"There’s one chicken wing left." Su Yue used her chopsticks to pick the last piece out of the clay pot and put it in Lin Li’s bowl, then she picked up the pot itself.
Seeing this, Lin Li, who was busy gnawing on a chicken neck, immediately pushed his bowl forward.
Su Yue poured all the remaining chicken soup into Lin Li’s bowl. Then, she began clearing the table, which was covered in plates and bowls that had been picked clean.
"I’ll do the dishes!" Lin Li said to Su Yue after finishing the chicken neck.
He polished off the chicken wing in his bowl, downed the chicken soup in a single gulp, and stood up to help Su Yue clear the table.
A short while later, after they had finished cleaning, the two of them sat on the living room sofa to watch the news.
Just then, an attractive news anchor was reporting on the morning’s incident: an Exotic Beast Group from the wilderness that had been heading toward the city.
"Wow, I can’t believe something like that happened this morning," Su Yue said with a look of surprise as she watched the broadcast.
The side effects of eating the Magical Little Fruit had drastically increased Lin Li’s appetite. Even though he had eaten a lot for lunch—most of the dishes on the table had ended up in his stomach—he was still only about half full.
’I’ll have to find somewhere else to eat after I leave Su Yue’s place,’ Lin Li thought.
Hearing Su Yue mention the Exotic Beast Group, Lin Li turned to her and asked.
"You didn’t know about the Exotic Beast Group moving toward the city this morning?"
"Yeah." Su Yue nodded. "I didn’t watch the news this morning... Since it was resolved so quickly, that Exotic Beast Group couldn’t have been much of a threat!"
As someone who had been there, Lin Li had watched the Mutant Beasts get quickly wiped out by the Investigators and Exotic Beast Hunters. He agreed completely. "Yeah, they really weren’t anything special."
"School starts tomorrow," Su Yue said, changing the subject. "I just checked the weather forecast. This heat wave is supposed to last for a while longer."
"Based on previous years, the heat probably won’t break until late September," Lin Li said.
"We haven’t had many typhoons this year. Who knows, maybe a surprise one will show up and finally break this heat wave."
Su Yue tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, adjusted a shoulder strap that had started to slip, and said with a smile.
"Yeah." Lin Li averted his gaze from Su Yue and mumbled an affirmation.
「...」
The afternoon sun was scorching, and the pavement was searing hot. Walking down the street felt like walking into a blast of heat.
After leaving Su Yue’s apartment and exiting the complex, Lin Li didn’t head straight home. Instead, he stopped at a roadside noodle shop and ate several more bowls of noodles.
"Phew..."
"Finally full."
Lin Li pulled a napkin from the dispenser, wiped his mouth, then got up and went to the counter to pay.
After he left, a server came over to the table where Lin Li had been eating. Seeing the five large bowls stacked there, they were inwardly astonished. ’That customer could really eat!’
After leaving the noodle shop, Lin Li bought an ice cream bar at a roadside convenience store and started walking home, eating it along the way.
Just then, a man with a buzz cut appeared at the intersection ahead. He was frowning, looking all around as if searching for something.
As Lin Li passed by, still eating his ice cream bar, the man with the buzz cut called out to him. "Excuse me, sir. My phone died, so I can’t use my GPS. Do you know where Fumin Road is?"
"Fumin Road? That’s pretty far from here... Go to the next intersection and turn right. Keep going straight, then take a left. At the end of that road, you’ll see a pet store. Follow that street, and you’ll get there."
Lin Li gestured, pointing the way for the stranger.
"Thank you." The buzz-cut man seemed to seriously commit the directions to memory, then thanked him gratefully.
"You’re welcome." Lin Li nodded and continued on his way home.
The buzz-cut man followed Lin Li’s directions for about twenty meters, then suddenly stopped. He turned around to look back at the young man who had just helped him.
’The target, Lin Li, is just as young as the file said. Is it really possible he’s at the Second Order High Rank?’
The man with the buzz cut was none other than Li Ying, an elite member of the Canglan Society’s intelligence department.
He had been staking out the residential complex late last night, and now he had personally made contact with Lin Li by pretending to be a lost stranger. It was a truly professional operation.
After that close contact with the target, Li Ying felt even more certain. ’It seems impossible for a young man in his twenties, fresh out of college, to have reached the Second Order High Rank.’
’Still, I have to follow protocol, or I’ll have nothing to report to my superiors. Time to initiate the next phase of the plan.’
Li Ying pulled his gaze away from Lin Li and turned to walk toward the curb to hail a cab.
Lin Li, still eating his ice cream bar, suddenly felt a malicious gaze on him. He stopped and turned around... but after scanning the area, he didn’t see anyone suspicious.
"That’s weird..." Lin Li muttered, finding no one suspicious. He then continued on his way home.