It was another morning, the weather was cloudy, without clear sunshine, and the sky was overcast.
Lin Yilin still opened her eyes punctually like a robot, picking up her phone immediately.
She glanced at last night's intelligence, her eyes slightly narrowed.
...
If there was any time when Dadu's Grey District was relatively quiet and peaceful, it would undoubtedly be between four and six in the morning.
Have you ever seen Dadu at four in the morning?
Zheng Fan had, and it wasn't anything special.
At this time, even the boisterous gang members were more or less resting; soon, day would break, and the lives of normal people would return to normal.
Therefore, Zheng Fan would use this time to take Toast out for a walk.
Toast was so lively and active that if it wasn't taken out for walks often, it would throw tantrums, and to prevent it from venting its energy on the sofa and potentially being torn to shreds by Lin Yilin one day, Zheng Fan decided to nip the problem in the bud.
Walking Toast when there were few people around, letting it nibble on the butts of a few homeless people sleeping on cardboard boxes and then running away—this was pretty much Toast's favorite pastime.
Today, they played a bit longer than usual because Toast had forcefully entered the dessert shop on Dongding Road and snatched a fellow Toast.
Yes, another Toast.
Zheng Fan didn't plan to 'enlighten' another Toast; one was enough, and any more, he feared he wouldn't be able to manage them all.
Toast looked incredibly heroic rescuing its fellow, but before Zheng Fan could praise it, it carried that Toast to a corner and completely devoured this 'fellow'.
The scene was horrifying, with Toast crumbs scattered everywhere.
The Toast-devouring-Toast incident, eaten clean, was terrifying.
"When I transform into a baguette to play with you, do you really want to play with me, or do you just want to eat a baguette?" Zheng Fan avoided the increasing crowds and returned to the Shenlai Firm with Toast, asking on the way.
"Woof!"
"Can you really distinguish? No, even if you could distinguish, you'd probably still want to nibble," Zheng Fan mused.
Perfect Toast had many mischievous tricks up its sleeve.
"Just got back?"
At the entrance of the Shenlai Firm, before he even entered, he happened to meet Lin Yilin, who arrived punctually for 'work'; she was taking out her keys, preparing to open the door.
"Good morning, I played with Toast a bit too long."
"Good morning, so you played all night then."
"I still rested for a few hours in between." Zheng Fan was no longer surprised that Lin Yilin immediately knew what had happened last night.
Anyway, Miss Lin Yilin was omniscient; he just had to think that way.
She knew everything!
Opening the door and entering the Shenlai Firm, Toast immediately ran in, found its favorite corner, and curled up there to rest. Rescuing its compatriot had cost it a lot of energy, and eating its compatriot was also quite tiring; in short, Perfect Toast needed to rest.
Lin Yilin went in and sat back on her throne-like desk chair, asking, "Have you found Lind?"
"No. Now it's not even clear if he's still alive," Zheng Fan said, shrugging helplessly.
Lin Yilin nodded, "Although I knew Jiang Si was operating in that area, it was expected that you would go to play with her, but I didn't expect you to coincidentally run into the situation there."
Why did it feel like a parent saying to a child, "I knew you'd secretly play games and watch TV when I went out"?
"Do you need me to reiterate the situation?"
Lin Yilin opened her laptop, "Please do."
Zheng Fan recounted what had happened last night, describing it vividly and imaginatively, piling on adjectives like writing a novel; at this point, his narration sounded like an opera performance.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Miss Lin Yilin expectantly for her opinion.
Lin Yilin pondered for a moment before saying, "I pretty much understood the first part, but you didn't need to describe the late-night snack part in such detail."
"Why? That was the most interesting part of last night, in my opinion," Zheng Fan said seriously and earnestly, "I've never eaten so satisfyingly myself."
After all, he couldn't just mess with his own body, but others' were irrelevant, and the super-strong Miss Red Line Killer was even more irrelevant.
Lin Yilin originally wanted to say something but finally sighed imperceptibly, looking at the computer screen with boredom.
"Our commission might not be going well. That Shenlai Firm seems quite formidable. I saw someone who, like you, can directly possess Illusions," Zheng Fan said, leaning on the sofa.
"What are the Illusion's characteristics?" Lin Yilin asked casually.
"A twisted horn, white skin, a white tail, long."
"Hong Baixian, a partner of Shenlai Firm, an Illusion created by the overlap of the Water World and the Black World, and an Illusion with low aggressiveness. It grew to be intellectual not long after interacting with people from Shenlai Firm. Known intelligence violence index is 'Gang'."
"Like me?" Zheng Fan turned his head.
"Mr. Illusion, your minimum is 'Gang', but Hong Baixian, even with fluctuations, doesn't exceed the scope of a gang. Although it's a very mature Illusion, it's just that. As long as you join Shenlai Firm and achieve some results, you can obtain Hong Baixian's Fantasy Factor and establish a connection with it to use some of its power."
"That good? As expected of a large firm in terms of member benefits," Zheng Fan was surprised. He had originally thought that the Illusion's Fantasy Factor was very rare, as he hadn't heard any other rumors about it being freely usable, except for the Processing Bureau.
"Not all large firms can do this; it's just that Shenlai Firm happens to have such an agreeable Illusion, which they use as a signboard to significantly increase their competitiveness," Lin Yilin typed on her keyboard, her tone flat.
Using a Fantasy Factor inherently leaves a backdoor for the Illusion in oneself. Without some guarantee, even putting up a signboard is useless; who knows if you're cooperating with an Illusion or simply deceiving people into raising Illusions?
"As for this commission, we don't conflict. As long as Lind is still alive, we can still get a share."
Shenlai Firm's sudden involvement in this matter was indeed somewhat unexpected.
However, it was also within reason.
Lin Yilin alone could make progress so quickly, and that unnamed casino had apparently been operating for some time based on the traces. It was natural that the clues left behind attracted the famous Shenlai Firm.
"It's a pity I didn't directly see that Illusion last night," Zheng Fan said.
He took out a singularity and kneaded it in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.
"We need to synchronize progress with Shenlai Firm," Lin Yilin said.
"So there are things in Xixikeke Street that you don't know about after all."
"I only know what's within my own intelligence network."
"Good answer. Since your neighbors can't help, do we need to go to Shenlai Firm?" Zheng Fan was eager, ready for the classic scenario to unfold.
When a small firm like ours goes to cooperate with a large firm, there's always a period of being looked down upon, right? Then it'll be Miss Lin Yilin's turn to show her wisdom, and Zheng Fan's turn to show off some muscle, dazzling them completely!
"No need."
"Huh?"
Lin Yilin took out her phone and found the number in her contacts, "I'll just make a call and ask."
"..."
Zheng Fan turned his head away.
Tsk, Miss Lin Yilin's neighbors were really formidable.