Luo Tianyu’s expression was as if he’d seen a ghost. The sounds of the banquet around him became muffled in his ears.
“Uncle Luo, are you okay?”
Lu Yunze’s voice reached him, snapping Luo Tianyu back to reality. He composed his expression, restoring his usual dignity and calm.
“I’m fine.”
Luo Tianyu wiped his face; his palm was covered in sweat. “I suddenly feel a bit unwell, so I’ll take off first. The rest is up to you. Don’t stay out too late.”
“Ah, so soon?”
Luo Yao widened her eyes.
“Heh, getting old. My body can’t handle the excitement.”
Luo Tianyu patted his daughter’s head, then stood up and left the venue surrounded by attendants.
Luo Yao and the others were sorry to see him leave early, but didn’t think much of it. They soon immersed themselves in the banquet atmosphere again. Only Lu Yunze pondered whether there might be another reason. He went to the seat Luo Tianyu had been sitting in. The hotel staff had already cleaned up the broken table pieces, but the mark on the floor stood out conspicuously. Lu Yunze even crouched down and touched the mark, committing it firmly to memory.
A mysterious black-cloaked person, the sudden power outage, and the startled Luo Tianyu. Could these three things be connected? Lu Yunze couldn’t shake them from his mind. He had to investigate before the banquet ended. His gaze swept over Luo Yao and Luo Heng’s positions. They were still surrounded by people, apparently having a good time.
To get to the bottom of it, he needed an assistant. Rather than disturbing them, Lu Yunze directly approached another equally reliable person.
“Ah, me?”
Lü Ziyi, who was still snacking alone, pointed at herself, looking confused.
“Aren’t you an Executive Department commissioner? Surely you’re not bad at using your head?”
At those words, Lü Ziyi’s temper flared. “Anyone who underestimates me will regret it.”
‘I don’t see Luo Yao regretting anything.’
Lu Yunze only thought this inwardly, but kept his findings to himself.
“Someone from the Black Star Cult?”
“Yes. The enemy is in the dark while we’re in the light. They might be deliberately avoiding me, but you can definitely find a flaw from an unexpected direction.”
Lü Ziyi thought for a moment. Though she wasn’t sure why Lu Yunze thought that, she readily agreed. Since Luo Yao was also here, this was a perfect chance to shine.
“I will definitely catch that weirdo you mentioned, publicly expose them, and make Luo Yao admire me to no end!”
Lü Ziyi’s fighting spirit ignited.
Lu Yunze split up with her. She continued monitoring inside the venue. Lu Yunze quietly left to search for clues nearby. If the blackout was man-made, there might be leads there.
After leaving the venue, Lu Yunze quickly found the electrical room. Just as he was about to approach, he heard voices.
“How could an accident happen like this?”
“Look at this, it’s clearly cut with a knife.”
“Damn, who did this? That’s so malicious.”
So it really was man-made. Lu Yunze peeked and saw two electricians inspecting the equipment inside. According to their conversation, someone had cut the wires with a knife, causing the blackout. They were now rushing to repair it.
Logically, the blackout would have been the perfect time for an attack. But until the backup power kicked in, no one in the venue was hurt. That was strange. Could cutting the wires just be to mess with the banquet and scare Luo Tianyu? That would be too boring.
There was nothing more to find in the electrical room. Lu Yunze turned and left. As he headed back to the venue, a figure followed him secretly, occasionally peeking at him.
After the next corner, when the follower checked Lu Yunze’s position again, he had disappeared.
“Where is he?”
The follower panicked a bit and ran forward, suddenly realizing this might be a trap. The door to a private room behind them suddenly opened. A hand grabbed the follower by the back of the collar and yanked them inside.
Bam!
The door slammed shut. The follower was thrown to the floor, with Lu Yunze straddling them. Lu Yunze raised his fist to threaten.
“How dare you follow me, you—”
But when he saw the face, he froze. Ash-brown long hair, pale purple gem-like eyes, and an awkward smile on the face. All of it was painfully familiar to Lu Yunze.
“Jiang Sui?!”
“Good evening, young master.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I…”
Jiang Sui’s cheeks suddenly flushed red. “Before I answer, could you move your knee away?”
Because of the urgency, Lu Yunze had straddled her, with one knee pressing directly on her lower abdomen. As he spoke and moved, the pressure from his knee kept increasing. A numbing pain jolted through Jiang Sui’s mind.
Lu Yunze quickly got off, apologizing repeatedly and asking if he had hurt her. Jiang Sui gasped for breath. Even though it was unpleasant, the numbing pleasure was real. After Lu Yunze moved away, the pressure disappeared, and the numbness was gone. Instead, she felt a slight emptiness.
‘No, what am I thinking?’
Sometimes even Jiang Sui didn’t understand what was wrong with her. Just thinking about Lu Yunze staying in that position and pressing harder, the numbing sensation would be even stronger. It would… feel good, wouldn’t it?
‘Oh no, my panties are wet again.’
Jiang Sui snapped awake, shook her head vigorously, and the blush on her face quickly faded.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good, now it’s time to answer my question.”
Lu Yunze’s expression turned serious again. “Why did you come here?”
Faced with his interrogation, Jiang Sui, still sitting on the floor, hesitated for two seconds, then decisively tilted her head to act cute. “Because I was worried about you, young master, so I secretly followed.”
Very cute. Very laughable. And Lu Yunze did laugh. But as he laughed, he pinched Jiang Sui’s cheek.
“Who told you to act on your own? When your salary gets docked, you’ll come complaining to me again, right?”
“Ouch ouch ouch, young master, I’m sorry.”
Jiang Sui grabbed his wrist. ‘This guy’s grip is too strong.’ Both her hands together couldn’t match the strength of one of his hands.
“How did you avoid being discovered?”
“I did a little disguise.”
Lu Yunze looked her over. She wasn’t wearing a maid uniform, just casual clothes. What kind of disguise was that? Suddenly he thought of something and frowned. “You didn’t come in wearing a black cloak, did you?”
Jiang Sui’s other cheek was also pinched by Lu Yunze. “Oh dear, young master is so smart… Ouch ouch ouch!”
“So it was you!”
Lu Yunze sucked in a breath. “Do you know how worried I was?”
“I’m wrong, really wrong.”
“I almost thought you were an enemy.”
“Sorry, meow.”
“Can you just quiet down for a bit?”
“Meow meow meow meow…”
Jiang Sui started meowing like a cat. Lu Yunze’s anger dissipated by half, and he let go. Jiang Sui covered her cheeks. She looked like she was sobbing, but in her mind she was swearing.
‘Damn you, Lu Yunze. How dare you treat me like this. When you bow to me in the future, I’ll pinch your face until it’s swollen!’
“Was the blackout your doing too?”
Lu Yunze raised his hand again as he spoke.
“That’s got nothing to do with me.”
Jiang Sui quickly shook her head. “You know me, young master. There’s no second maid as well-behaved as me in the whole world.”
Though she was mischievous, Lu Yunze was willing to believe she wasn’t the one who cut the power to scare Luo Tianyu.
“Alright, then you should head back quickly.”
“You’re chasing me away so soon, so heartless~”
“If you get caught, you’ll lose your job, won’t you?”
Lu Yunze was actually concerned about her. Besides, he still had to continue investigating the person who caused the blackout; he didn’t have time to play with her.
Seeing that the cute act wasn’t working, Jiang Sui had no choice but to get up and follow him out of the private room.
Hmm? Jiang Sui suddenly noticed that the clothes on Lu Yunze’s back, especially around the shoulder area, had a hole torn in them. It looked like it had been burned. That alone was strange enough. But under the hole, on the exposed skin, a red mark was glowing like red-hot iron. In the center was a black star. Three tentacles extended from it, coiling around the star.
Jiang Sui remembered this mark. It was the mark left when she encountered a ghost at the Luo family residence, and Lu Yunze took a palm strike from the ghost for her.
What’s going on? Jiang Sui stopped in her tracks.
“Since there’s no one around now, you—”
Before Lu Yunze could finish his sentence, the corridor lights went out with a bang.
“Again?”
This time it wasn’t just their area. The lights in the entire hotel went out.
Lu Yunze had just taken out his phone to illuminate when he heard Jiang Sui’s trembling voice behind him.
“Young master…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Is there something behind me?”
A chill crept down Jiang Sui’s spine, preventing her from turning around. Her keen senses had been warning her since a moment ago. The danger came from behind.
Lu Yunze raised his phone, directly illuminating a pale ghostly face that had appeared behind Jiang Sui.
“Who’s there?!”
Before he could act, a cold hand landed on Jiang Sui’s shoulder and pulled her into the darkness.
“Jiang Sui!”
As she disappeared into the darkness, Lu Yunze lunged forward and grabbed her wrist tightly. Even with the help of the Force Accumulation Anchor Point, Lu Yunze struggled greatly. It was like pulling someone stuck in quicksand. And he didn’t dare use full force, afraid of hurting Jiang Sui.
This won’t work. Lu Yunze’s feet began to slip. If this continued, not only would he fail to save Jiang Sui, he would be pulled in as well.
Just as he was desperately thinking of a solution, the corridor lights came back on. Lu Yunze, using all his strength, suddenly lost the opposing force and fell backward onto the ground. Jiang Sui also cried out “Ouch!” as she fell directly on top of him.
In the last moment before the ghostly face disappeared, it suddenly opened its mouth. It emitted a low, muffled voice—