Bai Yexiu was at a loss for a fancy reason. Ever since the incident at the sushi restaurant, his precognitive ability seemed to have completely vanished. He had run to numerous places, only to find that there was simply no way to trigger this special power.
It must be that the conditions for triggering this ability were quite demanding.
So Bai Yexiu reasoned. Over the past few days, he had formed a conjecture: perhaps the trigger condition was a fake child, or that group of children. Thinking back, during both times the ability had triggered, that group of children had been present.
Understood. Next time, he would go find them to test it out.
Just as he was thinking this, Gin suddenly called him. Bai Yexiu had no choice but to answer the phone reluctantly.
He had a feeling it was about a mission again. He had been completely idle these past few days—so idle that he was getting addicted to it. The sudden prospect of a mission naturally made Bai Yexiu a bit unwilling.
"I'm waiting for you downstairs. Boss wants to see your training results."
After dropping this succinct sentence, Gin hung up the phone, seemingly unwilling to spare a single extra word.
Had nobody ever told you that your phone etiquette makes you sound a bit like a stalker? Hang up the moment you finish talking.
Bai Yexiu muttered a mental complaint, threw on a trench coat, and headed downstairs.
Gin clearly did not want the car parked outside the apartment building for too long. The moment Bai Yexiu got in, the car immediately sped off.
The apartment was not far from the nearest underground base. It took only a three-minute drive to get there.
The base was located beneath a pharmaceutical factory, which naturally was also a property belonging to the Organization. The factory had an elevator that went down to the first basement level—which was one of the Organization's training bases—provided one swiped an access card.
Throughout the ride down, only Bai Yexiu kept looking around curiously, because he had never seen the underground base in Tokyo. The base here looked rather different from the one in the United States.
First of all, this place was much larger than the one in the U.S., and it actually had an elevator. The U.S. base only had stairs; every time he had to leave the base, he had to climb a ridiculously long flight of stairs, which had tormented Bai Yexiu to the point of extreme annoyance.
Fortunately, the interior of the base was pretty much the same, so Bai Yexiu felt no sense of disorientation.
Habitually, Bai Yexiu sat on the railing of the high platform—he didn't know where the guns were kept here, and Gin had just gone off to get him a weapon. Only Vodka was left behind, and Vodka actually looked somewhat terrified that Bai Yexiu might fall over the edge.
This is no place for sitting, thought Vodka, praying that the brat in front of him would get down from the railing.
Noticing the slightly distorted expression on Vodka's face, the corners of Bai Yexiu's mouth twitched into an imperceptible smile, and he leaned his body back a little further.
Because even if he accidentally fell, he would still be able to climb back up before hitting the ground. He had that much confidence.
Besides, occasionally scaring Vodka was a pretty good pastime.
Vodka was frightened out of his wits, wondering whether Cointreau fell in front of him, would the Boss and Big Brother hold him accountable? After all, this place was at quite a height from the ground; it was more than enough to plunge someone to their death.
Just as the two of them were silently sizing each other up, Gin walked over carrying a sniper rifle. He glanced suspiciously at the two of them, then handed the gun to Bai Yexiu.
"Begin."
Just as Bai Yexiu placed the rifle onto the stand, he suddenly seemed to remember something, turned his head back, and said to Gin, "Hey, Gin-chan, how come I never noticed you were so considerate before?"
To think he'd gone to fetch the gun himself, and even personally handed it to him instead of just tossing it over. Back when Gin had been on a business trip to the United Kingdom and happened to supervise his training, he had simply thrown the gun Vodka handed him right at Bai Yexiu, almost smashing it into Bai Yexiu's head.
Without a shred of mercy, Gin pinched Bai Yexiu's cheek and forced his head back around.
As a result, Bai Yexiu turned his head right back, wearing an expression of utter sincerity: "It's true, though."
Looking at the face brimming with absolute sincerity before him, Gin frowned, grabbed the top of his head, and twisted it back forward: "I said, begin."
Seeing that Gin apparently had no intention of continuing the topic, Bai Yexiu dropped the teasing and began the test.
Recalling Bai Yexiu's look of absolute sincerity just a moment ago, Gin couldn't help but sneer inwardly: the word "sincerity" simply could not be applied to Bai Yexiu, and even his true personality remained an unsolved mystery.
Having spent a very long period of time in contact with Bai Yexiu in the past, Gin naturally knew his true colors—he was simply someone who treated everyone else like toys to play with.
At the mere thought of that time he had fallen victim to Bai Yexiu's scheming in the UK, Gin gritted his teeth. It wasn't just him; other members of the Organization had also fallen prey to Cointreau's schemes. During that period, he had even felt as though the air itself was saturated with Cointreau.
Being outmaneuvered by a teenager—just thinking about it was humiliating.
While taking aim, Bai Yexiu felt a sudden chill down his spine, as if some invisible blame was flying right toward him.
The low pressure radiating from Gin seemed to drop even further. With a blank expression, he helped Bai Yexiu organize the sniping data, while his eyes lingered on a particular figure for a moment.
1200 yards, dead center of the forehead.
Another new record?
Gin glanced at Bai Yexiu, who had pulled a lollipop out from goodness knows where, and fell into deep thought.
Cointreau's sniping performance was improving at a terrifying speed, having already reached a level that even left Gin astonished. Among the Organization, this kind of score was firmly in the top tier.
Having organized the data, Gin packaged it and sent it to the Boss. "Alright, let's head back."
"Gin-chan, how come you're being so considerate today?"
The moment Gin looked up, he saw Bai Yexiu looking at him with a probing gaze, his tone unhurried as always.
"As far as I know, the old Gin would never personally go find a gun, personally hand it over, and personally organize the data like you did today. I am truly so touched~"
Bai Yexiu put on an exaggerated show of wiping the corners of his eyes.
Clearly unwilling to bother with him, Gin turned around and walked away. But the moment he turned his back, a sentence entirely out of character suddenly popped out of his mouth: "I'll give you a ride back."
The moment the words left his mouth, even Gin himself froze. How could he possibly say something like that?
Recalling the points Bai Yexiu had just summarized for him, Gin couldn't help but genuinely wonder if he had somehow awakened some strange trait.
Looking pleasantly surprised, Bai Yexiu wore a subtle expression.
Today, Gin was acting somewhat abnormal. Hitching a ride was something Bai Yexiu always had to initiate or just jump in for—there was never a time Gin actively offered to let him hitch a ride.
It seemed Gin must have encountered something joyful, or perhaps he had awakened some kind of "den mother" persona.
A smile crept onto Bai Yexiu's lips, and he opened his mouth to tease Gin, when suddenly a head poked out from the doorway.
"Is Cointreau here?" An American man spoke in halting Japanese. Catching sight of Cointreau, who was preparing to leave, he walked over cheerfully. "I happen to have something for you."
"What is it? Speak clearly, Scaman." Gin frowned, looking far from welcoming.
Scaman was the instructor of the Organization's underground training base. Having previously been transferred to the United States for a period of time, he and Cointreau were old acquaintances. Although Scaman did not have a codename, it was said that his status was on par with Rum's.
"Of course I have something. That Boss has an item to be delivered to Cointreau."
With that, Scaman handed a small plastic box over to Bai Yexiu.
Inside the small box was a small silver snake about the thickness of a pinky finger. Perhaps because the journey had been too long, it was currently curled up limply inside, not moving at all.
Noticing the listless little snake inside as well, Scaman scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that. The transit took a bit longer than expected. It wasn't looking like this when I first got it."
"It's fine." Bai Yexiu looked at the little snake inside, pondering why the Boss would send him something like this.
"Cointreau has grown up too." Scaman patted Bai Yexiu's head affectionately, then turned to say goodbye. "I'm heading off first. Remember to come play at Uncle Scaman's place often from now on~"
Wait a minute, why did that sound like the opening line of a shady adult trying to lure away a child?
...
"Don't pick up bad habits from that guy Scaman."
Gin's voice drifted over gloomily.
Bai Yexiu understood why Gin said that, because Scaman was a riddle-monger much like Vermouth, though he rarely showed it in front of Bai Yexiu. Gin detested riddle-mongers the most; he was afraid Bai Yexiu would pick up their bad habits and turn into one himself.
"Gin-chan is so considerate today~" Putting on an expression of deep touching emotion, Bai Yexiu reached out to stroke Gin's fur, but Gin turned his head slightly and glared at him. "Act normal for once."
"Does Gin-chan not like me anymore? I've been so obedient..." Ignoring him, Bai Yexiu continued to plague Gin with a voice full of grievance.
"Shut up. We're here, get out of the car."
And with that, Bai Yexiu was unceremoniously kicked out of the car by Gin.
"Tch..."
Careless as ever, Bai Yexiu headed upstairs, where he simultaneously received an email from the Boss.
The Boss explained that this little snake was a genetically mutated variety accidentally produced by the research group earlier. It was reportedly extremely affectionate, yet also a venomous snake with strong aggressive tendencies; however, if properly trained, it would make an ideal pet.
Bai Yexiu opened the plastic box. Seeming to sense Bai Yexiu's presence, the little snake poked its tiny head out inquisitively. The moment it made contact with Bai Yexiu's hand, it eagerly slithered up.
Rather than biting him, the little snake affectionately coiled itself around Bai Yexiu's wrist and stayed put.
Damn, so cute.
Bai Yexiu had always liked snakes, especially small ones like this.
[Thank you, Father! —Cointreau]
Politely expressing his gratitude, Bai Yexiu prepared to head inside and properly entertain his new little snake.