"Thank you." He smiled weakly, swallowed the pill, and gasped for air, finally calming down a bit.
"Well?" Ai Qing said. "I told you before, you wouldn'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 suspected crime, I'm actually his alibi."
Liu DongLi walked into the interrogation room, tossing the file full of notes back onto the table and 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 clothes 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 older women can't get enough of, like a little hedgehog they can't quite touch..."
"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."
And so, the decision was 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, who thought he was being sent to his execution, struggle fiercely. 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 helped him out? 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 breach of contract, 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 commotion 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..."
"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 his expression changed the moment he took the bag. He frantically tore it open, took out a black iron box, and carefully opened it.
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 from nearly a thousand people, do you really think I could have absorbed all of that?" Ferocious Ape scratched the mottled 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 was lost..."
"You took a cut of the money too!"
The man roared, out of control, glaring daggers at it. "If this comes out, don't think you'll get off easily either!"
Ferocious Ape didn't respond, just silently rubbed its fingers. Iron nails scraped against each other, making a sharp sound, until the man's gaze moved away from it.
"It was your own henchman who betrayed you, causing the Sacred Relic to fall into someone else's hands. I performed 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 I were you, 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 it an angry glance. "It's not that simple!"
"Aren't those old men and women almost dead anyway? Might as well make use of the refuse... At least that would mitigate some of the losses," Ferocious Ape said lightly. "As for the Source Substance from a thousand 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!"