At midnight, Qianben Xixi had just finished her bath and was comfortably lying in bed, ready to sleep.
After experiencing the daytime robbery, sending Haibara home to rest, rushing back to the police station to give a statement, and then going to the publishing house to sign a contract, her editor, upon hearing she had been involved in another case, sympathetically worked overtime to help her handle the serialization contract for the physical magazine. The editor even encouraged her to write a real detective novel based on her personal experiences in the future… She expressed no desire to write one, only wanting to live an ordinary, peaceful life, and begged for cases to stop finding her. She thanked the editor for the kind suggestion.
To express her gratitude to the editor, she opened her newly bought laptop, furiously typed ten thousand words, and uploaded them.
Only after finishing all this did she finally have time to herself. After washing up, she prepared to rest.
At one in the morning, Qianben Xixi drifted into a deep sleep. Suddenly, her phone on the bedside table vibrated. Awakened from her dream, she impatiently reached out and hung up. Little did she know, the person on the other end of the line had no sense of timing and persistently called again.
A few seconds later, Qianben Xixi abruptly sat up in bed, picked up the phone, and pressed the answer button, holding it to her ear.
"Who is it, disturbing my sweet dreams in the middle of the night?" Her voice was still a bit hoarse from being awakened, and her tone was extremely impatient. "You'd better have a good reason, or else…"
"Or else what?" Gin's voice on the other end was low, tinged with a malicious playfulness, as if he were suppressing extreme anger with calm restraint.
Feeling the overwhelming aura of killing intent, malice, and the icy tone, Qianben Xixi instantly woke up. She felt refreshed and no longer sleepy at all.
"Ah, Gin," Qianben Xixi lay back under the covers, lazily replying. "You're calling me so late—is there a mission?"
"Hah, you still remember missions?" Mentioning this only made him angrier. Gin instinctively glanced at a bottle of Asti sparkling wine beside him, which Vermouth had specifically bought and given him before leaving earlier.
Of course, Vermouth had also bought a bottle of Rye whiskey for him at the time—the malicious teasing was obvious even to a fool.
So Gin had initially intended to refuse and leave directly. But seeing the two bottles placed side by side on the bar counter, his mood worsened even further. In the end, he still took the Asti, even though the Rye whiskey was much more expensive than the Asti.
Gin took out a wine glass and opened the Asti bottle on the table with one hand. Although he didn't shake it, the soft "pop" as the cork came off still reached Qianben Xixi's ears.
"Gin, do you have good news? Opening champagne in the middle of the night," Qianben Xixi asked curiously, completely ignoring his mention of the mission.
Good news? Hearing this, Gin's hand pouring the wine stiffened momentarily, spilling a little. The clear liquid dripped down the side of the glass onto his fingers. He laughed in anger again, staring at the rich, dense bubbles in the glass. Suddenly, he wondered if the Boss had also been angered by her, which was why he gave her such a "bubbly" codename.
Every time he spoke with Asti, Gin felt his blood pressure rise, struggling to suppress his anger.
"What about the mission I assigned you last time?" Gin didn't beat around the bush anymore, cutting straight to the point.
Huh? A mission? What mission? Qianben Xixi racked her brain upon hearing this, and it seemed there was indeed such a thing. No wonder she had felt like she’d forgotten something these past two days, though it didn’t seem too important. Probably that mission wasn’t too important either…
Perhaps she had paused for a bit too long while thinking, as Gin immediately snorted coldly and gritted his teeth, saying, “So you forgot?”
“Uh…” Qianben Xixi felt a bit awkward. Given a little more time, she definitely could have remembered.
“Vermouth.” Gin had no intention of beating around the bush with her and went straight to the point. “She came to me today and said she saw you with Shuichi Akai. Do you have anything to say to me?”
Damn it, Vermouth! That woman actually snitched on her! It was at this moment that Qianben Xixi finally remembered the mission Gin had assigned her—to keep an eye on what Vermouth was up to in Mihana Town lately. And yet… she ended up being the one reported to Gin first.
Hadn’t she just casually teased her back then? Could the robber really have listened to her and made Vermouth take her place as a hostage again? The key point was… her persona at the time didn’t know the other party was Vermouth. So she had mentioned Dr. Araide—what did that have to do with Vermouth?
This person is so petty… No, everyone in the Organization is petty and holds grudges, especially this bottle of Gin she was talking to right now.
If she didn’t handle this properly, she’d have to be prepared for her boss to make things difficult for her at any time in the future.
Being a corporate drone is tough, and the Organization’s salary isn’t easy to earn… After sighing to herself, Qianben Xixi still had to honestly answer her boss Gin’s question.
“Vermouth?” she asked, pretending not to know. “Does she know Shuichi Akai too? Wait, you know him as well?”
Gin: …
“He is Rye.” Gin, afraid she might ask another question that would anger him, briefly explained. “An FBI undercover agent who was exposed and defected from the Organization two years ago.”
This time, Qianben Xixi didn’t pretend not to know. Going too far would be counterproductive. She fell silent for a moment, as if digesting the information she had just received, before speaking up. “I just met him today, on the bus. He was sitting next to me.”
“So he told you his name on his own?” Gin seized on the suspicious point and asked.
“How could that be…” Qianben Xixi told the truth. “Of course, I was the one who asked.”
“Hah, what, do you have a crush on him?” Asking a strange man’s name on a bus—what else could it be besides flirting? Thinking of this, Gin’s smile turned even colder as he mocked, “What a pity. It seems you’ll never have a chance in this lifetime. Unless, like that naive and foolish woman…”
Gin stopped halfway, not intending to tell her too much.
“I don’t have a crush on him…” Qianben Xixi had just started to emphasize this when she heard a sarcastic sneer from the other end of the phone.
Qianben Xixi: …
Alright, this matter couldn’t be explained clearly, so she wouldn’t bother explaining.
“It’s normal to have a crush on him, though.” So she said righteously, “That man is handsome and cool, with a great figure. He’s polite and humble, not petty or grudge-holding, and he doesn’t speak sarcastically. He’s naturally a popular type, isn’t he? Besides… I didn’t know about Rye defecting. I just joined the Organization.”
Qianben Xixi felt exhilarated after saying all that in one breath, but it didn't feel like enough, so she blurted out an additional remark. "Gin, are you jealous or something…"
Gin: …
Was she implying he was impolite and lacking humility, petty and vindictive, and speaking in a sarcastic, double-edged way?
Gin was so angry he almost laughed. No one had ever dared to be so bold, to say such things right to his face.
Even Vermouth wouldn't dare, hah.
He felt like this subordinate was beyond keeping.
Where was his gun? Where had he put it?
Furious, Gin downed the drink beside him in one gulp. Only after finishing it did he realize it was sparkling Asti, which made him even angrier.