For some reason, when Yu Yi heard Yue Tao speak about Meng Qing this way, she felt displeased and defended him, “He’s not a fool. It’s because I look too much like his wife. He is extremely devoted to his wife and mistook me due to missing her too much.”
Yue Tao teased her, “Miss, are you so eager to defend that gentleman because you’ve fallen for him?”
Yu Yi’s face instantly turned bright red, and she spat, “How improper! Have I been too good to you that you dare to tease me so rudely? Instead of wasting time chattering, quickly go prepare hot water. I’ll bathe and then rest.”
“Yes. We obey your command.” Yue Tao and Chun Yan laughed and retreated from the room.
Soon after the bathwater was ready, Meng Qing waited for Yu Yi to leave the bedroom, then silently pushed open the lattice window and placed the jade dragonfly on the table.
As he was about to turn and leave, he felt a strong reluctance, wanting to look at her a while longer. Without the memory of that person, she was no longer the one he had loved, and he had lost his memories of her. Strangely, just thinking about leaving here and never seeing her again made his chest suddenly ache.
Meng Qing stood in place for a moment, realizing he was now a voyeur. He smiled. Earlier, she had defended him, and when the maid teased her about having feelings for him, she hadn’t denied it.
Perhaps she harbored some good feelings toward him, but that was all they were – just good feelings. She would no longer suffer family destruction; her family was now complete and happy, and she would eventually marry a suitable official’s son.
He finally resolved to leave for her own good and should not disturb her again. “Goodbye,” he silently murmured, preparing to depart, when he heard an unusual sound from the other side of the room, as if someone was quietly approaching.
He quickly retreated a few steps, hiding behind the wall corner. Wearing an infrared imaging device, he could see a figure gradually approaching her window, reaching out to attach something to the inner side of the window. This movement was familiar to Meng Qing, something he often did when monitoring targets. The figure made this single movement, then raised their left arm, sliding their fingers on it a few times before vanishing into thin air.
Meng Qing was even more surprised. This was clearly another time-space traveler. Why were they monitoring Yu Yi? If there was indeed a related mission, why did they leave this time-space immediately after installing the monitoring device? Usually, one should not leave until the mission was completed.
Meng Qing called Lin Bai: “Is there any related mission in this time-space now?”
“Our group doesn’t have one. Wait a moment, let me check the mission list of other action groups.”
“After a while, Lin Bai replied, “Other groups don’t have a mission here either.”
“That’s strange…” Meng Qing described the scene he just witnessed to Lin Bai.
Lin Bai also found it puzzling, “Are you sure that was a mission executor? Maybe it was a special police officer from the Investigation Bureau… But if it were special police, why would they monitor the young lady of the Hou mansion?”
Meng Qing’s heart sank: “I know why now.”
“Why?”
“Send me back first. I’ll tell you in your room.”
Meng Qing raised his eyebrows: “Top secret level? As long as the file is on the server, I can decrypt it.”
“Your terminal is registered, don’t mess around!” Lin Bai warned him.
Meng Qing curved his lips in a smile: “Of course I won’t be stupid enough to use this terminal.” He replaced the terminal and then looked up at Lin Bai: “Just to be safe, send me to any time and space where there are no people around, and then act as if you know nothing about this.”
Lin Bai advised worriedly: “Why are you looking for trouble? Didn’t you say you don’t remember her? Besides, she’s only under surveillance now and may not be arrested. Is it worth taking such a risk for her?”
Meng Qing’s smile faded, and he said seriously to Lin Bai: “Although I don’t remember her, I still care about her. I don’t know why, but I can’t let her go.”
You can rest assured that no matter what I do, I won’t implicate you.”
Lin Bai got angry: “What are you talking about? I’m advising you not to take risks because I care about you. Do you think I’m afraid of being implicated? We’ve known each other for so many years, and you still see me this way?!”
“Shh—keep your voice down, don’t get so excited. You’ve always been my good brother. What I meant was that as long as you’re still the team leader, I can find you to save me if something happens to me.” Meng Qing felt warm inside and smiled, patting Lin Bai’s shoulder.
“That’s more like it.” Lin Bai opened the terminal while speaking, “If you need help, you must find me.”
Meng Qing blinked and found himself in an extremely dark place with not a single ray of light. He pulled the corner of his mouth: “Lin Bai, when I said to send me somewhere without people, I didn’t mean inside a tomb.”
“Which eye of yours saw a coffin? Or saw burial objects? This is clearly just a basement.”
Meng Qing turned on the terminal and shone it around, discovering several wooden boxes in a corner against the wall. He walked over, casually brushing away the dust and cobwebs from the boxes, then sat down on one and used the program to hack into the Temporal Management Bureau’s system.
He was surprised to find that the Temporal Management Bureau was not as uninformed about Yu Yi as Lin Bai had said.
The files recorded all the missions she had ever been on, including those she completed independently and those with him as a partner. The recent addition was her assassination of Chen Gao and the alteration of the temporal process.
However, these files did not record Yu Yi’s personal affairs, which meant the bureau did not know she was married to him.
Meng Qing was unsure how the Temporal Management Bureau achieved this. Perhaps they had a special method to preserve the original mission records in a specific time and space, unaffected by temporal process changes. This would allow them to trace the source of any temporal anomalies and prevent people like Yu Yi from changing historical processes without their knowledge.
The bureau had not immediately arrested Yu Yi because the Investigation Department had conflicting opinions about her actions. One view was that the crime of changing the temporal process was committed by Yu Yi when she was an executor, but that Yu Yi had disappeared. Strictly speaking, she “has not yet committed a crime” and has no concept of time travel, so she should not be arrested.
Another view argued that the former executor Yu Yi and the fourteen-year-old Yu Yi were the same person.
Even if she was completely unaware and had no intention of continuing to commit crimes, she should still be arrested and punished.
Finally, the Investigation Department compiled a thick report and submitted it to the Deputy Director for the bureau’s final decision.
Meng Qing frowned. As far as he knew, the current bureau director was a conscientious person, which meant he strictly adhered to regulations. He was highly likely to approve her arrest.
He contacted Lin Bai: “Lin Bai, the bureau now knows everything Yu Yi has done and will likely arrest her. Send me near her home now.”
Lin Bai worried: “Meng Qing, have you thought this through? Do you really want to go against the bureau? Most of those special police are former executors. It’s not an exaggeration to say they’re battle-hardened.”
“I can’t explain clearly. I just know I must do this. Lin Bai, stop talking and send me over quickly. Our time flow is roughly equivalent to the bureau’s standard time. I want to take her away before they officially issue the arrest warrant. It’ll be too late if the order comes down!”
“Are you sure she’ll go with you?” Lin Bai pointed out the key issue.
