Sitting in the passenger seat, Tianyan froze for only half a second before immediately catching on, a smile forming in his green eyes.
"Boss, you're really good at making us take the blame. But this has to count as a work injury." He turned his head and patted Tianque in the driver's seat. "Send a signal, have the starship come to the extraction point. We've been married for so long, it's about time we take our wife home to show her around."
Tianque didn't speak, just nodded silently. The hovercar left a blur in the night sky, merging directly into the high-altitude main flight path.
The air pressure in the backseat, however, dropped to the freezing point.
"You guys are from the black market?" Baal's voice was kept very low, and the temperature inside the car seemed to plummet along with it. He stared at the back of the two heads in front of him, his hand already resting on the gun at his waist.
Although he had always suspected the twins' identities, he suffered from a lack of evidence. Now, hearing the words "black market" and "married," his fury shot straight to the top of his head.
"Jiang Lijin, are you going with them?" Baal turned to question her, his golden eyes full of hostility.
"If I don't go, should I stay and wait for the royal guard to shoot me full of holes?" Jiang Lijin leaned against the seat back. "The video Tinia is about to post is Graven's confession, as well as the high-definition, uncensored footage of me slicing him up. Do you think those old geezers in the Empire will arrest me first or reflect on themselves first?"
Baal gritted his teeth. "I can take you back to the Federation!"
Tianyan chuckled softly, his tone slow and deliberate. "If the Supreme Commander of the Federation takes the lead in harboring the Empire's number one wanted criminal, the Federation and the Empire will be at war by tomorrow morning. Commander Baal, do you think the interstellar era is too peaceful?"
Baal choked on his words, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. The safety catch of his gun made a very faint click.
Jiang Lijin pressed down on Baal's wrist, pushing the gun back into its holster.
"He's right. With Graven dead, the Empire will definitely bite like mad dogs for their ridiculous pride. The black market is a lawless place; they can withstand this wanted poster. Besides, if it's nominally a 'kidnapping,' the royal family can't take it out on the Federation."
Tinia interjected while typing on his optical computer, his blue eyes full of reluctance. "I'll go wherever you go, sister! The Yunlan Group's private starship is right at the port, let's go together!"
"No," Jiang Lijin flatly refused.
Tinia's hands stopped typing on the keyboard, and he looked over aggrievedly.
"There are no survivors left in that laboratory in the palace." Jiang Lijin laid out the situation clearly and logically. "The surveillance cameras are destroyed too. No one saw you two go in. You weren't even on the guest list for the banquet tonight. As long as you insist you were never there, the royal family has no evidence to arrest you."
She looked at Baal, her tone softening a bit. "You guys are my trump cards. By staying on the capital planet, you can keep the royal family in check and control public opinion. If you run away with me, it will only confirm our conspiracy. Besides, if Graven's crimes are somehow whitewashed, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain?"
Baal's jawline was taut. He understood that what Jiang Lijin said was the optimal solution, but he was just unhappy about it. His own wife, taken away by other males, and to a place like the black market, no less.
"What about Chiron?" Baal's gaze swept toward Chiron, who was sitting on the far edge.
"I have to go," Chiron said evenly. "I was an invited guest at the banquet, and a publicly known companion. Now that I'm nowhere to be found, staying behind would only get me dragged into an interrogation room as an accomplice."
Baal stared at Chiron, then looked at Jiang Lijin.
Although it was extremely frustrating, having Chiron follow Jiang Lijin was better than letting her go alone with those two black market twins of unknown origin.
"Fine," Baal spat out a single word stiffly, turning his head to look out the window, saying no more.
The hovercar sped all the way, dodging the patrols on the main roads, and stopped silently in the backyard of the villa.
"You have twenty minutes." Tianyan leaned against the car door and glanced at his optical computer. "In twenty minutes, the Royal Guard will probably put the whole city under martial law."
Jiang Lijin nodded and went straight upstairs.
Pushing open the bedroom door, she didn't rush to grab her clothes. Instead, she turned and waved to Baal, who had followed her up.
"Come in."
Baal stood by the doorframe, his tall body blocking most of the light from the hallway. He walked in with a cold expression, closing the door behind him.
The main lights in the room weren't turned on; only the moonlight from outside filtered in.
"What else is there to say?" Baal's tone was aggressive, revealing a frustration he hadn't even noticed himself. "You leave me and that brat on the capital planet to wipe your ass, while you go off and have fun with those two pretty boys from the black market?"
Jiang Lijin ignored his sarcastic remarks. She walked over to the desk and pulled out a transparent, tube-like bottle from the inner lining of her coat.
The liquid emitted a faint glow in the dimly lit room, like some kind of bioluminescent deep-sea algae.
"Open your mouth," Jiang Lijin said, walking up to him.
Baal looked down at the tube of unknown liquid and didn't move. "What is this?"
"Something I swiped from Graven's lab," Jiang Lijin lied without batting an eye. "The packaging looked pretty high-end, so I figured it must be good stuff."
Baal laughed in anger. "You dare let me drink something that came out of his lab? Are you trying to murder your husband?"
"Yes," Jiang Lijin shot back. "If I poison you, I won't have to listen to you complaining here anymore."
Baal stared at her, then suddenly lowered his head. Leaning into her hand, he drank the tube of liquid in one gulp directly from her grasp.
His movements were so fast that Jiang Lijin didn't even have time to react.
"You actually drank it?" Jiang Lijin put the empty tube away and casually tossed it into the trash can.
"You gave it to me, so I'd accept it even if it were poison." Baal licked the corner of his lips.
A peculiar, cooling sensation spread through his mouth. Immediately after, that coolness rapidly traveled down his esophagus and spread throughout his entire body. The stinging pain that had been entrenched deep in his spiritual sea, constantly tormenting him, vanished completely in an instant.
Baal's eyes suddenly widened.
"You..." Baal's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice extremely hoarse.
"Once I'm gone, there will be no one to give you spiritual soothing. If you go berserk and die on the capital planet, where am I going to find a second free thug?"
Baal knew she didn't want to say where the medicine came from, so he didn't ask further.
All he knew was that this female, at the critical moment of fleeing for her life, was still thinking about the poison in his body. An inexplicable flutter suddenly swept through him.
Baal took a step forward, clasped the back of her head with one hand, and lowered his head to press his lips against hers.
It was a highly aggressive kiss, carrying an unreasonable amount of force that blocked all of Jiang Lijin's unsaid words. The tip of his tongue pried open her teeth, invading her territory with a ferocity as if he wanted to devour her whole, yet also carrying a certain sense of anxiety over losing her.
Jiang Lijin struggled for a moment but couldn't break free. Baal's strength was surprisingly great, his iron arm firmly locking around her waist.
She simply let him be, even submissively tilting her head up and responding a little.
This subtle movement completely threw Baal's breathing into disarray.
After a long while, Baal released her, resting his forehead against hers, his chest heaving violently.
"Once I finish handling things, I'll go to the black market to pick you up. Wait for me."
Baal let go of her and turned to walk toward the wardrobe. "Go wash your face. I'll carry your luggage."
Jiang Lijin looked at his broad back and smiled silently.
Twenty minutes later.
In the clearing near the villa, a small, pitch-black starship without any markings was already warmed up and ready.
Tinia stood outside the hatch, looking eagerly at Jiang Lijin as she approached.
"Sister." Tinia stepped forward and pressed a compact communicator into her hand. "This is the master clearance key for the Yunlan Group. No matter what corner of the galaxy you're in, as long as there's a signal, you can mobilize Yunlan's funds and dark web resources."
Jiang Lijin accepted the communicator and ruffled his golden hair. "Fight the public opinion war on the capital planet well. Don't let me have killed this man for nothing."
Tinia nodded vigorously. "Don't worry, in ten minutes, Graven's scandals will dominate the entire Starweb. The royal public relations department won't be getting any sleep tonight."
Chiron had changed into a clean trench coat and was quietly standing by the hatch, holding a silver medical case. He looked at Baal and Tinia, his gray eyes behind his glasses revealing the calm composure of a victor.
"Let's go," Jiang Lijin said without another word, turning sharply to board the ship.
Tianque sat in the pilot's seat, his fingers flying across the control console. The thrusters at the rear of the starship spewed out a faint blue tail flame, turning into a black speck in the night sky and quickly disappearing above the clouds.
Baal stood there until the starship was completely out of sight before withdrawing his gaze.
"Let's go," Baal said, glancing at Tinia beside him. "Time to work. Those old fogeys in the royal family have probably already discovered that their proud heir has been reduced to several pieces."
Tinia nodded, his eyes still following the vanished starship, but his expression had shifted from obedient to fierce.
Inside the starship, Jiang Lijin leaned back against the wide leather seat, closing her eyes to rest.
Tianyan walked over carrying two glasses of red wine, handed one to Chiron, and then sat down opposite Jiang Lijin.
"Boss, what are your specific instructions next?" Tianyan asked, crossing his legs in a relaxed posture.
Jiang Lijin opened her eyes and took a sip of the warm water Chiron handed her.
"We're going back to your lair," Jiang Lijin said. "Graven is dead, but the original drafts for that gene fusion experiment must still be around. There definitely has to be an entire chain of interests behind him. I want your black market intelligence network operating at full capacity to dig up this line for me."
Tianyan raised his wine glass and offered her a distant toast.
"As you wish."
The starry sky was vast. Although the direction of the chess game was not what she had anticipated, she had completely overturned the board and taken the seat of the dealer.
