The soft space bed was like a sweet dream, luring one into a slumber from which they wished not to wake. A delicate fragrance wafted gently through the room. Everything, including the fair-skinned youth holding a candelabrum and calling himself a butler, standing by the bed, felt like a dream.
"Goodnight, my master," the distinguished butler said, bowing gracefully. His etiquette was impeccable, neither alienating nor impolite. His voice was as ethereal as the scent in the room, blended into the very fabric of existence.
As the butler extinguished the candle and closed the door, plunging the room into darkness, Bai Cha’s eyes suddenly snapped open. The drowsiness that had just settled from relaxation and warm milk vanished without a trace.
She could endure a hundred kinds of hardship with gritted teeth, yet this sudden care filled her with an indelible sense of vigilance and bewilderment. She hadn't slept soundly in nearly a decade, but now, with the promise of waking up naturally the next day, she should have been happy. Yet, she couldn't sleep.
Memories surged like a tide, becoming clearer under the baptism of darkness.
It seemed, a long time ago, someone had also said they would be her butler, and had claimed they would always stay by her side.
A low sigh echoed in the silent room before it returned to its stillness.
The Bai family estate was vast. Walking alone in the quiet corridor felt uniquely lonely. At this moment, even Lucifer had shed the gentleness that seemed etched onto his face. He was naturally handsome, and with his cold expression now, he finally exuded a demonic aura. The beautiful peach blossom eyes, no longer holding gentle, pure black pupils, now flashed with dangerous, bloodthirsty golden vertical slits.
He needed to learn all knowledge on Earth with the utmost speed. The vertical pupils were a sign of a dragon's earnestness, a manifestation of power coursing through his body. Soon, Lucifer stopped in the study and began to flip through books at a rapid pace.
Time passed, though he knew not how long. Lucifer paused, a book in his hand, a jolt of premonition coupled with a fleeting, blurry image striking him. Lucifer frowned, put down the book, and quickly walked back to Bai Cha’s bedroom.
He gently pushed the door open. The girl on the bed was curled up slightly, yet appeared incredibly serene. This sight caused Lucifer to freeze in place.
Resonance allowed dragons and humans to connect telepathically. This faint spiritual connection, to a certain extent, enhanced their tacit understanding and allowed them to subtly sense each other’s emotions. Human bloodlines were not powerful, but they were remarkably tenacious. After resonance, humans remained human, but dragons were no longer purely dragons.
If his sensed emotion had been like a treacherous undercurrent in the sea, then Bai Cha must have perceived it a hundredfold. Recalling the fleeting, bloody dream and then looking at Bai Cha’s peaceful sleeping face, Lucifer’s mood was somewhat complicated.
Logically, human emotions were extremely rich. Lucifer didn't know if Bai Cha was deliberately concealing them or if she truly didn't care. Since their resonance, he had never sensed any emotional fluctuations from Bai Cha’s heart.
So, his master only slightly let down her guard in her dreams, experiencing intense emotional shifts?
Just then, Bai Cha’s eyes suddenly opened, a flash of cold light in them. The ensuing alertness immediately made Lucifer turn on the light.
"They've arrived," Bai Cha said, sitting up. The adjacent phone screen was dim, displaying a cluster of red dots moving erratically. Lucifer's phone also lit up with the same display.
"It seems your performance yesterday has alerted some people, my master," Lucifer said, placing a hand over his heart. The subtle, almost imperceptible sadness had vanished without a trace, like a hallucination that had never occurred.
"After all, I am alone. They will think it's easier to pry secret information from me than from our boss," Bai Cha said, lazily leaning against the bed, waving a dismissive hand. "Since you are here, I won't go down myself. Clean up the yard, Lucifer."
"Oh, and also, those smart gardeners have thermal and electromagnetic sensors on them. They're very expensive, so don't break them," Bai Cha added.
"Yes, my master," Lucifer replied, placing his hand over his chest and bowing slightly. He was becoming increasingly proficient in this etiquette. With a flash, he leaped out the window.
His tailcoat fluttered in the wind. The moonlight cast a pale glow on the demon's face. Black demonic energy slowly spread, perfectly concealing the demon's form, like a bat hiding in the night.
In the courtyard.
A group of people in night-vision suits, armed with firearms, hid among the flowers and bushes, believing they could deceive everyone. As they looked at the palace within reach, they revealed triumphant smiles.
Their boss had sent a message; he had successfully infiltrated the Bai family's second floor, and they would soon achieve their objective.
Bai Cha lay with her eyes closed, leaning against the headboard, her breathing even. She was sensing the direction of the wind.
"I suggest you don't charge directly into the study. The files aren't there, and while Xiao Du is a library management robot, it's also a heavy-duty mecha," Bai Cha said, still lounging against the headboard, her eyes closed. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her lower eyelids. A hint of arrogance played in her smile. "After all, knowledge is the ladder of human progress, wouldn't you agree? Uninvited guests."
The figure at the doorway flickered. Everything about him, from his clothes to his shoes, was specially made to isolate his body heat. He was sure he had moved without making a sound. Why had Bai Cha still detected him?
"Come in. Don't worry, for now, you only need to focus your attention on me," a clear, cool female voice echoed through the black and white room, inexplicably instilling a sense of dread in the intruder.
Since he had been discovered, hiding would be futile. It was better to question directly. Gritting his teeth, the intruder flickered and pushed the door open, entering the bedroom.
Bai Cha then opened her eyes. Her black pajamas hung loosely, making her look somewhat thin. She smiled, and the contradictory feelings of purity and allure made the intruder falter. It wasn't until he met the cold indifference and arrogance in Bai Cha's eyes that he snapped back to reality.
He had never imagined that the eldest daughter of the Bai family would be this delicate woman before him, who appeared to pose no threat.
"Hands up. Where are the files, and how did you get them?" the robber was the first to regain his composure, drawing a gun from his waist and pointing it at Bai Cha's forehead. His gaze was sharp as a sword, his every move decisive and swift.
"Hmm, that's more like it. Staring blankly like that isn't the behavior of a good scoundrel," Bai Cha chuckled softly, covering her mouth with her hand. Her peach blossom eyes, like a galaxy, dared the robber not to meet her gaze.
The calmer the girl before him became, the more flustered he grew. Over the years, he wasn't the only one to have broken into the Bai family. Many had tried before him, but none had ever left alive. This made the intruder feel even more uncertain.
"Stop the nonsense. Tell me, where are the files? In the study? Or on you!" the robber gritted out, his voice involuntarily rising.
"This is your first time here, isn't it?" Bai Cha asked with a light laugh.
"What?" the robber exclaimed, his heart skipping a beat.
Before he could react, Bai Cha lightly clapped her hands. With a soft "snap," the room suddenly went dark. The surroundings plunged into darkness, with only the open window through which the evening breeze howled.
The intruder's heart leaped, but being a regularly trained individual, he quickly calmed down. Relying on his memory, he moved swiftly along the wall to the corner. His bullets were limited, so he couldn't fire indiscriminately. He pressed himself tightly against the wall, minimizing the risk to his body.
He remembered that the young lady of the Bai family was currently in bed, unarmed and covered by a quilt. The moment he heard her get out of bed, he would immediately open fire and escape through the window.
"A wise choice."
A soft voice seemed to drift through the darkness, seemingly near and far, sending a cold sweat down the robber's back.
Then, he saw it – a pair of crimson eyes. The blood-red pupils emitted a faint glow in the darkness, like the eyes of Satan, the king of hell. These crimson eyes were purer red than a blood-red sky, almost making him want to crack his liver and gall.
In the center of the flower bed, a group of people watched their silent communicators with growing anxiety. Their boss's communicator had transmitted no information. After waiting for so long, they were also getting anxious.
"Who!" someone suddenly shouted. The group immediately became vigilant. They quickly crouched back-to-back, forming a circle, scanning their surroundings with alert eyes. They were clearly a well-trained group of intruders.
Time ticked by, but the group discovered nothing.
"Damn it, Li Wei, why are you shouting like that!" someone couldn't help but curse. "Are you trying to scare us!"
Li Wei scratched his head, saying somewhat aggrievedly, "I, I don't know. I just saw a dark shadow flash by, and it startled me."
"A hallucination?"
"A bird, maybe."
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
If it was just an illusion, that would be for the best. If everything went smoothly, it would be a great achievement to retrieve something from the Bai family. If they succeeded, they would have broken a record and could even speak with authority on the international stage.
Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief and was about to take a few steps when he found his feet rooted to the spot, unable to move. A bad premonition spread through him. He looked down and saw that the ground beneath his feet had turned black, as if he were stepping in black oil. A black hand had silently gripped his ankle.
He wasn't the only one to notice; almost simultaneously, many others discovered the situation. Their faces turned ashen.
"Please do not move. If you struggle forcefully, it will be very troublesome for me."
Not far away, a figure emerged from the darkness. He wore a tailcoat, and even at a royal ball in ancient Europe, a youth with such fine bearing and a proportionate figure would be rare.
In the moonlight, the youth's outline became even softer. He smiled faintly, appearing as refreshing as a spring breeze. However, his narrow, slit pupils were a pure crimson, carrying a peculiar smile.
"Please, do not struggle. If blood splatters everywhere, I will be greatly inconvenienced," Lucifer said with a smile. To these unknown robbers, his gentle smile was no different from the deadly chains of the demon Satan, making them feel suffocated.
In fact, they couldn't struggle. Dragons, already powerful, only became stronger after resonating with humans.
From the black ground, black hands emerged, grabbing the intruders and dragging them fiercely into hell, assimilating them into the darkness.
If a powerful individual were present, they would see semi-transparent human shapes peeling out of the black, oil-like mud on the ground. These were the intruders themselves. As soon as these bewildered dead were peeled out, a force from the sky sucked them upwards, flying towards the night sky.
Lucifer did not stop these souls from descending into reincarnation. He had no interest in these insubstantial souls. Unlike those indiscriminate evil dragons, he had his own pride, even when tasting dessert.
The bedroom lights suddenly flickered back on.
Bai Cha sat at the vanity, lazily combing her waist-length hair. She sighed softly as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
Bai Cha shrugged, brushing an irregular lock of bangs to the side. She looked at the dead body in the corner, her fingertips tapping rhythmically on the tabletop.
"Throw this person onto Gong Yue Chen's balcony."
"Yes, my master."