“I actually don’t have much to say. Our interactions have always been pretty calm.”
The Broken Shadow hid in the lamp’s glow on the wall, slightly lowering its head, as if recalling the past.
“I usually don’t have many hobbies, but she would take me to sing and taught me a lot of songs. She said I was a tenor, a bit rough and stubborn, always sulking over the smallest things, with no sense of challenge at all.”
The Sexually Repressed Shadow asked, “So when you sulked, did you sulk at her?”
The Broken Shadow shook its head, “She would calm me down right away. Why would I sulk at her?”
“Look at you—that’s exactly why you turned out like this. How could it have worked if you hadn’t been taught? Now, don’t you regret it?”
The Sexually Repressed Shadow’s words almost brought tears to the Broken Shadow’s eyes, then it asked, “What do you think now? If you were given another chance, would you sulk at Chuyao?”
The Broken Shadow seemed to really consider the question, and suddenly tears streamed down its face as it shouted out loud:
“I would sulk at her all I want! Aahhh!”
Silently, Shen pulled up the small blanket and said that tonight’s discussion was not going well, but wished good night.
Meanwhile, at Shengling Academy, Xu Chuyao gathered the entire small team via their QQ group and introduced the new external members—Xiao Si Nuo and Flower.
Xiao Si Nuo’s reputation at school was, at best, a “Class Celebrity,” but outside of Class 3-1, no one really knew her. Flower was even less known, as she wasn’t part of the school at all.
However, since the new members were brought in by their most respected and beautiful leader, everyone remained friendly. The only question was:
“Leader, what’s going on? There are so many of us, how come we can’t calm down?”
“Yeah, we’ve made some progress recently, and we even have three third-level members…” Zhong Ming started to say, then suddenly noticed a problem, “Uh, where’s Shen Ning?”
Xu Chuyao didn’t answer directly but pulled up the projector screen and pointed to the photo of a foreign man.
“To cut to the chase, this time our mission can’t be about direct fighting. We need to gather clues first. This man is the direct superior of the Clown Gang and a major suspect. I suspect he commanded the Clown Gang in several attacks.”
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately perked up and stared intently.
“The boss of the Clown Gang looks like this?”
“This guy looks respectable, but has that so-called ‘decayed gentleman’ vibe.”
“You can tell right away he’s a hostile foreign force!”
Listening to everyone’s first impressions, Xu Chuyao nodded in satisfaction; this was exactly the effect she wanted.
Among the crowd, Yu Yuwei studied the photo carefully and tentatively said, “Uh… why does this guy look familiar? I feel like we’ve seen him somewhere.”
“That’s right. You’re correct. You’ve all seen him,” Xu Chuyao revealed without holding back. “He’s Professor Swina, the cause of the Commerce Plaza battle. Remember why we went there?”
The event happened just a few months ago, not too far back, and soon everyone recalled it.
“We were originally there to support some merchant.”
“The Locke Morgan Family’s foreign trade delegation was holding a new product launch.”
“Yeah, that guy was the leader of that foreign trade delegation!”
Once everyone’s memories were refreshed, Xu Chuyao stepped forward again.
“The good news is, this guy who directly leads the Clown Gang is probably acting on his own. The bad news is, he took Shen Ning away.”
Then Xu Chuyao briefly explained that Swina represented the Locke Morgan Family and had taken Shen Ning to participate in some Research Institute work.
All members were stunned. They never expected that a few days ago, their teammate who had just posed for a group photo on stage was no longer at the Academy—and was instead taken away by a dangerous individual.
“Then we have to rescue her immediately!” Shi Lei said.
Xu Chuyao silently rolled her eyes at him. “I understand your camaraderie, but this isn’t something that can be won by fists alone… especially since you can’t beat them anyway.”
To calm the passionate members down, Flower kindly poured tea for everyone.
“Thank you.”
After drinking the tea, everyone quietly looked at their beautiful leader.
“Group Leader Xu,” the most loyal Cheng Li said, “you must have a plan, right?”
“Business as usual.”
Xu Chuyao responded softly, then began assigning tasks:
“Cheng Li, Shi Lei, you two take my letter of introduction and head to the City Security Department. Demand the Clown Gang prisoners from them. Don’t ask for too many—just bring back a few second-level lieutenants.”
“Zhong Ming, You Jia, you go see the Mayor and ask for a copy of the permit Swina had when he first came to Center City. Mayor He owes the Academy a favor and should agree.”
“Yu Yuwei, come with me—we’re going to see Principal Lü.”
“Xiao Si Nuo and Flower, wait here for now.”
“Understood!”
Having completed so many missions, this crisis response team was highly efficient. When orders were given, action was immediate.
Except for the two who stayed behind in the activity room, the rest set off in pairs, each going where assigned.
Since the activity room was inside the office building, Xu Chuyao directly led Yu Yuwei upstairs.
“Um, Director Xu,” Yu Yuwei quietly called, “are you doing alright? We only just found out about Shen Ning’s situation.”
No wonder after the rating ceremony, the group leader Xu and Shen Ning, the administrator, never appeared again. Everyone had assumed they went off on a honeymoon, but it turned out they faced such a crisis.
“I’m fine, of course.”
Xu Chuyao climbed the stairs quickly and lightly leaned on the railing.
“The Locke Morgan Family has gone too far. But no matter what, the worst thing they could have done was mess with me!”
Yu Yuwei didn’t know what Xu Chuyao planned but felt her words were fiercely confident.
On the floor above, the two saw two familiar people.
“Teacher Yu Jing, I really just want to ask you how to teach such excellent students.”
“Come on, Cheng Chen, you said the same thing last time and said we should stick to work. So what happened? Also, does chatting about work really need a coffee shop?”
“That’s to keep it casual. The coffee shop environment is good…”
Xu Chuyao tugged Yu Yuwei’s sleeve and hurried upstairs, pretending not to hear.
One more floor up was Principal Lü’s office. Xu Chuyao knocked firmly on the door.
“Come in… it’s you, child.”
Before Principal Lü finished speaking, Xu Chuyao pushed the door open and strode to the sofa inside. Yu Yuwei followed politely, greeting, “Good afternoon, Principal.”
As for Chuyao, she sat down directly on the sofa, crossed her arms, and said sulkily:
“I want all the information on Swina, including any audio recordings from his student days.”
Principal Lü’s brows furrowed tightly like a twisted pretzel.
“What’s going on this time?”
“Nothing much. I just think this guy is suspicious, so I want to check him out. If we find anything, it’d be a big accomplishment.”
Xu Chuyao puffed out her cheeks and declared dramatically.
“Fine, fine. But summoning Shen Ning wasn’t his decision. The Locke Morgan Family just sent him to pick her up. What’s the point in picking a fight with him?”
“I don’t care! I just feel like he’s no good!”
Principal Lü sighed helplessly, unable to do anything with her.
Different people saw Xu Chuyao’s attitude differently. The crisis response team members considered her a reliable leader who could lead them to success and promotion. To Long Jun, she was a protégée he had personally nurtured—brave, clever, politically savvy, and intuitive, with a bright future ahead.
But to Principal Lü, Chuyao was a student nurtured by their own Academy—pure and upright—but still a child.
Children are young, and it’s normal to have emotional outbursts, especially after something like this.
“Alright, alright, I’ll send you a permit code. You can download it from the Academy’s website.”
Meanwhile, You Jia and Zhong Ming’s mission also went smoothly. Mayor He, hearing the Academy needed help, personally assisted in locating the City Entry and Exit Management Department and retrieved the original permit document for them.
“Thank you very much.”
This was probably the easiest task they had done since joining the team—simpler even than the trip to Ya Ha City.
As for the last pair, Shi Lei and Cheng Li, who headed to the Center City Security Department, things were not so smooth.
Though the two were the muscle of the team, they showed courtesy this time. The Security Department personnel didn’t make things difficult and promptly agreed to their request, escorting them straight to the prison to bring out the prisoners.
Everything seemed to be going well, but the problem lay with the prisoners themselves.
The other lieutenants had revealed all they knew, which was basically nothing. They were just muscle in the organization, with no contact whatsoever with the Supreme Society’s big players.
The only useful prisoner wore a mask with a vulture emblem and was therefore called Vulture.
Compared to the one from the Ya Ha City Financial Group’s expedition, this Vulture from Center City had far more scenes of chaos—each meeting, each capture, each interrogation by Xu Chuyao, each time breaking down defenses.
This time, facing the two interrogators, Vulture tilted his head and closed his eyes, resolutely declaring:
“I won’t say a word!”
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