Early in the morning, a ray of sunlight shone onto the windowsill of the hotel room, and the person in bed lazily stretched.
After fighting Yiyu until past eleven last night, "beating" Shao Pingge up, and then spending quite a while listening to his explanations, she had finally gone to sleep around two in the morning.
Right now, the phone read eight o'clock in the morning, leaving exactly one hour until her nine o'clock appointment with Ye Fan.
Liu Mingxi lay on the bed with a look of existential despair.
Unbelievable. She had slept for less than six hours—she had never slept so little in her life. Even during the intense high school years, she always got at least seven hours of sleep, thanks to the lax policies of Guangshen No. 1 High School.
It was a prestigious luxury school environment, yet it was a public high school; it boasted an atmosphere comparable to a five-star hotel, with free Wi-Fi covering the entire campus, and students were allowed to bring mobile phones and tablets to class. Every morning, early reading started promptly at seven-thirty, classes ended at five in the afternoon, and evening self-study finished at ten-thirty. You could say that at least half of the day was spent in self-study, and during those periods, students were free to go to the library to study in peace...
Liu Mingxi sat up with messy hair, her eyes heavy with sleep, and impatiently kicked off the blanket.
Ah, she hated Shangjing City. When would she ever be able to go home?
With a dark expression, Liu Mingxi spent fifteen minutes getting herself ready, and with her family's words of encouragement, she headed out toward the waiting Zuo Qing, embarking on her "painting competition" journey.
Approaching Zuo Qing, she silently rolled her eyes.
Dressed in casual clothes, Zuo Qing stood by the car with a gentle expression, nodding and greeting Liu Mingxi's parents. Catching Liu Mingxi's ignored eye roll, he could only offer a silent, bitter smile and shake his head.
Liu Mingxi opened the car door directly and sat quietly, waiting for Zuo Qing to drive.
The entire journey was dead silent. Zuo Qing felt as though facing a Mystery hadn't been this agonizing. Every now and then, he would stealthily glance into the rearview mirror, wanting to see what Liu Mingxi was doing.
To his horror, he found Liu Mingxi glaring straight at him with wide eyes. Frightened, Zuo Qing immediately averted his gaze and stared straight ahead.
Whether it was because the car's air conditioning was set too low, Zuo Qing felt a chilly draft sweep over him, giving him goosebumps on his arms.
Upon reaching the destination, Zuo Qing let out a profound sigh of relief. He slammed on the brakes and flung open the car door in one fluid motion.
Liu Mingxi got out and glanced around. It was a classic government building; unlike the Night Watchers' encampment, this place looked more like a comprehensive political decision-making building from a television drama, disguised to resemble a secret base belonging to the Night Watchers.
Of course, it felt even more like an ordinary high-rise building completely integrated into the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
As Liu Mingxi followed Zuo Qing straight through the front doors of headquarters, she was surprised to see several delivery riders rushing in and out carrying take-out orders.
"Director Zuo!"
Several voices greeted Zuo Qing—they were staff members and headquarters clerks bustling about the lobby.
Zuo Qing smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.
Liu Mingxi stared curiously at the back of Zuo Qing's head. Previously, Ye Fan had only mentioned that Zuo Qing was the one assigned to pick her up, and with her family present, Zuo Qing hadn't elaborated on his status, even masquerading as Liu Mingxi's teacher to keep his cover. Because of this, Liu Mingxi had never known who Zuo Qing really was.
Zuo Qing turned his head to look at Liu Mingxi and finally spoke his first words to her: "I am the Director of the Special Operations Division, which means I manage the deployment and formation of all special squads..."
Seeing the blank look on Liu Mingxi's face, Zuo Qing stopped talking and cut straight to the point: "You can think of it as an existence just as important as the Commander-in-Chief."
Oh, she understood now. Liu Mingxi nodded knowingly. Zuo Qing held a very high-ranking position.
Seeing this, Zuo Qing said no more and walked toward a corridor on the other side. Well, Liu Mingxi wasn't a Night Watcher; there was no need for her to understand so much.
Liu Mingxi followed him to the end of the corridor, where a familiar figure in casual clothes stood waiting.
It was Ye Fan!
Liu Mingxi still remembered the sight of Ye Fan scrambling away in panic last night. She narrowed her eyes and followed silently behind Zuo Qing as they approached.
Acting as if he had completely forgotten what happened last night, Ye Fan gave the two of them a silent nod.
Since he didn't mention last night, Liu Mingxi wisely kept quiet about it too—though what was up with that subtle, evasive look in his eyes?
Ye Fan shot a sidelong glance at Zuo Qing, blinking rapidly.
Zuo Qing sighed inwardly. *You were clearly the one who started this, yet you're making a subordinate take the initiative to explain? What kind of nonsense is this...*
Ye Fan took the lead, with Liu Mingxi and Zuo Qing following behind, plunging the three of them into an eerie, quiet atmosphere.
Zuo Qing walked beside Liu Mingxi, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but hesitating.
"Um, Liu..."
Zuo Qing finally mustered the courage to speak in an attempt to break the silence.
Only to be directly interrupted by the person in question.
"I know."
Liu Mingxi looked resentfully at the back of Ye Fan's head ahead of them.
The latter quietly pricked up his ears and kept walking without changing his expression.
"Shao Pingge explained it to me last night—it's the higher-ups' 'lack of reassurance'!" Liu Mingxi deliberately emphasized the last two words. "Naturally, you knew Yiyu was going to show up, and since several Night Watchers happened to be there last night, you seized the opportunity to verify things through them, using Yiyu as my testing instrument while incidentally sizing up my strength."
"So then, was it verified? What was the result?"
Ye Fan turned back to look at Liu Mingxi with an apologetic expression and said, "First, let me apologize to you. After all, verifying the Human Ceiling requires solid, credible evidence, and Daxia is in urgent need of powerful individuals to protect it. We couldn't casually let someone with unverified credentials take charge in Daxia. I'm sorry; clumsy though our methods may have been, at least they worked."
Liu Mingxi nodded understandingly.
"The result is that we have comprehensively gathered all known information about you. Your file is already quite complete, and your status as the 'Human Ceiling' has been confirmed. From now on, we are comrades fighting side by side."
With a smile on his lips, Ye Fan stopped walking and stood before a metal door.
"Comrades? Very well," Liu Mingxi said with a smile.
"Do you know what my Forbidden Ruins is?"
Before the three of them stood a pristine white metal door, looking even more high-tech than the Baili family's Forbidden Artifact collection room.
"The Forbidden Ruins Research Institute." Ye Fan pushed the metal door open directly and introduced it to Liu Mingxi. There weren't layers of security clearances here like Liu Mingxi had imagined. "I got a glimpse of your combat style last night, but after all, professional matters are best left to professionals."
Coming into view was a large group of researchers in white lab coats, all intensely focused on studying the objects before them. Some had lights flashing in their palms aimed at various items—Liu Mingxi could sense that they possessed Forbidden Ruins of their own—while others hurried back and forth along the glass corridors of the laboratory, and some sat earnestly taking notes on computers at their desks.
In short, this place was bustling.
Seeing the three of them enter, an elderly researcher with graying hair stepped forward.
"Commander Ye!"