"Thank you for your trouble, my master. The time is just right; the tea is ready to drink."
Before her stood the embodiment of ultimate evil, Lucifer, smiling gently and offering the most considerate care to welcome her. In that moment, it felt like a lifetime ago.
Bai Cha vaguely recalled that when she was very young, her mother would hold her small hand and wait outside the conference room for her father to finish his work. At such times, no matter how displeased her father looked in the meeting, he would always smile happily when he emerged.
Taking his mother's water cup with one hand and lifting his little self with the other, the family would then slowly walk home.
"Thank you." Bai Cha lowered her gaze, unsure if it was Lucifer's actions overlapping with her past experiences or simply her growing age bringing on melancholy, but she found herself reminiscing about trivial things.
"It is my duty, Master. You needn't thank me." Lucifer smiled and took half a step back, following Bai Cha as they went downstairs. Neither of them paid attention to the curious glances cast by those around them.
The two exited the building. Bai Cha listened to the group's mutual back-patting and pleasantries before finally being able to leave. However, Bai Cha didn't take Lucifer back to the academy. Instead, she brought him down to City C.
"Where is this?" Lucifer asked, somewhat confused. He had thought Bai Cha would rush back for class.
"Well... why don't you take a look at this first?" Bai Cha handed a stack of documents to Lucifer, sighing as she spoke, "I received several urgent missions, and it's on the way, so I came here to gather some information."
Lucifer was speechless. He hadn't expected Bai Cha to accumulate so much extra work just from attending a meeting.
"Trafficking of contraband and missing children cases?" Lucifer looked at the documents and asked curiously, "Shouldn't this be the police's job? Why do you need to be involved?"
"Because the place where the contraband is traded is guarded by nearly twenty B-class dragons, and the missing children case has been investigated for half a month with no leads whatsoever," Bai Cha spread her hands helplessly. "So, it's fallen to me."
Normal dragon riders resonate with the embryos in laboratory incubators, making them relatively stable in all aspects. However, unfortunately, not all embryos are in the lab. These are scanned by instruments to ensure they are safe embryos, incapable of malice towards humans.
But there are also many undiscovered embryos or simply dormant dragons in the wild.
Instruments cannot scan dragons with evil auras and their embryos. The instruments are equipped with a set of standards that can only scan harmless embryos. Other dragons, however, cannot be controlled. Those that are destructive and possess evil strength and disposition are called evil dragons.
Yet, there are numerous instances of evil dragons resonating with humans. After all, anything is possible, and human technology cannot yet explain these phenomena.
"The place selling prohibited substances is a large merchant guild. The guards are dragon riders who have contracted with evil dragons. However, as long as they don't cause significant destruction, we can't eliminate them," Bai Cha walked ahead, flipping through the documents as she continued, "Most of these evil dragon riders become mercenaries or bounty hunters, doing jobs for money...
I wonder if this counts as freelance work? Is it considered an independent profession..."
Lucifer was following behind Bai Cha, familiarizing himself with the documents in hand while listening to her. Bai Cha usually spoke very little, and only when discussing serious matters or work would she elaborate extensively.
However, as Lucifer listened, he saw Bai Cha suddenly stop, her eyes wide as she stared at the documents, looking as if she had seen a ghost.
"Master? What's wrong?" Lucifer was startled and also carefully flipped through the documents, but couldn't find anything suspicious.
"No way... selling drugs is punishable by death. Such a record affects three generations, you know? What was her father thinking?" Bai Cha stared at one page of the documents, which contained personal information. Bai Cha was looking at this document with evident frustration.
Lucifer was somewhat puzzled and, following Bai Cha's index, also turned to that page.
Name: Tuksuru
Gender: Male
Current Residence: ...
...
"Master, what's wrong?" Lucifer still couldn't understand the problem and thus asked Bai Cha.
"Hmm... Lucifer, do you remember the girl in my class, the sixth from the right in the third row, Tu Ya." Bai Cha turned around and gestured a couple of times. "The day Cang Liu was being bullied at school, she was standing right next to the person pushing Cang Liu."
"This... I do seem to recall something," with Bai Cha's reminder, Lucifer finally recalled a few details, his eyes showing some surprise as he looked at Bai Cha. "So, you actually remember everyone in the class?"
"What else?" Bai Cha shrugged and continued walking. "Just in case. But that's not the main point, is it? The main point is that this person seems to be Tu Ya's father... Strange, if a daughter is a dragon rider, her family shouldn't be lacking money. The monthly subsidies are quite high."
You're not lacking money, so why deal drugs? This doesn't make sense.
Thinking alone wouldn't yield anything. Ten minutes later, Bai Cha knocked on a door.
"Who is it?" A rough voice asked. The peephole opened, and a small eye warily surveyed Bai Cha and Lucifer.
"Is Tu Ya at home?" Bai Cha smiled, pitching her voice to sound soft and cute. "I'm her classmate, and I was passing by and wanted to visit her. It's Bai Cha from Junyao."
Silence ensued behind the door for a while. It seemed the man had gone inside to speak with someone. After a moment, the door opened.
Seeing the door open, a hint of surprise flashed in Bai Cha's eyes. Cang Liu had told her that he had dealt with those people, and naturally, Tu Ya was among the severely injured. She should have had difficulty even getting out of bed now, so how was she home?
Asking if Tu Ya was home was just a polite gesture; it would have been better if she wasn't home, and they could have kicked the door down to handle the matter. But Bai Cha hadn't expected Tu Ya to actually be home.
The person who opened the door was a middle-aged man, somewhat rugged in appearance with dark skin. His tall physique, clad in a tank top, appeared somewhat obese, with a visible beer belly. His sagging chest revealed his ribs underneath, but compared to his unharmonious body, his face seemed too thin.
"Hello, Uncle," Bai Cha greeted politely.
"Ah, it's nothing, nothing. Tu Ya said you were good friends. Come in, come in. No need to take off your shoes." Tuksuru's appearance was somewhat fierce and strange, but his voice was rather simple and honest. He seemed flustered as he welcomed Bai Cha and Lucifer into the house, appearing very enthusiastic. "Tu Ya is in that room."
"Oh, okay."
Tu Ya's home wasn't large but was tidy and clean. The wooden furniture looked quite expensive, indicating that Tu Ya's family did have some financial standing.
As expected, Tu Ya indeed had difficulty getting out of bed and was using a respirator. She had probably gone to great lengths to get home. The moment Bai Cha entered, Tu Ya's gaze was fixed on her.
"I thought you'd be too scared to let me in." After entering the room, Bai Cha closed the door, and Lucifer leaned by the door, constantly watching the movements outside.
"You're a lunatic. Even if I didn't let you in, you'd find other ways," Tu Ya lay on the bed, her complexion very pale. Upon seeing Bai Cha, her face turned even more ashen.
Beside her bed was a small respirator; clearly, her heart hadn't fully recovered, and she still needed the respirator to maintain normal breathing.
The events of that day had left quite a shadow on her heart. Even now, Tu Ya felt a chill run through her body whenever she saw Bai Cha. But Tu Ya was a smart person, or rather, while some people who could become dragon riders might be arrogant, their intelligence was generally not low.
Having witnessed Bai Cha's bold and reckless actions last time, Tu Ya understood that she had to go along with Bai Cha to handle the situation smoothly. She could only gamble that Bai Cha wouldn't dare cause any trouble in the city center openly.
"What do you want with me? I don't believe you suddenly came all this way out of kindness to see me," Tu Ya stared intently at Bai Cha, speaking warily. "I'm home because during the last holiday, I stayed at school for dragon rider practical training and didn't return home. Only my father was left alone at home, and I haven't been home in a long time. After being so severely injured, I won't be able to attend classes for a while, and I've already applied for leave from school to go home, which is in accordance with regulations."
Tu Ya's lengthy explanation clearly showed her fear that Bai Cha would use this matter to cause trouble for her. She wasn't familiar with Bai Cha and didn't know what Bai Cha's character and methods were like. She truly feared Bai Cha would come after her again and make her suffer even more.
Tu Ya now felt a sense of regret. If only she hadn't joined in the fun and watched from the sidelines when Cang Liu was being bullied last time.
"Is it just you and your dad at home?" Bai Cha hesitated for a moment, waved her hand, and casually sat down on a chair nearby. "Relax, I don't like causing trouble. This time, I really just came to see you."
The first half of that sentence was true; the latter half was somewhat embellished.
In reality, Bai Cha had planned to question Tu Ya's father directly if Tu Ya hadn't been home. Her interrogation methods had always been reliable. When Bai Cha asked Tu Ya's father if she was home, Bai Cha truly hadn't expected Tu Ya to actually be home.
"Yes, yes. My mother died early." Tu Ya looked at Bai Cha, not quite believing her. She didn't belong to any faction. She was an ordinary person who had won the lottery and resonated with a dragon, thus gaining entry into Junyao.
However, just because Tu Ya didn't belong to any faction didn't mean she hadn't heard of the Shadow faction and the Bai family. The rumors about the Shadow faction were always more negative than positive. How could Bai Cha's appearance here possibly be just a simple visit?
Bai Cha and she weren't familiar with each other, hadn't exchanged more than a few words, and she didn't even know if Tu Ya was home.
"Relax. As long as you answer questions properly, I won't do anything. After all, I do have some credibility," Bai Cha shook her head, looking at the nervous Tu Ya. "Never mind, just assume I have an ulterior motive. How did your mother die?"
Upon hearing that Bai Cha had an ulterior motive, Tu Ya actually felt relieved. As long as there was a motive, it was easier to discuss, and there was room for negotiation. The most frightening thing was not knowing what was on someone's mind.
Thinking of this, Tu Ya quickly replied, "She committed suicide by consuming synthetic hallucinogens, which led to mental disorder. The symptoms of my mother's synthetic hallucinogen use were not as strong as traditional poisons, so they weren't very obvious.
At first, none of us knew. Later, my mother's organs failed due to long-term hallucinogen use, and it was very sudden. At that time, I hadn't resonated with a dragon yet and hadn't received subsidies, so my father had to bear everything alone. However, my mother eventually died because her condition was incurable."
Tu Ya said a lot, explaining in great detail. As she spoke, her eyes lit up as if she had thought of something. She suddenly grasped Bai Cha's hand and excitedly said, "Are you here to investigate these things and ask me for information?"
Bai Cha: "..."
Should she answer yes?