The sudden exclamation startled Fang Li, and he turned to look at the source of the voice.
The next moment, a face was imprinted in Fang Li's sight.
It was right in front of Fang Li, less than five centimeters away.
Fang Li couldn't help but be taken aback.
However, the other party seemed completely unconcerned and still had her face close to Fang Li's, speaking with great joy.
"I never expected to meet here of all places. What a pleasantly surprising encounter!"
The girl's tone carried an indescribable liveliness and cheerfulness, but it also had an unreserved and somewhat frivolous air. She didn't seem to care at all that she was meeting Fang Li for the first time. Driven solely by her interest, she displayed an unusual degree of familiarity with Fang Li.
Faced with this girl, another girl with brown skin stepped forward and admonished.
"Ernesta, what are you doing all of a sudden?"
In contrast to the girl in the white robe, the girl with brown skin appeared quite strict and meticulous in her personality. It was as if they were polar opposites. Not only was her personality not frivolous, but she also seemed rather earnest and serious.
In response, the girl called Ernesta continued to smile happily and said to the girl with brown skin, "Camilla, come over and take a look too. This is that Nii-chan from Jie Long, right? His name is Fang Li, I think."
"Fang Li?" The girl with brown skin, named Camilla, raised an eyebrow and then turned her gaze towards Fang Li, murmuring to herself, "So that's how it is. It's you?"
Shouldn't this be considered incredible?
Ernesta had a carefree personality, while Camilla was serious, yet both of them were currently looking at Fang Li with the same emotion.
It was scrutiny.
It was like they were treating a person as an object of observation or appraising a rare piece of artwork, both Ernesta and Camilla were scrutinizing Fang Li as if collecting some kind of information.
This wasn't a strange occurrence.
Because these two girls, right in front of Fang Li, were wearing the uniforms of Arlequint Research Institute.
In other words, both of these girls were students of Arlequint Research Institute.
They belonged to a school that primarily focused on research rather than combat, and they emphasized technique personnel over combatants.
The two girls in front of Fang Li were clearly technique personnel.
For people like them, perhaps, anyone they met could be considered an object of observation, right?
Furthermore, these two girls were not ordinary technique personnel.
"So that's how it is," Fang Li stepped back a few steps without saying anything, distancing himself from Ernesta.
He then smiled at both of them and casually said, "The representatives of the Pygmalion Faction and the Ferrovius Faction of Arlequint Research Institute unexpectedly appearing in the contestant area of the 'Phoenix Festa' is quite surprising."
Fang Li's words made Camilla fall silent, and at the same time, it earned him an admiring smile from Ernesta, who said, "What? Nii-chan, do you know us?"
"Shouldn't it be the case that anyone who doesn't know you is rare?" Fang Li gazed at Ernesta and said, "In the Arlequint Research Institute, which is teeming with factions, the Pygmalion Faction and the Ferrovius Faction are quite special. As representatives of these two factions, who wouldn't recognize you?"
In a way, Arlequint Research Institute was similar to Jie Long Seventh Academy.
Both schools had numerous factions within them.
The difference was that in Jie Long Seventh Academy, the factions were referred to as sects, primarily for martial arts training. In contrast, the factions in Arlequint Research Institute were mostly focused on research.
Among them, the Pygmalion Faction and the Ferrovius Faction were outstanding.
The Pygmalion Faction mainly focused on the development of puppets, i.e., humanoid robots, and their faction's philosophy aimed to eventually research puppets with autonomous capabilities comparable to humans.
The Ferrovius Faction, on the other hand, focused on Lux development, and their faction philosophy aimed to create highly versatile Lux devices that anyone could easily use.
Both of these factions wielded significant influence within the Arlequint Research Institute, with the Ferrovius Faction being the largest faction in the institute.
The representatives of these two factions were none other than Ernesta and Camilla.
– Ernesta-Kühne –
As the representative of the Pygmalion Faction, she was renowned for her keen observational skills and powerful analytical abilities. She was a world-class genius research expert. Her appearance had rapidly strengthened the previously weaker Pygmalion Faction, eventually making it a prominent force.
– Camilla-Pareto –
Representing the Ferrovius Faction, she was known for her meticulous work ethic and unwavering determination to uphold her faction's ideals.
She was also an outstanding research expert. The Lux devices developed by her team had been used by the previous year's "Phoenix Festa" champions in the finals, where they defeated Cecily and Zhao Hufeng, securing their victory.
With such accomplishments, these two individuals were certainly not unknown.
"Compared to you two, I don't consider myself a well-known character," Fang Li said with a smile as if he were talking about someone else. He addressed Ernesta and Camilla, "I wonder how you two came to know an insignificant individual like me, a nobody."
Camilla, for the moment, remained silent, but Ernesta couldn't help but smile mischievously. She once again brought her face close to Fang Li's, her crescent-shaped eyes twinkling, and she said a line.
"Well, well, don't say that. After all, we do know about the user who tamed Bo Xie, right?"
Fang Li immediately raised an eyebrow.
Did these two individuals also know about Bo Xie?
However, it wasn't all that surprising.
For a school like the Arlequint Research Institute, where technique personnel were prominent, someone like Bo Xie, who hadn't had a user for nearly a century and from whom very little Ogre Lux had been collected, should be an ideal research subject, right?
"I heard that Bo Xie has been circulating among various schools for nearly a century, and no technique team from any school has been able to thoroughly research the Ogre Lux, right?"
Ernesta's eyes began to sparkle, and she bent down, bringing her face closer to the sheath containing Bo Xie's activation body around Fang Li's waist. She exclaimed with great curiosity, "I really want to take a look, I really want to take a look."
Her eccentric personality and behavior made Fang Li furrow his brow involuntarily.
Just then, Camilla spoke up.
"Enough, Ernesta, stop doing things that would raise suspicion."
Camilla said this and looked at Fang Li with an indifferent expression. She continued, "While I am indeed interested in collecting data on a mysterious entity like Bo Xie, it is, after all, an Ogre Lux, and its nature is fundamentally different from the ideals of our Ferrovius Faction. I don't have much interest in it."
...
You can read ahead up to 60 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395