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"Holy shit!" Tong Zhao climbed into Hua Xiaotang's car and couldn't help swearing. "Did you see that?"

"I saw," Hua Xiaotang said, chewing gum.

Tong Zhao turned to look at him. "You're not surprised?"

Hua Xiaotang blew a big bubble. It popped, and she gave Tong Zhao a mocking smile. "Surprised? Scared? That's what happens when you turn someone gay!"

"You knew?" Tong Zhao was too shocked to speak for a long moment. "Could it be that after I turned him gay, he... started looking for people like me?"

"You could put it that way." Hua Xiaotang sighed. "They're all bargain-bin versions, a fair way off from the original, but at a glance, you really can't tell them apart."

She added, "I heard about it from the girls who were doing short-term missions involving Shu Sizhuo. Everyone wondered whether he developed some strange fetish after you turned him gay."

Tong Zhao was shocked, but worried too.

Talking about it made Hua Xiaotang exasperated with Tong Zhao all over again. "So how could the boss not chew you out? You're lucky you weren't fired after making such a mess! If Shu Sizhuo really has that fetish, our Straightening Task Force has a long, hard road ahead of us. This just makes it even harder!"

Remembering what the young man had said, Tong Zhao suddenly asked, "What's Wind House?"

"Wind House? No idea." Hua Xiaotang had never heard of it.

"That guy said I was from Wind House." Tong Zhao frowned thoughtfully. "What did he mean?"

Hua Xiaotang studied his face. "Could it be where Shu Sizhuo keeps his little lovers?"

Tong Zhao's frown deepened.

Hua Xiaotang thought for a moment. "The girls from the company ran into boys who looked a lot like you at Shu Sizhuo's company or his old family home, but I never heard them mention Wind House."

Tong Zhao suddenly called out into the air, "'Only when you need a book do you regret not having read enough,' system!"

Beside him, Hua Xiaotang said disdainfully, "That passphrase of yours is really something else."

[Password correct. Missioner 07166, please speak.]

"Do you know what Wind House is?"

[Please wait. Searching...]

[Missioner 07166, search complete. A wind house is a special type of building or structure characterized by ventilation, air storage...]

"Stop, stop, stop!" Tong Zhao had had enough. "I'm asking about the Wind House connected to Shu Sizhuo."

[You should have said so earlier. Please wait...]

Tong Zhao: "..."

[Missioner 07166, all I can find is that Wind House is a property owned by Shu Sizhuo. Its location, purpose, and function are all unknown.]

"Why can't you find out?"

[I'm just a system, not a know-it-all. Of course I can't access encrypted information.]

"Encrypted information?"

[Mm-hmm. This Mr. Shu Sizhuo has encrypted quite a lot of information. He's as mysterious as a national-level political leader.]

Tong Zhao glumly switched off the system, and Hua Xiaotang asked him, "Doesn't the system know?"

The system interfaced directly with the chip in the missioner's brain, so no one else could see or hear its responses.

Tong Zhao was preoccupied. "No."

Hua Xiaotang started the car and drove on. "It's just Wind House, isn't it? I'll look into it. Wait for my message."

Only then did Tong Zhao remember how broad a network of contacts Hua Xiaotang had built since transmigrating. "Sorry for the trouble, Senior Sister Hua."

"I'm doing it for my own mission. First, let's go see what kind of bastard Shu Sizhuo is."

Tong Zhao tried to hold back, but couldn't. "Shu Sizhuo isn't a bastard." Even if Shu Sizhuo was a bastard, he didn't want to hear someone else call him that.

Hua Xiaotang glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "Tong Zhao, tell me honestly. Do you still like him?"

Tong Zhao hadn't expected Hua Xiaotang to ask so directly, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer.

By the time the red sports car had left the mountain road, he still hadn't denied it. Hua Xiaotang slapped the steering wheel in exasperation. "What's wrong with you, Tong Zhao? You really do like him? Is he from the same world as you? You actually got serious! No wonder you kept coming back to this world!"

Tong Zhao gazed at the city drawing closer ahead. After a long while, he said quietly, "Nothing will happen between us. I did everything I could to come to this little world this time just to see him, to see if he was doing well... We're not from the same world. I know that."

Hearing what Tong Zhao really thought, Hua Xiaotang glanced at him in surprise, then pressed her red lips tightly together.

What was Tong Zhao doing? Falling in love with someone from a mission world was taboo.

Boss Huang brought Xiao Fan, the young man who looked remarkably like Tong Zhao, to the Shu Group's headquarters. He came often enough that the receptionists knew him. They called Shu Sizhuo's second assistant, who came down to meet them shortly afterward.

"President Shu is still in a meeting." The second assistant swiped his card and selected a floor in the elevator. "Wait for him in the lounge."

"Of course, of course. Sorry for the trouble," Boss Huang said with a smile.

The second assistant glanced at the masked young man. His eyes and brows alone gave it away. Although President Shu hadn't visited Wind House for quite some time and hadn't shown any longing for that face, it had always enjoyed special privileges. So the second assistant brought them up on his own initiative without informing President Shu, who was in a meeting.

Boss Huang also assumed that President Shu would be pleased again this time, that he would gaze at this face in a daze, take the young man in, and then give him a large sum of money.

When Shu Sizhuo came out of the meeting room, the second assistant hurried over and told him about it in a low voice.

Shu Sizhuo frowned, only then remembering that he had forgotten about the matter. He stopped and said in a deep voice, "Tell him I won't need any more from now on."

The second assistant was taken aback, as was the first assistant beside him.

Just then, Boss Huang, who had grown impatient waiting in the lounge, appeared before Shu Sizhuo with Xiao Fan.

"President Shu, has your meeting ended?" Boss Huang bowed slightly, smiling obsequiously.

Shu Sizhuo glanced at the masked young man behind him. The young man's curved, slightly upturned eyes met his before he lowered his head shyly.

A sudden wave of irritation came over Shu Sizhuo. He gestured for the second assistant to handle it and started to leave.

Thinking Shu Sizhuo hadn't gotten a good look at the person he'd brought, Boss Huang hurriedly tugged at Xiao Fan. Xiao Fan immediately ran in front of Shu Sizhuo, pulled off his mask, and called timidly, "President Shu!"

Shu Sizhuo's gaze settled on his face, and a feeling of disgust unlike any he had ever known welled up within him.

He doesn't look like him. Not in the slightest. They're all fakes, not even a ten-thousandth as good as the real person!

No, they can't even compare to a single hair on his body!

"Get lost," he spat coldly.

Xiao Fan froze in disbelief, then boldly stepped forward. "President Shu, look at me. I'm better-looking than the one at your house... ah!"

Pain struck Xiao Fan's abdomen as Shu Sizhuo kicked him flying to the ground.

Boss Huang cursed the boy inwardly for being so thick-headed and daring to say anything. He hurriedly stepped in front of him and apologized profusely to Shu Sizhuo. "President Shu, I'm sorry. This boy doesn't know any better. He offended you!"

"You went to the old family home?" And saw Tong Zhao?

Seeing Shu Sizhuo's dark expression, Boss Huang felt as though a venomous snake had slithered over his body, chilling him to the bone.

His mind worked quickly. After piecing a few things together, he ventured a guess. "We... we went to the old family home to find you first. You weren't there, so we... Don't worry, we didn't say anything we shouldn't have! I only asked whether you were there, not a word more! That person... that person probably didn't see Xiao Fan either..."

Shu Sizhuo gave no indication of whether he believed him. He merely lowered his gaze and looked at him coldly. "Don't ever bring me anyone again."

Boss Huang's forehead was covered in cold sweat. "Yes, yes, understood."

Without another glance at them, Shu Sizhuo strode away.

After entering the elevator, Shu Sizhuo turned to his first assistant. "Shut down the internal search for that person. Don't bring me any more lookalikes, either. Send everyone in Wind House away."

"Yes." The first assistant nodded.

As one of the few people who knew a little of the story, the first assistant hesitated for a moment, then asked softly out of concern, "You're... not looking for that person anymore?"

Shu Sizhuo stared at the descending elevator, his voice low and hoarse. "...I've already found him."