You went on a blind date and presented an A-level wanted criminal as a meeting gift?

The kitchen was a complete mess.

The fire from the explosion was suppressed by the special flame retardant that Lin Chen had sprayed beforehand when it reached the corners and ceiling, and did not spread. It only scorched half of the kitchen.

The air was filled with a strange smell of burnt food, blood, and charred flour.

Lin Chen stood amidst the chaos, looking down at the limp, lifeless mud on the ground—the Shadow—that lay like a dead dog, unable to even utter a scream.

He didn't kill him.

For Lin Chen, killing someone who was already powerless to resist was meaningless.

Moreover, a top-tier assassin, alive and tortured to the point of mental breakdown, is far more valuable than a corpse.

Lin Chen bent down and expressionlessly pulled Youying's phone from his blood-soaked pocket.

The phone is specially made with top-notch physical and software encryption.

But in the face of god-level hacking skills and god-level mechanical proficiency, all of these are meaningless.

Lin Chen only needed one glance to find the physical backdoor of the fingerprint unlocking module.

He grabbed the detached, still slightly twitching hand of the Shadow and easily unlocked it with his fingerprint.

Opening the call log, an encrypted number labeled "Snake" is prominently displayed at the top.

A cold smile curled at the corners of Lin Chen's lips.

Instead of making a phone call, he quickly typed a message and pressed send.

"Mission accomplished, target dead, house burned down, money transferred to old account."

After sending the message, he casually crushed the phone into pieces and then dialed another number.

"Hello, is this Mingyu?"

Li Mingyu on the other end of the phone seemed to still be asleep, his voice thick with a nasal tone.

"Lin...Brother Lin? What happened in the middle of the night?"

"The kitchen in my courtyard house is a bit dirty."

Lin Chen spoke in a calm tone, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"Send someone to clean up. Oh, by the way, there's a lot of trash, remember to bring a few large trash bags."

"Huh? Trash?"

Li Mingyu clearly hadn't reacted yet.

"A living, breathing piece of garbage."

After Lin Chen finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

He believed that Li Mingyu would understand what he meant.

In less than twenty minutes, several police cars without sirens blared quietly pulled up at the entrance of the alleyway leading to the courtyard.

Fully armed, Li Mingyu led a team of special operations personnel and rushed in.

When they saw the horrific scene in the kitchen, as if it had been bombed, and the humanoid object on the ground with its limbs severed and barely breathing, even these elites who were used to bloodshed couldn't help but gasp.

Li Mingyu swallowed hard, looking at Lin Chen standing to the side, who wasn't even a speck of dust on him, his eyes filled with awe.

"Brother Lin... this... this is..."

"The late-night snack delivered to my door was a bit of a letdown; I didn't manage to squeeze it dry."

Lin Chen clapped his hands and said calmly.

"He's your man now. Take him to your secret base and give him a good 'welcome.' I need to know who sent him, and everything about the 'Longevity Club.'"

"Yes, sir! Mission accomplished!"

Li Mingyu stood at attention and saluted. He knew that this unlucky guy named "Youying" would find even dying a luxury once he fell into their hands.

After dealing with everything, Lin Chen dusted himself off, as if the thrilling life-or-death battle he had just experienced was merely a boring after-dinner pastime.

He turned around and went back to the main courtyard of the siheyuan (traditional courtyard house).

At this moment, the sky was beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn, and the faint light of day dispelled the last darkness.

The devastation in the kitchen and the tranquility of the courtyard seemed to be separated by an invisible wall, creating two completely different worlds.

Lin Chen pushed open the door to the main house, and a steaming aroma of food, full of the smell of cooking, wafted out.

I saw my mother, Shen Manyun, wearing an apron, busy in the spare small kitchen.

Upon seeing Lin Chen enter, her loud voice immediately rang out:

"You brat, what have you been fiddling around in the kitchen all night? Wash your hands and come eat! Look at those dark circles under your eyes, you look like a panda!"

Lin Chen felt a warmth in his heart. All the killing and bloodshed were washed away by this warm, human touch.

He walked to the table and sat down. At this moment, Su Qingge, Ye Qingcheng, Jiang Tingxue and Su Ke'er, four stunning beauties, were also sitting around the table, dressed in cute cartoon pajamas and still sleepy-eyed.

They hadn't slept a wink last night, worried about Lin Chen. Seeing him return safe and sound, their hearts finally settled down.

Their eyes held no questions, only an overwhelming tenderness and reassurance.

Soon, Shen Manyun came out in a flurry, carrying a large bowl.

"Here you are, Chen'er, Mom made you tomato and egg noodles, with two poached eggs! Eat it while it's hot, and then go get a good night's sleep!"

Lin Chen looked at the bright yellow eggs, rosy tomatoes, emerald green scallions, and two perfectly fried eggs in the bowl, and his mouth watered.

He picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a large mouthful of noodles, and slurped it down.

The familiar and warm taste blossoms on the taste buds, instantly dispelling all fatigue and chill.

As he ate the noodles his mother had made, gazing at the morning light filling the yard, and looking at the people he loved most and had protected with his life, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved upwards, revealing a warm smile from the bottom of his heart.

He perfectly kept all the darkness, bloodshed, and killing outside that door.