"I was ambushed!?"
"Le Yuxin's mind spun a thousand times over. The exact time and place of this meeting had only been known to Le Yuxin and the contact, yet someone had lain in wait for him, and not only that—they'd pulled off a successful ambush, dragging him into this pitch-black room!"
"Clearly, something had happened to the contact!"
"They were probably not just dead, but their ashes scattered to the wind!"
"But Le Yuxin was no helpless quail waiting to die—at least his body wasn't! He quickly planted his feet, and without a care for the danger to his left hand, which was pinned by someone, he drove his right elbow back hard, pressing his whole body against the person restraining him!"
Biting Battle Technique, Flood Spit!
"Be good, stop struggling," a chilling voice said with a soft laugh,
Pa-pa!
"His elbow strike was blocked by a palm. His all-out body slam made no impression at all—Le Yuxin just felt his whole body go numb, like he'd crashed into steel!"
"Le Yuxin's face suddenly changed!"
"His attack had damn near zero effect!"
"How was that even possible!"
"It wasn't arrogance—just logic. The room right now had no source of light, which meant neither of them could draw on Awakener powers, it was pure hand-to-hand, strength versus strength. Even if the other guy was a top-tier 'Blue Flame' fighter, in total darkness Le Yuxin had nothing to fear. Hell, he didn't even feel pain!"
"Unless the guy behind him was a 300-pound heavyweight, Le Yuxin should have had a decent shot at breaking through. But by feel alone, the other guy wasn't that much physically bigger."
"Yet all the same, his fierce counterattack was easily dismantled!"
"Le Yuxin's heart sank. The gap between them was like a fistfight between a kid and an adult. Resisting was pointless; the dude's in-game stats were clearly a whole tier above Qian Yuliu's!"
So he stiffened his neck and barked out a laugh, putting on a face like a man going to his death,
"Go on then, do your worst and kill me!"
"Le Yuxin had figured it out—when faced with an unbeatable foe, no need to freak out!"
"Worst case, die!"
"If I die, your account becomes mine!"
"Can't beat the enemy? Then hack the enemy's account!"
"That was Le Yuxin's way to survive!"
"I won't kill you," the chilling voice said, completely flat, like he was listing a fact, and dragged Le Yuxin deeper into the darkness, "Don't shout, don't forget why you're here."
Le Yuxin blinked, realizing he was being hauled quickly into some underground passage—his steel-toed boots knocking out a crisp rhythm on the stairs.
"Shit, shit, looks like he's planning to torture me. But torture's fine, not like I feel pain. Still, what if he's after Qian Yuliu's body? That kind of humiliation, god, that's not something I can stomach..."
"While Le Yuxin chased these wild thoughts, lights flickered on suddenly in the underground tunnel. The sudden break in the darkness made Le Yuxin squint instinctively."
"Looks like you've got it all twisted... 'Meteor,'" the chilling voice said with a little laugh,
Le Yuxin froze, realizing the grip on his throat and wrist had come loose. He quickly squared up, facing his opponent, and it finally clicked that he'd been called out, "So you're Star Plucker?"
Standing before Le Yuxin was a young man in a black hooded trench coat. His face was pale, lips thin, cheeks gaunt; his build wasn't particularly strong—even looked a bit soft at first glance.
"But this was the guy who'd just hammered Le Yuxin in a pitch-black room—if he'd wanted to pull something, there's no way Le Yuxin could have stopped him."
The hooded guy didn't speak, instead closed up the floor hatch behind them, covering up any trace of the passage. Le Yuxin glanced at the secret tunnel, easily two shoulders wide, and asked, "You dug this thing yourself?"
"Most folks on Eighteenth Street know a rabbit needs more than one warren. I just connected a few burrows together," the hooded youth said, gesturing politely, "You go first."
"Why?"
"I don't like people walking behind me."
"Well I don't like it either," Le Yuxin grumbled, just for the sake of it.
The hooded guy eyed Le Yuxin thoughtfully, "Your personality really doesn't match how 'Observer' described you."
'Observer' meant Lin Jinyao. Le Yuxin's eyes darted, "What's different?"
"Intelligence level, mostly," the hooded guy said, hands in pockets, "I can lead the way, but then I'll need to turn off the lights. You sure about that?"
Le Yuxin's face clouded. In the dark he was helpless, so he obediently took the lead, exposing his vulnerable back and ass to the world.
The passage wasn't long, maybe a dozen meters. Le Yuxin soon reached a wooden door at the end, when the hooded guy said, "Don't grab the handle. Push from the other side."
Le Yuxin blinked and pushed from the far side of the door. Sure enough, it swung open—the handle side was the hinge!
"What would've happened if I'd pushed the handle?"
"You'd have triggered a Luminous Stone bomb and collapsed the whole tunnel."
No wonder no one wanted to be a contact in this business... Le Yuxin muttered, and after pushing through the door, found himself in yet another tunnel.
"Are we still not there yet?"
"If someone trips the traps, they'll think the tunnel leads straight to the house up above," the hooded youth said, "You don't put traps right at your front door. Isn't that just basic common sense?"
Le Yuxin twisted his mouth, "Pretty sure that's not a piece of common sense I was told."
"Don't thank me. Colleagues and all—I won't charge you tuition," the hooded guy replied, looking completely unaffected.
Le Yuxin's brain did a 360 before he got the joke, thinking if not for losing the fight, this guy would have found out fast why his own ass was so sore. At the end of this tunnel was another wooden door. This time Le Yuxin had learned, "How do I open this one?"
Logically, if a foe survived the earlier traps, they'd realize not to touch the handle again—so in theory, now the handle would be the "correct" way in. But maybe, just maybe, the person who set it up expected you to predict that, so leaving the handle trapped would actually be right. Or maybe if you reverse the logic yet again—
While Le Yuxin brainstormed, the hooded guy cut in flatly, "So you're not only lacking in common sense, you've got a lousy memory."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Didn't I say the trap's not at the front door? This is the front door. It's just a regular door—push it open like normal."
Even if the guy sounded monotone, every word in his mouth just dripped with sarcasm.
Le Yuxin scowled and shoved the door open, stepping into a not-very-big basement. A single white lamp hung from the ceiling, four-tiered shelves filled the corners with all kinds of glass bottles, and dead center was a bed—Le Yuxin would have called it a slaughter table—with several trays piled up with silver scalpels and forceps, gleaming coldly.
"Welcome to my home."
The hooded guy snapped his fingers—the tunnel plunged instantly into darkness. He closed the door behind them, took a seat by the bed, then beckoned Le Yuxin over, pointing at the chair in front of him, "Sit. Don't touch anything in this room. Except the bed. I sterilized it. If you like, you can sit on that too."
Le Yuxin couldn't care less about his twisted sense of humor. He fished out his pocket watch—it was 10:05.
At this point, he'd figured it out, "The meeting spot was a decoy from day one."
The hooded youth nodded, "Of course. I had to be ready for the possibility you'd been turned, arrested, tortured, or followed. In espionage, sharing zero information with a new contact is basic protocol. If you don't even know that, my paranoia is more than justified."
Le Yuxin darkened, "Then how'd you know you could intercept me on the way?"
The hooded guy pointed at the wall behind him, "There are three ways to the rendezvous, but one's blocked by junk and the other by illegal construction. Only one way was left for you to take."
Le Yuxin glanced over. Sure enough, a map of Star Engraving County hung on the wall—and it was way more detailed than anything he'd gotten from the official Statistical Department. Not just the territories, but every shortcut, side street, and even light level was marked.
"I heard there was a little 'scuffle' when you entered Eighteenth Street," the hooded youth said blandly, "A bit awkward to say it, but you seem to have a few screws loose. Reincarnating early might be your best bet."
"If it's awkward, you don't have to insult me that much!"
"It wasn't my fault. He started it first. What was I supposed to do, not beat him up?"
"If you don't want trouble, don't let it find you. That's basic spycraft."
"Like I keep telling you, I don't know any of that basic shit of yours!"
The hooded guy kept his monotone, "Like I said, you're welcome."
"Le Yuxin felt a headache coming on. He rubbed his temples and muttered, 'With your skills, shouldn't you be the one infiltrating the Statistical Department while I stay here being your contact? Doesn't that make more sense?'"
The hooded youth blinked, then suddenly broke into a crooked little smile, "Guess I never formally introduced myself."
He pulled his hood back, revealing a head of pale hair streaked with black. The basement lights grew dimmer—as in, visibly darker, not just by description!
"I'm Yin Yinyin, White Night's underground liaison officer in Star Engraving County, code name 'Star Plucker,'" he said as he tied up his hair, "Nice to meet you, 'Meteor'—Qian Yuliu."
Le Yuxin stared at the shock of white hair for a few seconds, and instantly thought of one thing.
He blurted it out, "So how much longer do you have to live?"
"Three years," Yin Yinyin said offhand, as if it meant nothing at all.