Chapter 439: Long Time No See

At the end of the street, two figures stumbled to a halt, breathing heavily.

"Did we... lose them?"

Jian Changsheng looked around, realizing the two "birdmen" who had been hot on their heels were nowhere to be seen. The surroundings were quiet, as if the recent chaos had all been an illusion.

"It seems we lost them." Red Heart 9's expression did not relax, but grew more solemn. His gaze continuously swept over the dark alleyways, as if searching for something.

"Then our luck's pretty good, not as unlucky as we thought."

"Luck?"

Red Heart 9 sneered, "If it were purely luck, we'd probably be dead and buried by now..."

Jian Changsheng raised an eyebrow slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice, all of this is too coincidental? The strange noise at the crossroads that drew away another group, the tower crane that just happened to block the bomb for us, and now the inexplicably missing pursuers... It's as if an invisible hand is arranging everything in the dark. Do you really think this is just luck?"

"You mean someone is helping us?" Jian Changsheng was stunned for a moment. "That shouldn't be right. Besides us two, there shouldn't be any other members in Red Dust Main City, should there?"

"Logically, there aren't any. Otherwise, I wouldn't be the only one assisting you with the mission... So who else could it be?"

The two were at a loss and decided to leave the area for now and make plans later.

As Red Heart 9 was about to step away, his peripheral vision caught something, and his whole body stiffened, frozen in place.

"What's wrong?" Jian Changsheng took two steps forward, noticed Red Heart 9 hadn't followed, and turned back with a puzzled look.

Red Heart 9's expression was a sight to behold. He silently extended a hand, pointing towards the sky...

Jian Changsheng looked up, and a "holy shit" escaped his lips.

The faint light of dawn rose from the horizon. In the middle of this narrow alleyway, a figure in a black trench coat stood suspended in mid-air, seemingly out of nowhere. Between two oppressive high walls, an ancient and mysterious golden mask silently overlooked the two figures below...

The Golden Society's Emissary???

The moment these words appeared in their minds, their hearts sank.

"He... how is he here??" Jian Changsheng swallowed. "Wasn't he just robbing money at the restaurant??"

"How should I know?! Given his status, how could he possibly be in a place like this..."

"Damn it, I knew things couldn't be that simple!"

"Don't panic yet... He doesn't seem to have any ill intent towards us." Red Heart 9 recalled the recent events, deep in thought. "What if he's the one who was helping us?"

"We don't know him, so why would he help us?"

In front of the golden mask, they dared not make any sudden moves. The scene of the ugly child knocking them down with a single punch was still fresh in their minds. With the Emissary himself present, the oppressive feeling was only stronger.

As the two whispered to each other in confusion, a calm voice suddenly echoed from mid-air:

"Have you two seen the Clown?"

The Emissary's initiative to speak startled both Jian Changsheng and Red Heart 9.

They immediately realized the "Clown" the Emissary referred to must be the ugly child who had left marks on their faces, and nodded at once.

"Yes... yes, we have."

"Where did you see him?"

"In your room, of course?"

Red Heart 9 answered matter-of-factly, but the next moment, Jian Changsheng clapped a hand over his mouth. The latter hissed in a low voice, "If you say that, won't he know we searched his room?!"

Only then did Red Heart 9 realize, but it was too late, and his expression immediately turned awkward.

Chen Ling's expression under the mask was also quite a sight. He knew that when these two got together, they wouldn't be up to any good... But he hadn't expected the Clown to appear in Red Dust Main City. It seemed he had followed him all the way from the Ancient Vault of Drama.

Chen Ling looked at the two with a complicated expression. After a long moment, he sighed helplessly...

Letting them leave was definitely not an option. Not to mention the amount of trouble these two could cause, both of them now had their abilities sealed by the Clown. If their seals weren't removed, it would be too dangerous for them to operate in the Main City, and he certainly couldn't protect them indefinitely.

After a long moment of thought, he spoke calmly:

"Follow me."

As he finished speaking, Chen Ling turned and walked in a certain direction down the street.

Jian Changsheng and Red Heart 9 exchanged a look.

"What do we do? Run?"

"Run? We can't do anything right now. Can we outrun him?"

"...Forget it. Let's just follow him. If he wanted to kill us, he wouldn't have bothered saving us."

After a brief hesitation, the two followed Chen Ling's footsteps... Fortunately, it was still very early, and there were few people on the streets. The trio walked through the streets, heading directly towards the auction house.

Meanwhile.

At the auction house, in the VIP lounge.

"Whee!"

The Clown kicked off a table leg and spun around wildly in the swivel chair again, his beady eyes full of novelty, as if he had never played with anything so interesting before.

Around him were boxes filled with banknotes, which the auction house staff had just delivered. The Clown had no concept of or interest in these. Once the staff left, he went back to playing by himself.

Just then, he perked up his ears as if he heard something, and his eyes immediately fixated on the door.

"Eee-yah, eee-yah!"

A hurried expression appeared on the Clown's small face, smudged with white dust. He immediately got off the swivel chair, wiped away the footmarks he had just made on the table with his clothes, and after looking left and right, he zipped out the window.

Silence fell over the room once more.

Three seconds later, the door slowly opened.

Chen Ling, wearing the golden mask, stepped into the room, his gaze sweeping across the interior, but he did not see the Clown's figure... He narrowed his eyes and continued further into the room.

Behind him, Jian Changsheng and Red Heart 9 also stepped in with strange expressions, their eyes constantly scanning their surroundings, fearing a fist might suddenly appear from somewhere and knock them down again.

"What's going on? Why did he bring us here?" Jian Changsheng whispered, perplexed.

Red Heart 9 shook his head and spread his hands to indicate he was just as clueless.

As the door closed, the figure in the black trench coat slowly walked to the swivel chair at the desk and calmly sat down... Behind him was a towering mountain of banknotes, over two hundred million in cash, displayed before the two for the first time in such a direct manner.

The figure crossed one leg over the other, sitting casually amidst the mountain of banknotes, one hand resting on his chin, and the other hand gently removed the ancient golden mask...

A smiling face with a hint of playfulness appeared before their eyes.

"Gentlemen."

Chen Ling said with a smile, "Long time no see."