"Cecil, what happened to your arm?" Lu Xia asked, noticing the red mark on it.

The atmosphere at the dining table fell silent. Cecil looked up. "I just bumped it by accident. There’s no need to worry, Duke Lu Xia."

"Alright. Go have the housekeeper put some ointment on it later."

"Okay."

After breakfast, Lu Xia got up and left for work.

Smelian looked at Cecil. "You didn’t have to cover for me."

Cecil leaned back in his chair and looked at Smelian. "Who said I was covering for you? I’m not that nice. I’m keeping this as leverage. What were you doing last night? You reek of blood."

Hearing this, Smelian’s expression stiffened for a moment. Although he hid it quickly, Cecil had been staring right at him; there was no way he could have missed it.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about." Smelian stood up, clearly not intending to continue the conversation.

The corners of Cecil’s lips curled up, but he didn’t say anything. He knew he’d guessed correctly.

’After all, who in this world doesn’t have a few secrets?’ he thought. He wasn’t planning to dig any deeper.

He just found Smelian to be a bit of an eyesore, but not enough to want him dead.

After leaving the house, Smelian knew perfectly well that Cecil was just bluffing. ’He probably doesn’t really know anything, but this is still a nuisance.’

’I’ll just watch him for a while. Cecil had better not try anything.’

*

With progress on the gene fusion agent at the No. 2 Institute slowing down, Lu Xia’s focus shifted back to the No. 1 Institute.

The beauty cream and hair growth liquid were ready for a second-generation upgrade.

At the same time, Lu Xia planned to make time for another trip to the black market to see if she could find anything similar to the Fire Spirit Gene.

’After Smelian reaches a one hundred percent gene fusion degree, it would be best if he also unlocked a superpower. Only then would he be a perfect Gene Fusion Expert, and I don’t like to leave things half-done.’

’When Graces gets back, I’ll have him keep an eye out.’

The thought of Graces made Lu Xia glance at her calendar. He would be back in three days, which was very soon.

She had just put down the calendar when her office door was pushed open from the outside. Lan Ya strode in on three-inch heels, which went CLICK-CLACK on the floor. "Lu Xia! I was just out of town for a bit! How have you managed to get so much done in such a short time? You’re really something else!"

Lu Xia was indeed a little surprised by her sudden appearance.

Thinking back, the last time she had seen Lan Ya was before the beauty cream had even been officially launched.

’I’d almost forgotten about her, and now here she is again.’

She couldn’t help but feel a little curious. "I was about to ask you the same thing. I tried to contact you before, but I couldn’t get through. Where have you been?"

"Where else? I don’t have a career ambition like you. Thanks to you, I earned a lot of money, so naturally, I had to go out and have some fun. I brought back a bunch of things for you; I’ll give them to you later. I just came over today to see you. I heard you even received a Merit Medal personally bestowed by Her Majesty Queen. That’s incredible! At this rate, you’ll be a Prince by the time you’re 30!"

"I’m surprised you could hear about my business, what with how busy you’ve been."

"It’s hard not to hear about you. You’re the talk of the town now." Lan Ya laughed. "Anyway, forget that. Are you free tonight? We haven’t hung out in forever. Let’s go out and have some fun. You haven’t actually gone straight-laced on me, have you?"

Lu Xia was silent for a moment. ’I really should relax a little,’ she thought, then asked, "Where to?"

"Someplace good, of course. There’s a new nightclub over on Old Street. I hear it’s full of..."

"You know I’m not interested in that kind of thing anymore."

"I know, I know. I know you’re different now. But you can’t stop us from having our fun, can you?"

"’Us’?" Lu Xia raised an eyebrow, catching the implication in her friend’s voice.

"Our old friends, of course! Just because you’ve cleaned up your act doesn’t mean you have to cut everyone off, right? Besides, no one means any harm. We just haven’t seen each other in a long time and want to catch up. Don’t be so heartless, okay?"

"When have I ever been heartless? Fine, I’ll go. But let’s be clear: have your fun, but don’t do anything I’d find distasteful. I can’t stand that kind of sordid stuff anymore."

"Got it! We’ll just have some drinks, grab a bite to eat, okay? Now, go get ready, and let’s head out."

"This early?"

"It’s not early! If we go now, we can still catch a performance. And don’t you have to report in to those men at home?"

Lu Xia acted as if she hadn’t heard the teasing in her voice. "Of course I have to tell them. If I don’t come home tonight, won’t they be worried?"

’I wouldn’t do something so impolite.’

Lan Ya clicked her tongue twice. "Tsk, tsk. If I wasn’t sure you hadn’t been replaced by an impostor, I’d swear I don’t even know you anymore. How did you suddenly become so well-behaved?"

"I just didn’t want to live like that anymore," Lu Xia said without the slightest hint of guilt.

’Because not even the most sophisticated instrument in the world could detect what’s different about me. What do I have to be afraid of?’

After tidying up briefly, Lu Xia sent a message to the old housekeeper, telling him not to prepare dinner for her that evening as she was going out with friends.

That way, Smelian and Cecil would naturally find out when they got home.

Once that was done, Lu Xia left the No. 1 Institute with Lan Ya, got into a hovercar, and headed straight for the nightclub Lan Ya had booked in advance.

At this hour, the sky outside hadn’t even gotten dark yet.

Lu Xia didn’t understand what there was to do at a nightclub this early.

As it turned out, there was quite a lot to do. The moment they pushed open the nightclub doors, she could hear music and the excited cheers of a crowd.

Lan Ya grabbed Lu Xia’s arm. "Hurry, it’s already started! We’re late."

"There’s a performance this early?"

"This performance is only on today. If we miss it, we’ll have to wait until next week."

Seeing Lan Ya act as if she’d suffer a great loss if she missed it, Lu Xia couldn’t help but become a little curious herself. She followed Lan Ya inside and was first met with a sea of silhouettes. It was too dark to make out anyone’s features clearly, but the stage itself was brightly lit.

On the stage, a male dressed in light, gauzy clothes was pole dancing. Below the man’s waist was a giant snake tail.

The moment Lu Xia saw it, her expression went completely blank.

’I never should have had any expectations for Lan Ya.’

"So hot! So hot! Look at his waist! How can it be so flexible? AHHHH, I’m dying, I’m dying!" Lan Ya excitedly grabbed Lu Xia’s arm and shook it back and forth, as if it were the only way to express her thrill and excitement.

Lu Xia leaned in closer. "This is the performance you were talking about?"

"This is just one of them! There are more later. We’re not too late. There are other dancers coming up, and they’re all amazing!"

"Are they all like this?" Lu Xia asked. If they were, this was going to be pretty boring.

"Of course not!" Lan Ya gave her a look that screamed, *How could you even ask?* "Just you watch. It’s really amazing and super exciting!"

Lu Xia didn’t argue, simply waiting to see just how "exciting" Lan Ya’s idea of excitement really was!