Chapter 19: The Storm Was About to Break
The atmosphere in the car fell into a strange silence.
Lu Zheng was never someone particularly good at making conversation, and after Miss Qiu Yu’s jab, he simply shut his mouth and focused quietly on driving.
Meanwhile, Miss Qiu Yu once again fell into self-loathing because of her uncontrollable mouth.
The two of them didn’t exchange a word in the car until Lu Zheng drove to that Sichuan restaurant.
He parked the car in a space and unfastened his seatbelt. “Let’s go.”
Only then did Miss Qiu Yu come back to her senses. She lowered her head, unfastened her seatbelt, and followed behind Lu Zheng dejectedly.
“Two, please.”
Lu Zheng held up two fingers to the server, then followed them to a window seat.
He picked up the menu, ordered a few dishes that Miss Qiu Yu liked, and then handed the menu over to her.
Miss Qiu Yu just glanced over the menu casually and closed it directly.
“Let’s go with these.”
In her memory, these had always been the dishes they ordered whenever she ate out with Lu Zheng.
After the server left, the two once again fell into silence.
In the end, it was Lu Zheng who, having no choice, forced a topic: “Honestly, I was kind of surprised to see you still around.”
“Where did you think I’d be?” Miss Qiu Yu turned her head, studying the floor tiles, both her cheeks tinted slightly red. “As a deputy chief, in case something happened to you guys, I needed to be able to cover for you in time.”
Whoa~ What a rare sight.
Lu Zheng looked at Miss Qiu Yu’s slightly reddened face.
How long had it been since he’d seen this person show such a shy expression?
He propped his face on one hand and deliberately stared directly at Miss Qiu Yu’s blushing cheeks.
Sensing Lu Zheng’s gaze, the redness on Miss Qiu Yu’s face spread to her earlobes and neck.
“Ahem!”
She covered her mouth with her fist and coughed lightly.
Unfortunately, Lu Zheng acted like he hadn’t heard anything, doubling down on his staring.
“That’s enough!”
She slapped the table and scolded him sharply.
Seeing her on the verge of losing her temper, Lu Zheng finally pulled back his gaze with a mischievous smile.
This person had really become a lot more awkward than before—even expressing goodwill made her shy.
But to be honest, whenever he teased Miss Qiu Yu, Lu Zheng occasionally hallucinated and saw Yi Ning using her seductive techniques on him.
Though both showed shy expressions, he just felt that Yi Ning’s had the edge.
Lu Zheng shook his head and stopped thinking about it.
The restaurant served food very quickly. Before they finished chatting, most of the dishes they had ordered had already arrived.
Lu Zheng picked up his chopsticks and took a bite.
“The flavor’s pretty good.”
Though it was a bit too spicy for him.
He poured two glasses of beverage and handed one to Miss Qiu Yu.
“Thanks.”
She took the drink and casually set it aside.
Unlike Lu Zheng, who had already started sipping his drink to cool the burning sensation in his mouth, this level of spiciness was nothing to Miss Qiu Yu. She even felt it wasn’t spicy enough.
Looking at the dazzling array of dishes on the table, Lu Zheng quietly sighed.
He had overestimated his tolerance for spicy food.
If they ordered any more, it would just be a waste. He decided to eat a little and then have some bread after getting home to pad his stomach.
He picked up another piece of meat and put it into his mouth, inhaled softly, and reached for the drink to soak his tongue under the pretense of sipping.
“Stop drinking so much.”
Watching Lu Zheng down two glasses of drink in no time, Miss Qiu Yu frowned.
“It’s bad for your health.”
She started nagging: “You always do this—stuff yourself with water before the meal, then barely eat anything during it, and after it’s over, you complain about being hungry again.”
“Eat more. We’re close enough that you don’t need to worry about gentlemanly manners.”
Miss Qiu Yu added a few more bites of food to Lu Zheng’s bowl.
Lu Zheng quietly rolled his eyes at the food in his bowl.
It wasn’t like he had a choice—her tastes were always so strong.
Back then, when he couldn’t handle it and complained at home, he always got lectured with lines like “You’re a boy, you should give in to her a little…”
No one ever said she should give in to him.
Still, complaints were just complaints—after so many years, he had mostly gotten used to it.
Lu Zheng poked at the food in his bowl with his chopsticks and changed the subject away from eating.
“By the way, where’s Ye Qin? She wouldn’t have left you alone waiting for me, right?”
“After you left, we detected another special ability case. Ye Qin went to investigate. I told her she could leave directly after wrapping up.”
“Must be nice... When do I get to enjoy Ye Qin’s kind of treatment?”
Lu Zheng slumped over the table, using his body as cover to dump some of the food he couldn’t stomach into the trash bin.
“In your next life.”
Miss Qiu Yu rolled her eyes at him hard.
Even though she understood Lu Zheng just wanted to slack off early, hearing him say things like this still made her think—was being with her that miserable?
Especially considering how a few days ago, Lu Zheng not only rejected her but also had dinner with Dr. Alien.
Even though she believed his story that he had been tailing her, got exposed, and then offered a meal to calm her down, Miss Qiu Yu couldn’t help but feel sour inside.
Seeing that the conversation couldn’t continue, Lu Zheng quickly switched topics again: “This is rare. Excluding Dr. Alien, the last special ability case was two years ago, right?”
Miss Qiu Yu nodded: “I remember it was a kid who had just awakened their superpower and got duped by those Freedom Alliance folks with twisted logic.”
She looked at Lu Zheng with some disdain in her eyes. “They even tried to go big on the way out. If not for your ability, few of those guys would’ve made it into prison alive.”
Back then, both of them were rookies, and her spells were mostly offensive. If Lu Zheng hadn’t drawn the right ability in time, those guys would’ve been ground into meat paste, frozen into popsicles, and dumped in the sea.
Lu Zheng poured himself another drink and topped off Miss Qiu Yu’s glass as well. “Headquarters said a few more Freedom Alliance people slipped in a few days ago. Could it be them again this time?”
“Not sure.” Miss Qiu Yu shook her head. “Ye Qin messaged me saying she found nothing after arriving. I told her to go home and wait for now, and sent some professionals to investigate. So far, nothing’s been found.”
“Could it be a false alarm?” Lu Zheng speculated.
“Let’s hope so.” Though she said that, Miss Qiu Yu looked grave. “Even so, you need to keep your phone on and be ready to deploy anytime.”
After all these years, the alarm had never once been a false report—why would this be the first time?
Plus, with those Freedom Alliance guys sneaking in lately, she had a strong sense that a storm was brewing.
But right now, she had no intel and couldn’t do much. All she could do was assign more personnel and prepare to move at a moment’s notice.
“Don’t worry.” Lu Zheng smiled. “Need me to use my ability to help with the investigation?”
Miss Qiu Yu shook her head. “We don’t even know what happened yet. Your ability isn’t easy to switch. If anything comes up, we’ll need you to adapt on the spot.”
“No problem.”
Lu Zheng nodded.