In order to smoothly enter the gathering, Xu Chuyao had Li Xueli send a message to the contact:
[The white-haired girl Shen Ning will be assigned to patrol near the city Square today.]
The other party checked and confirmed this was true, so they felt somewhat relieved.
Even so, Li Xueli still had to drive there alone.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be watching nearby. And even if something happens, they just have a few more people, that’s all. Their strength isn’t as high as yours, so don’t be afraid.”
After years without training, Li Xueli was already out of practice. She took a deep breath and nodded hard. “I’m fine.”
“Good, then go ahead.”
She drove off first, while Xu Chuyao deliberately kept some distance before signaling the driver to take another route to their destination.
There were only three people in this car: Yu Yupao and You Jia were with her.
The three boys were in another car, each taking a different route.
“If anyone tries to run, don’t chase after them. Stay where you are and maintain order, do your best to prevent them from hurting anyone.”
After instructing the two girls, Xu Chuyao picked up a tablet and connected to the miniature camera that Li Xueli was carrying, hidden in her brooch.
“You’re here already, so early today… phew.”
The woman wiping the bar looked up, surprised but pleased. “A new face, I see.”
Shen Ning carefully walked in and sat on the nearest chair, glancing around. The shop’s overall style resembled a bar, but the decorations were even neater, with elegant tables and chairs. If this place had better lighting, it would look just like a spot for drinking coffee.
If there was anything out of place, it was the pink heart painted at the entrance to the stairs leading to the second floor…
“Sister, first time here? Someone recommended this place to you?”
The woman from earlier came over and casually placed a wine glass in front of the girl.
“Um, I guess so…”
Shen Ning glanced down. The elegant tall glass held a golden-yellow liquid.
“Sorry, I don’t drink alcohol.”
The woman smiled. “It’s juice, pineapple water. More people here drink this than alcohol.”
A few of the ladies behind the bar laughed as well.
Shen Ning didn’t know why they were laughing—it seemed like there was a deeper meaning to that, but she didn’t understand. She took a sip, and sure enough, it tasted of pineapple. It wasn’t overly sweet, maybe because it was made from out-of-season fruit.
The woman dressed like a bartender waved her hand to the others behind her, signaling them to calm down so they wouldn’t scare the obviously nervous newcomer.
“You can call me Sister Hong. Don’t be nervous, this isn’t the kind of place just for indulgence. In fact, we’re more willing to help with spiritual guidance here.”
Shen Ning nodded lightly. “Okay.”
Even now, she didn’t really understand what kind of “guidance” they offered here.
Sister Hong took the initiative to ask, “Judging from your look, you must be a newbie. Is there someone you like, or are you thinking of stepping into this world?”
What does that mean?
“Just say you have a girlfriend,” her suppressed instincts prompted her. “We just started dating.”
Although she didn’t know why, Shen Ning still said it.
Sister Hong was a little surprised, and very interested. “When did you and your girlfriend meet? How long have you been together?”
“Been together a little over a month. We’ve known each other… three and a half years.”
“So it’s a feeling that developed over time. You must have gotten along well before, right?”
“Ms. Lin, welcome to the gathering. Please, this way.”
The information provided earlier had worked. The Clown Gang believed they had successfully turned Li Xueli, and were already waiting at the door to welcome her, leading her straight to the gathering venue.
At this moment, Xu Chuyao was still in a car one kilometer away from the target, watching the scene transmitted back by the camera. She could see that the gathering venue was a small concert hall, but all the instruments were piled up in the corners, leaving a cleared space for a podium and several dozen seats.
A few people wearing clown masks stood on the podium, whispering to each other, while a dozen or so people stood or sat below, none wearing masks, all around thirty to forty years old, with a hint of clarity in their eyes.
Just like herself, they were all people who had not yet joined the Clown Gang, just newly recruited for this event.
Li Xueli drew this conclusion.
In fact, she was still being cautious. Not only were there new recruits in the audience, but even among the clowns on stage, half were newly joined members.
There were only three real old clowns, and just one core member.
A clown wearing a wolf mask picked up the microphone and walked to the podium:
“Thank you all very much for coming to our Clown Gang recruitment gathering on such an important day. You can call me Mr. Lone Wolf.”
Lone Wolf had been extremely nervous these past days—at least a hundred times more nervous than Li Xueli.
If you count carefully, from the first “Unveiling Operation” more than two months ago to last week’s Commerce Plaza battle, the Clown Gang in Center City had been quite active. Three targeted operations—each seemed costly, and in fact… they were very costly.
The first mall attack: most of their people died, but a few students died too—not a total loss.
The second mall attack: their side was wiped out, not a single student casualty—a bit of a blow.
The third time… well, that couldn’t be helped. The Supreme Society’s big shots personally gave the order; it had to be done.
Looking at the overall situation, if any of these actions had succeeded—even just a little, like killing a few more students in the mall attack or taking out the special squad at Commerce Plaza—it would have been a huge gain. But they never succeeded, not even once.
Now the Clown Gang had lost most of its main force, especially their Tier 2 members. The city had also restricted entry and exit. Helpless, they were forced to recruit new members on the Supreme Society’s orders, while also taking risks to contact people from the academy.
As one of the few Tier 2 spiritual power users left in the group, Lone Wolf reviewed past experiences, summed up the failures, and quickly pinpointed one person: the “white-haired killer” Shen Ning.
Both mall attacks—she killed everyone. In the Commerce Plaza battle, before the academy teachers arrived, she alone took out two-thirds of the team’s total headcount.
The remaining core members of the team all agreed that Shen Ning was the academy’s main force against the Clown Gang. Therefore, they needed to find a teacher who was frustrated at the school, and get information about Shen Ning’s movements from her, so they could avoid her.
It was a high-risk, high-reward mission. If the chosen teacher wasn’t convinced and leaked the information, everything would be over. So after the team decided, Lone Wolf really became a lone wolf, bringing two underlings and three newly recruited members to organize the recruitment gathering.
But now, Lone Wolf finally relaxed, because Ms. Li really had given him information about Shen Ning. The conversion was a success, and he felt a bright future beckoning.
“As you can see, we are an organization striving to improve the treatment of spiritual power users. We welcome talents from all backgrounds and are determined to eliminate unfair treatment!”
In the sedan, Xu Chuyao clicked her tongue in boredom, tossed aside the tablet, and picked up the communicator:
“Pointless, and not even fun. Move out!”