The Devil is Ruthless

"Whoa, whoa, whoa~! They're kissing—they're about to kiss!"

In the surveillance room several kilometers away, the massive team of hundreds had already withdrawn completely, leaving only three people behind. The most conspicuous among them was Chip Girl Su Enxi, her face haggard from excessive overtime and her spirits low. Without blinking, she stared at her screen.

Combined with her excited expression at that moment, it was hard not to worry that this poor workaholic shut-in might suddenly drop dead in the next second.

"Ohohohoho—"

Beside her, the long-legged Jiu De Mayi was groggily awakened by Su Enxi's late-night shrieking, irritation rising in her voice. "Seriously, sister? You still haven't had enough?"

"Hahahaha, Long Legs, look, look! That Wa Lord of the Zhou Family is really taking the initiative! Even though she's all soft and adorable when drunk, every movement still carries the domineering flair of an Empress... Hehehe, a childish-looking girl lifting a handsome boy's chin with one hand, swaying her waist and tail, her face brimming with seduction as she parts those red lips and says, 'Just marry me, and the entire Zhou Family will be yours!' Hahahahaha—"

"You're seriously shipping them, aren't you?!" Jiu De Mayi grabbed a pillow from beneath her and flung it straight into Su Enxi's face. She suspected all that overtime had driven Su Enxi into babbling nonsense.

Then she got up, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. Where was the domineering CEO Mary Sue couple plot Su Enxi had been talking about?

All Jiu De Mayi saw was the little girl, face flushed crimson, curled up beside Shirou Emiya. Her long serpentine body was, as always, stubbornly reaching over to wrap around him. As for her mouth... judging from how drunk she looked, her tongue had probably tied itself in knots. Her eyes were closed whenever she opened her mouth, and she could no longer make out any coherent words.

Could Chip Girl really read lips under those circumstances?

But Su Enxi merely wagged a finger. "Long Legs, you're still too innocent."

"Don't underestimate the imagination of a veteran shut-in girl like me. I've read hundreds, if not thousands, of romance plots in every genre and trope imaginable. What's a romantic comedy where a commoner becomes a rich family's butler and encounters a young lady? It doesn't get any more classic than this!"

As she spoke, Su Enxi instantly reached her conclusion—

...In my opinion, the boy will definitely be slow to react at first. Then the young lady will reveal her unexpectedly adorable side, causing her popularity to soar. All we need is to arrange an incident with some unexpected factor thrown in, and they'll easily end up together!

Jiu De Mayi stared at her in dumbfounded disbelief. So she thought she was a director now? Whatever development she wanted, she could just make it happen? Wasn't she already busy enough with work?

"Hmph, hmph, hmph. Why do you think I've been putting in so much effort? Isn't it all to serve our boss's major clients properly?"

Jiu De Mayi looked unconvinced. "You're just getting carried away from consuming too much couple content. You're acting like spying on someone else's private moments is perfectly justified, and now you want to drag Three-No and me into it too, don't you?"

Apart from the two of them, seated quietly and obediently at the farthest end was a short... no, petite girl with a cold expression. Her golden hair was tied up, and she spoke softly without changing her expression.

"I think it would be better not to do anything unnecessary. You can't guarantee that the 'accident' will truly turn out the way you expect."

Three-No Girl's tone was icy, and she did not seem particularly approachable. But the other two, who knew her well, understood that this was simply how Three-No normally spoke.

"Tch! I worked so hard to put together such a perfect show—how can I wrap things up so carelessly?! I don't care what ending it gets, I'm going to arrange it all the way to the end! No one can stop me!"

Su Enxi stood up excitedly, her high heels clicking against the marble floor.

Three-No Girl pointed at the screen. "Then maybe you should take another look at how things have developed... They're gone."

"What?!" Su Enxi lowered her head and looked again. There were no young man and young girl immersed in romance on the monitor. The seats were already empty, without a trace of them.

Su Enxi realized something was wrong. Her fingers immediately flew as she hurriedly called the personnel she had stationed near the restaurant, but not a single one of them could be reached!

This was bad.

At the same time Su Enxi's heart sank, several crisp claps rang out from nowhere in the empty hall.

A young boy's voice sounded through the void, carrying a hint of mischievous amusement. "Ladies, prepare to welcome our clients! Although Enxi's hard work these past few days has moved me greatly... if you overdo it with a young lady who's going out shopping for the first time, it may also arouse her vigilance and resentment!"

The Trio immediately recognized the voice as that of their boss, Little Devil Lu Mingze.

Their boss had always been elusive and unfathomable, and he was also a veteran riddler. In any case, whenever he appeared, he usually assigned some task, and then the three-person support team had to do as he said. He never came without a reason.

Thus, upon hearing their boss's words, Three-No Girl and Long Legs Jiu De Mayi rose at the same time. Their slack postures vanished completely, and they looked like two capable female soldiers on a battlefield—or beautiful female assassins. "Could it be that they—"

"Bingo! Your intensive surveillance has been discovered, and they even suspect you have ulterior motives. Then they traced it back to the source. Their people are already coming from every direction, planning to surround this place so tightly that not even water can get through. All that's left is for the two main parties to arrive at the door~!"

Three-No Girl and Long Legs Jiu De Mayi were responsible for the combat side of the three-person support group. Hearing this, their bodies instantly tensed as they prepared to grab Su Enxi and break out of there—

"Hey, hey, wait, ladies. Don't rush to leave. You can't run away when guests come calling—you still have to entertain them. And you absolutely must not use Military Strength against clients—hahaha! Oh, right, Enxi, you were mainly responsible for this situation, weren't you? I'll leave the main negotiations to you as well."

"...Huh?"

"...Clever Enxi, since they've already come looking for you, put that excellent brain of yours to good use and persuade those two distinguished guests to join the operation we've planned against the Chen Family. Come on, I believe you can do it!"

The boy's voice gradually faded away, leaving only a faint, lingering trace of laughter echoing by their ears.

Their boss had casually assigned them this task in the tone of someone enjoying the spectacle, then patted his butt and left. Su Enxi was left standing there with a dark expression, stamping her feet in utter confusion.

Damn it. She had been waiting in front of the screen to watch Shirou and Wa Lord's show, never realizing that their boss had been waiting to watch theirs! As a poem might say: You sit before the screen watching a show, while the one watching the show watches you from behind the scenes...

A moment earlier.

Wa Lord leaned close to Shirou Emiya. Her small red lips were right before his eyes, yet she did not kiss him. Shirou only heard her whisper softly:

"We've been under surveillance this whole time, haven't we?"

Shirou had nearly been left at a loss by Wa Lord's previous soft, drunken appearance. Only when she suddenly spoke did he realize she was talking about Chip Girl. He admitted it frankly. "...Yeah. They're a dating service team."

Wa Lord said faintly, "Then do you know that the leader of this team is actually the legendary figure of the financial world, the 'Black Gold Swan'? Shirou, you really do have quite the reputation."

"Eh?"

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