"Hey!" Huang Peiyu nudged his apprentice with an elbow. "What are you zoning out for? I asked you a question—do you know that girl?"
"I..." Zhuang Mo stammered, clearly flustered. "She's a nurse at Whale Fall City."
"As if I need you to tell me that!" Huang Peiyu snapped. "She's wearing a nurse's uniform—what else could she be? But what did you just call her? Shuang'er? That sounds awfully familiar. I remember you said your girlfriend is a nurse at Whale Fall City."
With a detective's sharp instinct, Huang Peiyu quickly pieced things together, stripping away Zhuang Mo's flimsy attempts to hide the truth.
Pointing toward the nurse in the center of the hall, he asked directly, "That nurse you're dating—is it her?"
Zhuang Mo winced, closed his eyes in defeat, and finally confessed with a sheepish grin, "Master, you're incredible—no wonder you're head of Major Crimes. You're always spot-on!"
"Heh." Huang Peiyu let out a cold laugh. "I knew something was off with the way you and Wu Daozhang looked at each other yesterday. So it turns out you're his future son-in-law!"
Zhuang Mo immediately panicked and tried to clear himself of any suspicion. "I didn't know they were father and daughter! Their last names are different—one is Wu, the other is Bai. I couldn't possibly have guessed she's Wu Daozhang's daughter!"
"It's fine," Huang Peiyu said, patting his apprentice on the shoulder. "I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to infiltrate Whale Fall City and get the real story on this masterless city. Now, with your connection, things just got easier."
"No, wait!" Zhuang Mo's expression turned into one of dread. "Master, don't count on me! I'm not the guy for this—Wu Daozhang probably doesn't even like me!"
"Relax." Huang Peiyu spoke with confidence. "If he really didn't like you, why would he let you become the number-one test player? Trust me, kid—you're in!"
Zhuang Mo's heart felt sweet like honey.
Ever since Wu Qiong had taken Bai Shuang away, Zhuang Mo hadn't been able to reach her. He wasn't worried for her safety, but going three days without contact left him feeling a little lonely.
Now, seeing Bai Shuang radiant and elegant amid the crowd, her delicate beauty stood out even more against the mediocrity around her.
Zhuang Mo watched her with a soft smile, his eyes filled with affection. He desperately wanted to walk over, stand by her side, and share the pressure she was under.
At that moment, Bai Shuang's gaze swept across the room—and landed right on Zhuang Mo. Her eyes lit up, and she couldn't look away.
Wu Qiong immediately sensed something off in her expression. He followed her line of sight and saw, with perfect precision, the very junior officer he disapproved of.
Without saying a word, Wu Qiong shifted his gaze and gave Bai Shuang a discreet pinch with the hand hidden under his long sleeve.
Snapped back to reality by her father's warning, Bai Shuang reluctantly pulled herself together and focused on the discussion.
Back in the corner, Huang Peiyu raised an eyebrow. "She spotted you from this far away? That girl's got sharp eyes. How old is she?"
"Same age as me," Zhuang Mo replied.
"So, she's 25. Bai Shuang, 25 years old, nurse in Whale Fall City, daughter of Wu Daozhang… Wait a minute. If she's Wu Daozhang's daughter, why isn't her surname Wu?"
Zhuang Mo thought for a moment, then said quietly, "Actually... Shuang'er is an orphan, like me. I guess her biological father's surname was Bai."
"Oh?" Huang Peiyu nodded thoughtfully. "Bai Shuang. Father's surname Bai. Age 25. Orphan. Raised by Wu Daozhang…"
He repeated that line several times, letting the words rearrange themselves in his mind. Gradually, the scattered puzzle pieces began to click into place.
"Whale Fall City's previous City Lord also had the surname Bai. And the Whale Fall Decision game? That started 25 years after his death."
"Wait!" Something clicked for Huang Peiyu. He leaned in and whispered, "Quick—pull up a photo of the old City Lord when he was young!"
Zhuang Mo, still clueless, followed orders. He searched the database and pulled up an ID photo of the late Lord Bai in his younger years.
As soon as the photo appeared, both men gasped. Young Lord Bai looked exactly like a male version of Bai Shuang!
Lord Bai had been dead for years, and most people had forgotten that he was of Chinese-Nepalese descent. His father was Chinese, his mother Nepali. Physically, he took more after his mother, with prominent Middle Eastern features.
"Don't tell me…" Huang Peiyu narrowed his eyes and looked at the nervous girl standing at the center of the hall. "Bai Shuang is Lord Bai's biological daughter?!"
"No way! That'd be too cliché!" Zhuang Mo gawked. "If Shuang'er really is his daughter, she must've just been born when he died. That means... she could be a posthumous child!"
"I knew something was off about Whale Fall City!" Huang Peiyu fixed his gaze on Bai Shuang like a shark catching the scent of blood. "Check this now—when did Lord Bai die? And when was Bai Shuang born?"
Zhuang Mo hesitated. "I can only confirm Lord Bai's death date. When I first started dating Shuang'er, I checked her records. She's listed as an orphan, with no known birth month.
"And her file doesn't list a legal guardian. So, technically, Wu Daozhang isn't even her foster father. That's why I never imagined they were family."
Huang Peiyu: "Whether she's a posthumous child or not doesn't matter. What matters is that you get a DNA sample from Bai Shuang. Once we test it at HQ, we'll know for sure if she's Lord Bai's daughter."
Zhuang Mo: "Even if she is, it doesn't change anything. Lord Bai made a will before his death: the next City Lord would be chosen through the Whale Fall Decision competition 25 years after he died. So Bai Shuang has no legal claim to the inheritance."
Huang Peiyu: "Watch your mouth, Xiao Zhuang. We're police—we're here to investigate a case, not help anyone fight for inheritance. But confirming Bai Shuang's identity is key to this investigation."
He mentally reviewed the facts once again. If Bai Shuang really was Lord Bai's daughter, then Wu Daozhang had an even greater motive.
A father might do anything to protect his child—even kill. Huang Peiyu had seen such cases before.
In the hall's center, Wu Qiong continued playing the part of the amiable Daoist, trying hard to offend no one.
In truth, he was merely trying to smooth things over between the major families, deflecting responsibility for the Whale Fall Decision and shifting it from one house to another.
Finally, Xiaojingji lost patience. "We're here tonight for one reason: the Whale Fall Decision gaming platform must not be handed over to some shady third-party company! If the game's going to be outsourced, it has to be approved by all seven families to