"And that rabbit who saved Flandre before... Little Old Tewi, she's one of your kin, isn't she?"
A drunken oni with large horns, Suika Ibuki, asked the rabbit beside her, who wore a look of utter disdain.
"Suika, can you move your big face away?! Also, while that woman does indeed have a pair of rabbit ears, there isn't a trace of demonic power on her. At most, she's just a human who looks like a rabbit spirit!" Tewi Inaba pushed against the drunkard with all her might, but in terms of pure strength, she was no match.
As the "boss" of the Bamboo Forest of Lost, she originally had no interest in these matters. However, some youkai suggested her luck might speed up the process of finding Flandre, so she was "invited" over. Don't ask exactly how; it certainly wasn't of her own free will. But true enough, the day after she arrived, the group made a technical breakthrough and successfully "crossed over" the signal for the first time. Since this confirmed her luck, she was even less likely to escape now.
As for the drunkard Suika, she always flocked to wherever there were people. With youkai entering and leaving the Scarlet Devil Mansion, it would be strange if she wasn't curious. That was how this strange combination of an oni pestering a rabbit came to be. However, the other youkai agreed; though these people in the video looked like youkai, they had no demonic power. Remilia and Yukari Yakumo had mentioned sensing nothing of the sort. In their eyes, this world was nearly harmless.
While they chatted, Flandre and Lin Yuxia returned to the villa. Upon seeing the residence, the youkai let out a collective "Whoa."
"With this, you're telling me your sister was suffering over there? Who would believe that?" A massive garden villa with servants—it looked like her life wasn't any worse than at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. With dolls everywhere and game consoles by the table, Flandre's living conditions surpassed ninety-nine percent of the youkai in Gensokyo.
For instance, a certain poor, "fifty-cent" Red-and-White maiden—Reimu Hakurei—turned and walked away. "Fake, it's all fake!" Those were scenes she only dared imagine in her dreams. Yet someone else possessed them easily. Reimu was heartbroken.
Meanwhile, Flandre went to the study, opened the innermost box, and took out a videotape. "There are three more copies of this recording. I'm keeping one for Patchy, one is to see if I can exchange it for new books from the Celestial Masters Mansion, and I'll give this one to you. But you can watch it first."
In Gensokyo, Patchouli Knowledge looked up with a smile. "A gift for me? How interesting. Let me see just how much you've grown."
In Lungmen, Lin Yuxia was curious as Flandre inserted the tape. If it could be exchanged for things from the Celestial Masters Mansion, it was extraordinary. The moment the image appeared, Lin Yuxia held her breath. An ordinary person would think it was a horror movie set, but she recognized the Sarkaz Incantations inscribed everywhere, even if she couldn't discern their meaning.
Then the people in the video began to act. Her eyes widened. They were directly extracting a soul from a living person's body and performing Magic on it. Lin Yuxia's mind went blank. She realized her research into Originium Arts was equivalent to a primitive person's. She was like a student in the back row who found the material "vaguely familiar" but couldn't actually do it.
She looked at the Flandre in the video, then at the girl beside her eating pudding. It was hard to connect the two. "When did this happen?"
"Just this summer, over in Ursus," Flandre replied.
"Then this woman is...?" Lin Yuxia's pupils shrank as she recognized the patient.
"Talulah."
Lin Yuxia gasped. "Have you told Governor Wei about this?"
"Doesn't he have Shadow Guards? The Shadow Guards would tell him... right?" Flandre recalled the Shadow Guards hadn't really kept a record of that specific part.
Seeing Flandre's uncertainty, Lin Yuxia turned off the player, grabbed the tape, picked Flandre up, and walked out. "Eh~ where are we going?" Flandre was only disappointed she might miss the fresh pudding the maid was making.
"To the Governor's Mansion!" Lin Yuxia suspected the Shadow Guards' information was completely different from the truth. And it was; Ch'en had intentionally led the guards on a chase during the preparations. During the surgery, Ch'en had claimed Talulah had "minor issues" and let Rhodes Island doctors help. The guards assumed it was an oripathy complication; they had no idea it was surgery for the soul.
Soon, they arrived at the Governor's Mansion. Wei Yenwu was chatting with Fumizuki about Beatrice Schwire. They originally planned to hand the Central Plaza matter to Ch'en later, but Beatrice had acted first, ruthlessly arresting her own relatives. Wei Yenwu held her in higher regard now; she acted on conscience despite her wealthy background. He thought about the future of Lungmen. He favored his niece, Ch'en, but Beatrice would be a perfect Chief of the Guard Department.
However, if Beatrice inherited the Schwire Family, she couldn't be Chief. The Schwire Family already controlled the economy; if they controlled the police too, it would be too much power. He'd have to nip that in the bud. Just then, a guard reported that Lin Yuxia had brought Flandre for an audience.
"Show them in!"
Lin Yuxia rushed in and asked directly: "Do you know that Talulah had a surgery in the summer?"
Lady Fumizuki nodded. "I know. The Shadow Guard briefings mentioned it. I even asked Ch'en, and she said the surgery was very successful..."