Sixi stood in the shadow of a doorway and watched.
The girl flitted through six men like she was doing something completely ordinary.
No wasted motion.
No hesitation.
Every strike precise and deliberate and exactly as hard as it needed to be and not one degree harder.
She was protecting them, he realised.
Not hurting them beyond what was necessary.
Which meant she was in complete control.
Which meant she chose to be.
Fourteen seconds for four men last night.
Tonight — six men, twenty-one seconds, and she still had the lollipop in her mouth at the end of it.
Lin Feng made a small sound beside him.
Si Xi said nothing.
He looked at the girl crouching in front of the men now, talking to them in that low pleasant voice, head tilted, completely unbothered.
The streetlight was catching her hair.
There was something about her face
—He looked away.
"Young Master."
Lin Feng's voice was careful.
"That's the second night. Same girl. Same road."
"Mn."
"She's clearly a target. If we—"
"It's not our business."
Lin Feng looked at him.
Si Xi's gaze had already moved back to the girl.
That expression on his face — Lin Feng had worked for him for six years and could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen it.
He wasn't sure what to call it.
Interest, maybe.
The very quiet, very controlled, very dangerous kind.
"Young Master—"
Si Xi turned and walked away.
Lin Feng followed.
Glanced back once.
The girl was standing now.
Fixing her hair.
Lollipop back in her mouth.
Six men on the ground around her like fallen dominoes.
She looked up.
For just a second
just one second
— her gaze went directly to the shadow of the doorway where Si Xi had been standing.
Lin Feng's steps slowed.
She couldn't have known they were there...
Could she?
She looked away.
Picked up her shopping bag.
Walked toward the convenience store.
Lin Feng turned back around and said nothing for the rest of the walk.
Some things were better left alone.
—
Yun Jiao bought her chips.
Walked home.
Went upstairs.
Sat on her bed.
"The men are on their way back,"
Hawk confirmed.
"Recording uploaded. Four backup servers."
A pause.
"And Master — there were two people watching from the doorway on the east side."
"I know"
"You saw them?"
"Felt them." She opened her chips.
"Profile?"
"One is Si Xi. CEO of the Si Corporation. Twenty-five years old."
Hawk paused.
"Also known in certain circles as Lucifer."
Yun Jiao stopped opening her chips.She looked up at nothing.
Lucifer.
That name.
She knew that name.
Not from this life.
From the other one.
Whispered in underground halls, in the dark corners of mercenary gatherings, in the careful conversations of people who were afraid and trying not to show it.
Lucifer.
The one name in the underworld that made people straighten up involuntarily.
And he had been forty meters away just now watching her fight six men.
She sat with that for a moment.
Then she opened her chips."Interesting," she said.
"Is that all you have to say?"
"What do you want me to say, Hawk?"
"I don't know, something with more — energy? Lucifer just watched you fight in a back alley—"
"He watched. He didn't interfere. He left."
She ate a chip. "He's not a threat right now."
"He's Lucifer—"
"And I'm the Queen of Mercenaries." She looked at the ceiling.
"We'll be fine."
Hawk was quiet for a second.
"Master,"
he said finally.
"Mm"
"You have absolutely no self-preservation instincts and I want you to know that worries me deeply."
She smiled at the ceiling.
"Go check on Yunjinna," she said.
A pause.Then, reluctantly:
"...The men arrived at the Yun gate six minutes ago."
His voice was careful now.
"Yunjinna answered the door herself."
Yun Jiao ate another chip.Said nothing.
"She's— "
Hawk paused.
"She's screaming for her mother."
Yun Jiao looked at the city lights outside her window.
In her previous life this girl had taken everything from her.
Her family.
Her name.
Her brother.
In this Life, she'll play are to death.
She hadn't even started collecting that debt yet.
And they were already coming for her.
She reached into her bag and took out her blue notebook.
Opened it to a fresh page.
Wrote two words at the top.
Yun Xiao.
Then underneath:Not yet.
But soon.
She closed the notebook.
Picked up her chips.
Got back to the Liang Boshen file.
Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.