On the Ark.

"That's not the reason."

"What's the reason? By the way, I heard from that gossipy old woman that you work as a psychiatrist on Rhodes Island? Does Rhodes Island even need psychiatrists?" Swire turned to look at Lin Ye. "But why would a psychiatrist like you carry a sword? Is it just for decoration, or is it a real weapon?"

Just as Lin Ye was about to answer, the theater lights suddenly went out, plunging them into darkness. A few seconds later, the lights shone on the stage, where an elderly man with silver hair was bowing to the audience, his hand on his chest.

"It's starting! It's starting!" Swire exclaimed excitedly. "That's Master John Walker! We've finally met him in person!"

Looking at Swire, Lin Ye felt that Swire now resembled those fans who had seen their idols in his previous life.

Do rich women also follow celebrities?

Lin Ye asked this question.

“I really like John Walker. I should say that no one who likes stage plays dislikes him,” Swire said. “Speaking of which, I don’t think anyone dislikes stage plays, except for weirdos like gossips.”

Lin Ye remained silent, otherwise he would probably have been categorized as a freak by Swire.

Next, Swire kept whispering to Lin Ye about the deeds and titles of this master named John Walker—things Lin Ye had absolutely no interest in. Out of politeness, he listened quietly, but as he listened, he started to feel something was off. Wasn't he supposed to be asking Swire about Rhine Life? When did the topic shift to this stage play master he neither knew nor cared about? This annoyed Lin Ye quite a bit. Fortunately, once the play officially started, Swire stopped talking and watched intently. Lin Ye had no choice but to watch with her.

After watching the first twenty minutes, Lin Ye realized... it was really boring.

This play tells the love stories of nobles in the Ursus Empire. It's a cliché story of a commoner girl meeting a noble young man. You can guess the ending just by watching the beginning.

Lin Ye persisted for twenty minutes before he couldn't help but start to doze off, and then he saw that Swire was still watching with great interest.

If I really can't hold on any longer, maybe I should just go for a walk?

As Lin Ye thought this, he suddenly felt his mouth was a little dry, and then he remembered the dessert menu that Swire had given him. Wasn't it said that as long as the menu was hung up, a waiter would bring it up within ten minutes? It's been almost half an hour already!

He took out his phone and checked it, and found that half an hour had indeed passed.

"Could it be hung in the wrong place?" Lin Ye muttered to himself, deciding to go out and take a look.

So he carefully got up and left his seat, trying not to disturb Swire, and Swire, who was engrossed in her work, didn't notice. Lin Ye then walked to the door of the private room, and just as he was about to leave, the door opened, and a waiter wearing a baseball cap was standing in front of the door with a tray.

"Sir," the waiter said in a low voice, "your desserts."

"Oh, you've finally arrived." Lin Ye stepped aside to let the waiter in. "Just put it on the table."

"Okay." The waiter walked past Lin Ye and headed towards Shi Huaiya.

Lin Ye glanced at the waiter's tray, which held two cups of coffee.

Huh? Didn't he order cake and juice? Why are both cups coffee?

Could it be a typo?

Lin Ye subconsciously took a step back, retreating to the outside of the private room. He was then surprised to find that the dessert menu, which had been hung up half an hour earlier, was still hanging in the same place. And the dessert menu was exactly the same as it had been half an hour ago, with no extra marks except for what he had written himself.

What the heck? Did they not even remove the order slip? Would theater staff of this caliber make such a mistake?

Lin Ye suddenly felt something was off. Why did this waiter look so much like the person who had bumped into him before?

He looked over and saw the waiter placing a tray on the table next to Swire, who was still engrossed in the play. At that moment, an extremely uneasy premonition rose within him. He immediately rushed into the private room and shouted to the waiter, "Hey, don't move!"

The moment Lin Ye finished speaking, the waiter pulled a gleaming cleaver from under the tray and stabbed Swire.

puff.

Blood splattered out.

Half of the cleaver was embedded in Swire's abdomen, but it couldn't go any further because Swire had already grabbed the waiter's hand, her green eyes filled with rage.

"Fuck your mother!"

Swire clenched her other fist and swung it directly at the waiter's head. The waiter tried to dodge, but Swire had already grabbed his hand. He hadn't expected Swire to react so quickly, managing to block a deadly sneak attack at this distance. Shocked and unable to move, the waiter's face took the brunt of Swire's fist, and Lin Ye, several meters away, heard the sound of bones cracking.

The waiter rolled several times on the floor, crashing into the wall of the private room. His neck was twisted at an extremely abnormal angle. He stared blankly at Swire, vomited blood, then his head lolled to the side and he became unresponsive.

The scene utterly stunned Lin Ye. At this moment, he finally understood what Swire meant when she said that she had already held back when she fought him.

If Swire had used that same force when he beat Lin Ye yesterday, he would probably be meeting God. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a chill of fear.

After knocking down the waiter, Swire clutched her stomach, knelt on the ground, and looked terrible.

Lin Ye immediately ran over: "Are you alright..."

Before he could finish speaking, the theater stage suddenly exploded.

The shockwave from the explosion, carrying flames, quickly spread towards the audience, causing a huge commotion. The stage lights were also destroyed in the blast, and darkness instantly enveloped the chaotic theater.

"Damn it." In the darkness, Lin Ye heard Swire's voice clenching her teeth. "A terrorist attack... but how is that possible? Where are the theater's security guards?"

Lin Ye turned on his phone's flashlight and located Swire's position. Swire was pale, and even though she was covering her wound, blood was still flowing everywhere.

"Are you alright?" Lin Ye ran to Shi Huaiya's side and helped her up. "Hang in there, I'll take you out right away."

Swire shook her head and said, "Never mind me, notify the Guard Bureau first. These terrorists were able to get up because there must be a problem with the security personnel, so only the Guard Bureau can handle it."

"Let me take you out first."

"Notify the Guard Bureau immediately!" Swire roared.

No sooner had she finished speaking than a mocking male voice rang out.

“Beatlex Swire, it’s been a long time.”

Lin Ye and Swire looked up and saw a man in a suit standing at the door with a smile on his face.

Beside him stood two warriors dressed in white cloaks and wearing black masks, each holding a long, flaming sword.

Chapter 165 You Can Have Anything You Want (3K)

Lin Ye didn't know why. He was simply accompanying the police superintendent to see a boring stage play, yet they still encountered an attack. It was similar to last time; last time, he was with Nightingale watching the stars on the rooftop when they were bombed. Was it his fault, or Lungmen's fault? He didn't know, but he did know that this attack seemed to be aimed at Swire.

“Beatlex Swire, it’s been a long time,” the leading man in the suit said to Swire with a broad smile.

Beatrice Swire, is that Swire's full name? Lin Ye turned to look at Swire, who was staring intently at the man.

“Wolson?” Swire gritted her teeth. “How could it be you? Why are you still in Lungmen?”

"Why am I in Lungmen?" The man in the suit's expression turned ferocious. "Because of you, of course! Kill her!"

Two masked men wielding fire knives charged toward Lin Ye and Swire with a low growl from Wolsen.

Lin Ye looked at the gleaming flame blade and felt a chill run down his spine. He picked up Shi Huaiya and said, "Superintendent Shi, it seems to be an old friend of yours. However, I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion."

With that, Lin Ye, carrying Swire, jumped from the second-floor viewing window, below which lay the audience seating area. Due to the poor visibility and the sudden jump, Lin Ye couldn't find a suitable landing spot and nearly fell flat on his back. Swire, in his arms, landed on the back of a chair, her expression becoming even more pained. Lin Ye didn't care about that now; he pressed Swire down onto the chair and lowered himself as well. The two masked men had also jumped from the second-floor VIP box, alarming even more spectators who were desperately trying to escape, making the scene even more chaotic.

But this also provided them with a great opportunity to evade pursuit. Lin Ye did not believe that he, unarmed, could defeat the two masked men, nor did he believe that the injured Swire could.

"Ouch, that hurts." Swire's voice rang in Lin Ye's ears.

Lin Ye looked down and saw that Swire was covered in blood.

“The wound has reopened,” Swire said in a low voice. “In my current state, if I’m discovered, I won’t be able to escape. You should leave quickly. Go and notify the Royal Guard and have Gossip Girl lead a team to handle this.”

"Shh, be quiet."

Lin Ye didn't leave. Instead, he looked up to assess the situation. The two flaming swordsmen weren't very close, currently attacking the fleeing spectators, seemingly believing Lin Ye and Swire were among them. It was unclear what they had coated on their blades, but those struck by the flaming swords would instantly burst into flames, ultimately succumbing to their flames amidst screams of agony. The sight of them writhing on the ground, engulfed in flames, was too much for Lin Ye to bear. He looked away and said to Swire, "Those two assassins have already chased after us. Staying here is the safest thing for us right now. Don't worry, we'll get out."

Swire pressed her wound, enduring the pain, and looked up at Lin Ye. In the scattered firelight, Lin Ye's eyes reflected Swire's pale face.

“You…” Swire said softly, “How can you be so calm?”

"Huh?" Lin Ye was taken aback.

“That gossip says you’re just an ordinary doctor on Rhodes Island with no combat capabilities,” Swire voiced her doubts. “So, when something like this happened, weren’t you scared?”

From seeing the musketeers to leaping off the second floor with her, and then immediately choosing to hide in the shadows instead of running with the crowd, everything was done flawlessly. Any hesitation would have likely allowed the two musketeers to catch up. If the other party were an experienced soldier, Swire wouldn't find it hard to understand. However, the other party was a doctor, and a psychologist at that. Swire saw Lin Ye as just an ordinary person, and she couldn't help but feel puzzled and curious about how he could do all this in such a short time. Moreover, under these circumstances, he calmly reassured her, making her almost unable to tell who the police were.

Swire's question made Lin Ye pause for a moment.

Oh, why is that? At the moment when Swire was attacked and the stage exploded, Lin Ye seemed to feel only surprise, not much fear or apprehension. Instead, he immediately had a plan to escape in his mind, as if he was very familiar with being attacked and escaping.

Hmm, wait a minute?

Thinking about it carefully... he actually seems to be quite familiar with this kind of thing.

Of course, he couldn't explain this to Swire, so he changed the subject: "Who is that guy to you?"

Mentioning the man in the suit, Swire's attention was indeed drawn to him. She gritted her teeth and said, "Eric Watson was once the head of a major conglomerate in Lungmen. But our Guard Bureau found that he had violated many of Lungmen's laws and amassed wealth through improper means. In the end, I led a team to raid his home, and he was expelled from Lungmen."

"Tsk, no wonder, cutting off someone's source of income is such a thing."

"What do you know? He did it because..."

"Alright, you don't need to tell me. I don't care about him anyway," Lin Ye said. "Now he's coming to get revenge on you. It seems he knew your whereabouts very well and knew you were coming here to watch a show today."

Swire forced herself to sit up: "If they were just here to get revenge on me, that would be fine, but I feel their purpose is more than that. Otherwise, why would they go to such lengths?"

"what do you mean?"

Swire turned her head and looked at the stage that was still burning: "Master Walker and his team should still be backstage. I wonder how they are doing."

"No way, you're in this state and you're still paying attention to your idol?" Lin Ye was speechless.

“What do you mean by ‘paying attention to my idol’?” Swire said irritably. “I just want to know what the other party’s real purpose is. After all, in this place, Master Walker’s status is definitely much higher than mine. If something happens to Master Walker in Lungmen, the consequences will be unimaginable. It will cause diplomatic problems between Lungmen and Ursus. Also, did you call that gossip or not? I’ve been asking you for ages.”

"You think I don't want to call?" Lin Ye took out his phone and showed it to Swire. "There's absolutely no signal."

Swire's face grew even paler. She stared intently at the empty signal bar, and after a long while, she sighed, "Indeed, this is the consequence I least wanted to think about."

No sooner had she finished speaking than screams erupted from the escape tunnel. The two turned to look and saw that the spectators who had escaped earlier were now fleeing back like madmen, as even more thugs had appeared behind them.

“These guys definitely aren’t after me,” Swire said. “The signal was jammed, and these people couldn’t escape, which means the exits were also blocked. These thugs want to make a big splash; we need to get the Guard Bureau informed as soon as possible.”

Lin Ye also looked at the stage, feeling a bit of a headache: "The explosion just now wasn't very big, so people outside the theater might not really know what happened inside."

"I wish I had a weapon, even if it was just to bring that gossipy woman's handbag in." Swire couldn't help but swear. "Damn it, next time I'll bring my hammer even to the toilet."

"...Let's talk about that later. What do we do now? Are we still hiding here?"

“We can’t hide anymore.” Swire shook her head. “We have no weapons, and hiding here is just waiting to die… Let’s go backstage.”

"But according to you, if these thugs were after that master, shouldn't the mastermind be behind them all?"

Swire glanced at Lin Ye: "Do we have a choice? Of course, if you want to stay here, I will absolutely not object, but I am definitely going."

Looking at Swire's stubborn face, Lin Ye realized that he really had no choice, and could only sigh softly: "Then let's go."

Then, while the audience and rioters who had failed to escape were entangled together, the two secretly slipped into the corridor leading to the backstage area.

“Master Walker had just stepped off the stage before the explosion,” Swire said, being supported by Lin Ye. “Master Walker’s scene is next, and there’s no direct path from backstage to the outside, so Master Walker should still be backstage. I wonder if he has any bodyguards with him.”

"I actually hope he brought it."