Despite Yan Qi’s attempts to dissuade her, Bai Yuling, who was already quite upset, wasn’t about to back down so easily.
“Nope. Since I’ve decided to cook a big meal for your family, I’m going to see it through.”
“But Auntie Bai, you really don’t have to go that far,” Yan Qi insisted, growing increasingly anxious and hoping to change Bai Yuling’s mind.
However, Bai Yuling replied with utmost seriousness, “Yes, I do. Anyway, let’s not dwell on it. It’s getting late—your car has been brought back from Tianxing Restaurant by our team and is now in the parking lot. I’ll take you there.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the reception room without looking back.
Realizing her efforts had failed, Yan Qi looked at her parents with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. This is all my fault for making Auntie Bai decide to do this.”
Understanding the situation, Yan Zhenyi and Li Caifeng didn’t blame her. “We don’t blame you. After all, you don’t know Auntie Bai that well yet.”
“Exactly, Xiao Qi. We’re not upset with you.”
“Hey, what’s taking you all so long?” Bai Yuling called out, noticing the family hadn’t followed her.
Knowing it was time to leave, Yan Zhenyi and Li Caifeng said nothing more. They took Yan Qi’s hands and followed Bai Yuling out of the Abnormal Events Bureau.
…..
“Finally home. I thought we were going to have a nice dinner tonight, but instead we ran into all that trouble… and now Auntie Bai insists on cooking for us. What awful luck.”
Back in her room, Yan Qi lay on her bed, staring up at the ceiling with a sigh.
“Oh well, no use stressing over it now. First, I need to look into that Flame Demon Cult. They’ve been causing so much trouble in Fangfeng City—I have to find a way to deal with them.”
Not wanting to dwell on earlier events, Yan Qi got up and sat down at her computer, which was already booted up. Knowing her parents usually wouldn’t disturb her at this hour, she didn’t hesitate to use her transformation card, shifting into her Electronic Songstress form.
After transforming, she smoothly materialized the Fox Loli transformation card, turning it into her duplicate. Then, using the Electronic Songstress’s “Digital Roam” skill, she plunged into the internet to investigate the Flame Demon Cult.
After reviewing all the information the Bureau had on the cult, Yan Qi found few useful clues. She turned her attention to the captured cult members, but despite a thorough search, she couldn’t extract any valuable leads from them either.
“Is the Flame Demon Cult really that secretive?” she muttered, scratching her head in frustration.
“I need to try a different approach.”
Realizing conventional methods weren’t working, Yan Qi gritted her teeth and pushed herself into a brainstorming session, hoping to grasp even a sliver of inspiration. But after straining her mind until it felt overloaded, she still came up empty-handed.
“Whatever. It’s really late now. I should get some sleep and tackle this again tomorrow.”
Resigning herself for the night, Yan Qi prepared to log off and return to her room—when suddenly, a forwarded message from a mysterious chat app on her phone popped up in front of her.
“Hmm? Ma Fangfang? Why is she messaging me so late? Did she run into trouble with the cultivation techniques I taught her?”
Seeing the message and recalling the Taoist practices she’d shared with Fangfang that day, Yan Qi quickly typed a reply through the chat app.
『Fangfang, why are you messaging me so late?』
Seeing Jizi Ge reply almost instantly, Ma Fangfang—still buzzing with excitement and joy from acquiring the cultivation techniques—hurriedly typed back.
『Sister Jizi! I’m messaging you because today, I passed the aptitude test from my master director and officially became her disciple! I received cultivation techniques that will let me wield supernatural powers! I just had to share this with you!』
『Oh, so that’s why you messaged me. Well, congratulations!』
Relieved that Fangfang wasn’t having trouble with her cultivation, Yan Qi let out a sigh of relief and continued typing.
Reading the reply, Ma Fangfang—who’d successfully shared her excitement—broke into a bright smile. Then, remembering something, she started typing again.
『Sister Jizi, can I ask you a question?』
『What did you want to ask?』 Yan Qi replied, a little puzzled.
『Well, earlier today when my master was testing my aptitude, she took out a deep red gemstone I didn’t recognize. I’m really curious about what it is, so I thought I’d ask you.』
Seeing this, Yan Qi—now understanding Fangfang’s curiosity about the gemstone—looked thoughtful and typed back with a hint of confusion.
『I can answer that, but why are you asking me instead of your master?』