Primordial Draconic Incubus With A Gourmet Chef System

Back in the alleyway, Nai Yulan glanced in the direction they left for a few minutes, then slowly, he exhaled a breath of air.

"I was wrong brothers. Bai Shishi cares too much about his sons to go against the Black Fire Bandits." Depressed, he slumped onto a crate. Too depressed to care about the hard surface.

"I told you Bai Shishi's a coward. But you didn't listen. What a waste of time." A female voice came from the alleyway, and soon, the appearance of the female came into view.

"Sai Kwa, laugh it up." Nai Yulan rubbed his temples in annoyance, then glanced at the man beside her, Sai Ku, who looked as though he was struggling to hold in his laughter. "Damn. Just laugh already. Who or what are you waiting for? An invitation?"

As if that was what he was waiting for, Sai Ku burst out into laughter.

For a few seconds, the Sai couple laughed, until Nai Yulan had enough.

"Are you done laughing? Or do you two plan to keep going?"

It was already worse enough his good fortune did not bear fruit, now he had been subjected to laughter by his own men.

Seeing that Nai Yulan was truly angry now, Sai Ku and Sai Kwa wisely shut their mouths, not daring to laugh.

"What's taking Gun Yi so damn long? He should be here by now. Alabaster Hotel is on the other side of the city, but it's not that far." Nai Yulan said after a moment.

Sai Ku shrugged.

"He probably got held up."

The others felt his words made sense, except for one, who said suspiciously, "Or, maybe he realized we're walking into a trap. We all sort of know Bai Shishi well enough now. He's a coward, but not a fool."

Nai Yulan furrowed his brows.

"You think he's setting us up? I doubt it."

The bandit said after a moment of hesitation, "He could be holding out, trying to string us along until he's ready to make the final move."

"You guys have some wild imaginations." A youthful voice suddenly said with a hint of humor, then chuckled.

Nai Yulan shook his head when he heard the familiar voice.

Soon, the source of the voice appeared — an ordinary-looking young man.

"Gun Yi, what took you so long?" Nai Yulan looked at him and chuckled, then continued with a wink, "Were you that reluctant to leave Han Jui? He has to work. You shouldn't keep him away fr-"

"Boss, I get it. Also, stop with the jokes." The young man, Han Jui, who was none other than the young man who appeared in the dark alleyway with a cigarette and a lighter in hand, interrupted him bitterly.

"I knew you guys didn't need me to handle Ember Lions Pride, so I spied on Min Kao."

"Hmm?" Nai Yulan furrowed his brows. "Why the Hell are you spying on him? Did you hit your head? He's our brother. He's given us so much help by being an employee of Alabaster Hotel."

Sai Ku added, "Boss is right. He's given so much for our gang."

Gun Yi shook his head and took out a cigarette from his pocket. After lighting it, he took a long drag.

"Boss, let's be real for a second. Min Kao was the last to join us. Out of everyone in our gang, we barely know the guy. Sure, he's helped us. Who in our gang hasn't helped each other? But today, something felt off as he reported Bai Shishi's movements, so I trailed him."

Sai Ku's eyes narrowed.

"You're saying he's lumped himself in with the Ember Lions Pride?"

Gun Yi thought for a bit and continued, "No, with what I saw, it didn't look like that."

"What did you see? Cut to the chase." Nai Yulan snapped

Gun Yi nodded and went on, "I saw him accepting Mana Stones from the Ice Thunder Quadruplets. After that, he entered their carriage and they left Alabaster City."

Hearing this, everyone's expression darkened.

"WHAT!?"

"Mana Stones from the Ice Thunder Quadruplets?"

"Those bastards would never work with just anyone. What's Min Kao doing with them?"

Not even for a second did they believe Gun Yi was lying. Even though he was weak and his Mage Rank stagnated, when it came to his loyalty to Nai Yulan, no one but the married Sai couple could best him.

Gun Yi exhaled a slow puff of smoke. He watched the ring made of smoke travel into the sky for a while, until it disappeared, then said grimly, "Boss I'm telling you — whatever loyalty Min Kao had to us is as good as gone. Those bastard quadruplets don't give away Mana Stones like candy. If he's taking money from them, it means that he's working for them."

The longer he talked, the darker Nai Yulan's face became.

Sai Ku spat on the ground.

"Min Kao's not just straying from loyalty, this is no different from betrayal. We trusted him, took him in, and this is how he repays us?"

"Damn snake." Sai Kwa added venomously.

"So what's the plan, boss?" Gun Yi took a last drag of his cigarette, then threw it on the ground, and crushed it beneath his shoes.

The hidden meaning behind his action was obvious to everyone. Min Kao had played his part in their gang, but now he was useless. They did not need a scumbag like him around, so why keep him? It was better to crush him beneath the soles of their shoes.

Finally, after listening to their chatter, a cold smirk appeared on Nai Yulan's face.

"I'm going to make him wish he never betrayed us." He lifted his upper body off the crate and looked intently into Gun Yi's eyes, "You said he left Alabaster City, right?"

"That's right, boss. He left with the quadruplets." Gun Yi nodded without a change in his expression.

He then added after a thought with a sigh, "I don't know where they went."

Nai Yulan sighed and shook his head.

"We have no choice but to wait. Let's go back to our hideout and wait for those bastards to return." Continue your journey at My Virtual Library Empire

With that, he jumped off the crate and led his men back to their home.

—----------------

Meanwhile, slightly over five minutes ago, in a park surrounded in absolute darkness, with nothing but a flickering street lamp occasionally illuminating a beautiful pink-haired young girl laying soundly asleep on a young man in a red suit and red pants thigh.

Accompanying her shallow breathing, the only other sound was intermittent snoring.

'Damn. Even her snores are cute. How the Hell does even her snores sound melodic?'

After glancing at the peacefully sleeping beautiful face, Lucian looked up at the half-moon in the sky. He sighed. Just mere seconds ago, Lily had cried herself to sleep in his embrace. The cold night wind had dried off the wetness from his shirt, but what was left in its place were stiff patches.

When the street light briefly flickered on, two streaks of dried tears could be seen on her gorgeous face.

'Maybe I was too hasty in telling her about my past.'

'But was I?'

'Was I wrong to tell her?'

'I felt like it was right.'

Lucian had many questions… yet… no one to answer them… except the tears from his Lily already conveyed more than what any person could.

Action always spoke louder than words.

And this time… like any other time… proved the saying true.

He had been too early to tell Lily.

But, when would have been the right time, if not now?

Even the smallest deceit had the power to break unbreakable bonds.

He had seen relationships that existed for millennia end within seconds simply because of a single insignificant lie.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to tell Lily, but did he regret doing so? Yes, but he would be lying if he said he only regretted the decision.

'Life is complex. It's nowhere as simple as Web Novels, anime, and manga made it out to be.'

It was then, as Lucian was wallowing in confusion, a familiar, annoying mechanical voice sounded in his mind:

[Host, I can see you aren't in the right state of mind, but we have an issue… a big one.]

Slightly irritated, Lucian massaged his forehead for a few moments, then let out a deep sigh, but made sure it was quiet enough not to wake up Lily. It was only then, he gave a noncommittal grunt, indicating to Nyx he was listening.

[Host, after Pei Buhan and I parted ways with you and Lily, while disguised as an ant, I saw an employee from Alabaster Hotel acting suspiciously. I followed him into an alleyway, and like you predicted, Warring Sharks were onto us from the beginning. The employee is one of the gang's bandits, he disclosed our information to another bandit.]

Lucian frowned.

[And, what of it? You said something like this before, didn't you?]