At five thirty on Saturday evening, Twilight got dressed and prepared to leave.
Anya stood by the door. "Father, are you going to a party?"
Twilight bent down, wearing a genuine smile rarely seen on a spy, and reached out to pat Anya's little head. "Be good, Anya. Stay home and play with your brother. A babysitter will come look after you both in a little while."
Anya tipped up her little face and let out an "Ooh."
Twilight picked up his case, took his hat from the coat rack by the door, and headed out.
Hearing Twilight leave, Richie quietly poked his head out of his room like a turtle emerging from its shell, his big eyes sparkling as he looked around.
Once he was sure Twilight had left, Richie stepped out of his room with a little gadget in his hand.
"Anya, come here, come here." Richie stood in his doorway and beckoned to her, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Anya paused, then pattered over on her short little legs, waving her short little arms. "Big brother, Anya's coming!"
"Big brother, what did you want Anya for?" Anya held both fists at her waist as if she were about to take flight, her little face full of anticipation as she looked at Richie.
Richie grinned, showing his teeth, and brought something out from behind his back-the Chinese Rings.
Nine rings made of wire were fitted onto a wire frame.
The wire frame had three tiers. The top two sat close together to hold the rings, while a wire threaded through the bottom tier served as the handle.
Stars filled Anya's eyes. "Wow-big brother, what's that?"
Richie placed the little gadget in Anya's hands. "These are called Chinese Rings. I made them myself. I'll teach you how to play in a moment."
Anya and Richie knelt facing each other on the sofa while Richie demonstrated how to solve the Chinese Rings.
Richie worked the Chinese Rings at lightning speed, leaving Anya gaping.
In less than three minutes, Richie had removed all nine rings, his dazzling movements making Anya's head spin.
"Anya, see? Once you take all nine rings off, or put them all back together, you're done." Richie waved the Chinese Rings in front of her.
Watching him made Anya sleepy. They were so complicated that she instantly lost interest in the Chinese Rings:
"Big brother, Anya doesn't like playing with this. Anya's going to watch TV. You can play by yourself!"
With that, Anya scooted to the edge of the sofa, hopped onto the floor, and ran toward the television.
"Anya-" Richie followed her with the reassembled Chinese Rings in his hand.
"Anya, if you solve this, I'll give you a present. How about it?" Richie waved them in front of her, trying to tempt her.
Anya acted as if she hadn't seen him. She sat on the floor, her gaze fixed firmly on the television.
"Big brother, you're blocking Anya's TV." Anya tilted her head to look around Richie.
"Anya, it's a really big present-really! Aren't you tempted? Anya, Anya, Anya..."
Richie kept nagging her. "Father said we should have fun playing together."
Anya's pupils contracted, her face darkening as though she had just heard a bolt from the blue. "Anya doesn't want to play this with you! Big brother, watch TV with Anya."
Richie's face fell. Hanging his head, he walked away from Anya and back toward his room, saying dejectedly, "Since Anya won't play with me, I'll play by myself."
Anya sighed in relief. Richie had finally stopped bothering her, and she could happily watch some television.
Still, she wondered whether she had gone too far just now and hurt her big brother Richie's feelings.
Anya got up from the floor and crept over to Richie's room. She opened the door a crack and peered inside. "Big brother."
Anya spoke very softly. She saw that Richie was already asleep in bed.
She leaned against the bedside and pulled his blanket up a little so he wouldn't catch a chill.
Anya wiped away her sweat, wearing an expression that said, I didn't actually do anything, but I still deserve credit for my hard work.
She took the Chinese Rings from the table and tiptoed out of Richie's room. "Good night, big brother."
After closing the door, she ran back to the television, turned the volume down, and sat on the floor to watch Spy Wars.
Twenty minutes passed. It was six o'clock.
The babysitter arrived to look after the two of them, and Anya opened the door.
"Hello, Anya. I'm the babysitter your father hired to look after you two."
Anya put a finger to her lips. "Ma'am, shh-Anya's big brother is asleep. Don't wake him up."
The babysitter bent down and nodded. After entering, she went to Richie's room first. From the doorway, she could see a small mound on the bed in the darkness.
The babysitter wanted to go inside for a closer look, but Anya grabbed her clothes and whispered, "Ma'am, don't go in and wake up big brother Richie." Otherwise, he'll make me play Chinese Rings with him again.
The babysitter listened to Anya and didn't insist on checking inside. She closed the door and went to make Anya a late-night snack.
Richie had achieved his goal. He wanted Anya to keep the babysitter occupied so she couldn't check carefully whether he was actually in bed. Sure enough, Anya hadn't let him down.
Yesterday, while searching Twilight's room for spy gadgets, he had dug out some wire and rope. He used the wire to make the Chinese Rings and hid the rope in his room.
First, he used the Chinese Rings to "pester" Anya until she didn't want to see him.
Then he took advantage of the little pang of guilt she felt after getting angry, making her protect his sleeping self from being disturbed.
In reality, twenty minutes earlier, Richie had already climbed down the rope, slipped outside, and run to the car Twilight and Explosionshead were using.
Once Daddy Twilight and Explosionshead brought back the valuables they stole, he would pick out something pretty as a present for Anya.
That would make up for hurting Anya with his little scheme.
Richie chuckled fondly to himself. He had really racked his brains for a chance to see the iconic scene of Daddy Twilight proposing to Yor.
Just like him, always wanting a front-row seat to the freshest gossip.
Meanwhile, Twilight pulled Mophead over, dressed in black stealth clothes and wearing a black face mask.
"That's the situation. I have to get to a party, so we need to make this quick. You're helping me." With an expressionless face, Twilight explained the whole story to Mophead.
Mophead was stunned. "Wait, hold on a second! I'm just an information broker. When it comes to fighting, I'm total trash!"
"And you still owe me a ton of money!"
Twilight didn't explain why he was bringing Mophead along. He simply said calmly:
"There are seventy-eight works of art, worth about three million Dalcs in total-roughly fifty million yuan. Even if one or two went missing, nobody would notice, would they?"
Explosionshead's eyes lit up, and he swept out a hand. "Leave it to me! This is exactly the moment I invented my new spy gadgets for."
"Let's go!" Mophead, with his explosive hair and grand declarations, had been bought off by Twilight in no time.
The question was, had Twilight offered Mophead a lot?
The answer: a lot? It wasn't just a lot. It was far too much!
With his formidable fighting prowess, Mophead single-handedly took down thirty-eight people in 380 seconds, then pushed the artwork onto the vehicle, swaggering with wild excitement.
Watching Mophead's astonishing fighting ability from the sidelines, Twilight couldn't help marveling, "Is he really just an information broker?"
Twilight and Mophead got into the car, where Richie had already been waiting for quite some time.
Richie was ready to give them both a surprise.
Heh heh heh.
Before you continue