"Absolutely not!" Li Mo stepped forward, using his massive body to block the conference room door. "Captain! You can't go up with him! That's suicide!"
"That's an order!" Leng Nan's voice was hoarse, but carried an undeniable determination. "My mission is to monitor him, 24 hours a day! Now, get out of my way!"
"Captain!" The other members of the Snow Wolf Squad also gathered around, their faces filled with anxiety and pleading.
In their view, sending their captain to meet a top assassin right above them with a "madman" of unknown motives was no different from walking into a slaughterhouse.
Qin Xiao watched this scene with great interest, as if he were watching a stage play. He neither urged nor showed impatience.
Until Leng Nan's gaze fell on him again, that gaze contained a soldier's resolve and a plea for help that she herself was unaware of.
"You can come with me," Qin Xiao finally spoke, "but I have one condition."
"Speak," Leng Nan said sparingly.
"Remember who you are now." Qin Xiao's gaze slid from her tense face to her tight dress, and then to her legs, which stood straight despite being in high heels. "You're not Captain Leng. You're a bodyguard I hired, a pretty but useless vase. When you go upstairs later, no matter what you hear or see, without my permission, you're not allowed to say a word, move an inch, or even show any extra expression. Your task is to stand behind me and smile, understand?"
humiliation.
This is a thousand times more humiliating than making her put on this outfit.
This is tantamount to stripping her of all dignity and instincts as a soldier and a warrior. It forces her to abandon thought and action when facing the most dangerous enemy, turning her into a puppet to be manipulated at will.
Li Mo's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and his teeth were practically grinding to powder.
Leng Nan's body trembled violently. She bit her lip so hard it almost bled. After a long while, she squeezed out a single word through her teeth.
"……good."
She pushed aside Li Mo, who was still blocking the door, and walked behind Qin Xiao, her body stiff as a board.
The door leading to the rooftop was pushed open.
The night wind howled, carrying the chill unique to the high altitude. The spacious rooftop was empty, save for a few air conditioner units humming along the edge.
In the very center of the rooftop, with his back to them, stood a figure.
A tall, slender woman in a black trench coat. Her long hair danced wildly in the night wind, making her seem like a statue blending into the darkness, exuding an aloofness and danger that kept strangers at bay.
She didn't turn around.
Qin Xiao walked slowly forward, his leather shoes making a clear "tap, tap" sound on the cement ground. Leng Nan followed half a step behind him, forcing herself to relax, a stiff smile that looked more like a grimace appearing on her lips.
"Ten million US dollars, and a nonsensical statement." The woman spoke, her voice cold and clear, like ice shards in the wind. "You're rich and you're bold. But you don't know that curiosity can kill."
“Money is for solving problems.” Qin Xiao stopped ten meters away from her. “And I happen to be good at solving the most difficult problems. For example, a pathetic wretch who is used as a tool by the organization, who doesn’t even know the real cause of his parents’ death, and is still working for his enemy.”
"Whoosh!"
The woman suddenly turned around.
A face mostly covered by a black mask, with only the eyes showing.
What kind of eyes were those? There was no anger, no surprise, only a deathly, chilling darkness. It was as if a single glance would suck your soul in.
"Who are you?" Mei Xinya, codenamed "Ghost," repeated the question. But this time, her tone carried a hint of genuine killing intent.
"Who I am is not important." Qin Xiao completely ignored the murderous aura that could instantly break an ordinary person. "What is important is that I know who Ye Chen is."
Ye Chen!
When Qin Xiao uttered that name, not only Mei Xinya, but even Leng Nan behind him, clearly felt a crack appear in the other's deathly aura.
“I know he thinks he’s the protagonist of the world. I also know how the Dragon King’s Palace behind him has turned you innocent people into the sharpest blades in their hands.”
Qin Xiao took a step forward.
“I also know that your sister, Mo Rose, is right here with him. You think she’s doing well? No, she’s just one of his many tools, the one he finds most convenient. Once he gets tired of her, or finds a better replacement, her fate will be the same as yours, or even… worse.”
"Shut up!" Mei Xinya finally shouted, her voice trembling slightly.
Qin Xiao's words were like a poisoned dagger, piercing precisely into the softest and most vulnerable part of her heart.
Her younger sister was her only weakness.
"Why should you shut up? Because you're scared? Scared that all your years of perseverance, all your years of killing, have just been a joke?"
Qin Xiao's voice suddenly rose in pitch, filled with a bewitching magic.
“Mei Xinya, look at the soldiers behind you. They want to arrest you and put you on trial because in their eyes you are a criminal.”
Look at the Dragon King's Palace you serve; they only want to use you, to squeeze every last drop of value out of you. In this world, no one genuinely wants to help you.
He took another step forward, now less than five meters away from Mei Xinya.
"Except me."
He opened his arms like a king embracing the world.
"Join me. I don't need your loyalty. I'll give you equal status, the weapons for revenge, and a chance... a chance for you and your sister to survive. A chance to trample Ye Chen and the Dragon King Palace underfoot."
A long silence fell on the rooftop.
Only the sound of the wind.
Mei Xinya's chest heaved violently, her breathing beneath her mask becoming incredibly heavy. Qin Xiao's vision was too tempting, too insane. It was a future she never dared to dream of.
After a long while, she smiled.
The laughter carried on the night wind carried an eerie and desolate quality.
"That sounds nice. And the promises you make are huge." She slowly raised her hand, and in that black-gloved hand, a gleaming silver pistol had appeared. "But why should I believe you?"
The gun barrel was firmly pointed at Qin Xiao's forehead.
"It's very simple to make me believe you."
Mei Xinya's gaze passed over Qin Xiao and landed on Leng Nan, who stood behind him like a puppet from beginning to end.
"Prove it to me."
Her voice became colder than the Siberian wind.
"Kill her."
“Kill this burden who is spying on you, this lackey of the military. Use her blood as your pledge of allegiance.”
Do you dare?
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