"The 1.5 million International Coin should have already been transferred. The account I provided is managed by Mr. He to launder money and handle transactions for us, because I can’t do it myself on the computer due to potential issues. He Bin is more professional, there should be no problems, and it will be transferred to our account later. It’s just..." Yue Yao hesitated.

"What is it?" Li Yan asked in a low voice, "If you have any suspicions, just say it."

"You were on the scene, which essentially maintained a balance of things for both parties. But... it seems neither side is very satisfied with you. When your friend’s people left, they even threw a bomb at us. If you hadn’t reacted quickly and kicked it away..." Yue Yao trailed off, as she didn’t want to stir things up by saying something unpleasant, given that Li Yan trusts his friends.

This issue had crossed Li Yan’s mind, but he decided not to delve deeper into it. "My friend did not personally take action at the scene. It’s normal for his subordinates to handle things with some resentment. It shouldn’t be taken as a personal vendetta against me."

Though he reassured Yue Yao, he understood deep down that his involvement tonight might have irked both Zheng Yixuan and Old Ten a bit. Even with his justified reasons, it still seemed like he had helped outsiders, especially since money was received through He Bin.

"Hopefully not, perhaps you could explain it to him in detail. Anyway, tonight ’Rose’ and her gang made quite a commotion. I’m sure your friend will understand your intention..."

Li Yan remembered something important and interrupted her: "Before Yurong arrives, please take these things to your room and keep them safe for me..."

He took out a gun and that mysterious stone.

Yue Yao was slightly surprised because Li Yan hadn’t carried a gun for the past few years while on vacation. Although he had rejoined a few operations in the last six months, weapons were always pre-arranged by her logistics team. Tonight he appeared at the scene with a gun, and likely used it!

She wasn’t concerned about investigations based on bullets or trajectory, as the gun and bullets were black market items with no records. However, now that Li Yan had adapted well to urban life, suddenly having a gun might frighten his civilian friends, and would be hard to explain or deal with. He couldn’t just silence them, could he?

So as soon as she saw it, she quickly took it and hid it under her clothes.

"This stone too, keep it hidden! I got it from some antiques, I’ll explain its use when there’s time. But it’s something ’Rose’ is keen to get!" Li Yan gently reminded her, so she wouldn’t feel it needed to be concealed like the gun.

Listening to him, Yue Yao nodded, then her eyes lit up, years of tacit understanding made her grasp Li Yan’s intention.

"Helping Rose and her gang wasn’t just to avoid enmity, it wasn’t for money either, you wanted to get this stone? You let both sides take half to leave, creating an asymmetric information scenario. Make Rose’s side believe the stone was taken by your friend’s side, and your friend’s side think the list item was taken by Rose’s side, so neither would suspect it’s with you!"

She had seen the auction catalog at the scene, knowing that to many collectors this stone only held some kind of psychological relief as a totem, lacking significant cultural relic value, so it wasn’t overly priced. Generally, people wouldn’t care much.

Li Yan chuckled, "That’s right. Indeed, one of Rose’s members mentioned this stone’s secret to me. Hopefully I wasn’t swindled; otherwise, it would be a loss."

He knew the stone really worked! But regarding the biggest secret about the ’Heart Demon’, even Zheng Yixuan, Guan Ziyi, and Yu Mocheng didn’t know, and he hadn’t even told Yue Yao, whom he trusts most. As for Yue Yao, he wasn’t worried about her leaking it, but aware that once she knew she’d definitely help him seek information or data on it, which was a burden he carried for years and didn’t want it to become hers.

"Understood!" Fearing Yurong’s arrival, Yue Yao quickly stood up to leave, hesitated after taking a step, returned to peck Li Yan’s covered lips, then swiftly ran off... These days the old debt is quite tragic, suffering from spinal pain and the old problem of intercostal neuralgia acting up, it’s miserable...

(Thanks for yesterday’s rewards: Rain’s Destiny, pro.Eve, dongmin8061, generally unaware, 281132272, RoManTiC, Yan Dugu, Ding Chongchong, Cp Pampas) (To be continued, to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters available, support the author, support reading legally!)