Chapter 952: What Kind of Hungry

“Chen Ying’s Sensory can’t stay active forever. She needs rest. Have Quiet Book include that into the substitute to make it as believable as possible. The Ocean River Union will find a way if they want to strike. Don’t underestimate them.”

“Alright,” War Tiger answered.

Gao Yang continued, “Our people will hide in waiting two kilometers away. We must not allow the enemies to detect us. Once they bite the bait, we reel them in immediately.”

“If Qilin doesn’t come on his own, that is. If he makes a personal appearance, hold position and alert me immediately. I can reach here from the Spectres' Mansion in under two minutes with Fly. My larger Absolute Barrier will envelop Dr. Jia's smaller one and extract him. Even at full strength, Qilin won't be able to touch us."

"Sounds good in theory." War Tiger weighed the plan. "But together, couldn't we take Qilin?"

"No." Gao Yang's voice hardened. “If Qilin moves personally, it must mean he has a trump card more powerful than what he had that night at the Qingyang Bridge. Then our chance of winning will be less than forty percent even if we go all in.”

Then even if they won, it would come with a great price and most likely great casualties. Gao Yang didn’t think it was the time to go that far yet.

"I want to wait for Zhang Wei's Confidence to reach level 4 before our final confrontation with Qilin. Something tells me he'll be our winning card."

"Your call," War Tiger conceded.

"If anyone else comes, capture them immediately." Gao Yang paused meaningfully. "Alive if possible. A living captive always outweighs a corpse."

"Agreed." War Tiger's eyes narrowed. "Hold on—if Qilin doesn't come himself, doesn't that mean he's not ready for all-out war?"

"Exactly." A faint smile crossed Gao Yang's face. "That's another layer to this plan. Qilin wants to know what Dr. Jia's discovering about the Mist. I want to gauge Qilin's current strength. We're both testing the waters."

War Tiger burst into laughter. "You, Dragon, and Qilin—you all are playing 5D chess."

...

Afterwards, Gao Yang returned to the Spectres’ Mansion.

It was evening. A white badminton net stretched across the front yard, where Wang Zikai and Fresh Snow darted about in their sportswear.

Their laughter rang as they swung their rackets, the blond boy and silver-haired girl looking like playful spirits in the dying light. From the gate, Gao Yang found himself lost in the scene. His eyes didn't follow the shuttlecock but stayed fixed on the pair, drinking in their carefree joy. An inexplicable melancholy tugged at his heart.

He pushed the feeling aside and called out with a smile, "Wang Zikai, I need to talk to you."

"Wait!" Wang Zikai leaped for a powerful smash. "Just until this match ends!"

"Gao Yang's back!" Fresh Snow responded with an agile backhand swing. "I'm done!"

“No! The next one to score wins!” Wang Zikai was too into the game to stop now.

Gao Yang sighed, creating a double that snatched up a spare racket and rushed onto the court. "I'll take your place. My win counts as yours."

"Haha, perfect!" Wang Zikai bounded over to Gao Yang at the gate. "Bro, where've you been these past two days?"

"Making preparations," Gao Yang said.

"Something epic coming up?" Wang Zikai's eyes sparkled. Though he'd enjoyed his days at the mansion, he was still God Kai, tasked with saving the world. He couldn't idle forever.

“Perhaps.” Gao Yang didn’t give a definitive answer. “Go to the Yuan Yang River and look for Nine Frost. Follow his orders. Remember, you must do as he said.”

“Of course!” Wang Zikai was more willing to listen to Nine Frost than others. When Gao Yang didn’t move, he frowned. “Are you not going with me, bro?”

“I’ll be part of the plan, but I’ll stay here with Fresh Snow for now.” Gao Yang patted him on the shoulders. “Don’t worry. I move quickly. I won’t miss the show.”

“Okay!” Wang Zikai said readily and rushed into the mansion. “Wait until I change into something cooler.”

After several more exchanges, Gao Yang lost to Fresh Snow without making it obvious.

"I won!" Fresh Snow tossed her racket aside and vaulted over the net, launching herself at Gao Yang.

He dropped his racket just in time to catch her, lowering her gently to the ground.

"How did you know I was the real one?" he asked, surprised.

"I just know!" Fresh Snow lifted her chin proudly. Silly Gao Yang. Finding the real him was as natural as breathing to her.

"Fresh Snow, Wang Zikai won't be here to play with you later. I'll keep you company instead."

"Really? That's amazing!" Her face lit up.

Gao Yang chuckled. "Don't let him hear that, or he'll be heartbroken."

"It'll be our secret." Fresh Snow's eyes twinkled with mischief. "I like Stupid Kai fine, but having you instead... W!"

Gao Yang snorted. "You've been spending time online, haven't you?"

"I'm hungry, Gao Yang," Fresh Snow announced suddenly.

Gao Yang paused. “What kind of hungry?”

Fresh Snow jumped and waved her hands frantically, “Oh, no, I’m not feeding on you! I’m talking about dinner!”

"Don't force yourself if you need to feed," Gao Yang said softly. "I can handle it."

"I'm not hungry like that at all!" Fresh Snow insisted.

Activate Lie Detection.

The target didn’t lie, and she was benevolent.

Finally relaxing, Gao Yang patted her head.

"Let's go have dinner."