ALL NOVEL Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Childhood Friends... Perhaps?
After experiencing two rounds of playful banter that opened her mind, Eureka gained a deeper understanding of the lie detection mechanism. Her hands no longer trembled, and her heart remained steady as she played along with the game: "I used to work as a security guard. Since it was a quiet job with little to do, I occasionally took on side jobs. I'm currently on annual leave, just traveling around and sightseeing."
Sure enough, the lie detection marker continued to rotate quietly without any reaction.
Eureka's confidence suddenly surged. She abandoned her previous hesitant demeanor and began to enjoy the game, only to be caught by a certain mischief-maker who landed a heavy attack on her, adding one more to her damage counter.
"Here comes the question, please listen carefully: What was your closest encounter with someone of the opposite sex in the past?" Miss Jessica asked with a gentle smile.
Eureka answered proudly: "When I was standing guard at the door, there was just a door between us."
Her tone was particularly confident, radiating an air of "I am invincible" dignity.
"Your turn now." Eureka smiled smugly. Thanks to the special random teleportation mechanism after taking damage, Eureka happened to appear next to an NPC character. She immediately sacrificed most of her shield to deliver a heavy blow to the NPC.
The NPC, with its special mechanics, immediately activated a large-scale AOE counter-attack skill, trapping all three players within its range. With no room to dodge, only Eureka managed to tank the hit with her shield while the other two couldn't block it.
"Come on, you two, who's first?" Eureka raised her eyebrows teasingly. They say gossip and digging up dark history are unchangeable human nature, and it seems to be true.
"It was when I was serving pastries to Mr. Tom, the distance was probably less than half a meter," Miss Jessica said with a bright smile.
The pressure now fell on Milo.
The craftsman pondered briefly, then spoke in a calm voice: "In a single room at an inn, on the same bed, using the same pillow."
Oh? Jessica's eyes lit up with curiosity.
What the hell?! Eureka's pupils shook as she turned to look in astonishment.
Real or fake, tell us more. Sensing one's shock and the other's urging gaze, Milo slowly added details: "The distance between our heads was about the length of a pillow, and the distance between our feet was about the length of the bed's diagonal."
Ah... The two listeners quickly estimated the bed's diagonal length and pillow length, suddenly realizing their previous assumptions had quite a difference from reality.
"So how old were you both at the time?" Miss Jessica asked curiously.
"That would be the next question," Milo replied with a gentle laugh, avoiding the answer. The question itself wasn't important, but at least it could avoid one round of questioning. "Do you want to modify the rules?"
"No need to change the rules, you can tell us now." Landing a precise hit on Milo's controlled character, Miss Jessica smiled at him.
"Our age difference was within a year, and our average age at the time was probably not more than twelve," Milo thought for a moment before calmly responding.
After being attacked and automatically teleporting to another location, the character began to be controlled to collect resources, which could be used for both scoring and self-enhancement.
"Want to cooperate?" Eureka suddenly said to Jessica, gesturing with her eyes toward Milo's direction. "If you keep going like this, you won't be able to ask the next question."
After reviewing everyone's character data, Eureka knew one thing: her character would inevitably be at a disadvantage compared to the other two in the late game.
Not only could she not match Milo in survival ability, but there was also Miss Jessica with her indiscriminate character who enjoyed exposing people's secrets and attacking whoever she could find. If she was allowed to randomly target people based on luck, Eureka's damage-and-answer count would certainly be higher than the other two.
So to prevent accidentally revealing any information, the only option was to join one side and become an ally, and that ally could only be Jessica.
Firstly, both her and Jessica's characters were specialized and at a disadvantage in terms of quality, but one focused entirely on attack while the other only invested in defense, making them perfect complements. Combined, they could basically avoid all unexpected situations and move freely across the map.
Secondly, while Miss Jessica appeared to be on the gentle side, she truly enjoyed entertainment, with an almost boundless aggression, and her past experience made her nearly invincible at making things up. Targeting her would be pointless even if successful. It would only result in becoming a focus of attention.
Additionally, a certain workshop master was clearly someone with secrets, and wouldn't give up and drag her down to expose themselves together, making him a perfect target. Who else would they target if not him?
Eureka met Milo's gaze innocently, silently apologizing in her heart, but in this zero-sum game, this was the only choice. At most, she would try to steer the questions towards relationships.
Fine then. Milo reluctantly accepted the reality, though a certain oblivious person didn't realize their own crisis was the most severe.
If Milo had known how chaotic his love life would become despite being single since birth, he would have chosen to confess everything immediately.
After all, being a former imperial rebel and the main star of the Cosmic Chant wouldn't be a big issue in front of these two. But the people he would end up involved with would make up nearly half of the empire's future upper echelon.
But Milo knew nothing of this.
What followed was a pure truth-or-dare questioning session focused on Milo.
"Question: How did you get along afterward?" Jessica asked after breaking through his defense.
"We worked together to earn money for two years, then I had enough money and started traveling. When we met again two years later, neither of us planned on catching up, and we just had a brief chat before I left that exploitative company," Milo said calmly.
"Question: What was your relationship?" Jessica continued to probe.
"I suppose we were friends," Milo paused before answering.
"Question: What's your evaluation of her?" Miss Jessica tried to uncover any romantic involvement.
"About that..." For the first time, Milo showed a reminiscent expression and spoke softly: "I might become the most versatile craftsman in this world, but whether in the past, present, or future, she is destined to be the most excellent one."
What? This exaggerated praise was actually sincere?! Jessica and Eureka exchanged glances, both seeing confusion and surprise in each other's eyes. They were familiar with Milo's level of skill, which was certainly top-tier, yet someone of his caliber would so sincerely acknowledge another person as the most excellent.
"Must have lost too many times," Eureka was the first to conclude.
"And it seems like PTSD from losing from childhood to adulthood," Miss Jessica nodded and sighed. She felt somewhat disappointed: "Childhood friends becoming strangers later in life isn't a good plot line."
The two began crafting stories based on this information, taking turns adding details and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Only Milo remained expressionless on the side, internally scoffing.
End of Chapter