Seeing the window, the man's brow furrowed. After a moment's hesitation, he still pressed the connect button.
"What happened?" a synthesized voice came from the other end. The speaker was clearly aware of the plan's failure and spoke with anger.
"The plan was going smoothly this time. It was only when a woman from Z country suddenly produced the video recorded by Girona that..." the man said nervously.
"A woman from Z country?"
"According to Carla's report, her name sounds like... Xia Qingtian." the man recalled.
"Xia Qingtian!" The other party was clearly surprised to hear the name. "It's her?"
"She has disrupted our affairs in Z country several times," the other party continued after a pause. "The higher-ups suspect she is connected to mobius, the number one hacker who has been opposing us."
"What? Should we eliminate her this time?" the man immediately asked.
"Not for now. We've started to place informants around her. This time, we must find mobius through her!" A mere small celebrity is no threat.
What they truly feared was mobius, the hacker who had foiled their transactions time and again.
"Yes!" the man responded, then hesitated, "It's difficult to make a move on Mrs. Camille now, and the Lingor family has also become vigilant. What do you think..."
"Let's put France aside for now. Our attention has been focused on Europe all these years. The organization wants to vigorously develop its business in Z country," the other party said after thinking. "You go to New Zealand first, meet up with our people there, and then I'll arrange for you to go to Z country."
"Yes!" Hearing this, the man's eyes darkened.
When he had the chance to go to Z country, he vowed to see for himself the Z country woman who had ruined his plans—Xia Qingtian!
"Achoo." Xia Qingtian sneezed unexpectedly, rubbing her itchy nose.
At this moment, a blanket was draped over Xia Qingtian's lap. Mobius looked at her and said gently, "Is the airplane's air conditioning too cold?"
"Perhaps," Xia Qingtian didn't know why she had suddenly sneezed.
"If you're tired, try to get some rest," Mobius said, then returned his gaze to his laptop, tapping the keyboard to reply to work-related emails.
"You really work hard," Xia Qingtian couldn't help but say, "Still working at a time like this."
"It's my duty," Mobius gave a slight smile.
Xia Qingtian wanted to ask Mobius how much Mr. Gu paid him per month.
That way, she would have a better idea when she went to recruit people.
However, she felt it might be too intrusive to ask, so she suppressed her question and closed her eyes to rest.
Li Mengxiao, sitting diagonally opposite Mobius and Xia Qingtian, wore an eye mask and headphones, strictly adhering to the three principles: don't listen to what you shouldn't, don't see what you shouldn't, and don't ask what you shouldn't. She feigned sleep.
But she really couldn't understand what trick Mr. Gu was playing.
Surely their artist wouldn't be taken advantage of...
No, she wouldn't be. Qingtian was so smart, she definitely wouldn't.
Yes, she wouldn't.
Amidst Li Mengxiao's relentless self-hypnosis, the plane landed in Z country and then transferred at the original airport, flying to Z City.
When the three arrived in Z City, Mobius showed no change, but Xia Qingtian and Li Mengxiao felt disoriented, almost unable to stand.
They had headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and their stomachs churned.
They hadn't experienced such obvious reactions when flying from Z country to Paris. Why did they feel so unwell upon returning home?
Mobius didn't know whether to explain it in terms of longitude and latitude or the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. He simply arranged for a car to take the two of them back, reminding them to rest well.
Upon arriving home, Xia Qingtian collapsed onto her bed and lost consciousness.
The fatigue of the past few days seemed to amplify to its extreme in that instant.
In a daze, someone seemed to have helped Xia Qingtian take off her coat and placed a wet compress on her forehead.
Warm water flowed down her throat, a slightly sweet VC solution moistened her lips, and a pair of slightly cool hands occasionally tested her temperature on her cheeks.
This feeling seemed familiar, yet it brought a sense of peace.
Xia Qingtian slept for more than half a day. When she woke up, it was completely dark.
The bedroom light was off, and the door was left ajar, with the living room light on.
Xia Qingtian took a moment to compose herself before reaching up to touch the wet compress on her forehead.
Effortlessly propping herself up, Xia Qingtian rubbed her eyes and stretched, feeling much better.
Although she was still a bit dizzy, her headache and nausea had subsided.
Getting out of bed, Xia Qingtian opened the bedroom door and called out, "Xiaoxiao? Are you feeling better?"
At that moment, half of a figure appeared from the kitchen.
Xia Qingyu, wearing an apron and holding a kitchen knife, raised an eyebrow and asked coldly, "Who were you just calling? Say it again, I want to hear."
Xia Qingtian blinked, her lips pursed into a thin line.
She wanted to call out but dared not.
After glaring at Xia Qingtian again, Xia Qingyu retreated back into the kitchen and resumed her activities.
Xia Qingtian quietly stood by the kitchen door, only then catching the aroma of food.
"There are oranges, apples, and red dates in the refrigerator that I just bought. They're all fresh," Xia Qingyu said while busy. "The soup will take a little longer. You can have some fruit first."
"Okay~" Xia Qingtian opened the refrigerator and felt relieved. Not only were there fruits, but also milk, sugar-free yogurt, and some fresh leafy greens.
In the freezer, there were also small boxes of ice cream, some frozen dumplings, and easy-to-cook low-fat meats.
While marveling, Xia Qingtian took out some apples and red dates, washed a small plate, and then picked an apple, taking a bite. "Why are you here?"
"Your assistant said you didn't look well, and she was also feeling unwell. She asked if I had time to come over and check on you," Xia Qingyu added with a pout. "It seems your assistant isn't entirely useless after all."
Hearing this, Xia Qingtian could only give a wry laugh.
It was really kind of Li Mengxiao. Even though both of them were dealing with jet lag, Li Mengxiao still remembered to contact Xia Qingyu to check on her.
"Hmph, I told you before not to cause unnecessary expenses for the hospital. Now that you're not feeling well, you just play dead at home?" Xia Qingyu glared at Xia Qingtian good-naturedly. "You knew you'd have jet lag when you came back, so why didn't you prepare anything? So stupid."
Xia Qingtian really wanted to explain that she hadn't felt bad when she left, but after glancing at the menacingly gleaming kitchen knife in Xia Qingyu's hand, she could only swallow her explanation.