“We already know, Mr. Long. We need to discuss first and will give you a reply later.”
At the edge of West District in Baiyuan City, inside an unfinished, abandoned apartment building, a shadow carefully hung up the phone.
From the outside, the building looked like a simple abandoned structure, drafty on all sides, but upon opening the door to a small room on the third floor, one would find everything inside.
After hanging up, he turned to the others and said, “You’ve all seen the news, right? Someone jumped from Xinglong’s building. Long Shenyuan and Xing Luo want our help.”
“Of course we saw it. Is the family sending people this time?”
“Possible.”
The Intelligence Officer stepped forward, throwing a file folder onto the center of the table.
“The person sent this time is Su Qingyu, a rising star among the younger generation of the family. The item she controls has quite a reputation—she can easily pull off this kind of thing.”
They hadn’t found Su Qingyu in Baiyuan City.
The source was internal, a so-called traitor within the family.
Pulling off this kind of thing easily—referring to breaking into a large building at will and forcing someone to jump to their death.
Hearing this, the others exchanged wary glances.
“What kind of item?”
“The old name is Magic Flute, once famously held in the Middle Ages by the Hamelin Piper,” the Intelligence Officer explained slowly.
Everyone immediately understood.
The legend of the Black Death—controlling rats and children by playing the flute.
Such an ability could indeed accomplish that kind of thing.
“Most likely, that person has already confessed. The Xinglong brothers can’t protect him, nor can they be trusted, and… we’ve been exposed a bit too early.”
The association was like this apartment—hardly an abandoned building, but not quite finished either.
“We’re not the first branch to be exposed, are we?” someone joked.
No one laughed. Instead, their faces darkened—it was embarrassing.
After a long moment, the branch leader here spoke: “If we gain something from this, it’s not shameful.”
He looked at the one who had just taken the call.
“Call Boss Long and Boss Xing. It’s time to make some use of the useless.”
***
The girls’ operation went smoothly.
Having succeeded once before, their assault on the nightclub was even more confident—first, Bai Xia was sent alone to the control room to pick the lock and turn off the lights, then Su Qingyu took the opportunity to jump onto the stage and play the Requiem, putting everyone in the club into a coma.
The only problem was they didn’t catch anyone.
“They definitely left early.”
Outside the Xinglong International Building was a main road, and many pedestrians caught videos as they passed by, which spread online.
Realizing they were too late, the girls quickly left the nightclub.
As for the people inside, they were safe and would wake up shortly.
Walking through the night scenery of Baiyuan City, Bai Xiaoya and Su Qingyu occasionally glanced at Bai Xia, then exchanged looks with each other.
After all the effort, finally finding a clue and uncovering the truth, only for an unexpected event to let the target escape—finding them again would be difficult.
Bai Xia would surely have a hard time accepting this result.
“They won’t run,” the black-haired girl said calmly.
“If they really wanted to run, they would’ve done it earlier. The company is there—they wouldn’t just abandon such a huge legacy.”
“And there’s a mastermind behind it all, with big plans. They wouldn’t leave over something so small.”
…That calm?
Bai Xiaoya and Su Qingyu were both surprised, especially Su Qingyu, who still remembered Bai Xia running to her home once, speaking nonsense out of emotional agitation—it was like a different person now.
“What’s wrong?”
Bai Xia furrowed her brow slightly.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Nothing,” Bai Xiaoya smiled.
“Pretty good, right? Hey, Xiao Su… Xiao Su?”
She turned and saw the blonde girl holding her phone, double-checking that the media releasing the news wasn’t a marketing account.
“What is it?”
“There’s been a development. Bai Xia was right,” Su Qingyu handed over the phone. “See for yourselves.”
[Our city’s famous entrepreneur, the founders of Xinglong International, Long Shenyuan and Xing Luo, have just announced they will devote the rest of their lives to philanthropy. A press conference will be held next Friday in front of the Xinglong International Building to announce the establishment of the Xinling Health Foundation, commemorating CFO Zhang Cheng, who tragically fell to his death today.]
Bai Xiaoya blinked. “What does this mean?”
They didn’t run, that’s one thing. But why come out openly?
She glanced at Bai Xia, who also wanted to look at her but, considering practicality, looked to Su Qingyu instead.
Because only the blonde girl was a professional here.
“Well… theoretically, some reckless youths choose this method when facing danger—to attract public attention, become the center of the crowd, thinking it will intimidate us because they expect us to hesitate for the sake of secrecy,” Su Qingyu explained.
Bai Xiaoya rubbed her hands.
“Does it work?”
“Of course not. Take Black Swan’s Kiss for example—putting a Segen Feather in their mouth, no one can ever find out.”
That stuff melts on contact and leaves no residue in the body. And that’s just a lower-level grade.
Still, we have to go, no way to give up this only lead.
They agreed to act again on Friday. Now it was time to go home.
Although rivals, before leaving, Su Qingyu hesitated and spoke to Bai Xia:
“You’re pretty skilled. Even those professionally trained within the family don’t perform as well as you do during missions.”
Bai Xia nodded lightly, saying nothing.
It wasn’t that she was silent to act mysterious; there was nothing to be happy about.
Others didn’t have double strength and magic hands, much less a pocket watch.
Bai Xiaoya waved at Su Qingyu: “Friday… no, tomorrow. See you tomorrow.”
Tomorrow was Monday—time to return to school.
Bai Xia had been calm all along, but hearing this, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
Thinking about skipping a grade.
After saying goodbye, sitting in the taxi on the way home, the night view slowly retreated outside the window.
“How are we going to explain this to our parents?”
Bai Xiaoya suddenly asked.
“Don’t say anything. Just act normal. We’re adults now,” Bai Xia replied.
“If asked, say it rained heavily last night and you couldn’t come home.”
Bai Xiaoya shrank her neck, wondering if that would really work.
She didn’t know if it would, but the driver overheard their conversation and thought it sounded fine.
He was puzzled too, thinking, you two are adults, and both girls—what’s wrong with staying out overnight?
It’s normal, why not just tell your parents?
But professional courtesy only allowed him to say:
“Eighteen yuan. Take care, ladies.”
It wasn’t very late, but all the servants in the courtyard had clocked out.
Following the glowing path through the garden, Bai Xiaoya and Bai Xia quietly entered the house.
No one noticed along the way.
They didn’t even turn on the lights, using their phones for illumination as they climbed the stairs.
Surrounded by darkness, nothing was visible, only the sound of their breathing.
Bai Xia, walking ahead, reached back and took Bai Xiaoya’s hand.
“W-what (whispered)?”
“You hold the phone to light the way, I’ll lead.”
“…Oh.”
Bai Xiaoya thought she was being pulled inside the house and was startled.
Back in their respective bedrooms, they switched on the lights, and brightness returned. Everything finally calmed down.
Bai Xia lay on the bed for a while, feeling the weight of today’s events deeply. It was significant, stirring some emotions.
Suddenly, she sensed something and looked up to see a small white head peeking inside the door, quietly observing.
“What’s wrong?”
Bai Xiaoya hadn’t expected to be discovered right after the mission and was a little flustered.
“N-nothing, just checking in.”
Today was about facing the wound head-on, and since the target had escaped, Xiaoya was a bit worried.
Bai Xia understood the troubled expression on her face and couldn’t help but chuckle softly.
“Don’t worry. You forgot, I spent years investigating alone before—I’m used to it.”
“Oh, I see.”
Bai Xiaoya felt a bit reassured.
“But if you really can’t let it go,” Bai Xia patted the empty spot on the bed beside her, “you can sleep here tonight.”
Bai Xiaoya stuck out her tongue and slipped away:
“No way. Tomorrow morning my butt will be sore!”