The top floor of the administrative building has been set up as a banquet hall, with hundreds of guests here. Both men and women are elegantly dressed, holding wine glasses and mingling around, creating a lively atmosphere.

Miyata Junren smiled and said, "Today is the 46th anniversary of Venus Eden Garden. These are my garden’s distinguished guests who have given us much help. Taking advantage of the anniversary, I’ve invited them all to gather."

Su Mo was somewhat stunned at the moment.

The guests present were social celebrities, well-known entrepreneurs, and government officials... Each one was an elite of New Moon City.

According to the game plot, a huge explosion will occur at Venus Eden Garden tonight, and all these hundreds of social elites will be buried in the flames.

Such an outrageous event, and yet no news report followed?

This is really too abnormal!

All sorts of anomalies were telling Su Mo that there’s a story behind Venus Eden Garden, and a very large one...

As one of the "New Moon Seven Stars," Su Mo was also considered a social celebrity; his appearance drew quite a bit of attention.

"Hey, Director Su, good evening."

"Nice to meet you, I’ve heard your name for long, care for a drink together?"

"Director Su is also interested in Eden Garden?"

Su Mo didn’t engage much in conversation, merely offering polite smiles to those who greeted him; his mind was entirely focused on the impending explosion.

It was already evening, less than two hours until the explosion would occur at 7:23 PM.

No matter the reason behind the explosion, the death of hundreds of New Moon City elites was undoubtedly a bad thing for him.

Firstly, with such large families and businesses, they might have dealings with the Edge Mercenary Corps in the future, being potential clients.

More importantly, if everything here was blown to the skies, it would be very hard for him to uncover the hidden story behind it.

Therefore, he needed to think of a way to prevent the explosion.

Directly shouting "there’s a bomb here" certainly wouldn’t work.

Not to mention whether others would believe him.

Even if they did, explaining why he knew there was a bomb would be quite troublesome.

This had to be done cleverly to smooth things over.

Su Mo excused himself by saying he had a stomach ache, hid in the bathroom sitting on the toilet lid, and took out his tablet from his bag.

Before entering Venus Eden Garden, he had already laid down mini reconnaissance robots outside. These were made by Future and had been used against Ou Chenyu before.

Su Mo manipulated the mini robot on the tablet, watching the real-time transmitted footage.

He first checked some conventional places, like warehouses and ventilation ducts, but didn’t find any clues.

After searching for over an hour, the bomb still hadn’t been found.

At this point, Su Mo recalled that Miyata Junren had mentioned that to enhance living comfort, Venus Eden Garden had undergone a large-scale renovation earlier that year, rerouting many of the underground pipes.

"Could the perpetrator have taken that opportunity..."

Su Mo immediately commanded the robot to find the entrance to the underground pipes and let it crawl in.

The underground pipes extended in all directions, penetrating the entire Eden Garden’s foundation. Except for periodic maintenance every few years, no one essentially went in here.

The robot passed over a junction, reaching the position of a main pipe.

Even though Su Mo was mentally prepared, seeing the footage transmitted to the screen, he couldn’t help but gasp.

Explosives...

All high explosives at a glance...

...

[Anmi New District, Nighttime 19:22]

The night is quiet, only the distant city lights pepper the night sky.

Qi Ling, wearing a graceful Lolita dress, sat on the edge of the rooftop of a villa, her white stocking-covered legs hanging outside, swaying leisurely.

Her amber eyes reflected the vast night sky, lips lightly parted in a smile, singing a beautiful chant:

"The years quietly pass, the past like smoke."

"Memories full of scars, nothing can erase."

She sang softly while picking up the item beside her.

It was a pink-coated revolver, not a toy gun for kids but a custom-made real gun.

She held the revolver, slender fingers picking up bullets, loading them into the chamber one by one. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"This is my promise to you."

The black Labrador she raised had unknowingly been placed outside the villa, the vast Anmi New District at its disposal to run.

But the dog hadn’t left; it seemed to sense something, looking up at its owner at the edge of the rooftop, pacing back and forth anxiously, whining constantly, even trying to scratch open the tightly closed door.

Time slowly passed, soon reaching 19:23.

"You have become the ghost of time."

"I shall also become a ghost to transcend time."

"Swish." The last bullet was chambered.

"3."

Qi Ling smiled, pulling down the revolver’s hammer, pointing the gun under her silver hair towards her temple, starting the countdown to life.

"2."

Her amber eyes reflecting distant lights glowing faintly, shining like gems, filled with longing for death.

"1."

She placed her finger on the trigger, her other hand slowly raised, like a conductor about to raise a rhapsody, her face flushed with intoxicating enthusiasm.

"BOOM."

She murmured as she pulled the trigger.

The Labrador’s howling reached a peak of anguish.

Above the night sky, the lights remained bright, no sound transmitted.

...only the howling echoed.

At the moment the trigger was about to go over the firing point, Qi Ling’s finger stopped.

She looked towards the distant night sky, tilting her head slightly, a trace of confusion in her eyes.

"BOOM."

No sound.

"BOOM."

No fire.

"BOOM."

Everything anticipated was absent.

"Hmm?" Qi Ling uttered a puzzled ponder, glancing at the time on her phone.

19:24.

Time had passed.

She placed her finger on her lips, her eyes full of confusion.

At this moment, a news alert appeared in her phone’s information bar.

[Breaking News: Anmi New District Public Security Bureau Thwarts Bombing Attack on Venus Eden Garden]

Qi Ling clicked on it, the video was showing a news reporter seriously broadcasting to everyone: "Audience, I’m now standing at the entrance of Venus Eden Garden."

"About an hour ago, Anmi New District Public Security Bureau received an anonymous tip-off call, claiming the garden would face a bombing attack tonight."

"The Public Security Bureau swiftly dispatched forces. After a thorough search, a large amount of explosives was found in the underground pipes of the garden. Bomb disposal experts have dismantled them all, with no casualties."

"Who placed those explosives? What was the purpose? Who made the anonymous phone call? The case is still under further investigation. Please stay tuned for our subsequent reports."

Qi Ling tilted her head, self-muttering in confusion: "Strange, normally no one would go in there, how did you know there was a bomb?"

The live broadcast continued, the camera showing the guests evacuating.

Qi Ling looked at those faces she recalled day after day, identifying them one by one until her gaze fixed.

She pressed the pause button.

The frame froze on a young man’s face.

"Huh, who are you?" Qi Ling looked at the young man, pondering, "There shouldn’t have been you among the guests tonight."

She finished watching the broadcast, confirming there was only this one unexpected guest on site, and then screenshotted his face, opening image search software.

This youth was quite famous, and soon, various matching information related to him popped up.

Qi Ling looked at the information, murmuring, "Su Mo, leader of Edge Mercenary Corps, Omen Star of the New Moon Seven Stars..."

"Hmm... You weren’t on the guest list, why did you appear tonight? Did you ruin my plan?"

Her smiling lips curved up into a deep arc, amber eyes filled with a dangerous smile.

"Then you shall play with me a little."