The faint, fresh scent of body wash still lingered in the air, and Xu Xiaoyou's gaze remained calm.
That young investigator's personality was truly beyond her expectations.
It was a stark contrast to the impression she had previously left.
Was the crazy side that person showed a disguise, or was it the version she had just displayed?
In this city, only prey caught in a net would be deceived by the surface others presented.
On the red cashmere carpet, full-length mirrors were embedded in the hallway walls. In the shattered mirror surfaces, the girl’s silhouette was divided into countless fragments. Viewed from a certain angle, her calm expression appeared eerie through the refracted glass.
"Who has so little civic duty? Were they drunk? Vandalizing public property."
Xu Xiaoyou shook her head and turned away, conveniently filing a complaint about the matter with the apartment management.
Since she had returned, Anya had been acting sullen, huddling in the corner of the room.
"What's wrong with this kid?" Xu Xiaoyou asked.
Lin Ran shrugged. "She's been like this ever since you went into the bathroom with that girl."
As if having made a grand decision, Anya puffed out her cheeks and ran over to Xu Xiaoyou. She then took the girl's hand and placed it on the furry ears on her head.
Xu Xiaoyou tilted her head in confusion.
Seeing her like this, and considering the little girl’s fluffy head did indeed feel good to pet, Xu Xiaoyou followed her wishes and began to stroke her hair.
Anya's head swayed back and forth as she was petted, a look of comfort on her face.
That night, Xu Xiaoyou did not train Anya further. The day's exhaustion made her fall asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
As her eyes slowly closed...
She dreamed of scenes from the past—the days of living in constant fear within the city. On cold, rainy nights, her body would instinctively tremble with fear every time a figure passed by on the street.
Mangled corpses were everywhere.
She fought with vagrants and jackals for moldy food inside stinking piles of trash.
Lying on discarded metal parts, her skin was sliced open by the sharp edges of scrap iron. At one point, she almost lost her life to a persistent high fever caused by an infected wound.
On gray days of continuous acid rain, she was dazed, hovering on the edge of consciousness and fainting. The rain, mixed with the smell of rust and heavy metals, made her feel suffocated and nauseous countless times.
On the day she finished off those three grade 1 fixers, she had run back toward the city as if her life depended on it. It was the first time in her life she had run so fast, her heart so exhilarated, like a canary that had finally been freed from a cage, its wings soaked by the torrential rain.
It felt as if something was constantly chasing her from behind. She didn't dare look back, fearing those hands would seize her throat and snap her wings.
This nightmare jolted her awake. She sat up in bed, drenched in cold sweat, her pupils constricted.
Xu Xiaoyou stepped off the bed without putting on slippers. Her loose pajamas made her figure look frail.
Outside the window, it was raining. Under the continuous dark clouds and the gloomy, dim sky, the outline of the neon metropolis was blurred in the rain and mist, a fusion of blue and purple.
She stopped in front of the window, pressing her palm against the cold glass, as if making contact with her reflection.
The self in the mirror was cold.
She took a deep breath. The distant city was replaced by her own reflection, which became clear.
She had only just escaped that place. No matter who tried to drag her back into the abyss, she would make them pay the price.
..........
Over the next two days, Xu Xiaoyou spent her daytime hours scouting for information on Mr. Hao, while at night, she had her Substitute take Anya for training.
After two days, Anya’s strength and agility attributes increased by another 3 points, reaching 28 and 43 respectively. Her base attributes were still quite far from those of a grade 2 fixer, but if she activated Moon Frenzy, she could completely hold her own against one.
Bai Youyou living nearby wasn't entirely a bad thing, seemingly because the 'mind inquisitor' ability had no effect on her that day.
The girl had completely dropped her guard and treated her as a confidante, sharing everything she encountered each day before bed—the happy and the unhappy, how she got along with people at the guard bureau, complaints about work, and even the progress of cases.
Through her, Xu Xiaoyou actually learned more details about the case investigations.
Under her intentional guidance, the other girl gradually drifted away from the original investigation route.
"Good morning~ Youzi, heading out this early today too?"
In the apartment hallway, Bai Youyou waved a greeting.
"Good morning, Youyou."
Xu Xiaoyou’s smile was perfect. She practiced in front of the mirror every day so that no one could see any flaws.
Anya held Xu Xiaoyou’s hand, watching the black-haired girl walk by with a wary gaze.
Her long experience hunting in the snow-fields made her intuition very sharp.
Whenever this person named Bai Youyou appeared, she got a feeling that 'Xu Xiaoyou was going to be snatched away.'
This feeling made her very uncomfortable, and she had even become somewhat hostile toward the other girl.
The rain had been falling for two full days now, turning the entire city into a reflective mirror. The air, heavy with precipitated acidic substances, was definitely not fresh.
Hover-skiffs floated in the sky above the city, sometimes broadcasting advertisements, sometimes displaying election information for officials. Starting from the Gate of Triumph in the city center, they floated leisurely among the towering buildings, passing over prosperous commercial streets and subway stations, near a European-style church, and finally over a densely packed area of old-fashioned buildings.
Looking up from here, one could not see the sky, only the crowded balconies and the complex, interlocking network of pipes.
Xu Xiaoyou walked through the dark alleys between illegal structures, as rats and insects scurried past her feet.
All sorts of people walked through the narrow alleys; most of them had numb expressions, letting the rain soak their bodies as they walked aimlessly forward.
Raindrops drummed against the rusted roof panels with a thumping sound, and the air was damp and oppressive.
Occasionally, someone would look at the blonde girl. With a suit jacket over her shoulders and holding a black umbrella, she didn't stand out much in the crowd, except for her eyes, which didn't look like those of someone who had lived in this area for years.
"Dammit... corpo dog," someone cursed.
Xu Xiaoyou didn't care about such voices and continued walking forward.
Whether it was her imagination or not, as she went deeper, the scene before her eyes gradually became livelier.
From the initial scattered figures, her field of vision was soon occupied by the backs of people ahead of her.
As far as the eye could see, beneath the neon signs, heads were bobbing in the crowd.
The sound of hurried footsteps mixed with the shouting of street vendors. Under red signs printed with Chinese characters were small snack stalls and restaurants.
Upon stepping inside, Xu Xiaoyou gazed at the red festive ribbons hanging between the alleys and the red lanterns floating in the air. She stood still for a long time, a hint of emotion in her eyes.
"Candied hawthorns~ Would you like a stick of candied hawthorns?"
"Char siu buns, pig trotter rice! Come and take a look, rice noodle rolls!"
Seeing the girl standing there for so long, an old woman from a tea house ran out into the rain.
"Little girl, what's wrong? Why have you come to a place like this?"
"Looking at your clothes, did you just lose your job? Laid off by the company?"
"No money and hungry? Do you want to come in and have some tea snacks to fill your stomach first?"
Lightly shaking her head, she watched the children playing around the red lanterns under the bridge. That warm flame seemed to dance in her eyes, flickering.
For the first time in this cold city, Xu Xiaoyou felt the warmth of life.
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