Chapter 24: 24. Acting Skills Reach a New Level

The security guards filed out of the elevator, none daring to continue gossiping.

The man at the back of the group suddenly changed direction, pushed open the heavy fire door, and entered the emergency stairwell next to the elevator hall.

He walked beside the stairs, looked up, then down, and after confirming there was no one else in the entire stairwell, he took out his mobile phone and dialed.

The call connected, and a distorted mechanical voice came through the receiver: “Are you certain it’s her?”

“Yes, Boss. I’m certain.”

A soft laugh seemed to come from the other end, followed by: “And you confirmed the ID number?”

“Confirmed. It’s forged.”

“How clever of her.”

The man recounted the story of the two women fighting until they fainted and ending up in the luxury suite, then asked what he should do next.

The Boss did not answer immediately, but instead asked another question: “How badly is she hurt?”

The man shook his head, even though he was on the phone: “Not bad.”

“Really?” A hint of disappointment crept into the tone. “Then go up there and bring her to me now. I want to see for myself what she’s trying to do. And…”

The Boss paused. The man waited quietly, and it felt as if an eternity had passed before he heard the rest: “If the mole really is her, make sure she’s secured. I want to send her on her way myself.”

The problem of a mole within the Syndicate was not a recent development.

It had surfaced several years ago.

But this mole operated with extreme secrecy, leaving behind no evidence. So much time had passed, and no one had been caught. Yet, because of the mole, the Syndicate had carried out multiple purge operations internally, dealing with many members.

Operating on a “kill a thousand by mistake rather than let one go” principle, the Boss had dealt with many people, even personally leading a great purge operation.

Almost everyone thought the mole had died in that massacre, but no one expected them to escape death time and time again, continuing to move between the worlds of law and crime.

They were like an unkillable cockroach—no matter what methods or means were used, they ultimately could not be eliminated.

The mole’s existence was like a secret door opened into the Syndicate. No one knew when the Syndicate’s secrets would be exposed to the world, causing their entire hierarchical system to collapse. But everyone knew that as long as the mole existed, the Syndicate’s position remained unstable.

The monetary losses were just numbers to the Boss. What he most wanted to settle was the hatred accumulated over years of being made a fool of by the mole.

The man retracted his wandering thoughts and replied: “Understood, Boss.”

The call ended, and the man headed upstairs.

The emergency stairwell had no surveillance, allowing free passage to every floor. He soon reached the suite’s floor. By the time he stepped out of the stairwell, he had already changed out of the security guard uniform.

From the perspective of the corridor’s CCTV, one could only see a janitor in a cleaner’s uniform, hunched over, pushing a trolley filled with various cleaning tools and fresh linens.

He knocked on the door, but no one came to open it for a long time.

Could they have already run?

The scene he had witnessed outside the hotel not long ago flashed through his mind.

In truth, he had lied. That kick had knocked the person unconscious. How could the injury not be serious?

He had done it deliberately.

If he had said the injury was serious, he feared the Boss might blame the attacker for being too heavy-handed. After all, as fellow Syndicate members, every moment was a tightrope walk. Why make trouble for one of your own?

But with no one answering the door for so long, he couldn’t help but suspect that the attacker had already finished her off and was now agonizing over how to dispose of the body.

He knocked several more times. Just as he was about to use his master keycard, the sounds of a violent struggle suddenly erupted from inside. The noise alone was enough to tell him how intense the fight was.

As he stood there, caught between going in and waiting, the door in front of him suddenly swung open. It was the woman who had been beaten earlier.

She was being choked, her outstretched hand clutching the door handle, trembling violently.

The woman restraining her drove a knee strike into her with brutal force. She instantly arched her back and doubled over. When she raised her head again, her mouth was full of blood, and her clothes were stained red with it.

His eyes widened. He never imagined that in just half an hour, this person had gone from a simple nosebleed to coughing up mouthfuls of blood, a pathetic and terrifying sight to behold.

He now regretted covering for the attacker in his report.

He should have told the truth.

She was coughing blood now. Her internal organs were likely damaged. There was no way the injury wasn’t serious.

“Help… me…” The woman frowned deeply, and the words were followed by another cough that sprayed blood.

He immediately used the trolley to block the door open and urgently whispered: “Stop it, now! You’ll kill her!”

Kill her?

Xu Jinyao sneered and struck down with a swift knife-hand blow.

The next second, Xia Xun’s eyes rolled back, and she fell unconscious.

The man, of course, did not stop it. To be precise, he hadn’t had the time to even react.

Xu Jinyao’s movements were simply too fast. By the time he saw clearly, the person was already on the floor.

“You—!”

His task had just been assigned, and the target was already half-dead. The man rushed in with his trolley and crouched beside Xia Xun to check her breathing. Good… her breathing was weak, but she was still alive.

“What? Am I not allowed to touch her?” Xu Jinyao asked with an indifferent attitude.

The man had been in the Syndicate for a considerable time. Using assignments as cover to settle personal scores was something he had long grown accustomed to. But when the target was involved in his mission, he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.

But… he still hadn’t figured out this member’s identity. And the moves she used looked increasingly familiar—clearly not the Syndicate’s training, but rather something from a formal, disciplined system.

Could she be a cop?

He frowned and said in a low voice, “The Boss wants me to bring her in.”

“The Boss?”

He nodded.

Xu Jinyao remained outwardly calm. “Why?”

Syndicate members rarely, one could even say never, asked the word “why.”

The man’s deepening frown made Xu Jinyao realize her slip immediately. She quickly added, “Is it about the case?”

The unconscious woman was a private investigator, and possibly the mole who had been leaking information to the police. Indeed, it was related to the case. So the man nodded again.

Xu Jinyao raised an eyebrow, slowly blinked, and stepped aside to clear the path. “What are you standing there for? Take her away.”

Xia Xun was stuffed into the trolley. Fresh linens were piled over her head to hide her. One layer, and the blood would soak through, so they piled on several more. Up until he left, the man’s frown never eased.

What kind of grudge could be so deep that someone would beat another person into this state in the blink of an eye?

He had no idea.

Of course he wouldn’t know.

Xu Jinyao stood at the doorway, watching him push the trolley into the distance. At that exact moment, Xia Xun—who was hidden under the sheets, spitting blood and supposedly unconscious—opened her eyes. Looking at the blinking signal jammer by her feet, a slow smile curved her lips.

Just a short while earlier, there had been a knock at the door.

“Someone’s here.” Xu Jinyao turned warily, her gaze piercing through the wall towards the entrance.

Xia Xun smiled. “This timing… I’m afraid this visitor comes with ill intentions.”

Xu Jinyao guessed it was someone sent by the Syndicate. The higher-ups already knew Xia Xun’s identity. If Xia Xun really went in to investigate, it would be a one-way trip.

She didn’t say a word and walked straight toward the door.

Xia Xun caught up and blocked her path, lowering her voice. “I’m not afraid.”

Not afraid of what?

Xu Jinyao frowned.

“If it’s the card issuer coming, I can turn their own trick against them.” Xia Xun said with a smile. “Officer Xu, don’t forget we’re partners now. If we miss this opportunity, finding another way in later will be very difficult.”

Time was of the essence. Xu Jinyao had no extra time to think, and Xia Xun kept urging her to make a quick decision.

She knew exactly what made her hesitate.

Whether Xia Xun lived or died didn’t really matter. But she preferred Xia Xun to die by her own hand.

She had waited twelve years. Just when her wish was about to come true, reality had dealt her a blow, forcing her to make a choice.

Agreeing meant she might never have another chance for revenge against Xia Xun. Refusing meant giving up a rare chance to infiltrate, condemning multiple missing persons to death.

The golden window for a missing person was never 24 hours. It was every minute and every second after they disappeared. Most missing people’s chances of survival decreased with the passage of time.

If she were the one about to enter the casino, she wouldn’t hesitate. But what she was gambling now was Xia Xun’s life.

Those people were always ruthless killers, utterly without conscience. Even if she were the one going in, if she were discovered, she’d probably vanish from the face of the earth.

Xia Xun didn’t give her time to hesitate. She continued, “They might be testing our relationship. Don’t hesitate. Human lives are at stake. It’s my honor to assist the police. Besides, I have legs—if something goes wrong in there, I’ll definitely run at the first chance. Don’t worry.”

Xia Xun seemed even more eager than her to uncover something.

After a moment of silence, Xu Jinyao let out a long sigh. “One hour.”

Xia Xun: “?”

“I’m giving you one hour. Take the signal jammer. There’s a tracker inside. If you switch off the jamming function, I’ll receive your real-time location. Once the time is up, whether you’ve found the missing people or not, you find a way to get out.”

Xia Xun nodded solemnly. “Okay, let’s begin.”

“Begin what?” Xu Jinyao didn’t understand.

Xia Xun took a capsule from an inner pocket of her clothes and put it in her mouth. She raised her fist to indicate her own stomach, then pointed a finger at the door. “You need to make the person outside think you want to kill me. That will keep them from suspecting you.”

“Fighting again?” Despite her words, Xu Jinyao didn’t hold back. Following the hint, she threw a punch, but Xia Xun sidestepped to dodge.

As she dodged, Xia Xun swept a decorative vase off the table and jumped half a meter away.

Bang!

The vase shattered on the floor.

“More, more,” Xia Xun urged in a low voice.

Xu Jinyao now saw the plan clearly.

Her strikes were still fast, but the force behind them was reduced to a minimum.

The two fought fiercely, and the knocking outside grew more frantic. Xia Xun estimated the time was right, then bit open the capsule. The sickly-sweet fake blood flooded her mouth instantly.

To make the effect even more convincing, Xia Xun called a pause and stuffed in several more capsules. They burst in her mouth one after another, and she rapidly became a messy, pathetic sight.

Xia Xun gestured silently, mouthing: “Choke me. Quick!”

Xu Jinyao couldn’t help but wonder if Xia Xun had made a living all these years just by faking injuries.

The door opened. Xu Jinyao drove a knee strike upward. Xia Xun simultaneously bent over, blocking it with her hand in a flawlessly synchronized move.

Right before raising her head, she bit open the last capsule. The near-death effect was incredibly realistic, scaring the man so much that he rushed in with a tense expression.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Xia Xun’s skill at feigning unconsciousness had reached a masterful level.

Her mind snapped back to the present. Watching the trolley slowly turn a corner until it disappeared from sight, Xu Jinyao finally looked away, turned, and headed toward the elevator hall.