Chapter 144: Like a Little Old Lady

“Even so, aren’t you a little too calm? Did you know that man’s identity beforehand?” Dry Wood asked quietly.

“No, that’s actually a misunderstanding,” Liu Xu shook his head, denying it. “If I’m being honest, it’s just a personal quirk of mine.”

“A quirk?” Hyena asked.

“A minor one. I’m used to being suspicious of others, slapping the worst possible labels on them. Then, using that label as a foundation, I infer their behavior. It’s like shooting an arrow first and then drawing the target around it,” Liu Xu sighed. “A bad habit, but it’s helped me plenty of times. Like this time—I suspected that man had ulterior motives from the very start, so naturally, his words didn’t affect me… Of course, suspicion is just suspicion, nothing more.”

“Is it a good idea to be so frank with us?” Hyena smiled silently. “Since you’ve already started, why not finish? In your eyes, what kind of people are Dry Wood and I?”

Liu Xu glanced at Hyena and shook his head. “We’re not that close yet, are we?”

“You know, you remind me of someone I knew,” Dry Wood suddenly spoke up.

“What kind of person?” Liu Xu raised an eyebrow.

“It’s hard to say. I never really understood him,” Dry Wood shook his head. “But whether he was good or bad, he’s a dead man now.”

Liu Xu was somewhat speechless. Dry Wood’s expression didn’t seem sarcastic, but he didn’t continue either. Liu Xu could only take it as a kind of awkward compliment for the time being.

They finally reached the elevator. After swiping the ID card and pressing the up button repeatedly with no response, the Young Nurse looked back at Liu Xu and the others, on the verge of tears. “The elevator won’t work… Do you know any other way out?”

“How would I know another way out?” Liu Xu was stunned. “You’re the staff member here. How could I know this place better than you?”

“Didn’t you say this was a prison break scenario?” the Young Nurse said. “Didn’t you tattoo the map on your back?”

Liu Xu was a bit speechless. This Young Nurse’s way of thinking reminded him of Xu Yan. He couldn’t tell for a moment if she was too flustered or too calm. “I already told you, I’m not the male lead of a prison break… Wait, the elevator seems to be coming down.”

The Young Nurse turned her head. Sure enough, the numbers above were starting to descend. She looked at Liu Xu with some surprise. “Is this your Syndrome? Elevator Summoning?”

“Fun fact: elevators aren’t one-way,” Liu Xu was starting to lose patience with the Young Nurse’s abstract reasoning. He pointed out, “Someone’s in the elevator.”

The Young Nurse let out an embarrassed “Oh.” She tended to talk more when she was nervous, as if that made her less tense.

“Who would come down in the elevator at this time?” Dry Wood wasn’t as relaxed as the two of them, just frowning as he asked.

“Two possibilities. The bad possibility is that the New World members are inside that elevator,” Liu Xu looked up, watching the numbers above the elevator. “The worse possibility is that there are Executors inside.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” the Young Nurse asked.

Liu Xu said nothing, only placing his right hand behind his back.

“…Are you suggesting that Executors were also involved in planning this matter?” Dry Wood suddenly grasped something, his pupils contracting slightly.

With a crisp “ding,” the elevator doors slowly opened.

“Good afternoon,” Liu Xu said in a low voice. “Qi Xin.”

“Good afternoon, everyone,” Qi Xin, dressed in her Executor Uniform, said calmly. Flanking her on either side were a man and a woman, also wearing Executor Uniforms. They both looked older than Qi Xin, but whether in expression or posture, they clearly deferred to her, as respectful as loyal servants.

“I thought the one following you would be that person surnamed Li,” Dry Wood feigned calmness. He couldn’t recognize the identities of the two Executors beside Qi Xin. The man and woman were both very young, but with the precedents of Yue Yunqiu and Li Yuan, he couldn’t afford to underestimate these two Executors. “Did you get new babysitters?”

Qi Xin completely ignored Dry Wood’s words. She simply looked to both sides. Zhou Liao and Li Yinghe immediately understood her intent. Nodding, they stepped out of the elevator, walked past Liu Xu and the others, and headed towards the Cafeteria.

As they brushed past, Liu Xu saw both of them reach up and turn off their Law Executors Cameras.

Once there was space in the elevator, Liu Xu stepped inside, as naturally as an ordinary guest waiting for a lift, and pressed the button for the first floor. Hyena and Dry Wood followed him in. The Young Nurse entered last, trembling slightly, and stammered a thank you to Qi Xin.

Qi Xin offered a gentle smile. That smile was like a spring river just thawed, warm currents mingling with shards of ice, accompanied by textbook kindness, making one instinctively want to trust her.

“Are you involved in this matter?” Liu Xu asked quietly.

“I need you to contact Qi Ran,” Qi Xin did not answer his question. She simply and directly handed a sticky note to Liu Xu. “I know you have a way to reach her. Have her go to this place on December 31st.”

“Why should I help you?” Liu Xu didn’t take the sticky note. “Even if I give her this paper, I don’t think she’ll come to see you. Who knows if this is entrapment?”

“You’re not helping me; you’re helping Qi Ran,” Qi Xin said calmly. “Once she reads this paper, she will come.”

Liu Xu took the sticky note. On it was written a string of addresses and one solitary character. That character was Qiao.

“You two know each other?” The Young Nurse lowered her voice hesitantly, asking Liu Xu. “Could it be… you actually are the male lead in a Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell plot?”

Liu Xu was momentarily stunned, only just remembering that whole matter. He was just about to say something when the Young Nurse shivered dramatically and spoke with surprising tact. “I know the rules. I never saw you. Don’t resort to silencing me…”

“Will you tell anyone about what happened today?” Qi Xin grasped the Young Nurse’s hand, cutting off her words, and asked in a low voice.

Liu Xu’s pupils abruptly contracted.

The Young Nurse’s eyes briefly clouded over with confusion. A moment later, she shook her head, her voice dreamlike, as if talking in her sleep. “No.”

“Good girl,” Qi Xin praised. She then looked to Liu Xu and the others. “And you?”

“No.” After a brief silence, the three men spoke simultaneously, their voices perfectly uniform.

“Very good,” Qi Xin said quietly.

Just then, the elevator finally reached the first floor. Liu Xu and the others walked out of the elevator, then continued naturally out the main entrance. The staff members along the way seemed not to see them at all; their path was completely unobstructed.

Only after confirming that Liu Xu and the others had completely exited the building did Qi Xin press the elevator’s down button once more.

Standing in the elevator, she reached out and found her Cell Phone in her pocket. It was the birthday gift Li Yuan had prepared for her.

Although she was still a bit clumsy with the phone, she had gradually learned how to use it. Li Yuan had teased her, saying that in some ways, she was very much like a stern little old lady, utterly clueless about electronics. The phone had even been set to Simplified-Senior Mode, still using the default wallpaper.

Actually, Li Yuan had misunderstood. The reason she set the phone to Simplified-Senior Mode was simply because of Tao Qiao. Whenever she used her phone, Tao Qiao would eagerly lean in to look. Enlarging the font just made it easier to see, that was all. But she didn’t correct Li Yuan’s assumption. Not because she was worried about accidentally revealing Tao Qiao’s existence, but just because—when Li Yuan was teasing her, Li Yuan was holding her hand, making it hard to concentrate. She wasn’t used to physical contact with others.

Li Yuan was always like that. Qi Xin knew this. It wasn’t anything special. She had met Li Yuan’s Mother. Genetics were just too powerful. Li Yuan’s mother’s personality was practically stamped from the same mold as Li Yuan’s; their thought processes were equally erratic, and they were just as obtuse about physical contact. Honestly, on this matter, the mother-daughter pair were more like little old ladies. Only elderly little ladies would hold a friend’s hand while chatting, laughing their heads off.

What she had said to Qi Ran was the truth. She had never used Lake Cutting on Li Yuan.

There was no particular reason. At first, she simply didn’t know how to use Lake Cutting. Later, after mastering it, there was no longer any need to use Lake Cutting on Li Yuan. It was that simple. There really was no special reason.