65: Contact
"What's wrong? You're laughing so happily, while our honorable Parliament Member is still raging at his subordinates." Lu Siyu passed by behind Xia Hongying carrying a plate of cut apples. Hearing the girl's bell-like laughter, she asked.
Xia Hongying took off her headphones and answered with a smile: "I'm chatting with a friend, the cute little girl I met online that I mentioned to you before."
"Oh, that die-hard tsundere?" Lu Siyu nodded knowingly. "You're meeting this Wednesday, right?"
"Right, I'll introduce you to my friend too." Xia Hongying said happily. The friend mentioned in her arrangement with Leticia was Lu Siyu beside her.
Xia Hongying and Lu Siyu had known each other for a very long time—they had already met in elementary school.
As for that blonde guy, they had met him in high school.
"You really don't give Parliament Member any face. He's panicking over there while you're here thinking about meeting internet friends." Lu Siyu complained. Although she and Blonde Youth were also slacking off, at least they weren't obvious about it.
But Xia Hongying was different—she basically had "I want to slack off" written on her face.
"Why should I give him face? I'm not a detective—I can't help him find the criminal." Xia Hongying shrugged. She hated thinking the most, especially this kind of thinking that was the same as not thinking at all. She had absolutely no motivation.
"Besides, you saw his attitude toward us. He basically wanted to slap 'hurry up and get lost' on our faces." Xia Hongying pouted unhappily. This was the first time she had received such treatment.
She was a prodigy in every sense of the word. From childhood to now, no one had dared treat her like this.
"But he is a Parliament Member after all, and we did accept the Association's mission to assist him. We can't really just sit here and watch him struggle alone, right?" Lu Siyu shook her head. She was a girl with a strong sense of responsibility. After all, that thing had been taken away right in front of them—emotionally and logically, they should help.
Xia Hongying obviously had different opinions. Thinking about what happened that night made her break out in cold sweat. They had really almost died that time.
Those two incredibly powerful villains—how could the three of them possibly win?
The Association sending them to assist the Parliament Member definitely wasn't really for assistance.
If the Association really wanted to help the Parliament Member, they would absolutely send elite S-rank hero squads. Otherwise, how could they match the reputation of the so-called Black and White Duo?
Speaking of this Black and White Duo, Xia Hongying had even more doubts. She, Lu Siyu, and Blonde Youth had never heard of such a powerful pair of villains in Central City.
This was very abnormal. With those two's strength, they couldn't possibly be nobodies.
It wasn't that Xia Hongying was being modest—villains who could beat the three of them to hospital beds using just physical prowess were definitely major villains, the kind who could be main antagonists in superhero movies.
It couldn't be that those two had only recently become villains, right?
"What exactly are those two people in black and white? The Association seems to know something, but we're completely in the dark." Xia Hongying muttered.
Lu Siyu handed the apple to Xia Hongying. "Don't think about it so much. We just need to complete the mission the Association assigned us."
"Sigh."
......
"Someone is inquiring about information regarding me?" Closing the scroll in her hands, Qila looked puzzled at the cold-faced woman with a capable aura standing before her. "Are they asking about Su Qi, or about Qila?"
"They're asking about Princess Qila of the demon race." The woman pointed at Qila, her tone flat.
"That's interesting. Although my coming to the human world isn't exactly a secret, who would be so coincidentally inquiring about me here?"
"According to reports from other agents, the other party isn't just gathering information in Central City, but is investigating in various cities throughout the human world."
"Wow, what a big operation. Do we know who it is?" Qila was curious. Going to such great lengths to investigate information about her—what were they planning to do?
Come to eliminate her?
"We don't know yet, but judging from the identities of those making inquiries, the opposing force won't be weak." The woman told Qila all the intelligence gathered these past days. "In Central City it was that snake woman, in Sacred City it was that bishop..."
One after another, famous names from the underworld were reported by the woman. Just from these names alone, one could see how influential the person behind them was.
"Oh? What does the other party want to know, or rather, what do they want to do?" Qila propped her chin, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
The woman thought for a moment before informing Qila of the other party's purpose: "Their story is all the same—some important figure wants to make a deal with you."
"A deal?" Qila became even more curious. What was it that they had to trade with her specifically?
"Yes, the other party says it's something you've coveted for a long time, and recently, you just missed obtaining it."
"Mythological Age Magic Studies!" Qila immediately thought of the answer. That person behind the scenes was the mysterious individual who had intercepted the book that concerned the world's fate.
Knowing she desired that book, knowing the details of her transaction with that Parliament Member, able to use such clever methods to trick away the book that should have been hers—Qila was already thinking about what kind of demand this mysterious force would make.
That man surnamed Wang had been eager to get rid of the book because he urgently needed financial support, but the mysterious force that intercepted it probably wouldn't be so hasty.
"This is getting a bit troublesome." Qila was somewhat troubled. "I can't stay in the human world too long. Once the elves and beastmen free up their energy, that book will start getting tangled up again."
"The other party hasn't named their price yet. Should we send someone to make contact first?" the woman inquired.
"Good, figure out their background as quickly as possible. It would be best to get the book within a week." Qila naturally wouldn't object.
"Yes!"