blogombal Page 75
Page 75
His thin, bony fingers nervously tapped the gilded armrest, making a "tap, tap, tap..." sound.
"Thump!" The servant was terrified, slamming his forehead hard against the Persian pattern on the carpet. The force was so great that even the tip of his braid jumped. He lifted his face, revealing a distinct, still-scalding bruise on his forehead, mixed with cold sweat and dust.
"This servant deserves to die! This servant deserves to die! Master, please calm down! Master, please calm down!" His shrill, obsequious voice was tinged with sobs as he cried out that he deserved to die, while his eyes darted around the old man's face like slick rats.
A trickle of murky saliva uncontrollably spilled from the corner of his deliberately forced, ingratiating smile, dripping onto his short, yellowed beard, worn from years of betel nut chewing. He instinctively pulled his greasy braid to his front and clutched it in his hand.
The old man remained silent, but the knocking suddenly quickened.
The servant prostrated himself, his long braid completely undone and spread out on the luxurious carpet: "My lord, please take good care of your precious health!"
Then, the long-braided servant suddenly had a flash of inspiration, abruptly raised his head, and contorted his face into an extremely forced, fawning expression, shrieking:
"This servant understands! Your Majesty is wise! This servant will go and convey Your Majesty's decree immediately! Tell those 'adults' from the newly arrived Divine Chosen Contact Group—hey, it's their good fortune that Your Majesty needs them! It's a blessing from their ancestors! This servant will go and have them share Your Majesty's burdens! To help Your Majesty eliminate bandits and traitors!"
"Our young master Jinbao will be there too. When the time comes, all the credit will go to him!"
“San Gouzi…and that guy in R district…” the old man squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.
"Understood! This servant understands!" The servant was as excited as if he had been injected with chicken blood, his voice rising high and shrilly. "This servant will go and tell that 'Head's Wife' in District R right away! If the master's money is even a penny less, she will make her pay it back tenfold!"
The old man's face showed a satisfied expression, and he waved for him to leave.
Two hours later.
Outside the gloomy mansion.
"Huh?! The case is... closed? So fast?!" San Gouzi, with his long braid, shrieked.
Another servant with a braid nervously presented the documents, along with... a note that seemed to be attached casually, with crooked handwriting.
San Gouzi snatched the document, and without even glancing at it, yelled, "Why did she release the list of the Chosen Ones contact group?! Did someone leak the information?"
The maid trembled even more violently: "Reporting...reporting to the butler...the R district says...this is...this is a list of criminals..."
"What??? How did the contact group end up on the criminal list?! Our young master Jinbao'er is on it!"
The maid stammered:
"He, they also said... that R District suffered heavy losses, and the criminals were from our East Continent's H District."
"The 'Chosen Order' over there needs... needs our Master Jin to prepare the ransom... to redeem the people, according to this list..."
"A judgment issued under the 'Chosen Order,' stamped by the two associations..."
"The Second Association just admitted it like that?! And they're even going to redeem people?" San Gouzi's brain seemed to freeze for a moment. "Redeem... redeem whom?"
"What do you mean this is a list of criminals? What do you mean the bank in District R was robbed and we have to ransom them?!"
The luxurious outer robe, stained with soup, was trembling.
Then! A deafening, piercing scream erupted from its throat:
"Is there no law anymore?! Is there no justice left?!"
"How dare you provoke the Jin family of Dongzhou!!!"
……
Inside the office.
The White Queen's heart, which had been pounding all the way, didn't settle down after she stepped through the door; instead, it felt like a heavy lock.
Fearing that her precious little darling might be in any danger again, this protective mature woman, after kissing him until his face turned blue once more, dragged and pulled him into his own storage bedroom in an unquestionable, almost "yandere forced love" manner.
After the door was locked, only a deathly silence remained, along with the faint, serious tone of her and Chunli whispering as they checked the "list of perpetrators" for the bank robbery report...
The room was empty.
A newly installed, firm wooden bed and a wooden table laden with food and snacks—that's almost all there is. The bare walls exude a chill.
Li Pu let out a long breath, threw himself onto the bed, and shook up fine dust. He put his arms behind his head and stared at the glaringly pale ceiling.
The room was so quiet you could hear your own heartbeat.
Today, aside from the insignificant money-picking in the blue intelligence reports.
He put all the remaining intelligence to good use.
They went to rob a bank, which led Mai Shiranui to voluntarily help them steal the money.
Then, he guided the entire East Asia contact group, except for Xiao Mei and Juno, to take the blame...
At this time, judging from the information in the "Peach Blossom Secret", Mai Shiranui should be negotiating with the landlord of the agency to buy this place.
The remaining information is about how to enter Tifa's dream and win her over.
But now...
He turned over in frustration, and the bed creaked under the weight.
This is really getting a bit troublesome...
We have to get out! We absolutely must get out!
We haven't bought anything we need for the wilderness yet!
They hadn't secured any useful tools or necessary supplies.
The money they stole is all in Mai Shiranui's hands, and Tifa is still sulking in her room...
The White Queen has him locked up here. He's safe, but what's the difference between that and having his limbs cut off?
I can't just do nothing and wait for her to put on a black hood and run me over when it's late at night...
Thinking of this, his gaze instantly locked onto the only possible escape route in the room—the small, narrow, prison-like window hanging high at the top of the wall!
He held his breath and, like a nimble gecko, quickly climbed up the wall.
He eagerly pressed his face close to the crack, his gaze fixed intently on the narrow, garbage-strewn, and filthy alleyway outside the window—
Then, he froze.
In the dim light, a familiar yet unusually thin figure was squatting with a grin in the damp corner of a graffiti-covered wall across the alley.
Catgirl Junior Sister?
Chapter 80 I Don't Want to Be Char Aznable!
Why is she here?!
And... look at him?
The junior sister I remembered as radiant and cunning as a fox was now looking as disheveled as a stray cat abandoned in a corner after being soaked by the rain.
There was no one else in the alley; she was all alone, curled up there.
Several stray cats rummaging for food near the garbage dump seemed to be attracted by her stillness, tentatively gathering around her, curling up or sniffing her, licking their fur.
She had her head down, as if she were talking to the group of stray cats, or perhaps she was muttering to herself.
"I'll be back this afternoon..." Her voice was tired and tinged with longing. "Master looks great today... I can finally get some rest..."
A faint light suddenly flashed across her pale face. She struggled to raise her hand and point at the group of cats, forcing out a hint of joy in her tense voice:
"You're so lucky! Once Master has rested... she'll definitely cook for you herself!"
"My master's cooking is so delicious!"
Her smile was so pure it was almost transparent, yet so fragile it was like a shard of sunlight that could shatter at any moment.
Li Pu felt a lump in his throat as he looked at it.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pushed open the dusty little window with all his might and jumped out.
He rushed to the huddled figure in a few steps, bent down without hesitation, and gently and protectively embraced his junior sister's thin shoulders and knees, lifting her off the cold and filthy ground without saying a word!
"Senior sister, it's cold outside! Elbow! Come inside with me!"
"Who! What are you doing?!" A cute but fierce scream suddenly exploded from my arms!
The little catgirl in the red dress with pigtails, who had been as weak as a ball of cotton just moments before, suddenly struggled in his arms. Her big, wet eyes widened instantly, filled with disbelief, shame, and—furious rage!
"Put me down! Put me down now!!" She thrashed about, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "I already said she's not your senior sister! No! No! Meow—!"
The kitten suddenly jumped high out of his arms!
Upon landing, it instantly and seamlessly switched to the Hakimi Spinosaurus form, and hissed and bristled at him!
In a corner of the alley, several stray cats stopped grooming themselves, tilted their heads, and stared blankly at the two of them.
"Go back quickly! Don't make your master anxious and upset!" The junior sister continued to hiss like an annoyed kitten, her tail standing tall behind her.
Li Pu scratched his head.
Alright, let's not worry about how pitiful our junior sister is for now.
If this "Chosen One of Pleasure" blocks my way, then I'll be completely unable to leave the agency.
In a flash, a pure, innocent, and harmless smile spread across his face, and he blinked his big eyes:
"I need to get money, senior sister. I just... um, today, together with those pretty ladies under you, 'patronized' Dongzhou Bank."
"Meow?!" Liv, the twin-tailed catgirl, instantly bristled, her cat ears standing on end in shock! "You brat!!" She jumped up and down in anger, her little fists clenched. "How could you do such a bad thing?! If Master finds out... your Master! He'll be so heartbroken!"
She knows Chun-Li too well.
Before she traveled through time, she often assisted Chun-Li in solving cases as a hacker, and knew that what pained this upright policewoman the most was seeing her loved ones go astray.
The thought of Chun-Li's potentially disappointed and heartbroken expression made Liv feel worse than if she had been beaten herself.
Li Pu looked at the little cat girl in front of him, who was jumping up and down in a panic and whose mind was full of "Master will be sad", and a smile appeared on his lips.
Hakimi, you've fallen for it!
[Acting Skills Level 1 Activated]
He immediately adopted an even more "helpless" and "heavy" expression, his shoulders slumped, and his voice carried a perfectly measured hint of "bitterness":
"I have no choice but to help. Our firm is dirt poor right now, and the financial deficit is about to burst!"
He stole a glance at Liv's face, which had instantly turned worried, and continued to add fuel to the fire with "sincere concern":
“These cats can’t wait for Master to cook, because ever since I came to the firm, Master and Sister Emma have been unable to afford fresh ingredients and have been eating dry bread every meal.”
Kitten Girl Liv’s pupils are shaking!
Li Pu sighed.
That's the truth; it's been like this every single meal since he came to the firm.
That is, after he received canned meat at the hotel, the firm's dining table finally had some meat.
"I can't just keep hiding behind my mentor and the director and be a freeloader forever, can I? The firm is everyone's home, and I have to... find a way to help them share the burden."
The little cat girl's emerald eyes, which had been wide with shame and indignation, gradually became misty with a layer of water.
Her struggling movements stopped, and her tightly clenched fists loosened.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, filled with understanding and heartache for her clumsy junior brother who "worried himself sick over his family" but "went astray".
Just as Li Pu was pondering how to make the next lie...
A small, cool, yet exceptionally soft hand, with an almost instinctive caution, gently, very gently landed on the top of his fluffy black hair.
Liv stood on tiptoe.
Because she was significantly shorter than him.
Her pink lips were pressed into a soft arc, and her delicate nostrils twitched slightly.
Her movements were clumsy yet earnest, and she exuded a maternal aura that was completely different from her youthful appearance.
One moment, one moment...
She even unconsciously imitated the rhythm of her master comforting her in her memory, her slender fingers clumsily running through his hair, touching him with her fingertips.
On her little face, a pure, almost sacred maternal love spread out, as if she were looking at a silly dog that had gotten itself dirty in the wind and snow and was trying to protect its home but had used the wrong method.
"Sigh... really..." she murmured softly, "that silly little brat who's impossible to leave alone..."
The boy's brain went blank for a second!
The hairs on my entire body stood on end instantly!
I was touched!