Well, this is complete nonsense.

He didn't have such good intentions as to remind his opponent where the problem lay, even if he couldn't beat them, enjoying the other's desperate and confused demeanor when unable to find any flaws was more to his taste.

Indeed, the height, appearance, spiritual fluctuations, and even the breath were all perfect.

No, he was exactly like the person himself.

But even if Little An stopped watching live stream walkthroughs and switched to variety TV shows, changed his usual shower gel and soap... the Matrix is something you can't just change, right?

And ever since the mission began, he had not seen Little An use the Matrix.

The An Family's throwing jug technique was indeed impressive, with endless variations.

But, it wasn't until recently that Ji Jue combed through the remaining video records in the villa, finally confirming—Little An had never used the Matrix!

Sword Qi extraction?

Never heard of it, don't understand.

Indeed, maybe, but... you expect me to believe you just like that?

Right now, outside the villa, Little Nine transformed into a hummingbird, sharing his vision with Ji Jue, piercing the darkness, stripping away the fog, and easily locking onto the body floating in the pond.

Compared with the access privileges to the Security Bureau's database that Ji Jue had scrounged from Tong Hua, the identity had been confirmed—a notorious assassin from the Tide City Wilderness.

The White Deer Chosen One, Lu Xue!

As early as four years ago, he had broken through the Transformation Rank and stepped into the Rebirth Stage.

A Chosen One with at least a Rank of six was quietly dead in the pond, a large hole through the heart, yet the face bore no fear or despair, instead, a satisfied smile.

As if he had witnessed some great miracle before dying.

The outcome between hunter and prey had long since been determined.

But why, with such an astonishing catch, had the White Deer not favored you?

Unless... to the White Deer, such an opponent was not even considered a match for the 'Little An' in front of them, but something that could be dealt with casually.

That's all there was to it!

"Do you remember what I've told you?"

In the dead silence, Ji Jue sighed lightly, "Trust is sometimes a very fragile thing, but doubt is strong. Moreover, after all this time, even if I'm foolish, I'm not about to mistake my friend."

Habits? Shower gel? Matrix? Or the outcome of a confrontation?

These things were merely clues.

At most, they were the cause for suspicion to arise.

Habits can change, shower gels can be swapped, and the Matrix can malfunction.

Furthermore, even if Little An truly killed Lu Xue right in front of Ji Jue, he would only gasp in admiration and applaud, congratulating his friend on becoming even more powerful.

The real definitive evidence that settled all doubts and hypotheses like falling dust was the 'self-proof' the other had just shown him.

The nail.

Although he never spoke about it, he actually had secretly researched it...

During the installation of prosthetics, he had touched it, just for a moment. Then, he had taken advantage of upgrading versions or debugging excuses to thoroughly understand the specific conditions and structure.

For so long, aside from being a busybody in the workshop, he had been pondering how to remove that damned thing without triggering an alert, from hacking the alarm module to the method of removal, he could almost write a damn thesis on it!

And what now?!

You're trying to pull one over on me with a fake?!

Bullshit!

"What's going on? What's going on? What's the matter?!"

It wasn't until now that heavy footsteps sounded from the end of the hallway, Old Tang ran up, poking his head out, "Infighting over an uneven split of the loot?"

Another job!

He had intended to shout an offer to fight for an extra fee, but after seeing the situation inside, he couldn't help but be dumbstruck, blurting out in amazement, "Motherfucker! You've got some guts, bro! Daring to scam money from the White Deer Hunter of the An Family?!"

Hiding your bow after the birds have fled is one thing, but you can't hide this bow at all, can you!

You stabbed a junior Hunter tonight, you think by dawn the An Family won't spawn a whole nest to take care of you?

In less than a second, he was already considering how to distance himself from Ji Jue.

Don't know him, don't understand, have no clue.

Fuck the final payment, I don't want it!

Time to get out of here.

The pity or the joy was that the two people in the room didn't even spare him a glance, dismissed him as air, and looked only at each other.

"Since when did it start?"

Ji Jue asked curiously, "Tonight? Or since entering the villa? No, it must be earlier, even earlier than that, not just the encounter with the Mutant mercenaries, long before, I see..."

He suddenly sighed in realization, "So it wasn't Little An since that afternoon we met, was it?"

Applause and cheers rang out.

"You got it all right."

'Little An' smiled, "As expected of Big Brother Ji Jue."

"I've told you, stop calling me that."

Ji Jue's patience finally wore thin as he raised his hand, empty-handed, but beneath the darkness under the ceiling, walls, and floor of the room, a series of red dots from plastic explosives lit up.

The entire room had long been Ji Jue's trap and a deadly ground with little chance of survival.

Yet, of all the countless scenarios he had envisioned, he never thought it would come to this.

"You only have one chance to answer, so please think carefully before you do—"

Ji Jue asked one last time, without hiding the coldness and murderous intent in his eyes, "My friend, Little An, where has he gone?"

"Hm? I told you already, I am Little An."

The youth tilted his head, looking at him with admiration and praise, clapping lightly and sighing, "No wonder An Ran likes you so much."

Ji Jue froze on the spot.

Because just as those words were left unfinished, the opponent disappeared from sight, and the voice came from beside his ear, so close it was almost touching.

Right in front of Ji Jue.

And with that, he rose onto his toes, something soft and slightly cool touched Ji Jue's cheek.

It was his lips.

"Because—"

That gentle breath in his ear told him, "I think I've started to like you too."

In the dead silence, everything seemed to freeze.

Only Ji Jue, stiff, turned his head with difficulty, staring at the smiling figure standing before him with his hands behind his back, staggering back a step in horror, bewilderment, numbness, despair, suffocation.

"What are you doing? What in the world are you doing?!"

In the instant he realized what was happening, he frantically raised his sleeves to wipe his face, his heart completely chilled to the core, thoroughly dead, feeling as if from that point on he would be devoid of sorrow or joy.

"Is this the ultimate insult?!"

Tears were nearly streaming down Ji Jue's face.

Nineteen to twenty years of purity, lost in one night...

I'm tainted!

What the hell? What's going on?!

Since when had the world gone mad in a way he couldn't comprehend at all?

Ji Jue's eyes were vacant, utterly bewildered, all he wanted to do was to bang his head against the wall.

He couldn't figure out what on earth was happening.

Finally, in desperation, he asked,

"Who on earth are you?!"

"Eh? Haven't figured it out yet, Brother Ji Jue? Or is it that you don't want to think in that direction?"

Little An tilted his head in confusion, blinked, and gradually turned mischievous, "I'm that mean and nasty older sister you said would help An Ran fight and guarantee a win."

With that, he raised his hand and took the hairband off from the back of his head, tossing it aside.

Thus, the jet-black hair cascaded and stretched out from the breeze, the neat and sharp bob now held a completely different charm from that of Little An's.

With the stretching of muscles and bones, he grew half a head taller, becoming even more slender.

And as the eyebrows relaxed, the previously androgynous face subtly changed, revealing an unmistakably girlish demeanor, surpassing Little An's beautiful features.

Just like that, the girl known as An Ning lifted her head again with a sly smile, "To think you talked so much behind my back, and yet you can't recognize me to my face, isn't that a bit too much?"

"…"

Silence, a long and profound stillness, during which Ji Jue stood there dumbfounded, as if he could hear the boiling of his brain.

CPU overload.

He couldn't understand the situation before him and the changes taking place. Several times, he tried to speak, yet no words came out.

He was utterly baffled.

"What a pity..."

An Ning smiled regretfully, "Now that I've been exposed, there's no helping it."

In the midst of a boring task and in the long wait, she had decided to pay a long overdue visit to see her runaway little brother and then give him some cruel and straightforward family education.

It was just a whim. She had taken her brother's place, wandering freely in this city with An Ran's appearance.

She had wanted to mock the tedious life he had chosen, yet, unexpectedly, she found that he was hiding such a surprise behind his older sister's back...

"Goodbye, Brother Ji Jue."

The girl glanced back with a smile, her sparkling eyes reflecting the moon and stars, as she bid her last farewell,

"Will you miss me?"

She drifted off like a phantom that had never existed here.

She fell into the bright moonlight outside the window, flying away like a kite with the blowing sea breeze, disappearing between the night sky and the stars.

Leaving only a bewildered Ji Jue.

Completely dumbfounded.

It took quite a while for Old Tang, who had finally grasped the reality, to speak, looking at him incredulously, "You..."

"I..."

Ji Jue nodded listlessly.

"He... She..."

Old Tang was too choked up to speak, his hands gesticulating, trying to express something, yet seeing Ji Jue wave his hand, "Don't speak, just keep quiet, and you'll get a 100% positive review for the task. I'll have Old Lin send you a bonus."

He turned and left, "Let me be alone."

So, Old Tang was left alone in the room, confronted by a bunch of blinking bombs.

It took Ji Jue nearly half an hour sitting by the pond to come to his senses. He remembered something she once said—the first to discover her was Old Zhang—so he immediately took out his cell phone, not caring about disturbing the old man in the middle of the night, and sent a direct message.

[?]

The message was soon shown as read.

In the end, after a long wait, a response came through—an emoji.

A smiley old lady making a heart with her hands appeared on the screen, with a line of large red letters floating from a rose: "Blessings for a beautiful day!"

Ji Jue's vision darkened.

He didn't need Mechanical Descent to spy on Old Zhang's cameras to guess how happy the old man must be laughing!

You guys really have hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the Northern Mountain District!

What's Tong Hua compared to this? Old Zhang, you're the one who enjoys the dramas the most!

Watching the spectacle so silently for so long!

No wonder when Sister Wen arranged for Little An to follow me, the old man was laughing so happily, waiting here, huh?

Ji Jue sighed. At this point, it was meaningless to ask why he wasn't informed.

Moreover, with Little An's sister as a personal bodyguard, even if the entire villa blew up, not a single hair on his head would be harmed, so what could possibly go wrong?

With that in mind, he finally sent a message to Little An.

[Are you okay?]

The message was soon shown as read, but 'typing...' persisted for a while before a crying cat emoji was sent.

Then came a series of explanations:

[It was my sister who forced me!]

[I can't defeat her!]

[Brother Ji Jue, believe me, I didn't mean to deceive you!]

[I'm sorry, please don't be mad!]

Ji Jue smiled and, after confirming Little An's safety, he replied: [It's okay, I was just a little shocked, as long as you're fine. I almost blew my top with your sister, but please thank her for sparing me when you see her.]

Little An went silent, then after a long while, sent another crying cat emoji.

Not knowing what else to say.

On the contrary, Ji Jue felt a wave of relief.

After a while, when the screen turned off, Ji Jue felt utterly exhausted, leaning back on the lounge chair, he finally couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"So it turns out she wasn't a man..."

He stared at the moon and stars in the night sky, yet inexplicably his mind lingered on the image of the girl as she departed.

And those eyes that seemed to reflect the stars...

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.