“The more chaotic the airport gets, the better. Give him access.” Lance did not particularly care.
In any vast ecosystem built by humans, all kinds of low-level mistakes were unavoidable. But precisely because people were human, they could keep correcting errors, making adjustments, and steering things back onto the proper course.
Humans were the most adaptable animals of all.
“Mm.” Duma nodded solemnly at the camera. His gaze immediately turned empty again.
Control-type C-rank Awakener, second-stage ability—[System Control]. This ability allowed the Awakener’s consciousness to remotely access any control system. It was exceptionally rare and valuable. Its only drawback was that as the user became stronger, they gradually became more and more like an emotionless AI.
For that exact reason, Duma was the only officially sanctioned slacker in the entire Black Lantern Society. While the illegal organization worked itself half to death competing with itself, everyone simultaneously did their utmost to stop him from striving for self-improvement.
This was not an exaggeration. The Black Lantern Society had an entire dedicated position whose sole duty was to supervise Duma’s eating, drinking, playing, and enjoyment of life. If the poor kid practiced one extra set of punches, his supervisor would practically weep to heaven and earth.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Goddamn it… huh?”
The two Ghost Eye members almost had their souls frightened out by the alarm. Yet in the next second, the indicator light suddenly turned green. The system displayed ACCESS GRANTED, and the heavy door swung open before them.
The two exchanged a look. Neither understood what had happened, but both relaxed and discreetly wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.
Naturally, Zhan Pingchuan heard the alarm too. He hurriedly tapped his earpiece.
“Maybe the airport system malfunctioned,” one member replied weakly.
They successfully entered the private VIP area.
Only once inside did they discover how conspicuous they were.
Every member of staff there wore a red uniform. The two of them were the only ones in green.
A female service worker walking toward them frowned and looked at them in confusion, apparently unable to understand why ordinary VIP-area employees had entered the private section. Perhaps assuming management had made some special arrangement, however, she hesitated but asked nothing.
The two reacted instantly, ducking into the men’s restroom. They punched unconscious two young men who had just finished using the toilets, held their noses, and changed into the pair’s red uniforms.
“Eldest Young Master, you probably won’t believe this, but those household guardian spirits my mom has worshipped all these years really work. Otherwise there’s no explaining why the airport system happened to break exactly when we needed it.”
Zhan Pingchuan’s thinking was not nearly that linear. Something felt wrong. The probability of a coincidence like this was even lower than going to university and accidentally picking up a wife. Why should such luck fall out of the sky and land on their heads?
He was just about to warn the two to watch for an ambush when the bathroom door in the dormitory clicked. Zhan Pingchuan reacted instantly, shrinking beneath his blanket and holding his breath as he listened.
Lance had grown uncomfortable sitting on the toilet. Since the situation was temporarily stable, he came out for some air.
His gaze instinctively shifted toward Zhan Pingchuan.
What kind of problem made a person cover his head while sleeping but leave his belly button exposed?
Who would ever be able to share a bed with him in the future?
Lance frowned. The obsessive tendencies he had overcome long ago began to stir again.
A mixed-race baby raised from childhood under Father Lan’s traditional Chinese medicine health-preservation theories could not bear to watch this blatant attempt to give oneself a “cold womb,” so he walked toward Zhan Pingchuan’s bed.
Every slap of Lance’s slippers against the wooden floor landed directly on Zhan Pingchuan’s heart. He rapidly checked every body part currently exposed. Toenails recently trimmed. Legs long and straight enough. The part between them obviously very well developed. As for his lower abdomen—Zhan Pingchuan realized his pajamas had ridden upward, exposing part of his stomach, including the V-lines.
Everyone knew a man’s muscles looked best when he tensed and filled them with blood. When relaxed, their definition was much shallower.
So while keeping his breathing as even as possible, Zhan Pingchuan subtly tightened his abdomen until eight excellent blocks stood out clearly.
Always plan ahead. He had already begun considering how he should react when Lance secretly leaned down to kiss him.
Lance bent over him. Beneath the blanket, the corner of Zhan Pingchuan’s mouth curled unconsciously.
Whoosh. Lance pinched the summer quilt between two fingers and yanked it downward, covering Zhan Pingchuan’s painstakingly flexed abs completely.
Lance: Whew. Much better.
Zhan Pingchuan: “?”
At the same time, his team reported through the earpiece—
“Eldest Young Master, we see the targets!”
Zhan Pingchuan’s attention sharpened. At the same time, he mocked himself for overthinking. The little cutie obviously had never intended to… ptooey! The system malfunction obviously had not been a trap set by the enemy.
Inside the private lounge, more than ten bodyguards in suits stood spread around the room, cold-faced as they watched every movement in their surroundings.
At the center, two people sat facing one another in redwood chairs made from purple sandalwood.
Bolas sat with his back to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He clipped a cigar, lit it between two fingers, and drew in deeply.
“Illegal organizations have become far too arrogant lately. Even an upright hero like Director Ediv, someone who made enormous contributions to the Federation, fell victim to them.”
Clova lightly polished her leather glove. At his words, she gave an unreadable smile. “Do you really think that?”
Bolas’s fingers paused. He looked up. “What do you mean?”
Clova tugged at the corner of her mouth and replied lazily, “There are only the two of us here. Spare me the official lines. Personally, I don’t think the Black Lantern Society killed the wrong man.”
Bolas retorted, “Then why did you accept this assignment and come investigate his death?”
Clova crossed her legs with sensual elegance. “Because I’m interested in White Pharaoh, of course. Aren’t you curious what kind of person can kill a man carrying two S-rank abilities?”
At that moment, two servers entered carrying trays, interrupting their conversation.
More than ten armed bodyguards looked over at once. Bolas raised one hand, spread his five fingers, and made a calming gesture. “I ordered coffee.”
The two servers quietly placed the coffee in front of Bolas and Clova, watching with their own eyes as Bolas set down his cigar, lifted the cup, and took a sip.
The pair exchanged a look and withdrew in silent agreement.
“Done!”
To them, Bolas was the critical target. Zhan Pingchuan and the supervisor had explicitly mentioned the Pacification War in their conversation. If the federal government learned that Ghost Eye Guild was involved, it would never let the matter go.
Clova was less important. Even if she reconstructed the entire scene perfectly, she would only learn that Ediv had intended to ambush Zhan Pingchuan, making Zhan Pingchuan an innocent victim. Continuing to investigate a victim would bring more harm than benefit.
The moment they left the private lounge, the two did not pause. They raced out of the VIP building through the cargo door, jumped directly onto a shuttle bus, turned around, loaded the two unconscious employees inside, and drove openly out of the VIP parking area. The entire process took less than three minutes.
At the same moment, Bolas clutched his chest in agony. His coffee cup fell from his hand. He stared toward the doorway where the servers had vanished, eyes wide with disbelief and webbed in red.
Before he could say a word, he collapsed backward. Blood poured from all seven orifices. He lay still with his eyes open.
The bodyguards who had been standing on full alert watched their superior die from poisoning—yet remained expressionless and unmoving.
Soon, Clova rose and sneered down at Bolas’s corpse. “That’s what you get for showing off. Lightning finally struck you.”
In the next second, “Bolas’s” appearance began to change, gradually becoming an ordinary square-faced, dark-skinned man.
Then Clova’s face changed too, transforming into a blond, blue-eyed girl.
“The two lords were right. The Black Lantern Society really sent assassins.”
A bodyguard glanced at the wall clock and reminded her, “Miss, it’s time to board.”
The girl’s expression shifted, but she quickly reassured herself. “Now that they’ve killed him, they won’t come after me again. Let the Black Lantern Society think they succeeded.”
Duma watched the entire exchange through the private lounge surveillance system. He shook the camera slightly and murmured, “Lance, someone poisoned a fake Bolas in the lounge.”
Lance raised a brow, mildly surprised.
He was not surprised Clova could use an ability to turn someone into herself. What surprised him was this: apart from them, who else wanted Bolas and Clova dead?
It made no sense. Even if Bolas and Clova reconstructed the scene from that night, the only trail should point toward Lance. Who else could possibly be implicated?
He had no answer for the moment and turned back into the bathroom.
The instant Lance shut the bathroom door, Zhan Pingchuan threw off the blanket and rapidly searched the latest reports from Gangtan International Airport.
He quickly discovered that the three o’clock flight to Capital City had not changed schedule, and no disturbance had occurred at the airport.
That made no sense at all.
A senior Blue Hub official had died. The entire airport should have been locked down immediately while the killer was hunted, and the federal government should have reacted at once. Yet everything was far too quiet.
Clova. Chameleon-form……
Zhan Pingchuan immediately realized that besides scene reconstruction, she probably possessed an appearance-changing ability. The two Ghost Eye members had not killed the real Bolas at all.
At the same time, the girl disguised as “Clova,” another Bolas, and their bodyguards traveled through the VIP passage to the apron and boarded the special aircraft prepared by the federal government for the Blue Hub Bureau.
The aircraft slowly taxied toward the runway. The girl lifted the window shade and looked down at ordinary people outside, busy as ants.
At exactly three, the plane accelerated sharply, raised its nose, and rode the wind smoothly into the sky.
The girl leaned back in her seat and gazed at the endless sea in the distance, a relaxed smile curving her lips.
Mad Clown braced the rocket launcher on his shoulder and grinned toward the steadily climbing aircraft. His finger lightly squeezed the trigger. The enormous pressure produced by the burning propellant hurled the warhead forward in an instant.
The rocket sliced through the roaring sea wind like a blade, punched through the thin clouds, and bit viciously toward the massive aircraft still climbing— Boom!
A magnificent ball of fire erupted in the sky. Countless glittering fragments plunged toward the ocean. The smoking bulk of the aircraft slammed violently into the water, throwing up a wave powerful enough to shatter a reef.
“Ahhhhhhh—!”
“The plane crashed!”
Screams and shouts filled the air. Gangtan International Airport dissolved into chaos. Alarms and fire systems sounded together as nearly one hundred thousand travelers panicked and scattered in every direction.
“Please remain calm and leave in an orderly manner. The airport will immediately investigate the accident!” The public-address system urgently tried to soothe passengers and prevent a stampede.
An ordinary peaceful afternoon had been completely shattered.
But…… was it really over?
It had been far too easy. Was Blue Hub security truly this weak?
Lance rubbed the edge of his tablet and slowly narrowed his eyes.
He did not feel relaxed. Something had been strange about this assassination from beginning to end.
They had chosen the rooftop of the maintenance center as their firing point. Had the Blue Hub Bureau truly failed to consider such an obvious location? Yet right up until the rocket was launched, no one from Blue Hub had investigated the place.
Then there was the poisoning of the fake Bolas in the VIP building. Normally, even though the victim was not Bolas himself, an assassination attempt should have triggered a major response.
Yet the plane departed exactly on schedule. Both senior officials boarded exactly on time. The Bureau did not even immediately hunt the poisoners.
That degree of calm could mean only one thing…… the three o’clock departure was nothing more than a decoy released by the federal government!
Lance’s eyes snapped up. “Duma, search every flight leaving Gangtan today immediately. Find any whose destination is an airport near Capital City, or any flight that changed course temporarily.”
Mad Clown stared. “What’s going on? You think they weren’t on that plane?”
Duma hugged his knees. In the time it took to blink once, he searched through the immense data stream and extracted the critical information.
“Flight NTF8850 departed Gangtan at eleven this morning for Naxi. It changed course en route and will make an emergency landing at Capital City Airport at exactly four this afternoon.”
Mad Clown swore. “Fuck! That’s only an hour away!”
Lance’s pupils contracted. That meant the moment those two senior inspectors received their assignment, they had gone straight to the airport and headed for Capital City without giving anyone time to react.
The problem was that once they entered Xingzhou University, they could adopt any identity to move in and out of campus. Lance would have no way of telling who the real Clova was.
No. Not entirely impossible.
Lance raised one hand and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his middle finger. Cold malice flashed through his eyes. “Clown. Prepare a VSSK for me.”
The enormous explosion at Gangtan International also reached Zhan Pingchuan’s ears. The moment he learned the Blue Hub aircraft had been struck by a rocket and crashed into the sea, he knew not one real target had been aboard.
A rocket launcher had an effective range of roughly one hundred to four hundred meters. Combined with the distance an aircraft traveled during takeoff, any sniper capable of precisely shooting it down had to be inside the airport.
He had already memorized the airport’s three-dimensional satellite map. The ideal firing position was the maintenance-center rooftop. But if the real Bolas had been present, Bureau personnel should have mobilized the moment the sniper began assembling the launcher.
Bolas’s second-stage ability [Voiceprint Capture] could hear any disturbance within two hundred meters. Even the sound of a pistol being chambered could not escape him.
Zhan Pingchuan switched earpiece channels and still had the mood to make sarcastic comments. “Supervisor, a suggestion: maybe it’s time to update your intelligence network.”
The voice opposite remained calm and unruffled. “Our investigation found that Flight NTF8850, which departed Gangtan at eleven, is about to land in Capital City. Headquarters is too far away to intervene. From here on, it’s up to you.”
“Tsk.” Zhan Pingchuan threw off his blanket and got out of bed. “I suspect you’re deliberately exploiting free labor. I’m an innocent young man who only just turned eighteen, and I haven’t even been here two days before I’m about to become a federal fugitive. Frankly, my fragile, tender heart has suffered tremendous trauma. I recommend headquarters issue a gigantic bonus as compensation.”
The moment he finished, the bathroom lock clicked. Lance stepped out, and the two unexpectedly met each other’s eyes.
Lance looked surprised, but immediately concealed it and ruffled his long, fluffy hair. “You’re awake?”
Zhan Pingchuan thought, Baby, how many trips to the bathroom have you made? Is your stomach really that fragile?
He gave a lazy smile. “Just woke up.”
Lance nodded perfunctorily. His fox-shaped eyes narrowed slightly as he thought: I need a way to shake him off and act alone.
Finding an excuse natural enough not to arouse suspicion was slightly troublesome.
There was no time. He might as well use the morongweng after all. Poison Zhan Pingchuan unconscious first, finish the job, then come back and save him. An S-rank would not die that easily.
Having made up his mind, Lance hardened his heart and was just about to step forward—
When Zhan Pingchuan casually grabbed his school jacket, rubbed his sleepy eyes hard, and smacked his lips. “I’m hungry. What do you want? I’ll bring you something.”
Lance’s step stopped instantly.
His eyes curved. Pale, tender fingers rested lightly on the doorknob, and his tone became easy. “Lamb-and-radish shumai. I’ll take a shower while you’re gone.”