Chapter 32: Am I an Undercover Agent?

One hour later.

Of all the countless “one hour laters” that Chen Yu had experienced, this was by far the most exhausting and strenuous. The hotel room was now in utter disarray.

Li Qing stood with one hand akimbo, the other bracing herself against the wall. The pure white camisole that once symbolized her innocence had a snapped right strap, now hanging loosely and exposing a swath of creamy skin. Her delicate cheeks were unnaturally flushed, fine beads of sweat dotting her forehead and the tip of her nose. She was gasping for breath in great heaving gulps.

Chen Yu fared no better—if anything, he was in even worse shape. His T-shirt had been torn to shreds, hanging from him in tatters. His face was ghostly pale, tinged with a peculiar blush. Abandoning any concern for appearances, he slumped onto the floor, looking as aggrieved as a wronged bride.

“I can’t… I really can’t go on!” Chen Yu struggled to his feet, tottered over to the bed, and collapsed onto it, lying flat on his back.

Li Qing, equally unconcerned with her image, clung to the wall and shuffled over, then toppled onto the bed beside him, lying rigidly at his side. The two lay so close their breaths mingled, but Chen Yu lacked even the strength to lift a finger, let alone indulge in mischief.

“Hey… Moonlight,” Chen Yu panted, “what’s your plan now?”

“What plan?” Li Qing was just as breathless.

“You’re not really… planning to stay here, are you?”

“Of course!” she snapped. “Where else would I go? If I don’t stay here, how am I supposed to explain myself to Brother Lei? You think he’d just let me off?”

“But… there’s only one bed here. Where are you going to sleep?” Chen Yu turned his head, gazing at her exquisite profile so close at hand.

“Right here,” Li Qing replied coolly, eyes closed.

“Together?” Chen Yu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll lose control in the middle of the night…”

“Afraid of you?!” Li Qing’s eyes shot open, glaring daggers at him. “With your pitiful skills, you’re welcome to try! I guarantee you’ll never touch another woman again in your life!”

“Hey, be reasonable, will you? If you stay here, I’ll never be able to sleep with a woman again, you know?” Chen Yu protested innocently.

“Not my problem!” Li Qing snorted, then struggled upright and staggered toward the bathroom. “I’m drenched in sweat, I’m going to take a shower! Suit yourself!”

“Wait, hold on!” Chen Yu forced himself upright as well. “I still have a lot of questions for you!”

Those words, at least, piqued Li Qing’s interest.

She paused, turned back, and sat down beside Chen Yu again, smiling. “Oh? Just now you remember to ask? Go on, then!”

“Who are you? What’s your real identity?” Chen Yu shifted to lie more comfortably, his tone irritable.

“Aren’t you supposed to be a deduction expert? Why don’t you work it out yourself?”

“Tch!” Chen Yu sneered. “You know how to use Morse code to send messages—that’s not something an ordinary hobbyist can do. Either you’re ex-military or you’re part of the intelligence service. Don’t give me that ‘amateur enthusiast’ nonsense—I’m not buying it.

“Second, you deliberately got close to Brother Lei and lingered at his side, and then, after my identity was exposed, he immediately gifted you to me as a ‘present.’ That whole sequence wasn’t coincidence—it was a carefully orchestrated setup!

“And your skills are impressive—your moves are textbook grappling techniques with clear marks of law enforcement training. Need I say more? You’re an undercover agent!”

Chen Yu rattled off his analysis and watched Li Qing’s face for a reaction. But she simply listened, expressionless, clearly unmoved by his rather basic deductions.

Seeing this, Chen Yu laced his fingers behind his head and continued, “Your superiors sent you undercover to Brother Lei’s side. After all this time, you’ve probably made little substantial progress. Then, just as the Ripper case resurfaces, and the victim is Zhang Fu’s daughter, you seized the chance when Brother Lei tried to pump me for intel and approached me yourself.

“And yesterday afternoon, Captain Yan just privately revealed the details of the Zhang Luoluo case to me. I don’t believe in such coincidences.

“So, Yan Zheng is your direct superior. The core target of your current assignment is this serial Ripper case!”

At this, a trace of approval finally surfaced on Li Qing’s previously inscrutable face.

“But here’s what I’m curious about,” Chen Yu frowned. “Why were the police watching Brother Lei in the first place? Just because one of his women was a Ripper victim fifteen years ago?”

Without waiting for her response, he continued, “Back then, because of that mysterious ‘Mr. Jin,’ Zhang Fu suspected Brother Lei and made him pay dearly. So now, with a similar case happening again, it’s only natural for suspicion to fall back on Brother Lei.

“That explains why, downstairs just now, Brother Lei was so eager to win me over—even announcing publicly that I’m his brother. He’s desperate for first-hand information about the case from me.

“But… something’s off. As far as I know, after the ‘Mr. Jin’ incident, Brother Lei and Zhang Fu seemed to have buried the hatchet. Logically, Brother Lei has no motive to commit the crime.

“So, Brother Lei’s real reason for such interest in the case must be…”

Chen Yu’s brow arched sharply. “Someone commissioned him to gather intel on the Ripper?”

Clap, clap, clap.

Li Qing couldn’t help applauding softly, and now her gaze held a genuine admiration. “Well, well, I didn’t expect you to have such insight!”

She was no longer hiding her approval, but displaying it openly.

“So tell me,” Chen Yu glanced at her sidelong, his eyes taking on a mischievous glint, “Captain Yan has me investigating the case on one side, and on the other, he sends his most valuable piece to my side. What’s his game? He doesn’t trust me?”

“He’s afraid you can’t handle it alone,” Li Qing replied coolly.

“Tch, you underestimate me!” Chen Yu sniffed.

“It’s not about underestimating you,” Li Qing’s expression grew serious, her smile turning cold. “Brother Lei is called the underground emperor of Jiangcheng. Do you know what he does every day? Where he likes to go? Who he interacts with? What hidden habits he has? How many shady, illegal businesses he runs behind the scenes? Do you know any of that?”

These sharp questions left Chen Yu momentarily dumbfounded.

He reflexively countered, “Why would I need to know all that? Does this case really have a direct link to him?”

“We don’t know yet.” Li Qing shook her head. “That’s why we have to dig deeper. Back then, after ‘Mr. Jin’s’ woman was murdered while pregnant, Zhang Fu insisted Brother Lei was responsible, and Brother Lei paid a heavy price. Though the real killer was eventually found, no one knows what they actually uncovered or how Brother Lei was cleared.

“After that, the mysterious ‘Mr. Jin’ vanished without a trace. Everyone in Jiangcheng’s underworld stopped talking about it, as if it had never happened.

“But I believe Brother Lei knows secrets no one else does.”

“And yet, after all this time undercover, you still haven’t uncovered anything, have you?” Chen Yu said with a mocking laugh, sparing no mercy.

“That’s where you come in.” Li Qing shrugged, unfazed. “My latest orders are to assist you in investigating the case with everything I’ve got.”

She paused, then added, “After dusk today, I received an encrypted directive from Captain Yan. He said that, though you’re a reality show contestant, you possess all the top-level skills required for criminal investigation—he even suspects you joined the show on a special assignment.

“Of course, this may involve higher-level confidentiality, which we have no authority to inquire into. Captain Yan suspects you might be a secret agent sent by some superior authority.

“So, his final order to me is: cooperate with you unconditionally, and fulfill any request you make!”

“Me? Sent by a higher authority?” Chen Yu was utterly stunned.

So after all that, old fox Yan Zheng really thinks I’m undercover?

Thinking it over, it actually made sense. That old guy had been dropping hints in the car earlier, saying my gaze and manner reminded him of the elite in their unit.

Heh, fine then.

Time to play along?

But come on—having crossed over, with a system of my own, why on earth would I go back to being a “hat uncle”?

My goal is to use the system to rake in the cash, win the heart of a rich beauty, and ride straight to the pinnacle of life!

Wait a minute…

What did Moonlight just say?

Fulfill… any request I make?

At that thought, an odd smile crept across Chen Yu’s face.

…