...

...

Outside the door, as the door closed, Tong Yingying's previously teasing expression finally turned shy and nervous.

She rubbed her face and took a deep breath, but when she thought about how just a hug had made Yan Huan react so unnaturally, she couldn't help but smile.

"Hmm hmm hmm~"

Thinking this, her mood improved significantly.

As she walked down the stairs, she hummed a tune all the way.

Downstairs, a black SUV was parked by the roadside, with two burly men and a woman smoking a cigarette leaning against the car door.

Seeing Tong Yingying come down, they greeted her,

"Sister Tong."

Seeing them, the smile on Tong Yingying's face faded slightly, and she asked,

"Hmm, so how's the investigation about this afternoon's matter?"

"We asked everyone, but no one knows what happened. As for the surveillance, Sister Tong, you know what it's like in the South District..."

"..."

Tong Yingying wasn't surprised; after all, in the South District, surveillance is pretty much useless.

The South District is particularly chaotic, with numerous small streets and alleys.

In such places, all the official surveillance cameras not on the main roads are mysteriously destroyed within a few days.

After all, there are frequent drug deals in the streets. If they were captured on surveillance the whole way, that would be bad.

The Linmen officials don't have the budget to deal with this bottomless pit, and the shop owners have gotten smarter, installing cameras inside their stores.

This has resulted in the street surveillance rarely capturing any useful information.

In that sense, the cleverly placed cameras secretly set up by Sakuragi Hitomi filled a certain gap in the South District's surveillance.

"Hiss... Such a big figure like the President of the Golden Lion Group, the first thing he does upon arriving in Linmen is not to return to Jinghe District but to come to the South District. What do you think that means?"

"Who knows, maybe he's planning to develop the South District? Then Sister Tong, you could make a lot of money, the demolition compensation could make you rich."

"No way..."

Tong Yingying rubbed her forehead uncomfortably and moved to stand beside the woman who was sifting through the surveillance footage.

At a glance, she was taken aback and immediately changed her expression, saying,

"Wait, rewind five seconds. Which place's surveillance is this?"

"...Sister Tong, this is the surveillance inside a nearby dessert shop. It's one of the few that captures part of the street view, but I've already checked it, there's nothing useful."

"..."

Tong Yingying didn't speak; she just looked at the footage of a particularly large-breasted girl in a Yuanyue Academy uniform running away in panic.

She squinted her eyes, looking at the white snake coiled around the girl's shoulder in the footage.

That white snake seemed very familiar to her...

That night, she remembered how, in her drunken haze, she had once seen a talking white snake.

All along, she thought it was just a dream, but now, she saw an identical white snake in the surveillance.

This...

"Do you think there's anything strange about the girl with the snake on her shoulder?"

"Uh, who?"

"Are you blind? There's only one girl in the footage, who else could it be?"

Hearing the sound, the woman watching the surveillance turned to look at Tong Yingying and said,

"I know, but the thing is, where did this snake on the girl's shoulder come from?"

"..."

Tong Yingying blinked incredulously and turned her head to look at the two burly men,

"A-Lin, Little Ji, come take a look at this. Does the girl have a snake on her shoulder or not?"

"On it, Sister Tong."

The two burly men quickly ran over and scrutinized the screen for a long time before turning back in confusion to Sister Tong, who was frowning behind them, and said in unison,

"No... there isn't, Sister Tong. Where's the snake? Isn't it just a well-endowed girl?"

"..."

After hearing three people say this, Tong Yingying also began to realize something was wrong.

She squinted her eyes more cautiously at the screen, but somehow, she felt the snake was real.

Moreover, it gave her a very familiar, uncomfortable feeling.

Like...

That Vice President Sakuragi Hitomi she had met before.

With this thought, Tong Yingying pondered for a second and said to the woman beside her,

"That girl is from Yuanyue Academy, help me check her identity. I need to know before I fly tomorrow."

The woman blinked, although confused, she still gestured an "OK."

"Alright, I'll check it out later."

...

...

"The exam will start in twenty minutes, everyone gather your necessary documents and stationery for the exam and head to your assigned examination rooms!"

Thursday, morning.

Yuanyue Academy, Class 1C.

An Le looked at the exam details in her hand, stood up, and silently headed towards her exam room.

As she walked, it seemed like she was constantly pondering what Little Thumb had said to her yesterday,

"Little Thumb, do we have to kill the host to defeat them?"

"...Of course not. Well, we feed on the host's spiritual energy, so we just need to crush their spirit and make them despair."

"Despair... abandon everything..."

Little Thumb dared not tell An Le that the way to eliminate the modifier was to create the thought of giving up in the host, fearing she would give up on herself, so he simply told her to evoke a sense of despair that makes the other party want to abandon everything.

Despair to the point of wanting to abandon everything, including the modifier, can indeed lead to success.

With such thoughts, An Le was still unsure of what to do.

"Bang~"

While she was absent-mindedly rushing to the exam room, she suddenly collided hard with someone else.

"Uh... sorry..."

An Le hadn't seen who it was but instinctively apologized.

Yet the response was an extremely angry voice,

"Have you got eyes? Don't you... Oh, it's you, An Le."

Hearing the familiar voice, An Le paused slightly.

She lifted her head and saw Park Shuwen's sneering face and her two friends behind her.

Park Shuwen glanced up and down at An Le, then looked at the empty seat behind her.

That was originally Spencer's seat.

Behind Park Shuwen, two girls smirked disdainfully and said,

"You used to rely on Spencer to think you were secure?"

"Now it's good, she's gone and can't cover you anymore..."

Park Shuwen snorted coldly, raised her hand to stop her friends beside her, looked at An Le and said,

"Alright, considering your relationship with the President, just apologize to me..."

It seemed like she remembered An Le had already apologized when they collided, Park Shuwen paused and added,

"Apologize again, be more sincere this time!"

"..."

An Le's empty eyes swept over the three people in front of her, finally landing on Park Shuwen.

Then she pointed at herself, and lightly asked,

"Are you, talking to me?"

Park Shuwen sneered and said,

"Ha, who else would I be talking to if not you?"

"What, still think that Spencer can protect you? Speak up..."

"I'm telling you, An Le..."

Just as Park Shuwen was about to raise her hand to point at An Le, An Le suddenly lifted her hand and grabbed Park Shuwen's finger.

A biting cold flowed from An Le's finger into Park Shuwen's body, causing her to look at An Le's fair skin in astonishment.

How can the temperature be so low?

And An Le, gripping Park Shuwen's finger tightly, looked straight into her eyes and said each word deliberately,

"Don't... mention Spencer in front of me again..."

"Ha? Just because you're a cow, I..."

"..."

Park Shuwen's voice abruptly stopped.

Thursday's sun was bright, the coldest early spring days had passed, bringing vibrant life to everything.

Just unsure if it was an illusion, today's sunlight, which usually filled everything with vibrant life...

seemed to have been tinged with an impure pink.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.