Chapter 5：Oof

Behind the one-way mirror, there was an awkward silence. Everyone in the Special Affairs Bureau could not help but reach for the gun at their waist, tempted to kill this embarrassing thing to shut him up before the word got out.

Ai Qing alone remained calm. She just picked up her cup of coffee and sipped from it before taking a pair of thick sunglasses from the pocket in her wheelchair and putting it on.

"Go on," she said.

The middle-aged man hesitated, but then he sighed and conveyed the orders through the microphone on the table. "Go on."

After a long while, First Brother recovered from that awkward reunion and pulled the hair away from his eyes. With a friendly smile, he reached his hand out to Huai Shi.

"Nice to meet you, young friend. My name's Liu Dongli…"

"Like hell! It's not at all nice to meet you!"

Huai Shi raged. He finally came back to his senses and pointed at Liu Dongli with his shackled hand, shouting at the door, "Leader, sir, I want to make a report! This man participated in illegal activity, he's like the head gigolo… Don't be fooled by him!"

"..."

Liu Dongli sighed helplessly and suddenly held up a finger in front of Huai Shi. "Look at my finger."

"I don't wanna!"

Huai Shi was dumb, but even he knew something was wrong by now. Of course he would not jump right into the trap, but when he raised his head, he accidentally… saw that man's face.

The fair skin and long slender neck, those deep ocean-colored eyes hidden behind his wisps of golden hair like stars sparkling in the universe… A few strands of hair fell across his brow, covering his wintry star-like eyes, but his tall and straight nose accentuated his masculine beauty…

"Oof!"

For a second there, Huai Shi was actually lost in a trance. For some reason, though, it suddenly made him feel sick to his stomach.

He scolded himself inwardly. How could he act so unseemingly after seeing someone who looked better than him? He forced a smile on his stony face, but saliva dripped out from the corners of his mouth…

All of a sudden, he froze completely.

After that, he picked up Liu Dongli's small hand and caressed it without letting go, his words familiar and sweet. "Where do you work, Big Bro? Oh my, sorry for my rudeness earlier. Let me introduce myself. My name's Huai Shi, and I'm seventeen this year. You still remember me, right?"

"..."

It was not just Huai Shi anymore. Everyone who saw Liu Dongli from behind the one-way mirror could not help an "oof". Even the middle-aged man, who had always been the sternest here, felt his face turn red and his heart sway. He turned his head aside and coughed softly.

Only Ai Qing with her sunglasses remained unaffected, drinking her coffee calmly. She reached out her hand to press the intercom button. "I didn't call you here to flirt. Ease up on your soul radiation and get to work."

"Okay, okay, okay."

Liu Dongli raised his finger to push the black-rimmed glasses on his nose and took a seat opposite Huai Shi. His smile was as warm as the autumn waters as he asked, "We know each other now, young friend, so could you answer a few questions for me?"

"Sure, sure."

Huai Shi held his hand tightly and drooled, his expression absolutely smitten. "I'll tell you anything you want to hear, Big Bro. My bank card PIN number is 18191…"

"Cough cough, that won't be necessary."

Liu Dongli hurriedly waved Huai Shi off and opened the file in his hand. With a quiet cough, he said, "Where were you last night?"

"At home, sleeping. I had a ton of nightmares too, and they scared the heck out of me. Let me tell you..."

"You were only sleeping?" Liu Dongli interrupted. He had no interest in hearing about Huai Shi's nightmares.

"That's right."

Huai Shi nodded. "Why would I go out in the middle of the night for no reason? It was raining so heavily last night too, only a madman would go out then. Let me tell you, my house might be a little battered, but my ancestors were still…"

"Cough cough, next question." Liu Dongli interrupted him again. "What on earth was that box you brought to the police station?"

"I don't know." Huai Shi shook his head decisively. "Why the heck would I open a mysterious box like that? It's already scary enough. I'm telling you, that man pounced on me suddenly and spewed blood at me…"

For the next hour, Liu Dongli asked him the questions in the file over and over again, mixing up the order and even randomly bringing up other unrelated questions.

He finally heaved a sigh of relief and applied force to pull his wrist away from Huai Shi's grip. It was covered in red marks now. Thank goodness he pulled away in time, or else the kid might just rub his hand until it broke.

As soon as he breathed out, however, Huai Shi suddenly awoke from his trance and stared at Liu Dongli blankly. He had no idea what had happened.

It felt as though he had made an unbelievably realistic nightmare, one that would make him decry himself…

"Blergh!"

He tried to jump out of his chair abruptly, but he was shackled down and could not move, so all he could do was bend over and retch violently. When he remembered how he had acted like a boy in love, it made him feel unspeakably nauseous. He puked so hard even the tears and snot were threatening to flow.

"Dang pervert, what did you do to me? Blergh!"

He vomited again before he could complete that sentence, and as he puked, he could not help but cry.

"Damn it, I didn't even get a girlfriend yet, so how did I let a perv like you lead me astray? There goes my good name, I'm totally ruined! I'll fight you to the death, damn it!"

"Sorry, nobody wanted this to happen."

Liu Dongli seemed used to scenes like this. He offered Huai Shi a glass of water and some sympathy. "The most important thing in life is to be happy. Are you hungry? I…"

"Blergh!"

Before Liu Dongli could finish that sentence, Huai Shi puked again.

There was a chorus of retching and gagging behind the one-way mirror as well.

The middle-aged man's face was stony as he massaged his aching stomach. Someone next to him gave him some digestion medicine and a cup of water that was just warm enough.

It was the lady driver who had been following behind Ai Qing silently this entire time.

"Thanks." The man forced a smile and ate the medicine, panting for a good while before he finally calmed down somewhat.

"So?" Ai Qing said. "I already told you, you won't get anything out of him."

"Maybe he's pretending…"

The middle-aged man coughed drily. "I know about Liu Dongli's soul ability. Seduction, right? It may work against normal people, but Ascenders might not be susceptible."

"Liu Dongli would know if it worked or not, wouldn't he? Besides, which man, especially at this age when his pride and urge to show off are the strongest, can pretend to that extent...? I'm pretty sure you won't get anything out of him, no matter how you ask."

Ai Qing gave him a meaningful look. "Give it up."

"I went through the file. If that kid is a suspect, I'm actually his alibi."

Liu Dongli walked out of the interrogation room and tossed the file full of notes onto the table, sighing exasperatedly. "That kid was having an interview at our club three minutes before the explosion at the port…"

"An interview? For what?"

"For the gigolo job… I think the agent tricked him into coming, or something? He only realized it halfway into the interview, and the manager scared him off."

Liu Dongli shook his head and looked at Huai Shi's full-frontal photo in the file. Holding his chin, he tsk-tsked in admiration. "If you ask me, he actually has some potential. He has a good frame, but his fashion choices leave much to be desired. If he puts on a slimming suit and wipes that cheeky smile off his face, he would be the perfect example of a cool frigid type. The old ladies love little hedgehogs like him, precisely because they can't eat him up…"

"That's enough. I didn't call you here to give him a career counseling session."

Ai Qing interrupted Liu Dongli. "He's just a normal guy who got swept into this by accident. Let him leave after he signs the NDA. Keeping him here would be a waste of time."

Just like that, the matter was settled.

Fifteen minutes later, after suffering all that mental anguish, Huai Shi signed another pile of papers, was stuffed into a car, and was finally sent away.

However, Liu Dongli stood at the front door with his hands in his pockets, his eyes trained on the young man who struggled vehemently because he thought he was being sent to the firing squad. At that thought, Liu Dongli burst out laughing.

"Oh yeah, what's his name again?" He turned around to face Ai Qing.

"Huai Shi."

"You know him?" Liu Dongli smiled mysteriously. "That's why you helped him get off the hook, right? Don't underestimate a gold-grade gigolo's instincts, Miss Ai."

To his surprise, Ai Qing's expression remained calm.

"Ah, I guess I do."

"Do you know him well?"

"Not really. I'm three years older than him, and we got along quite well when we were younger."

"Huh?" Liu Dongli turned around in surprise. He had not expected such a history between them. "What happened after that?"

"After that?"

Ai Qing gave him a look. "After that, his family went bankrupt because my grandfather broke their contract, and I haven't seen him since."

"..."

Liu Dongli was stunned and at a loss for words.

…

The man fidgeting in the chair jumped up, his expression panicked. "Why are you so late?"

"Did you think we were so low-key that no one noticed last night?" The blood-stained Vicious Ape crouched on a chair, chuckling eerily. "Thanks to you, I had a lot of fun…" 

"Where is it?"

The man reached out his hand anxiously. "Did you get it back?"

A blood-soaked plastic bag landed in his arms. "You get back what's yours. However…"

The man was ecstatic at first, but the instant he caught the plastic bag, his expression changed. He tore the bag apart like a lunatic and held up that black metal box, opening it carefully.

However, there was nothing inside.

"Where is it?!"

He screamed, "Where's the elementium here? Where did the elementium I gathered after shepherding for so long go?"

He looked at the Vicious Ape in front of him, and his gaze turned ruthless.

"Was it you?"

"That's enough elementium for almost a thousand people. Do you really think I absorbed it all on my own?" The Vicious Ape scratched the spotty white hair behind its mask and retorted, "If I could do that, I would've long since become one of the Lords. Do you think you could order me around then? It was already empty when I got it.

"Instead of threatening me, you should first think about how you're going to explain this to the Lord and the others. After all, you tried to earn some money for yourself using the sacred item, and you're the reason we lost the elementium it took twelve years to herd…"

"You got a cut of the profit too!"

The man howled, throwing his dignity to the winds. He stared at the Ape, hard. "If something goes wrong, don't think you'll get away!"

The Vicious Ape did not say anything. It just rubbed its fingers without a word, making its metal fingernails crash and scream piercingly until that man averted his gaze.

"There was a traitor amongst your subordinates. That's why the sacred item fell into an outsider's hands. I'm helping the Lord retrieve that sacred item, so naturally I'll be recognized for my efforts. Even if I'm at fault, I won't receive the 'absolute punishment'," the Vicious Ape said coldly. "If I were you, I'd start thinking of a way to salvage this.

"You just lost it, right? Why don't you just find it before the Lord and the others notice?"

"Easy for you to say!" The man gave it a furious glare. "As if it'd be that simple."

"Those old men and women are already on their deathbed, right? Just recycle the trash… At least that way we can make up for some of the losses," said the Vicious Ape calmly. "As for the elementium worth a thousand portions, there's no way it disappeared just like that. It doesn't matter if they want to use it to level up, extend their lives, or make a quick buck. It would still take time."

A few minutes later, a low and dangerous voice spoke from within the secret room.

"Investigate! Find out who else touched this box!"