Chapter 85: The Bait and the Fish

After Mantou left, Yan Jing called Rose and One-Eye into the bar.

"What's wrong, boss?"

The two of them looked at Yan Jing in confusion.

His expression was more serious than they had ever seen it.

"Are your..."

Yan Jing frowned, speaking slowly:

"...parents still alive?"

"..."

???

Rose and One-Eye exchanged bewildered glances.

"My dad was 'fired' last year, but my mom's still around," One-Eye said.

"My... my parents... they disappeared when I was five or six..."

Rose answered carefully, watching Yan Jing's frown deepen.

"Then..."

Yan Jing's gaze sharpened.

"Have you thought about dating anyone recently?"

??????

The two of them were completely lost.

"I'm too young," One-Eye said.

"I... I suppose I'm at the age where I should be considering it..."

Rose lowered her head shyly and twiddled her fingers, squirming on the spot.

But when she looked up, Yan Jing's expression had turned even uglier.

"Xiao Yan, clock out early. Xiao Mei, you stay behind," Yan Jing ordered.

"Huh?"

Rose stared at him blankly.

"Bye, boss!"

One-Eye waved and bolted, darting out the door in a flash.

A short distance from the entrance, he sat down with his back against the wall.

Inside the bar, Rose watched Yan Jing shut the front door. Left alone with him, she swallowed hard, a sudden panic rising in her chest.

"B-Boss, is there a problem?"

In the gloom, Yan Jing said nothing. He only stepped closer.

"Boss, you can't! I just saw you and Miss Mantou... No, no, no, I didn't see anything, I swear I didn't see anything..."

...

...

Twenty minutes later, One-Eye watched Rose stumble out of the bar with dead, vacant eyes.

"Twenty minutes. Not bad for the boss."

One-Eye asked her:

"Did he promise you anything?"

Rose nodded, her voice completely hollow:

"He said that as long as I don't get a boyfriend or talk to other men for the time being, he'll treat me to a deluxe meal every day."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sounds like he wants to keep you all to himself while he's having fun in the Tower."

One-Eye shook his head. "You're pretty lucky. The boss seems like a nice guy."

"A deluxe meal every day..."

Just thinking about it made him drool.

"But... but he didn't even do anything!"

Rose finally seemed to snap out of it. She clutched her head, her voice thick with bewilderment:

"He just lectured me non-stop about the dangers of early marriage and pregnancy! He told me to stay away from men for a while and claimed he read my fortune—said any romance I find right now is destined to end in disaster..."

She whipped her head up to stare at One-Eye.

"What on earth is the boss playing at?"

"No idea."

One-Eye dug a lollipop out of his pocket and popped it into his mouth.

"I'm just a kid."

He paused, then suddenly seemed to figure it out.

"Maybe the boss just has a weird fetish. Just do what he says. You get free food out of it, anyway."

"Ugh!!!"

Rose groaned, clutching her head in agony.

She hated things that required using her brain.

Inside the bar.

Yan Jing stood in a shadowy corner, watching the tormented Rose with gleaming eyes.

The groundwork was laid. Now it was just a matter of seeing if the fish would take the bait.

...

That night, Yan Jing closed the shop early and headed to the main reception hall. Compared to a few days ago, the crowd had thinned out significantly.

After all, everyone believed this was the most likely place for a bomb to be planted.

To the vast majority, the bomber had somehow managed to plant explosives at the hall's entrance beforehand to injure the Virtue Bridge elder.

Furthermore, rumors were flying around the Tower that not even a Second Tier could detect these bombs.

The spreading rumors left everyone in a state of panic.

Aside from a few residents sitting in the dining area who weren't afraid of bombs, most of the seats were completely empty.

Yan Jing used his Weird Energy to scan every corner and resident.

Under normal circumstances, such an action would be incredibly offensive.

But right now, most people in the Tower seemed to silently tolerate being scanned.

It was the only way to prove they weren't the bomber.

If anyone refused the scan, they would instantly become a pariah boycotted by everyone else.

Soon, however, Yan Jing's Weird Energy ran into an obstruction.

Yan Jing looked over to see a man with a massive head. It was shaped like a giant heart and densely covered in eyes.

A Second Tier.

The man blatantly released his own Weird Energy as a warning.

With that kind of strength, he certainly didn't need to worry about bombs.

It was no wonder the seats around him formed a wide, empty circle. No one dared to sit near him.

Watching this, Yan Jing picked up his Walkie-talkie:

"This is 'Weak'. 'Old', please respond."

"'Old' here."

Old Master Liu's voice came through.

Yan Jing told him everything he wanted to find out.

About half an hour later, Old Master Liu sent word back:

"There is indeed a group of VIPs who, for various reasons, have explicitly refused to undergo Anomalous Energy Detection, nor will they perform it on others."

"Among them, besides the many Second Tier beings, there are also some First Tiers. They believe they have other methods to evade the bombs and don't need Anomalous Energy Detection."

Yan Jing spoke flatly:

"Are there many of them? Is there a list?"

"Not many. Hold on a moment, let me ask around..."

...

...

1:00 AM.

Sun-Swallowing Tower, 6th floor.

The office floor.

The door to an office labeled "David Chen" was pushed open from the inside, revealing a narrow crack.

Three toad heads poked out from the gap, peering left and right down the empty, pitch-black corridor.

Ink-black Weird Energy slipped from his mouths, sweeping toward the shadows to probe.

"Hm..."

He thought he felt the presence of some sort of Weird Energy, but it vanished in an instant.

Like an illusion.

"Ahem!!!"

He stepped out of the office and coughed loudly twice, waking up the overhead lights.

Bright light instantly flooded the long, silent space. He walked all the way to the end of the corridor but found no one.

That near-imaginary trace of Weird Energy didn't reappear, either.

"Just my imagination. Heh."

Chuckling, he turned around and headed back into his room.

Looking at the waitress behind his desk—who was sending him flirtatious glances—he rubbed his hands together and discreetly wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

"Director, what did you call me here for?"

The waitress looked a little shy.

"To discuss some work."

David Chen approached with a grin and began unbuttoning the first button of his shirt.

Unless he was absolutely starving, he disliked getting his collar dirty while dining.

"Director, was everything you promised me before true?"

The waitress didn't seem entirely opposed to the idea, just keeping her head down as she asked for reassurance.

"Of course it's true."

David Chen stepped up beside her, grabbing her arm with his warty, webbed hands.

He had investigated this waitress thoroughly. She didn't have a Tier, had been an orphan since childhood—parents either fired or eaten, who knew—had a clean background with no backing, and despite working for years, was never valued or promoted.

If someone like her disappeared, absolutely no one would notice.

She posed no threat to him whatsoever.

He didn't rush to take a bite; he didn't want his prey's meat to grow tough from fear.

Faced with David Chen's fondling, the waitress showed slight resistance, keeping her head lowered:

"Director, the Tower isn't safe right now. Everyone is saying there are bombs."

"There won't be any. I've been in the office all day. Aside from you, my little cutie, no one else has stepped foot in here."

David Chen laughed.

He hated the so-called Anomalous Energy Detection. He had too many dirty secrets on him.

That troublesome and tedious procedure gave him zero sense of security.

To avoid the bomb scare, he had stayed holed up in his office for the past few days. This waitress was already the third ration he'd called in.

"That... that's wonderful."

The waitress said softly:

"Just wonderful."