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Chapter 17 - Chapter 17: Let’s Be Friends

Bai Xiao took a seat at the bar once again.

"Alright, go on. Don't say I didn't help you. Inspector Hoshiguma was furious—I had to spend quite a while talking her down before she agreed to give you another chance."

The moment she heard that, Texas shot Exusiai another glare. Exusiai, meanwhile, just flashed a toothy grin, looking unbearably cute.

"Aww, we really owe you one this time. Penguin Logistics owes you a favor."

Texas turned her head away and said coldly, "You owe him a favor. What does that have to do with me?"

Exusiai puffed out her cheeks. "Aren't you scared of getting hauled off by Inspector Hoshiguma?"

"If anyone gets hauled off, it'll be you! You were the one who came up with that stupid plan. I told you from the start we should just tell the truth, but you wouldn't listen. Happy now?"

Seeing the two of them about to start bickering again, Bai Xiao quickly cut in.

"Hey, hey, enough already. If you want to argue, go do it in a dance studio or something. Get to the point—where exactly did that Originium come from?"

Texas turned her face aside, making it clear that she was still angry and had no interest in talking to Exusiai.

"Then I'll explain."

Exusiai slipped back behind the bar and started polishing glasses again.

"It all started with an order... That day, we received a job to move a car from the city entrance to a parking lot. The pay was pretty good, so I took it."

"Since I didn't have much else going on, I asked Texas to come help me. But we just happened to be spotted by another gang. We'd had... ahem... a bit of friction with them before, so they rushed over looking for trouble."

"Even though we beat them back in the end, the stuff inside the car got damaged during the scuffle. I originally wanted to call the client and apologize, but the phone number didn't work, and the address was fake too. That was when Texas realized something was off, so we drove the car back here."

Exusiai didn't need to say the rest.

It was obvious what had happened after that.

Once they brought the car back, they discovered Originium hidden inside.

At that point, Texas picked up the story.

"When we saw the Originium, I wanted to report it immediately. But this idiot"—she flicked a glance at Exusiai—"said that since Penguin Logistics had accepted the order, there was a chance we'd be treated as accomplices. So instead, she suggested we claim we found it in a dumpster. At least that way, we could distance ourselves from it."

Exusiai stuck out her tongue, clearly trying to signal that it had only been a moment of foolishness and that she wouldn't do it again.

Honestly, Bai Xiao didn't know Exusiai that well, but just looking at her, he could already tell she was the type who lived for chaos. There was absolutely no way she wouldn't do something like this again.

Found Originium in a dumpster...

Why not just say you found a fully functioning life-support ventilator in there too?

Still, Originium smuggling was no small matter. In that sense, Exusiai's thinking hadn't been entirely unreasonable. Once something this serious came to light, Penguin Logistics was never going to be able to stay uninvolved. They would have no choice but to cooperate fully with the investigation.

But the Originium had actually come in through the city entrance?

So Ch'en had guessed wrong.

"Fine. I'll count the Originium matter as explained. Now I have some questions. Please answer carefully."

Exusiai immediately promised she would answer seriously, while Texas gave a small nod.

"Mr. Bai Xiao, thank you for mediating for us and saving us a great deal of trouble. I'll answer seriously."

Bai Xiao didn't particularly care about their attitude. What mattered were their answers.

"First question. Where exactly did you pick up the car?"

"At the inbound freight depot by the city entrance. During inspections, drivers and vehicles are processed separately, so cars that pass inspection are all transferred there. As for the destination, I remember the commission was to drive it to a parking lot southeast of Lungmen. Here are the coordinates."

Bai Xiao wrote the information down in his notebook.

"Second question. What condition was the Originium in? Was it just sitting in the trunk?"

Texas frowned slightly as she answered.

"It wasn't out in the open. It was submerged inside several oil drums. The only reason we found it at all was because the drums got damaged in the collision and the oil leaked out."

As she said that, even she felt a lingering chill.

It was a good thing the drums had cracked. Otherwise, sooner or later, once the Guard Department traced the case back, Penguin Logistics would have been dragged into it as well.

Even if they hadn't known what they were carrying, they still would have ended up transporting contraband for criminals.

"Oil?" Bai Xiao caught onto the point immediately. "What kind of oil?"

Exusiai scratched her head.

"We don't really know that kind of thing, but Croissant said it was probably some cheap industrial lubricant from Ursus. Like, really cheap."

"And the rest of it? Where is it now?"

"...Since we'd already decided to cover things up, I threw it away."

Looking at Texas, who actually seemed a little embarrassed, Bai Xiao felt his vision darken.

That had been evidence!

He didn't even bother asking where she'd thrown it. More than ten days had already passed. By now, it was definitely long gone.

Lubricant...

Bai Xiao wrote that down too, then drew a big circle around it.

"Last question. Are you absolutely sure there's no other information? Nothing at all? The person who placed the order, whoever was supposed to receive the car afterward—nothing?"

"Really, nothing." Texas's tone was firm. "I can guarantee that. I handled both the commission and the follow-up myself. I tried every method I could think of, but I still couldn't find anyone. Even the advance payment came from an invalid account."

"...That cautious?"

"Yeah. That's one of the reasons we got suspicious," Exusiai said as she slid a glass of orange juice over. "At first, we even thought we should refund the client for the damaged cargo. But the deeper we dug, the more wrong everything felt."

After taking a sip of the orange juice, Bai Xiao looked over his notes and felt he had asked more or less everything he needed.

"Do either of you have anything else to add?"

Exusiai and Texas shook their heads at the same time.

"No. Whoever was behind this was extremely careful. What we know is limited."

"Then that's enough for today."

Bai Xiao drained the rest of the orange juice, stood up, and said, "I'll head out now. Thank you both for cooperating."

He was already thinking about bringing the information back to the Guard Department, but Texas suddenly stopped him.

"Wait."

"Is there something else?"

"I... well... that is..."

The girl was interesting. Her face was still cold, but at the same time she was stumbling over her words. Bai Xiao had no idea what she was trying to say, so Exusiai hurried over to rescue her.

"Bai Xiao, can you leave us your contact info?"

"Hm... If you find any new leads, just contact Inspector Hoshiguma. Telling her will be enough."

"What do you mean, leads? We don't have any more leads." Exusiai took out her phone and held up her QR code. "Nothing else is going on. We just want to be friends."

Be friends with two stage bosses?

Now that she mentioned it, Bai Xiao realized he actually hadn't considered that yet. He really could get to know the two of them a little better. It might not be useful right now, but if he understood them more, it would definitely make future攻略 easier.

Appealing to someone's tastes was always effective.

"Sure. Then I'll add you."

Bai Xiao scanned the code. Exusiai's profile picture was a hand-drawn apple pie with a tiny halo above it—just like her, adorably cute.

"Alright, added."

Before leaving, Bai Xiao still offered one last warning.

"The two of you—anyone capable of smuggling Originium into Lungmen is not going to be ordinary. Be careful for the next few days."

Exusiai put away her phone.

"It should be fine, right? This already happened quite a while ago."

Bai Xiao shook his head.

"It's different. The Originium disappeared while it was in your hands. There's no guarantee someone isn't still watching you. And Hoshi-sir and I didn't exactly make any effort to hide what we were doing. If someone's paying attention, they'll know Penguin Logistics has been in contact with the Guard Department."

After hearing that, Exusiai's smile vanished immediately.

"Alright. Got it!"

"Thank you for the warning."

With the evidence he had just obtained in hand, Bai Xiao left the bar.

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