Volume Two: Life and Death at Northern Realm Speed - Doubts

"President, the champion of the second stage of Route One has been decided. It's the Ferruggio Silver Wolf Team. Would you like to see the video?"

"Oh, you've worked so hard. Please sit down and rest."

"Thank you for your kind offer, President, but I still have a lot of work to do, so I'll take my leave now."

"Oh, okay then. I won't bother you any longer."

Yu He stretched and turned on the recording of the second stage of Line 1. Although holding a rally was just a means and a pretext, it was good to watch the race and relax after work.

However--

"... Huh?"

At a glance, Yu He's gaze was drawn to someone in the video.

"Strange... although their appearances are still quite different, but..."

She was a stunningly beautiful pink-haired girl with an amazing figure.

Despite their many differences, the moment Yu He saw her, he couldn't help but think of someone else.

"I wasn't familiar with Blood Fiend before, but... what is this strange feeling?"

Blood Fiend disappeared several months ago, but some say she's still alive, and the girl before them seems vaguely familiar...

"Alright, that's enough."

A soft voice suddenly rang out.

"!?"

For a fleeting moment, Yu He's consciousness turned gray.

It is neither a blank white expanse nor a black void.

Instead, it is a chaotic and ambiguous "gray".

"Her existence cannot be exposed like this... Here's the deal: from now on, 'all her actions must not reveal her identity to the entire organization,' that's settled."

Someone was talking, as if they were communicating with him, or perhaps talking to themselves—it was an extremely ambiguous feeling. A thin human figure flickered for a moment on the edge of his gray consciousness, and then the gray that occupied his consciousness vanished without a trace.

"... ah."

Yu He suddenly came to his senses.

Looking left and right, it was still that familiar world, wrapped in gray-black strips of cloth.

Did I just zone out...?

Yu He shook his head, refocused his attention on the video, and then saw the pink-haired girl in the frame.

"Huh? This girl seems a bit..."

A little bit, what?

What's there to be concerned about?

"Well... never mind, it's all fine no matter how trivial it is."

Something noteworthy was thus overlooked.

Not only Yu He, but everyone in the organization who was following the competition experienced a similar situation.

Yu He, a veteran high-ranking member of the organization who is actually three hundred years old, possesses extraordinary supernatural abilities and the immense wealth of being the number one in the Spirit Star. Even among the organization's high-ranking members, who are all monsters, he is an extremely special existence. Furthermore, being ambushed in a "non-existent space" created with the help of the Void Realm is simply a fantasy.

Within the entire organization, only the Leader and Gustav are capable of directly breaking through the Void Realm and interfering with Yu He.

So who is that figure?

Of all the senior members, only one noticed the anomaly.

Huang Huo.

One of the only two high-ranking officials who knew the truth about Liu Ye.

"Strangeness..."

In the empty darkness, Huang Huo muttered to himself.

Huang Huo never expected that the racing team Liu Ye casually joined would have such strength.

Sending Liu Ye to participate in the Northern Realm Rally inevitably carries the risk of exposing her existence. In fact, Huang Huo has considered various factors and formulated no fewer than ten contingency plans for the highly likely scenario of "Liu Ye's true identity being exposed".

Now, all those calculations have been in vain.

The convoy attracted attention, and Liu Ye became a celebrity. His face and name spread throughout the world. Those in the organization who were previously familiar with Blood Fiend would inevitably notice something was wrong, and then a huge uproar would be stirred up.

However, so far, no unusual information has emerged from within the organization.

It was as if everyone deliberately ignored her existence.

Faced with such an illogical event, Huang Huo frowned deeply.

This is very likely—no, it's absolutely certain—that someone is interfering in the shadows.

But who is it?

Just how powerful is that person to make the entire organization ignore Liu Ye's existence—it seems like a joke?

Is he a reclusive master, unknown to the world? Or is that person also a member of the organization?

If someone is indeed a member of the organization, what is their purpose?

No—ultimately, is there anyone in the organization capable of doing something like that? Let alone the lower-level members, none of the eight current high-ranking members possess such an ability.

"No... wait."

There are indeed people at the top who "have the potential to make this happen," and quite a few at that.

Five of them, making up the majority of the eight.

One of them is a collaborator in this Huang Huo, and if it's him, thank goodness—however, even for him, it would take at least a year of preparation to accomplish such a thing.

Another Yu He can be ruled out, the evidence being that his Gray Starling Group has not yet gone bankrupt.

There's another one we can rule out: given that person's personality, they would absolutely not bother interfering in outside affairs without the Leader's orders.

The fourth person is a rather willful and pleasure-seeking guy. Although he has no criminal record, he is indeed capable of doing some outrageous things.

As for the last person...

Within the entire organization, only that one person was unclear about the truth behind Huang Huo's superpowers, and even he didn't know much about that person himself.

"We've added two more people to our list of people to be on high alert..."

However, whether the other party is an enemy or a friend remains to be seen.

East Emperor Continent, a small country--

"Amazing... Miss Ye truly has boundless potential."

Watching the live stream on the screen, Si Nan Xing felt a deep sense of admiration.

"What surprised me even more was that after she left the Si Nan Family, she was actually able to help us solve our financial problems."

Si Nan Ganming brandished the gold note in his hand, which clearly showed a nine-figure sum.

"When I found out my little sister had secretly bet a lot of money on her team, I gave her a good scolding. Now it seems I have to apologize to her." Si Nan Xing shrugged with a wry smile.

"Speaking of which, how is Xiao Xiao doing now? How's she doing at the Central United Academy?"

"We haven't been in touch for a while, but I don't want her to push herself too hard. As for continuing the family business, we can just do it step by step. Pushing her too hard will only have the opposite effect."

The Central United Academy, a rather inconspicuous little building --

"Wow~~~Awesome!!! Is she really your friend Sister Xiao?"

"Yes... we lived in one place for quite a long time."

"Actually, we can only be considered acquaintances at most. Becoming true friends with her is just my wishful thinking," Si Nan Xiao thought to herself.

"She's so beautiful! I used to think that Sister Sakura Dance was the most beautiful person in the world, but I never imagined there was someone even more beautiful!"

Hey, don't say that in front of her.

Si Nan Xiao looked at the old sofa in the corner of the room with some concern. Because of the backrest, she could only see a pair of long, slender legs exposed.

"..."

Several seconds passed, but the owner of the long, beautiful legs didn't move at all. Was she asleep? Or simply uninterested? The latter was more likely.

As if by some strange twist of fate, Si Nan Xiao spoke to that person.

"Xiao Wu... since you went through all that trouble to get the Spirit Light Screen, why don't you watch the match with everyone?"

Silence.

Honestly, what am I doing...? Si Nan Xiao felt a little regretful; she knew perfectly well that the other person had absolutely no interest in racing.

"That's right, Sister Sakura Dance should watch it too!"

"Um... if you'd like to come with us, I... I'd be so grateful... sobs"

"Is it not okay? Is it not okay?"

The requests kept coming in one after another, even Si Nan Xiao was getting a headache. What if you guys anger her...?

"... All right."

Abruptly, the person lying on the sofa responded.

The familiar voice possessed a sexy huskiness, yet also retained a youthful purity and a warrior-like sternness.

"Seriously, I can't even get a good night's sleep..."

It sounded like talking to oneself, yet also like complaining to someone; the person lying on the sofa straightened up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Midterms are coming up soon... and right now I'm juggling 3D modeling, writing, and studying all at once. Life's been... pretty fulfilling.