Chapter 11
Villa
Shi Mo spent less than half a day in the "safe house" assigned to him by the seventh sequence, a room with four white walls and only a bed and a chair, and felt an unprecedented sense of...suffocation.
It wasn't a physical discomfort, but rather an instinctive aversion.
He once sat high on his throne, overlooking the vast world, adorned by stars and guided by rules. Now, he must huddle in this tiny space of less than twenty square meters, devoid of any aesthetic appeal? This is even more unbearable than the torturous instances he created in the past.
"System," he said coldly, "this place is unpleasant."
【Uh... Host, this is a standard safe house setup, highly concealed and difficult to track...】 The system attempted to explain.
"Shut up." Shi Mo interrupted it, got up, pushed open the door, and walked out. He didn't need to explain; he just needed to solve the problem.
......
The door to the core conference room was silently pushed open, abruptly ending the ongoing meeting about analyzing the fluctuations in the next instance. All eyes turned to the doorway, to the white-haired, heterochromatic-eyed man leaning against the doorframe, who wore an air of utter nonchalance.
Bai Xu sat in the main seat, looking at the uninvited Shi Mo, his green, rule-bound eyes calm and unwavering: "Is there a problem, Shi Mo?"
Shi Mo walked in, his gaze sweeping over the various expressions on the faces of the people in the conference room, finally settling on Bai Xu, and said succinctly: "I'm not comfortable here."
There was silence in the conference room.
Iron Fist couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "...Did they come here for a vacation?"
Hong Yuan frowned, feeling that this newcomer was too ignorant of the rules and too picky.
Bai Xu looked at Shi Mo without answering immediately. He could sense that the other man wasn't provoking or picking a fight, but rather stating a simple fact—that place wasn't good enough for him. This matter-of-fact attitude only confirmed a certain suspicion in his heart.
He was silent for a few seconds, then sighed almost imperceptibly, took a bunch of keys from his pocket, took one out, and pushed it towards Shi Mo across the table. "I'll send the address to your communicator. It's my villa in the suburbs, currently vacant. You can stay there for now."
This time, not only the others, but even Shi Mo raised an eyebrow slightly, seemingly surprised by the other party's decisiveness. He didn't stand on ceremony, walked over, and picked up the key with his slender fingers. "Okay."
"Captain!" Hong Yuan couldn't help but exclaim, her face filled with disbelief. "You...you don't have severe mysophobia, do you?"
She knew that Bai Xu's villa was practically his only private property, and outsiders were never allowed to enter. Even the cleaning was done by a fixed robot at specific times.
Bai Xu's gaze remained fixed on Shi Mo, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable air of authority: "Do you want us all wiped out?"
One sentence silenced the entire conference room instantly.
The entire team was wiped out. Those two words, spoken by the team leader, carried immense weight.
They trusted Bai Xu's judgment, and even more so, they trusted the almost precognitive intuition behind his rule-abiding eyes.
The captain was telling them in this way that the white-haired man in front of them possessed power sufficient to threaten the survival of the entire Seventh Sequence, at least in his assessment.
Meeting his requirements and avoiding conflict is the optimal solution at present.
Shi Mo seemed noncommittal about the "total annihilation" claim, casually stuffing the key into his pocket as if it were his own. "Anything else?" he asked Bai Xu, implying that he would leave if not.
"There are basic necessities in the villa. For anything else you need, contact Lin Chen," Bai Xu added.
Shi Mo nodded, said no more, turned and left the conference room, just as abruptly as he had arrived.
The meeting room door closed again, but the oppressive atmosphere did not dissipate.
"...Boss, what exactly is he...?" Iron Fist couldn't help but ask, his voice hoarse.
Bai Xu raised his hand to interrupt him, a hint of seriousness flashing deep in his eyes: "Execute the order. Also, Hong Yuan, strengthen the covert surveillance around the villa. I need to know his every move, but remember, absolutely, absolutely do not provoke him."
"Understood," Hong Yuan replied solemnly.
Bai Xu leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. Placing such a dangerous and uncontrollable variable in his private sphere was undoubtedly a gamble. But his intuition told him that compared to letting Shi Mo wander aimlessly outside, or clashing with the organization over ridiculous reasons like accommodation, keeping him under his nose for "observation" might be a relatively lower-risk option.
Hopefully, his villa can withstand the turmoil caused by this "guest".
Having already received the key, Shi Mo was heading in high spirits towards the villa, which was said to be much more comfortable than the "shabby little house," following the system's navigation.
As for the original owner's obsession with cleanliness?
What does that have to do with him?
It is an honor for that villa to be able to let him stay.