"I..."
Lin Xinyi's expression stiffened:
Sexual harassment? And she had gone straight to my boss to complain?
Damn it, had I misunderstood the relationship between the original owner and this woman?
Lin Xinyi's scalp tingled, while the man on the other end of the phone continued in that overwhelmingly oppressive voice:
"Lin, tell me what happened."
"This boss..."
Lin Xinyi truly did not know what to say.
Miss Miyano stood with her arms folded beneath her chest, leaning lightly against the doorframe, a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips.
She was quite happy to watch Lin Xinyi's awkward state as Gin reprimanded him.
But unfortunately, just as she had expected, Gin did not pursue the matter too deeply.
Hearing Lin Xinyi stammer without an answer, Gin simply dropped the subject and coldly admonished him instead:
"Remember, don't do anything unnecessary."
"Your only task is to keep an eye on her for me."
Without even waiting for a reply, this "overbearing boss" in Lin Xinyi's eyes coolly hung up.
Leaving Lin Xinyi standing there awkwardly, lost in thought:
My task is to keep an eye on her?
Does that mean...
From that simple exchange, Lin Xinyi immediately pieced together the proper relationship between himself and Miyano Shiho:
Clearly, this girl named Miyano Shiho was no ordinary person. She had deep connections, an impressive background, and an extremely high position in the company. Perhaps she was simply the daughter of the head office's owner.
That would explain how she had become Chief Researcher at such a young age with such meteoric speed.
And he, this security team—cough, cough—this Security Director, was not primarily responsible for protecting the laboratory at all. His real duty was to protect this iceberg-like young lady personally.
"No wonder my salary is so high..."
"So I'm actually the personal bodyguard of a rich young lady like this."
"And the 'most important person' mentioned in the original owner's notes actually referred to the person he was assigned to protect at work?"
Lin Xinyi was speechless. It seemed he had made a huge misunderstanding.
He had been accused of "sexual harassment" by his employer.
My job isn't going to be gone, is it?
Thinking of that monthly salary of 890,000 that he had yet to get his hands on, Lin Xinyi could not help feeling nervous.
Knock, knock, knock!
Miyano Shiho lightly knocked on the door, interrupting Lin Xinyi's thoughts.
And this "young lady" did not fire him just like that.
She merely demanded impatiently, "Can we go see my sister now?"
"Mm." Lin Xinyi nodded and rose to his feet.
He got halfway up, then could not move any further.
He needed to set off, but where exactly were they going?
"I didn't drive here today."
After thinking it over, Lin Xinyi tested the waters with that remark.
When he had searched "his" home, he had found a Toyota car key, so he knew he owned a car.
But he was unfamiliar with the roads nearby and would have needed to navigate using a map as he went, so he had simply not driven to work.
"Mm?"
Miyano Shiho frowned slightly:
That was strange. Lin Xinyi had always driven to the laboratory before.
But eager to see her sister, she did not think too deeply about it and quickly replied:
"Then we'll just walk there."
"Alright." Lin Xinyi nodded without revealing anything, quietly breathing a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it seemed their meeting place was nearby, so they did not need to drive.
That way, he could simply follow behind Miyano Shiho and smoothly reach the destination whose location he did not know at all.
"Then let's go now."
Lin Xinyi did his best to play the role of a personal bodyguard and agreed to accompany her.
But this Miss Miyano had something else to do. "Wait."
She looked down at the plain white research uniform she wore, as though only now remembering that she had not changed out of her work clothes yet.
"Wait here."
"I'll go back to my bedroom and change."
With that, Miyano Shiho turned around and strode away, moving with purpose.
"Bedroom?"
"Does she live at the company?"
Lin Xinyi frowned deeply.
He found this Miss Miyano increasingly strange:
She clearly had powerful connections, an exalted position, and even had the company specially arrange a personal bodyguard for her.
With such excellent family circumstances, she still worked herself to exhaustion with overtime like an ordinary office drone.
She even lived at the company and did not go home at all.
That was simply too strange.
Could it be...
Based on the clues available, Lin Xinyi keenly guessed the truth:
This Miss Miyano was probably...
The kind of career woman who was born to love working?
The "someone else" in the inspirational saying, "Others have better conditions than you and still work harder," probably referred to people like her.
"She's truly impressive."
Lin Xinyi sighed in admiration:
"Even the boss's daughter is taking the lead in working 24/7. What excuse do ordinary people have not to work hard?"
Young people all had to learn from her: love their work and their position, and not waste a single second.
Thinking that Miss Miyano would probably need some time to change, Lin Xinyi immediately sat back down at his desk and focused intently on the computer:
He had heard that the world record for beginner Minesweeper was one second. He had to try again.
Meanwhile, beside a Porsche 356A parked on the roadside at the other end of the call.
Gin leaned lightly against his beloved car, his silver hair drifting in the wind beneath the brim of his black hat.
The call had ended, but his pale green eyes still glinted with coldness.
"Boss."
Vodka, his loyal subordinate, asked curiously:
"Was what Sherry said true?"
"Did that brat Lin Xinyi really do that to her?"
"You can't believe everything that woman says."
Gin's voice was utterly flat, revealing no emotion.
"Then Sherry was falsely accusing Lin Xinyi?" Vodka asked, confused.
"Not necessarily."
"Sherry wouldn't complain to me for no reason..."
"After all, she has never liked talking to me."
"Perhaps Lin Xinyi really did develop that sort of interest in her."
Gin put down his phone, lit a cigarette, and only then spoke slowly through the curling smoke:
"That guy's thoughts have always been complicated. It wouldn't be impossible for him to do something like that."
"What a pity. He used to be a talented person."
Lin Xinyi was a reserve talent cultivated by the organization. He was capable, gifted, had a clean background, and was reliable enough.
Yet in recent years, there had always been rats within the organization. Traitors seemed impossible to kill off, emerging one after another.
As the organization's top assassin responsible for purging internal traitors, Gin was starting to feel exhausted from all the killing:
Sure enough, none of those people recruited halfway through could be fully trusted.
On the surface, they all looked like loyal and capable organization members, but once you dug deeper...
Well, intelligence agencies from every country had apparently come here for a team-building exchange.
In the end, only senior reserve talents like Lin Xinyi, cultivated by the organization itself and thoroughly known inside and out, could be used safely without worrying that they were undercover agents sent by an intelligence agency.
That was why Gin had always looked forward to the reasonably talented Lin Xinyi growing stronger, reaching the point where he could obtain an official codename within the organization and be recognized as someone capable of standing on his own.
Perhaps then, he would choose Lin Xinyi as his assistant.
But unfortunately, Lin Xinyi's performance had become increasingly disappointing over the past few years.
The man's mental state had always been unstable, and his personality had gradually become withdrawn and strange.
Such psychological fortitude was clearly unworthy of a formal member's status. He could not shoulder the organization's important duties and was barely fit to serve as a security captain.
And today, he had caused something so utterly absurd.
Could it be...
Lin Xinyi's gradual decline over the years...
Had actually been because he had stayed by Sherry's side for too long and fallen into the predicament of unrequited love?
Gin found it absurd, but upon further thought, it was not entirely incomprehensible:
Young people spending every day together developing feelings for each other was perfectly normal.
Being met with Sherry's cold face for so long, getting so stifled that he became withdrawn, and then being unable to control himself and overstepping his bounds... that seemed imaginable too.
Come to think of it, Gin did not actually care whether Lin Xinyi had harassed Sherry today, or how exactly he had done so.
What he truly cared about was this:
"He is merely a hunting hound sent to guard its prey."
"And if that hound becomes attracted to its own prey..."
"Wouldn't that make the hound untrustworthy?"
Gin spoke in a cold tone.
"Oh?"
Vodka raised his brow and asked eagerly:
"Boss, should we kill that kid, then?"
"..."
Gin did not answer, but his attitude was clear:
How could he kill someone over such a trivial matter?
That was still a senior talent the organization had spent years cultivating. They had even sent him to university alongside Miyano Shiho.
Disposing of him simply because he wanted to date someone would be far too wasteful.
Moreover, Gin vaguely knew that Lin Xinyi had been personally brought into the organization by that troublesome woman back then. His background was impeccably black to the roots, not that of some expendable grunt who could be discarded casually.
"Keep observing him."
After pondering for a moment, Gin slowly said in an even tone:
"If he merely has feelings for Sherry, that actually isn't much."
"But if he forgets his duties over something so pointless..."
"Then we kill him?"
Vodka eagerly answered before Gin could finish.
Gin: "..."
There were not many trustworthy insiders in the organization left. Could he stop thinking only about killing people?
It was because Vodka was so one-track-minded that Gin had hoped Lin Xinyi would grow up quickly and help him out...
Gin maintained his icy expression. After a long silence, he finally answered noncommittally, "We'll see."
"Understood, Boss!"
Vodka nodded seriously, harboring some unspoken thoughts of his own:
Heh, Lin Xinyi. You'll probably never get the chance to advance.
You want to replace me, Vodka, as the boss's driver—no, the boss's partner...
You're a hundred years too early!
Before you continue