In the end, Qin Zheng still asked the question.
The store was bright as day inside. Outside, the rain never stopped. Three black off-road vehicles still waited beyond the barrier like three steel beasts holding back their temper.
Behind the counter, Lin Wu stood with one hand resting on the black monitoring terminal.
Her eyes were steady.
"Overnight package," she said. "Three dynamic monitoring slots."
"One for Xie Lin. One for Pei Wan. And one for an undisclosed high-risk target."
Qin Zheng frowned.
"Undisclosed?"
"Yes." Lin Wu looked at him. "You can buy monitoring results. You can buy anomaly alerts. You can buy the first warning before destabilization."
Her voice stayed calm.
"But the identity of the third subject…"
"is not included in the package."
Qin Zheng stared at her for two seconds.
"Price."
Lin Wu loved it when people got straight to the point.
"The thermal imager in your vehicle. Two boxes of broad-spectrum anti-infection injectors. One crate of high-calorie compressed rations." Her tone was even. "And before daybreak, no lockdown within two streets of this store."
Several members of the second team outside visibly changed expression.
"You really do have an appetite," Qin Zheng said, his voice colder now.
"Thank you." Lin Wu nodded. "I specialize in larger orders."
The line nearly choked one of the operatives outside.
Qin Zheng didn't agree at once. He only looked at her.
"Thermal imager, yes. Compressed rations, yes. Anti-infection injectors—one box."
"Not for sale," Lin Wu replied instantly.
"You—"
"Mr. Qin." Lin Wu cut him off. "Tonight you are not buying instant noodles."
"You are buying first move."
She looked at him steadily.
"If you wait until the second target starts running a fever, bleeding, or losing control, what exactly is your one box of injections still worth?"
Rain pattered against the glass.
Qin Zheng's face stayed dark, but he said nothing.
Because he knew she was right.
Information only went up in value the earlier it came.
After several seconds, he raised a hand and signaled outside.
A moment later, a black hard-shell case and a silver medication box were passed to the edge of the barrier. Another team member dragged out a dark gray crate of compressed rations from the rear storage compartment, its corners still wet with rain.
"Now?" Qin Zheng asked.
The system evaluated instantly.
[Portable Thermal Imager ×1][Broad-Spectrum Anti-Infection Injectors ×2 Boxes][High-Calorie Compressed Rations ×1 Crate][Combined Value: High]
Good.
Very good.
A small light flickered in Lin Wu's eyes.
"Deal."
The system prompt appeared silently.
[Overnight Monitoring Transaction Completed.][Store Reputation +3]
One by one, Lin Wu stored the goods away. Her movements were small, but the items vanished in a blink. The second team had already seen it several times tonight, but every time it happened, their expressions shifted.
Because that ability made no sense at all.
"We start the clock now." Lin Wu placed the terminal beside the ledger. "If anyone shows abnormalities, the buyer gets notified first."
"Good." Qin Zheng's voice lowered. "Then begin."
Lin Wu didn't answer him.
Instead, she opened the black case in her hand.
Two silver-white chips remained inside, thin as flakes of ice.
She checked Pei Wan's chip data first.
[Heart Rate: 84][Temperature: 36.8][Status: Normal]
Then Xie Lin's.
[Heart Rate: 98][Temperature: 37.3][Status: Stable][Sample Anomaly Feedback: Mild Fluctuation]
Xie Lin's numbers were actually steadier than before.
But the coldness in Qin Zheng's gaze did not ease.
Because he was waiting for the third line.
Instead, Lin Wu lifted a hand and closed the terminal halfway.
"The third target's monitoring process will remain undisclosed for now," she said calmly. "Only results are for sale."
Qin Zheng's face darkened.
"You're guarding against me."
"Of course." Lin Wu looked at him. "This is an overnight package."
"Not a blind-box livestream."
Pei Wan's eyes moved very slightly.
By now, she was almost certain Lin Wu had already guessed who the "second target" was.
And she had no intention of letting anyone confirm it too quickly.
"Then how do you prove the result is real?" Qin Zheng asked.
"By reputation," Lin Wu answered smoothly.
Qin Zheng: "…"
Qi Ye turned his head aside, one shoulder giving the faintest shake.
Lin Wu didn't bother looking at him.
She took one of the remaining chips from the box and rolled it once between her fingers.
The silver-white sliver flashed under the light.
Then she turned and walked behind the register, letting the shelves and cooling unit block half her body from view as she moved into the shadow.
Qin Zheng's eyes followed immediately.
"You—"
"Running the test." Lin Wu didn't even turn her head. "Customers are not allowed to peek behind the owner's station."
Silence fell again.
Su Yu, holding Sui Sui, barely dared breathe.
Inside the pod, Xie Lin's eyes darkened by degrees. He had already guessed what Lin Wu was about to do. The more certain he became, the tighter his chest felt.
Because tonight, there were only a handful of people who had truly touched that case.
And Pei Wan had just ruled herself out.
Which left the answer almost embarrassingly obvious.
Behind the counter, Lin Wu pressed the chip beneath her own collarbone.
The instant the cold surface touched her skin, her body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
A faint line of blue lit along the edge—
then faded.
Connected.
Lin Wu didn't move immediately.
First, she looked at the system panel.
The interface stayed quiet for two seconds.
Then a single line slowly appeared:
[Store Owner monitoring link in progress.]
Her fingers tightened just slightly.
Good.
At least no bright-red disaster text had exploded onto the screen yet.
Only then did she lower her eyes to the terminal.
The display flashed once.
A third set of data appeared.
[Heart Rate: 89][Temperature: 36.7][Status: Stable][Sample Anomaly Feedback: Detected][Assessment: Abnormal Stability]
For half a second, Lin Wu's breathing stopped.
So.
It was true.
The second target really was her.
Not a suspicion.
Not a pending confirmation.
The machine had stamped it directly onto the screen:
Abnormal Stability.
Which meant she was not unaffected.
Only that whatever was happening to her was different—from Xie Lin, from Pei Wan, and from most of the people the second team had likely seen before.
Lin Wu stared at the line for two full seconds.
Then, instead of panic, her gaze slowly settled.
She was not someone who let emotion overturn her.
Especially not now.
The more valuable the thing, the less room there was for chaos.
What mattered now was not panic.
It was locking this information down before anyone else saw it.
With one swipe of her finger, she switched the terminal to the simplified display, leaving only the most basic status bars visible.
Only then did she turn around and walk back to the counter as if nothing had happened.
"There." She set the terminal down. "Third target linked."
Qin Zheng's eyes dropped to it at once.
But the terminal now displayed only three simple indicators.
Xie Lin — YellowPei Wan — GreenThird Target — Green
Nothing more.
Qin Zheng frowned.
"Where's the detailed data?"
"That's an encrypted package." Lin Wu didn't blink. "You bought overnight monitoring."
"Not backend access."
Qin Zheng stared at her for several seconds, then his voice dropped.
"What state is the third target in right now?"
Lin Wu looked at him—
and even let a faint curve touch her mouth.
"Stable."
"More stable than you expected."
The instant she said it, Qin Zheng's eyes darkened sharply.
Because he heard exactly what was hiding under the sentence.
This kind of "stable" was beginning to brush dangerously close to the term he himself had sold earlier—
abnormal stability.
At the same instant, Pei Wan also lifted her eyes and looked at Lin Wu.
Their gazes met for less than half a second.
But half a second was enough.
Lin Wu had not said it.
The terminal had not shown it.
And yet her reaction had already said plenty.
The third target was almost certainly her.
And somehow, she was still standing there behind the counter, calm enough to keep naming prices.
That wasn't just steadiness anymore.
That was ruthlessness.
Then, right then—
the gray mist behind the Special Goods Cabinet shifted.
Not with the slow rise and fall it had shown before.
This was different.
As if something had briefly touched it from within. A faint ring of silver light spread from the lowest layer of the mist and faded just as fast.
Su Yu saw it first.
Her voice dropped on instinct.
"Boss Lin… did that cabinet just light up?"
Every head in the store turned.
The black cabinet stood still and silent. Behind the gray mist, a vague silhouette seemed to approach the inner surface for an instant—
then slip back again.
The system prompt burst up immediately.
[Light resonance detected between "Special Goods Cabinet" and store owner status.][Caution is advised.]
Lin Wu's eyes sharpened.
The cabinet…
was resonating with her.
That single line was more dangerous than even the words abnormal stability.
Because it meant that something between her and the store had already changed—
something the system itself did not seem eager to explain all at once.
And outside, one of the second team operatives posted near the vehicles suddenly barked into his headset:
"Captain Qin! Movement at the east entrance!"
"Not infected—looks like survivors!"
In the rainy dark, another cluster of shaky flashlight beams appeared at the far end of the street.
More than one.
Several.
As if another group, drawn by the last remaining patch of light on this road, was making its way here.
Inside the store, Lin Wu slowly raised her eyes.
First, she looked at the Special Goods Cabinet.
Then at the green status light on the terminal that represented herself.
Then she gently closed the ledger.
"Good."
A faint smile touched her mouth.
"Tonight's business…"
"…is getting more interesting."