A moment later, she smiled again. "It is for me. Thank you!"
"Oh, no problem—it's my job, you know."
"Morning, Roylena!"
"Oh… morning, Peter."
Roylena greeted her colleague warmly, seemingly unchanged from before.
But the second she entered her office and closed the door behind her, she tore open the envelope eagerly, rereading the note inside.
"Nine o'clock tonight. The woods beside Chunliu Alley. Let's talk about your ability. I'm merciful and friendly—I hope you won't do anything to disappoint me."
Roylena clenched her fists so tight her knuckles whitened. Her cascading blonde hair trembled with a mix of fear and rage.
"Damn it! How could anyone know about my fake ability?!"
She stared at the note again, a flicker of doubt crossing her mind. "Could it be this person doesn't actually know? Maybe they just want to learn about [Scent Tracker]?"
But she quickly dismissed the thought. "No. If they wanted information about [Scent Trackers], they could just check the Godslayer Camp forum. There's no need to meet me in person!"
She pulled a medal from her chest pocket and placed it on the note.
A small section of the medal suddenly glowed red.
Roylena's face lit up with surprise. "Whoever wrote this is nearby!"
She immediately loaded her pistol, slipped on her police uniform, and left the station—pretending she was heading out on patrol.
Following the red dot on the medal, Roylena tracked it all the way to the alley where Qin Siyang had been that morning.
She looked down at the sleeping homeless orphan, then at the medal, and a look of disdain crossed her face.
"An orphan? That's impossible."
But the medal's tracking never lied.
She nudged the sleeping child with the toe of her leather shoe.
"Wake up."
The child rubbed his eyes, looked up, and saw Roylena in her police uniform. He scrambled to his feet, scared out of his wits.
"Did you write this letter?" Roylena demanded.
The child nodded first, then seemed to realize his mistake and shook his head violently.
Roylena leaned in, her voice sharp. "Who told you to write it? What did he look like?!"
The child suddenly remembered Qin Siyang's warning. He burst into tears, sobbing, "I can't read… I can't read… I don't know who it was…"
Roylena frowned, confused by his irrelevant answer.
But if this child had delivered the letter, he had to die. She couldn't let all her hard work be ruined by a single note.
As she reached for her gun, ready to shoot the weeping child, the words from the letter suddenly echoed in her mind:
"I'm merciful and friendly—I hope you won't do anything to disappoint me."
What did that mean?
A warning not to kill the child?
The child continued to cry, repeating, "I can't read… I can't read…"
It clicked. The child was telling the truth—he really couldn't read.
Everything had been arranged by the person who'd sent her the letter.
It seemed she couldn't kill the child—not yet. At the very least, she'd have to wait until she dealt with the mastermind behind the letter tonight. Then she could come back and finish him off.
Roylena slowly lowered her weapon, shot the tear-streaked child a cold glare, and strode away.
---
Qin Siyang sat in the classroom, staring out the window at the starry sky and the distant gods, thinking about how to approach his conversation with Roylena that night.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
He glanced up—and locked eyes with Li Jingwen.
It had been two days since her uncle had disappeared, yet Qin Siyang and Wen Shu were still alive and well.
As the primary beneficiary of their deaths—and likely the one who'd ordered the hit—Li Jingwen was naturally on edge.
She'd even forgotten to meet Zhou Yang for their usual chat, sitting listlessly in her seat, glancing back at Qin Siyang from time to time, hoping to read something in his expression.
But like ants unable to comprehend the vastness of mountains and seas, Li Jingwen—sheltered and inexperienced, her world limited to the school grounds—stood no chance against Qin Siyang. A man who'd killed multiple times and been reborn to live a second life, his mind sharpened by struggle.
She stole countless glances at him, but his face remained calm as ever—giving away nothing.
Whether it was paranoia or guilt, Li Jingwen felt like she barely knew Qin Siyang anymore.
Ever since he'd stopped revolving his world around her, he'd seemed to evolve into someone completely unrecognizable.
She looked at him again, and for a moment, his empty gaze—fixed on the scenery outside the window—seemed to hold untold stories she could never hope to understand.
A sudden wave of fear washed over her.
An absurd thought crossed her mind: What if Qin Siyang was a hidden Sequence Ability user who'd killed her uncle in self-defense?
"I'm crazy," she muttered, shaking her head. "There's no way a Sequence Ability user would be here!"
She blamed her exhaustion from the past few days for such ridiculous ideas.
During the break, Zhou Yang came looking for Li Jingwen.
He'd grown accustomed to her constant attention, and her sudden coldness had left him feeling uneasy. He wanted to check if something was wrong.
"Li Jingwen."
Li Jingwen looked up at Zhou Yang standing at the classroom door, her heart skipping a beat. She quickly glanced at Qin Siyang out of the corner of her eye.
He was still resting his chin in his hand, staring into space—no reaction at all.
"If Qin Siyang hasn't tried to break us up, he must not know about Kun Chenglong's plan," she thought. "Kun Chenglong must have messed with the wrong person and ended up in some ditch somewhere!"
With that realization, her mood lifted instantly.
She put on her signature sweet smile and ran toward the door.
"Zhou Yang! What are you doing here?"
"I… you seem off these past two days. I wanted to make sure you're okay."
"I'm fine. Just some family troubles—they've been distracting me."
A look of sadness flickered across Li Jingwen's eyes.
"What's wrong? Can I help?"
Li Jingwen shook her head. "I don't know. But I really wish I had someone to lean on right now. Zhou Yang, I know we're just friends… but after school, can I borrow your shoulder for a minute?"
Zhou Yang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Sure."
"Thank you. You're so kind."
"See you after school."
After saying goodbye to Zhou Yang, Li Jingwen walked back to the classroom.
From a distance, she saw Qin Siyang—still sitting by the window—lying his head on the desk and falling asleep.
His complete relaxation only reinforced her belief: he had no idea Kun Chenglong had tried to kill him.
The dark cloud hanging over her lifted completely, and Li Jingwen's mind returned to its usual state.
She couldn't wait for Qin Siyang to die.
"I wonder if Kun Chenglong is even alive. If he is, he'd better hurry up and kill that loser—I get annoyed just looking at him!"