Oho!

Behind the one-way mirror, amid awkward dead silence, everyone in the Special Affairs Department couldn't help touching the guns at their waists, wanting to silence that embarrassment before the news could spread.

Only Ai Qing remained calm. She took a sip of coffee, then pulled a pair of heavy sunglasses from the pouch on her wheelchair and put them on.

"Continue."

She said.

After hesitating for a moment, the middle-aged man sighed and gave the order through the microphone on the table. "Continue."

It took Brother Number One quite a while to recover from their awkward reunion. He brushed aside the hair hanging before his eyes, smiled warmly, and extended a hand.

"Nice to meet you, little brother. My name is Liu Dongli..."

"Bullshit! Who the hell wants to know you?!"

Huai Shi flew into a rage. He had finally figured it out. Pointing his cuffed hand at Liu Dongli, he shouted toward the door, "Comrade officer, I want to report him! This guy works in an illegal profession. He's practically the king of male escorts... Don't let him fool you!"

"..."

Liu Dongli sighed helplessly, then suddenly raised a finger before Huai Shi. "Look at my finger."

"No!"

No matter how stupid Huai Shi was, he knew something was wrong. Why would he willingly jump into that trap? He immediately raised his head, only to accidentally... see Liu Dongli's face.

His fair skin and slender neck, his ocean-deep eyes, several strands of gold hidden amid his long hair like starlight glittering in the universe. A few locks fell across his brow, veiling eyes like cold stars on a winter night. His tall, straight nose carried a distinctly masculine beauty...

"Oho!"

Huai Shi stared in a daze, though for some reason, he suddenly felt terribly nauseated.

He secretly condemned himself. How could he become so ugly just because he saw someone better-looking than himself? He forced a smile onto his livid face, yet saliva leaked from the corner of his mouth...

In an instant, he became completely vacant-eyed.

He grabbed Liu Dongli's delicate hand and kept rubbing it, smoothly making conversation. "Big Brother, where do you work? Ah, I'm really sorry about being so rude last time. Let me introduce myself. I'm Huai Shi, seventeen this year. You remember me, right?"

"..."

At that moment, it wasn't just Huai Shi. Behind the one-way mirror, everyone who saw Liu Dongli unconsciously let out an "Oho!" Even the ever-serious middle-aged man blushed, his heart stirred, and turned away with a soft cough.

Only Ai Qing, wearing oversized sunglasses, continued calmly drinking coffee. She pressed the intercom button. "I didn't call you here to get horny. Restrain your Soul Radiation and get to work."

"Fine, fine, fine."

Liu Dongli pushed up the black-framed glasses on his nose, sat opposite Huai Shi, and smiled as gently as autumn water. "Little brother, we're acquainted now, so could you answer a few questions for me?"

"Sure, sure."

Huai Shi clung to his hand, drooling with a vacant expression. "Big Brother, I'll tell you anything you ask. My bank card password is 18191..."

"Ahem, that won't be necessary."

Liu Dongli hurriedly waved his hand, opened the file in his hands, and cleared his throat. "Where were you last night?"

"At home, sleeping. I had several nightmares and they scared me half to death. Let me tell you..."

"Just sleeping?" Liu Dongli had no interest in hearing about his nightmares and interrupted him.

"Yeah."

Huai Shi nodded. "Who'd run around in the middle of the night with nothing better to do? And it rained so hard last night. Only a lunatic would go out. Let me tell you, our place might be run-down, but my ancestors at least..."

"Ahem, next question." Liu Dongli interrupted him again. "What exactly was in the box you delivered to the police station?"

"I don't know." Huai Shi shook his head decisively. "Who'd open some box of unknown origin for no reason? It was scary enough to kill someone. Let me tell you, that guy suddenly lunged at me and started vomiting blood everywhere..."

Over the next hour, Liu Dongli repeatedly asked the questions in the file, changing their order and even suddenly throwing in unrelated questions.

Until Ai Qing's voice came from behind the one-way mirror. "That's enough."

He finally breathed a sigh of relief and gathered his strength to pull his wrist free from Huai Shi's hand. It was covered in red marks. Good thing he got free early; a little later, and that bastard might have rubbed his wrist right off.

The instant he exhaled, Huai Shi suddenly woke from his stupor. He stared blankly at Liu Dongli, unable to understand what had happened.

It was like waking from a nightmare, one so real that it made him want to despise himself...

"Bleurgh!"

He abruptly tried to rise from his chair, but his cuffs prevented him. He bent over awkwardly and began vomiting violently. The thought of how he had just acted like he was in heat made him indescribably sick. He vomited until tears and snot nearly poured out.

"You pervert, what did you do to me?! Bleurgh!"

Before he could finish speaking, he vomited again. As he kept vomiting, he couldn't help crying.

"Mom! I don't even have a girlfriend, how did this dead pervert turn me gay? My reputation is ruined, ruined! I'm gonna fight you, you bastard!"

"Sorry. No one wanted something like this to happen."

Liu Dongli seemed long accustomed to such scenes. He sympathetically offered him a cup of water. "In life, the most important thing is being happy. Are you hungry? I..."

"Bleurgh!"

Before he could finish, Huai Shi vomited again.

Behind the one-way mirror, there was likewise a chorus of retching and nausea.

The middle-aged man's face was green as he clutched his aching stomach. Someone beside him handed him a stomach pill and a cup of warm water at just the right temperature.

It was the female driver who had remained silent behind Ai Qing all this time.

"Thank you." He forced a smile, swallowed the medicine, and panted for a long while before finally calming down a little.

"What do you think?" Ai Qing said. "I told you we wouldn't get anything out of him."

"Maybe he's pretending..."

The middle-aged man coughed. "I know Liu Dongli's Soul Ability. It's a charm effect, right? It works on ordinary people, but Ascenders might not necessarily fall for it."

"Would Liu Dongli not know whether someone had fallen for it? Besides, if any man, especially one at the age when his pride and adolescent fantasies are at their peak, could pretend to that extent... I don't think any method you come up with would get anything out of him."

Ai Qing gave him a deep look. "Give it up."

"I read the file. If that Oni is suspected of the crime, then I'm actually his alibi."

Liu Dongli walked out of the interrogation room, tossed the densely annotated file back onto the table, and sighed helplessly. "That Oni was interviewing at our club three minutes before the harbor explosion..."

"Interviewing? What could he possibly interview for?"

"Being a male escort... I think some agency tricked him into coming? He only realized what it was halfway through the interview and got scared off by the supervisor."

Liu Dongli shook his head. Looking at Huai Shi's frontal photo in the file, he rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue. "I'd say he has potential. Good frame, but terrible styling. Put him in a fitted suit, get rid of that shameless grin, and he'd be the perfect abstinent type. Middle-aged ladies love little hedgehogs they can't get their hands on..."

"That's enough. I didn't call you here to plan his career."

Ai Qing interrupted him. "He's just an ordinary person who was accidentally caught up in the incident. Have him sign a confidentiality agreement and let him go. Keeping him here is a waste of time."

That settled it.

Fifteen minutes later, Huai Shi, whose mind had been thoroughly ravaged, signed a huge stack of documents and was shoved into a car and driven away.

At the entrance, Liu Dongli stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the boy—who thought he was being taken away to be executed—struggle desperately. He couldn't help bursting into laughter.

"By the way, what was his name again?" He looked at Ai Qing behind him.

"Huai Shi."

"You know him?" Liu Dongli smiled mysteriously. "That's why you helped clear him, isn't it? Don't underestimate a top male escort's instincts, Miss Ai."

Unexpectedly, Ai Qing's expression remained calm.

"Ah, you could say that."

"Close?"

"Not really. I'm three years older than him. We got along pretty well when we were children."

"Huh?" Liu Dongli turned back in surprise. He had never expected the two to have such a connection. "What happened afterward?"

"Afterward?"

Ai Qing glanced at him. "After his family went bankrupt because my grandfather broke faith and violated an agreement, we never saw each other again."

"..."

Liu Dongli froze, not knowing what to say.

In the sealed basement, someone pushed open the door and entered.

The restless man sprang up from his chair, panic on his face. "Why are you so late?"

"You think last night's commotion was so small that no one noticed?" The bloodstained Fierce Ape crouched on a chair, letting out an eerie chuckle. "Thanks to you, I got to indulge my urge to kill..."

"Where's the thing?"

The man anxiously held out his hand. "Did you get it back?"

A plastic bag soaked in blood was tossed into his arms. "Returned to its rightful owner, except..."

The man was overjoyed at first, but the instant he took the bag, his expression changed. He tore it open like a madman, pulled out the black iron box, and carefully opened it.

But it was completely empty.

"Where is it?!"

He screamed, "Where is the Source Matter inside? Where did the Source Matter I accumulated through twelve years of farming go?"

As he looked at the Fierce Ape before him, his gaze turned vicious.

"Was it you?"

"Nearly a thousand people's worth of Source Matter. Do you really think I could absorb that?" Fierce Ape scratched at the mottled white hair exposed behind its mask and retorted, "If I had that ability, I'd have become one of the Lords long ago. Why would I let you order me around? It was already empty when I got it.

"Instead of threatening me, you should think about how to explain this to the Lords—because you used the sacred relic for personal gain without authorization and lost the Source Matter accumulated over twelve years of farming..."

"You got a share of the money too!"

The man roared wildly, glaring at it. "If this gets exposed, don't think you'll get off easy!"

Fierce Ape said nothing. It merely rubbed its fingers together in silence, iron nails striking one another with a sharp sound, until the man's gaze shifted away from it.

"One of your own subordinates betrayed you, causing this sacred relic to fall into someone else's hands. I recovered it for the Lords, so I have merit. Even if I'm at fault, it won't warrant Absolute Punishment." Fierce Ape said coldly, "If I were you, I'd be thinking of how to make up for this.

"It's only lost, isn't it? Just find it before the Lords discover it."

"You make it sound easy!" The man shot it an angry look. "How could it be that simple?"

"Aren't those old men and women nearly dead already? Just put the waste to use... At least that can recover some of the loss." Fierce Ape spoke casually. "As for that thousand people's worth of Source Matter, it can't have simply vanished. Whether it's used for advancement, extending one's life, or being sold on, it all takes time."

Several minutes later, a grim voice echoed through the secret chamber.

"Find out for me! Who else touched that box?!"

Top-secret hidden footage! This happened to him in the interrogation room.