Imperial Treasure

Clearly, Yi, who got stuck in that secret realm, was also starting to suspect her route map was useless.

"That bird..." Li Luo looked at the bird on the windowsill that was being bullied within an inch of its life by the Golden Crow.

She had no idea what family of birds it belonged to; its appearance was seriously weird.

"The reason it chose to follow me is because it can’t find its way back either... You can get out but not back in. But its intelligence is far from ordinary—it’s a mutated species, so it might be helpful for researching that area... I’m thinking of handing it over to the official research department in the Nation, and by that..."

Gaa gaa gaa gaa gaa!

The bird squawked, its feathers puffed up all over. Sui Yi turned his head to look, just in time to catch Li Luo lowering her head to look at the computer screen. One lowered head, one turned head.

No matter how strong two Void-breaking Level masters are, they can’t perfectly predict each other’s movements. In that split second, they could both feel the other’s hair brushing past their own cheek...

Their lips were only separated by a tiny angle of like thirty degrees.

Uh, ambiguous?

Probably not. One was cold as ice, the other open and upright in her heart.

Unless it was...

"Sis, just now Mommy... uh, I’m so sorry for interrupting, you two go on..."

When the Little Duke came in for one second and then immediately backed out and shut the door...

With a soft click, he sealed the room back into silence.

Only then did Sui Yi and Li Luo realize something, and they both quickly took a step back. One calmly went to the window to tease the bird, the other started contacting the Sui Tang Square people stationed in New York to track down Rattlesnake’s whereabouts. But after all, Sui Tang Square’s people had only taken root in New York in recent years, so for a while they didn’t know much about this Rattlesnake character. Which in itself proved Rattlesnake was anything but simple...

This wasn’t something waiting an hour or two would solve. Sui Yi opened the Adventure Guild’s dedicated news page to check the latest news from the Nation...

Her eyes were on the screen, but her ears picked up the voices drifting in from the living room outside...

"Mommy, I think I just got my heart broken... I mean, what can I do, she’s prettier than me and stronger than me... I don’t know who her daddy and mommy are, but I’m sure Sis really likes her..."

Sui Yi: "..."

Li Luo: "..."

When were the Duke and Duchess coming to collect their kid?

The Sui Tang Square people replied the next day. They only managed to find out that Rattlesnake was an information broker in New York’s underground black market—but that was just his surface identity. Granted, that already wasn’t exactly respectable, but he really was a local snake with connections everywhere. Finding him wasn’t hard; the problem was that to reach him you had to touch his web of relationships, which usually meant that by the time you went looking for him, he already knew you were coming. Nine times out of ten he’d have bolted already. In this line of work, people who trade in intel basically wear their heads on other people’s belts; good or evil aside, the first rule is: run first, talk later...

So the Sui Tang Square people didn’t dare make any sudden moves. Their foundation in New York wasn’t deep, and they didn’t have the kind of face or favors needed to make this local snake obediently sit tight and wait for them to show up...

Sui Yi was powerful, yes, but her footing here wasn’t solid yet. Plus, after the Peach Blossom Source incident, many people’s memories had been erased; those Black Robe folks were also keeping a low profile. So right now, people in the New York District didn’t know much about her.

Staying low-key came with its own drawbacks.

You couldn’t just shake your tiger’s body and instantly make the masses bow...

Luckily, just as Sui Yi was debating whether to pay the black market a visit and cast a wide net, Cao Qijun came by to visit—and naturally saw the rival who had just caused her son’s first-ever heartbreak. One look, and she couldn’t help but clutch her chest in regret. Son, thank goodness it was only a secret crush and you hadn’t taken action yet, otherwise...

Masters have a master’s aura. Cao Qijun’s strength might not be much, but her eye was sharp; at a glance she could tell that the current Sui Yi and the Li Luo beside her were both walking weapons with MAX-level killing power. She didn’t say anything about it, though. She just chatted with Sui Yi as a friend, joked and reminisced. Sui Yi wasn’t the type whose feelings faded just because time passed, and clearly Cao Qijun wasn’t either. After a few words they slipped right back into their old rhythm.

The Duke and Duchess had come to the Nation for a state visit, but the couple’s connections in the Nation were very solid. After all, ties built at the national level are a lot sturdier than those of any corporation. When she heard Sui Yi wanted to find Rattlesnake, Cao Qijun said she’d heard of the man too, and that she could probably find a middleman... She immediately made a call, and in no time there was news.

"We have a friend in New York named Leon. He used to be the head of the Nation’s intelligence division. He’s been out for many years now. You could say he’s part of Rattlesnake’s network; the two of them have a good relationship. Some intel the Duke’s Mansion needed was also passed on to us through him contacting Rattlesnake for us... If Leon is willing to step in, this shouldn’t be a big problem."

Cao Qijun didn’t give a hundred-percent guarantee, because nothing can be too absolute, but her confidence was high enough that there basically shouldn’t be any issue. It also saved Sui Yi a lot of trouble.

—Considering how strong her Magnetic Sensation is, even for her, scanning a huge, chaotic city like New York would take a long time.

Leon’s relationship with the Duke and Duchess was clearly very good. He quickly arranged to meet Sui Yi. It wasn’t anything formal; they just picked a café.

That afternoon, a light rain had just fallen. Sui Yi and Li Luo walked down Broadway. This avenue—symbol of the world’s operatic arts center—was crammed with artists whose spirit and bodies were all independent of the Noble Clans, and also with refined ladies where fashion and money blended into delicate perfection. There were plenty of world-class elites in suits striding along too. They adorned their suave demeanor with Rolex watches, and the square scarf and pen tucked into the lapels of their bespoke suits perfectly demonstrated what it meant to be a gentleman of high society. Some walked alone with measured grace, some in boisterous groups of friends, and some...

Stole the occasional side glance, their minds wandering, all for the sake of those two soul-stealing silhouettes slowly approaching in the drizzle?

In their youth, they hadn’t understood the poised elegance of an Oriental Beauty; they’d thought it stiff and wooden. Only now did they finally get what Eastern allure really meant.

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