Behind the one-way mirror, amid the embarrassing hush, everyone in the Special Affairs Department couldn't help but touch the guns at their waists, wanting to silence that humiliating thing before the news spread.
Only Ai Qing remained calm, simply picking up her coffee for a sip, and then, she took out a pair of thick sunglasses from the pouch of her wheelchair and put them on her face.
"Continue."
She said.
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, sighed, and ordered through the microphone on the table, "Continue."
It took quite a while for Big Brother to snap out of such an awkward encounter, he brushed his hair hanging before his eyes and smiled warmly, extending his hand,
"Nice to meet you, little brother, my name is Liu Dongli..."
"Pshaw! Like hell I want to get to know you!"
Huai Shi furiously realized what was happening, his handcuffed fingers pointing at Liu Dongli as he yelled toward the door, "Comrade leader, I want to report this man for engaging in illegal activities, he's practically the leading Cowherd... Don't be fooled by him!"
"..."
Liu Dongli sighed helplessly, then suddenly lifted a finger and placed it in front of Huai Shi, "Look at my finger."
"I won't!"
Even a fool like Huai Shi knew something was off and didn't want to fall into his trap; he lifted his head defiantly, but accidentally... caught sight of his face.
The fair skin and slender neck, a pair of deep sea-like eyes, strands of gold shimmering among the long hair like twinkling stars in the universe, a few strands fell across his eyebrows, hiding those eyes like cold stars on a winter night, and a high and straight nose bridge that manifested the masculine beauty...
"Oh ho!"
Huai Shi was momentarily enchanted, but for some reason, he suddenly felt nauseous.
He inwardly berated himself, how could he feel so ugly at the sight of someone better looking than himself, struggling to force a smile on his wan face, but drool leaked from the corner of his mouth...
In an instant, he became stupefied.
He clutched Liu Dongli's hand, rubbing it back and forth without letting go, babbling familiarly, "Big brother, where do you work, oh, I am so sorry for being rude last time, let me introduce myself, I'm Huai Shi, seventeen this year, you remember me, right?"
"..."
At this moment, not just Huai Shi, but everyone behind the one-way mirror, upon seeing Liu Dongli, involuntarily gasped, "Oh ho," even the always-serious middle-aged man blushed and felt a flutter in his heart, turning his head to cough softly.
Only Ai Qing, still wearing her large sunglasses, sipped her coffee and remained composed as she pressed the talk button, "You're not here to flirt, rein in your Soul Radiation and get on with the proper business."
"Okay, okay."
Liu Dongli adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his nose with a finger, sat opposite Huai Shi, and with a smile as soft as autumn water, he asked, "Now that we know each other, little brother, could you answer a few questions for me?"
"Sure, sure."
Huai Shi kept hold of his hand, his face slack with drool, "Ask me anything, big brother, I'll tell you, my bank card's PIN is 18191..."
"Cough cough, that's not necessary."
Liu Dongli hurriedly waved his hand, then opened the file in his hand and cleared his throat, "Where were you last night?"
"At home, sleeping, had several nightmares, scared me to death, let me tell you..."
"Just sleeping?" Liu Dongli wasn't interested in his nightmares and cut him off.
"Yeah."
Huai Shi nodded, "Who would run out in the middle of the night for fun, and it was raining so heavily last night, only a lunatic would go out, let me tell you, our house may be shabby, but our ancestors at least..."
"Cough cough, next question." Liu Dongli cut him off again, "What exactly was in the box you delivered to the police station?"
"I don't know." Huai Shi shook his head promptly, "Who would casually open a box of unclear origin like that, it was terrifying, let me tell you, that person suddenly pounced on me, vomiting blood crazily..."
For the next hour, Liu Dongli repeated the questions from the file in different orders, even throwing in irrelevant questions randomly.
Until Ai Qing's voice came from behind the one-way mirror, "That's enough."
He finally breathed a sigh of relief, pulling his wrist free from Huai Shi's grasp, covered in red marks; fortunately, he pulled away quickly, otherwise, this brat would have nearly twisted it off.
Just as he heaved a sigh, Huai Shi suddenly snapped out of his stupor, staring blankly at him, not understanding what had happened.
It was as if he had experienced a nightmare, one so vivid that he began to loathe himself...
"Ugh!"
He lurched up from the chair, handcuffed and unable to stand properly, hunched over and retching violently, disgusted by the memory of his recent behavior which felt embarrassingly out of character, tears nearly streaming down his face.
"You sick freak, what did you do to me! Ugh!"
Before he could finish, he vomited again, eventually starting to cry.
"Damn it, I don't even have a girlfriend, how did I get bent by this freak? All my dignity's gone, all my dignity, I swear I'm done with you, Wang Ba!"
"Sorry, this is something none of us wanted to happen."
Liu Dongli seemed accustomed to such a scene, sympathetically offering a cup of water, "The most important thing in life is to be happy, are you hungry, I..."
"Ugh!"
Before he could finish, Huai Shi vomited again.
Behind the one-way mirror at that moment, retching and nausea filled the space.
The middle-aged man's face was ashen, clutching his painfully churning stomach, a colleague handed him a pill for his stomach and a cup of just-right warm water.
It was the female driver who had been silently following behind Ai Qing.
"Thank you." He smiled weakly, swallowed the pill, and gasped for air, finally calming down a bit.
"How's it going?" Ai Qing said, "I told you before, you won't get anything out of him."
"Maybe he was just pretending..."
The middle-aged man cleared his throat, "I know about Liu DongLi's Soul Ability, it has a charming effect, right? It might work on ordinary people, but not necessarily on Sublimators."
"Wouldn't Liu DongLi know if it had worked? Besides, if there's any man, any man in the prime of his vanity and adolescent delusions, who could pretend to that extent... I think no matter what you try, you won't get anything out of him."
Ai Qing gave him a deep look, "Give up."
"I've seen the file. If it's about that Little Brag's suspicion of crime, I'm actually his alibi."
Liu DongLi walked into the interrogation room, tossing the file full of notes back onto the table, sighing helplessly, "That Little Brag was still interviewing at our club three minutes before the port explosion..."
"Interviewing? What could he possibly be interviewing for?"
"As a Cowherd... Seems he was tricked into coming by an agent? He realized halfway through and got scared away by the manager."
Liu DongLi shook his head, looking at Huai Shi's photo on the file, and touched his chin in amazement, "If you ask me, he has potential, good bearing, too bad about the dressing though. If he got into a tailor-fitted suit and got rid of that shameless grin on his face, he'd be the spitting image of the abstinent type that old ladies can't get enough of, like a little hedgehog they can't quite eat..."
"That's enough, I didn't bring you here to plan his career."
Ai Qing cut him off, "He's just an ordinary person who accidentally got involved. Let him sign a confidentiality agreement and then let him go. Keeping him here is a waste of time."
That was the decision made.
Fifteen minutes later, the mentally tormented Huai Shi, having signed a stack of documents, was stuffed into a car and sent away.
At the front gate, Liu DongLi's hands were in his pockets as he watched the boy he thought was going to be executed struggle fiercely, and he couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter.
"Right, what's his name again?" he asked, turning toward Ai Qing.
"Huai Shi."
"You know him?" Liu DongLi smiled mysteriously, "Is that why you let him off the hook? Don't underestimate a Gold Medal Cowherd's intuition, Miss Ai."
Unexpectedly, Ai Qing's expression remained calm.
"Ah, you could say I know him."
"Very well?"
"Not exactly. I'm three years older than him; we used to play together when we were kids."
"Eh?" Liu DongLi turned his head in surprise, never having imagined such a connection between the two, "And after that?"
"After that?"
Ai Qing looked at him, "After his family went bankrupt because of my grandfather's betrayal, we never saw each other again."
"..."
Liu DongLi was stunned and didn't know what to say.
.
.
In a sealed basement, someone pushed the door and entered.
The man who was sitting restlessly jumped up from his chair, anxious, "Why so late?"
"You think the noise last night was small enough for no one to notice?" Ferocious Ape crouched on the chair, giggling eerily, "Thanks to you, I had quite the field day with my hands..."
"The item?"
The man stretched out his hand anxiously, "Did you get it back?"
A plastic bag soaked in blood was thrown into his arms, "Returned to its owner, but..."
The man was overjoyed at first, but as he took the bag, his face changed. He frantically tore open the bag, and carefully opened the black iron box he held out.
But it was empty inside.
"Where is it?!"
He screamed, "Where is the Source Substance that I've been herding for so long?"
His gaze turned fierce as he looked at the Ferocious Ape.
"Was it you?"
"The Source Substance for nearly a thousand people, do you really think I could have absorbed all of that?" Ferocious Ape scratched the marred white hair peeking from behind its mask, countering, "If I had that ability, I would have become one of the Lords by now. Why would I be at your beck and call? It was empty when I got it.
Instead of threatening me, you'd better think about how you're going to explain it to the Lords—that, because of your unauthorized profiteering with the Sacred Relic, the Source Substance accumulated over twelve years got lost..."
"You took a cut of the money too!"
The man roared out of control, glaring death at it: "If it comes out, don't think you'll get off easily either!"
Ferocious Ape didn't respond, just silently rubbed its fingers. Iron nails struck each other, making a sharp sound, until the man's gaze moved away from it.
"It's your own henchman who betrayed you, resulting in the Sacred Relic ending up in someone else's hands. I did a service for the Lord by retrieving the Sacred Relic; even if I'm at fault, I won't be subjected to 'Absolute Punishment.'" Ferocious Ape spoke coldly, "If it were me, I would definitely be thinking of a remedy now.
It's just lost, right? Why not just find it before the Lords notice?"
"Easy for you to say!" The man shot him an angry glance, "It's not that simple!"
"Aren't those old men and old women almost dead anyway? Might as well make use of waste... At least that would mitigate some of the losses." Ferocious Ape spoke lightly, "And as for the Source Substance for thousands of people, it definitely won't just vanish. Whether it's used for advancement, life extension, or resale, it takes time."
Minutes later, a somber voice came from the chamber.
"Find out! Who else has touched this box!"