Chapter 14: Intelligence Agent
Gu Qing didn’t disturb Ji Yueling anymore.
This woman had a strange quality of resistance to communicating with others. Perhaps some stories were hidden beneath this quality, but Gu Qing didn’t want to understand them right now.
He returned to Lu Qianqian’s side and performed that rose magic trick for her too. Lu Qianqian was much easier to please than Ji Yueling. Her eyes were full of surprise and wonder, but looking at that rose for a long time, she couldn’t figure out how Gu Qing had done it.
Of course Gu Qing didn’t tell her the principle behind the magic. Once the principle is revealed, magic is no longer magic – it becomes dry and boring.
Those fireworks were gradually used up, and the wine in Gu Qing’s glass was gradually finished. He and Lu Qianqian stood up to leave. When leaving, his eyes looked once more at Ji Yueling sitting on the steps.
She still sat there quietly, only this time gently hugging her knees with her body slightly curled up. Gu Qing didn’t disturb her again, but silently left with Lu Qianqian. The two rode shared bikes home together, arriving home after eleven o’clock.
Lu Qianqian went to the bathroom to shower while Gu Qing waited outside.
“Be careful, don’t slip.” Gu Qing reminded softly.
When Lu Qianqian came out again, her body was wrapped in a pure white bath towel. The towel was a bit short – though it covered her chest and waist, it fully exposed her long, slender, well-proportioned legs below the waist. Her skin, just caressed by hot water, still faintly glowed pink, with crystal water droplets slowly flowing down her legs.
Seeing Gu Qing’s somewhat surprised gaze, Lu Qianqian then answered in a flustered whisper, “I forgot to bring my pajamas…”
“Go back to your room quickly, don’t catch cold.” Gu Qing said softly.
Lu Qianqian hurriedly clutched her towel and returned to her room. Only then did Gu Qing go shower. When he came out, he found Lu Qianqian, now wearing pajamas and shorts, still on the sofa. Gu Qing tilted his head, looking at her.
“It’s not midnight yet, I want to stay up…” Lu Qianqian said in a small voice.
“Don’t only children stay up for New Year’s?” Gu Qing winked at her, but also came to sit beside her. Lu Qianqian’s body instinctively leaned closer to him. She still carried the fragrance of body wash – the scent of lily of the valley.
“Actually… I’m a bit scared… I want to talk with you before sleeping…” Lu Qianqian stuck out her tongue, answering in a small voice.
“It’s fine, we’re safe now.”
“Gu Qing.”
“Mm?”
“Thank you…”
“What are you thanking me for again?”
“When you carried me and ran today… you were amazing…”
Lu Qianqian’s voice was soft, looking up seriously at Gu Qing. Her dark eyes sparkled with gratitude, admiration, and perhaps something else. But Gu Qing was somewhat confused, only understanding after a moment.
Lu Qianqian had clearly seen that after the shark demon came ashore, the crowd scattered in all directions. Who had the mind to care about the people beside them? But Gu Qing had lifted her up and run toward the distance without any hesitation, as if it was the most natural thing to do.
“It’s nothing, you’re not heavy anyway.” Gu Qing answered casually, not taking this matter to heart at all. So all the words she wanted to say could only be left unspoken. Gu Qing reached out and gently rubbed her head, saying softly, “Alright, alright, how about you lie down in bed and I’ll tell you a bedtime story?”
“Eh?” Lu Qianqian was startled.

In the girl’s room, Gu Qing turned off the lights, leaving only a dim table lamp. He sat by Lu Qianqian’s bed. At this moment Lu Qianqian’s body was wrapped tightly in bedding. Gu Qing didn’t need to open a storybook – he just sat there quietly, softly telling her fairy tales.
His sister used to be very interested in these stories, so she violently forced him to memorize them to tell her. If he refused, she would punish him harshly with her tender little feet. Gu Qing had always been one to bully the weak and fear the strong, so he silently memorized many, many stories. Fortunately he had a good memory.
It seemed bedtime stories really were effective. Lu Qianqian fell asleep in no time. Gu Qing also returned to his room, wrapped himself tightly in bedding and fell into deep sleep.

The next day, early morning.
Gu Qing got up early. After leaving a note on the living room table, he quietly opened the door and went out. He scanned a shared bike on the roadside and after riding for half an hour, came to a small alley. There was a milk tea shop in the alley. He went in and ordered a mango pomelo sago, then sat in the corner of the milk tea shop. After waiting quite a while, a young man wearing a baseball cap walked in.
The young man was Gu Qing’s friend, also the guy who had delivered fireworks to him yesterday. His name was Li Si, which sounded like a fake name, and indeed it was a fake name.
He also had the nickname “Know-it-all,” supposedly because almost everything that happened in A City couldn’t escape his eyes.
“Do we have to meet like this? Can’t we just make a phone call?” Gu Qing took a big sip of his mango pomelo sago.
Li Si raised his head. His hair was messy, pressed down by his baseball cap. He had an unremarkable face with slightly small eyes. At this moment his tone was also somewhat helpless. “Bro Gu, A City has already installed stuff in the software for every citizen. Whether it’s messages, calls, or voice – they could all be monitored. It’d be really troublesome if we were exposed.”
“Fine.” Gu Qing sighed helplessly.
He was just simply too lazy to go out. It was too cold. In the past he could brave this freezing winter weather to go to several residential complexes to open treasure chests, but recently he’d been ensnared by warm bedding, making him increasingly unwilling to go out.
“First, about the Lu Qianqian’s brother Lu Sen that you asked me to investigate.” Li Si lowered his voice. After a few seconds, he answered, “Confirmed, it wasn’t an accident.”
“Hm?” Gu Qing looked up.
“The driver who killed her brother in that hit-and-run still hasn’t been caught, but his face was completely visible on surveillance. So either he’s dead, or someone’s hiding him. That car accident that day only looked like an accident.”
“The reason?”
“Might be related to Lu Qianqian’s missing father.”
“Got it.” Gu Qing nodded, but indicated he didn’t need to continue.
Li Si hesitated, then asked Gu Qing first, “So… her missing father, is he really that person?”
“Don’t ask about things you shouldn’t ask.” Gu Qing shook his head.
Li Si very tactfully didn’t ask further, then continued, “The Alliance’s report also came out. That shark demon seems to have been injected with some kind of serum and deliberately released by this lakeside. The shark demon cub was triggered by the serum within a few hours to develop killing instincts, which is why it came ashore to attack humans.”
“What about the people behind this?”
“Bro Gu, I’m an intelligence agent, not a grand mage. How could I figure that out?”
“Look into it.” Gu Qing took another big sip of his mango pomelo sago.
“Alright.” Li Si nodded. “Then I’ll have to investigate along Lu Qianqian’s line. That shark demon last night was probably targeting Lu Qianqian, right? Either to test what your identity is, Bro Gu, or to test whether anyone from the Alliance was secretly protecting her? That Alliance young lady appearing there inexplicably last night, plus the Alliance sending people to cure her mother’s illness – the forces behind this probably think the Alliance has already taken Lu Qianqian under protection, right?”
“No, I summoned her.” Gu Qing shook his head, explaining to him.
Li Si was first startled. “How did you get involved with that young lady?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing much, it’s just that young lady is quite famous in the Alliance. Want to know some intelligence about her?”
“Famous?” Gu Qing was somewhat puzzled, then said, “I do know her sister, but I’ve hardly heard her sister mention her. How is she famous?”
“She’s connected to the former Taotie Society.” Li Si pondered for a moment, took out his phone and searched through his database. After confirming once more, he slowly explained to Gu Qing.
“A City used to have an organization called the Taotie Society. It had five or six A-level demons and one S-level demon. They were all psychopaths among demons who paid humans to buy organs for cooking and gourmet exchange meetings. Later they became more and more extreme and started human trafficking, specifically buying unwanted children from people.”
“I even knew that S-level guy in the Taotie Society. Met him a few times. We called him Old Tao. This guy was always smiling normally, and usually we minded our own business. Later his Taotie Society was targeted by the Alliance. His subordinates died or were captured, leaving only him.”
“He couldn’t survive in A City anymore and was preparing to leave, but before leaving he pulled off something big. At that time Ji Yueling hadn’t joined the Alliance yet. Her abilities hadn’t awakened yet – she was still in her first year of high school.”
“Old Tao felt it was all because of Old Ji, the Alliance head in A City, that so many of his brothers died, so he kidnapped his daughter – Ji Yueling. But he didn’t dare kill her, knowing that if he killed her, Old Ji’s old man would chase him to the ends of the earth even if it cost him his last breath. So he did something that even we guys thought was pretty bastardly.”
Gu Qing was slightly startled. “What did he do?”
Demons below SS level wouldn’t feel sexual desire toward humans. He couldn’t imagine what Old Tao had done to Ji Yueling.
“He didn’t just kidnap Ji Yueling, he also kidnapped several of Ji Yueling’s close friends at the time, then in front of her… ate Ji Yueling’s friends. He didn’t harm a single hair on Ji Yueling’s head the whole time.”
“It was just after that incident that Ji Yueling’s abilities awakened. Old Tao ran away – somehow got a K City travel permit and is now hiding out there. After that, Ji Yueling joined the Alliance. When she first joined, she was pretty ruthless – took out quite a few demons. Even those whose crimes didn’t deserve death would be beaten half to death before being thrown in prison when they fell into her hands.”
Gu Qing silently finished the remaining mango pomelo sago in his cup, not knowing what to say.
Li Si was always chatty and talkative. After telling all this, he looked at Gu Qing again. “Bro Gu, I notice you’ve been really strange lately… How did you suddenly get involved with women?”
“Fate.” Gu Qing answered honestly.
“Then Bro Gu, do you want Old Tao’s intelligence? You could present it as a gift to make that young lady happy. With A City Alliance’s network, they can’t find traces of Old Tao, but she probably wants to kill him so badly she’s going crazy.”
Gu Qing shook his head. “I’m not close with her.”
“Alright, then contact me whenever you need something.” Li Si pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, then asked, “Any other intelligence you need?”
“The Alliance’s green scythe demon cub.” Gu Qing spoke slowly.
Li Si immediately put on a bitter face. “Bro Gu, why do you keep asking about things that would get me killed if discovered?”
“Don’t worry about it so much.” Gu Qing shook his head. “You just need to pay attention to whether any other forces are coveting the green scythe demon cub that the Alliance is currently hiding.”
Though Li Si didn’t understand, he wanted to ask but was silenced by one look from Gu Qing. Finally he could only nod helplessly. “Fine, anything else?”
“Nothing else, I’ll treat you to drinks another time.”
“Bro Gu, you’ve said you’d treat me to drinks seven times, and you’ve never paid once.” Li Si’s eyes were full of resentment.
“Didn’t I say we’d settle the bill after we finish drinking?”
“I’ll be drunk to death by you before we finish.” Li Si sighed helplessly. “Fine, call me next time you want drinks.”
“Okay.” Gu Qing pointed to the counter. “Help me pay for the mango pomelo sago, and buy two more cups – make one with less ice.”