Qin Siyang's inner turmoil didn't show on his face at all.
He stood with his back to the computer, his gaze fixed on Wang Defa, his entire face hidden in shadow—leaving Wang Defa's heart perpetually in his throat.
Wang Defa swallowed hard, his stubble-covered Adam's apple bobbing twice. A bead of sweat trickled down his chin and splattered on the floor.
"So if you want to register a fake ability with the Sequence Ability Administration Bureau, you can't go there directly."
"You'll need someone to pull the strings for you."
Qin Siyang's mind reeled again. *Someone inside the Administration Bureau would dare help falsify an ability registration?*
*Were there that many people like him, desperate to keep their true abilities a secret?*
But he didn't voice these questions. A lowly internet café owner like Wang Defa would never have the answers.
He only asked what Wang Defa could actually tell him.
"Who do I go to here?"
"Sir, I… I don't know the exact person," Wang Defa stammered, his eyes darting nervously toward the shadowed figure. "I'm not a Sequence Ability user. Just knowing *this much* was a miracle."
Qin Siyang let out a cold snort. "If you don't know who to ask, everything you've said so far is useless."
Wang Defa's face twisted in indecision for a long moment. He glanced at Qin Siyang in the shadows, then blurted out, "I don't know who to ask for help, but I have a rough idea who can lead you to the mole inside the Administration Bureau."
"Name."
"Roylena. The blonde female officer from the police station."
"Roylena?"
Qin Siyang knew next to nothing about the police. He'd never interacted with officers face-to-face—at least not openly.
Any dealings he'd had with them had been in the shadows, a silent battle of wits and anonymity.
"Yes, Roylena. I found out about this because about three years ago, she came to my café and asked me to tweak the settings so she could use a computer with a hidden IP address."
"I… I thought she was really beautiful, with her blonde hair and blue eyes. I got curious about what she was up to."
"So you spied on her computer?"
"I did…"
It clicked for Qin Siyang then. Liu Dazhi's penchant for spying on customers hadn't been a quirk—it had come straight from his boss.
The difference was, Wang Defa knew where to draw the line. He understood what to do with the information he gleaned, and what to leave alone. Liu Dazhi, however, had only picked up his boss's bad habit, not his sense of self-preservation.
"She was talking to someone anonymously on a chat interface, and this exact topic came up. She begged the person to fix her identity for her. A Sequence Ability user—what identity could she possibly need fixed? The only thing I can think of is faking her ability."
"Later, I heard she'd joined the police station, and that her ability was [Scent Tracker]—the kind the police covet more than anything. That only made me more certain she was hiding something."
"If she was really a [Scent Tracker], why would she be worried about her identity?"
Qin Siyang nodded slightly. Wang Defa's reasoning held water. Roylena's true ability was almost certainly not what she'd claimed.
"Did the other person leave any clues?"
Wang Defa wracked his brain, then shook his head. "Nothing. They were anonymous too. All I remember is their chat room alias: [Dreamweaver]."
"But those aliases are randomly assigned and change every day. He was [Dreamweaver] that day, but who knows what he'll be called next time. So I don't think that's much of a lead."
Qin Siyang thought for a moment, then asked, "What were the terms of their deal?"
"One silver coin. Roylena hid it under a floor tile near one of the safe zone's exits. Once the person got the money, they'd forge her registration information for her."
"Did you ever try to get there first and steal Roylena's silver coin?"
Wang Defa let out a bitter laugh. "Sir, I'd never dare! If I stole her coin, she'd immediately guess I'd been spying on her. That would ruin my café's reputation for good!"
"You know as well as I do that I'm just a figurehead here—a glove for the real boss. The bulk of the profits go to him. If he found out I'd risked his business for a little extra cash, he'd skin me alive!"
"You're smarter than you look."
Wang Defa didn't take the compliment as a kindness. His voice was thick with resentment. "I'm a regular guy dealing with Sequence Ability users every single day. If I wasn't sharp, I'd be dead a hundred times over by now."
"Though… out of curiosity, I did go check that floor tile later, when I had the time."
"Did you find anything?"
"Only a Sequence Ability user could get close to it."
"Why?"
"Because that tile is right next to the main gate of the safe zone exit—it's in the rest area for Sequence Ability users. There are people coming and going there all day long."
"If there are people there all the time, how did Roylena manage to hide the coin under it?"
"I have no idea. Maybe she picked a moment when no one was looking. Sir, that's everything I know. I swear."
Qin Siyang fell silent for a long time, his mind racing as he plotted his next move.
From Wang Defa's account, it wasn't hard to deduce that [Dreamweaver], the mole inside the Administration Bureau, must have access to all of Roylena's personal information.
Otherwise, they couldn't have created a fake identity tailored specifically to her.
But the anonymous nature of the deal told Qin Siyang something else: Roylena probably had no idea who [Dreamweaver] really was.
Which meant Qin Siyang would be trading with a complete stranger—handing over all his own information while the other party remained safely hidden in the shadows.
It was like giving someone a permanent hold over him, a weapon they could use to blackmail him at any time. And Qin Siyang would never accept being so vulnerable.
"Alright. I've heard enough. Thank you. But there's one more thing I need your help with."
"Anything, sir. Just say the word."
"I'm a bit short on cash right now. Lend me a silver coin to cover the cost of forging my ability registration."
Wang Defa stared at him in stunned disbelief.
He'd groveled, he'd risked his neck, he'd spilled every secret he had—*all for one silver coin*.
And now Qin Siyang wanted to *borrow* another one?! What had it all been for?!
Qin Siyang knew his request was brazen, but he had no other way to come up with a silver coin.
He couldn't exactly go kill someone just for that, could he?
"Sir, this is too much! You're just toying with me!"
"I said *lend*. Once I join the Sequence Ability Administration Bureau, I'll pay you back double."
"You know full well I wouldn't bother explaining any of this if I was just going to rob you."
Wang Defa scoffed at the empty promise. Double the money meant nothing if he was dead before he could spend it.
"Sir, I've dealt with people asking for credit before, but a whole silver coin? I… I can't do that."
"I don't have time for this nonsense. Choose: either you lend me a silver coin, or I take it. And if you want to try reporting me to the police, be my guest."
Qin Siyang didn't wait for a response. He turned back to the computer, his voice cold and final. "You're a smart man. You know what's best for you. Now get out. I need to use the computer. I'll be at your café door tomorrow night—bring the silver coin then."
Wang Defa clenched his fists so tight his knuckles turned white. He stood rooted to the spot, staring at Qin Siyang's back, unable to speak.
"Don't do anything stupid," Qin Siyang said, his tone casual, as if he was commenting on the weather. "Think about your family."