Oli blended in with the crowd, passing a squad of cloud knights as he approached a well dressed citizen in fine robes, out of sight.
The man was casually walking, other people hadn't noticed as Oli quietly slipped his hand through the man's pockets, quickly taking his strales and vanishing into another group.
He mentally rejoiced, counting the strales he had stolen over the past days. During night time, he would hide under the platforms, using the baryon to shift his gravity endlessly.
"Twenty-one... Forty-two, and that's a hundred!" He stared at the pouch of shining strales like they were pure gold, "it should be enough to move back to the exalting sanctum, maybe even buy a good cloak."
Thinking about it just made him feel pure joy, the thrill, the adventure. No more killing, just the feeling of being chased by cloud knights in your back and having to steal from rich folks was an experience he had grown to enjoy.
He closed the pouch, with a small rope and strapped it to his waste with another stolen belt. By now the Xianzhou had probably heard of a pick pocketer around the streets who somehow hadn't been caught yet.
Oli turned to the piles of boxes in the corner, this part of the alleyway was dark and had a dead end. No one visited these areas for a long time, so he used this location as his base temporarily.
He undid the tops of a box, revealing the baryon inside as he grabbed it and attached it to his back. Today he would try to buy something.
* * *
"As you know, there's been a report of a thief around these parts," A lady with fox-like ears said, "madam Yukong, tasked me to find the identity of the pick-pocketer. But that's after we capture Kafka."
"But, Miss Tingyun. why can't just the cloud knights handle it?" A girl in pink hair and an expressive outfit that matched her personality, called up.
"Unfortunately... The cloud knights couldn't find the person who stole from the residents," she shook her head, "I suspect it could be the work of the stellaron hunters."
"Huh? why would Kafka steal small change?" March 7th said, "this is... too low even for the stellaron hunters.."
Tingyun remained silent, her gaze landing on Diting as it barked rather cutely. Diting walked in circles around her, occasionally glancing at the trio.
"We suspect it's not a normal thief," Tingyun raised her hand to her chest, "No witnesses, no descriptions. Fast and nimble. It.. does ring a bell to someone."
All of them nodded, Welt however, had something on his mind. Though he didn't show it to everyone nor tell them, it was strange to him why Kafka would steal from people as it was too obvious to recognize her. So it must mean, it was someone else.
"Does the thief have any certain targets?" Welt asked.
Tingyun nodded, "As far as we know, they seem to target mostly people who are rich... But, that's for later. For now, benefactors. You have a stellaron hunter to catch."
* * *
"No," the knight insisted, "I'm really sorry, sir. But the Haven is on lockdown, no one can leave or get out. I'm really sorry."
The intellitron nodded, then turned and returned back to the streets.
'Then how did the father and son bypassed it. If I can't leave Starskiff haven, I'm bound to get found out sooner or later.'
Oli found a spot to rest on top of a house, there he sat in silence, thinking what to do and how to leave soon. If he could not meet the nameless and join them... Which was still an option. He would have to leave Xianzhou Luofu completely. Maybe off to a better world.
A group of kids began running in the empty pathway below, laughing as they chased one boy and disappearing into an intersection. The Luofo had such grand structures, even the smallest ones like the one he was sitting on, was worth admiring.
What caused them to even build such massive ships in the first place? It was astonishing.
The sun was now beginning to sink, and just as it's light reflected on his mask, an idea came to him.
'Right! How could I forget! Stargazer navalia, that's where the nameless went!'
With that, he activated his baryon and ran on the walls with vigor as he now found people on the sidewalks to ask where Stargazer navalia could be.
A few pointing later from Xianzhou natives, he arrived at the gates. Though, there were cloud knights being present here, and much more there were squads of patrols coming by every once in a while.
Unfortunately, even this place was on lockdown.
But for him, it was easy.
Oli made a detour around the gate, following the long line of the wall and engaging his device, he shifted his gravity and walked on the side walls once again.
Once on top, he jumped between crates, boxes, and landing on the bridge that led to another threshold.
He admired the Starskiff's here, or the soon to be. Transparent blue containers revealed the root like starskiff's inside, with a glowing orb at the center. How did it work? How did they managed to cultivate such technology in the first place?
It was on top of a steady platform, and to his right was a panel he shouldn't touch least it move and mess up some things here. He continued forward in the path, and found no one.
'This place is too big, I probably won't be able to find them.' he thought.
Crossing downstairs, he found mara struck individuals. Instead of the brutal and aggressive behavior, they were all lying down, dead.
Mara struck dogs, warden, and cloud knights all laying scattered around the floor.
He approached one of them, curiously poking the side of its head to see if they were alive. The head didn't budge much under the weight of the cloud knight's mask, he was in all account, dead for real.
"May you find peace," Oli clasped his hand, "in your own paradise, and may I find a better end than you."
"Oh? What do we have here." A female voice floated to his ears.
He turned, and oh dear. This was not someone he expected.
A lady with red hair, or the closest to it he could describe with a gentle smile on her lips, was crossing her arms. She was beautiful, with a circular glasses on top of her face to compliment the style she wore. Though he mostly tried to scan where she was keeping those guns of hers from the hole he drilled though the mask he wore.
She seems to be waiting for answer, but he remained silent. Not knowing what to answer, for she was as dangerous as any individual like a Lord Ravager.
"I'm curious," she said, "How did a civilian manage to get access to stargazer navalia... Unless..."
Quick!
"Oh, thank goodness!" He exclaimed, "Are you one of the rescuers? Sorry, I contacted the Realm-keeping commission earlier since I got stuck inside one of the containers." He stepped forward, "I didn't expect they would send one person."
He felt a cold lump in his throat as Kafka only remained silent, then chuckled as she began to move forward. He almost stepped back instinctively.
How could he forgot about her? She was one of the slave of destiny, part of Elio's script!
"Listen," she said, there was a rhythm to her voice, his senses becoming almost soft and dull. Then it snapped.
He bolted the other way, running as fast as he could. He didn't want to know what other words she could use to manipulate him, because whatever he felt earlier was like strings being tied to him.
His cloak flapped like a banner as he engaged the device and jumped over a gap, a trio of cloud knights looked up in surprised. In turn, he waved at them and landed, he heard a commotion but didn't dare turn back.
"You can run but you can't hide, little one."
He craned his head, and his heart almost jumped out his chest as he met directly with Kafka. She smiled, then struck him with a leg kick, causing him to crash nearby on a pile of crates.
Oli groaned, pushing the crates away from him as he examined his sorroundings; flat and wide, panel to his right and railing just in front of him. He heard something in the distance, but Kafka wasn't in his sight.
Seeing his chance, he rushed for the stairs to his left. He stopped, she stood there, blocking his path with a cheeky smile.
"I admit," she said, "I didn't expect you would reach all the way here. Who exactly are you?"
Oli took a step back, Kafka moved forward. She wasn't going to let him escape again.
"Im... Please don't kill me, I mean no harm. I really do..." He begged.
"You're that Ambassador, right? Why did you come here. If you answer that, I might just let you go."
He exhaled, he didn't really have lungs but he needed to control his emotions. Now was not the time to get afraid.
Focus and find a way to get out. The nameless would have to come later.