31: Reading by Lamplight
"Your Majesty, still not resting at this late hour?" When the hour and minute hands on the clock overlapped, Xue'er carefully opened Leticia's bedroom door and asked quietly.
Today's Leticia was acting out of character—she wasn't playing games, but instead was leaning back in her chair reading a book.
Hearing Xue'er's words, she waved her hand without looking back. "Xue'er, go to sleep first. I need to hurry and finish reading this book."
A book?
Xue'er walked to Leticia's side and craned her neck to see the book's title. "'Mythological Age Magic Studies'?"
"Mm, Mythological Age Magic Studies." Leticia nodded. "I originally thought this book was just for show, but I didn't expect it to be quite interesting."
Getting an evaluation of "quite interesting" from Leticia was already extremely rare.
Leticia had once read through all the books in the Demon Realm's library. When she said something was quite interesting, for others that meant it was very interesting indeed.
"Can't you read it tomorrow? It's already midnight."
"I need to hurry. Who knows, this book might be taken back first thing tomorrow morning." Leticia shook her head. This book wasn't hers after all; she had just found a righteous excuse to temporarily keep it in her possession.
If this book really was some human's collection and had indeed been stolen by that black-clothed person they encountered, then once Bai Ling understood the situation, she would definitely come to take the book back.
Her time was tight. It would be best to finish reading this book during the night.
"I'm not a child. Staying up late occasionally isn't a big problem. Don't worry, Xue'er." Leticia said to Xue'er without looking up. "You go rest first. There might be things to trouble you with tomorrow."
"...Yes."
...
"It seems it really was a misunderstanding." Bai Ling sat cross-legged on her bed, speaking to a woman wearing a pirate-style eyepatch on the computer screen in front of her.
The woman on the computer was the boss of a special operations group in Central City, nicknamed One-Eye, and her relationship with Bai Ling wasn't too bad.
"Yeah, I never thought things would be this coincidental. The place we chose was almost the same as where the incident occurred." One-Eye held a stack of reports, looking somewhat troubled. "Sigh, this is really difficult now."
"Oh?"
"To protect your information, I specifically turned off all the surveillance in that area before the operation began. Now we've completely lost track of the criminal." One-Eye shrugged her shoulders. Who could have expected such a mess?
The time and location chosen by both sides were the same, and the members' outfits were identical too. This was just ridiculous.
"Fortunately, that book was left with you guys, otherwise my troubles this time wouldn't be small."
"Is that book important?" Bai Ling asked. She always felt Leticia's attitude toward that book was somewhat abnormal.
One-Eye's remaining eye showed a thoughtful expression. "Important? Not that important really. After all, I don't know what's inside either."
"It's just that the book's owner is a wealthy tycoon in Central City, and he also serves as a member of parliament. If we can't recover the stolen goods, he probably won't let this go."
"But you don't need to worry about this. Senior Sang will handle everything."
There was one thing One-Eye didn't mention—this book's owner wasn't just a Parliament Member, but one of the most stubborn members demanding that hero activities be placed under parliamentary oversight.
But this wasn't something Bai Ling needed to know or consider. Such power struggles were better left to old foxes like Senior Sang.
Just then, Bai Ling's phone suddenly rang.
Bai Ling took out her phone and saw it was actually Senior Sang.
"Hello, Senior Sang?"
"Mm, it's me. One-Eye, step back for a moment." Senior Sang's reassuring voice came through the phone.
"Damn, Boss Sang, how did you know I was here?"
"Hurry and log off, I'm very fast." Senior Sang laughed heartily.
"OK then." One-Eye also smiled, then said goodbye to Bai Ling. "I'll log off first."
After One-Eye went offline, Senior Sang told Bai Ling her purpose. "Tomorrow morning, I'll come find you."
"Senior Sang, you're coming personally?" Bai Ling blinked. Senior Sang was a very busy person—why would she suddenly propose to come to her house at this time?
"Some things can't be explained clearly on the phone in a short time. Speaking face-to-face is faster and more reliable... Oh, right, could I also meet that little helper you found today?"
"She doesn't really like meeting other people. I'll try my best." Bai Ling hesitated somewhat. Senior Sang's position among humans was similar to the Four Heavenly Kings among demons.
If Leticia found out, Bai Ling was a bit worried whether she might have bad thoughts.
"To easily defeat an A-level ability user with precognitive abilities using pure physical strength—your friend's abilities are quite impressive."
"Indeed... quite impressive."