Immediately afterwards, as if she were being kind, she deliberately spoke up for Qi Jiu.

"Don't worry, I believe Qi Jiu didn't do it on purpose. She probably didn't expect that this would pull my collar. Don't blame her."

Although that's what she said, her expression clearly showed that she had been wronged and looked like she was about to cry.

Anyone who didn't know better would think that Qi Jiu forced her to say those words.

Xingyue and Fan Yi stared wide-eyed at each other, clutching their phones on the sofa, panting heavily with anger.

"What does An Yang mean by this? Why is she acting so rudely? She's trying to defend you, but she's actually pretending to be the most wronged person! Anyone who didn't know better would think you were deliberately bullying her!"

Qi Jiu sat at her desk, looked up, and smiled, "I did it on purpose."

Fan Yi: "!!"

"Ancestor, do you know what you're saying? You can't just say things like that!"

The girl didn't seem to mind, and shook her head with a smile. "I'm not talking nonsense. Don't be afraid. An Yang is incredibly thick-skinned. A few more beatings won't hurt. Just watch."

Sure enough, the next second, the comments defending An Yang gradually disappeared, and the tide turned. What was originally Qi Jiu's fault became her own fault.

All of this happened so fast that An Yang was completely stunned.

"Help! It's just a game! You can't be that bad at taking a joke, can you? I'm not a fan of Qi Jiu, but her actions didn't seem wrong at all; she didn't just rip her collar. Who would have thought this would happen?!"

"If you're saying Qi Jiu was in the wrong, then you should look at yourself. Earlier on, you were grabbing Qi Jiu by the collar! To say you deliberately exposed yourself is an understatement; it was intentional!"

"Exactly! You were the one who grabbed his collar first, what are you pretending for now!"

'Oh right, I just realized that.'

'……'

The sudden change in wind direction, coupled with the distorted features of her face, made her look somewhat abnormal.

The next second, she turned off the live stream.

Fan Yi stared blankly at the black screen of her phone.

"Damn... you were right. I had a feeling that An Yang was going to get a severe scolding in the next second! He'd be trending on social media right away!"

Qi Jiu didn't reply. She looked at her vibrating phone and the contact name on it, then coughed lightly twice at Fan Yi.

"Cough cough!"

Fan Yi looked up and saw the girl holding her phone, and immediately understood what she was going to do.

She quickly got up and left the office. Only when she was alone in the office did she answer the phone.

"What's up?"

Qi Jiu held the receiver to her ear, her eyes lowered, making it impossible to see her expression.

A young voice came from the other end of the phone, "Sister Qi, I miss you so much~"

"Spit it out!"

Qi Jiu knew that they wouldn't easily call each other unless there was something else going on, after all, each of them had a certain...

"Sister Qi, time to start work. Someone invited us to be IT instructors."

Su Chen's voice became somewhat serious, "The other party has requested that our organization send its best technical personnel. You are that person, there is no doubt about it, and the higher-ups also hope that you can accept it."

He initially didn't plan to tell Qi Jiu. Going alone wasn't impossible, since Qi Jiu was too busy, as they both knew. But the rules were there: tasks posted on the black market couldn't be faked.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiu paused, her pen still in her hand. She instinctively stood up, went to the window, and looked at the bustling street outside, her expression complex.

"Remuneration, location."

"You agreed? Aren't you quite busy?" Su Chen seemed surprised that she could agree so quickly.

Qi Jiu let out a breath, "That old guy wants me to take it, so I'll take it."

After all, this is what she owes. If she can do more for that old man, that would be fine too.

"Sister Qi, he doesn't want you to be like this! You should have your own ideas! This is what I want to see, what he wants to see, what we all want to see!"

Su Chen's emotions were inexplicably agitated, so much so that Qi Jiu had no choice but to pull her phone away a bit.

"I know, so here's the payment and the location."

Qi Jiu remained expressionless and spoke calmly.

Seeing that she was still so stubborn, Su Chen was panting with anger, but he still obediently told the truth.

"As for the payment, the other party did not give an actual price. They said that the price was not an issue, and that they could ask for as much as you wanted. They only wanted the result."

"Oh? That's quite generous." He really isn't afraid of her asking for an exorbitant amount.

"The location is... Death Gate Island."

Upon hearing the words 'Death Gate Island,' Qi Jiu's expression became intriguing. Her eyes narrowed slightly, her black pupils revealing a complex emotion.

"I see."

She hung up the phone as soon as she said that.

Death Gate Island is a great place. I heard there's a powerful organization there, and the island's lord trains a group of mercenaries.

The size of Death Gate Island is not much different from the uninhabited islands she controls, and it is fraught with danger.

It's just that at some point, Death Gate Island became a separate force.

As she pondered, Qi Jiu pulled a notebook from her backpack on the sofa. With nimble fingers, the screen quickly turned black and white.

This is what's known as the black market.

As the pages on the screen changed and pop-up windows appeared one after another, she checked the mission system of Death Gate Island.

Sure enough, this task had already been rejected five times, and this last time, they approached The Matrix.

It's clear that Deadgate Island didn't want to provoke the Matrix, otherwise why would they have gone to other people before? But now they have no choice.

"Buzz!"

A slight vibration came from the desk. Qi Jiu looked at the notes on it and was taken aback.

"Old man, what's wrong?"

"Qiqi, you understand what I mean. I hope you will take this mission, but you are not a robot, you need to have your own thoughts. Qiqi, that matter was not your fault, so much time has passed, let yourself go."

Nan Chen's voice grew increasingly pained; he didn't want Qi Jiu to be like this.

She was clearly very smart, a genius, and had a wonderful life ahead of her. He didn't want that matter to hold her back for the rest of her life.

"Don't worry, I don't. The other side is Death Gate Island, which I'm quite interested in."

Nan Chen was skeptical, but ultimately didn't say anything about the topic.

"be safe."

Upon hearing those four words, Nan Chen was stunned. What was he saying? The only thing in this world capable of hurting her probably hadn't even been born yet.

Back at the Shen family manor, Qi Jiu felt for the first time that she needed to move out.

The Shen family treated her very well, that much was undeniable. However, given her special status and frequent outings, the Shen family's worries and doubts were bound to gradually arise.

After all, their lives were too peaceful.