"Okay, just stop talking."
Cen Xiangyun patted Lu Manqing on the shoulder and whispered.
"I'm not complaining about anything, it's just—"
Lu Manqing said, as if he had thought of something, and frowned deeply, "No, that's not right"
"What's wrong?"
"... nothing."
Lu Manqing suppressed the expression on his face and returned to his nonchalant look.
"Anyway, today's commission has been successfully completed. Since Luo Ling is tired, let's go home and rest." As the captain and the oldest sister in the entire team, Eve was still very reliable half of the time.
Of course no one from the twin-tailed team raised any objections, and they all returned to the apartment soon.
Luo Ling's behavior was as abnormal as ever. Even when Elsa was cooking, she did not sneak into the kitchen to help as she did before. Instead, she sat quietly in front of the dining table waiting.
Even when everyone finished eating and started to clear the table, she just sat on the chair without moving at all.
Everyone tacitly agreed not to disturb Luo Ling, except Elsa, who took a small stool and sat next to her, holding her chin and staring at Miss Luo Ling intently.
After an unknown amount of time, Luo Ling finally came to his senses, his eyes instantly sharpened, "Finally... I found some clues."
"What did you find?" asked Elsa next to her.
"Found it... I can't tell you for now." Luo Ling reached out and touched Elsa's hair, then asked, "By the way, Elsa, aren't you going to cook today?"
"... Miss Luo Ling, haven't we already finished eating?"
"Ah, have you finished eating?"
Luo Ling was slightly stunned, then reached out and rubbed her belly, which was indeed a little bulging.
Looks like I've really finished eating...
"Luo Ling, your distraction is too exaggerated, isn't it?"
Cen Xiangyun, who was sitting in the hall reading a newspaper, heard the conversation in the restaurant and couldn't help but complain out loud. It also seemed inexplicably familiar.
"Yeah?"
Luo Ling smiled, but his expression soon became a little serious.
Of course, she was not so absent-minded as everyone worried, because she was too sad and distracted that she didn't even notice whether she had eaten or not.
Even if Aunt Fiona was really killed silently, Luo Ling would not just immerse herself in sadness. No matter how heavy the emotions were, nothing could be salvaged. The living people still have more important things to do.
Luo Ling had experienced more sad moments than now, not to mention... at least Aunt Fiona's death had not been confirmed, so there was still a chance.
Therefore, most of Luo Ling's mind was immersed in looking for this slim chance. He directly overloaded all intelligence networks to search. Even the final review mechanism, Alyssa, was mobilized. She locked herself in a quiet room to avoid being disturbed and fully assisted Luo Ling in the search.
After going through countless memory transfer procedures, Luo Ling finally found a tiny clue, which was inside the Victoria Opera House.
With this clue, Luo Ling mobilized a trace of spores from Alyssa, which then passed through the nearby puppet priests and barely radiated into the interior of the Victoria Opera House.
Due to Fiona's disappearance, the entire "Destiny Society" has been mobilized, and even the "Company" has dispatched an elite team led by P8 to garrison in the opera house.
Luo Ling didn't want to disturb these guards, and also had to be careful of the directors' seemingly omniscient surveillance, so he could only use a minimum number of spores to avoid everyone's sight. After going through many twists and turns, he finally arrived at Fiona's room.
This is the reason why Luo Ling has been absent-minded during today's commission. Her mind is extremely exhausted, but she cannot leave the team abnormally at this time, otherwise it will only alert the enemy.
Fiona's room had not been disturbed. A burnt-out lamp had been knocked over in panic on the top of the dressing table, and there was a small wooden hammer on the chair next to it.
Judging from their aura, these two items are sacrificial vessels, and their levels are not low.
The people from the "company" should have checked this room, and even the directors might have looked at it, but they found nothing.
But... Luo Ling and they don't need it.
Her consciousness had only been in the room for a short time when some fragmentary information gathered together out of thin air, as if it was something specially left for her.
"Finally found... a little trace."
Luo Ling took in all these bits of information and pieced them together carefully. A sentence... or rather, half a sentence emerged in her mind.
"The Company took the initiative to cause the Taboo disaster. They and the Pioneers are just the same people who have gone astray—"
Luo Ling's expression darkened slightly.
It was something Aunt Fiona left for her before she disappeared, but she didn't have time to leave any information on it as it had already "disappeared".
"It is indeed a disaster that was initiated by the "Company", but it has the same origin as the "Pioneer" but has taken a different path..."
Luo Ling thought of her previous conjecture about the relationship between the directors of the "Company" and the leaders of the "Pioneers". Of course, she also told Aunt Fiona about this speculation, but it was ultimately just a hypothesis.
In the half message Fiona left, she finally confirmed this, even... even Luo Ling's speculation about the "double agent" had been confirmed by Fiona.
Not only that, the relationship between the two is deeper than Luo Ling had imagined before. "Same origin, different paths" means that the company's directors and the pioneer leaders were once fellow travelers in the past, but later they had differences and parted ways.
However, this information alone should not be the reason why Fiona disappeared.
The fact that Fiona left this message for Luo Ling in advance shows that she was well aware of how dangerous the information she had obtained was and she would never give it to Luo Ling.
However, although Fiona only said half a sentence, the message she wanted to express and the things she wanted to remind Luo Ling to pay attention to were already very clear.
"I'm afraid the 'Company' is going to take action against me..."
Luo Ling sighed deeply. When she met Fiona later, she already vaguely understood why the directors of the "company" were willing to conduct the transaction honestly when they first met her.
It’s very simple, the person standing behind Luo Ling is Fiona.
Fiona’s combat power may not be important, but the abilities she has are very important, and it can even be said that they have a particularly profound impact.
—She is a top weapon refiner.
The top-level sacrificial vessels are extremely precious. Not only are the raw materials, the holy remains, extremely difficult to obtain, but more importantly, it is even rarer to find a refiner who can forge them into sacrificial vessels.
Fiona is the most powerful weapon refiner so far. The other two major constellations in the "Society of Destiny" are good at fighting, but only Fiona focuses on weapon refining.
Under sufficient conditions, she can try to forge the "forbidden" holy remains - of course, not the original body, as no "forbidden" holy remains have appeared so far.
Moreover, Fiona's extremely high success rate is one of the reasons why she is the strongest weapon refiner. Although her fees are a bit more expensive, it is better than cheaper weapon refiners who fail to make the raw materials explode. The weapon refiners will not compensate for the losses.
Now that an absolute secret has destroyed Luo Ling's hidden backer, the directors of the "company" no longer have any scruples. They prefer to get what they want in the most direct way.
"It seems that this useful shell has to die."
Luo Ling was not worried about anything. Even if the directors took action personally, they would have to make arrangements and preparations according to the standards of facing "high-risk and weird" to have a chance to kill her.
But how is this possible
Even if the "Company" is aware of this and is willing to make arrangements, given the current situation in Victoria, "Pioneer" will not give the directors this opportunity.
However, no matter what, the relatively good identity of "Company's P5-level dispatch specialist Luo Ling" could no longer be maintained.
"Next..."
Just as Luo Ling was thinking about the next move, Eve suddenly walked out of the room, waving a parchment scroll in her hand, with a look of great joy on her face.
"Sisters, come out quickly, there's a big job coming up. There's one in the newly released B-level commissions from the "Company" that's especially suitable for our team. Come and take a look..."
This parchment scroll is an artifact of special power. It functions like the company's bulletin board. You can check posted commissions and accept them at any time, and grab better commissions faster. It is a small artifact that every team must have.
"What?"
When she heard that there was a big job, Cen Xiangyun immediately became energetic. She dropped the newspaper and ran to Eve to grab the parchment scroll. She immediately smiled happily.
"Oh my god, what a lucky bastard! Isn't this the hatchery we've handled before? Once this commission is completed, my performance for this quarter will even be in the black, and I won't have to rush to get the year-end bonus at the end of the year! Quick, quick..."
Even Lu Manqing became interested and tried to squeeze in.
Although Elsa also wanted to go and take a look, she felt that it was more important to accompany Miss Luo Ling, so she continued to sit on the small stool, but she stretched her neck very far.
Special hatchery
And... has it been dealt with before
Hearing this, Luo Ling felt a slight chill down her spine for some reason. She looked at the happy faces of the team members, and for some reason, she felt as if this scene was familiar.
Whose memory is causing this... and so on.
It's... Lina's.
Lina's memory.
The scene of the "Hunter" team carefully preparing for a routine hatchery mission inexplicably overlaps with the Twin Ponytails team at this moment.
The people who witnessed it felt a chill in their blood.
"No... "
Luo Ling spoke subconsciously.
Although her voice was very soft, everyone present heard it clearly and looked over at her.
Facing everyone's gaze, Luo Ling calmed himself down a little and said.
"Let's... just refuse."
"Ah? Luo Ling, why?" Cen Xiangyun asked doubtfully, waving the parchment scroll in her hand, a little embarrassed, "But, I have already accepted it."
"because-"
Luo Ling wanted to tell the real reason, but everyone's eyes were focused on her, waiting for her answer.
However, at this moment, Luo Ling had no reason to say the second half of what she wanted to say.
It wasn't that she wanted to hide it deliberately, but for a more important reason.
“Some knowledge itself is poison. The more you know, the better. Ignorance is often a blessing.”
This was what a "woman" who was one of the directors of the "company" had said to her. Luo Ling knew very well that it was true.
Moreover, this is also a threat from the directors of the “company”.
Even Aunt Fiona was "missing" because she knew something she shouldn't know. Luo Ling was really unsure. If she told the whole truth to everyone in the team...
Will they also be "missing"
Will it be like Aunt Fiona, unable to leave even a single word behind
Except for Elsa, the other members of the team don't have the ability to survive like me. Perhaps... just a casual remark would kill them.
So you must never tell it out loud, or you might die.
After hesitating for a long time, Luo Ling could only say one sentence dryly,
"... Let's not go."
There was a moment of silence that lasted for an awful long time.
Just when Luo Ling thought that everyone would choose to continue to carry out the commission because she had no reason to refuse, Cen Xiangyun hesitated for a moment, scratched the parchment, and threw it back to Eve.
"Since Luo Ling doesn't want to go, let's not go. Damn, I've been working overtime every day and I'm exhausted as a dog. I even have to complete tasks on New Year's Day. It's so annoying."
Eve was a little reluctant at first, as it was rare to have such a suitable task.
But she seemed to have thought of something, and she also threw the parchment into Lu Manqing's hand, and then said carelessly,
"That's right, I've been working like a slave for the company for such a long time and I don't even have a day off. What a crap company! Go to hell!"
"If you don't want to be a beast of burden, then don't be one. Why are you throwing this thing to me? I'm not the captain."
Lu Manqing stuffed the parchment back into Eve's hands and said indignantly, "What's more, our dear Captain Eve, it was you who forced a few of us to work overtime on New Year's Day."
"Because I worked overtime on Christmas, which is equivalent to the Eastern Spring Festival, you have to work overtime as well. Otherwise, I will feel very unbalanced!" Eve waved her fist towards the air angrily, and a slight sound of breaking through the air was heard.
"Haha, you're very unbalanced, aren't you."
Cen Xiangyun sneered, stretched out her hands, which were covered with a thin layer of frost, and then suddenly reached into the back of Eve's neck and touched down along her clothes.
"ah!"
The usually cool Iron Fist maid let out a rare cute and naive cry, and tried frantically to push Cen Xiangyun's dirty hands away.
But Lu Manqing next to her was not polite. With a sly smile on his face, he used his nimble fingers to touch Eve's armpits directly. While making slight sounds, he kept exploring Eve's weakest spot.
There was a chaotic commotion mixed with the girls' laughter. After a while, the apartment finally returned to peace.
Luo Ling was still sitting in the original position, while Elsa went to make some hot tea to warm up the sisters who were having fun.
Eve on the ground could almost be said to be in disarray, with a lot of skin exposed and some traces of frost. Her face was full of resentment, flushed and hot. While panting, she also gave Cen Xiangyun a cross lock on the ground.
Of course, Lu Manqing's condition was not good either. Before Eve put a cross lock on Cen Xiangyun, she had already choked Lu Manqing for a long time. She was still coughing violently.