Chapter 83
by Need_More_SleepChapter 83: “0-o?”
“Boss, mission complete. How much do I get this time?” Hayato Shigenobu asked.
“What? How did you know I just got two pentakills in a game?” Wei Shi slowly swiveled his chair around.
Hayato Shigenobu: “…”
At least the boss was in a good mood. Hayato had expected to be chewed out for stepping into the hideout with his right foot first—since that was exactly what happened yesterday.
Hayato glanced at the “Princess” sitting on the bed. She had been here yesterday too.
Normally, the boss was fine—he didn’t lash out for no reason. But whenever the Princess was around, Hayato became the punching bag.
What an adorable yet infuriating little sister.
The Hermit was holding Mi Xiaoliu’s small hand, carefully painting her nails. Every time Mi Xiaoliu visited, the Hermit would fuss over her, doll her up, and then send her back—only for Mi Xiaoliu to ruin all her hard work the moment she left.
Yesterday’s mission had been simple: slip sleeping pills into a corporate CEO’s drink to make him miss an important business deal.
Such a trivial task wasn’t even worth Wei Shi’s personal attention. When assigning it to Mi Xiaoliu, he had repeatedly emphasized: “Unscrew the pill bottle first and take the pills out.”
And yet, things still went wrong.
At the party, Mi Xiaoliu had openly dumped the powder into the CEO’s drink right in front of him—even stirring it with her finger and licking it afterward.
In the end, Wei Shi had to carry her back.
“So, unless I spell out every single step, you won’t even use your brain? How the hell does someone like you survive in this world?”
Fuming but unable to scold a sleeping Mi Xiaoliu, he had taken it all out on Hayato instead.
“I heard something interesting from the ‘Tian Xing Dao’ group. Might interest you,” Hayato continued.
“They assaulted another cop?” Wei Shi wasn’t particularly invested.
“Nah. Actually, they’re not as disorganized as they seem.” Hayato took the bottled water the Hermit handed to Mi Xiaoliu and drank it himself.
His mission had been to facilitate a black-market deal between some shady vendors and Tian Xing Dao. These self-righteous kids weren’t exactly trustworthy—who knew if they’d suddenly get a moral epiphany and report the vendors to the police after the deal?
Even if they had principles, no one believed an edgy group like that didn’t have undercover agents.
A loosely managed organization formed on a whim—how could you expect immature brats to understand the rules?
The goods exchanged with Tian Xing Dao were the usual: tear gas, police-grade pepper spray… and N1202.
Out of curiosity, Hayato hadn’t left immediately after the deal. Instead, he tailed them to see what these kids were up to.
Then he saw something bizarre—a masked boy in pajamas getting scammed by an old man clinging to his leg during a mission. Just as Hayato was about to laugh, the pajama kid whipped out a dozen credit cards, threw them at the old man’s face, and walked off with a casual, “Password’s 1 through 6.”
Hayato had assumed Tian Xing Dao was just a bunch of angsty teens playing vigilante. He never expected them to have a young master like that.
But that wasn’t what he wanted to report.
“They’re trying to recruit someone. Said this person has the potential to shake the world.”
“Hnn.” Wei Shi wasn’t surprised. He turned back to his game. “Jingyin (Silence) Lamorette?”
“You know?” Hayato was stunned.
“Lamorette… isn’t that from Ruis—” The Hermit covered her mouth with Mi Xiaoliu’s hand.
Fried chicken flavor.
“Don’t worry about it.” Wei Shi interlaced his fingers, glaring at the screen.
First pick Yuumi mid with Ghost and Smite? “Feed if banned”?
Seeing the boss’s mood sour again, Hayato quickly changed the subject: “By the way, why would anyone willingly contract Dark Element just to experience powers for a day? If you wanna kill someone, can’t you just use a knife?”
“Because some people can’t be killed with just an extra knife. When someone ruins your life, Dark Element doesn’t seem so bad.” Wei Shi instantly quit the game, pulling out his black phone to browse nearby missions. His gaze lingered on one: “Capture a Hacker-Type Ability User.”
“What’s wrong?” The Hermit felt Mi Xiaoliu tug her sleeve.
“I have the Dark Element,” Mi Xiaoliu said.
As casually as mentioning what she ate for lunch.
The hideout fell dead silent.
……
……
Wei Shi didn’t assign Mi Xiaoliu another mission, sending her home early.
With her glasses back on and her hair magically shortened again, Mi Xiaoliu quietly walked along the path home.
The Hermit had looked like she was about to cry earlier, even asking if Mi Xiaoliu wanted to eat anything. Weird.
She passed by a small stream, ignoring Uncle Wang San fishing there.
After walking a while, she passed Uncle Wang San again and ignored him once more.
Keep walking.
Then, she passed Uncle Wang San yet again…
Finally, the man threw down his handmade fishing rod and stomped over with a forced smile, clean hand patting her head. “Kid, didn’t anyone teach you to greet people you know?”
“Sorry.” Mi Xiaoliu bowed her head.
“No need to apologize.” Wang San pointed to the grill behind him. “Want some fish? Seasonings are fresh—not dug out of a dumpster.”
The fish were store-bought too.
He couldn’t catch anything, so he’d hung a few on the hook to save face.
“No.” Mi Xiaoliu shook her head.
The first time she ate fish, Heli had made it. Unprepared, she’d been ambushed by a bone.
“What’s wrong? You look upset again.” Wang San picked up the small stool he’d been sitting on, dusted it off, and offered it to Mi Xiaoliu.
He seemed to mistake her refusal as sadness killing her appetite.
Wang San hurried back, bringing a grilled fish from the rack. When she didn’t take it, he offered a roasted pigeon instead.
This time, Mi Xiaoliu reached out.
“Noticed something wrong with your body?”
“Dark Element.” Mi Xiaoliu answered honestly.
“Ah, that’s troublesome.” Wang San wasn’t surprised, stroking his stubbled chin. “You took N1202?”
Mi Xiaoliu shook her head.
“Scared?” Wang San plopped down cross-legged, looking down at her from his seat on the ground.
“Scared?” Mi Xiaoliu didn’t understand.
“Not scared? And here, I came specially to comfort you.” Wang San ruffled her hair again. “Funny thing—someone recently sent me a carrier pigeon with info about another ‘Star’ in the Fallen City (City of Despair). Might be related to Dark Element.”
“Yeah, no way that letter was meant for him,” Sasha muttered, watching her master munch on roasted pigeon meat through their shared vision.
Wang San pulled out a neatly folded paper from his clothes. Despite his grimy outfit, the paper was pristine.
“Give this to the adults at home. No peeking, or you’ll get a knuckle sandwich.” After whispering this into Mi Xiaoliu’s ear, he left silently with his fish.
Back in his day, grilled meat was a god-tier skill in novels—protagonists could woo any girl just by cooking. How times had changed…
“Sasha, is Dark Element scary?” Mi Xiaoliu asked.
“Master… Dark Element is incurable.” Sasha answered reluctantly. “Incurable means death. For you, death means another memory wipe.”
Tucking the paper away, Mi Xiaoliu stared at the darkening sky for a long while.
Then she changed into her new combat suit and melted into the night, heading toward the hospital to find Beibei.
But as she pried open the window and climbed in, she locked eyes with Yiwen sitting beside the hospital bed.
Yiwen: “0-o?”