Xixi did not go with Mr. Guo. She remained back, smiling like an innocent lamb. "If you have time, we should go over the accounts of Kingdom cotton candy."

Liwu moved back, as far away from her sister as she could. The way she was looking at Xixi, it was as if she had seen a devil. "Stay away from me and don’t you dare sniffle or I will stuff you inside a toilet."

Xixi gasped, clucthcing her pink pearls necklace. "How rude!"

Liwu’s watch screamed an alert. Every other SOB issue watch did the same.

"Thank you, thank you Jesus." Liwu muttered. "We have a case." She shouted to Xixi, grinning widely. "Murder, lots of blood. Very important."

Xixi rolled her eyes. She picked up her pink purse, and patted her hair gently. "I have got it Liwu, very gruesome, very exciting. Try not to grin too much at the scene of the crime or slip and fall into all that blood." She blew a kiss at her sister, smiled at the others, gave Xuanji a pity tap on the arm, and then left.

The team did not rush out after her. They remained back, heads tipped in the direction of the door.

Liwu sunk into a chair with a loud sigh.

"You triggered the alert, didn’t you?" The chief asked her.

Liwu nodded. "Sorry everyone, but I had to get her out of here. Xixi is very serious when she starts talking business. We would all have been stuck here looking at financial reports if not for me faking that alert."

"Ha!" Xuanji laughed. "We! I am sorry Miss. Exclusive, why is it we now? We are not we unless....unless you add me onto your list of children so that I can live largely. I already call Weijun daddy. This makes a lot of sense to me."

He picked up an empty soda can and faced Liwu, with an impish smile. "Mommy, allow me to serve you tea."

Liwu shuddered.

Laughter filled the break room.

***

While the detectives were laughing, Manman was rehearsing her lines in her apartment. She had just landed her first serious role as the female lead in a historical drama. She was determined to prove that her come back was entirely due to her hard work, not the sixty million Weifeng had invested to land her the leading role.

As she did her best impression of a stern female empress that was once a general on the battle field, shadows slipped through her window. Her kidnapping was swift, silent, and orchestrated with precision.

Not one camera saw how she was taken out of the highly secure building.

An hour later, somewhere in a restricted room in Beijing, Manman was pushed inside a machine, as if she was going to have her brain scanned. The actress slept, unaware of the danger to her system. In fact, she had a smile on her face as her system was stripped from her body.

Then, she was transferred to another machine, and where the beauty system had been another was installed. A silence system. A system designed to mute, to restrain, to strip away the endless chatter and false accusations that had plagued the Shen family since she moved in.

Alix watched from behind the observation mirror, imagining how glad Madam Xu would be when Manman’s shrill complaints were not a daily occurrence.

***

At around 4:00 PM, Manman opened her eyes. Her memory was foggy, and she couldn’t recall how she had fallen asleep when she was memorizing her lines. "Tea, I need tea," she murmured. She didn’t have time to waste on random naps.

Suddenly, her eyes widened. Her voice seemed off. So, she cleared her throat and opened her mouth. She tried to scream, but no sound emerged. Her lips moved, but silence reigned. Panic consumed her. She clawed at her throat, calling for her system with her thoughts.

It’s silence increased her panic. She stumbled to a mirror, and saw her beauty had faded. Without the beauty system, flawless glow had dulled, her skin showed imperfections. She collapsed, sobbing noiselessly.

And then, she heard it in her mind: the voice of a silence system activating against her will.

[For every hour you spend silent, you earn ten yuan.]

Manman collapsed, sobbing noiselessly. What was ten yuan? This system was meant for a beggar, not someone like her. She didn’t need ten yuan, she wanted her beauty back!!

She thought of the SOB, and Liwu. Immediately, she rose to her feet, grabbed a bag and rushed out of the apartment.

***

After the drug burst in the lab, Liwu’s team had not received any other cases. They had just an hour to the end of their shift and she was using that time to do research on cursed coins.

Linlin on the other hand, was counting the minutes. She was in a hurry because He Xiao Yi had booked a table at a restaurant they all wanted to visit, in the Flame district. For the moment, she was filling her stomach with popcorn and black tea.

"You and Weijun should join us," She said to Liwu, eyes focused on the clock. "It is better than another night of clashing with the loose wallet billionaire and his green tea girlfriend."

Liwu rubbed her temples. "I don’t even let that bother me anymore. If she says I am bullying her, then I do something to prove I can bully her. In time, she will learn to stay away from Weijun and I. What I don’t understand is why her arrest....."

Suddenly Xuanji burst into the office, cutting Liwu off. "You guys are never going to believe who is here."

Both women looked at him wondering what aide from the presidential officer, agent from the main SOB branch in Beijing or IA officer had come.

"Your Manman." He said to Liwu.

Liwu laughed. "I don’t have a Manman Xuanji." And since it wasn’t important, she leaned over her computer, squinting at news story involving a cursed coin, a fisherman and a drowning from ten years ago.

Xuanji knocked his knuckles on her desk. "I am serious Liwu, it is Manman. Billion necklace, love interest of the Shen brothers, beautiful actress Manman. She claims her system was stolen and replaced. She thinks you did it, Liwu. That you kidnapped, drugged and stole her Beauty System!"

Liwu finally looked up. Now this sounded like something her mother would do.