Release that Man

The new database exhausted Ye Shuang for another whole night as she needed to memorize and arrange it. Even though she had a computer and search engine, many things were more reliable if she remembered them. What if she forgot to bring her laptop? Or when it was not suitable to do a search, at least Ye Shuang herself would be able to predict the most suitable solution swiftly. However, the team definition mentioned by Agent Zhang was a predicament for Ye Shuang.

If explained in the perspective of an online game, Ye Shuang previously had held a beginner-level occupation, and after she acquired a mid-tier occupation, the skill tree would start to have different branches. Official cases could be considered support class where the agent depended on support skills to help the actual team members complete the cases. Even though it was safer, and the range of cases were wider, it was lacking in main DPS or productivity, so in terms of cases, the agent did not have much to say. Naturally, that meant that one’s right to the loot was lower.

Fringe cases meant the agent would be bringing their own team and act as the DPS. Since they killed more, they would earn more. The inverse was that the rate of danger would be too high, and they might suffer a loss.

So, whether Ye Shuang should focus on official cases or expand her focus on fringe cases to fight for the so-called lucrative income was the current question.

Once she had memorized the database and thought about it for three minutes, Ye Shuang decided to go with the flow—after all, she temporarily did not have the plan to start a team—she would start that process when she came across a case that required her to.

…

The next day, Ye Shuang asked for Luo Mingxin’s schedule from Boss Mo. She went to find the man after finding out the set that he was at. When she arrived, Luo Mingxin was shooting some scenes, so Ye Shuang hugged her arms and stood at the side to watch. In everyday life, when the camera was not rolling, the persona Luo Mingxin gave himself was kind and graceful. Therefore, he acted like a gentleman and was generous. Even though this was technically another mask, after it was maintained for so many years, the mask had become a part of Luo Mingxin’s personality.

When it came to Luo Mingxin’s acting skill, other than the previous chance when she acted alongside Luo Mingxin, this was the first time that Ye Shuang had seen the improvement in Luo Mingxin since then.

Perhaps the man had found enlightenment, or he had been studying the minute changes to his micro-expression. In any case, several months later, Ye Shuang realized that the current Luo Mingxin was already on a different scale compared to before.

The previous Luo Mingxin had been a good actor, one that would be able to express his feeling to the audience easily… anger, fear, happiness, patience, and so on. However, no matter how good he was back then, or how good the audience was able to put themselves in his shoes, when the movie was over, the audience would say, “That Luo Mingxin is such a good actor.”

But things had changed. Whenever people saw him, the first thought that flashed across their mind would be— This is XXX  and not This is XXX played by Luo Mingxin.

After the scene was over, Luo Mingxin got down from set to remove his make-up. Ye Shuang then walked out from the corner. She greeted Luo Mingxin, who looked at her with shock, warmly and praised, “Looks like our Celebrity Luo is going for an Oscar with his next movie.”

The crew members also just noticed Brother Shuang, who had walked out from the shadows, and instantly the murmurs started to rise.

“You’re just here to steal my thunder, aren’t you?” Luo Mingxin did not know whether to laugh or cry after he recovered. He flung the long sleeves, exuding the casualness of his character in the movie. “Come with me.”

Then he turned to reveal the jeans and shoes underneath the traditional Chinese costume…

The two entered the dressing room, and Luo Mingxin sat before the mirror. As he allowed the make-up artist to remove the make-up, he pointed at his assistant to find a thick script from his personal bag. He accepted the script and tossed it to Ye Shuang without glancing at it. “This is the new copy. The characters that have red lines underneath them can be chosen freely.”

This is the benefit of having connections! The assistant sighed internally. Other people had to fight tooth and nail to get a character, but this rule did not apply to Ye Shuang. His previous character had received such a good reception from the public, and now he had the superstar to help him clear the path. If he was really interested in the business, with his current results and connections, success was only a matter of time.

Ye Shuang glanced through the script, basically allocating each page five seconds. She did not look like she was reading seriously, but half an hour later, he closed the script and gave an answer after some thought. “That general is not bad—I’ll take him.”

“…The one that was cut down?” Luo Mingxin thought about it and asked with a raised brow, “The chance for that character to show up on screen is low; are you sure you don’t want to change?”

“There’s no need to. After all, I’m just spending time here because I’m bored.” Of course, Ye Shuang could not say she just wanted an opportunity to get close to Xia Cheng, so the character did not really matter that much. “Same ol’ rules. Since I’m part of the crew now, if there’s any party or event, remember to call me.”

Luo Mingxin laughed with amusement. “You only have five minutes of screen time; it might be less than two minutes after editing, and you have the face to say you’re part of the crew?”

Ye Shuang laughed in kind and was about to respond when she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate. In the end, she rolled her eyes at Luo Mingxin and went to answer the call. “I’ll come to talk to you later.”

Then she took out her phone and walked out of the dressing room. She walked through the set to find an isolated location and coughed to change her voice into Sister Shuang’s tone before answering, “Xu Jian?”

“Xiao Shuang, I… Yesterday my uncle told me to return to the Xi Hwa Organization. Do I really need to go?” Xu Jian still sounded hesitant. After the cleansing by Sister Shuang, Xu Jian was half-dragged onto the pirate ship. Even though he had done a lot of mental preparation, when it came time for the real thing, Xu Jian still felt rather uncomfortable.

Ye Shuang grumbled in her female voice, “If you don’t want to go, it’s fine. I’ll just find someone else, but I can’t say what that someone else might do to your uncle.”

Xu Jian sighed. “I just did not expect things would turn out like this… Okay, I’ll go. At least if I’m here, I can try to pull my uncle back from the edge.”

“Hmm… By the way, Brother Han has told you what you need to do, right? Just repeat what you did at An Corps. You still remember how to manipulate the money channel, right? As long as you can empty out the branch company in San Lin City, your uncle will have no choice but to give up. Other than that, try to attend the activities with your uncle. There’s no need to purposely go for those with illegal activities—just go out with them for lunch or dinner. Try to ask about the important personnel at the company like the executive person or technician…”

Thinking back to the bespectacled man whom she had come across in Chaohai, Ye Shuang knew that the Xi Hwa Organization had more than those names that were registered on the company list. The bespectacled man could be counted as a type of professional, and his main mission was probably to cooperate in other people’s plans… like to stealing some stuff or to luring innocent children like Zuo Feiyang into gambling addictions.

Then there was also the hacker that Anthony had toyed with on the internet. When Chaohai’s trader was working, he had also sensed a threat that was lying in wait.

Computer expert, trader, thief… Since the Xi Hwa Organization was not a legit company, it was not that surprising that these people were under its employment. However, the names of these people would be harder to get than the names of the higher officials at the company. After all, as official as the company was, it was just a shell company. The member list of all the branches could add up to tens of thousands, and about 99.9% of them were normal citizens. Only the few that were close to the core were the real target. These people would appear to be normal workers at the company—they could be team leaders or perhaps even the night guard.

Thinking about how to sift through these people, other than Xu Jian, Ye Shuang temporarily could not figure out who might have this information.

Xu Jian sighed. “I know, Brother Han did say this is a team test…”

“What‽” Ye Shuang gasped. She almost changed back to her male voice.

Xu Jian was stunned. “Brother Han said you’re currently building a team, and the first member was confirmed to be Anthony, but other members are still empty. If I can do this well… or is that not the case?”

The female voice sounded like she was choking. “Indeed, I’ll talk to you later. I have something to ask Brother Han first.”

Then the call was ended. Ten seconds later, Ye Shuang managed to contact Han Chu.

“That was what I told him, yes.” After hearing Ye Shuang’s interrogation, Han Chu admitted openly and asked in return, “Is there a problem?”

“…There are many problems.” Ye Shuang resisted the urge to slam back at the man. “I have not even decided the type of team that I want to build yet or if I’m really building one—why must I have Xu Jian?”

Han Chu asked calmly. “You look down on him?”

Ye Shuang was speechless. “It’s not that.”

“The first requirement of a team member is that they trust in you and are willing to work for you. Tony is already a done deal; you triggered the special event during Christmas and used a key item to gain his affection. Other than me, you seem like the only person who could order him around,” Han Chu said. “Then, about Xu Jian, he is not categorized as a normal talent. In fact, if I’m being serious, his ability is not even enough to count as a talent. However, he is the only person who can get close to Xi Hwa’s core. And after this, if we do not make him an ally, Xu Jian will be an element of danger. Plus, he obviously will not receive orders from other agents, so other than joining your team, what better way do you suggest we use Xu Jian?”