Chapter 118 The Song of the Humpbacked Shadow (5)
A unique warmth enveloped her quietly. Shu Changyan released her wrist, raised his hand to pinch her cheek, and hugged her tightly.
The room gradually quieted down, and the two lay on the sofa. Shu Changyan looked down into her eyes.
"Didn't you just go to see Congressman Weston about something?" He raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful look on his face. "What did he say to you?"
Shu Ningmiao vaguely sensed that he seemed to be accusing Weston of something, so she reached out and pushed his head: "It's nothing."
Shu Changyan's pale lips moved slightly, his voice rising at the end, revealing a subtle emotion: "You two have a very good relationship?"
"So-so." Shu Ningmiao bent her legs, pushed him aside, and lay down domineeringly.
Shu Changyan turned aside to make room for her, propped himself up on his elbow, and looked at her with narrowed eyes, without saying anything more.
Even if he is emotionally detached, he can tell that Shu Ningmiao has no ambiguous thoughts about others, or rather, there is no need to worry at all. For her, love itself is just a secondary bonus. She only needs to stand there, noble and dazzling, radiant and luminous, and will never be hurt by it.
Even so, he still feared a fact that didn't exist, and felt a slight aversion to every man who came near her.
Because they did not share the same blood, he had to carefully grasp this fabricated relationship, fearing that the slightest possibility would cause the elusive chain to slip from his grasp.
No matter what, he didn't want to leave her.
No one who gets close to her is good enough for her.
This despicable prejudice, accompanied by a scalding heat that almost melted his heart, burned him with waves of pain that had accompanied him for years and had become a part of his body.
He was used to enduring, pretending to be ignorant, and refusing to admit that this was a sin of love.
Shu Changyan sighed softly: "If you have someone you like, your brother will be sad."
Shu Ningmiao raised her hand, looking at the lines on her palm. Hearing this, she turned and glanced at him sideways, chuckling softly, "Didn't you say before that anyone but Shi Yu would do?"
"After thinking about it carefully," Shu Changyan said candidly, extending his hand and gently drawing an X on her palm with his long fingers. "It seems like I don't trust anyone."
Shu Ningmiao sat up, looking down at him with a half-smile: "How annoying."
Shu Changyan noticed her unusual mood and tried to make conversation with her casually. She leaned against the sofa armrest, grabbed the ends of his long hair at the back of his head, and clumsily braided it into a small braid.
The noise outside grew louder and louder, almost drowning out the sounds inside, making it impossible to ignore.
Zhao's voice suddenly rose: "I don't care."
"I don't care," another voice said. "You think of something!"
Zhao sneered, "Let them fend for themselves. Ah, a dignified envoy, brought back in such a state, don't you feel ashamed?"
"I fell down like that!" Another voice rose, thick with a nasal tone and an unintelligible accent: "Who told the rescue team to throw me out of the fire escape window? Did you have a conflict with the police and are getting retaliated against?! What does this have to do with me!"
"I didn't," Zhao said, slamming his hand on the table with a fierce but weak expression.
Shu Changyan brushed the messy hair from his forehead, opened the folding door, his expression cold, with a hint of barely concealed anger: "What's all the noise about?"
As soon as the words were spoken, the two who had been arguing fell silent.
Zhao crossed her legs and stared at the small braid peeking out from behind Shu Changyan's ear, the end of which was tied with a shimmering silver hair tie. She chuckled and said, "What are you doing? Are you going to become a male model?"
The girl, whose body was blocked by Shu Changyan, looked at him with her arms crossed.
Zhao closed his mouth, raised his hand to his lips, and then closed and opened his fingers to show flattery.
The person arguing with Zhao turned around upon hearing the sound, exclaimed "Ah!", and stared directly at Shu Ningmiao: "It's you."
Shu Ningmiao recognized the superhuman from his figure as the one she had encountered in the stairwell, the one who had fallen from the sky.
This person was taller than the hunched figure I had seen in the hallway before. He stood up straight and was half an inch taller than Zhao. His brown hair was draped over his shoulders, with a few strands covered in scabs.
Now, stripped of his outer shirt and wearing only a training vest, his tanned skin glows with a healthy sheen, and his bare arms and shoulders are covered with clearly defined muscle lines, maintaining a balance between strength and beauty, displaying his presence with an air of triumph.
The man had one foot on the table. Although his head and face were covered in blood, it seemed to be only superficial injuries. He still looked energetic, and his plum-colored eyes looked at her with a hint of curiosity. Compared to his overall demeanor, the color of his eyes seemed overly sweet and sincere.
Her gaze fell on Shu Ningmiao, and she gradually quieted down. After a while, her voice softened: "What's going on... Excuse me, my name is Xiao Jiang, are you new here?"
Shu Ningmiao vaguely recalled the name; it seemed to be the No.2 executor, a student taught by Yelü Qi, and Zhao's partner.
Zhao, with both hands resting on the armrests, scoffed, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
Shu Changyan gave her a brief introduction and led her outside, clearly not wanting to get involved in their argument. Shu Ningmiao passed by and politely nodded to the woman.
Zhao began to shift the blame: "Go ask Shu Changyan, he still has vacation time, he's much freer than me."
He then called out to Shu Changyan by name: "Hey, there's been a problem with the Xindi matter."
Xiao Jiang put her feet off the table and looked over: "Anyone is fine."
Shu Changyan turned his head, his expression gentle: "No."
"The number of murders has been increasing these days. How can the passage between Xinji and Yingjian District be kept blocked indefinitely? There are students who need to come from Xinji to attend school. If you just say you're not going to do anything about it, what will happen to the people living there?"
Xiao Jiang frowned slightly, reached out and wiped the blood from his face, revealing his slightly dark skin underneath, and a long, old scar running from under his left eye to his neck.
"So we sent you, didn't we?" Zhao spread his hands. "How did you end up like this?"
“We haven’t found the person.” Her tone became serious. “Every time we arrive at the crime scene, we’re a little late. We can’t find any traces. The people around us refuse to provide any clues, and I can’t understand the local dialect they’re speaking.”
Speaking of which, Xiao Jiang scratched her head, feeling annoyed again.
"Since that's the case, why bother with all this?" Zhao said coldly and realistically. "You've already been brought back by the Public Security Bureau's reinforcement team. The mission is over, and the higher-ups have decided to abandon it. Your access to the new area has been revoked. Going in again would be a violation of national security regulations, and I don't care."
“If it weren’t for the fear that the killer would spread to the city, they wouldn’t care if a few people died in Xindi.” Zhao slumped down lazily: “Let’s just keep the doors closed and everyone go about their own lives.”
Xiao Jiang kicked the table over: "Go to hell!"
She grabbed her coat with one hand and strode into the training room.
"See? I told you we shouldn't have sent this idiot. She can't speak the language; she wouldn't even recognize the murderer if he changed his clothes and stood right in front of her." Zhao shrugged.
Shu Changyan remained noncommittal, but upon noticing Shu Ningmiao's thoughtful expression, he squeezed her palm.
In addition to the lounge and training room, each operative has their own space, which has been the residence of almost every operative since the parliamentary purge a century ago, serving as an impregnable defense for the building.
Even at the very top of the pyramid, generous benefits and prestigious treatment are used to entice subordinates to work overtime voluntarily.
Shu Ningmiao bit into the flesh of a green lychee and sat in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the bustling night view of the city of Pinneapolis in the distance.
No matter what scars the earth bears, they heal quickly where there are people, covered by new buildings, and the old wounds are gradually forgotten. Achini's outburst, however, quickly diminished the discussion it generated, indicating that her vacation was coming to an end soon.
Shu Changyan was cooking at the open kitchen island behind him. The only sound in the living room was the quiet sound of knives. He was content with these mundane daily tasks, as if they were his only pleasure outside of work.
She wiped her hands, took out her terminal, and the screen was still on the chat box from not long ago. On the other end was the same Self-Defense Force member who had previously provided pick-up and drop-off services in Shinchi.
This was the first time they had spoken since they became friends. Aside from polite greetings, they had no other conversation.
Shu Ningmiao portrays herself as an innocent young nun who speaks nonsense without any worldly experience.
She started by sending a crying cat emoji, which successfully steered the conversation in, and began asking about the worrying situation in Sun Hung Kai Properties recently.
As the people handling the Shinchi murder case, the Self-Defense Forces must know something.
As long as fear is shown, it won't seem abrupt. It's perfectly reasonable for a naive young nun to be afraid of a murder happening around her.
Shu Ningmiao remained expressionless, intently typing three "aww" sounds in the chat box.
This time, it took a long time for them to reply.
"Sorry, sorry, things have been really unsettled here lately (though it's never really been). Something just happened, and I didn't check my terminal. Are you alright? The number of victims is still increasing, but none of them are happening in the church district. Just stay in the church and relax 0v0"
Shu Ningmiao stroked the edge of the terminal, thinking that asking him directly about the state of the deceased might make him notice something amiss.
The other person sent another message: "If you need anything, I can bring it for you next time. Just to be safe, you'd better not get involved in this kind of trouble. By the way, which church are you at?"
This is followed by an emoji of blowing a kiss.
"What a kind person," Shu Ningmiao thought, feeling that if she asked any further questions, there was a high probability that she would be exposed, so she pretended to have something to do and went offline.
Shu Changyan placed the white porcelain cold plate in front of her and sat down to help her peel lychees: "Xiao Jiang's ancestral home is Meng Dan. She came to Bini after awakening her supernatural abilities."
“Even if you change your nationality, it will be difficult to get into the Pinneh Central Organization.” Shu Ningmiao raised an eyebrow; no wonder she had a slight accent.
“For the user, ease of use is the only requirement.” Shu Changyan stated calmly, “She doesn’t know much Phineas and can only communicate verbally. It’s normal that she can’t find anyone. So, Phineas didn’t take this matter seriously from the beginning. Don’t overthink it.”
Shu Ningmiao gave a perfunctory response.
He raised an eyebrow and smiled, drawing out his words: "I thought you were really concerned."
She wasn't concerned about any specific person, but rather about the inexplicable deaths that had occurred in Xindi. In a place like this, the deaths of a few people wouldn't cause any ripples, but for it to escalate to this extent, there must be other key factors at play.
The timing was too coincidental, and Pigne's decision also puzzled her. For enclaves like the New Territories, Pigne had always adopted a policy of sweeping away anything dirty. Why send an agent to investigate?
They were both worried and evasive, both fearful and indifferent.
It's such a contradiction.
——
At night, Shu Ningmiao was a light sleeper. The vibration of the terminal woke her up a bit, so she put on her shoes and went to the window.
At 2 a.m., the terminal received a notification from a reply on the forum "Compound Paradise". Not wanting to lose a source of information, she didn't press the tricycle driver for more information and finally remembered the medical forum she had stumbled upon earlier.
Most of the forum's users are from Xindi. I haven't logged in for a long time, and it feels increasingly deserted. Her previous posts are still on the first page and haven't been pushed to the back.
She followed suit and posted another thread, asking when the passage between Yingjian and Xindi would be reconnected, seemingly casually complaining about the recent murders.
When she opened the new notification, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. The ID that replied to her was still "Eliminate Evil and Promote Good".
"Eliminate evil and promote good" clearly still remembers her, as the first thing they say is to inquire about her health.
Upholding good and eliminating evil: OP, how are you feeling?
She scrolled down, and the second floor still contained his reply.
But this time, her gaze gradually froze.
Eliminate evil and promote good: Are you still in Phineas? Please don't come to New Land. The recent murders all involved people like you.
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Author's Note: Xiao Jiang's first appearance will be in Chapter 94.
See Chapter 105 for news about the New York City murder and the closure of access routes.
See Chapter 38 for x Compound Paradise.
xXiao, the most healthy sister is here!
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