“Hey, Rinka, I can see the three of you now. I’m at the emergency exit directly opposite your table.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Inside the café, Rinka—wearing her headset—snapped her head in my direction. I slipped one hand out through the crack in the door and waved at her…

As the saying goes, coincidence makes the story. The bar’s back exit was actually inside the café chosen as our command center. No wonder the intel team had been searching outside for ages and found nothing—the target had been sitting right at their starting point all along. A textbook case of hiding in plain sight.

I lowered my voice and warned them, “You’d better be careful too. If this café is as physically connected to the bar, chances are it’s all Rashomon territory.”

“Don’t worry. We were fully disguised from the start. To anyone else, we just look like three girls having a casual get-together.”

As if to sell the act, Rinka added deliberately, “Mmm, this cake is really good.”

That also explained why the earpiece audio was so clear. We were basically one floor apart—strong signal was only natural.

“Alright, if I don’t head back soon, they’ll get suspicious. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Leave it to us! We won’t let Kai-chan sacrifice for nothing!”

“I’m not dead!”

The command center’s job was simply to pass this intel on to Uncle Lei Luo. The police and arrest teams were already in position, waiting to close the net.

I quietly pulled the door shut and turned back toward Long Tao—now very much a she.

She still hadn’t woken up, lying sprawled across the steps in an extremely uncomfortable position. Her wide-brimmed hat had fallen aside, spilling down a cascade of smooth long hair. The stairwell lighting was so dim I couldn’t tell the exact color—maybe tea brown, maybe dark chestnut. In any case, definitely not a proper black.

Her face was delicately pretty in a very ordinary way. She qualified as a cute girl, sure—but nothing especially memorable.

Looking further down, the floral shirt beneath her casual suit jacket was gently pushed up by her chest. No dramatic button-popping, but not flat either. Not small, not huge—just… average.

Utterly average. Even the bust size was perfectly middling.

All in all, Long Tao was just an ordinary pretty girl. Which made sense—she was a mob extra, after all. Blending into the crowd was her destiny…

“Mmnh~”

Unexpectedly, she let out a soft, perfectly ordinary cute little hum. Her eyelids fluttered—she was about to wake up!

Panicking, I scrambled to pull out the notebook and erase her name—damn it, it was too dark! I couldn’t see anything. If I erased the wrong name, I’d be completely screwed!

I bolted downstairs and ducked back to the corner between the stairwell and the corridor. Only then did I find “Long Tao”—just as a sharp scream echoed from the stairwell.

Why the hell are you screaming that loud for?!

She was fully awake now. Her recovery speed was terrifyingly fast.

That scream was definitely going to draw attention. My scalp went numb as I instinctively performed a Dark Souls-style tactical roll, slipped past the kitchen doorway, and dove into the women’s restroom in three moves and two rolls.

“Haa… I really feel like a secret agent now…”

Footsteps passed by outside moments later.

“Hey—Kai-chan, did you blow your cover? We could even hear that scream from here!”

“Relax. Not exposed. Just a minor mishap—I accidentally made a girl. It’s fine, I’m hiding now.”

That’s what I said, but my nerves were shot. My palms were slick with sweat.

Rinka guessed calmly, “Let me guess. You turned the guard—some nameless mook—into a girl, then used the window while she was unconscious to scout, right?”

“Impressive! As expected of you!”

She nailed it. Was this the difference in raw brainpower?

“Well, we did hear a girl screaming. So what’s your plan now? That scream definitely drew people over.”

“No panic. I’ll just turn him back.”

Using the restroom lights, I erased Long Tao’s name.

“Hey—won’t that cause chaos?!”

“It’ll be fine. Science can’t explain it anyway. As long as suspicion doesn’t land on me.”

Rinka thought it through and agreed. “True. No one would believe it even if they talked. And there weren’t many witnesses.”

Honestly, erasing his name now was the best option. The more people who saw her, the worse things would get.

I converted the notebook page back into the tokkōfuku sleeve and walked out of the restroom, pretending I’d just washed my hands, casually looking around.

At the end of the left corridor was the stairwell. Since Long Tao had reverted back, confused chatter was coming from that direction.

To the right lay the bar. Rashomon’s people had already sealed off the corridor. Their response speed was frighteningly fast.

Lu Huangze arrived as well, flanked by two subordinates.

Damn it—our eyes met.

It felt like being locked onto by a dangerous wild animal. I froze in place, unable to take another step.

Wearing that fake, polished smile, he walked over, his tall frame engulfing me in shadow.

“Oh? Miss Lingmeng, are you alright? When I heard the scream, I was worried something might’ve happened to you.”

“Tch, that trash again.”
Rinka clicked her tongue irritably in my earpiece.

I agreed with her sentiment, but unlike Rinka, I had to keep smiling.

“Huh? Me? I’m fine. I was actually wondering what happened myself… Brother Lu, do you know anything?”

“Not yet. My people are investigating. Still… you don’t look too well, Miss Lingmeng.”

Maybe my expression wasn’t convincing enough. He raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, then gestured for his two subordinates to head toward the stairwell while he stayed behind to question me alone.

“By the way… you left in the middle of the meeting. What brought you here?”

As expected, he was wary. Wandering alone on someone else’s turf was bound to raise alarms.

“Oh my, Brother Lu, isn’t that a rather uncouth question?”

“Oh? How so?”

I glanced back toward the women’s restroom and replied flatly:
“To take a dump.”

In my earpiece, Rinka coldly warned, “Kai-chan. Watch your image.”

Lu Huangze clearly hadn’t expected such a blunt answer. His expression stiffened before he managed, “Miss Lingmeng’s personality is certainly… straightforward.”

I’d probably left a bad impression—but if that made him lose interest in me, all the better.

Just then, four goons escorted Long Tao over. Aside from the two who’d gone ahead earlier, Long Tao and the remaining two all looked unnatural—like they’d seen a ghost.

Long Tao glanced at me. He was probably suspicious.

Lu Huangze frowned and got straight to the point. “Long Tao. What happened?”

“Boss, I—I think I just turned into a woman.”

“…Were you on drugs?” Lu Huangze clearly didn’t believe him.

“I’m serious! You all came running because you heard me scream, right?”

“…You’re saying you were the one screaming?”

“Yes! Ah Jia and Ah Yi can back me up!”

Ah Jia and Ah Yi were the two who’d reached the feminized Long Tao first. They’d looked stunned even before the conversation started.

“Then explain.”

Since we don’t know who’s who, let’s call them A and B.

Goon A said, “Boss, we heard the scream and rushed over. There was this really pretty girl sitting on the stairs, totally spaced out.”

Lu Huangze: “A girl?”

Goon B added, “Yeah. Long hair, oval face, wearing Tao-ge’s hat.”

Goon A continued, “We talked to her, and she said she was Long Tao. I didn’t believe her at first… but she knew our names.”

Long Tao gestured angrily at his chest and interrupted, “Yeah—and this b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ Ah Jia even tried to grab my boobs!”

Lu Huangze twitched, then asked, “Then… where is that pretty girl now?”

Goon B pointed at Long Tao.

“She turned back. Tao-ge suddenly glowed white and turned back.”

Long Tao added, “I was dizzy as hell when I came back too.”

Lu Huangze paused for a long moment before asking, “Did all three of you take drugs together?”

He still didn’t believe them. The other two goons who’d just arrived stared at Long Tao and AB like they were insane.

See? In a modern, science-based society, this was the normal reaction.

“Boss… do you think I have some kind of special constitution? Like… under certain conditions, I turn into a woman?”

Lu Huangze sighed and patted Long Tao heavily on the shoulder.

“Long Tao.”

“Yes, boss?”

“Go get yourself a girlfriend.”

His tone carried a faint hint of pity.