Chapter 317: A Thief Who Wants a Halo?

Gong Pingfan scoffed, "The wine you gave?"

This woman’s words were just too ridiculous. How could she be cracking jokes at a time like this?

"Old Ghost is always very diligent when he’s tailing someone. He’s not back yet. Do you think something might have happened to him?"

"Impossible." It wasn’t just Chai Lei who didn’t believe it; Martin, Ms. Hao, and the others all refused to believe it as well.

He was, after all, the most unique member of their team—an Invisibility Superpower User.

His unique superpower had always been a secret. Aside from a few core members, not even the other members of the club knew about Old Ghost’s ability.

That Miss Huang only has a First-rank Gold Ability. There was no way she could have detected Old Ghost’s surveillance.

"I’ll go out and look for him." Martin took a breath and started to walk out, his mind uneasy. He then stopped in his tracks. "What’s the situation with Miss Huang?"

"That woman is so high-maintenance. She asked us for instant noodles again for dinner," Ma Xiaotian said, her face full of anger. "After eating, she took her follower back to their room. A man and a woman, all alone... who knows what kind of shady things they’re doing."

"Xiaotian!" A hint of anger appeared on Martin’s face.

’This daughter of mine is getting more and more out of line for someone so young. The things she says are just foul.’

Ma Xiaotian pursed her lips and sulkily fell silent.

Martin rushed off.

Xie Ning slept soundly again that night.

Beichen, who had insisted on staying in the same room with her, was once again fenced in with metal railings by the little trickster.

The railings formed a circle around Ma Xiaotian’s bed, each bar placed neatly and closely together.

The unfortunate Beichen felt the bizarre sensation of sleeping in an iron cage.

The accommodations were poor, but he gritted his teeth and endured it. After all, it was safe...

When Xie Ning woke up, she helped Beichen dismantle the metal bed railings, storing them in her Space for later use.

"Do you treat everyone like this?" Beichen asked through gritted teeth.

"That depends on the person." Xie Ning tilted her head in thought and shot him a wide grin.

Beichen rolled his eyes. Not wanting to talk to her anymore, he slipped on his slippers and dashed to the bathroom.

Once they were both dressed and washed up, they opened the door only to find a furious Ma Xiaotian.

"How could you just attack someone for no reason? We were kind enough to take you in, and this is how you repay us—by hurting people?"

Xie Ning looked completely baffled. "Hurt who?"

Ma Xiaotian had someone carry over a man in tattered clothes.

The man’s waist was wrapped in a ragged cloth, but blood was still seeping through. He looked to be in a miserable state.

Xie Ning gave the man an honest, searching look. "I don’t know him."

"Are you all right, Miss Ma? We just woke up. How could we have hurt anyone?"

"Still trying to deny it?" Ma Xiaotian glared, her eyes wide with anger. "Old Cao said that as soon as he pushed open your door, several tiny Golden Needles flew out."

Ma Xiaotian held out a blood-stained Golden Needle for Xie Ning to see. "Isn’t this your handiwork?"

Xie Ning shot her a look that was half a smile, half a sneer. Her mocking gaze then shifted to the man on the stretcher. "Miss Ma, shouldn’t you get one thing straight first? If a member of your club hadn’t been sneaking into my room, he wouldn’t have been so ’coincidentally’ injured by Golden Needles, would he?"

"I set up these Golden Needles to guard against petty thieves. Is there a problem with that?"

Ma Xiaotian was taken aback, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Even so, you can’t be so vicious, stabbing an ordinary person with those needles! My husband is just a regular guy who doesn’t know anything!" a woman standing nearby wailed.

"You can’t be serious," Xie Ning burst out laughing. "Does ’not knowing anything’ excuse the fact that he was stealing? So he gets to be a thief and still expect a medal for it? He gets hurt, and I’m supposed to pay his medical bills?"

Xie Ning started to walk away with Beichen, just as Martin was approaching. She greeted him with a smile, "Ma, one of your teammates snuck into our room to steal something last night. You should probably deal with this."

"Ah, yes, yes." Martin nodded with a foolish grin. Once Xie Ning and Beichen were at a distance, he slapped the crying woman across the face. "You short-sighted fool! Always causing trouble for me."

"What are any of you good for? You can’t even steal something without getting caught. Useless!"

"Ma, I’m sorry," the woman sobbed, covering her face. "It was just so cold last night... We thought about that young lady’s warm down jacket, and we just couldn’t help ourselves... I’m so sorry, Ma, I’m sorry."

The woman’s sobs echoed through the hallway, but Xie Ning and Beichen were already long gone.

Beichen glanced at Xie Ning and said lightly, "You’re really cold-hearted."

"And what’s the alternative?" Xie Ning shot him a sidelong glance. "Should I cry with them?"

They had gotten a late start today, so Xie Ning led Beichen to continue their aimless wandering through the apartment building.

At one point, Ma Xiaotian followed and watched them for over twenty minutes. She only left after seeing Xie Ning struggle with a door for ages without managing to open it, muttering a curse as she departed.

’Trash is trash. Don’t think one night can make a difference.’

"My dad and the others are going to the northern villa district today. You should go over and help later." ’She’s a waste of space,’ Ma Xiaotian thought, ’but at least she’s a Superpower User. That has to be better than a normal person, right?’

Seeing that Xie Ning was ignoring her, Ma Xiaotian didn’t dare to say anything else. She didn’t want to get pinned to the ground and beaten up by Miss Huang again.

’This Miss Huang has a terrible temper,’ Ma Xiaotian knew. ’It’s only because my father is powerful enough to keep her in check that she shows any obedience at all.’

’But most of the time, she’s still just an arrogant, insufferable woman to everyone else.’

’She’s such a hateful woman. I really want to rip that arrogant mask right off her face.’

The two continued to wander through the apartment building. Whenever they came across a room full of zombies, they would take care of them as they went.

By the time they left the apartment building, it was already past three in the afternoon. Suddenly, a few screams rang out from the direction of the northern villa district.

Xie Ning turned a deaf ear and led Beichen to a pavilion across the way, where they sat down to drink some water and eat some bread.

They had only eaten a self-heating meal for lunch, so they were both getting hungry again.

They had barely finished most of a milk bread when someone came rushing over, shouting in alarm, "Quick, go help! Ma and his team are about to be overrun!"

Xie Ning put on a terrified expression and stammered, "U-us?"

"Hurry up!" The woman stomped her foot in a mix of anxiety and anger. Her eyes, practically murderous, landed on the bread in their hands.

"Hurry! Everyone else is already over there."

Prodded by the woman, Xie Ning got up reluctantly, scuffing her feet. "To be honest, our combined powers probably aren’t even a match for Ma."

The implication was clear: they would be of little help if they went and might even hold everyone back. It was better to stay put—if the enemy doesn’t move, neither do I.

A flash of anger crossed the woman’s eyes. She lunged forward to grab Xie Ning’s arm. "Stop dawdling! Get over there and help! The villa is swarming with zombies."

Xie Ning yanked her arm back, dodging the woman’s claws. "Alright, alright, we’ll go take a look!" she snapped impatiently. "I don’t usually kill zombies, you know. Their stinky blood is filthy. I can’t have it splashing on me."

When the two of them arrived at the first villa in the northern section, they saw several people collapsed by the flowerbeds, their arms and legs covered in scratches.