Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

If a real Chen Haonan wielding two watermelon knives and making his way in and out of Causeway Bay were to appear in Terra Dragon Gate, he would probably be riddled with glass shards in a single encounter.

Swire glanced at Jie's face and immediately understood who was waiting for them. She muttered under her breath, "I'm the one who invited them out. Why did she come and intercept us?"

Mike kept his eyes down, his nose up, his mouth down, and his mind at ease, as if he hadn't heard a thing.

Jie led the way, and the two entered the shop and went to the innermost private room. There was already a person sitting at the head of the table, holding a cup of hot tea in his hands, with his eyes slightly closed, sitting upright and acting like the host.

"This is it."

Mike watched Jie leave, the young man with dead fish eyes not lingering on him at all, as if he didn't exist at all.

Come to think of it, SilverAsh, or rather, Jai, is just that kind of person—low-key, unpretentious, a master who keeps his abilities hidden. He can make excellent fish ball soup in the kitchen and single-handedly defend a lane and take down Eyjafjalla on the battlefield.

It was Lin Yuxia's silence that made Mike wary.

Miss Lin wore a close-fitting black dress with purple accents on the edges of the tie and cuffs, giving her an aura of unapproachable nobility and coldness. Her long pink hair was tied into a ponytail and styled neatly, with only the headband above her forehead adding a touch of gentleness.

Mike, with his sharp eyes, immediately noticed that Lin Yuxia's headband wasn't entirely black; it had a white pattern in the middle, which sent a chill down his spine.

For no other reason than that this headband was a gift he gave to Miss Lin, and she still keeps it with her to this day.

"Now that you two are here, why don't you sit down?"

Lin Yuxia opened her eyes, her calm gaze sweeping over Mike and Swire, her sharp eyes seeming to see right through them.

Swire glanced sideways at his old friend: "I remember I invited Mike to dinner, but I didn't invite you."

Lin Yuxia didn't care about her words at all, and said briefly in a perfunctory tone: "It's just a coincidence that we met here. Don't take it to heart. It's not that I deliberately waited for you here, but that we bumped into each other here."

Okay, okay, this is how you play, right?

Mike applauded Lin Yuxia in his heart. She could make the story of creating a chance encounter sound so grand and dignified. She truly lived up to her reputation as Lin Yuxia from Longmen Gray.

From the very beginning, he felt that he must have revealed some weakness, which was why so many operators who frequented Lungmen came to test him one after another.

This made Mike anxious. What had he done? He had only spoken a few extra words to Texas. Even Texas, a warrior with such keen senses, hadn't noticed. Swire and Lin Yuxia shouldn't have been so alert.

Is there some hidden secret here?

Mike didn't think he had been exposed yet. When he saw Lin Yuxia sitting in front of him, he deliberately said in an excited tone, "Are you Lin from the Gray Outer Ring of Longmen?"

“Mr. Mike is just a nickname given to me by people in the underworld. My real name is Lin Yuxia. You should have heard of me.”

"Of course, of course. I've admired you for a long time. Today I finally have the opportunity to meet you."

Often, unless one is involved in the circles where these people frequent, ordinary people will almost never have any interaction with them in their entire lives.

This statement also applies to Longmen. Even though Mike owns a car repair shop, if Lin Yuxia hadn't taken the initiative to see him, it would have been extremely difficult for him to see her. Even if he made an appointment through official channels, he would most likely have been turned away.

Since Mike had already raised the question, Lin Yuxia felt she should answer it: "I was just a little curious, who exactly is this person who can be arrested twice by the Guard Bureau in one day? Now it seems he is indeed extraordinary. Not only did Inspector Hoshiguma personally escort you home, but even our Guard Bureau Chief had to treat you to dinner..."

Mike finally understood that Lin Yuxia was mocking Swire from the inside out, but Little Tiger hadn't realized it yet. Her linguistic skills were truly extraordinary.

"Actually, it's nothing, it's all a misunderstanding."

"The fact that you were misunderstood by Inspector Hoshiguma and then by Chief Swire shows that you are not simple either."

Mike's heart skipped a beat. What did Lin Yuxia mean by this? Was she going to put him on the hot seat?

Wasn't she here to treat everyone to dinner? Why did she go all out against the two of them right away, with cooldowns as short as infinite firepower?

Swire immediately straightened her face and said in an unfriendly tone, "Lin Yuxia, why are you saying so much to my guest? Today I was the one apologizing to him. The way you're saying it makes it sound like I'm a heinous criminal who is unworthy of being the head of the Guard Bureau."

The female warrior cupped her hands in apology: "I didn't mean that, Director, you've misunderstood."

hateful!

For a moment, Swire couldn't find a way to retaliate. He was so angry that his eyes turned red and he was panting heavily.

Mike sighed inwardly, thinking that getting Lin Yuxia and Swire to get along peacefully was harder than climbing to heaven; the harmony between cat and mouse only existed in cartoons, nothing more.

What? Swire isn't a cat?

Aren't tigers just cats that are a little bigger?

I haven't seen any major content creators flooding the pet section with videos, yet so many people are watching them.

Just as the atmosphere reached an impasse, Jie walked in from outside carrying a wooden tray and pushed three bowls of steaming fish balls in front of them.

Swire temporarily put aside her unpleasantness with Lin Yuxia and said to Mike, "Mr. Ann, I apologize for not understanding the situation in the past."

The fact that the Director of the Guard Bureau personally came to apologize is commendable, but one thing is certain: this scene cannot be made public. Mike, another party involved, felt relieved by Swire's actions, after all, the little tiger is still the same as before, able to admit his mistakes and correct them.

16. This is the token of our love.

Thank goodness Lin Yuxia was there, and Swire stopped calling him Mr. Mai like before, but he still felt that this title was probably going to stick to him forever.

“Miss Lin, Miss Swire, you are too kind. I am just a car mechanic, nothing special. Compared to you two, I am really insignificant.”

Mike's modesty was not appreciated by Lin Yuxia. Zhalak held a spoon in her hand and gently stirred the fish ball soup. The fish balls floating on the surface of the soup rose and fell with her stirring.

“Mr. An is being far too modest. I don’t think so. Although you are a mechanic in Lungmen, your real degree is a PhD from Columbia University. You even wrote down a few formulas on a piece of paper, covering both the law of universal gravitation and high-energy physics. Such talent is rare in Lungmen. How could you be content to work in a small repair shop?”

Sure enough, after the note he had written earlier fell into Swire's hands, the little tiger not only made notes to compare, but also studied the contents. Fortunately, Mike was prepared from the beginning, first changing his writing style and then taking precautions in advance, so as not to arouse suspicion.

Lin Yuxia was also subtly asking Mike what he did for a living, since he had only come to Lungmen as a mechanic. Could he have some other plan?

On one hand, it was to protect Lungmen; on the other hand, it was also to speculate on Mike's true identity.

Thinking about this, Mike gritted his teeth in hatred for the files compiled by Kal'tsit.

The reason is simple: he listed his degree as a PhD from Columbia University. At the time, it seemed fine, but to those with ulterior motives, it raised many suspicions.

It's probably because of this that these two people became suspicious.

Mike laughed and said, "When I was at Columbia, I was called a nerd. I was good at academic research, but if you asked me to lead a team to do experiments, you'd be asking the wrong person. Coincidentally, I was also very interested in car repair, so I chose this industry. After all, it's probably not easy for a high-energy physics PhD to make a living in a place full of experts. But if I'm just a car mechanic, it's easy for me to make a living."

The key point of this sentence is not the first half, but the second half. Mike reveals his true purpose for coming to Lungmen: to change his environment and find a way to make a living. He doesn't want to do anything big, which is why he became a mechanic.

This explanation is reasonable and there are no flaws. After all, everyone has their own ambitions. Even a champion like Sun Wukong, who could destroy the Earth with one punch, still wants to go home and grow radishes.

"I see. I misunderstood Mr. Mike."

Lin Yuxia changed her address from "Mr. An" to "Mr. Mike," indicating that she used whatever address she felt like.

After eating fish balls together, Mike and Swire reconciled. When Lin Yuxia paid the bill, she also handed Mike a business card, something many people would kill for.

Mike was overjoyed and left after thanking the two ladies profusely.

The hostility between the mouse and the cat only eased slightly when only the mouse and the cat remained in front of Dongji Fish Ball Shop.

Lin Yuxia took out a pack of women's cigarettes from her pocket, put one in her mouth, and just as she took out a lighter to light it, Swire snatched it away.

"How come you've started smoking like Hoshiguma?"

"Hoshiguma is feeling frustrated and overworked. She has things on her mind but no one to talk to, so smoking helps relieve the stress."

Swire asked, "Are you one too?"

Lin Yuxia didn't speak. The cigarette in her hand was broken into three pieces by two fingers, and the tobacco slipped from her fingertips and fell to the ground.

"Director Shi Huaiya, you're asking too many questions. It's not like we can have a proper conversation about everything."

"Lin Yuxia, I don't care about you at all. If you want to smoke, go ahead. You're all the same kind of people anyway. I'm a big fool. You can keep anything from me."

Lin Yuxia paused for a few seconds, as if to explain: "We didn't do it on purpose. You came back too late. If you had been in contact with us at the beginning, I would have shared the information with you without hesitation. But you weren't involved, which means you weren't tainted by this matter. So this matter has nothing to do with you. The more you know, the more danger you face."

Swire was taken aback: "What? Is Lungmen in danger? I'm the head of the Lungmen Guard Bureau, and I can't even get involved? You've all been targeting me!"

Lin Yuxia snorted, took a step forward, and stepped on the tobacco shreds with the soles of her high heels, completely ignoring Swire's outburst beside her. After a moment, she said, "Putting work aside, what do you think of this McAn?"

“There seems to be no problem; I haven’t found anything suspicious about him.”

"really?"

Lin Yuxia's question made Swire unsure of herself: "What did you say? Does he really have a problem?"

"Whether there is a problem or not, only he himself knows."

“What he just said was all reasonable and without any flaws, but when put together, it doesn’t seem quite right.”

"In short, I have no evidence. If you have some free time, you can keep an eye on him. Nobody knows what this person might be doing in Longmen."

"Like that guy we caught last year, who claimed to be a candy manufacturer from Colombia, but he brought in Skittles, a very popular but forbidden drug in the country, and harmed a lot of people in Lungmen."

“We should kill this bastard, but due to Colombian diplomatic law, Lungmen can only convict him and send him back to his country to serve his sentence.”

"You mean Mike Ann might be a spy sent by Colombia, but how much contact could a mechanic have with spies?"

"That's not good."

Swire nodded thoughtfully: "That makes sense. I'll keep an eye on him. But when I was standing next to him today, I thought I saw him staring at your headband. Is there anything special about your headband?"

Lin Yuxia didn't think much of it and reached out to take off the headband. When Shi Huaiya went to take it, she was refused.

"No, I can't give you this item; it's very valuable to me."

"It's just a headband, did your boyfriend give it to you?"

Everyone knows that Lin Yuxia doesn't have a boyfriend, and Swire is no exception, but Zaklak said noncommittally, "He gave it to me; it's a token of our love."

Swire was initially confused, but then her expression turned mocking: "I never thought that the gray forest of Lungmen would have this day. The gift that man gave you was so important. Why didn't you accept him when he confessed to you?"

17. It's all Chen Huijie's fault.

It was a peaceful afternoon when Lin Yuxia happened to be in Rhode Island on business. She met him in his office.

He was not tall and was small, but his eyes were exceptionally bright, and he seemed to have inexhaustible energy, handling things quickly and well.

Actually, this wasn't Lin Yuxia's first time visiting Rhodes Island. She had also learned about this person indirectly from other people's conversations, but those were all other people's accounts of him, not the person she imagined.

"Ms. Lin, it's a pleasure to meet you on Rhodes Island."

This is a very ordinary greeting, so ordinary that it's like meeting a neighbor while taking a walk and them casually asking, "Have you eaten?"

Out of politeness, Lin Yuxia also responded that she felt relaxed upon arriving at Rhode Island.

Who would have thought that this simple greeting would lead the doctor to invite her to go for a walk near the base to relax.

Although it felt quite sudden, Lin Yuxia nodded in agreement. She wanted to understand this man better and why he occupied such an important place in the letters Chen Huijie wrote to her.

That day, for the first time in her life, Lin Yuxia went out with a man she had only known for a short time. The two drove past the Land Cruiser and talked a lot along the way, truly letting go of their inhibitions.

The doctor didn't know where he was born. He had traveled all over the world, and living a nomadic life was like a daily routine for him.