039 I Really Am Not a Wanted Criminal

Mo Bai took a few minutes to recover on the ground before finally sitting up. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Mu Sheng tying up Cao Chen with a rope.

Mo Bai raised an eyebrow. "He's not dead?"

"Not yet." Mu Sheng pulled the rope tight into a secure knot, then turned around and waved the gun in his hand. "I used a tranquilizer round; the destructive power isn't as high as it looks."

"A Transcendent at the Transformation stage isn't that easy to off, anyway."

"He looks like he's dead, but he's actually just asleep."

Youth is a wonderful thing; you can just drop your head and drift off.

"Alright, let's talk."

Mo Bai gave him a dead-fish stare, looking thoroughly disappointed as he picked up the submachine gun Mu Sheng had tossed aside and fiddled with it. "Weren't you the unemployed college student struggling to find work?"

"Just yesterday you were discussing selling your dignity to get by, and today you're out here blasting people with a gun? What are you, Agent Smith now?"

"My situation aside, how about you, Old Mo?"

Mu Sheng’s expression turned solemn. "At your age, in this stage of your life, how could you turn to drugs?"

"It’s mind-boggling."

Mu Sheng grabbed Mo Bai by the shoulders, his voice filled with earnest concern. "Old Mo, I know it hasn't been easy raising such a cute little sister all by yourself, and that life is tough."

"But no matter how hard things get, you can't resort to drugs! That stuff ruins lives!"

"It destroys your health and wastes your money."

"Do you want to die young, leaving a heartbroken Mo Mo to sink into despair and follow you to the grave?"

"If things are really that desperate, given your condition, you could always sell your dignity and become a top-tier gigolo. Bite your lip, lean against the wall—a little pain is better than doing drugs."

"Think of your father who died in a difficult birth, think of your mother who ran away from home, think of your cute little sister..."

Watching Mu Sheng ramble on, Mo Bai was left completely stunned. He quickly stopped him. "Hold it, hold it. I haven't seen you for one night, did a donkey kick you in the head?"

"When have I ever taken drugs?"

"Unless you're counting the instant coffee powder I brewed the other day?"

Mu Sheng sighed. "Don't try to hide it from me, Old Mo."

"I saw it all."

"That pink powder, that smell—don't think I don't know, that's 'Nostalgia'! You kept it on you and were so careful not to let me touch it. Tell me, if that’s not drugs, what is?"

Mo Bai: "..."

He suddenly understood everything.

And so, the look Mo Bai gave Mu Sheng gradually became quite meaningful. In his memory, having grown up as his best friend who shared everything, Mo Bai was certain that just a few months ago, Mu Sheng had been a perfectly ordinary person.

Well, aside from being a bit dim-witted and having a few screws loose.

However, in just the few months since he left North Sui City, he had become a Transcendent?

What kind of trauma did you go through?

Did you try to woo a girl using advice from a dating sim, get called a creep, and end up in jail?

After contemplating countless tragic possibilities, Mo Bai looked at Mu Sheng with pity and slowly spoke. "Old Mu, do you know about the Bureau of Control?"

"The Bureau of Control? Of course I know them."

Mu Sheng looked puzzled. "They're just the cops of the Transcendent world in East Xia. They’re a huge pain in the neck; last time I... wait. How do you know about the Bureau of Control?"

Mo Bai said expressionlessly, "Mo Mo works at the Bureau of Control. She’s a team leader."

"That bag of 'Nostalgia' was a sample she brought home for me to look at, just to warn me to be careful."

"I really wasn't taking it."

Mu Sheng: "?"

His expression shifted rapidly—turning pale, then purple, as if he had suffered a decade’s worth of brain damage. No, make that twenty years.

*Oh, hell! Oh, hell!*

Mo Mo works at the Bureau of Control? How could he have had such a dream?

Doesn't that mean...

Mu Sheng slowly loosened his grip on Mo Bai’s shoulders, swallowed hard, and his legs began to shake. "So, uh, is that for real?"

"Our little sister really works at the Bureau of Control?"

"Of course. You aren't a complete idiot; why would I tease you about that?"

Mo Bai looked at Mu Sheng, his gaze meaningful. "Why are you shaking? Why do you look so terrified?"

"No, nothing. Just a bit shocked, that's all."

Mu Sheng forced a laugh. "By the way, about me being a Transcendent, you absolutely cannot tell Mo Mo. Seriously, you must not..."

Mo Bai went straight to the point. "Are you a wanted criminal?"

"No, I'm not!" Mu Sheng jumped up as if a mysterious switch had been flipped. "What wanted criminal? I'm not, I didn't, don't spread rumors."

"I’ll sue you for slander!"

"You're really not?"

"I'm really not!"

Mu Sheng looked at Mo Bai with earnest, blinking eyes, though his expression carried a hint of sleaze.

Facing Mu Sheng’s desperate denial, Mo Bai simply picked up his phone in silence and dialed a number. "Hello? Yeah, it's me. Sis, I have something to tell you: your brother Mu Sheng is a want—"

"Stop! Stop it! Old Mo, I'll talk, I'll talk, okay?!"

Mu Sheng slid across the floor to reach Mo Bai’s side. "Cough, it’s not actually that serious. I just did a few unimportant little things, and the Bureau of Control happened to take note of it..."

"What’s the bounty?"

"Three... three million..."

"How much?!"

Mo Bai’s eyes widened, looking at Mu Sheng in disbelief. "What did you do in just a few months to rack up a three-million bounty?? Did you do 'that' to the old sow at the village gate?"

"What are you talking about? I really just did a few insignificant things!"

"You have to believe me!"

"Oh, I believe you, I certainly believe you..." Mo Bai silently picked up his phone again. "Hello, Sis, your brother has a three-million-dollar target here..."

"Hey! What kind of 'believe' is that!"

After a round of bickering, both of them lay on the ground, breathing heavily. Mo Bai asked out of the blue, "Have you killed anyone?"

"Of course I have."

Mu Sheng answered without hesitation. "There is no such thing as a Transcendent who hasn't killed."

He added softly, "Once you step outside the boundaries of everyday life, you face malice that flows like an endless tide."

"Really, it’s enough to drown a person alive."

"This world isn't as bad as you imagine, but it isn't as beautiful as you think, either."

"However."

Mu Sheng sat up from the ground and looked at Mo Bai seriously. "There is one thing I can guarantee."

"I have never killed an innocent person."

"That is the limit of what I can do."

Mu Sheng watched Mo Bai nervously. "Old Mo, you... you believe me, right?"

Having confessed so much, Mu Sheng felt truly insecure. Especially since Mo Mo was a cop.

Seeing Mu Sheng’s cowardly look, Mo Bai couldn't help but laugh. "What are you so afraid of? What kind of friendship do we have? You think I don't know who you are?"

"You're the kind of soft-hearted fool who would throw his own meal money into the bowl of a con artist faking a disability on the street."

He couldn't imagine a version of Mu Sheng who would kill the innocent indiscriminately.

Besides, Mo Bai himself had killed two 'Shadows,' and Lu Yuan’s death was tied to him as well. He wasn't about to play the saint and judge Mu Sheng from a moral high ground—he wasn't that much of an idiot.

Not to mention, Mu Sheng had come to save him.

Mo Bai walked toward the still-unconscious Cao Chen. "Don't worry, I won't tell Mo Mo about your situation."

"You knocked this guy out instead of killing him, so you must be planning to extract some information, right?"

Mo Bai pulled a bag of spicy snacks from his pocket and took a bite. He was quickly left gasping and pouting from the heat. "Then hurry up, *hiss*..."

"I still have to go to work this afternoon."