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A cold knot of dread formed in Russell's stomach. Did I get it wrong?
His face was as black as the bottom of a pot. Before coming here, he had searched for this address on the map, but it had only shown "175 Riverpearl Road," not that it was the "Everspring Clinic" main branch. If he had known it was this kind of place, a high-class brothel masquerading as a clinic, he never would have come. He had sacrificed his own reputation with his classmates to get the chance to act alone! Oh, wait, he thought with a grimace, in this situation, it doesn't count as sacrificing my reputation. After all, I really did come to a brothel.
After taking a deep breath and steeling himself, Russell uttered his four-word mantra: "Well, I'm here now."
With a calm, determined face, he stepped into the Everspring Clinic.
From the perspective of the store's madam, however, this is what happened: A handsome, young-looking man had been standing outside her establishment, having a fierce ideological struggle with himself. Ultimately, desire had overwhelmed reason, and he had walked into the store with a look of fearless determination on his face. To be honest, the madam had seen plenty of people like this. They were basically students who wanted to see the world.
But what was wrong with a student? In this world, with powerful cardmakers, she dared not neglect anyone. She immediately put on a professional smile. "Welcome, sir. Are you alone?"
"First time here? Is there a particular girl you know, or would you like me to arrange someone for you?"
Smelling the strong, pungent perfume on the madam, Russell couldn't help but frown. "Misty sent me," he said bluntly.
The madam's professional smile faltered for a second. She looked at Russell's pretty face, her mind racing. Is the Director branching out into female escorts? Or... is this boy a client with very specific tastes?
Russell saw the confusion on her face and his own turned dark. What!? No! Absolutely not! he thought, flustered. But he was too lazy to refute her assumptions. "I don't know," he said unhappily. "She just told me to be here at eight o'clock." He was prepared. If they really wanted him to be a gigolo, he would use his Iron Man vest to let them know the true cruelty of the Spirit Begging Society! That's right, he thought, what Iron Man does has nothing to do with me, Russell.
After a moment, the madam returned to him. "Director Misty asked me to take you upstairs." At this moment, she couldn't help but murmur in her heart, Could this be the boy toy that the Director keeps on the side?
Following the madam, Russell took the elevator to the top floor. "Director Misty," the madam said respectfully, "I've brought the person here."
After arriving on the top floor, Russell was convinced that the woman from the hotel was a high-ranking member of the Spirit Begging Society. After all, what kind of business has its boss personally hand out business cards on the street? It's just that it would be too conspicuous for the boss to go out in person, Russell thought, secretly lamenting her carelessness.
"Okay, you can go down first," a voice identical to the woman's from the hotel came from behind a large leather chair, which had its back to Russell.
"Yes," the madam said, bowing respectfully before retreating.
Now, only Russell and Misty were left in the room. As the boss's chair slowly turned, Russell couldn't help but widen his eyes. "No way... who are you?"
Appearing before him was a charming woman with big, wavy, wine-red hair and a slender, alluring figure. He couldn't say she was just the same as the woman from the hotel; he could say they were completely different people.
Seeing his surprised look, the charming woman couldn't help but giggle. "Well now, handsome. What's with that look? Don't you recognize me?" As she spoke, a puff of white smoke appeared in the room. In the next moment, the woman in the chair had transformed back into the frumpy, middle-aged woman Russell had seen at the hotel. "Or perhaps you prefer this look, handsome? And I was serious about what I said this afternoon," she added with a wink.
After a moment of silence, Russell said, "You should change back. This look is really unflattering."
Poof.
The next moment, Misty returned to her original, beautiful state and sighed faintly. "Ah, men are all the same. They only care about appearance."
Russell did not refute her. He admitted he was a face-lover. "What do you want from me?" he asked directly. Of course, he wouldn't directly ask if she was from the Society. What was the difference between that and announcing his own suspicions?
"What if I said I wanted to know if you're interested in working in our store?" Misty asked, her eyes glittering with interest.
Russell's face immediately turned cold. He turned around and prepared to leave.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't be angry," the woman's voice, now with a hint of laughter, came from behind him. "And besides, don't you already know why I'm looking for you?"
Russell turned around and looked at her coldly without saying anything. The two of them remained in a stalemate.
After a long while, Misty burst out laughing, her tone one of surrender. "Okay, okay, you're scaring me. I'm from the Spirit Begging Society, alright?"
Hearing this, Russell was "shocked." He immediately took out his cell phone and prepared to call the police.
Misty couldn't help but laugh at his performance. "Stop acting. There are only two of us here. Who are you putting on a show for?" As she spoke, she took out a familiar-looking contract from her desk drawer. "Is this enough proof?"
Seeing the contract, Russell's expression instantly returned to calm. He nodded slightly. "That's enough." It was the same type of contract the Society used. He had to be this cautious. Who knew if the woman opposite him was just fishing for information?
Seeing this, Misty laughed and looked at him deeply. "You're young, but your mind is very meticulous."
Russell couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly. As the saying goes, every failure makes you wiser. He had almost been taken out because he wasn't careful enough before. He had to learn from his mistakes.
After confirming her identity, he stopped being polite and sat down on the reception sofa in her office. "What do you want to see me for?" There was another half of the sentence that he didn't ask: Does the Spirit Begging Society have another mission for me? After all, he had been in Northgate for less than a day, and they had already come to his door in such a hurry. What else could it be? And as for the silver-level material they had previously advanced him, he still hadn't figured out how to use it.
Hearing him get down to serious business, Misty stopped teasing him. "Don't blame me for using that other appearance to find you. After all, like you, I also have to be cautious enough to survive." After a quick glance at her natural beauty, Russell had to agree with her statement. The Spirit Begging Society was engaged in a business that could get you killed, after all.
Ignoring his gaze, Misty propped her chin on her right hand and said with a smile, "I didn't ask you to come here for anything important. First, I wanted to get to know you. After all, I will be your contact person in Northgate for the next few days."
"And second," she added, "I wanted to give you some information."
"Information about your opponents in the Riverview Province Unified Examination."
(End of this chapter)