"King, I don’t know why you would say that. Maybe you’re mad because I lied to you about Eva; I can explain that later. But I must make it clear to you now, although I did meet you and your friend at the restaurant that day, I absolutely did not do anything to her. Aside from speaking to her in front of you, I did not follow you, nor did I take any photos of her. Until today, I haven’t seen her again. If she really disappeared, it has nothing to do with us..."

The more Sonia explained, the more nervous she became.

’If it really was his friend who disappeared, and coincidentally after seeing me that day. If it were me, what would I think? Could his purpose today not be antiques, but to find me?’

Thinking of this, she felt her heartbeat quicken, not the kind you get from seeing someone you like or from desire, but a heartbeat of regret and danger!

Looking into Li Yan’s eyes, sure enough, he said nothing. He seemed relaxed as he smoked, yet his demeanor was chilling. She even felt that the barely visible smoke expanded in slow motion, as if once he finished smoking or the smoke dispersed, he would make a move...

"It’s not my business, not our business, really! Our purpose is just for antiques, for money, and even to avoid making you our enemy. We can set aside Eva’s death, and offer you part of the profits to ally with you. How could we harm your friend at such a crucial time?" Sonia didn’t know if her words would work, so she stayed on guard while continuing to explain:

"Yes, I did lie to you about Eva, but my purpose in lying was simple: I didn’t want you to think you had a vendetta against us! You didn’t come in with me, so I deliberately said Eva wasn’t dead, just to make you realize there’s no life-and-death hatred between you and us Roses. And I used this to ask you, if Eva continued to look for you, please don’t kill her, as a means to reconcile and make connections with you. You once warned me not to disturb your friends, and I also said I’m willing to become friends with her. There’s no way I’d risk offending you by kidnapping your friend."

In fact, Li Yan himself still believed that it should be Yu Xiaodi with Chen Mingying, because that information came from Li Jie via Zhou Yunfei. He also believed that while they were obsessed with antiques, they wouldn’t risk offending him. But just now, seeing Sonia being vague again made him suspect she still had many secrets hidden, so he didn’t mention the six forces but instead brought up Eva. The possibility of someone certified dead by the police and stored in a morgue managing to escape was already low, but surprisingly, it caught Sonia off guard. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

This made him even more suspicious, so he said more, trying to see if Yu Xiaodi might also have been manipulated by them. After all, that day Sonia told Xiaodi she would be happy to become friends with her, which could be interpreted as a guarantee to him, or as having some designs on Yu Xiaodi. Moreover, they lost contact after parting that day, which seemed a bit coincidental.

Of course, he was still bluffing. If Yu Xiaodi really had been kidnapped by them, Chen Mingying wouldn’t be reacting so calmly. If Chen Mingying had been kidnapped too, Yu Hong would have come to him by now.

"Perhaps... could it be related to my rejection of your cooperation?" Li Yan took another puff of his cigarette.

Sonia looked at the glowing tip of the cigarette; it was getting shorter and shorter. When it was finished, it would be time for him to make a decision, to take action!

They were both top-tier assassins; maybe the previous sentence was amicable, but the next could end with guns blazing. The outcome could be decided in an instant!

After holding Li Yan’s gaze for two seconds, Sonia slowly raised her hands in a surrender gesture.

"Okay! Cool down a bit first, I have no ill intentions, and I hope you don’t either." She took the risk to abandon her defense in hopes that King would give more time to talk rather than act impulsively. "Actually, there’s no one else! Just us ’Roses,’ two people, me, Sonia, and the other one, Victoria, and we have an Eva, who is already dead."

"Continue, I always believed you." Li Yan maintained a smile that was hard to read for its authenticity or deceit, "You left a phone behind, I didn’t suspect it might have a bug, nor that it might have a bomb. You give me a SIM card, I didn’t doubt you might track the number. Including everything you say, I believe you. Haha, even if you were to tell me you’ve dyed your hair blonde and suddenly grown a mole, I might believe that too."

Sonia gave a bitter smile, knowing he was speaking sarcastically.

"In your Yun Country, there’s a saying that ’the more you say, the more likely you are to err.’ So, I didn’t want to say more in the first place, only revealing a little more when you saw through it and I had no choice. But it seems like in these two weeks, you’ve done a lot. Since it has come to this, there’s nothing more to hide. In fact, this time, we originally came to Yun Country to look for Eva. After she came here for a mission last time, she sent us some information, including your appearance, but then we lost contact with her. We didn’t know if she was dead, imprisoned by you, or just stayed in Yun Country traveling."