Chapter 85
by Need_More_SleepChapter 85: This Is Called Framing
“Be good, don’t be scared.” Heli soothingly patted Mi Xiaoliu’s head.
Even so, the girl’s body still trembled slightly with unease.
The needle pierced her skin, drawing a soft “Mmm” from her.
Mi Xiaoliu didn’t understand—wasn’t a shot supposed to be given in the arm? Why was it being administered in her butt?
At least in the ever-growing memories in her mind, the researcher who looked almost exactly like Heli had always injected her arm.
“All done.”
At Heli’s words, Mi Xiaoliu, who had been lying across her lap, stood up and pulled up her pants, silently watching her.
Heli knowingly handed her a lollipop, and only then did the girl leave, satisfied.
What she had been given was essentially a concentrated version of the Black Element suppressant, with effects roughly equivalent to three hours of Qi therapy.
Just because the Federation’s official doctors couldn’t produce it didn’t mean she couldn’t—after all, it was a pre-existing formula from Easter.
But this was only a temporary solution, not a long-term fix.
If Mi Xiaoliu had to endure a shot every month, she would eventually grow afraid of Heli—especially since she already feared syringes.
Heli had met with the current head of the Lasvedo family. In short, the discussion hadn’t gone well. The other party suspected her of having ulterior motives.
Mi Xiaoliu handed her the piece of paper given by Wang San—a meticulously detailed map marking the location of the “Star” within the Fallen City. If not for Easter, such precise information could only have come from Night Hawk.
Now, she had two choices.
The first was to return to her old thieving ways and steal the Star from the Lasvedo family. But that was clearly impossible. Even if she somehow succeeded by sheer luck, the Little Demon King would come after her and drag her back to justice—especially since she had just approached him about the Star.
Moreover, the Star wasn’t something easily stolen. It required a specially designed, bulky container for storage, and even collecting samples by scraping its surface was nearly impossible.
The second option was to make a trip to the Fallen City, completing the experiment on-site and recording the parameters without anyone noticing. Still difficult, but far better than openly antagonizing the Little Demon King.
She wasn’t sure how long it would take. Though she had memorized Easter’s data, experiments were unpredictable—it could take as little as a week or stretch to half a year.
Stepping out of the bedroom, she found Gloria trying to feed Mi Xiaoliu a lemon after stuffing the girl’s hands into her sleeves and tying them in a knot.
Mi Xiaoliu turned her face away, refusing to yield.
Sasha had told her this was something nasty.
This move? This move was called “failing to trick her, so resorting to force.”
Seeing Gloria’s devilish grin on an angelic face, Heli wasn’t sure leaving Mi Xiaoliu alone at home was a good idea. Who knew what might happen while she was away?
But bringing her to the Fallen City wasn’t an option either.
After much deliberation, Heli finally decided to clean Mi Xiaoliu up and dump both her and the cat at the psychologist’s place.
With a little extra financial incentive, of course.
“Uh…”
Sitting in her office chair, Raven pinched a stress-relief toy, frowning up at the ceiling.
It wasn’t that she was unwilling.
Honestly, even without the money, she might have reluctantly agreed after some thought—her house was quite spacious, and her husband had left a sizable sum before his disappearance.
She also genuinely sympathized with this quiet, well-behaved child who reminded her of her own daughter.
The girl’s mere presence evoked a protective instinct, not to mention they were the only repeat clients who had visited her third-rate practice three times.
The main issue was that Yiwen wasn’t fond of strangers in the house. Even when relatives visited, Yiwen usually refused to come downstairs—largely because many of them had made snide remarks about her being an ability user when she was younger.
They probably assumed a child wouldn’t remember. But no matter how nicely they behaved later, it couldn’t erase the scars they’d left on Yiwen’s childhood.
The other problem was…
The cat.
She had to take care of the cat too.
Cats stank.
Meanwhile, the “merchandise” in question—Mi Xiaoliu—sat quietly on a stool, looking up with wide eyes as the adults negotiated.
The cat in her lap, Circle (Quanquan), mimicked the motion, also staring at Raven.
When Raven didn’t immediately take the money, Heli added another stack to the pile on the desk.
“She doesn’t eat much. Doesn’t like fish. Likes spicy food, but don’t give her too much. Don’t let anyone find out she’s a girl—not even your family. Her period is in the first ten days of the month. She goes to bed early. She might lack common sense for various reasons, but she’s not disabled…”
“Feed the cat whatever. It’s not picky,” she added as an afterthought.
“Meow!” Circle (Quanquan) protested indignantly.
Heli still assigned Gloria the task of teaching Mi Xiaoliu to read, instructing her to look after the girl at school. But seeing Gloria’s devilish smile on an angelic face made her question if this was a mistake.
“You don’t have to—” Raven tried to return the money, but Heli turned and left before she could, forcing the transaction.
Left with the cash, Raven sighed.
As a single mother herself, she understood Heli’s dilemma—having to leave but unable to bring the child along.
What she didn’t get was why Heli was so insistent on hiding Mi Xiaoliu’s gender.
Ever since this girl showed up, Dias kept glancing her way, his intentions painfully obvious.
Business was slow as usual. Most of her clients didn’t have serious issues—the biggest problem so far was a boy who had developed… unusual feelings toward fish and came daily to confess as if it were a church.
Mi Xiaoliu obediently petted her cat, remaining silent until Raven drove her home. She showed no signs of unease about living under someone else’s roof.
“We’re here. I’ll tidy up a room for you. The house is too big, so a lot of the spare rooms are just storage… I have two kids around your age.”
She could only hope they’d get along with Xiaoliu and not bully her.
Raven cleaned out the room next to Yiwen’s—a space Yiwen usually used to store her things. What kind of things? Well… the kind typically found on chairs.
What? Chairs were for sitting? Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
“The one next to your room… she might be a bit short-tempered. If she gives you trouble, let me know,” Raven warned.
It wasn’t that Yiwen had a bad temper, but she had snapped at the neighbor’s kids before—after they broke her things.
The real purpose of the warning was to keep Mi Xiaoliu from touching Yiwen’s belongings. But outright forbidding it would only make the girl feel more restrained in the house.
……
……
Going back to fighting crime right after recovering was pushing it.
The nurse hadn’t lied—her hand still couldn’t handle intense activity.
Yiwen slipped back in through the window, carefully removing her white robe and stashing it in a hidden compartment.
Though stained with a little blood, she only dared wash it when her mother wasn’t home. Otherwise, her mom would probably cut it up.
She took off the boots that matched her combat outfit, revealing the thin white ankle socks tightly clinging to her feet.
Sweat from overexertion had turned the soles slightly transparent, not only revealing the skin beneath but also the distinct outline of her toes.
It was… a little pungent.
Yiwen peeled off the socks and brought them to her nose. Forget ladylike behavior—who hadn’t done this in private? 99% of people had.
“Yiwen?”
“Holy sh—!” The sudden voice made Yiwen fling the socks away in panic.
“Y-you—why are you in my house?!” She turned, face burning, to see Mi Xiaoliu standing quietly at her bedroom door.
She’d forgotten to lock it before leaving! Dammit!
Why?! How had someone who lived in the complete opposite direction from school suddenly appeared in her house to witness her most embarrassing moment?!
She’d been seen. There was no saving this. Time to move to another planet.
“What’s this?” Mi Xiaoliu held up a pink item.
A bra that Raven hadn’t cleaned up—size A, Yiwen’s measurements, with room for growth.
Since Mi Xiaoliu wore children’s sizes, she didn’t recognize it.
At the sight, Yiwen’s heart sank again, momentarily pushing aside her earlier humiliation.
No time to wonder why Mi Xiaoliu was here. She racked her brain for a solution—
In one swift motion, she snatched the fabric from Mi Xiaoliu’s hand, tossed it onto her bed, then grabbed the girl’s wrist and dragged her downstairs. Without a word, she barged into her brother’s room.
Smacking him on the head, she snapped, “I told you not to leave your underwear in my room!”
Brother: “???”
Yiwen had resorted to the same method she’d used since childhood whenever she got into trouble — Framing someone else.