Zhou Ming felt the world dim, all colors fading.
After a long moment, he snapped back to reality. Gazing at the bright sun in the sky, his gaze grew more resolute.
The messages Gadelia and Jiang Jialie had sent Zhou Ming all talked about the same thing—they had been targeted by Tu Kunpeng of the Tu family. Although they had fought back, it was likely that Tu Kunpeng would come looking for them again.
Zhou Ming had no complaints about Gadelia and Jiang Jialie’s choices. He only hoped nothing would happen to them.
But trouble always found its own way to them.
For now, all he could do was deal with threats as they came.
He had never before had such a clear and specific understanding of the family-controlled structures and operations that had existed in this world for who knows how many years. The vague impressions of the past had now shed their shadows, becoming an insurmountable mountain in Zhou Ming’s heart.
After replying to both of them one by one, Zhou Ming really wanted to smoke a cigarette right now, to let nicotine numb his tense nerves.
‘Too bad I don’t smoke.’
He couldn’t help imagining what it would be like if he did.
Jiang Jialie would push him out the door with disdain. He would have to wait until he was outside before he could breathe in and out heavily. After a while, her eyes would show disgust, and she would say harshly, “Get out! You stink! Don’t come back in until you get rid of the smoke smell.”
‘That sounds so pathetic.’
‘Gadelia would probably be the same, right?’
Life always keeps falling and falling, until you hit rock bottom.
“Zhou Ming, let’s go!”
Yue Liang shouted, reminding Zhou Ming that they still had to continue patrolling.
Dragging his exhausted body, Li Yaoming suggested to Zhang Bolei, “Captain, how about we all take a leave of absence tomorrow? I really can’t move today.”
Even though he was also physically exhausted and panting, Zhang Bolei didn’t hold back with his words. “Get lost! Like hell we’re taking a leave!”
“You’re injured—you need to go to the hospital for treatment, got it?!”
After refuting Li Yaoming’s words, Zhang Bolei continued.
“Yeah, yeah, the captain is right!”
Li Yaoming gently bumped his elbow against Yue Liang beside him, signaling him to agree with the captain.
Yue Liang rolled his eyes at Li Yaoming, then coughed lightly and said, “Mm, I think the captain makes a good point.”
“Me too.”
Zhou Ang didn’t know what else to say, so he could only utter that classic line.
Zhou Ming was hesitating over whether to say something too when he saw a familiar figure slowly approaching from the small alley. The setting sun was low, and with the light behind her, he couldn’t make out her face—only the sound of high heels clicking on the ground.
“Zhou Ming.”
Gadelia called out to him. When she got close to Zhang Bolei and the others, she greeted them as well. “Did you just finish eliminating some aberrants? After I arrived in District 15, I found that I had received four consecutive messages about large numbers of aberrations appearing at different times.”
Zhang Bolei and the others were all filled with embarrassment and awkwardness. After all, it was a bit shameful to let others see them, as Lantern Bearers, getting this worn out from eliminating just a few aberrants.
Zhang Bolei’s eyes nearly popped out as he glared fiercely at Li Yaoming. His meaning was obvious.
‘Dammit! Why did you mention taking leave just now? If Miss Gadelia heard that, I’d lose all face!’
Actually, calling Gadelia “ma’am” would be more appropriate for her apparent age. But a favor received makes one soft—Gadelia had treated them to a big meal just a few days ago, so what harm was there in calling her “miss”? Zhang Bolei and the others were Lantern Bearers, not saints. For a little give-and-take in human relationships, what did it matter if they called her “miss”?
“Gadelia, how did you find us?”
Zhou Ming was a bit puzzled. He hadn’t told Gadelia his location—how did she manage to track them down?
Pulling out some tissues from her bag and handing them to everyone, Gadelia replied with a smile, “Didn’t I already say? I received messages about aberrations being far away. By just following the addresses, wouldn’t I know where you were?”
“Right… right.”
At that moment, the five members of Zhou Ming’s team were filled with resentment toward the designer they had been complaining about earlier.
“By the way, Captain Zhang, it’s already 4:38 PM.”
Gadelia pulled out her phone to check the time, then smiled at everyone. “You should be off duty by now, right? Um… would you mind if I take Zhou Ming with me? His childhood friend Jiang Jialie and I went out shopping today and ran into some things I need to discuss with Zhou Ming.”
Zhang Bolei and the others were stunned by the information in Gadelia’s words.
‘What does she mean, she went out shopping with Zhou Ming’s childhood friend Jiang Jialie? And something happened? Hopefully it wasn’t a conflict over Zhou Ming! But Miss Gadelia doesn’t look injured, and Zhou Ming’s childhood friend isn’t here either. So the two of them probably didn’t have a falling out. If they did, this would be a battlefield of rivalry.’
Although they had the urge to stop Zhou Ming and make Gadelia tell the story on the spot, Zhang Bolei and the others nodded in unison.
“You two talk. We’ll head off first. Zhou Ming, keep an eye on your phone—if anything comes up, we’ll let you know.”
Zhang Bolei didn’t even call him “kid” anymore; he directly used his name.
Watching Zhang Bolei force himself to leave the alley—and faintly hearing him lamenting his pain at still being unmarried in his thirties—Zhou Ming’s expression was complicated.
“Come on, let’s go somewhere else to talk.”
Gadelia called to Zhou Ming and walked a few steps, then turned to find that he hadn’t moved. So she reached out and tugged his sleeve.
But she couldn’t pull him.
“Let’s go!”
Gadelia hated people like this—the ones with strong bodies and astonishing strength. Without using ability-enforced power, she couldn’t budge him at all.
‘Why do other ability users get enhanced physiques?’
‘And I get nothing, just an annoying side effect.’
“If you don’t move now, I’ll go set up an account later, spend money to buy exposure, and post your inner thoughts that I hear every single day.”
As soon as Gadelia said that, Zhou Ming immediately moved.
“Let’s go! Gadelia, let’s call Jiang Jialie and grab a meal.”
“Hmph!”
Gadelia gave a light laugh. “Feeling energetic now? If you want to go, you can take Jiang Jialie yourself. I’m not going.”
Gadelia was very dissatisfied with Zhou Ming’s earlier behavior and vetoed his proposal on the spot. “I’ve already found you a side job to earn some extra cash. You can start tomorrow. But the pay isn’t much—only ten thousand.”
“What exactly is it?”
Zhou Ming became interested and asked.
“The owner of an illegal workshop has aberrants appearing in the factory but doesn’t want to call in the Lantern Bearers, so he can only look for people on the black market.”
Afraid Zhou Ming might be uneasy, Gadelia continued, “I had someone check it out. There are only two micro-calamity level aberrants. But you need to watch out for that unscrupulous boss. His factory is in a remote location—if anything goes wrong, no one would know. Just to be safe, you’d better bring a gun. I’ve already sent you the address and the detailed information. Most importantly, you have to ask for the money from the boss yourself.”
Gadelia decided she wouldn’t bother with Zhou Ming anymore and left directly. She hadn’t meddled this time. If something went wrong, it wasn’t her fault. Besides, she had already warned Zhou Ming.
Watching Gadelia slowly walk away, Zhou Ming opened his mouth, wanting to say something but holding back.
‘I should send her back to school.’
Speaking of which, Zhou Ming and Gadelia’s relationship could now be considered that of familiar friends.
In the end, Zhou Ming ended up taking a taxi back to school by himself. On the way, thinking about tomorrow’s commission, he secretly opened a gacha game on his phone.
‘Every day, I don’t even know how to sum it up!’