Chapter 040: A Novel Store Exploration Theme

After Lü Mou hung up the phone, Kyle, speaking in stilted Chinese, asked anxiously,
“Boss, do you really think that kid can handle the Smael family? Isn’t this a bit too risky?”
“Since the Smael siblings lost their family, their relationship has remained relatively stable. He shouldn’t be in any danger,” Lü Mou replied.
“But if the brother and sister are already in a kind of, well… equilibrium, why send him in at all? Aren’t you worried he might upset the balance?” Kyle asked in surprise.
Lü Mou took a deep drag from his cigarette and answered,
“Recently, it’s become commonplace for livestreamers visiting shops to meet with mishaps. But I have a strong feeling that what happened to the Smael family was no accident, nor was it because they broke some so-called taboo. Someone is manipulating things behind the scenes.
The problem is, I’m in the open while the enemy remains hidden. It’s not easy to flush out the mastermind. Sending Li Tianque in might just make him a perfect piece of bait.”
Kyle nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly remembered something and asked,
“Okay, but one more thing—there’s no one in the Smael family actually called Smael. Why use that name?”
“Smael isn’t their real family name. It’s just a transliteration,” Lü Mou explained.
“Transliteration? Does that mean they’re hiding?” Kyle was even more puzzled.
“No, I mean translating the English pronunciation. Smael—Scavenger.”
“Carrion eater?”
“Street cleaner.”
“Oh, I see. But, Boss, where did Lin Yu and the others go? They’re still not back. They haven’t run into trouble, have they?” Kyle fretted.
Lü Mou tapped his pipe nonchalantly and said,
“If they don’t run into trouble, how will they solve it?”
Kyle fell silent.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the phone, Li Tianque’s stomach was already growling with hunger.
He felt a little dizzy and patted his pockets, hoping to find a snack.
After searching for a while, he managed to find only a crumpled cigarette. He lit it, took a drag, and the hunger pangs eased just a little.
The gentle light of dawn touched his face, and the garden was filled with a faint, delicate fragrance.
Cigarette dangling from his lips, Li Tianque finally felt the tension in his nerves begin to unwind, if only a little.

His thoughts wandered, tugged by the chaos of recent events, and he smoked faster than usual. Just then, a gentle voice sounded behind him,
“Big brother, you’re up so early!”
Li Tianque turned to see that Dani was awake as well.
The fair, striking Western girl was standing behind him, now dressed in a sky-blue pleated skirt and with a cute bow tied in her hair. In her hands, she held a plate of cake.
This time, he could see that it looked like an ordinary cake.
The mingled aroma of caramel and cheese made his hunger surge so strongly he felt he could eat the plate along with it.
But Li Tianque didn’t reach out for the cake immediately. The events of the previous night were still vivid in his mind, and he had no intention of eating anything of dubious origin.
He hadn’t been out long, yet Dani had managed to get up, wash, dress, and cook in so little time—it was almost absurd.
More importantly, he’d rummaged through the house yesterday and hadn’t seen any human food, yet here Dani was, producing a cake out of nowhere. It was more than a little strange.
“Ah… Dani, I’m not hungry yet. You go ahead,” Li Tianque said, waving his hand.
Dani pouted, clearly unhappy.
“Why? You’re such a meanie, Brother Que. I made this cake just for you, and you won’t even taste it…”
“Uh, no, it’s not that, I…”
Before he could finish, he noticed an old black Corolla approaching from the distance, the driver honking the horn as it came nearer.
Li Tianque had assumed that since Si’an Pest Control’s staff dormitory was a luxurious villa, the company cars would be high-end too.
So when he first saw the ordinary sedan, he was unsure if it was meant for him.
But when he recognized Wu Miaoran in the driver’s seat, he relaxed, realizing this must be his ride.
Relieved to see his colleagues arriving, Li Tianque quickly waved to Dani,
“I have to go, Dani. Save the cake for me—I’ll eat it tonight!”
Dani was momentarily at a loss. At first she looked disappointed, but hearing he’d eat the cake that evening, her face lit up again, and she waved cheerfully,
“Okay! But you have to come back early, promise!”
Li Tianque didn’t reply, hurrying into the car.

Inside, he saw Wu Miaoran at the wheel, and Duan Xiaoyu in the back seat, busy with a computer.
But what was odd was that Duan Xiaoyu wasn’t using a laptop. Instead, he had an old desktop computer with a huge tower, somehow wired into the car’s power supply.
The screen wasn’t large, about the size of a regular notebook, fitting snugly against the back of the driver’s seat.
Duan Xiaoyu was absorbed in moving a wireless mouse, paying no attention to Li Tianque as he got in.
“Whew… That was close. You guys got here just in time!” Li Tianque let out a breath.
“Heh, that little girl isn’t easy to handle, is she…” Wu Miaoran chuckled.
“She’s more than tricky! Nearly killed me. So, are we heading out now?”
“We are. But eat something first.”
With that, Wu Miaoran handed him an insulated bag. Inside was a boxed meal—plain, typical of roadside vendors.
While most people would have found the meal unappetizing, to Li Tianque it tasted like the finest delicacy. He tore into it ravenously.
As the car started rolling, Li Tianque asked between mouthfuls,
“So, where are we filming today? A restaurant?”
“No, this time we’re visiting a place in a rather…special line of work.”
“Huh? Special? I’m not going to that kind of place,” he replied hastily, swallowing a mouthful of rice and waving his hands.
Wu Miaoran shot him a look, exasperated,
“What are you thinking? It’s a therapy clinic. They claim they can help you grow taller!”
“What? Grow taller? That sounds like a scam. I’ve heard of quick weight loss, yoga, detox clinics, but never of a therapy clinic that helps you grow!” Li Tianque exclaimed.
“Heh, sounds amazing, doesn’t it? If you think so, imagine how much the fans will like it!
Didn’t you read the theme and requirements for this event? Apart from the basic bans on violence and indecency, there are almost no restrictions on what kind of shop we visit. If we want to win, we have to come up with something creative and eye-catching,” Wu Miaoran said with a mysterious smile.
“Ah… I see,” Li Tianque replied absentmindedly, but deep down he was filled with a sense of foreboding.

(End of this chapter)