Chapter 76

75 Drawing from Many Strengths and Losing Control

No matter what happens, am I still your sister?

Watching Li Ang, who leaned comfortably against her shoulder, his breathing growing lighter as if already asleep, Anna, though granted his promise, did not feel relieved—instead, she unconsciously bit her lip until it turned pale.

What if… I’m not your sister at all, and all the happiness I have now is stolen? When you find out everything I’ve done to you, will you still think the same way?

…

Amid the frightened and uneasy thoughts of the frail girl, the carriage carrying the family of four raced through the streets of the capital; Li Ang, who had only dozed for less than thirty minutes, was woken by the carriage’s arrival horn.

Is this carriage really that fast?

Rubbing his bleary eyes and yawning again, Li Ang first smoothed out the wrinkles on Anna’s shoulder, then gave each of his sleeping younger siblings a firm pat on the buttocks.

“Wake up! We’re at the new home!”

“Already?!”

Hearing Li Ang, William rubbed his eyes and sat up, carefully tidying his disheveled clothes just as Li Ang had done, then mercilessly jabbed his sister in the ribs.

“Get up! We’re here!”

“Don’t wake me…”

Disrupted from her dream, Melanie groaned twice, kicked her little leather-shod feet uselessly in the air, then curled like a maggot, wriggling away from William along the seat, leaving a ten-centimeter-long trail of drool.

“Let me sleep a little longer…”

“Eww… so disgusting!”

With a look of disgust, William grabbed Melanie’s arm and wiped the drool off the seat with her sleeve, then patted her face.

“Wake up right now! Our new home is on the sixth floor—how are we going up if you won’t get up?”

“Mmm… don’t tap…”

Pouting as she climbed off the seat, Melanie saw Li Ang’s helpless expression across from her and immediately brightened, extending her arms toward him.

“I’ll sleep in big brother’s arms—he can carry me up!”

“Nope, big brother really can’t carry you up today.”

“Huh? Why not…”

“Because big brother has to work to support the family, so he can buy you pretty little dresses~”

Smiling as he pinched her pouting cheek, Li Ang picked up both her and William and stepped off the carriage, then turned to glance toward Happy Apartments.

As expected, a certain “sickly” burly old man stood before the building, holding a one-meter-long gardening shears, glaring at him with fierce intent, snipping away at shrubs as thick as a bowl—cutting them like green onions, snip-snip-snip…

Stop cutting! I won’t come over, okay?

Looking at the bulging black muscles of the burly old man beneath his thin vest, then at his own legs, thinner than the man’s forearm, Li Ang, fearing he might become “Big Brother” in a different sense, dared not linger a second longer. He struggled to haul the luggage to the apartment entrance and then fled without hesitation.

Seeing the “devil brat” wisely staying away, the burly old man grunted, shoved the gardening shears straight into the ground, then limped over to the door and stared at the new tenants of Happy Apartments.

“Thank you, Mr. John.”

Anna, who had visited Happy Apartments twice in recent days, was already familiar with this stern-looking manager. After politely greeting him, she picked up all the luggage she could carry and urged her siblings to take some too, then apologized with a guilty expression:

“My brother is very busy with work, so he doesn’t have time to help us move—could you please…” Aah!”

To Anna’s stunned expression, the burly manager, who looked like a bear, grinned with a ferocious smile, then, like a circus performer, tossed six or seven large bags into the air and caught them all on his back with a series of thuds.

After adjusting his load slightly to ensure the nearly three-hundred-pound baggage was secure, the old man snatched the remaining luggage from Anna’s hands and slung it onto himself without a word, then turned and walked off.

“Mr. John?!”

Startled, Anna snapped back to reality and hurried after him, pulling her siblings along, eager to help carry some of the load—but seeing the mountain of luggage piled on the man’s back, she had no way to assist, so she simply trailed behind, repeatedly thanking him.

Phew… looks like everything’s settled.

Seeing that Anna and the others had truly been accepted by Happy Apartments, Li Ang, who had been hiding around the corner, finally relaxed completely, then frowned and strode quickly toward the Clearance Bureau.

Just six hundred more live-fire shots and the Shooter Badge would upgrade—but before that, I need to visit the Director first, borrow her connections to investigate Anna’s situation and find out what’s troubling her…

What? Didn’t I just promise half an hour ago that if Anna doesn’t want to say something, I won’t ask?

I said I wouldn’t ask—but I never said I wouldn’t investigate! As the Director put it: not asking and investigating are two separate things.

Or, as Senior Emma said: never rely on luck. Only by gathering sufficient intelligence beforehand can you remain calm and in control at all times!

If Anna’s secret is trivial, I can pretend not to know it for the rest of my life. But if it’s a dangerous secret, and I don’t uncover it now and deal with it early, am I supposed to wait until she does something foolish?

…

Armed with the caution learned from Senior Emma and the boldness learned from the red-haired Director, Li Ang arrived early at the Clearance Bureau and knocked firmly on the Director’s office door.

“Director, are you in?”

But perhaps he came too early—the sun hadn’t fully risen—and the red-haired Director neither responded nor seemed to have come to work.

After waiting a moment without reply, Li Ang knocked again, raising his voice slightly:

“Director, it’s Li Ang! Are you there?”

“I’m here.”

His raised voice seemed to have worked—the red-haired Director finally answered, but the voice didn’t come from inside the office—it seemed to rise directly through the floor.

“Director? Are you upstairs?”

“Yes, I’m upstairs.”

In a calm, almost indifferent tone, she answered his question, then added, her voice slightly muffled:

“You’re looking for me? If so, come up.”

Go upstairs…

Hearing the Director’s words, Li Ang froze slightly, instinctively sensing something was off.

Although… the Sixth Clearance Bureau has no rule against going upstairs, from what I’ve observed, no one ever goes up—the staircase has not a single shoe print, and is covered in thick dust, probably untouched for over half a year. Why would the Director suddenly ask me to come up today?

And… didn’t the Director mention that the upstairs is filled with her anomalies?

At the time, her tone made it sound like a joke—but I recall when I asked about the Bureau’s duties, she also spoke in jest, describing their work.

Later, I confirmed with Senior Emma—though those things happen only once every few years, they are absolutely real. So…

Could this time be real too? Is the voice talking to me now… one of the Director’s anomalies?