At dawn, a red fireball leaped above the horizon, showering the waking Hu City with light and warmth.
Through the thin veil of morning mist, its fiery glow had yet to reveal its full strength. Sunlight streamed through the glass and fell across the enormous round waterbed in the middle of the room. Beneath the thin blanket, two bodies lay tangled together. Soon, the smaller of the two, with her graceful curves, began to stir.
Her eyelashes fluttered as Vector struggled to open her eyes. Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows that replaced an entire wall, bathing the room in brilliance.
Groggy, she felt a broad, sturdy chest within reach. Vector snatched her hand back as if shocked by electricity. She abruptly sat up and frantically clutched the slipping blanket, but her smooth, toned back was completely exposed.
As she tried to clear her hazy mind, Vector searched for memories of the previous day. Fragmented images gradually fell into place.
She remembered that after getting chewed out on the plane, the impulsive attack she had made on Xiang Qian's computer had been brushed aside without becoming a major issue. No one had pursued it further.
After the plane landed, she had first returned to the Bureau to submit her report. Then she'd been granted three days' leave and ordered to remain on standby—a routine arrangement after field duty.
So how had she ended up in this man's bed?
She remembered leaving the Bureau and running into Xiang Qian, who had just come out of the director's office. Then he'd invited her to the Five Elements Laboratory to try out the latest supercomputer in the country. She'd been interested, so she'd agreed.
After that, somehow, they'd struck up a conversation in the car, and the more they talked, the more enjoyable it got. Then she'd tried out the supercomputer at the lab and remembered being incredibly excited.
And after that?
Damn it, she couldn't remember exactly what the man had said. She only remembered that her interest in the supercomputer had somehow turned into an interest in the entire Five Elements Laboratory, then into an interest in Xiang Qian's everyday life. And finally, by some strange twist of fate, she'd wound up in Xiang Qian's apartment on the top floor of the lab.
After that, her memories became disjointed. The scattered images included the entryway, the living room carpet, the bathroom, and of course, the waterbed in the bedroom. Every one of them was filled with indulgence and wild abandon.
As her memories returned bit by bit, Vector let out a whimper and buried her warming face in her hands. Her shapely back curved into a beautiful arch.
Warm breath brushed across her back, rising from her shoulder blades to linger at the nape of her neck. Vector didn't dare move, keeping her face buried in her hands.
When prey offered no resistance, it only encouraged the hunter. As Xiang Qian's hands began to move, Vector sprang up like a startled fawn.
With the man's face close and advancing, Vector panicked. At a loss, she suddenly spotted a phone blinking on the bedside table and grabbed it as if it were a lifeline.
"Ah!" Dodging the man's advances, she unlocked the phone. One look at the screen made Vector cry out.
"Sky Team says she's arranged for Temugin's extradition and is on her way back." Vector gasped. "Oh no, this message is twelve hours old. I didn't see it."
Thinking about what she'd been doing when the message came in twelve hours ago, Vector's face burned red. But her embarrassment was quickly overtaken by panic. "Twelve hours! Sky Team might already be here. I have to get back, right away."
Summoning her courage, Vector threw back the covers, heedless of her nakedness, and hurriedly started getting dressed.
Xiang Qian was terribly disappointed and reluctantly stopped. His eyes still took the opportunity to feast on the view. Vector was naturally gifted, and as a Special Task Force operative, she'd trained for years. Her figure was slender and well-proportioned, radiating healthy vitality and an unusual charm.
"Where's my T-shirt?" Vector asked, blushing, after finding only her underwear.
Xiang Qian tried to remember, then said with a grin, "I think I tossed it on the sofa outside."
Vector stomped her foot in frustration, her curves bouncing as she hurried to the bedroom door and pulled it open. Then she let out a sudden shriek, startling Xiang Qian. Vector stood frozen in the doorway, as if someone had grabbed her by the throat. She couldn't make a sound.
Xiang Qian's heart leaped. He cautiously turned his head, peering past Vector's slender waist toward a corner of the sofa in the living room.
Weather Witch Xiang Tian sat there with a blank expression, staring coldly at Vector in the doorway.
Xiang Qian sucked in a sharp breath and hurried out of bed to get dressed. Unfortunately, he had the same problem Vector had just faced: his clothes were piled on the carpet outside the bedroom.
He grabbed a robe and hastily threw it on. Outside, Vector had already dressed, her cheeks flushed. She stood with her head bowed beside the Special Task Force captain, rigid as if she'd been ordered to stand at attention.
"Sis..." Xiang Qian greeted her awkwardly.
Xiang Tian's face remained expressionless. She shot Vector a stern glance. "Go wait in the car. We'll head back to the Bureau in a minute."
Vector looked up at Xiang Qian, her lips moving as if she wanted to say something. But under Xiang Tian's intimidating stare, she left without a word.
As soon as Vector was gone, a deathly silence fell over the living room.
Xiang Tian stood and strode toward Xiang Qian. He was terrified. Before he could even beg for mercy, she reached out, and familiar pain shot through his ear. A tremendous force yanked him forward, and his head was slammed onto the coffee table in front of the sofa.
After more than twenty years as siblings, Xiang Tian knew exactly how much punishment Xiang Qian could take. If she went any lighter, she wouldn't be able to get a grip on his head.
Xiang Qian slapped both hands against the coffee table. "Sis, sis, take it easy! My ear's going to come off!"
"Even rabbits don't eat the grass by their burrows. How dare you go after one of my people!" Xiang Tian tightened her grip and twisted Xiang Qian's other wrist behind his back.
"Argh!" Xiang Qian slapped the coffee table repeatedly with his free hand, signaling surrender.
"From now on, if you dare go after another girl from the Bureau, I'll fucking kill you!" Xiang Tian gritted out. "Do you understand?"
"I-I understand!"
With a bang, Xiang Tian slammed the door behind her.
Xiang Qian got up with a grimace, rubbing his nearly numb ear. His arm felt as if it might have been dislocated. He looked at the wrecked coffee table and the doorframe she'd damaged, then sighed and collapsed onto the sofa.
His sister seemed genuinely angry this time.
Meanwhile, Xiang Tian drove back to the Spear Bureau herself.
In the passenger seat, Vector kept her head down, stealing nervous glances at her captain from the corners of her eyes. Xiang Tian's icy expression left her too afraid to speak.
After a long while, Xiang Tian suddenly spoke. "Vector, I need you to promise me something."
"W-what?" The unexpected voice nearly made Vector jump.
"Promise me that if Xiang Qian doesn't call you again, you'll forget him."
"Huh?"
Xiang Tian glanced over and saw the confusion and reluctance on Vector's face. She couldn't help feeling a little exasperated.
"I know my brother. To put it nicely, he's a typical Playboy. To put it bluntly, he's a scumbag," Xiang Tian said indignantly.
"When he's with a woman, he'll be tender and sweet, enough to make her lose her head. But once she's left his bed and gone from his sight, he'll forget all about her. Then, maybe long afterward, you'll happen to run into each other again, and he'll be all sweet talk once more, making you think he's the perfect lover."
Vector didn't want to believe it. She asked, hurt, "Is h-he really like that?"
Xiang Tian glared at Vector as if furious with her for being so hopeless. She waited until Vector guiltily lowered her head, then warned her with firm finality, "Never mistake Xiang Qian for a good person, and especially not for a good man."
"Th-then what if he does call me?" Vector still wasn't ready to give up.
Xiang Tian was so angry she nearly laughed. She gave an exasperated snort, took one hand off the steering wheel, and pointed toward the street. "Can you count how many ads featuring celebrity endorsers are on this shopping street?"
Vector looked outside. This was one of Hu City's busiest shopping streets, with towering buildings covered in enormous advertisements of every kind. Handsome men and beautiful women vied for attention.
"How could I possibly count them all?"
"Then let me tell you," Xiang Tian said coldly. "Of those actresses on the ads who are young and unmarried, nine out of ten are waiting for Xiang Qian to call them."
Vector couldn't believe it, but she didn't dare argue further. She lowered her head in hurt silence.
The car fell quiet until an internal call from the Spear Bureau director's office broke the tension.
"Director, this is Xiang Tian."
"Where are you now? Is anyone with you?" A calm but firm voice came through the communicator.
At the question, Xiang Tian immediately tensed. She knew the conversation ahead would involve classified information.
"I'm with Vector."
"When you get back, come straight to my office. From this moment on, switch all your communications devices to the secure channel."