Chapter 48 - 47: Little Liar

11:00 PM. Occasionally, a few barks could be heard from the street, and the barbecue shop was about to close. Elliana Lyle paid the bill and followed Luna out. Their shadows were stretched long under the street lamps; it had been a while since Elliana was out this late. Lana called her once, but she just brushed it off. "Turn off your phone," Luna instructed. "Why?" Luna replied frankly, "It’s in the way." Just as she turned off her phone, Luna suddenly grabbed her arm. Elliana was startled for a moment and was about to ask what was happening when Luna pulled her along the corner! "Luna!... Luna, what are you doing?" Elliana’s wrist was tightly gripped by Luna, unable to break free, she had no choice but to follow and run! Cool wind whistled past her ears, Luna did not answer her question, instead leading her to turn here and there. At this moment, she only felt like a mouse! Finally, the two entered a narrow alley! Once inside the alley, there was no more path; at the end stood a gaudy hotel, exuding a vulgar charm. At the entrance stood a coquettish landlady, wearing a well-tailored large peony cheongsam, her curly black hair draped over her shoulders, beautiful yet somewhat indescribable. She looked at the two young girls arriving, fanned herself twice, and lightly opened her red lips, "What are you two doing here?" "Is there a back door? We’re here to spend," Luna said, glancing back as if worried about something. "Heh~" The landlady sneered, giving the two a meaningful look before saying, "Yes! Please come inside." Luna pulled Elliana along, and soon someone came to welcome them. "Where’s the back door?" Luna wasted no time, directly asking. "Right over there, don’t worry... huh? Why running?" Before the woman finished speaking, Luna was already pulling Elliana towards the back door! After exiting the door and running for a while, Luna slowed down. "I can’t! I’m exhausted, dying!" Elliana plopped down onto the ground, struggling to catch her breath, almost rolling her eyes and fainting. "Someone was following us. I’m not sure if they were after you or me," Luna explained. Elliana clutched her chest, paused momentarily, and looked up at Luna, "It must be after you! Or are they... the paparazzi?" "Alright, let’s go." Luna walked up to her, looking down from above, "Get up quickly, it’s not early, let’s finish what we need to do quickly so I can sleep early." "Oh, give me a hand!" "Get up yourself." ... ――― North City Melody Harmony Branch. "Boss! We still haven’t found Miss Lyle..." Norman Bennett stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, receiving a call from his subordinate. Ten minutes ago, Elliana’s phone was already off. He overlooked this city, his eyes forming into ice. He thought, from now on, the little girl wouldn’t leave him anymore. Little liar... "Keep looking!" Norman Bennett left these simple three words, but they were a firm command. He turned back to his chair, his slender fingers pinched a cigarette, about to light it, then put it down. The little girl doesn’t like the smell of smoke... ――― Midnight, 12 o’clock. Late at night, not even the cicadas were chirping. Elliana followed Luna back to the back door of the Art Elegance Media Company. "Luna, this iron gate is locked, are we really going to go in from here?" Elliana looked around nervously, afraid someone would come, then heard the sound of a lock being picked. Turning back, she was a bit surprised, "You can do this?" "Yeah, I used to unlock locks," Luna said jokingly, finding Elliana a bit... silly. Once inside, Elliana followed Luna, who led her straight to the surveillance room, using the same method to unlock it. Inside the surveillance room, she saw Luna plugging a USB-like device into their computer. She stood guard at the door nervously, not knowing how much time had passed; Luna came out, "Alright, let’s go." Luna said, then wiped the door frame she had just touched, and remarked, "Don’t touch around, I brought gloves." "Oh! Okay." Luna seemed very familiar with this place, and quickly led her to the archive room. Elliana was curious and couldn’t help but ask. "You seem very familiar with this place?" "You think I was really just here to eat barbecue? Fool!" ... "You hold this, I’ll look!" Luna handed her a small flashlight for illumination. It’s very dark all around, except where the flashlight shines. Luna rummaged through a pile of files, there were simply too many! These documents were as numerous as cow’s hair, even the recent files numbered in the thousands, seeing them required effort. After nearly half an hour, Luna finally found Joy Lyle’s transfer contract. "Quick, open it and take a look!" Elliana leaned her head closer. After some unraveling and opening, there seemed to be no issues, it was indeed 3 million. "Looks like someone really made rumors!" Elliana said, suddenly relieved, surely Joy would be fine soon. Then Luna pulled out other documents, casually flipping through them for a while, "Predatory clauses." "Luna, let’s go, the contract seems fine," Elliana said. "No," Luna shook her head at this moment, "Do you think the police would summon and detain just because of rumors? Heh, this company is interesting, not doing its proper business." "What do you mean?" Elliana furrowed her brows. Luna did not respond, just took some pictures of several contracts, then returned them to their place, "Follow me, what you are looking for isn’t here." After locking the archive room door, Luna paused for a moment, then said, "Someone’s coming, let’s go!" Saying this, she led Elliana toward the emergency exit. The timing was almost perfect; as they reached the stairwell, the elevator door opened, and a tall security guard stepped out, made a round on this floor, and then continued to ride the elevator up. "Go!" "Where are we going?" "Someone’s in the elevator, we have to take the stairs. If you’re scared of tiring out you can wait here for me," Luna said. Of course, Elliana was unwilling to stay alone, without saying anything, she followed Luna’s pace. Nine floors of stairs were no joke; climbing up, Elliana only felt her legs trembling. "Shh! I’ll go take a look first, you wait here," Luna left this sentence, and without caring about her opinion, directly exited the emergency door. After about a minute, Luna returned, but to Elliana, that minute felt extremely tormenting! This floor was Art Elegance’s CEO office. The door was easy to open, the room was decorated old-fashioned, indicating Art Elegance’s owner was quite old. Luna found a safe with a combination lock in the corner, square and firm. "Looks like this is it, go watch the door, I’ll open it." Luna put her ear to the safe, starting to try unlocking it. As time ticked away, the ticking of the clock became increasingly noticeable. Click～ In the silence came a slight sound; Elliana was drawn to it too, seeing Luna indeed opened the safe! "Come take a look, this is the exorbitant contract." Luna waved at Elliana, signaling her to come over. When Elliana saw clearly, she was so surprised she opened her mouth wide, "Why is it like this? Two contracts?" "It’s a Yin-Yang contract, nothing strange about it," Luna said, taking more pictures. Elliana furrowed her brows and pondered; there really was an exorbitant contract, and this contract was signed by Roland and Art Elegance, with Roland’s seal on it. Shane Southwell’s leverage was indeed not ordinary. "I’ve sent the photos to you," Luna said after finishing taking the pictures. Elliana responded, at last saying, "Oh! Good." Leaving the CEO office, taking advantage of the emptiness, Luna still took her by the elevator; climbing stairs was truly exhausting. Ding～ The elevator opened on the sixth floor! Blue uniformed security guards appeared before them!