Lady Ye woke up early that day.
To be precise, she was woken up by an urgent email sent at dawn by her family’s intelligence contact.
The email contained only a few lines, but it completely chased away her drowsiness.
The content was that last night, a warehouse belonging to Phantom Night Company in the Old Port had been attacked by a mysterious person calling themselves “Moriarty.” All the banned enhancement drugs stored there were destroyed, and even the A-class esper “Dark Blade” Nox, who was in charge of transport, died on the spot. The only things left at the scene were two sarcastic notes signed with the letter M.
“Moriarty,” huh…
This was the mysterious figure who had recently emerged in the underworld of the Seventh District.
Ye Fengxue read the intelligence two or three times, then looked up and stared blankly at the ceiling.
She had a rough idea who this mysterious person was.
There weren’t many people who would cause trouble on Phantom Night’s turf for no reason.
Combined with her capricious style of doing things, it was most likely some clueless idiot.
In fact, the thing Lin Jiu said yesterday in the cafeteria—”Sister, I’ve been exercising at night lately”—was probably related to this too.
But at that time, her inner theater had gone haywire, uncontrollably playing inappropriate scenes in her mind, causing her brain to short-circuit and her face to flush red. She never got the chance to seriously think about what “exercising” meant.
And she hadn’t gotten around to asking who “Moritia” was either.
Now that she had calmed down, piecing these clues together gave her the answer she wanted.
Ye Fengxue threw off the covers and got out of bed, stepping barefoot onto the cold floor. She walked to the window and pulled open the curtains.
The early morning Seventh District was still shrouded in a thin fog, the sky between the tall buildings showing a faint fish-belly white.
She stood at the window with her arms crossed, looking out at the distant scenery from the high floor of the Seventh District Luxury Apartment.
That idiot, going this far for her, was probably because of what happened on the rooftop before.
Back then, on the rooftop, Ling Ling had said to her:
“My daily life needs protection. Things that threaten my daily life have to be dealt with in advance.”
She herself had probably been categorized as part of that idiot’s daily life.
Thinking of this, the corners of Ye Fengxue’s mouth lifted involuntarily.
That idiot always had a sharp tongue, but when someone close to her was really in danger, she was always the first to act.
But since you’re willing to go this far for me, why won’t you ever say it directly?
She closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh.
Then she made a decision in her heart—this morning, she would personally wait for that idiot at the school gate.
To properly ask about what happened yesterday.
The morning sunlight spilled over the white school gate of Luter Academy, coating the entire building in a layer of pale golden light.
Ye Fengxue paced back and forth beside a stone pillar inside the school gate, her arms crossed, her emerald eyes occasionally sweeping over the sidewalk outside the gate.
She took out her phone, checked the time, and muttered softly.
“Why isn’t she here yet…”
“That girl usually comes to school pretty early, so why hasn’t she shown up at this hour?”
Then she started pacing again, mentally rehearsing what she would say when she saw that idiot.
‘Thank you for solving my big problem?’ No, that’s too direct.
And even if she did say that, that idiot would definitely play dumb and say, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t understand.’
If she said directly, ‘I knew that “Moriarty” was you.’
No, exposing it outright would be no fun. That idiot loved maintaining an air of mystery.
But if she said, ‘You didn’t get hurt last night, did you?’
That seemed okay, but it sounded like she was worried about her. Wouldn’t that be too obvious?
Just as she was still rehearsing in her head, three figures appeared at the end of the street outside the school gate.
Ye Fengxue’s gaze quickly locked onto the white figure in the middle. Then she looked at the evil pink-haired creature holding a lollipop in her mouth and the “gentle” little sister holding her sister’s hand.
Early in the morning, and it’s the three of them again.
Ye Fengxue’s brows furrowed briefly, but she quickly adjusted her expression and approached with the dignified posture befitting a young lady.
As she got closer, she noticed that evil pink-haired creature leaning close to Ling Ling’s ear, whispering something, although Ling Ling remained expressionless.
Lin Jiu was holding Ling Ling’s right arm, looking at Hua Jianxi on the left with an expression like she was facing a great enemy.
“Lin Lingling.” Ye Fengxue stopped in front of the three.
Ling Ling looked up, her crimson eyes meeting those emerald eyes. After about a second of eye contact, her gaze unconsciously shifted to the side.
Ye Fengxue noticed this detail—it was a small habit of Ling Ling’s when she was feeling guilty.
When Ye Fengxue’s gaze fell near Ling Ling’s collarbone, she spotted a faint red mark, like it had been rubbed red by something.
An image instantly flashed through Ye Fengxue’s mind: after Ling Ling had beaten people up in the warehouse last night, Hua Jianxi had leaned in to whisper in her ear, so close they were almost touching.
That pink-haired girl’s lips had accidentally brushed against Ling Ling’s collarbone.
No, no, no, what nonsense am I thinking!
Ye Fengxue shook her head vigorously. Her vision refocused, and she found Ling Ling tilting her head, looking at her with confusion in her crimson eyes.
“Lady Ye, your face is a little red.”
“It’s because of the sun!” Ye Fengxue blurted out.
“The sun just came up, it’s not even hot yet.”
“Then it’s… it’s because I’m frail and I’m sensitive to heat!”
Ling Ling looked at Ye Fengxue’s increasingly red face and suddenly remembered what Hua Jianxi had said in the restroom yesterday—those scenes Lady Ye imagined were probably just Lady Ye’s own delusions.
She wasn’t sure exactly what Ye Fengxue had been thinking about, but judging by how red she was all the way to her ears, it was probably not something wholesome.
“…Are you thinking something rude again?”
“No!! I’m not thinking anything!! I absolutely wasn’t thinking about you and that pink-haired girl in the warehouse—”
Even as Ye Fengxue said “no,” half the sentence had already slipped out uncontrollably.
She froze, as if someone had pressed her pause button.
Ling Ling remained expressionless, but her ears had started to flush faintly.
‘I say, Lady Ye, is your brain only filled with dirty thoughts?’
Hua Jianxi, upon hearing Lady Ye’s half-sentence, immediately felt a surge of playful mischief.
“Lady Ye, what were you just saying about the warehouse? What were they doing in the warehouse? Come on, let us hear too.”
“Nothing!!”
Ye Fengxue’s voice shot up an octave, attracting sidelong glances from several students passing by the school gate.
She cleared her throat, tried to maintain her young lady composure, and took a deep breath.
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