Bzzzz…
Su Yi had only just left when Texas received a text message.
It was from Su Yi.
"That hug—let's treat it as a secret between the two of us."
A secret? What secret?
That had clearly just been an accident.
"Texas, what are you looking at so intensely?" Exusiai leaned over to peek.
Texas reacted instantly, hitting the power button. Her terminal went black. She brushed it off. "Nothing. Just a spam message."
The girls immediately launched into complaints the moment they heard that.
"Harassment calls and texts really have been getting ridiculous lately."
"Tell me about it. Selling our personal info is one thing, but there should be limits—some matchmaking agency called me the other day."
"Jealous of Sora. She always puts her agent's number down, so she never gets bothered."
…
…
When Su Yi arrived at the agreed location and got out of the car, he saw Chen Hui-jie already inside a shop called Lungmen Dumpling House, hugging a bowl and eating with gusto.
He glanced around the worn, old-fashioned storefront and complained, "Fine, you picked a place like this—but you couldn't even wait for me?"
So much for the big meal he'd been expecting.
"I donate my salary to help underprivileged kids," Chen Hui-jie said. She pulled out a tissue and dabbed her glossy lips. "Outside the Guard Department cafeteria, this is all I can afford to treat you to. Besides… do you and I really need all that formal courtesy?"
"My stomach says it does," Su Yi replied.
He sat across from her, flicked his eyes to the menu on the wall, and casually ordered a plate of dumplings.
"The robbery case this afternoon wasn't normal," Chen Hui-jie said. "The mastermind behind it is the same person or organization."
"These crime bosses are interesting," Su Yi said. "Always hiding behind the scenes, 'cooking shit.' Don't they think it stinks?"
Chen Hui-jie: …
After a brief silence, she continued, laying out her findings and inferences in a clean, direct way.
Su Yi listened while accepting a freshly pan-fried serving of dumplings from the owner. Only after she finished did he speak.
"And then?"
"I want you to help me analyze it—see if we can find a breakthrough."
"Then you've got the wrong person," Su Yi said. "Go out, turn left, and you'll find the Li Detective Agency."
With zero real leads, and the only linkage being that the two gang leaders died the same way, even Su Yi's "ghost brain" couldn't conjure up a profile of the person who liked hiding behind the scenes to "cook shit."
"But you can throw darts," Chen Hui-jie insisted. "Just do it one more time."
As she spoke, she took out a map of Lungmen and a red marker.
If you looked closely, that map even had thirteen circles Su Yi had drawn on it before.
And that red marker was almost certainly the same one he'd thrown last time.
Good. She understood controlled variables—a fine candidate for a research lab.
" Hui-jie," Su Yi said, "it's not that I won't help you. It's that if I can help you solve a case, then no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I'll solve it. And if I can't help you solve it, then even if I'm sleeping in the same bed as you, it won't make a difference."
In other words: it was all luck.
Just like how he'd never planned to investigate anything—he'd simply been doing an ordinary armed escort job—and the criminals had still crashed straight into him.
Who's sleeping in the same bed as you… Chen Hui-jie cursed inwardly, but she still wouldn't let it go.
"Then just throw it. Randomly. Try."
"Fine, fine."
Su Yi grudgingly agreed and picked up the marker.
When he looked up, Chen Hui-jie had already moved a short distance away, holding the Lungmen map high with both hands.
Su Yi aimed a little—then flicked his wrist and threw.
The marker cut through the air and thudded—not too hard, not too light—against the map…
…and against something soft behind the map.
"Ah—!"
A delicate, involuntary sound slipped out from behind it.
Chen Hui-jie lowered her hands, her face flushed with shame and fury. The marker had already dropped to the floor, but the sensation on her chest lingered like ripples spreading across a pond.
"What happened?" Su Yi asked, concerned. "Did I hit your eye?"
"N-no. Nothing!" Chen Hui-jie gritted out.
Seeing Su Yi's blank, clueless expression—and considering that the target in question was barely the size of a grape—she had to admit that even if she placed it there for him, hitting it would be difficult, let alone through clothes and a map.
An accident. Just an accident. Su Yi hadn't meant it.
"Ahem! So where did you hit on the map?" Chen Hui-jie spread the map across the table.
"Probably… here."
Based on memory, Su Yi drew a circle on the map—small, round, almost cute.
Chen Hui-jie crossed her arms, subtly pressing in as she asked in a low voice, "Why did you draw it so small?"
After getting hit like that, she was… a little sensitive.
Su Yi's justification was airtight. "Because the cross-sectional area of the marker is only that big."
Having achieved her main objective, Chen Hui-jie finally relaxed. She sent the location to her colleagues and told them to conduct reconnaissance first.
She folded up the map and put away the marker, sat back down, propped her head with her right hand, and watched Su Yi chew his dumplings slowly.
Su Yi was reassured that Chen Hui-jie was still sitting there—for one simple reason: he didn't have to worry about her running off without paying.
But he also found it strange.
Given what he knew of her, once she got a lead she should've been rushing out to arrest people. Why was she sitting there quietly?
"If you've paid, you can go," Su Yi said. "You don't have to stay here with me."
"Su Yi," Chen Hui-jie asked, "are you really planning to be a courier for the rest of your life?"
"For now, yes—I'm planning to do it for life," Su Yi corrected. "But don't call me a courier. Call me the operator of Penguin Logistics."
Was there a difference?
Chen Hui-jie tried to persuade him. "But with your talent, staying at Penguin Logistics is a waste."
Su Yi's chopsticks paused midair. His emotions turned complicated.
The cheat I'm proud of… and you're calling it talent…
Chen Hui-jie misunderstood his hesitation and pressed harder.
"I reviewed your combat record from this afternoon. You're excellent—frontline capability, battlefield command, all top-tier. If you come to the Guard Department, I can directly arrange for you to be my assistant."
Assistant might not sound impressive, but it was the kind of position where proximity to power meant access to power—and promotions came faster. Many Lungmen officials had similar backgrounds.
Closeness to power was how you gained power.
Su Yi suddenly set down his chopsticks. His voice turned cold.
"Superintendent Chen… I thought we were friends. I didn't expect that you never treated me like one."
Chen Hui-jie looked confused. "How have I not treated you as a friend?"
"As a friend, I already clearly rejected your invitation before. You not giving up, I can understand. But this time you came back with an even higher offer…" Su Yi stared at her. "Do you think I'm waiting for the right price? Or playing hard to get?"
"I didn't mean it like that. I just want you to work for the Guard Department."
"Then are you saying that if your offer is high enough, I'll betray Penguin Logistics?"
"I… I didn't mean that either…"
Seeing Chen Hui-jie's head sink lower and lower, Su Yi softened his tone.
"Hui-jie, I know you don't have bad intentions. But what you're doing is genuinely moving in that direction."
"So I hope that from now on, you won't bring this topic up in front of me again. All right? I'm not leaving Penguin Logistics."
Reluctant though she was, Chen Hui-jie still nodded. Then, carefully, almost timidly, she asked:
"Then… are we still friends?"
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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