"So, perfume was never your primary objective in the first place."
Lu Xiaokong looked at the butler in front of him, his tone calm, but his eyes were filled with deep wariness.
At this moment, they were both in an abandoned spice factory. The surrounding area was mostly filled with abandoned fermentation barrels and detached pieces of unidentified iron. The copper pipes above their heads were rusty, and the glass distillation tanks under their feet were broken. The blackened filter paper and dried flower petals were surrounded by dark brown stains of varying shades. It looked dilapidated «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» and desolate, full of traces of time erosion.
Previously, Lu Xiaokong didn't understand why these people were trading goods here, but now that he saw these things, he finally understood the sinister intentions of his employer.
Although many things have fallen into disrepair and become obsolete, the basic tools still retain their original functions.
For example, those huge pools that were originally used to hold waste, or those chemical instruments that were originally used to make fragrances.
If this place was once a historical stage for creating spices and propelling incense making to its peak, it has now become evidence used by some to destroy evidence.
Given enough opportunities, they will disappear completely from here.
“From the very beginning, you wanted to use my uncle and me to help you create a more legendary antique story. For you, the virtual and ethereal Black Mary is not important, but what matters is who can use its final value.”
Their existence was never about fighting for ownership of Black Mary, but about proving Black Mary's existence!
Standing on the high platform, the butler's smile remained warm. Only now, a hint of a mask had crept into that smile.
He looked down at the people below the stage from his high position, while his two bodyguards lifted Shi Ji up and hoisted him above the waste pool.
Despite being abandoned for many years, the abandoned pool has not dried up; instead, it is filled with a strange, thick, black liquid, giving it an ominous and dangerous appearance.
Shi Ji was tied up and suspended in the air, looking down at the pool below. He took a deep breath and, like a fish unable to turn over, frantically writhed, crying out, "Nephew, save me! This thing doesn't look like anything good!"
"etc--"
Lu Xiaokong anxiously reached out to stop him, "I have one last question!"
Does Black Mary actually exist?
Does the mysterious perfume they've been searching for for days, the source of the fountain that's about to kill them, actually exist?
Is this just a gimmick used by the family to sell perfume, or is there something else going on?
"Now that things have come to this, shouldn't you at least let us die knowing why?"
However, the butler just sneered, firmly believing that the villain died from talking too much, and directly aimed at Shi Ji, ready to fire.
"Bang!"
With a gunshot, Shi Ji fell into the waste pool, picking up a large amount of black liquid. The next moment, several more gunshots rang out—the reinforcements that Lu Xiaokong had found had arrived! They were the rivals of the family behind this employer.
Both sides have been gathered in this small town for many years and have established certain relationships with the gangs. Now that such a major event has occurred, they naturally cannot afford to miss it!
However, it was clear that they didn't care about Lu Xiaokong and Shi Ji's safety, and they had a fierce conflict with the butler's people as soon as they rushed in.
Braving a hail of bullets, Lu Xiaokong dug Shi Ji out of the water and fled in a sorry state.
Shi Ji was covered in black mud. When he got up, he wiped his face a couple of times and then started sneezing like crazy.
"Achoo—Achoo—Nephew, where did you get this cheap perfume from? I already—Achoo, I've told you, I'm allergic to cheap perfume—Achoo—"
The contents of this waste pool were replaced by Lu Xiaokong who had come early to do so. However, Shi Ji had no idea what his nephew had replaced it with. It smelled both fragrant and foul, and when it stuck to his body, it felt like he had been pickled, causing Shi Ji, whose nose was already uncomfortable, to sneeze uncontrollably.
Instead, Lu Xiaokong had a sudden inspiration and grabbed Shi Ji: "That's right! Your nose is bothering you, you keep sneezing!"
Shi Ji rubbed his eyes, his dark face revealing only his eyes and gleaming white teeth: "What the hell?"
"I understand! Black Mary really exists!"
Lu Xiaokong dragged Shi Ji along as they ran, shouting, "It's Blank! He stole Black Mary!"
...
As the plot twists and turns in the second half, Lu Xiaokong has already noticed that Shi Ji is not allergic to inferior fragrances, but rather to a certain type of pollen!
His mind kept replaying the events: when he first entered his employer's villa area, Shi Ji had sneezed, and that was after he had contact with his employer! Then there was the time he was searching for Blank at the perfume festival, and now—
This pile of waste was transported by Lu Xiaokong from an abandoned factory that the hacker blank had temporarily borrowed!
He wondered how blank could be so amazing, creating a perfume that smelled almost exactly like Black Mary without any scent reference. It turned out that he had a memory of it before!
No wonder the butler promptly silenced them after smelling the odor; he had smelled the exact same scent and suspected they were in cahoots with Blank!
Damn it, that guy lied to them from the very beginning!
Black Mary does exist, but with the passage of time, the amount of it has probably been reduced to very little. So the employer's family decided to use the remaining trace of the original fragrance to develop a formula to promote their upcoming large-scale release of antique perfumes!
The first step was to invite Blank, the third-ranked thief on the list, to steal Black Mary.
They probably didn't expect that Blank was a thief sent by their rivals from the very beginning. In the end, the charade became real, and they were severely tricked by Blank. Not only did they lose the Black Mary, but their carefully prepared "god-making" plan also failed.
Fortunately, the news hasn't leaked out yet, so their plan can continue. As long as they have the Black Mary formula, if they say the perfume is "Black Mary," then it must be "Black Mary"!
So, guided subtly by the hacker, they found a pair of thieves with mediocre skills who clearly rose through the ranks by luck, and prepared to carry out their plan.
...Unfortunately, everything still got out of control.
Blank secretly intervened, allowing the two members of the Phantom Thieves' Alliance to discover the employer's conspiracy ahead of time, and causing the outcome of the matter to take a different direction.
So all of this was within blank's expectations!
He is the ultimate mastermind!
If the early part of the story was more comedic, the later part clearly began to have a series of plot twists.
The first layer reveals the truth behind their employer hiring them to find Black Mary, while the second layer shows that the apparent cooperation between the white-haired hacker Blank and the duo of thieves is actually a pawn being used.
Fortunately, the reason the main characters were able to become the main characters is because Lu Xiaokong has enough brains to analyze things, and Shi Ji is very reliable when he needs to be, especially with his inexplicable ability to make friends.
For example, Lu Xiaokong still doesn't understand how Shi Ji, who can't even speak English, managed to build such good relationships with several local gang leaders in France in just a few days, to the point that they can even call each other brothers!
So, while two famous perfume houses were vying for the official mass production formula of Black Mary, Blank, the hacker ranked third on the list of master thieves, and the two thieves ranked outside the top fifty on the list of master thieves, engaged in a battle of wits.
The final result was that they were evenly matched.
Blank did steal Black Mary, but he was also tricked by Lu Xiaokong and was hunted down by several gangs in Fran Country.
On the plane, Lu Xiaokong looked through Blank's passport and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
Shi Ji peeked over and asked in confusion, "Hey? Nephew, you stole your mistress's ID. How is she going to get back?"
Lu Xiaokong put away his things, looking quite innocent: "It's okay, anyway, his ID was fake, let him make another set."
In the small town, a white-haired hacker is relentlessly hunted by gangsters—
"Lu Xiaokong, I'm ¥%#!"
