Deceitful Game

Chapter 242 When will you come?

But upon hearing Mingpo's words, Ai Shiping's expression inexplicably turned somewhat sad.

He did not respond to Mingper's request for a memory check...neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

She seemed to be recalling something, and then she became even more upset.

"Aper..."

After Ai Shiping spoke, he fell into an eerie silence again.

He frowned and sighed, "Never mind. Weren't you going to show me around the Nest City? Now, is your mission over?"...What do you mean, "never mind"?

A nameless anger suddenly rose in Mingpo's heart.

He disliked riddle tellers quite a bit, which annoyed him.

"Ah, let's go then."

Mingpo was about to pull Ai Shiping down when she paused.

He remembered that he had just finished a killing spree inside, and those people shouldn't have finished cleaning up yet. The ground should be littered with corpses, severed limbs, and blood. Moreover, both the real and fake leaders had been killed by Ming Po, and if he dragged Ai Shiping down with him, they might face retaliation.

So Mingpo opened the car door behind him: "There's not much to do here. We just finished a mission, so the security level in this area is still quite high. Let's find a more populated place to explore."

Ai Shiping obediently got into the car.

When the hovercar took off, Mingpo couldn't help but succumb to temptation.

He asked, "Who is that short man?"

"Him..."

Ai Shiping seemed to be deep in thought.

He was looking for an angle that wouldn't reveal too much information, but he didn't want to deceive Mingpo.

"He is an old friend of ours."

"……who?"

Mingpo frowned: "I don't recall having any friends who don't wear collars."

Not wearing a collar means that you're at least not from Central.

In a sense, the "ring" in "Central" might refer to a "choker".

"He's impersonating my friend, Ai Shiping."

Mingpo said confidently, a look of disdain on his face, but he seemed a little more relaxed: "He's just a little liar from Nest City. Don't believe such scum."

For some reason, after realizing that the man was most likely a fraud, Mingpo's anxiety and unease eased considerably. He took out champagne from the refrigerator and poured half a glass for himself and Ai Shiping.

With a gentle clinking of glasses, Mingpo downed more than half of the chilled, bubbly sweet wine in one gulp.

Takagi is used to restricting his sugar intake, but Minpa always wants to eat something sweet.

This cool and refreshing carbonated drink was first secretly given to Mingpo by Ai Shiping.

But at that time, Mingpo's surgery was not yet over, and as a result, he almost died from drinking alcohol.

This scared Ai Shiping so much that he dared not drink it anymore.

He then drank olive juice and kale juice for a while—these are typical healthy, low-sugar fruit juices, but they don't taste very good without sugar. Later, Ai Shiping reluctantly developed a liking for coffee.

On the contrary, after completely resolving her alcohol allergy, Mingpo enjoys indulging in small amounts of sweet wine from time to time. Besides, since Mingpo now has a prosthetic liver, she can't get drunk at all.

Ai Shiping simply nodded, without trying to say anything on behalf of the man.

But then he suddenly spoke, asking Mingpo, "Speaking of which... I've realized something. I don't think I've ever heard you mention your mother. ...My mother."

Upon hearing this, Mingpo also suppressed her sarcastic smile.

He was silent for a moment, then thought for a while before answering, "She is still alive, but she is not actually in the Longevity Sector."

"Over the years, I've only seen her a few times. Now I've almost forgotten what she looks like."

Mingpo looked out the window at the neon lights and said softly, "She seems to work at Fuxi Data."

"The Fuxi data is in... the Wanxiang sector? Isn't that very close?"

"Um."

Mingpo nodded gently, becoming somewhat quiet: "My father passed away not long after bringing me here. Since then, I've been here alone, receiving treatment, conducting experiments, and going to school... The only person who took care of me for a period of time was an elder relative of mine surnamed Shi."

"My mom is very busy with work and only comes to see me once in a very long time. The last time she came to the Changsheng sector was four years ago. She paid off my student loans in one go, which gave me a break. She even bought me a house... It was only then that I belatedly realized that my mom actually had some money."

Mingpo said softly, "But even though I have a house, I still don't really like going home to sleep."