I took my eyes off the screen, looked up at Yashu and asked:
-"Hey, what is your rank?"
-"Ah... 4530." - She answered in a low voice, her tone slightly hesitant.
( Oh, two ranks higher than me? Interesting. ) - I thought to myself, then cheerfully teased her:
-"You're pretty good, aren't you? A whole two ranks higher than me."
-"Hehe, not at all, it was just a stroke of luck." - Yashu replied with a playful wink.
Seeing Xi Yong'an still sitting leisurely, leaning back in his chair with his legs up, I suddenly remembered something and turned to ask him:
-"By the way, do you know an organization called 'Lord of the Eternal Night'?"
Hearing those six words, Xi Yong'an's movements instantly froze. He startled slightly, dropped his playful demeanor from earlier, and looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze:
-"I do. Why? Are you interested in them too?"
I pondered for a moment, nodded, and continued:
-"Yeah. Then do you know anything about someone named 'Lord of the Moon'?"
-"Lord of the Moon...?" - Xi Yong'an's expression changed as he mumbled the name back, and then, as if suddenly realizing something: "Ah, you mean Ling Yue Xin Dao? Actually, I don't have too much classified intelligence on this organization. I only know that Ling Yue Xin Dao - or 'Yue' as people in the circle call her - is the very person who founded the Lord of the Eternal Night. And there is one most terrifying thing..."
He lowered his voice, emphasizing each word:
-"All of her loyal subordinates... are demons."
-"Is that so?" - I smirked slightly, letting out a cold smile.
-"What's wrong? Your expression looks strange, did something happen?" - Xi Yong'an asked back curiously.
-"To be honest, a few days ago I accidentally discovered that the manager of the coffee shop where we work is one of Yue's people. There was even another mysterious person accompanying him."
Hearing what I said, cold sweat instantly broke out all over Xi Yong'an as he growled:
-"Damn it, how can you still smile at something so terrifying? You were literally a hair's breadth away from death!" He suddenly paused for a moment, cast a quick glance down at the floors below, and suggested:
-"My company still has a few vacant positions at the moment. Do you want to move over here and work permanently?"
The sudden offer caught me a little by surprise:
-"Such a good deal? But won't that be too much trouble for you?"
-"Don't be so polite." - Xi Yong'an laughed, waving his hands. "In the last survival mission, the two of you saved my life. I naturally have to find a way to repay at least a part of this debt of gratitude."
I fell into deep thought. Indeed, from the moment I realized manager Ming was acting strange, I had always harbored the intention of leaving that coffee shop immediately. It was just that I hadn't found a suitable opportunity yet; who would have thought such a good chance would literally fall from the sky right now.
-"Then I'll have to trouble you. I will move over here to work."
Finishing my sentence, I turned to look at Yashu:
-"What about you? What do you think? You don't necessarily have to follow me."
She looked up at me, a brief flash of hesitation in her eyes, but then she replied firmly:
-"I think... I should go with you too. After all, if I continue to stay at that shop with Yue's people, I won't be able to feel at peace at all. Especially when they seem to be plotting something targeting players like you."
I smiled and turned to our host:
-"Then I'll trouble the young master here to adopt this teammate of mine as well."
-"Don't worry, it's a full package deal~" - Xi Yong'an chimed in jokingly.
After chatting for a while longer, Yashu accidentally dropped a small decorative figurine she was holding onto the floor. The wooden figurine rolled quite a distance, so she stood up and chased after it to pick it up.
Just as Yashu passed by the wooden cabinet, a duck-shaped clock sitting on it suddenly rang out loud and clear, shattering the atmosphere and making her jump in surprise.
Xi Yong'an let out an awkward smile, hurriedly jumped out of his seat, and ran over to turn the duck off:
-"Sorry about that, you two. This is my daily alarm to remind me of work hours, I completely forgot to turn it off earlier."
Xi Yong'an put the clock down, and as if suddenly remembering something, he spoke up:
-"Ah, could you two give me your contact info to add friends on Travel Together?"
I thought he was about to give some grand instructions, but it turned out to be just about adding friends. I gladly agreed right away. The next second, my phone screen instantly rang with a crisp notification chime:
[ XI YONG'AN WANTS TO ADD YOU AS A FRIEND. ]
I slid my finger to press the "Accept" button.
[ TING! YOU AND XI YONG'AN HAVE BECOME FRIENDS! LET'S CHAT TOGETHER! ]
Xi Yong'an eagerly turned to look at Yashu. She smiled, intending to turn on her phone, but the screen was now pitch black; no matter how she pressed and held the power button, it refused to light up:
-"It's dead, looks like my phone completely ran out of battery at some point." - Yashu scratched her head awkwardly, looking at Xi Yong'an. "When I get back and fully charge it, I'll add you later, okay?"
Xi Yong'an remembered something, so he conveniently reached for two unused charging cables in the corner of the table and handed them to us:
-"Here, you two take these and use them."
Yashu and I stayed in his room to chat for a few more minutes, then stood up to excuse ourselves and head back. We needed to return to the coffee shop to pack up our personal belongings as soon as possible, preparing ourselves to decisively pack up and get out of that hazard-ridden place.
When we returned to the familiar coffee shop, we saw absolutely no sign of manager Ming anywhere. He must have gone out. But then again, today is the "International Resignation Day" of this world after all.
Yashu immediately went back to her room to plug in her phone charger, while I also made my way back to my private room.
Just as I threw myself down onto the bed, the phone in my pants pocket suddenly vibrated violently. It was a message sent from Xi Yong'an through the app. I instantly opened the interface to look, and what caught my eyes was the line of text:
💬 Xi Yong'an: "Hey, is there anyone else beside you right now?"
I quickly typed a reply: 💬 Zhao Tianxia: "No, did something happen?"
💬 Xi Yong'an: "I have something extremely important, and I only want to tell you alone."
Right after that, Xi Yong'an sent over a fairly long message. I silently and intently read every single word. After finishing, the corners of my lips involuntarily curled up into a cold smile. Without a single wasted movement, I immediately pressed the command to completely wipe out the entire history of the conversation just now, returning the chat interface to a blank state, acting as if nothing had ever happened.