Qiu Tu paused briefly, but in the next second, he smoothed his stride back to normal.
Maintaining a placid facade as he kept walking forward, he glanced toward the upper-left corner of his vision.
Much like last time, several new prompts popped up before him.
[Congratulations on surviving the immediate crisis, but you have also drawn Yan Chen's attention.]
[He has grown somewhat curious about your changes, your secrets, and the lies you fabricated.]
[Fortunately, he is caught in the vortex of a massive storm and has no desire to devote much energy to someone as insignificant as you for the time being.]
[Cherish the calm before the storm—after all, you have only twenty-four hours to rest.]
As the prompts faded, the hourglass slowly morphed into a treasure chest. Unlike the last one that had opened immediately, this chest turned gray, displaying a twenty-four-hour countdown above it:
[23:59:59]
Qiu Tu mulled over his situation.
The good news: there was no new countdown warning of imminent peril, meaning he was safe for tonight at least.
The bad news: he had to wait twenty-four hours for his reward, and he had survived this encounter only because he had piqued Yan Chen's interest, not because Yan Chen trusted him.
Put bluntly, his lies hadn't fooled Yan Chen. Only the Aurora Stone had successfully hooked Yan Chen's greed, staying his hand.
Though he had anticipated this outcome during their final gambit, Qiu Tu couldn't help feeling a tinge of disappointment. Having such a sharp boss really took the fun out of winning, didn't it?
He still preferred easy mode; he had no love for tightrope walking like this.
If only his golden finger would roll out a "lower difficulty" cheat next time...
Contemplating the future in his thoughts, Qiu Tu stepped outside.
Emerging from the villa, water-like moonlight draped a mysterious, enchanting blue veil over the tranquil night.
Ever since the Cataclysm, the moon had shone azure. The atmosphere of this world was choked with microscopic particles slightly larger than 0.7 micrometers—the wavelength of red light. These tiny particles scattered red light, leaving the people on the ground with the sight of a blue moon.
'What a heavily polluted world,' Qiu Tu sighed inwardly as he strode through the garden.
Flowers of every hue flickered faintly beneath the blue moon, emitting a delicate fragrance. They swayed gently with the night breeze like whispering spirits, but weighed down by worries, Qiu Tu was in no mood to appreciate them.
Leaving the garden and arriving at the sentry post, Qiu Tu spotted two familiar figures squatting by the roadside—A Tai and Lao Ying.
Shoulder to shoulder with their hands tucked into their sleeves, the pair crouched on the curb like two oversized penguins. A Tai chewed on a stalk of wild grass plucked from who knew where, head tilted back, while Lao Ying vigilantly watched their surroundings out of the corner of his eye.
Perhaps because their postures and behavior were so bizarre, the Security Section agents at the guard post had kept their eyes glued to them the entire time. Had it not been for the agent uniforms the two wore, the guards probably would have chased them off already.
Lao Ying was the first to spot Qiu Tu coming out. Nudging A Tai, he quickly rose and hurried over. "Brother Tu."
A Tai was far more boisterous. Seeing Qiu Tu, he spat the grass out with a loud *ptooey* and charged over yelling, "Brother! You're out!"
Watching the two figures—one tall, one short—running toward him, Qiu Tu was momentarily taken aback, and then a wave of warmth surged through his chest.
***
Meanwhile, in Yan Chen's study.
The light remained dim, and Yan Chen was still cloaked in shadow.
"Have the people around him been vetted?"
Sitting opposite him, Jia Shu said with a smile, "Vetted. They're just a bunch of lowlife thugs and hooligans. There's no way they could have had access to Cataclysm materials.
"He used your name as a tiger's skin to plant them in grass-roots police stations as temporary agents, so looking them up took little effort, and the files are entirely authentic."
Yan Chen scoffed and said in a raspy voice, "Loyal to his brothers, isn't he?"
After that remark, Yan Chen fell silent, and the room gradually settled into quietness.
After a long pause, Yan Chen spoke again. "Then his only channel for obtaining the Aurora Stone was the Qin family?"
Jia Shu nodded. "In theory, yes. But my gut tells me otherwise."
Yan Chen shook his head as well. "I don't think so either."
Toying with the Aurora Stone in his hand, he said, "That brat thought he could slip by with some wild, fantastical tale. Pure wishful thinking.
"He definitely has a secret, and a massive one at that.
"Yet I have no time to bother with a nobody like him lately."
Hearing Yan Chen's words, Jia Shu asked probingly, "Should I just take him into custody?
"You know my methods—no one lasts more than a single night." He mimed a gesture of torture.
Yan Chen hesitated for a second, but ultimately shook his head.
"No. If he got his hands on an Aurora Stone, there's definitely someone backing him.
"Lately, City Hall has been keeping close tabs on me. Let's not borrow trouble."
At this, he paused, then continued, "Better to let him and the Qin family tear into each other like dogs.
"Didn't he want to bring a 'pledge of loyalty' to the Qins? Then give him one.
"Cataclysm materials are controlled resources; we cannot give him those.
"However, didn't they catch a potioneer selling black-market drugs on Xiafang Street today?"
Saying this, Yan Chen packed the Aurora Stone from his hand along with the gold bars and silver dollars on the desk back into the cloth pouch, tossing it over to Jia Shu.
"Arrange for someone to pull that potioneer out tomorrow and deliver him to Qiu Tu along with these things.
"A potioneer capable of brewing Cataclysm potions is far more valuable than a few Cataclysm resources.
"I'd like to see just how he intends to act out this play..."
***
[12:09:57 (Treasure Chest)]
Early the next morning, Qiu Tu was awakened by a rhythmic knocking at his door.
Yawning, he climbed out of bed and shoved aside A Tai and Lao Ying, who were sprawled out beside him in tangled heaps.
Across two lifetimes, it had been a long time since Qiu Tu had friends he could open up to. Moreover, having just survived a crisis, he had needed an outlet, so he had dragged the two of them out drinking late into the night.
Glass after glass, all three of them had drunk too much, so they had simply crashed at Qiu Tu's place.
After shoving the two aside, Qiu Tu yawned and went to open the door.
When the door swung open, an agent in uniform stood outside.
Upon seeing Qiu Tu, he snapped to attention with a sharp click of his heels and saluted. "Good morning, sir!"
Qiu Tu reflexively returned the salute before realizing and asking, "And you are...?"
The agent at the door said earnestly, "Sir, I am Rank 3 Agent Li Ke from the Administrative Office. Under orders from my superior, I have come to deliver your new uniform and epaulets."
With that, he gestured behind him, and a temporary agent promptly stepped forward holding a black agent uniform.
Black was the signature color of the Political Department, signifying its official role as the secret police.
Resting on the uniform was a pair of epaulets pinned with three gold stars, denoting the status of a Rank 1 agent.
Although he had already received Yan Chen's promise the night before, seeing it all laid out before him still made Qiu Tu's heart skip a beat.
Right then, A Tai's voice called out from behind him, "Brother Tu, what's going on? Who's there?"
A second later, the question turned into a gasp of disbelief: "Holy shit! A Rank 1 agent of the Political Department?!"
Qiu Tu glanced back to see A Tai and Lao Ying staring at the doorway, utterly dumbfounded.
Chapter 14