Slyris had always thought of himself as someone quite capable. Even in his current predicament, seeing that he had been talking for a long time while Xu Chuyao remained unmoved, his heart couldn’t help but grow anxious.
“Miss Xu, what is your opinion? Do you think I might be faking my surrender? I guarantee that every word I’ve said is the absolute truth!”
Facing this display of loyalty, Xu Chuyao sighed softly. “It’s not that I don’t believe you; it’s mainly that I don’t even know who you are…”
“I’m that person, the one who commanded the Small Gang after Swina!” Slyris said hurriedly. “I was the one who ordered them to steal those things when you caught them red-handed. I let them suffer a few minor, insignificant troubles, and in the end, they were all thrown onto Defense Line Island and wiped out in one go. The entire group was decimated!”
He spoke with considerable vigor, as if he had done something heroic. While the outcome was indeed a good thing, his tone made it sound like he was the one who had stepped in to save the day by having the gang annihilated.
However, Xu Chuyao remained indifferent. “There’s no need to talk about padding your kill count with small-fry…”
“True, it’s not a major matter. My main reason for coming is that I especially admire you. I came specifically to report some things. For example, tomorrow’s interview is a trap.”
“A trap?”
Xu Chuyao crossed her arms and looked at him, making Slyris flush slightly—not out of shyness, but because he realized he didn’t know how to continue the conversation.
He was also puzzled. He had clearly thrown out a bombshell; why wasn’t Miss Xu following up with more questions?
“That’s enough. Don’t act like a clickbait tabloid, trying to get people’s attention with shocks and surprises,” Xu Chuyao said. “Just say what you know. After you’re done, I’ll evaluate whether you’re useful.”
“Haha, Miss Xu is truly brilliant and insightful. It’s like this: actually, I don’t know what the higher-ups have planned. They just told me to bring some old files to Zhou Tian tomorrow night and then keep in touch with him. But I’m scared! The fact that the higher-ups are having us do this sort of thing means there must be some conspiracy behind it!”
“Oh, so that’s it.”
Xu Chuyao quickly ran through the possibilities in her mind, placing herself in the perspective of the Leader of the Supreme Society, who was also the head of the Ghost Party.
Sending a few subordinates who knew nothing to deliver old history to Zhou Tian’s hands, claiming to threaten him but not clearly stating what they wanted to steal—it was just like Slyris kept insisting there was a conspiracy without being able to say what it was. It was just meant to scare people.
Hmm… intimidating someone?
She seemed to understand. Chu Cang was making this big move just to scare people, to intimidate Zhou Tian while simultaneously testing Wen Shengqing. He could see how Wen Shengqing would react and force Zhou Tian to see what he might do under pressure.
It was like playing cards and throwing out four 3s just to stir things up and see if the opponent would bite.
“I understand.”
“Wonderful! Why else would they say Miss Xu’s wisdom is unrivaled in the world? You understood it instantly,” Slyris said flatteringly. As for thoughts like “I don’t even understand it myself,” he didn’t dare voice them.
Saying that would just sound sarcastic.
“That’s enough. I’m just expressing my own thoughts; someone like you who knows nothing should stop bragging on the side.” Xu Chuyao glanced at him. “Besides this, what else do you know?”
“I know, I know! Our Little Team has about a dozen people in total. We’re all former low-to-mid-level members of the Supreme Society, similar to Swina, whom you’ve dealt with before. After Wang Li died, the higher-ups arranged for us to follow a new Leader. One is named Zhuang Hu; he’s a man who looks gentle on the outside but is actually full of malice. He loves lecturing people, and it’s all negative, toxic ‘chicken soup’ for the soul. The other is a woman who’s quite short and thin, named Su Fan. Her mental state might be a bit problematic; she likes to strike poses…”
“Mm.”
Xu Chuyao gave a soft hum, indicating she had heard and that he could continue with useful information.
Encouraged, Slyris grew even more enthusiastic, blurting out everything he knew in one breath, such as his good partners in the new team, his favorite teammate—the cold-faced bald man—and so on.
Xu Chuyao reached out her hand. “Enough. There’s no need to talk about these Third Rank people. Anything else?”
“Uh…”
Slyris fell silent for a moment. Driven by a strong desire to survive, he combed through the massive amount of information in his mind one more time. Finally, he grasped onto something. “I—I saw the Leader of the Supreme Society before!”
“Oh?”
“Really! A very short man, but his body proportions felt abnormal. His head was quite large, like someone with dwarfism.”
One adapts their words to the audience. In the Supreme Society team, Su Fan’s physique was called “petite and exquisite,” but here, she was “short and thin.” Similarly, for that brief glimpse of the ‘Leader,’ Slyris’s wording was not polite at all.
Xu Chuyao was a bit surprised, thinking that he really had seen the main person.
“How much do you know about him?”
“Not much,” Slyris said with difficulty. Fearing the young lady would be dissatisfied, he quickly thought again. “But I heard Jasmine mention that the Leader’s power is unpredictable. The Sea Monster Incident that caused such a stir last time was only because the Leader deliberately left a relatively capable one behind.”
Xu Chuyao finally perked up. “Deliberately left behind?”
“Yes, exactly! They said Wang Li used Mendos Technology to tear a hole in the Equator Defense Line. The next day, the Leader went over there personally to see what had drifted through. He neutralized most of the dangerous ones and only left one Octopus Jellyfish Monster of decent strength to pass through. You tell me, isn’t he a strange person? It looks like he’s doing a good deed, but if he were truly kind-hearted, why wouldn’t he just deal with all of them? Why leave one behind?”
Slyris scratched his head, unable to figure it out.
Xu Chuyao didn’t quite understand it either, but she understood something more important: the reason Jasmine and Wen Shengqing had a falling out was likely due to this trip to the Equator.
After a moment of silence, she said to the scrawny man, “You can be a crown witness, but not right now. After tomorrow night’s business is finished, you’ll follow me back to Center City to be locked up. In a while, I’ll need you to come out and identify someone.”
Slyris hesitated for a moment, then broke into a grin.
“Good, good, good! Being locked up is good! Being locked up is great—they provide food, housing, and security! Back when Swina was locked up, I really wanted to join him. By the way, Miss Xu, could you give me a little heads-up? How long is ‘in a while’?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Oh, okay.”
The conversation ended, and Xu Chuyao turned directly toward the second floor to sleep. Slyris looked around furtively, carefully cleared his tracks, and then left.
***
“Leader, your orders have been passed down. They will meet tomorrow evening,” the thin, small woman said with a bow.
Jasmine, who was usually lawless and arrogant in front of others, was now as serious and well-behaved as a schoolgirl. If Slyris and the others saw this, their eyes would surely pop out.
The short man with dwarfism sat at the front, sinking into the sofa. He nodded slowly upon hearing her words.
“Leader, do we really not need to follow them?” Jasmine expressed her concern. “Sending only a few Third Rank members… what if the other party looks down on us?”
Chu Cang tilted his head. “If he is angry, this will be a suicide mission. Of course, I wouldn’t let you go.”
Jasmine and several people nearby exchanged glances, and the sound of someone swallowing could be heard.
“Leader, are we going to…?”
“Don’t worry, we’re just seeing how he reacts. Wang Li died a violent death; we can’t do nothing.” Chu Cang looked toward the crowd with a calm expression. “He has stood in the spotlight his whole life, enjoying countless flowers and applause. A reputation like that has long since become part of his life.”
With that, he waved his hand. “Go and rest.”
“You should rest early too, Leader.”
The crowd left the cramped little room. After they walked out, the smile on Chu Cang’s face vanished. He pulled back his right sleeve and gently touched a spot near the bottom of his forearm.
There was a faint mark there—two small red dots, snake fang marks.
***
Xu Chuyao didn’t get out of bed immediately when she woke up early in the morning. Instead, she lay in bed for a while playing with her Mobile Phone, sending messages to people at School.
[Head Teacher: Is your operation over there going smoothly? Do you need me to come help you?]
[No need, it’s quite smooth. I expect to be back in a few days.]
[Principal: I’ve had someone clean the air conditioning unit in that room of yours. They said the environment it was used in was too dusty, causing the vents to clog. Pay attention to that normally; find another place to use as a Summoning Room.]
The Summoning Room was Xu Chuyao’s term for that small room filled with Inorganic Matter, used as a sacrifice to pull Shen Ning back.
The Principal clearly understood why there was so much dust in that environment.
[Got it, thanks Principal!]
The remaining messages were from the Special Intelligence Team—
[Xiao Si Nuo: Chief Li, we are currently working hard to find the hiding place. However, without a key, it’s truly too difficult to open the Great Gate to the hiding place. If you have any new information on your end, I hope you’ll share it.]
Xu Chuyao looked at the phone screen, her mouth twitching. She slowly muttered two words: “Impressive.”
She understood Xiao Si Nuo’s desire to use code names for security, and he had done similar things before. But calling people “hiding place” every day—aren’t you afraid of being caught one day?
The meaning of the message was that they were investigating Chu Cang’s information but had no leads, asking if Xu Chuyao had anything to share.
She did, but…
[Wait until I get back!]
Putting down her phone, she got up to eat breakfast. As soon as she reached the living room, a servant greeted her, asking what the honorable Miss Xu would like to eat.
Xu Chuyao had originally intended to list some common dishes, but when the words reached her lips, she changed her tune. “Bring out the best things you can make; I’ll give them a try.”
Having come to this place, why eat things like rice cakes or steamed buns? She could eat those anytime at the school cafeteria. Coming here meant she had to try the local specialties.
Before long, after finishing a bowl of something resembling “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,” the girl put down her spoon and cradled her small face in both hands, swallowing the remaining flavors in her mouth.
Zhou Tian, who had arrived not long ago, sat opposite her and said with a smile, “It seems Miss Xu has a good appetite this morning. How is it? Is the kitchen staff’s skill acceptable?”
“Their skill is definitely not a problem.” Xu Chuyao licked her lips. “It’s just that the dishes themselves aren’t quite my style. They taste very fresh and delicious, and eating them feels like a luxury, but I’m really not that fond of them.”
“Haha, everyone has different tastes. Everyone has their own preferences.”
Zhou Tian casually ended the topic, his gaze resting on the girl. After hesitating repeatedly, he still tried to ask.
“Miss Xu, aren’t you curious at all about the things they’re using to threaten me?”
Xu Chuyao wiped her mouth, tossed the tissue into the trash can, and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “I am curious. I also want to know what it’s about. Are you planning to tell me?”
Zhou Tian hadn’t expected such a reaction. He gave a sheepish smile. “Actually, there’s not much to say. It’s just some things from the past. After the war, many problems were left behind. We had to use some special methods to get rid of the chronic ailments as quickly as possible.”
He thought he had phrased it well, but he only received a roll of the eyes from the girl. “You said something similar yesterday. Like I said, there’s a dark side to every light. It’s no big deal.”
“Miss Xu doesn’t mind such things? Oh, right.” Zhou Tian suddenly seemed to realize something. “At this time last year, Miss Xu orchestrated the Trade Plaza Battle in Center City by herself, making a name for yourself far and wide.”
These words were pure flattery. When Xu Chuyao was running around, she had a reputation, but it was limited to the middle-tier circles. High-level people didn’t care for such minor achievements at all. To put it bluntly, no matter how hard you blew up the Fish Tomb Bureau of the First or Second Defense, it wasn’t a big deal.
Zhou Tian spoke as if he had been following her for a long time, but in reality, he hadn’t known a thing about it before yesterday. It was only after specifically looking up Xu Chuyao’s detailed background in the last two days that he learned about the Dalei Beautiful Girl’s battle record over the past year.
The records in the files weren’t detailed, especially regarding the Fish Tomb Bureau. Concerning the Trade Plaza Battle, it only said that Xu Chuyao used her superior intellect to see through the Small Gang’s ambush in advance. After pre-arranging reinforcements, she entered the fray herself to lure the enemy deep and finally annihilated over a hundred members of the Small Gang. At the end, there was a brief mention that no Spirit Power Users on their side died in the battle; only a few dozen ordinary people were accidentally injured or killed. It was hailed as a great victory.
As the saying goes, people see what they want to see. Others might see Xu Chuyao as brave and resourceful, but to someone like Zhou Tian, who had done dirty work, his attention was focused elsewhere.
Miss Xu is formidable. Even when she was in school, she used ordinary people as bait. She is truly ruthless—no, she should be called…
“Not one for trifles. You are truly unconventional, Miss Xu,” he said sincerely. “No wonder Wen Shengqing values you so much.”
Xu Chuyao found this inexplicable. She only felt this man was incredibly strange. She had no idea how her past actions were being portrayed outside.
As for the Trade Plaza Battle, to put it bluntly, she was just someone with little influence at the time. She couldn’t refuse the mission from the higher-ups, so she had to act spoiled and beg her Head Teacher to go with her. It was simply a story of ‘the fox borrowing the tiger’s terror.’
“You might have some misunderstanding about me, but… forget it. I’m going to go rest for a bit.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Xu Chuyao was certain Zhou Tian had some misunderstanding of her. Look at that—he was even using formal honorifics now.
Whatever, she’d take it as a good thing.
The summer days were very long. It wasn’t until eight in the evening that the setting sun sluggishly sank behind the mountainside.
The moment the sky turned dark, Xu Chuyao climbed out of bed right on time. She put away the Mobile Phone she had been playing with all afternoon, rubbed her eyes, and walked outside.
Zhou Tian didn’t make an appearance, only having the servants see her to the door.
“You guys go back. Tell him I’ll resolve this as quickly as possible.”
Xu Chuyao waved her hand at them and turned to walk into the dark night. She did want to resolve it quickly, but not for Zhou Tian. It was for these servants who had worked overtime for two consecutive days and nights. Xu Chuyao, with her high beauty and high EQ, wanted them to be able to sleep early.
The agreed-upon address was at the foot of a mountain ridge two kilometers away.