‘They… are not insiders who borrowed from a non-object….’

‘They… are most likely ordinary people who used some extraordinary item….’

In just a few seconds, Youxi had roughly sorted out the relationships.

‘So… what kind of item could it be? How did it work?’

Just then, the shadow showed faint signs of dissipating.

Youxi seemed not to have fully mastered the ability of this 【Shadow Ferry】.

She glanced at the dazed Sophia, frowned, and, manipulating the shadow, merged into the darkness.

…….

Hotel, guest room.

Li Andy sat on the sofa, waiting quietly.

Beside him, Molly took off her small shoes and leaned with her legs bent.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, elongating the shadow of the table.

Youxi, with a cold expression, pulled the dazed Sophia out of the shadow and pushed the latter into Li Andy’s arms:

“Brother, you comfort Sophia, I… need to go back and get something.”

With that, she immediately vanished into the shadow, giving Li Andy no time to ask questions.

Li Andy frowned, looked at Sophia, who seemed to have her worldview collapsing, and asked in confusion:

“What happened?”

Sophia came back to herself, hugged his neck, and tearfully recounted what she had encountered.

From meeting Moss to witnessing the quarrel after the performance on stage.

After listening, Li Andy was very surprised.

His attention was focused on the potential existence of a magical item.

But… a relic that controls others’ senses and uses their voices to sing? He hadn’t heard of it… Could it be the predecessor of the 【Performer’s Mask】?

“Andy… Did I… do something wrong?”

Sophia looked at him with teary eyes.

On one hand, she felt deceived, and on the other, she felt as if she had harmed someone else.

These two conflicting feelings completely jumbled her thoughts.

Li Andy thought for a moment, patted her back, and said:

“That Moss… didn’t expose you, which means she probably doesn’t blame you.

“It’s Rose and her conversation… that proved there was already a conflict between them….

“You… just accidentally accelerated this process. Even if there wasn’t you, this flying mouse, today, there might be other mice in the future.”

Sophia sniffled, her guilt dissipated, but she hadn’t emerged from the feeling of her idol collapsing.

This feeling was like discovering that a revered statue suddenly cracked open, and maggots crawled out.

First, bewilderment, then pain, then hatred, and finally, only emptiness remained.

“Andy, this world is so fake… What, after all, is real?” Sophia, like a lost soul whose faith had crumbled, asked her most philosophical question to date.

The next second, Molly beside her firmly grasped her softest spot.

A tingling, slightly painful sensation reached her soul, uncomfortable, yet utterly real.

“Real, huh?” Molly blinked, as if a mischievous personality couldn’t help but pop out.

Sophia froze for half a second, then looked back at Li Andy pitifully, pressing her body close, and pleaded sweetly:

“Andy, I want something even more real…”