"Never mind, I think I’ll skip it," Lily Bai said. "If I go, people might think I’m there to collect a debt."
"Come on, sis, let’s go together," Samson Zhang coaxed, putting on his cutest act. "After we see them off, we can check out our drama set!"
Lily glanced at his face covered in a sheet mask. "Alright, let’s go!"
...
Lily Bai and Samson Zhang went together to the train station to see off Mr. Howard and Maya Summers.
Mr. Howard supported his wife; in the sweltering heat, both of them wore masks, covering up tightly.
Lily couldn't help but snark to herself: Mrs. Howard just had surgery, so she's gotta be careful about catching something. Masked up, bundled tight—makes sense.
But Mr. Howard wasn’t sick at all—so why was he bundled up like a dumpling too?
Isn’t he hot?
Of course, she only thought it—she didn’t say it out loud.
Mr. Howard and his wife thanked Lily and Samson repeatedly.
They also promised to pay back Lily as soon as possible.
Lily kept reassuring them not to rush.
With about an hour until the train left, Mr. Howard urged them to head home and not wait around.
So the two of them started toward the filming site.
After a few steps, Samson suddenly slapped his forehead. "Crap, I forgot something!"
"What did you forget?"
"Medicine for Uncle Lou," Samson said. "Ernie Lou asked me this morning to have Mr. Howard take it home for his dad, and I totally spaced."
Uncle Lou—Ernie Lou’s dad—is sick.
There’s a special medicine here in Dragon City that works wonders for his illness.
After Ernie Lou came to Dragon City, it was Eric Lan who pulled strings and got the medicine for him.
These days, he’s been chasing after Max Mo nonstop. Since there are things he needs to keep from him, Lily is actually glad he’s not around.
Early this morning, he made plans with Max again, so he asked Samson to pass the medicine to Mr. Howard and have him take it home.
But Samson totally forgot.
"Why not just have someone bring it over?" Lily said. "There’s still time."
"Good idea." Samson called home.
Max was out.
Uncle Lou isn’t great at driving.
So Lisa brought it over.
Traffic was a mess, but she managed to get to the station before ticket check.
Samson handed the medicine to Mr. Howard, saying Uncle Lou would come by their house to pick it up.
Mr. Howard nodded repeatedly, tucked the little bottle into his luggage, and hurried inside with his wife.
Lisa stood behind Lily and Samson, watching Mr. Howard's back. "Who's that guy?" she asked.
Lily turned and replied, "He’s our high school teacher."
Lisa scrunched up her brows, looking super serious.
"What’s wrong? Is there a problem?" Lily noticed her odd expression.
"He’s had work done," Lisa said. "And..."
"And what?" Lily pressed.
"His height is exactly the same as Master Nebula’s."
Lily’s eyes widened. "You mean Master Nebula? The one from Awakening Abbey?"
"Yes. I compared his height in the records to living people and calculated his exact height. Mr. Howard matches him perfectly. And..."
"And?"
"This guy’s bone structure is also super similar to Master Nebula’s."
"You can tell that?"
"Yep. Based on old records, I can reconstruct his likely bone shape. Then I scan his current bone structure and compare the two to see if they’re the same person."
Lily asked nervously, "So is he Master Nebula or not?"
"I’m still analyzing," Lisa replied.
"Why are you so slow? Move it! The train’s about to leave!"