Du Lai stood staring after Bai Youwei, lost in thought.

A man beside him clapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “Du Lai, if I remember right — don’t you have two puzzle pieces on you?”

Du Lai blinked, then smiled. “I did, but after using them, I figured they were worthless, so I donated them to the organization.”

“You donated them?” The man froze, his expression skeptical. “Both puzzle pieces?”

“I had no choice.” Du Lai showed a rueful smile. “You know how it was — when I came out of that hide-and-seek game, I was badly hurt, my items were used up, and I could only hand over the puzzles to get medical supplies.”

The man listened with a half-convinced look. “Is that so…”

“That’s how it was.” Du Lai smiled and gently pushed his arm away. “I still need to go find a partner for the crane game — we’ll talk later~”

He walked away at a brisk pace, and in no time at all had gone quite far. With one turn of a corner, he disappeared completely from the exchange post.

……

In a deserted alley, Du Lai looked around in both directions — no one had followed.

He reached inside his clothing and pulled out two puzzle pieces, turning them over in his hand, the corner of his mouth curling upward.

Items weren’t some rare treasure. Everyone in this city who had survived this long had a few items to their name, more or less — but someone like Bai Youwei, pulling out three in one go, was exceptional.

Because while items accumulated, they also got used up. People tended to use one or two inside a game, and unless an item was truly useless to them, they wouldn’t bring it to the exchange post looking for a trade.

Bai Youwei’s items were undeniably tempting.

Those with puzzles could trade for her items.

Those without puzzles could go steal puzzle pieces from others.

…Or, more directly, go steal Bai Youwei’s items themselves.

“Kangding Road, Building 5, Unit 102.” The young man in the shadowy alley narrowed his eyes, his smile carrying a deep, unreadable quality. “Ha… things are about to get interesting.”

……

On the way back, Teacher Cheng asked Bai Youwei in confusion:

“Youwei, aren’t we living in Unit 101? Why did you write the wrong address?”

—

“It doesn’t matter~. After all, if someone knocks on 102’s door, we’ll hear it from 101~”

“But what if we don’t hear it…”

“If they don’t get an answer, they can leave a note, or come back another day. It won’t cause any problems~”

Teacher Cheng thought it over and nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”

Behind them, Lu Ang and Yan Qingwen exchanged a silent look.

Lu Ang mouthed soundlessly, his admiration plain: That girl is sharp…

If anyone showed up at Unit 102 in the middle of the night to try something, they’d come up empty — and might even get ambushed by the people in Unit 101.

Yan Qingwen could only shake his head with a helpless smile at Bai Youwei’s methods.

The five of them walked and chatted as they went, arriving at the entrance to the residential complex in no time.

The moment they entered the compound, they spotted Li Li leading a small entourage coming toward them from the other direction!

“Brother Yan!” Li Li called out warmly.

Though they had only been apart for half a day, it felt like several days, and even his bearing was different.

Li Li had now rejoined SCO’s research team, been elevated to one of the organization’s core members, and was living together with the other SCO researchers. When he went out, he was accompanied by four security escorts to ensure his personal safety.

Now he stood before them looking refreshed and in excellent spirits, and Bai Youwei was inexplicably reminded of the phrase “triumphant return” — she almost laughed.

“I told Professor Song about you all, and the professor is very grateful! He hopes to meet everyone in person.” There was a hint of self-satisfaction in Li Li’s voice. “Tonight, headquarters is hosting a dinner banquet, and the professor specifically sent me to invite you!”

As he said this, his gaze fell on Bai Youwei, and his tone instinctively became more cautious.

He cleared his throat. “You and Shen Mo are also invited… to attend the banquet.”

“Oh.” Bai Youwei answered lazily, her expression cool. “Not interested.”

—