Bai Xiao truly had not expected that working at a fish stall would somehow bring him face-to-face with the main target.
Ch'en sat there quietly. When Bai Xiao came in, she merely glanced at him from the corner of her eye. After that, she paid him little attention, as if he did not exist at all.
"You're back. Did the delivery make it?"
"Delivered straight into their hands."
Uncle Dong nodded in satisfaction, but Ch'en, on the other side, arched a brow, seemingly quite interested in that brief exchange.
"I'll say this one last time. Lungmen hasn't been peaceful lately. You'd all better behave yourselves and stop causing trouble. Otherwise, I don't mind using a few methods of my own."
Ch'en's voice was firm and full, sharp enough to sound like a drawn blade.
"And pass that message on to the Rat King as well. The same goes for his people."
Uncle Dong steadied himself and looked at her.
"Should I take that as a friendly reminder?"
"It's a warning."
Compared to Uncle Dong's gentle manner, Ch'en was utterly unsparing. Jaye looked like he wanted to say something, but Uncle Dong stopped him.
"...Very well. I understand. But a minor matter like this shouldn't be worth the Inspector coming in person, should it?"
Ch'en said nothing. She merely gave a cold snort and strode toward the exit of the fish stall. But just before leaving, she turned to look at Bai Xiao—and her gaze lingered on him for quite a long time.
Uncle Dong seemed to notice something and had just started to rise with the help of his cane, but Ch'en was already gone.
Silence returned to the stall.
Sitting in his chair, Uncle Dong looked in the direction she had left and sighed as he shook his head.
"In the blink of an eye, Hui-chieh has grown this much. That Wei fellow really did raise her well."
Jaye came over and poured him a cup of water.
"With that iron-faced, impartial act of hers, it'd be a waste if she weren't an inspector."
There was a trace of resentment in his voice. If it had been anyone else, fine. But Uncle Dong was that inspector's elder, and at his age besides. Yet she had shown him no courtesy at all, putting on that coldly official attitude as if for show.
Even Bai Xiao, an outsider, felt that Ch'en had been a bit overbearing.
But Uncle Dong shook his head.
"Quite the opposite. Hui-chieh has always been cold on the outside and warm on the inside. If she truly didn't care, she wouldn't have come personally at all. The Guard Department is probably about to make a major move. She's worried we might get caught right in the line of fire."
Jaye frowned. "A major move? What kind of major move could the Guard Department be planning? Don't tell me they're going after the slums again?"
Uncle Dong let out a long sigh.
"Hard to say."
Bai Xiao, however, had little interest in any of this. These were only fragments of information anyway. Once work was over, he could always take Jaye out for drinks and pry the rest out of him.
What stayed on his mind was the look Ch'en had given him just now.
Bai Xiao was no master psychologist; he could not decode anyone's gaze like some neat little pie chart. But one thing was clear enough:
She seemed to have taken notice of him.
Although it was still early, that little interruption had soured Uncle Dong's mood, and he no longer had any desire to keep the stall open. He gave Bai Xiao and Jaye a few instructions, then left the fish stall on his own.
With the shop closed, Bai Xiao had been about to invite Jaye out for a couple of drinks and ask around about Lungmen, when the game system—which had been quiet for quite some time—suddenly flashed a notification.
[The host body is being called. Return immediately. Return immediately!]
Beneath it was a red button, pulsing without stop.
Bai Xiao jumped in fright. He had no choice but to abandon his original plan and sprint all the way back to his rental room.
This was the first time he had encountered anything like this, and he had no idea what would happen to the game world after he returned.
Would time stop, or continue flowing?
Would he fall unconscious here, or turn into someone else?
He had no answers.
So Bai Xiao made a series of preparations. He even left behind a note saying that he was only sleeping, not dead—just in case he ended up unable to return for a long time and Jaye found him and sent him to the hospital.
Then, lying on the bed in his rented room, Bai Xiao took a deep breath and pressed Return.
As expected, his vision went black again.
When he opened his eyes once more, the scene before him had become achingly familiar. After being trapped in that villa for so long, he could identify every detail in the room with his eyes closed.
He was really back.
"Darling, what's wrong? I couldn't wake you just now no matter how much I called."
Hearing that soft, delicate voice by his ear, Bai Xiao turned to look at Vina. Her eyes were filled with worry, as though she could not bear the thought of anything happening to him.
"I'm fine." Bai Xiao forced a smile. He had spent three days in the game, but he had no idea how much time had passed in reality, so he cautiously asked, "Vina... how long was I asleep?"
"How long?" Vina did not understand why he would ask that, but she answered anyway. "Just one night. You even woke up once from a nightmare. Don't you remember?"
Bai Xiao narrowed his eyes.
So it was still the same day.
It seemed that while he was inside the game, time in this world also continued to pass—it just flowed at a different speed. Otherwise, if he had remained unresponsive for that long while spending days in the game, Vina would have taken him to a hospital already.
He had been startled awake sometime around three in the morning last night, and now it was a little past six. More than three hours had passed in reality, which translated to three days in the game.
That meant when he was inside the game, one day there was equivalent to one hour outside.
And when he was outside, the reverse applied: one day outside equaled one hour in the game.
The rate of time flow depended on where he himself was.
Surprisingly user-friendly.
At his side, Vina noticed that he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Combined with his earlier abnormal state, she immediately grew alert, and her voice dropped.
"Darling... what are you thinking about? Don't tell me you're planning to run away!"
No normal person would leap to that conclusion. All it proved was that Vina was becoming more and more unwell.
His expression did not change. He gently stroked her brilliant golden hair and said softly, "Silly girl. With you here, how could I ever leave? We're going to be together forever."
Vina still kept a cold face, her gaze dangerous as it swept over Bai Xiao's features again and again, as if searching for the slightest flaw.
But Bai Xiao had long since become practiced at this. His acting was flawless now. No matter how suspicious Vina was, she could not find anything wrong.
After staring at him for quite some time, she still had not completely let go of her doubts.
Bai Xiao knew this would not do.
If he wanted to dispel her suspicion, he would have to bring out his trump card.
"Even if I didn't sleep well last night, we still can't skip our regular morning lesson. Be good—turn around, lift a little higher. Class is about to begin."
An hour later, the bed was in disarray and the storm had finally passed.
Vina, face flushed and glowing, nestled in Bai Xiao's arms, her expression brimming with pleasure and satisfaction. At last, she stopped pressing the matter from earlier.
Bai Xiao had no idea why her appetite for this was so intense. Perhaps part of it was her desire to wear down his energy.
But he was genuinely reaching his limit.
Back when he had seen videos of lionesses chasing exhausted male lions around to mate again, he had found it hilarious. Now that he was experiencing something similar firsthand, all he could do was submit.
After their morning "exercise," the two of them lingered together beneath the covers for quite a while longer, whispering the sort of intimate things lovers said to one another.
"Darling, do you really have no other requests for the wedding?"
Vina lay on his chest, lazily tracing circles with her finger.
"It's almost finished being prepared. If you have any opinions, you have to tell me now. Once the invitations are sent out, it'll be too late."
"The wedding?"
"Yes—our wedding. Even though we're already husband and wife, we haven't held a proper ceremony yet."
Bai Xiao came back to himself.
That was true. Vina had once promised him that she would give him the grandest wedding on all the land, that she would make everyone witness their happiness.
To be honest, Bai Xiao felt it was completely unnecessary. Victoria had only been unified a few years ago, and things were not exactly stable. A royal wedding would only burden the people.
"I really don't think it's necessary. Something simple would be fine."
"That won't do!"
Vina threw her arms tightly around him and greedily inhaled his scent.
"I want to tell everyone that you are mine! No one is allowed to take you from me! You're mine!"
Her strength was so great that Bai Xiao felt pain from the crushing embrace, almost to the point that he could not breathe.
After lying there for a little while longer, Vina reluctantly had to get up and go deal with wedding preparations. Even then, she dragged her feet, slowly rising from bed and beginning to dress and put herself together.
But Bai Xiao still did not dare return to the game. Who knew whether Vina might suddenly double back like a surprise attack?
Only when she had truly left would he dare go back.
After kissing him over and over again, Vina finally went off to continue preparing for the wedding. Before leaving, she firmly locked the villa's front gate. No one but her could enter.
Bai Xiao had been resentful about that before.
Now, however, he could not have wished for anything better.
It felt incredibly safe.
After confirming that Vina really would not be coming back, Bai Xiao closed his eyes and returned straight to the game world.
He needed to move quickly. With Uncle Dong absent today, it was the perfect chance to probe Jaye for information.
The dizziness gradually faded.
Bai Xiao opened his eyes.
He had indeed returned to the rented room in Lungmen.
Great. Now he could confirm that the game could be exited, and that doing so would not cause any problems.
...
But something seemed a little off.
Bai Xiao's eyes widened.
He discovered that he had been tied to a chair with rope—and someone was sitting right in front of him.
Compared to the fact that he was bound, what shocked him more was the identity of that person.
It was actually his mission target.
Senior Inspector of the Lungmen Guard Department—
Ch'en.
-------
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