Page Sixty Secret Capture Plan
“What’s this… Magic?”
At the critical moment, Cherry Sauce stepped in decisively, taking control of the body… Well, she started pretending to be ignorant.
Pretending ignorance is a skill, and if I were doing it, I’d surely slip up. At this point, handing over control was undoubtedly the wisest decision.
I switched to an observer’s perspective, the female shopkeeper with a star nose ring planted her hands on her hips, bringing her rebellious face close to mine, and said through her nostrils, “What are you talking about? Isn’t this your witchcraft?”
Cherry Sauce spread her hands, continuing to feign ignorance.
“Whether you believe it or not, this is my first time at this shop, and the first time seeing such a live transformation… uh, magic?”
Lín Huā blinked and asked, “Did you edit the video?”
“Do I have any reason to do something like that!”
“Even so, didn’t the magician leave you a reward before leaving? If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that gold?”
“You mean this?”
The female shopkeeper took out a small green box from under the counter, which looked like a pack of throat lozenges sold in convenience stores. She opened the lid, revealing two chunks of gold inside.
“You didn’t sell them?”
“It’s hard to get rid of gold of unknown origin. Who would dare sell it without knowing if it’s real? It’s better to keep it as evidence.”
Lín Huā picked up the gold pieces, feeling their weight.
“With just these two pieces of gold, they’re worth more than your two clothes. And you’re not going to hand over the evidence to the police, while still holding onto Lingmeng, what else do you want? Are you trying to extort money?”
She was standing up for me.
“Hey! Do I look like someone who needs this money? I just want to figure out what happened.”
Lín Huā bowed and took her leave.
“Then continue your investigation. We haven’t had lunch yet, and we have other things to do this afternoon, so we won’t waste our time here… Here!”
She threw the two pieces of gold back into the candy box.
Cherry Sauce understood Lín Huā’s intention, pulling Xiao Lei to prepare to leave. The female shopkeeper called out, “Wait! Are you just going to walk away?”
“Otherwise, what do you want us to do?”
“Aren’t you going to explain clearly?”
“I admit the person in the video looks a lot like me, but it’s not me. I’m so poor I can’t even afford clothes, how could I possibly have gold?”
“Don’t play dumb. Didn’t Tony introduce you?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“His clothes aren’t cheap.”
So that’s why, Cherry Sauce rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction.
“Please, I went there to find part-time work! I worked as a temporary model in his store before, and AJ was also introduced by me.”
“Oh, that kid is great. Even though he’s an amateur model, he has talent and works very seriously.”
“AJ?”
My initial impression of AJ was that of a useless guy relying on Sister Tao, so I couldn’t understand why everyone speaks so highly of him.
The female shopkeeper glanced at the video again and continued, “But even if you mention Tony and AJ, I can’t believe you. After all, how often do you see strangers who look so similar? Even if it’s not you, it must be someone you know.”
This couldn’t be denied.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure, I don’t know.”
Cherry Sauce denied it outright.
Such a straightforward lie was beyond my capabilities.
“But seeing someone who looks exactly like myself, I was shocked too. If you catch her, please let me meet her.”
With that, she turned and left, not even acknowledging the hip-hop shopkeeper’s attempt to stop her.
Since she had to run the shop, she couldn’t chase after us, so we watched her leave helplessly. Lín Huā and Xiao Lei naturally followed.
Lín Huā said, “She won’t report the evidence she took. Even if she does, we have ways to deal with it.”
“We already have enough trouble. There’s no need to complicate things further… Sister Lei?”
Cherry Sauce said, and Xiao Lei suddenly hugged us from behind.
She hugged our waist and said, “Sure enough, it’s Cherry Sauce. I always knew it felt different from Chairman.”
“Got it, I’ll give you back your Chairman.”
An unsteady stagger, and I was pushed to the surface of consciousness, taking over the body control from Cherry Sauce.
Idiot pouted and said, “I wasn’t blaming Cherry Sauce. Why did you run?”
Lín Huā then arranged the next steps.
“First, we’ll meet Ling Shàojié, then eat, and afterward, we’ll call Xiàlù to confirm the plan for the afternoon. Things will start getting busy soon.”
Today was an important coming-of-age ceremony. Xiàlù and Lín Zǐyè didn’t have time to meet us in person, and even if they did, it might alert Lín Yùhuáng. So, we decided to use phone calls to minimize the risk of exposing the plan.
On the way to meet Ling Shàojié, Cherry Sauce said, “But this incident gave me a new idea.”
My clever half seemed to have thought of something good.
“If recognition through the camera is ineffective, can we set up a moving surveillance network? Deploy many investigators to patrol and search, and have the communicators at the rear identify targets. Once they spot the Mysterious Girl A, even if they can’t recognize her, the patrolling personnel can follow up based on information from the communicators instead of missing the opportunity.”
It sounded feasible. Although Mother’s magical prowess was high, she was still a mortal. Even if she came out for fun, she’d still need to address basic needs like food.
Though uncertain about the timing, it would definitely happen. As long as Cherry Sauce caught her scent, we could launch the capture operation… But where would we find so many people?
“Your followers, the witches at the research institute, the special agents from the student council, the thugs from the rakshasa ghosts, and the fan club of Thunder Meow-Meow. As long as they aren’t informed of the true situation, these can all be potential forces.”
She also had a teleportation spell.
“However, I’ve never used it in public, perhaps there’s some hesitation. I can prepare interference devices and build a magical barrier to ensure the investigators can disrupt her spell and prevent her from escaping the target building.”
A magical barrier around the entire mall?!
“Just for a specific building, yes. The research institute needs to prepare barrier nodes and power sources. I only handle the calculations for the spell.”
While I didn’t understand the theoretical content, I got that Cherry Sauce intended to trap her in a cage. The previous plan was to find Mother’s base and set up a barrier to prevent her escape. Now, with sufficient manpower, we could devise a bolder plan.
But there was a problem.
A very important one.
How could we convey this operation?
Mother could share my senses through the restraint, though she couldn’t always monitor my situation. But once heard, everything would be in vain.
“By conveying the battle plan through telepathy, it won’t be monitored.”
Using telepathy for so many people… Are you turning into a wireless radio?
“How could that be! We need a trustworthy, intelligent, and capable agent who can oversee the whole operation and even keep us in the dark.”
Even myself had to be kept in the dark. Only things I don’t know wouldn’t be known by Mother.
“The enemy can also secretly infiltrate the dream within the restraint. That’s not safe either. Therefore, apart from the chosen agent, no one else should be informed of this plan.”
As for the choice of agent… At this point, it could only be her, right?
“That’s what I think too, but she isn’t your follower and can’t directly use telepathy. We’ll discuss this on Monday.”
————–
Meeting Ling Shàojié on the pedestrian street.
“Just asking, did you get your tickets?”
“Of course, what about you?”
Ling Shàojié pulled open her coat, revealing a corner of a red envelope from her inner pocket.
I asked, “Where did you get it? Did Aunt Lin give it to you?”
“Aunt Lin doesn’t even plan to go, how could she give me her invitation?”
She first denied, then answered, “There are adult ceremony tickets distributed to the media. With a bit of networking, you can get one. When the time comes, I’ll join the reporters to get in with you. I can’t get too close when entering, but once the action starts, I’ll find you.”
“Just follow the original plan. The key is still your cooperation with Lín Zǐyè.”
Lín Huā said this, then pointed at a shop by the roadside and suggested, “Let’s have Thai curry for lunch? The passionfruit lemon tea there is really good.”
Xiao Lei reminded, “Eat less at noon, there’s a buffet-style dance party tonight!”
This fool loved the idea of stuffing himself at a buffet, but I found it a loss since eating enough to make it worthwhile was difficult. Fortunately, today, we could eat as much as we wanted with the invitation. However, it was hard to imagine how we could eat normally after blackmailing Lín Yùhuáng.
Ling Shàojié noticed the paper bags in Xiao Lei and Lín Huā’s hands.
“Oh, you even bought clothes? You really spent a lot… but I won’t reimburse.”
Lín Huā, pushing open the door of the shop, turned back and glared disdainfully, “We never expected you to pay, but at least be decent!”
Since it was a Thai curry shop, the air inside carried a blend of coconut and spice scents. We found a corner to sit down, ordered our food, and then called Xia Lu.
“Hello, Sister Lingmeng, are you ready on your end?”
Xia Lu’s lazy voice came through the phone.
Based on my understanding of her, she was probably lounging in some hideout eating snacks.
I replied, “We’ve got our entry qualifications, what about you? Is the script ready?”
“There’s nothing much to arrange. We’ll improvise. Zǐyè is already rehearsing the coronation ceremony with Uncle Lin, but it’s pointless to go that early, so I’m staying home… so boring, do you need me to come over?”
“No, stay out of it. We can’t let Chairman Lin suspect anything.”
There was some rustling sound from the other end, probably Xia Lu tossing and turning in bed. After a while, she said, “Sister Lingmeng, is Ling Shàojié also with you?”
I looked across at Ling Shàojié sitting opposite and placed the phone on the table in speaker mode.
“She is, what do you want to say?”
“She wants revenge, and I understand that. But if that birth certificate is fake, and all the information supporting her journey is fake, what will she do then?”
Ling Shàojié’s gaze drifted, as if she were pondering Xia Lu’s question.
“I’ll accept it, as long as it’s the truth.”
