Chapter 20 Finding the Dog and Vidalis "...Actually, it's mine..."
"...Actually, my dog is missing." Vidalis couldn't think of a good excuse for a moment. She was in too much of a hurry. In fact, if she had been a little slower, the guardian of Starfall would have left. She even saw him open the portal.
If she had been a few seconds slower, Vidalis wouldn't have been able to keep Ethan; she was even a little worried that she had made it in time.
...Wouldn't using a puppy be a bit too abrupt? Vidalis hesitated. If she said the puppy was like a family member, that should be a good excuse, right? Otherwise, how could she explain why she was crying so hard?
Does he really look that easy to fool? Ethan fell into deep self-doubt.
“My poor Ricky—she was a gift from my mom and dad, we grew up together.” Vidales pretended to wipe away tears, but her acting wasn’t quite up to par; it was a bit too much for someone as shy as her. But she still wanted to get close to the Starfall Guardian.
“We’ve been through so much together, from the lowest points in my life to the most memorable moments, she’s always been there for me.” Vidalis said, her eyes brimming with tears, almost convincing herself. Her strong empathy brought tears to her eyes as she continued, “I really can’t imagine what it would be like to lose her. If you can find her, I would be so grateful to you, I would pay you anything.”
Oh my God. In his spare time, Vidalis couldn't help but think: I want to get a dog.
Vidalis talked about the warm relationship she had with her dog, what the dog brought her, and how heartbroken she would be if she lost it.
What Ethan heard: The puppy his mother gave him.
Was the puppy a gift from your mother? Then it must be a very important member of the family.
Ethan decided to trust her and help her find the dog.
“Don’t rush, speak slowly, I don’t need payment.” Ethan handed Vidalis a tissue: “What are your dog’s characteristics? Where did she go missing? Was anything unusual before she disappeared?”
“Oh, right, thank you.” Vidaris took the tissue and racked his brains to make his story plausible and grounded in fact: “She, Ricky, is a little green dog, and she was here this morning. The Guardians of Dreamland are holding a fundraising event today, aren't they? The children from the nearby orphanages, who are grateful for her kindness, came to see her. There were so many people, and I was quite curious, so I squeezed in to take a look, but suddenly the rope in my hand loosened, and Ricky disappeared.”
Ethan focused on the points that concerned him most: "...Green? Why is it green?" What was it dyed with? Could it be something harmful? Or is this person lying to him?
“Ah, yes.” Vidaris clenched the tissue, giving a slightly embarrassed smile. “I dyed Ricky’s hair—using juice from some harmless spinach leaves, so that we’re like a real family, everyone has green hair.”
Just kidding. The dog you might find later is actually her incarnation. She has green hair, representing abundant life force, and her incarnation can only turn green. Not to mention green, she can't change any color at all.
On another note, the animal incarnation of the meteorite seems to be a raven.
Ethan wanted to complain, why did it sound so unreliable? But he wasn't in a position to complain, so he just dismissed the thoughts that popped into his head.
It's already afternoon, and four or five hours have passed since Nadia started her activities. The dog might not be around here anymore.
Ethan silently took out the culprit that had led him out—the coin he used for fortune-telling.
Is the dog still in this city? Ethan asked himself, if yes, then yes; if no, then no.
He tossed a coin, catching it with such practiced ease that he didn't even need to look—heads. Great, the dog hasn't left the city yet; that narrows down the search area a bit.
Ethan looked up and saw Vidalis staring at him and the coin with a puzzled look, wondering why he had started playing with the coin.
"Uh, I, I know a little bit of divination." Ethan was also trying to think of a way to get by, forgetting that he was no longer in the alternate dimension of Starfall. In the alternate dimension, he could do divination anytime, anywhere, even when he was bored in the shower. But this was outside, and there were people watching him do divination: "I just divined that your Ricky hasn't left this city yet."
His divination was less formal than in the traditional sense; Ethan also had crystal balls and tarot cards. However, he only used the crystal ball to read Selene's fortune, and he hardly ever used the tarot cards, preferring the simpler and more convenient coins.
Yes or no? You'll know in just one try. If you don't believe me, toss it a few more times, or even more like Ethan before leaving the house—toss it dozens of times.
Vidaris nodded in understanding. The Starfall Guardian was a magic user just like him, and the Starfall Divination was simple and straightforward.
For example, last time she couldn't find a suitable guardian and was getting a little stressed, so she asked Xingyun to do a divination for her. Because Xingyun is very powerful and knows a lot of magic, his divination is very accurate.
At that moment, Xingyun merely glanced at her, pinched his fingers, and coldly uttered, "Live, and you will find it before the deadline."
They're unwilling to provide any further information, their answers are incredibly perfunctory. And this isn't our system of divination, is it? Where did you learn it? It sounds like it's from some Eastern country.
Xingyun ignored her and left without offering any explanation.
So Vidalis was already used to it. Even if Ethan only told her that her dog was still alive, she could accept it calmly. That's Starfall's style; they were already used to it.
Although that dog was also her, it doesn't matter.
Ethan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Vidalis didn't seem to want to ask any more questions, and even started flipping coins in front of Vidalis with a bit of self-righteousness.
"Is the dog on the east or west side? If it's on the east side, then it's heads." The coin lands on its edge; it's neither.
"South or north? If it's south, then it's the front." This time it's the back, in the north.
Ethan looked at the map on his phone, found the area in the north of the city, and tried to find the location of Vidalis's clone street by street.
As quickly as she could get started, Vidalis hadn't even managed to exchange a few words with Ethan before Ethan completely ignored her, simply continuing to flip coins.
"Their treatment of people like they don't exist is exactly the same as Starfall's," Vidalis couldn't help but sigh.
The truth was that Ethan realized Vidalis wanted to talk to him to ease the silence, but Ethan only meant well and had no desire to chat, so he didn't dare to respond.
He was afraid that if they started talking, Vidalis would hold him back and keep him talking. Not everyone is like that, but Ethan didn't dare to take the risk. He never gambled with social connections.
He could talk so fluently with people; even Starfall wouldn't dare dream of such a thing, though the City Will doesn't dream of it.
Now that the dog's location had been pinpointed, Vidalis needed to show her concern and care for the dog. She hailed a cab and went with Ethan to the location she had divined.
After getting into the car, Vidalis noticed that the guardian of Starfall didn't seem to like her. They sat together in the back, and the guardian was pressing himself against the door on that side, clearly not wanting to get close to her.
Vidalis was devastated. When had he become such a detestable being? Why?
Ethan was desperately trying to suppress the urge to jump out of the car and run away.
Since boarding the train, he had lost count of how many times he had longed for the swift and decisive teleportation portal, where one could arrive instantly upon entering.
He felt extremely uncomfortable not having to squeeze into the cramped back seat with anyone, especially with a woman by himself. Help!
Even if Vidalis were in the passenger seat, Ethan wouldn't feel this uncomfortable. He had maintained a social distance of two meters while outside, so he didn't feel uncomfortable.
Now that they were less than a meter apart, Ethan felt goosebumps rising on his skin; every second felt like an eternity.
Fortunately, the driver was fast, and they arrived at their destination quickly.
Ethan and Vidalis found Ricky, whom Vidalis had mentioned, in a place that resembled a junkyard.
At that time, the little green dog was covered in something, red and black, and its fur was stuck together in clumps, as if it had rolled around in it for 100 rounds.
What Ethan didn't know was that it really did roll around. Because Vidalis's clone dog looked too clean; it didn't seem like the kind that could easily travel from the city center to the north without getting a speck of dust on it. There had been enough suspicious things today; they couldn't leave such a glaring flaw.
So Videls reluctantly allowed his clone to take control of its own consciousness, truly acting like a dog, rolling around inside it many times, trying his best to make himself look pathetic and pitiful to deceive Ethan.
“Ricky!” Vidalis hugged her tightly, his eyes brimming with tears. “I’ve finally found you, my Ricky—I’m so glad you’re alright.”
"Woof woof." Vidalis's clone responded enthusiastically—of course, she controlled it—and after barking a few times, it looked at Ethan and Vidalis with wet eyes, looking pitiful and extremely innocent.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough.” Vidalis turned around and looked at Ethan gratefully. “How about we exchange contact information? Since you don’t want to accept payment, let’s be friends.” She then took out her phone and looked at Ethan expectantly.
Ethan immediately regained consciousness.
Before Vidaris uttered those words, he genuinely believed he was simply doing a good deed—finding the dog.
But listen to what you're saying? "Let's be friends?"
Ethan knew this all too well; he was so familiar with the scheme that he almost instantly snapped out of his daze. The people of Starfall City were incredibly enthusiastic; many would say they wanted to be friends, and once they did, they'd take their friends to all sorts of places where they could rip them off.
For example, a casino. Or accidentally ingesting something addictive, or waking up to find someone in your bed who accuses you of being forced and demands a huge sum of hush money to keep quiet.
"No, no thanks." Ethan couldn't help himself and turned to leave the scene at almost breakneck speed: "I have something to do. You can talk to Ricky slowly."
Vidalis tried to stop him, but Ethan opened a portal at the corner and jumped in, as if a ghost was chasing him.
Vidalis: "..."
“…I don’t eat people.” Vidalis gently stroked the clone, and the clone instantly became clean. She crashed into Vidalis’s arms and disappeared.
"Although he said a lot of nonsensical things today," Vidaris stood up, a smile spreading across his face, a blush rising for no apparent reason, "...he's such an interesting kid!"
A note from the author:
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This part feels a bit nonsensical; their dialogue and behavior are also somewhat inexplicable [laughing and crying with facepalm]. What am I writing? Please imagine Ethan speaking haltingly or pausing in the text.
Vitalis embodies the city's will to heal its volatile temper. He's thin-skinned, but overcomes this when it comes to things he's genuinely interested in. He's only occasionally shy around younger people. [Actually, he was quite volatile when dealing with other cities before.]
Do cities view guardians as something akin to children? Some cities believe, but not all, that some cities would treat them like pets [?].
MVP of the match: Selene's anti-fraud lessons
Sister Ya from the previous chapter: Beware!
Ethan in this chapter: Beware!
60,000 words already! It feels like I'm so close to 200,000 words. I didn't expect to write 50,000 words this month, updating without any prior drafts. I forgot to apply for the ranking last week; hopefully I won't be left out this week.
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