Anxious Waits and Awkward Encounters

She constantly sipped the tea in her hands, her gaze flicking towards the door intermittently. In stark contrast to her composed arrival, the brown-haired girl’s face was now etched with palpable anxiety.

Having carved out time from her demanding schedule to seek the hunter’s assistance, only to be left to languish for half the day, it was a testament to her upbringing that she hadn’t erupted on the spot. Yet, even so, a palpable sense of suppressed tension enveloped both individuals in the living room.

Uncle Mo lay awkwardly on the sofa, adopting the posture of an ostrich, his face a mask of embarrassment. He had confidently vouched for his junior, only for this awkward predicament to unfold. Should everything resolve amicably, it would be well and good, but if any mishap occurred, he felt he might as well retreat to his hometown, utterly unable to face the disgrace.

Yao Jing, of all people, had to choose this exact moment to rush off and handle other affairs. Didn’t he understand the gravity of the situation here?

Grumbling internally about his junior, Uncle Mo stole another surreptitious glance at the young lady. A discernible dark aura seemed to emanate from the brown-haired girl, causing him to involuntarily shiver anew.

Bang.

The sudden bang of the door opening jolted both occupants of the living room. Upon closer inspection, however, they realized it was merely the young man who had earlier flung his phone, now emerging from the bedroom, and their renewed hopes immediately deflated.

“Oh, you’re still here.”

Wu Liyun regarded them with a hint of surprise. He had, in fact, changed into a set of casual clothes, and his hair, slicked back and gleaming, made him appear remarkably invigorated.

“Cough, cough,” Uncle Mo began, “do you happen to know roughly when Little Yao will be returning?”

“Little Yao? You mean Yao Ge, right?” Wu Liyun confirmed. “I received his message; he said he’ll be here any moment now. Just bear with it a little longer.”

Not only that, but Xiu Lan would also be accompanying him. Driven by a fervent desire for reconciliation, he had not only meticulously groomed himself but had also spent the entire previous night practicing the type of game the young woman adored, all in anticipation of this very moment.

Clinging to a certain romantic fantasy, he too settled onto the living room sofa. The three of them sat, wide-eyed, silently awaiting the imminent return of Yao Jing and his party.

A little more time passed.

Bang, bang, bang!

They’re here!

Wu Liyun shot to his feet with astonishing speed, then practically sprinted towards the door, oblivious to the peculiar stares of the other two.

‘So eager?’

Listening to the insistent knocking, Wu Liyun drew a deep breath. If it were Yao Jing, he would undoubtedly possess a key, implying that the person at the door was, in all likelihood, Xiu Lan. With this thought, he swiftly smoothed down his clothes, plastered on what he believed to be a gentle smile, and twisted the doorknob.

“I was just saying… woah…”

A small, dark figure seemed to tumble headlong into the room, evidently caught off guard by the sudden opening of the door. That familiar silhouette was precisely the person he had been anticipating.

‘Heaven truly favors me.’

Overjoyed, Wu Liyun immediately spread his arms wide, eagerly anticipating the ‘swallow flying into the nest’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom describing a loved one rushing into one’s embrace).

“You can trip just opening a door? Are you an idiot?”

A woman’s chiding voice abruptly shattered his romantic fantasy. Robin, with a single hand, deftly caught the tumbling Xiu Lan, offered him a brief nod of greeting, and then ushered the black-clad girl into the living room.

Throughout this entire sequence, the person who had so thoroughly captivated his thoughts hadn’t even spared him a single glance.

……

‘Yet, in the past, she would shyly utter his name whenever they met…’

Wu Liyun felt as though his entire being had turned to ash, brittle and ready to shatter at the slightest touch.

“Huh, who are you two?”

Xiu Lan’s puzzled voice rang out. She gazed at the two individuals in the living room, both of whom evoked a strong sense of déjà vu, as she racked her brain, trying to recall where she might have encountered them.

The brown-haired girl silently retrieved the few photographs from the table, tucking them back into her bag. Most of these images depicted Liu Yu from various angles, alongside one of a black-clad figure she could no longer discern.

The moment Xiu Lan appeared before her, the brown-haired girl instantly recognized “Liu Yu,” the individual who had occupied her thoughts day and night. To think she would manifest before her in such a manner! It was truly a case of ‘searching high and low only to find it effortlessly at hand’ (TL Note: A Chinese idiom, roughly meaning ‘what you seek is right before your eyes’).

‘What kind of joke is this!’

She roared inwardly.

To entrust someone with investigating a suspect, only to discover that the two were in fact in league—such an utterly absurd scenario had actually befallen her. Now, not only was the investigation into Liu Yu compromised, but one careless misstep could even jeopardize her own personal safety.

Furthermore, given that Yao Jing had specifically gone out of his way to pick up Liu Yu, these two were, at the very least, intimately acquainted. Should a conflict arise, it was entirely uncertain which side this hunter would ultimately choose.

‘Could I have inadvertently stumbled into some clandestine transaction?’

“My apologies,” she stated, “but an urgent matter has suddenly arisen that I must attend to immediately. Kindly convey my regrets to Mr. Yao Jing and inform him that I shall call upon him another day.”

Subtly signaling the bodyguard at her side, the brown-haired girl resolved to depart before Yao Jing’s return. She had no intention of gambling her personal safety on such a volatile and uncertain situation.

Grasping the young lady’s unspoken intent, the former hunter, Uncle Mo, tensed both his mind and muscles. The bracelet concealed beneath his sleeve pulsed with a steady light, signaling his readiness to deploy his [Armaments] for battle at a moment’s notice.

The relentless succession of unexpected events had left him in a profound state of bewilderment. He, of course, recognized the black-clad figure. On one hand was his trusted junior, and on the other, the paramount concern of the young lady’s safety.

After a momentary hesitation, Uncle Mo resolutely chose the latter course.

‘So it was Old Zheng’s sister and her bodyguard.’

After a brief period of rumination, employing her rather limited mental capacity, Xiu Lan finally unearthed the identities of these two individuals from the depths of her memory.

‘It sounds as though they are seeking Yao Jing’s assistance.’

To express her gratitude for the rich second-generation’s usual ‘offerings,’ Xiu Lan proactively positioned herself to block their departure, patting her chest with a confident assurance.

“Oh, don’t be in such a rush to leave~” she purred. “Yao Jing is just parking downstairs. You can tell me about your troubles beforehand. Rest assured, if he proves uncooperative, I’ll simply beat him until he agrees to help.”

Alas, the young woman’s otherwise melodious voice, when filtered through the omnipresent black mist, took on an exceptionally sinister quality, causing both individuals to shiver involuntarily and question if their ears were playing tricks on them.

‘Could that truly be the voice of a normal person?’

“Indeed, indeed, Xiu Lan is absolutely right,” Wu Liyun chimed in, recovering from his petrified state. “Yao Ge will be up any second now. Leaving at this point would simply render all your efforts futile.”

‘Xiu Lan?’

‘Could it be that she isn’t Liu Yu after all?’

“More likely, one of the two names was merely an alias.”

But now was hardly the moment to dwell on such details. Whether by design or accident, their escape route was now thoroughly obstructed by the black-clad figure, and the young man named Wu Liyun stood directly in front of the door, blocking it entirely.

‘Should we break through?’

Uncle Mo stood resolutely before her, poised and ready, awaiting further instruction. So long as Yao Jing remained absent, he possessed absolute confidence in his ability to escort the young lady safely out of this veritable den of thieves.

The atmosphere slowly grew heavy.

“Don’t stand there blocking the way,” Robin admonished. “These people are in a hurry.”

Robin gently pulled back Xiu Lan, who had been obstructing the doorway. While she remained unaware of the exact nature of the unfolding situation, the palpable tension in the air prompted her to decide that the wisest course of action was to simply drag this oblivious fool away.

“Phew.”

Watching the black-clad figure being led away, the brown-haired girl’s smile reappeared, and she nodded subtly to the assembled company, just as she was about to follow Uncle Mo out the door…

It was then that Yao Jing’s voice greeted them from the hallway.

“I’m back.”

The smile on her face froze.

****

Once Yao Jing had returned, everyone settled themselves onto the living room sofas. As for the two who had initially been determined to depart…

To manage the considerable commotion caused by a certain imp, he had, after much coaxing and persuasion, finally managed to convince the two ‘distinguished guests’ (TL Note: A respectful but here ironic term for the brown-haired girl and her bodyguard) to remain.

“So hot, ptui, ptui, ptui.”

“Didn’t I tell you to wait for it to cool before drinking?” Robin exasperated. “Do you really need someone to teach you how to even drink water, you idiot?”

Robin blew on the tea in her hands, utterly exasperated with this fool. No sooner had she poured the steaming hot water than Xiu Lan had immediately picked it up to drink. Now, her little mouth was likely so scalded she couldn’t utter a word, and one could almost picture, even with their toes, the teary-eyed figure hiding beneath the shroud of black mist.

“Y-you… y-you…”

Having her shortcomings so brazenly exposed in front of so many people, Xiu Lan had already cursed Robin a hundred times in her mind.

Yet, she had to concede, she truly possessed a profound lack of common sense regarding daily life. The loss of her sense of taste from consuming certain things, combined with the shadows’ inherent protection, had caused her way of life to diverge dramatically from that of ordinary individuals.

‘However…’

She picked up another piece of fruit, unconsciously bringing it to her mouth.

‘How peculiar,’ she thought. ‘Despite feeling no hunger, she found herself unable to stop eating. Was something amiss with this body once more?’