Her Tentacles 66

Chapter 66: The Quiet Lady

As the little octopus nodded with confidence.

Situ Jin: “?”

She looked at Shu Yao helplessly, then at the bodyguard mermaid, who was clearly superior to this little octopus in both size and ability, but had been ruthlessly rejected.

As if she knew what she meant, the hooded woman, who had been following them from a distance with a cold and aloof air, now tried to reach out and gently pinch the corner of her clothes with her thumb and forefinger.

Showing a silent attachment.

As if she were unwilling to leave her.

Situ Jin was completely at a loss.

In the end, she pinched her nose and handed the invitation she had brought to Shu Yao instead. “Alright, I’ve already greeted them for you. You can just go directly. If you need to bring a tracker, remember to hide it well.”

Shu Yao graciously accepted this other black and gold invitation.

This one, like the one Guan Tong had given her, had the same location written on it: a secluded island at sea.

This island was generally not shown on maps. It was only through the internal system that Shu Yao knew that this island was privately owned, and that the owner’s family was illustrious.

The invitation was not signed. Shu Yao had shown it to Situ Jin before, and only then did she know that the Situ family had also received this invitation. It was a private show where a fashion brand was invited to hold a separate event. Her parents had no time to go, and she had no interest in going either.

But Situ Jin had told her that this kind of unsigned invitation was more troublesome, as it often had a chip or a hidden pattern to distinguish the guests—

If one did not greet them in advance, and entered with an unfamiliar face and an unmatched invitation, one would be stopped at the door and politely refused entry.

So for Shu Yao’s first step of safety, she had directly registered the Situ family’s quota to Shu Yao, and had also greeted them in advance. Although she had not explicitly stated Shu Yao’s identity, if the other side was interested, they could easily find out their relationship.

Shu Yao was, in a way, entering with her cards on the table.

In order to ensure her own safety as much as possible, before the private island’s show began, Shu Yao had specially gone to find Lu Ren again.

…

Two days later.

At seven in the evening.

The private jet belonging exclusively to the Situ family took off from the parking area of the port and flew toward the island hidden in the night.

The wings of the plane roared. As it left the land, the lights of the city lit up, like a shining cluster of stars, and the dark, surging sea, which had merged with the night, looked at each other from afar, and also confronted each other with a firm and persistent attitude.

In the noise of the flight, she remembered her last experience on a helicopter—

It didn’t seem to be a pleasant one.

Wearing noise-canceling headphones, in the warm light that occasionally reflected from the window, she lowered her eyelids, and her fingertips squeezed the tentacle of the little octopus that was clinging to the edge of her handbag, curiously looking around.

She squeezed it.

The little octopus’s tentacle also curled around her fingertip, and its suckers also stuck to it. When it let go, it reluctantly left a long and shallow mark.

Although it did not secrete any mucus, it still had a sticky feeling.

Shu Yao began to pull at its tentacles one by one, lifting them up to look, as if she were trying to distinguish if there was any difference between the shapes of these tentacles.

The little octopus, which had been actively interacting with her just now, now seemed a little shy, and was not very willing to be pulled up by her. Its tentacles had a little resistance against her force.

She smiled lightly.

Just then, the pilot’s voice came through the headphones. “Huh? Why don’t I see any other family’s helicopters? It can’t be that this show was canceled at the last minute, right?”

Shu Yao followed and looked out the window.

Indeed, she did not see any other helicopters heading toward the island. There was no movement in the night sky or on the sea, only a particularly bright, round, and large moon hanging high.

From this night wind, which was filled with the smell of seawater, she smelled the sound of an impending storm.

Until the helicopter arrived at the helipad.

Shu Yao saw from the window the waiters in small suits passing by below, and a few people getting off other helicopters and walking toward a very unique building in the center of the island, which was hidden by the forest and was radiant with light.

They were all wearing very well-fitting formal wear, and their makeup was also very heavy.

All the prosperity was a sign that her worries during the flight just now were all overthinking.

When Shu Yao got off, because she had been wearing the combat suit that clung to the curve of her skin for a long time, she was still not used to the uneasy feeling of her dress fluttering in the wind in her line of sight, even though she had already put on that thin layer of protective clothing under this long dress.

She even clearly remembered the strange feeling of her legs being empty when she had tried on this dress in the fitting room when Situ Jin had just helped her.

Although she had always worn such beautiful dresses before.

In order not to let the little pet be checked in her handbag, Shu Yao had specially turned the little octopus into a pure black accessory hidden in her hair. Even if someone were to look closely, they would only see the large, starfish-like, sparkling hair clip.

She did not rush to the venue where the show was held like the others, but looked around the helipad. Just now, she had only had the helicopter fly around once, to remember the outline of the island and to check the signal strength—

Now that she was on the ground of the island, she still had to remember every detail with her eyes.

“Teacher Shu really has a way to get here.”

Just as she was about to walk toward the less crowded area with large tropical plants, a smiling voice came from nearby.

Shu Yao turned her head to look.

She saw Guan Tong, who had also changed out of her combat suit and was wearing a beautiful dress.

Her slightly curly short hair was tucked behind her ear, and her makeup was light and beautiful. Especially her large eyes, paired with the short skirt that exposed her knees and calves, made her look young, playful, and cute.

Shu Yao’s gaze turned on her for a moment, then she moved away to continue looking at other places. Then she heard Guan Tong say, “There’s nothing much to see around here.”

“Why don’t we go into the venue and have a look before the show starts?”

After hearing her words, Shu Yao looked back again. Her light-colored pupils were as cold and indifferent as ever, as if nothing could affect her judgment.

“Okay,” she said. “Then let’s go together.”

…

A few minutes later.

Guan Tong had to stop again and look at the woman who was always walking, and because she was in a daze or looking at other places, she would fall behind her for a long time.

Because at this moment, the two of them were in a more crowded area, Guan Tong did not mention her usual work and mission situation. She just looked at Shu Yao with some helplessness, as if she had just discovered that she usually had such a slow personality:

“Teacher Shu.”

“Do you like the scenery here very much?”

She suppressed her impatience and reminded her tactfully.

The entrance was less than fifty meters in front of them. The other guests had all entered in pairs, their figures swallowed by the palace-like gate. There were only ten minutes left before the show started, and the two of them had not yet arrived.

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed that there was not enough time to explore that building before the show started.

Hearing Guan Tong’s urging, Shu Yao finally moved two more steps in her direction, her tone slightly cool. “I just suddenly remembered something.”

Guan Tong asked curiously, “What?”

“You grew up in Nancheng and had very good grades. You even got many scholarships in college…” Shu Yao slowly recited the part of her information from the unit’s system.

Guan Tong was stunned for a moment, as if she hadn’t expected to be praised by her so suddenly. A hint of awkwardness appeared on her face, and she blinked. “Teacher Shu usually pays so much attention to me?”

Shu Yao looked straight into her eyes, and her tone suddenly changed. “You’re only two years younger than me. Then the textbooks we studied should be the same version, right?”

The other person was even more dazed. “I think so?”

“Then do you know what the first ancient poem in our first Chinese textbook in the first semester of high school was?”

Guan Tong’s expression was as if she had suddenly encountered the kind of middle-aged person who would say, “Let me test you.”

She was a little baffled, and even frowned. “Teacher Shu, do you have to reminisce about the past with me at a time like this?”

Shu Yao curved her lips.

As if in the past, she had seen a friend who was not good at studying and had all sorts of flashy things in her head, but just couldn’t fit in any knowledge.

“I’m sorry. Then let’s go in now,” she said.

So Guan Tong turned around—

But she heard her voice from behind again. “Oh, right. That ancient poem was called ‘The Quiet Lady.’”

“…”

The girl in the beautiful dress and high heels who was walking in front stopped her steps. Her heels even stepped on the fine sand on the road, making a somewhat piercing sound.

And the person who had always been behind her, keeping a distance from her, said unhurriedly, “I remember this poem so clearly that I occasionally have some stress-induced PTSD. If I have misunderstood you, then I apologize to you first.”

Although the wording was polite, Shu Yao’s tone was already certain.

Her emotions were calmer than she had imagined. She looked at the person in front of her without flinching, her eyes showing no fluctuation, as if she were just observing a strange, dangerous, and unrelated monster.

“I used to know someone whose name was the first line of this poem: The quiet lady is beautiful, waiting for me at the corner of the city wall.”

“What a coincidence. Your name is also in this poem.”

A bizarre memory flashed for a moment, and finally settled on the ball on the cruise ship, where she had been cornered by the other person. Shu Yao suddenly smiled a little.

“May I ask, do you know the person I was talking about?”

…

It was still a bustling crowd, but the people being dispatched and the controller in the scene were completely opposite to a few months ago.

Shu Yao was no longer the beautiful doll who could only be manipulated by others.

Whether the other side was human or monster.