Song Liang had no illusions about holding Xiao Yi at gunpoint and making it out safely. Aside from not wanting to become genuinely wanted by the police, he had no intention of making an irreconcilable enemy of the main villain. He still planned to marry the man’s nephew, after all. If Xiao Ji agreed but Uncle Xiao Yi refused to give his blessing, all his careful scheming would come to nothing.
So, once he had the gun, he backed toward the meeting room’s other door, tossed it firmly back, and ran without looking behind him.
3085 sounded tense. 【The guards at the side exit have withdrawn for now, but Xiao Ji is still outside.】
Song Liang: 【Mm.】
He pulled his cap securely into place and dashed out of the room. He moved so quickly that the two men outside barely caught a glimpse of his face before he swept down the corridor and reached the private elevator.
Ding—
The doors opened just in time. There were no floor-selection buttons inside; this elevator made no stops along the way. To save time, Song Liang pressed the close button the instant he stepped in. Everything matched 3085’s calculations perfectly.
Then, just before the doors shut, the elevator let out a series of warning beeps.
Host and system froze.
A moment later, 3085 shouted, 【The tie!】
Song Liang glanced down. The silver-gray tie around his left wrist had caught outside the doors. He immediately tried to undo it, but he was already too late. Having detected an obstruction, the elevator reopened.
He hurriedly pressed the close button again and raised his bound hand, determined not to make the same mistake twice.
But just as he pulled his hand back, another hand shot in from outside and seized his wrist.
Startled, Song Liang looked up.
Xiao Yi stood on the other side of the doors.
3085 screamed in terror. 【HOST, AAAAAAH!!!】
Song Liang swore inwardly. Rather than struggle, he lunged straight into Xiao Yi’s arms and tipped his face up for a kiss.
Xiao Yi’s pupils contracted. His entire body stiffened, and his grip involuntarily loosened.
Song Liang broke free at once, shoved him hard in the chest, and slipped back into the elevator.
Xiao Yi staggered backward, still reaching to catch him, but his fingers closed around nothing more than a length of smooth fabric.
The doors shut, and the elevator descended.
When Xiao Ji and Yang Xuan arrived, they found him standing before the closed doors, a silver-gray tie clenched in his hand. His expression was colder and darker than either of them had ever seen.
Both felt their hearts jolt.
“…Uncle?” Xiao Ji ventured. “Has something happened?”
“…”
Xiao Yi did not answer. His gaze remained fixed on the closed elevator doors.
“Are the guards still downstairs?”
Xiao Ji blinked, unsure why his uncle was suddenly asking.
“They’ve been called off. The club manager said keeping the exits sealed for too long would upset the guests.”
“…”
After a brief silence, Xiao Yi turned to him.
“Did you need something?”
“Not really. I heard Liang Ziyu had come instead, and I was worried he might offend you, so I thought I’d check.”
Xiao Ji hesitated, then asked, “How did your meeting with him go?”
Xiao Yuanchun and the others assumed Xiao Yi had brought him here to meet a client. In fact, their intended guest was the chairman of Xinhe Group, the former leader of the Xinglong Society. The men who had stolen the Emperor’s Tear that night at Yalong Bay belonged to that organization.
“The person behind it—”
“You needn’t concern yourself with this anymore. I’ll handle it.”
“…”
With that, Xiao Ji dared not press further. He merely urged his uncle to take care of himself, then left with his assistant.
Yang Xuan, who remained behind, glanced around curiously.
“Sir, where’s Kevin?”
Xiao Yi’s gaze paused. He looked down at the silver-gray tie in his hand.
“Gone.”
Gone?
Yang Xuan was taken aback. He had assumed his employer would take the young man home, or perhaps install him in some property of his. Apparently, he had no such intention.
Perhaps he wasn’t all that taken with him after all.
Then Xiao Yi said, “Call the club’s management. Ask whether they have an employee named Kevin.”
Huh?
Bewildered, Yang Xuan nevertheless made the call. The answer came quickly: they did indeed have a Kevin on staff. His profile followed shortly afterward.
Yang Xuan passed it straight to Xiao Yi without reading it.
There was only a single page. At the top sat a heavily retouched photograph. The man in it wore carefully applied makeup, had a slender build and pale skin, and possessed a pair of peach-blossom eyes.
Yet he looked nothing like a certain someone.
Xiao Yi regarded the unfamiliar face without the slightest surprise.
Then he gave a short, irritated laugh.
“Heh.”
The sound made the hairs on Yang Xuan’s arms stand up. Before he could ask what it meant, his phone rang.
Xiao Yuanchun.
He answered on speaker. She brought up the intruder at the club and, once she had confirmed Xiao Yi was unharmed, volunteered news of Xiao Wenyu’s injury—presumably hoping to avoid being held responsible.
Xiao Yi had little interest, but asked in passing, “How badly is he hurt?”
Her voice grew somber.
“A ruptured spleen.”
Xiao Yi: “…”
Remembering a certain someone’s claim that he had “only given him a little kick,” he laughed aloud.
Xiao Yuanchun: “…”
Apparently, her uncle truly disliked Xiao Wenyu. He could even laugh at an injury that serious.
Before she could continue, Xiao Yi asked, “Do you have someone named Kevin working at your club?”
She paused.
The club was only one of her many businesses, and she rarely involved herself in its daily management. She had made a special appearance today solely because of Xiao Yi. How would she know every employee’s name?
As it happened, though, she really had met a Kevin today.
She had even given him her card.
“A new employee came in today. His name is Kevin.”
“…He only arrived today?”
“Yes. I interviewed him myself. He’s still at university.”
Unease crept into her voice.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
Xiao Yi continued, “Do you have his details?”
“If he’s completed the onboarding paperwork, we should. I’ll check with the club manager.”
Then she added, “I don’t think he comes from a well-off family. He said he needed money, and he applied to work as a host because it pays quickly.”
“…”
Something shifted subtly in Xiao Yi’s expression.
The name was false, but the job application was real.
And he really had applied to be a host.
An image rose in his mind: the young man in his arms, chin tilted up, speaking with his mouth so close to Xiao Yi’s own.
He had seemed remarkably practiced.
Xiao Yi frowned slightly.
“Are there many people like that at the club?”
The sudden drop in his tone made Xiao Yuanchun’s heart skip. She could not quite tell what he meant.
“Our hosts only drink and entertain guests. Anything beyond that is entirely their own choice.”
Xiao Yi recalled the young man’s pitiful insistence that he was still a student and didn’t want to be taken to the police, paired with his absolute refusal to surrender the Emperor’s Tear.
He began to form a theory.
A penniless little con artist with an outrageous amount of nerve.
He had dared to deceive Xiao Yi.
And point a gun at him.
…
Meanwhile, the moment Song Liang escaped Songlan Mansion, 3085 burst into tears inside his head.
【I nearly died of fright back there! Waaaah…】
Song Liang was amused.
“You’re a system. You’re afraid of villains?”
【Who says systems can’t be afraid of villains?】
3085 sounded deeply aggrieved.
【He’s code. I’m code. Of course I can be scared!】
Song Liang recalled Xiao Yi’s sudden appearance outside the elevator, the hand closing around his wrist, and those dark green eyes filled with a chilling intensity.
He clicked his tongue.
“He is rather frightening.”
It was the first time 3085 had ever heard its host call anything frightening, which only made it panic more.
【Th-then what are we going to do? You’ve really antagonized the main villain this time! What happens to us now?】
Song Liang remained perfectly relaxed.
“It’s fine. We have an ace up our sleeve.”
3085 froze.
An ace? What ace? Why didn’t it know about this?
Before it could ask, Song Liang took out his phone and made a call.
The moment it connected, he smiled.
“Hi there. Marry me?”
Xiao Ji’s furious voice came through immediately.
“Song! Liang! So you really aren’t dead, you bastard! You dared to deceive me! I swear I’ll—”
Song Liang cut him off.
“I have the Emperor’s Tear.”
The other end of the line fell utterly silent.
Satisfied, Song Liang hung up.
“Our ace has quite a temper.”
【…】
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