Sister and Someone Else's Sister

After the performance ended, the audience began filing out in an orderly fashion.

Bai Ge gave Shao Yuan a look, and Shao Yuan immediately nodded. "Don't worry. I'm keeping an eye on him. He has hepatitis B virus in his body, which is incredibly conspicuous to me. I won't lose track of him."

After hearing that, Bai Ge smiled. He hadn't expected the Sterility Ring to have this kind of use.

If someone carried some relatively uncommon virus, then even if Shao Yuan occasionally lost sight of them, he had nothing to fear. He could sense the virus nearby and easily catch up again.

"Good. I'll leave first, then. Call me immediately if anything happens. Don't try to tough it out," Bai Ge said.

"Understood."

The two parted ways, and Bai Ge went straight to the entrance, leaning against the wall as he waited.

Wave after wave of people came out, all discussing the magic trick from earlier.

Tonight had actually been that man's dedicated magic show. His posters were displayed along the corridor.

Bai Ge glanced at the poster and saw the magician's name: Hermes.

He decisively looked into it and discovered that it was a fake name. Hermes also wore a mask, so Bai Ge had no idea what he looked like.

Just as he was preparing to investigate the company that had organized tonight's performance and try to find the cast list,—

a delighted voice rang out. "Bro!"

Bai Ge raised his head and smiled at his little sister. Bai Ye had obviously recognized him at a glance.

"Why are you still out playing this late?"

Bai Ye didn't answer. She came straight in for a hug, her icy lips instantly landing on Bai Ge's face.

Bai Ge rubbed his face, lifted Bai Ye up, and said with a grin, "What are you doing?"

Bai Ye was picked up by Bai Ge just like that. He squeezed his sister's arm and was surprised to find muscle there. She's not as soft as she used to be.

His sister was 176 centimeters tall. Their father must have had good genes—the siblings were both tall.

Perhaps because it was so hot here, Bai Ye's skin was a wheat color, and her well-proportioned figure looked extremely healthy.

Bai Ye said, "It's the local etiquette!"

"Bullshit. Even a cheek kiss doesn't mean smearing your saliva all over someone's face," Bai Ge said.

"Forget about that. Why didn't you call me when you came, big bro?" Bai Ye asked with a grin.

Bai Ge snapped, "You still have the nerve to ask? Look at your phone!"

His inability to get through to Bai Ye's phone had directly led to him speeding wildly that night, causing a massive blackout at the television station, traffic jams across three blocks, and a dozen police cars chasing him.

"Uh..." Bai Ye took out her phone and said apologetically, "All right, I forgot to turn off silent mode. The performance was so good that I was completely absorbed and didn't notice."

Bai Ge put his sister down and said, "Forget it. Where are you staying? I'll take you back."

At that moment, a Chinese girl nearby asked in a strange accent, "That's your brother, Xiaoye?"

Bai Ye nodded. "Mm-hmm."

She then turned to Bai Ge and said, "This is my classmate and roommate, Shirley. She's a local Chinese American. We rent a place together. Where are you staying tonight, Bro?"

Bai Ge said, "I'll take you back first. I'll stay at a hotel and come see you tomorrow morning."

"What hotel? It's so late—have you booked a room yet?" Bai Ye asked worriedly.

"Probably the Hilton. I'll book one in a bit."

Bai Ye grinned. "I want to stay there too! Why don't I just not go back tonight?"

"Heh..." Bai Ge shook his head. "Do you think you're still a little kid?"

The two chatted and joked as they walked to the parking lot.

Bai Ye had come out in Shirley's car. It was already past eleven, and if Shirley hadn't had a car, Bai Ye wouldn't have dared stay out so late.

Of course, that wasn't to say Chinese people were bullied. After all, more than thirty percent of San Francisco's population was Chinese, and no matter how powerful a force was, it wouldn't dare bully Chinese people in San Francisco.

The main issue was public safety. Some parts of San Francisco really were rather chaotic at night.

Bai Ye said, "There was a shootout downtown last week, and I was right nearby. It was so exciting."

Shirley laughed. "Bai Ge, right? Your name sure sounds like you're taking advantage of people... Don't listen to Xiaoye exaggerate. We were far away from the shootout that day. We could only hear the gunshots. There was nothing exciting about it."

Bai Ge said strangely, "A shootout downtown?"

Shirley said, "What about it? Places like that are where San Francisco's true character shows. In some neighborhoods, even the police don't dare go out alone. I once personally saw a gang send a bomb to someone's home in the Tenderloin. An entire apartment building had three floors blown open. Compared to that, sending razor blades back home is laughably tame."

Bai Ge rubbed his nose. Things really were fierce here. Compared to this, public security back home was practically perfect.

If he heard that an explosion had happened in some building back home, he would only call 119 and 120, at most assuming that the family's gas cylinder had exploded.

But here, the first thing anyone would do was call the police, because someone had thrown a bomb...

And this wasn't an exaggeration. What was truly exaggerated were the people playing with RPGs...

Bai Ye smiled. "Don't worry, Bro. Shirley's really impressive... Shirley, show my brother your gun."

Shirley said, "Let's talk after we get in the car. You can't casually pull out a gun in public. Besides, why are there so many police officers here?"

The three of them walked to the parking lot and discovered that there were indeed many police officers there.

Bai Ge's expression shifted slightly. When he saw the officers surrounding a certain garage with police tape, he knew what had happened...

It was still because of his earlier joyride. The police who had chased him hadn't withdrawn yet. The Chevrolet inside the garage had already been towed out and was about to be taken away. Quite a few officers were studying the tire marks and examining the ruined cameras.

They had collected a large number of fingerprints, but none of them would be useful. Bai Ge had maintained the fake "666" fingerprint pattern long ago.

As for Shao Yuan, he had been wearing gloves, so he wouldn't have left any fingerprints either.

The police were destined to find nothing. Aside from investigating the car's owner, they had no leads at all.

However, Shirley suddenly exclaimed, "Huh? Isn't that my brother's car?"

"Hmm?" Bai Ge raised an eyebrow. He had simply picked up this car at random in the Chinese community.

Bai Ye said, "Ah! It really is!"

Shirley frowned and walked over to speak with the police.

After figuring out some of the situation, she made a phone call.

Only after a while did she return and say, "My brother's car was stolen. Someone used it to cause trouble. Apparently, they sped through the city at 180 kilometers per hour, hijacked the television station while driving, and caused a blackout."

Bai Ge remained silent. Bai Ye asked, "Is your brother all right?"

Shirley waved her hand. "He's fine. He has an alibi. My brother works in narcotics, and he happened to be on a mission tonight. He rarely drives his own car, so he never expected it to be stolen."

"That person sure was impressive. Even the police couldn't help praising him in amazement. They must have been deeply shaken."

The police had chased the criminal but let him get away. Instead of feeling ashamed, they even said that the other party was too formidable. Clearly, they genuinely admired him. Of course, they might also have been making excuses for their own incompetence.

The three went around the cordon and quickly got into Shirley's car.

"You've taken good care of my sister. Thank you." Bai Ge sat in the back and thanked her. He had already asked about it—whenever Bai Ye wanted to leave the Chinese community, Shirley would accompany her if she was free.

Shirley smiled. "It's nothing. Your sister sings beautifully, and my grandfather really likes her. Every time our community celebrates the Spring Festival, he insists on having her perform. If anyone in San Francisco dares bully her, I'll shoot them."

The siblings' musical talents were completely opposite.

Bai Ge exclaimed, "That violent?"

Bai Ye giggled. "It's not like she shoots people randomly. She only carries it for self-defense. If someone thinks we're easy targets, Shirley pulls out her gun, and they immediately back down."

Shirley said, "Just like this!"

As she spoke, she suddenly pulled a Glock pistol from her bag. It was a small model with a caliber of only 9 millimeters. After adopting a standard shooting stance, she twisted around and pointed it at Bai Ge.

Bai Ge glanced at the muzzle and remained perfectly calm.

Bai Ye, however, was startled and shouted, "Hey! That's dangerous!"

Bai Ge smiled. "It's fine. The safety's on, and there isn't a round chambered."

Shirley nodded. "You know your stuff. Don't worry, I was only trying to scare you."

Bai Ge shrugged. "But that won't scare everyone. What if the other person has a gun too? Would you shoot?"

Shirley said unconcernedly, "I've practiced, but I've never had a chance to use it for real... I was once surrounded by a group of Black people. The moment I pulled out my gun, they ran away. It was really anticlimactic."

Bai Ge rubbed his nose and thought, This woman's pretty fierce.

Shirley put the gun away and said while driving, "Unless they're in a gang, very few people carry guns around with them. There are plenty of places you can't go, and regulations are very strict. Besides, if you look unfriendly, you'll get shot by the police for casually pulling one out."

"Then how can you carry it everywhere?" Bai Ge asked helplessly.

Shirley only smiled without answering.

Bai Ye explained, "It's illegal for her to carry a small handgun on her person. She keeps it hidden, and she'd be in serious trouble if the police found out. Bro, don't tell anyone."

"Ha... Why go to such lengths?" Bai Ge said with a smile.

Bai Ye said seriously, "It's necessary. Her brother has offended a lot of drug dealers. To prevent the family from being targeted for revenge, her brother bought that gun for her."

"Huh? Are you envious?" Bai Ge could tell that his sister seemed a little envious.

Bai Ye chuckled. "A little. I can't buy a gun, but Shirley often takes me shooting."

"I fired more than thirty rounds last month... For free!"

"How long has it been since you last touched a gun, Bro? Maybe my marksmanship is better than yours now."

Bai Ge looked at his excited sister and was rendered speechless.

"Damn..."