Mei Gui, Flaria, and I dashed through the halls of the Coastal Metropolis, heading for the least conspicuous entrance - the back one. Technically, Flaria was just riding on my shoulder and not doing any moving herself, but that's not important.

"Mei Gui, earlier I was interrupted, but try giving one of the girls a call now," I said, beginning to sweat slightly. It was times like these that I inwardly cursed at how big this place was.

"Understood, Master," Mei Gui replied, then pulled out her phone from her cloak pocket. Incidentally, she didn't seem to be tired at all, despite having ran for so long already. It had already been 10 minutes since we parted from Song Qian Long, and we had been running all the way. Yet, we were still only halfway to the back entrance. That was how big this mall was, for better or worse.

After pressing a few buttons, Mei Gui brought the phone to her right ear, and waited for a response. I was also hoping for an answer in anticipation, and watched intently as we kept running.

Around half a minute had passed, and still, no one seemed to have picked up.

...Damn it, I hope they just have their phone on silent or something, and not the alternative...please be safe, everyone.

However, just when I was ready to give up on the whole phone call idea, Mei Gui spoke.

"Hello?" she said, into the phone.

My eyes widened and I glanced at her in surprise. "Did she pick up?" I mouthed silently.

Mei Gui nodded, as we kept running. Then, turning back to the phone, she continued. "Where are you currently, Feng Mian? Are you alright?"

Huh...so she called Feng Mian. Out of the four girls, her name should be first in alphabetical order, so that's probably why Mei Gui chose her.

I could just barely hear what Feng Mian was saying on the other side, but it was enough.

"M-Mei Gui? Is that you? Where's Xuan Kai?!" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

...So she still cares about me, huh? It would be a lie if I said I wasn't happy, but at the same time...it hurts to know that, especially after I pushed her away.

"Master is fine. Where are you right now? Are you safe?" Mei Gui asked right back.

"I'm in a shop at the moment, with some other people as well...and since we've turned off the lights, so far, those monsters outside haven't seen us yet, but...we only have a few Advanced Mages and one Ancestral Mage."

It's only a matter of time before they are found, and massacred. There's no time to waste.

I sent Mei Gui a telepathic message.

[Mei Gui, ask her how many monsters are nearby.]

[Understood.]

"Feng Mian, how many of those monsters are outside near you?"

"Um...not a lot, around 10 at most. But since most of the people together with me right now are seniors that didn't put much work into their magic studies..."

I see. So they don't have quite enough manpower to take on 10 of those creatures...even if Mei Gui and I went, I couldn't be 100% certain we would win. I could use Flaria's true form as a last resort, but as Feng Mian said, she was with some strangers right now, and I would like to keep Flaria's identity a secret, if possible.

[Mei Gui, tell her to send you the address of the shop.]

[Understood.]

"What is the address of the shop you are currently in?"

"T-The address...? N-No! Wait! You can't come here, it's too dangerous!" Feng Mian cried once she realized our intentions.

By this point, I was getting annoyed. [Let me have the phone, I'll talk to her.]

Mei Gui did as ordered, and I placed the phone beside my ear. "Listen, Feng Mian. I know full well it's dangerous, but I really don't care. I will do what I want, just like what I've always done. This isn't for you, or for anyone else. I'm doing this for solely myself, got it? Now, give me the address."

...Hopefully, she believes that. Doing this for myself? Hell no. Why the hell would I do this, if it weren't for you? But saying that directly to her would be far too embarrassing, and I would never manage it. So, I came up with this lie.

"X-Xuan Kai...?" she murmured softly.

"..." I didn't say anything in response.

"You...I thought you didn't care about us anym-"

"That, can wait until later," I quickly interrupted, since I didn't like where this conversation was heading. That was my new weak spot. "Hurry up and send me the address, the clock is ticking and there's no telling when the monsters will suddenly blast a hole in your hideout."

"T-Then promise me one thing!" Feng Mian declared suddenly, raising her voice a fair bit.

"...What?"

"If I send you the address...you have to also tell me your true feelings, after all of this is over. If even then you say you still don't like us in any way...then I'll just accept it. But last time, your rejection was way too sudden and forced that I couldn't believe it to be honest. As for the other girls...I'm sure they feel the same."

I cleared my throat nervously, since this conversation was once again steering onto a direction I didn't like. "A-Ahem...speaking of the other girls, where are they?"

"I'm not sure...the last time I saw them was this morning. We went to the Hunters' Guild together to pick up some quests," Feng Mian responded, voice tinged with worry.

I sighed. "Those two sisters are probably together, so they should be fine...as for Qing Yue, she can worm her way out of anything. They'll be alright, I'm sure..."

On the surface, I was comforting Feng Mian, but in reality, I was merely convincing myself. I wasn't a good-natured person like that, calming other people with fake words. But deceiving myself? That I can do. Pretty well, too. But a lie once in a while couldn't hurt, especially in situations like this where it helped me calm down and think with a clearer head, which could make all the difference in a fight where even the tiniest fraction of a second of losing your focus could lead to your death.

"H-Hopefully...." Feng Mian murmured back.

By this time, Mei Gui, Flaria, and I were nearing the back entrance of the mall. Well, in our case, it was technically the 'exit', but whatever. These doors worked both ways.

"Alright, I'm going to hang up the call now. I'll be there soon...just hang tight."

"Mm...alright. Stay safe, okay, Xuan Kai?"

"...I will."

Beep.

I hung up the call, the handed the phone back to Mei Gui. We just had to turn one more corner, and we would be at the exits. I skidded to a stop right before coming into view of the guards stationed here. I opened my Space Locket and pulled out the invisibility blanket Song Qian Long gave me earlier, and draped it over Mei Gui and myself completely, after checking our surroundings to make sure no one was looking our way. Since Flaria in this form was tiny and she was perched on top of my shoulder, naturally she was rendered invisible as well...hopefully, anyway. I hope Song Qian Long verified the uses of this Magic Artifact before handing it over to me.

[Okay, Mei Gui. You ready?] I asked telepathically.

[As always, Master.]

[Alright...here we go. Hold on to my shoulders.]

The two - three, counting Flaria - of us rounded the corner silently, being very careful with our footsteps. I wondered how this blanket worked, since it didn't cover extend down to our feet yet our lower bodies were still rendered completely invisible as well, but now wasn't the time to debate such things.

Nimbly, we arrived right in front of the back entrance. Two guards were stationed, and it seemed like security was indeed the most lax here, as both guards were currently on their phones.

[Master...three people incoming,] Mei Gui suddenly said telepathically.

[What...three?] I looked in front of me and saw that there was indeed three survivors holding umbrellas, who just arrived at the safe zone. The guards fumbled to put their phones away, as the city guard reputation as a whole would drop considerably if they were caught playing on their phones while on duty.

[Master, do we wait...?]

Since the back entrance was fairly narrow, we would be stepping on dangerous territory if we were to attempt to brush past those three people here. While this blanket rendered us invisible, we could certainly still be touched and felt. However...

[...No. We can't afford to spare any more time, even if it's just a few minutes. We're going in, now.]

The three of us put our backs to the right wall and stepped past the person on the very right very carefully. Then, suddenly, he dropped his umbrella to the right side, in an attempt to shrink it. I quickly dodged out of the way, landing with a moderately loud 'thud'.

The man who had dropped his umbrella furrowed his brows and looked around at his surroundings, as if wondering where that noise came from. I held my breath in nervousness, not daring to take another step.

After a few seconds though, he gave up and just went along with the sound being a mere hallucination, and the three of us left through the entrance immediately. Once we were outside and away from the views of the guards, I pulled over my hood for protection against the rain and put away the blanket in my Space Locket, making a mental reminder to return it to Song Qian Long after all this was over.

Mei Gui also pulled over her hood even though she didn't need to, and Flaria was as nonchalant as ever.

"Master, the address," Mei Gui suddenly spoke up and took out her phone, showing the screen to me.

Feng Mian had just sent us the address of the shop she was in...I was familiar with the area, since it was close to the Xuan Family residency. I turned to look in the direction of the shop, and clenched my fists.

...I'm coming, Feng Mian. Don't die on me now.