The Master’s Mask Unveiled Again
Chapter 974 - 973: Finding the Head of the Mercenary Alliance

Chapter 974: Chapter 973: Finding the Head of the Mercenary Alliance

This was a message from a commander of the God of Death squad.

The other party’s cold, bureaucratic tone left Lu Mian deeply annoyed.

She knew he was now the acting leader of IEG and had the responsibility to assign tasks to various commanders based on their difficulty level. But even when Old Yun was in charge, he’d never ordered her to carry out a task.

The God of Death squad?

On what grounds?

And she can’t even refuse?

Lu Mian leaned against the sink, her expression cold and unyielding, as she shot back a cutting reply.

[If the mission is to kill you, I’d be absolutely thrilled.]

Then, without expression, she put her phone away.

When she turned back to look at Sui Yuan, the icy indifference in her gaze warmed significantly. She ruffled the brim of Little Baldy’s baseball cap and patiently asked, "What is it? You can tell me now, right?"

Sui Yuan tilted her head up, noticing that just moments ago Lu Mian had been seething with anger but had held back because she was there.

Mianmian always carried everything on her own shoulders.

How could she bear to let Mianmian worry about her?

"I just thought that Mr. Jing seemed very harsh and bad-tempered..."

"Ah..." Lu Mian recalled briefly. "Not that bad, really."

She hadn’t encountered Jing Pei’s harsher side herself, but she had seen him verbally lash out at Lu Yutian on stage. That part was, indeed, quite fierce.

"But I did hear his temper is peculiar and his personality is fiery—overall, he’s not easy to get along with," Lu Mian said as she patted Sui Yuan’s head. "Don’t worry. With me here, no one dares show you a bad face."

"Mianmian..."

"What else are you worried about?"

Sui Yuan lowered her head, ensuring Lu Mian wouldn’t see the hint of worry and anxiety flashing across her face. She muttered quietly, "Mianmian, do you have a good relationship with that Mr. Jing?"

"It’s just so-so," Lu Mian bent down, speaking softly to reassure Sui Yuan. "I’ll always be on your side."

"..." Hearing this, Sui Yuan looked up, her eyes bright as they met Lu Mian’s. "Mm!"

She nodded happily, genuinely comforted.

When they headed back, Sui Yuan’s previously tense nerves had relaxed quite a bit.

Lu Mian didn’t follow them back just yet; she leaned lazily against the sink and saw a reply from the God of Death commander.

[Resolve the conflict between the Chixia Sect and the Mercenary Alliance within ten days.]

No explanations, no extra words, and completely ignoring Lu Mian’s refusal. The message was cold and commanding.

"C..."

Lu Mian let out a brief sound of frustration between her teeth.

Within the organization, if the leader strongly assigned a task to a commander, the commander had no choice but to comply.

Resistance or deliberate negligence could ultimately tarnish their personnel file.

Lu Mian understood all too well—this was the God of Death squad betting on her lack of choice but to accept.

After all, she had been previously penalized by the organization and hadn’t taken on many missions before this. Her records didn’t look good. Now, with leadership succession looming, the squad was clearly trying to mess with her.

Unwilling but resigned, Lu Mian replied with two words: [Got it.]

One day, she was going to face off with that squad leader head-on.

Lu Mian returned to the private room, her whole demeanor cold and unyielding, causing the others to hold their breath as they asked her what had happened.

Lu Mian simply waved it off, saying it was nothing, just a dog bite.

Out of nowhere, Xiao Jianli burst into laughter. Lu Mian glanced at the old man in confusion.

"Mianmian, you and Qimo really do make quite the pair. He just said earlier that he got targeted by a mad dog."

"Did he now." Jing Pei piped up boldly, unafraid to back down. "Mianmian, maybe you should check Xiao Qimo’s phone properly. Ever since you left, he’s been glued to it! No idea who he’s chatting with!"

"?"

Lu Mian’s gaze lazily landed on the man beside her.

Xiao Qimo looked utterly wronged as he raised his hands repeatedly in protest.

"Old Jing, what’s your deal? Trying to stir trouble?!" Xiao Jianli, clearly annoyed, stormed at Jing Pei with a barrage of scolding.

Kunyang, caught in between them, wore a helpless expression as he tried to mediate.

Su Luo shook her head at Sui Yuan, exasperated.

"It’s fine. Don’t be scared. They’re always like this. Just fighting for attention," Su Luo remarked with a smirk.

Knowing that Sui Yuan was timid by nature, Su Luo thoughtfully explained and even comforted her in return.

Sui Yuan smiled at Su Luo and clinked her glass with hers lightly.

"I’m okay."

As for Xiao Qimo, after Lu Mian gave him a few glances, she didn’t take it too seriously either.

Director Qimo had his own matters to handle, and she had her own space to maintain.

Not interfering with each other yet being able to rely on one another—Lu Mian found this dynamic quite agreeable.

However, there was one thing she needed to decide on soon.

Lu Mian lowered her gaze, sweeping her lashes downward as she interrupted the old men’s quarrel with a lifted teacup. "Stop arguing."

The three old men immediately fell silent.

"I’m very thankful for everyone coming to see me off. Let me raise this tea in place of wine to thank Grandpa Kun and Grandpa Jing!"

Xiao Jianli raised his cup. "Mianmian, what about me?"

Xiao Qimo was speechless.

Grandpa, are you seriously jealous over this?

He reminded the old man, "You’re her grandfather. Sending her off to college is your duty."

Xiao Jianli instantly lit up. "Yes, yes, yes."

Then he turned to Jing Pei and Kunyang. "You both eat and drink well, alright? Thanks for today..."

Jing Pei: ...

Kunyang: ...

Why don’t we have such accomplished grandsons?!

They were fuming!

"Starting tomorrow, I’ll be joining the military training. Grandpas, give it a rest already," Lu Mian sighed. These three were all behaving like children.

Hearing about the military training, Xiao Jianli felt his heart ache for her.

"Mianmian, school military training is nothing. Let me talk to your principal and have you skip it! No need to go through that hassle!"

Lu Mian thought it unnecessary. The effort of military training was barely anything to her.

"No need, Grandpa Xiao."

This time, Jing Pei had a bright idea and proactively suggested, "Mianmian, why not have your military training at my Chixia Sect instead? The training grounds there are much bigger and better equipped. Several schools have trained there before, and it beats school training by a long shot."

Of course, his real motive was to do Lu Mian a favor.

Finally finding an opportunity to be useful, he naturally wanted to shine.

Lu Mian hesitated momentarily.

Before she could say anything, Jing Pei had already pulled out his phone to contact the principal of Qing University.

The Chixia Sect didn’t take part in family rankings, but its strength was indisputable.

Many bodyguards and secret guards serving major families in Jinjing were trained by the Chixia Sect.

In essence, the Chixia Sect was a training base for enforcers. The prominent families of Jinjing were eager to maintain good relationships with it and would sometimes send members of their families there for training.

After a brief phone call, the matter was settled.

Jing Pei smugly glanced around the room, finally resting his gaze on Lu Mian.

"Little Mian, you can rest assured about your military training now!"

Lu Mian: ...

Alright, fine.

It worked out anyway. The mission assigned by the God of Death squad happened to involve the Chixia Sect. She could complete her task during her training there.

However...

The Mercenary Alliance claimed that the Chixia Sect had taken their boss.

Which meant, in the end, she’d have to find this boss first!