???
Are you reciting a menu here?
Shen Yi had also figured out a single sentence from the mouths of various underground organizations to summarize her own background:
—The ultimate nepo baby on the surface of the criminal underworld is actually me.
She rattled off a string of names like reading a menu, leaving everyone at the scene dead silent.
Sasa squatted on the ground, keeping her hands clasped over her head. She had recovered from her trembling, and the fear on her face was now mixed with belated astonishment: "Little Yi?"
Shen Yi stood there, reaching out to pat her best friend's head, and whispered, "It's fine, it's fine. The sky isn't falling just yet."
Sasa's freezing hands held onto hers; for a moment, she really wanted to cry.
Not to mention her being rendered speechless by Shen Yi's menu-like recitation, the law enforcement officers present completely froze with their guns raised, motionless.
Expressions of solemnity and hesitation intertwined on everyone's faces.
"Harbinger Bird?" The middle-aged man frowned.
He had heard of this codename.
Almost no one who had struggled for years in the underground forces didn't know this name.
But hasn't that woman washed her hands of the underworld a long time ago? She shouldn't be coming out again, right?
That was what he thought.
But his muzzle still unconsciously and honestly lowered a bit.
"Didn't they say that even the mosquitoes in the direct line of the Shen family are male? Besides, are the people in her family really that scary?" The speaker was a rookie who had been on the job for less than three years.
His knowledge of the family genealogies of the underground forces was still stuck at the stage of listening to colleagues' gossip; he didn't quite understand what the string of names the girl just recited truly meant.
"Are you really believing a kid's nonsense?" Another voice chimed in. "But I suppose the side branches over there count too. The Shen family has so many people, there are quite a few kids."
"But if you're talking about the man ranked first on the wanted list, I know him. He's been causing trouble abroad all this time. He's from the direct line of the Shen family. Rumor has it that back then, just to marry that terrifying female assassin from the inner world..."
"Is that true?"
"Would I lie to you?"
The three of them became more and more absorbed in their chat. Exchanging words back and forth, they grew increasingly excited, chewing over the gossip of the great families again and again, almost forgetting what they came here to do tonight.
The middle-aged man did not participate in this conversation.
His gaze lingered on Shen Yi's face for a moment, trying to find the shadow of her parents on that face.
"Lower your guns first," he said in a low voice.
The red dots of their body cameras blinked in the dark, recording everything.
The daughter of the number one on the wanted list.
The niece of the behind-the-scenes boss of the Archives.
The daughter of the Harbinger Bird.
A child of the Shen family.
These identities stacked onto one person couldn't just be summed up with the word "trouble"; it was a sheer earthquake.
If she wasn't lying, and he accidentally let his men shoot her down, their entire department could be wiped out and reshuffled.
The man cautiously and quickly ran through tonight's operational target in his mind: a core member of the Que organization, codename 707, Sasa.
If this green-haired girl was going to stand in front of Sasa.
It meant that the family behind her, whose roots were deeply planted in almost every inch of soil in this world, would also stand in their way.
This brat was saying "I'm done talking, go ahead and kill me" with an expression of giving up and accepting her fate.
But she was clearly laying all her chips out on the table.
And asking them: Do you dare to make a move or not?
Dare or not? This was a matter of survival.
"A child of the Shen family, can you prove it?" The middle-aged man's tone held a subtle change.
This sentence wasn't an interrogation, but a probe.
He was a law enforcer, he had his duties, and he had his dignity.
He couldn't just pack up and leave because a little girl said "My dad is number one on the wanted list"; that would look too ugly.
He also needed proof.
He needed an explanation that could be written in a report, one that wouldn't make his superiors slam the table in anger.
"Of course she can."
A voice came from the other end of the corridor, clear and brisk.
Like an ice pick tapping against glass, it inexplicably made people feel a chill.
Everyone's gaze turned to the source of the voice.
After seeing the newcomer clearly, the law enforcement officers' hands reflexively pressed against their gun grips again.
Were the people in this corridor tonight all wholesale gun dealers?
Why could they see armed outlaws everywhere they went?
First there was a green-haired killer, then a cold-faced killer, and now a young master leading a squad of people.
Shen Wenta looked a bit displeased. With a large group of people behind him, he completely bypassed the law enforcement officers and walked straight over.
Shen Yi was shrinking behind Shen Xun, looking very sneaky.
The girl's green mushroom haircut bobbed in and out of sight as she covered her face, thinking that if she couldn't see, she didn't exist.
Shen Wenta accurately plucked out Shen Yi, who was hiding behind Shen Xun.
"How did you run over here?" His chest heaved a bit more than usual. "Didn't I tell you to behave and go to school?"
Shen Yi's stomach hurt at the mere mention of school. She poked her head out, her hands hugging Shen Xun tightly without letting go, and argued with him:
"Can you stop lecturing me about school all the time? It's so annoying."
"I'm annoying?" He sneered, staring at Shen Yi. The intention to grab her and lock her up was practically written on his forehead. "I am your brother, and at your age, you have to go to school."
"...Can we stop arguing?" the middle-aged man next to them subconsciously tried to break up the fight, attempting to drag the situation back on track.
His brain was literally buzzing right now.
At least show some respect for their status as public servants.
How on earth did this jump from a crime-catching action movie to a family drama scene?
"You're asking her for proof? What proof?"
Shen Wenta stopped arguing with Shen Yi and vented his anger directly on the others. He tilted his head, the faint surrounding light falling on his face, carving out cold lines of light and shadow as he wore a half-smile:
"She is my sister. Do you perhaps want to talk face-to-face with my family?"
He glanced at the leading middle-aged man, his gaze pausing on the badge on his shoulder for a split second before withdrawing.
His expression was indifferent.
There wasn't even contempt.
After all, contempt required at least a little emotional investment.
Shen Wenta couldn't even be bothered to give that much emotion.
"..."
The middle-aged man's mouth twitched. Having lived for decades, it was the first time he had been angered by such a natural, innate arrogance.
He knew Shen Wenta.
In fact, the moment Shen Wenta walked over from the other end of the corridor, he had already recognized him.
Heirs of this kind of background, led by their family elders, frequently appeared in live broadcasts of international news and on the cover photos of financial magazines.
As one of the few members of the Shen family willing to appear in public, Shen Wenta's image was quite uniformly defined by the outside world.
Decent, calm, and polite.
Last year, Shen Wenta even accepted an exclusive interview with a media outlet.
When discussing current affairs and social issues, he used an extremely sincere tone to say some high-sounding words about 'common good and responsibility'.
But the Shen Wenta in the news and the Shen Wenta standing in the corridor right now seemed like two entirely different species.
Were top-tier elites of this caliber all this good at disguising themselves?
Shen Yi hid tightly behind Shen Xun.
"Step aside." Shen Wenta's voice was dangerously low.
Shen Xun not only refused to move, but even took a step forward. "No can do, Third Brother. She doesn't want to go with you. I am her favorite person now."
"Did you know? You are all her enemies. I am the only one who is her brother."
His tone held no hint of showing off, yet it was enough to make Shen Wenta's face turn a shade paler from sheer anger.
But Shen Wenta did not want to bother with anything else for the time being.
Right now, all he wanted to do was get her hair dyed back to its original color.
Now, immediately, at once.
Just then, someone else approached.
Two young men.
One in the front, and one in the back.
...
