Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Bingbing was absolutely livid with how Xia Tian acted. She knew that he was a shady character but she had not expected him to fancy ladies that acted wildly inappropriately.
They were here on serious business, yet Xia Tian still found the time for debauchery.
She would have taught him a good lesson far sooner If it were not for the fact that she still needed Xia Tian’s assistance.
“I’m warning you, this is my only chance to enter the Special Task Force. If I fail, it’s going to be on your head.” Lin Bingbing glared at Xia Tian fiercely.
“What exactly is the Special Task Force anyway?” Xia Tian asked with a puzzled expression.
“It’s an organisation that was called Secret Service before the country was formed. Now it’s comprised of all kinds of the most elite in Hua Xia. The entry requirements are incredibly stringent.” Lin Bingbing explained to the clueless Xia Tian.
“What’s the point of being in there anyway?” Xia Tian continued with another question.
“Of course it’s going to be useful. Being in the force means that you’ll be able to meet the cream of the crop of police officers, the most elite special police force personnel, genius detectives like Di Renjie, computer experts, and so on. Once you’re in the Special Task Force, you’ll be able to gain more knowledge and rub shoulders with even more powerful people.” Lin Bingbing had always yearned to be a part of the Special Task Force — even though people heard bits and pieces of the Special Task Force, there were not many who truly knew of its inner workings.
The reason she knew so much was due to her uncle — Jianghai’s mayor. Even above that, however, she wanted to find the man who abandoned his wife and child.
“If the members of the force are oh so powerful like you say they are, how do you expect to get in? Don’t tell me you’re using a back door of some sort 1 ?” Confused, Xia Tian looked at Lin Bingbing.
“You’re the one using a back door. I’m going through a test now, you know.” Lin Bingbing scowled at Xia Tian. The Special Task Force had always been her dream, thus she would never get in through her connection with her uncle.
Notwithstanding the chance uncle had given her, she never asked for anything. She refused to pull any strings.
“Alright, it’s all yours.” Xia Tian raised his hands in surrender.
“What?” Whatever he had said went completely over her head.
“You’ll have to complete your test fair and square. There are tens of thousands of people here and you’ll have to find Shadow among these people.” Xia Tian smiled.
“Hmph.” Lin Bingbing gritted her teeth furiously and stomped her foot on the ground. “Just you wait!”
Lin Bingbing stormed ahead by herself with Xia Tian following suit. As she walked, her anger rose as well. She put up with Xia Tian because he was supposed to offer assistance with Ye Yuqing’s request, yet he had just asked that she carry out her task by herself.
Where was she supposed to look first? The only blurred photo she had was obviously not going to be much help anyway since the area was bathed in all sorts of different-colored lights. She might not actually recognize him if he appeared right in front of her, let alone fishing him out from the sea of people around her.
She could not approach the first person she saw to ask if that person was Shadow, either, if not he would flee immediately.
Lin Bingbing looked left and right. Shadow might as well have been invisible.
“Tell me, that man over there, what does he do?” Xia Tian asked while pointing to a man to their left. He was neatly dressed in a suit with a white shirt and had leather shoes on his feet.
“He’s a banker. Or someone from the IT industry!” Lin Bingbing quickly retorted.
“No, he’s a security guard,” Xia Tian corrected her.
“But he’s wearing business attire, he doesn’t look like a security guard at all!” Lin Bingbing was bewildered.
“Would you walk the streets in your police uniform off-duty?” Xia Tian questioned.
“Of course not!” Eventually, Lin Bingbing understood what Xia Tian was getting at. “But how did you know that he’s a security guard?”
“His suit and leather shoes are spotless and he’s dressed too neatly — that means rarely wears them out. On top of that, every time someone parks a car he’ll turn to look at the distance between the car and both sides of the road just on instinct.” Xia Tian was trained by his father from a young age to be observant. He was competent in everything Sherlock Holmes knew even before he was ten.
“If you’re so good at this, tell me which one of them is Shadow.” Though Lin Bingbing thought that what Xia Tian said was quite reasonable, she was not pleased.
“He’s not here. Did you really think that Shadow would be on the streets all day long waiting for you to arrest him?” Xia Tian gave her a disdainful look.
“Don’t all the assassins sleep during the day and parade themselves at night?” Lin Bingbing asked again.
“You watch too many movies. Even if an assassin is out to kill someone at night he’d still enter through a window.” Xia Tian was completely defeated by Lin Bingbing’s innocence. “Killers have some self-respect too, okay?
“Think of the women who are afraid of going to the washroom by themselves at night because they’re scared of ghosts. Think about how the ghosts feel. Ghosts have dignity too. Why would a ghost pop up from a toilet bowl just to frighten someone?”
“You!! Alright, you win! What should we do now?” Lin Bingbing was angered to the point of silence.
Xia Tian grinned at Lin Bingbing. “Good, listen to me. Do whatever I ask you to.”
Subsequently, Xia Tian led Lin Bingbing into a bar. It was not a spacious place — its entrance was not fancy nor grand, and the street ladies were all but absent. Normally, a place like that would not attract many customers.
Without a doubt, customers would prefer bars with more ladies and sparkling lights. It was the same for the women, who had a better liking for spacious bars which gave them a sense of security and allowed them to meet wealthy men.
The moment Lin Bingbing entered the bar, she became the center of attention as she was too beautiful. Moreover, she had no makeup on, which was rarely seen in a place like this.
It was certainly uncommon to see a pretty lady with no makeup on. Even though the bar was designed for music and dance just like any other bar, under careful observation
the people who were really dancing were the same few people. As for the others, they either watched their surroundings warily or whispered to one another.
Bar Street was a chaotic place itself, yet this bar appeared to be even more disorderly. The men skulked about shadily while the women here wore strange and unconventional outfits.
Feeling completely out of place, Lin Bingbing, furrowed her brows. She noticed the people staring at her as if they were looking right through her soul.
“Let’s go, dance with me.” Xia Tian smiled at her.
“Why?” Lin Bingbing was clueless.
“Didn’t you say you’d do what I told you to?” Xia Tian was not pleased.
“Fine, but I’m telling you I can’t dance.” Lin Bingbing decided to give in.
“Just come with me.” Following that, Xia Tian held Lin Bingbing’s hand and walked her to the dance floor. Despite being reluctant, Lin Bingbing still followed Xia Tian. She felt like a fish out of water, uneasy as she did not know how to dance.
“Plenty of people are staring at us now, don’t look around.” Xia Tian whispered, pretended to hug Lin Bingbing.
Lin Bingbing nodded softly and swayed along with Xia Tian.
Swiftly, Xia Tian swept the bar with his gaze. Earlier when the two of them entered the bar, they were already being watched. This was all because Lin Bingbing was far too attractive, and it was obvious that she was not here for a good time.
This had partially revealed her identity.
“Boss, that chick looks like a cop.”
“The few of you, go and take a look. Let the others know to be more careful when making deals.”
“Don’t worry, boss, nobody’s got the guts to arrest anyone in our territory.”
“Send a few more men to look into it. An important person will be here in a while to collect some things, we must not make any mistakes.”
“Rest assured, boss. We’ll check this chick out first. If she’s really a cop, we’ll get rid of her.”
Soon enough, Xia Tian was done scouting the behavior of everyone in the bar. While the place was filled with noise such that he was unable to hear the conversation between those men, he had learned to lip-read from his father, thus was able to get a grasp of their discussion.
Although Shadow was from Quicksand, Quicksand never had a fixed base. Since the members carried out tasks outside throughout the year, it was impossible for them to keep their weapons with them as they would be easily caught by the police. Therefore, each time they moved to another location, they had to contact the respective local weapon supplier and avoid buying even a dagger from normal stores as it would only expose their identity.
Quicksand’s people knew that being discovered meant death.
The reason Xia Tian visited this place was that his father told him many years ago about a number of the most chaotic places in various regions. Back then, he even mentioned Bar Street in Jianghai but he only told Xia Tian so that he would never set foot in this place.
Based on the conversation that went on between the few men just now, Xia Tian guessed that the person they were expecting must be related to Shadow, but the rest were unaware that the buyer was going to be someone who was working for Quicksand.
“Hey girl, you’re a pretty one.” A few yellow-haired punks began dancing around Lin Bingbing.
“Your body and your face, what a beauty.”
Upon hearing them, Lin Bingbing frowned. She would have given these people a piece of her mind if it were under different circumstances but Xia Tian reminded her not to reveal her identity, forcing her to hold it in. Nonetheless, she was almost at the boiling point. The punks were going overboard as they started to grind against her body.
Right then, Xia Tian pulled Lin Bingbing into his arms.
“You offended someone you shouldn’t.” Xia Tian said to those punks with a smile.