MCL CH36

Chapter 36: Is This a Public Coming Out?!

Three days later.

Lin Xi was lounging on the sofa in a very comfortable position, fiddling with his phone.

His living quarters had been moved from the original guest room directly next to Yan Xingzhou’s master bedroom, and even the items in the room had been replaced with new ones. Compared to the phone he had casually bought at the mall before, the latest model Yan Xingzhou provided for him perfectly covered all the content currently on the market. Moreover, its memory was huge, enough for him to replicate the encrypted software he was used to and store all the intelligence gathered from the Black Tide Forum in one go.

His long legs were stretched out naturally in a very leisurely posture. This carefree attitude of having nothing to worry about finally made the voice in his mind unable to resist popping up: [Great Executor Lin, just how long are you going to waste time? You’ve been given a Yan Xingzhou, and you really have no other demands from the entire world?]

“What’s the rush?” Lin Xi’s gaze still hadn’t moved from his phone screen, his tone full of nonchalance. “I’ve told you before, what we need to do now is to wait for the rabbit by the stump. Gu Beiqiu has always been efficient; he won’t keep us waiting for too long.”

The voice in his head was rather disapproving: [Wait for the rabbit by the stump? Won’t keep us waiting too long? Are you sure this isn’t just an excuse you’ve made up to get more time for your world of two?]

Lin Xi finally lifted his eyelids slowly and asked with a half-smile, “If I really wanted to do something, would I need to find an excuse to ask for your permission?”

[…………]

Although the tone sounded as pleasant as could be, there was a feeling that after this sentence ended, the three words “Are you worthy?” were implicitly tacked on.

Its dignity having suffered a critical hit, more or less, the voice in its mind could only forcefully salvage its pride: [I just hope you can remember what needs to be done. After all, these past few days, you have indeed been a bit too lax.]

Lin Xi’s response was still the same: “Don’t be anxious. It’ll be soon.”

As if to prove his words, the phone in his hand suddenly vibrated twice.

Glancing down at the content of the new message, he smiled silently and slowly rose from the sofa. “See? Isn’t it here now?”

Lin Xi went out and downstairs. Ju Ze was already waiting in the living room and gave him a courteous nod.

Nearby, Yan Xingzhou was sitting on the sofa, holding two envelopes that looked very exquisitely made.

Seeing Lin Xi approach, he waved from afar. When the man sat down beside him, he then handed one of the envelopes over. “You didn’t guess wrong. Gu Beiqiu really has his eyes on you.”

“Of course.” Lin Xi took it very naturally and unhurriedly opened it in his hands. “With the high-profile manner Director Yan acted in back then, it would probably be quite difficult not to be noticed.”

Yan Xingzhou cleared his throat softly.

Seeing the man’s rare embarrassed expression, a hint of a smile flashed in Lin Xi’s eyes.

Inside the envelope was a finely crafted invitation, just like the one in Yan Xingzhou’s hand. The only difference was that after opening it, one could see the threw large characters “Mr. Lin Ni” clearly written in the invitee column.

“This way of inviting people is more polite than I imagined. A banquet of this scale is not something a low-level ability user like me can attend. It must be thanks to Director Yan’s face. This move by the United Administration can be considered a case of ‘love me, love my dog,’ right?” Lin Xi raised an eyebrow with a teasing expression. “I just don’t know if they plan to find an opportunity to turn me to their side, to get me to say a few good words in front of you, or if they plan to be courteous first before resorting to force and put on a lively ‘Banquet at Hong Gate.’ But no matter how you look at it, they really are…”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Yan Xingzhou with profound meaning. “Very anxious to get their hands on that thing you have.”

Two days ago, Yan Xingzhou had already told Lin Xi about his possession of the Calamity crystal core.

Originally, he had used its reaction to search for Calamity’s existence, but now, this fragment clearly didn’t hold much meaning for him anymore.

As for Lin Xi, he clearly had no intention of taking it back either.

After all, that troublesome King of Contaminants was still inside his body. “Returning the item to its original owner” by giving the crystal core that belonged to it back, no matter how you looked at it, was a very foolish thing to do.

However, even if they had no interest in this damaged crystal core fragment, there were plenty of people who did. For example, the United Administration, or rather, the Central Research Institute hiding further behind, which had issued the request for help to the United Administration.

From the increasing frequency of mentions of the crystal core during this period, it wasn’t hard to see that the institute’s project seemed to have hit a bottleneck, and they were very eager to retrieve this item.

Yan Xingzhou, as always, had little interest in this kind of invitation. If it were any other time, he would have already had Ju Ze decline it. At this moment, he casually tossed the invitation onto the coffee table and asked, “What do you say now? Do you want to go?”

“I’m idle anyway, so why not go and take a look? An invitation of this scale is better than having the Ability Management Administration come to my door and invite me for tea.” Lin Xi put away the invitation with a proper attitude and gave Yan Xingzhou a gentle smile. “What’s more, to be able to accompany Director Yan to such a grand event is an honor in itself.”

“Accompany me?” Yan Xingzhou’s eyebrow rose slightly, and a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes. “To this day, no matter what banquet I attend, I have never brought any partner.”

Lin Xi looked at him. “So, Director Yan means you don’t want me?”

“My meaning is, starting tonight, I will have one.” Yan Xingzhou glanced at the spotless white shirt on Lin Xi.

The clean, white fabric complemented his jade-like skin tone very well, but the style was clearly a bit too large, loosely covering his upper body. A few buttons at the collar were open, revealing the very sexy curve of his collarbone.

Lin Xi caught Yan Xingzhou’s gaze. “No need to look. It’s yours. I’ve been staying at the villa for so many days and didn’t bring any change of clothes, so I just randomly grabbed one from your cloakroom. How is it? Not bad, right?”

“Your taste has always been very good,” Yan Xingzhou said, glancing at Ju Ze out of the corner of his eye. The latter understood and immediately turned and strode out the door.

Withdrawing his gaze, Yan Xingzhou walked up to Lin Xi and slowly buttoned the collar of his shirt for him. “However, as the first partner I have ever proactively invited to a banquet, I think perhaps we should make a few more preparations.”

From this angle, Lin Xi’s level gaze happened to catch the very slight upward curve of Yan Xingzhou’s lips.

A hint of a smile also faintly appeared in his eyes. “Indeed. An occasion like this does require some thought.”

Yan Xingzhou: “I’ve already had Ju Ze make the arrangements.”

That evening, the Fuhua Yingjin Grand Hotel was bustling with guests.

Several days had passed since Executor Lin’s funeral. After the sudden rift incident, the guests who had been present did not leave. Instead, at the invitation of the United Administration, almost all of them attended this grand event for ability users.

“You must be Mr. Samuel. I’ve heard so much about you.”

“For Samuel to accept the invitation to visit Hua Country this time is definitely an honor for our N-City Ability Administration.”

“I wonder if I might have the chance to take a photo with you?”

In the bustling banquet hall, one corner was exceptionally lively.

The blond man surrounded by the crowd appeared extremely elegant and composed, handling all the social obligations with a smile. He was even able to flirt with the passing waitresses with ease in this environment of constant observation.

Seeing another waitress run off with a flushed face after being teased, Ars, the diplomat from Country A responsible for accompanying Samuel to Hua Country, rubbed his temples with a bit of a headache. “Please retract that flamboyant peacock tail of yours. There should be a limit to frequently spreading your feathers. Are you planning to bring a Chinese bride back with you?”

“Don’t make me sound like some kind of playboy. I really do like the reserved sincerity of Chinese girls.” Samuel held a glass of champagne, greeted a passing ability user with a smile, and his peripheral vision silently swept over every corner of the banquet. “After all, compared to them, they are much more lovely than those politicians with their ulterior motives. Actually, I really don’t like occasions like this. They’re boring and fake. But what can I do? I heard Yan also accepted today’s invitation. I have a feeling there will be a good show, and if I miss it, I definitely won’t be able to sleep even after I get back to Country A.”

“Since you don’t like it…” Diplomat Ars thought about it seriously. Just as he was about to say he would find someone to arrange a separate lounge for Samuel, he saw the person in front of him’s eyes curve into a smile. In the blink of an eye, he had already struck up a conversation with a handsome young ability user not far away, and they were soon chatting happily.

Ars: “…” You don’t like it my ass!

The banquet had been going on for a while now, and the atmosphere was very lively.

But beneath this surface, there were always people who would glance towards the main entrance from time to-time.

Yan Xingzhou had not yet appeared.

The organizer of today’s banquet was the Hua Country United Administration.

Although for many years, many people had tactfully avoided mentioning it, the relationship between Yan Xingzhou and the United Administration was there for all to see, which inevitably made people have some other thoughts about today’s banquet.

Amidst the lively atmosphere, someone suddenly called out, “I think Director Yan is here!”

As the words fell, the originally bustling scene seemed to fall silent for a subtle moment.

Everyone subconsciously looked towards the entrance.

Just then, the main doors were opened by a waiter from the outside, and the tall figure standing outside fell into everyone’s line of sight.

Yan Xingzhou was dressed in a sharp black suit, his stern and unsmiling features still exuding an air that kept people a thousand li away.

His appearance alone was enough to attract a crowd of gazes, but at this moment, with a single glance, almost everyone’s attention was subconsciously drawn to the person beside him.

The red hair was already very eye-catching, but what was even more soul-stirring were the heterochromatic eyes, one gold and one blue.

In the few short steps from the entrance to the banquet hall, he maintained a very natural posture, his arm linked with Yan Xingzhou’s. It was unclear what they had just been talking about, but as they entered, he happened to lean close to Yan Xingzhou’s ear and whisper something.

This extremely intimate gesture seemed as natural as if it had been performed countless times. And what made people even more disheveled in the wind was that from beginning to end, not only did Yan Xingzhou not show the slightest intention of pushing the person away, but he even took the opportunity when entering to place a hand on the other’s waist and pull him closer, his mouth shaping words that looked like a reminder to watch his step.

The subtle silence finally turned into a long, dead silence.

Only the sound of the symphony orchestra’s accompaniment became the sole background noise at this moment.

The banquet guests stared fixedly at the two figures who had just entered, their expressions blank for a time.

Someone couldn’t believe what they were seeing. When they finally remembered to rub their eyes hard, they spoke with a trembling voice after confirming it again: “Didn’t they say Director Yan never brings a partner to banquets? Is this… a public coming out today?!”