Chapter 63: Tricked Again and Again and Again

"Good evening, Alice."
"How do you know my name?"
"Look who this is."
Moyu pulled Elise into his embrace, removed her beret, and turned both of their faces toward the ceiling security camera.
"Huh? Babe!?"
"That's right. Your proudest masterpiece has already surrendered to me."
Moyu replied, holding Elise closer and lightly kissing her cheek. Elise put up a symbolic struggle before lowering her head in shyness.
"Ahhh! What are you doing!? No, wait..."
A sharp shriek came from the speaker, followed by the sound of bare feet thumping on a wooden floor, a door opening, and then an angry voice:
"Bastard, you're trying to trick me again! Babe is sleeping soundly right there. Who are you, and why do you look exactly like my babe?"
"Oh, so you really are together."
Moyu nodded and released his rewind ability.
He returned to the moment before the conversation.
"Good evening, Alice."
"How do you know my name?"
"Of course I know. Aren't you the Sage of the Spirit Rabbits, who calls herself a love-obsessed fool? They say you're an expert on monsters, but now it seems you're all show and no substance. Is that really it? How can you have the nerve to call yourself a sage when you make such piece-of-trash junk?"
Moyu launched a direct, point-blank provocation.
The sound of something being crushed echoed from the speaker.
What could Alice tolerate the least? Naturally, anyone slandering her creations. Moyu's words were no different than throwing a C4 explosive into a cesspool.
The speaker crackled with static: "If you have the guts, say that again, you motherfucker?!"
"Oh my, are you deaf? Do you need me to say it again? The things you make are, all, of, them, TRASH!~ Little rabbit, if you're bad at something, you need to practice more. Understand?"
Moyu faced the camera and flashed an international friendly gesture.
"You, you... Bastard! Bastard! I'm coming to crush you into dust right now!"
"Come then!~ If you don't come, you're a coward!"
The speaker fell silent.
Taunt successful.
Moyu was very happy.
The little white tiger... bah, the little white rabbit had fallen for it again.
Elise's face turned pale as she said, "She... she's coming over. Let's get out of here quickly."
"Don't panic, just watch my performance." Moyu patted his chest and said to Alpha, "Alpha, go find a high vantage point outside and keep a close eye on the sky. She should be flying back in some sort of craft. Record her speed and time, and report immediately once the target appears."
"Understood, Station Master."
Alpha left behind a small communication drone and departed to execute the order.
Moyu looked at Elise and said:
"Let's use this time to find the demonizing agents."
"You still have the mood to look for those things? You should be thinking about how to deal with her first."
"Stay calm, just follow my arrangements."
Moyu offered reassurance, and Elise calmed down, following him as they searched the second floor.
Twenty minutes later.
Alpha issued a warning: "Station Master, something is moving rapidly through the atmosphere at around Mach 1.5. Estimated arrival within half a minute."
Moyu had just opened a box and found three vials of demonizing agent. He stood up and said to Elise, "Let's go. Time to meet Alice from twenty years in the future."
Elise asked anxiously, "Is this really going to be okay?"
Moyu patted his chest. "Guaranteed! No problem."
The two of them stepped outside the manor.
No sooner had they emerged than a giant bird landed in the courtyard. Alice, wearing little bear pajamas, stood in front of the giant bird with a gloomy expression.
Compared to twenty years later, Alice had barely changed; she was still tiny enough to be held in one hand.
Moyu noticed a detail.
Sharp, tiger-like fangs peeked out from the corners of Alice's mouth.
A large, blood-red warning appeared.
[One of the Eight Sages, Love-Obsessed Fool, Alice. Recommended action: strike a cool pose and wait for death.]
There wasn't even a chance to run.
Moyu ripped off Elise's beret and mask to reveal her face, and shouted, "Take a look at who this is first, don't move—"
Alice gasped: "Huh? Babe?"
Moyu wanted to speak, but a terrifying pressure erupted from Alice, instantly grinding him into powder.
Even Elise was frozen in place, unable to move.
Alpha self-destructed, and a white mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
A total wipeout in the first round.
Rewind.
Back to the start of the conversation.
Moyu took a deep breath.
So this is a quadruple-evolved being? Truly terrifying, even more frightening than when she consumed the demonizing agent earlier. Against an entity of this level, ordinary conventional weapons were completely useless.
Adjusting his mindset,
Moyu proceeded according to his plan.
"Good evening, Alice."
"How do you know my name?"
"Naturally, because we've thoroughly investigated you. We are the Twin Phantom Thieves, and we love collecting treasures. Your demonizing agent is ours now."
With that, Moyu produced a vial of demonizing agent and shook it in front of the camera.
A cold voice came through the speaker: "Hmph, where did these petty thieves crawl out from? You've got quite the arrogance."
Moyu said, "My name is Spades, and hers is Hearts. Ms. Alice, we've investigated the locations of all your bases—for instance, the fish cannery underneath the suburbs of Ice Island in the Northern Continent, the deep-sea biological sample storage base underwater in the Southern Continent, and your cozy little home hidden in the Modo Fortress black market on the far western edge of the Central Continent, which houses countless treasured historical artifacts."
The speaker fell silent for a moment before asking:
"Who on earth are you? How do you know all this?"
Her voice had grown urgent and grave.
Being able to rattle off such precise intelligence was no different than stripping off Alice's underwear.
Moyu continued, "We are going to make a name for ourselves across the world, starting with you.~ Coming to get the demonizing agent today is just to say hello and issue a crime notice. Over the coming week, we will randomly select one of the bases we just mentioned to carry out an operation. We look forward to your resistance.~"
Having said that, the base's surveillance feeds were shut down.
Moyu said to Elise, "Grab the demonizing agent, we're retreating."
"Okay..."
Elise was totally bewildered, but the moment running was mentioned, she readily agreed.
Production at this base had already stalled, leaving only six vials of demonizing agents in stock, all of which they took. They used mirror doubles to wipe out all the rabbit-beast chimeras. They left the other items untouched, mainly because there was nowhere to store them, and carrying them would make them easy to track and expose.
The two of them and the dog retreated.
Elise carried them through the air to ensure no traces were left behind.
While flying high in the sky, Moyu explained the current situation to Elise: "In this world, Alice is right by your side. Furthermore, she is disguised as a vampire, accompanying you closely. We don't know her exact location, but it should be somewhere within a 500-kilometer radius centered around her Black City base."
Elise asked with a puzzled expression, "How do you know that?"
Moyu replied, "I'm guessing. Everything I said at the end was an attempt to draw her away. If she takes the bait and chooses to go to another base, she'll temporarily leave your side, and that's when our chance will come. Right now, we need to find your location... Elise... Elise? ELISE!!!"
"Ah?! Ah, um... what is it?"
Elise snapped out of her trance like she was waking from a dream, her flight destabilizing as she swayed left and right.
Moyu asked, "Were you even listening to me?"
"Sorry, Master, my mind wandered for a moment..." Elise's tone sounded somewhat guilty.
Moyu raised his head and looked at Elise. "I'm telling you, were you just sitting there thinking about something naughty?"
Elise replied in an innocent-as-a-lamb tone, "No, not at all..."
"Oh, then I must have worried over nothing. I thought perhaps you were analyzing my ability, figuring out how to break free from my control, and planning to happily stay behind in this world," Moyu teased.
Elise's little hand trembled slightly as she said, "N-No way at all, Master. Please trust Elise, Elise is a good girl."