About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Page 255

In an inconspicuous room in the Guards Bureau, the slum rat king Lin Gerui and the chess player of Longmen were leaning on the balcony, both holding their pipes and puffing away as they watched Longmen step into the night.

"Yes, you're right, Lao Lin. I will never forgive that guy. To this day, I can still clearly recall what he did to Longmen."

Wei Yanwu shook his pipe with a smile, his eyes looking at the bottomless darkness in front of him as usual.

"That guy's way of talking to himself still makes me feel so disgusted. No matter what kind of environment he is in, he always looks so high and mighty, like he's in control of everything. You know, Lao Lin. Because I am just that kind of person, I hate people like me more than anyone else."

"But even so, you still agreed to her request, didn't you?"

The Rat King smiled gently, as if he had guessed what was in the mind of the man who had struggled with him for most of his life.

"I'm just following this guy's lead. Huijie needs a trial, something she couldn't get in the Guards Bureau. And the same goes for Yuxia. You told me before that she's changed. So, why don't we create a stage to witness the abilities and awareness of this younger generation?"

Wei Yanwu said with a calm smile as if everything was going according to plan.

"Anyway, the worst-case scenario is just delaying the slum clearance for a few weeks. Besides, I don't want to make things awkward with you. You're my last friend among these people, Lao Lin."

Wei Yanwu looked at the Rat King standing beside him. In his memory, he was still a terrifying killing machine that could move freely across the battlefield. However, the Rat King in reality had long been clinging to his cane, and had become an old man who cared deeply about his daughter but didn't know how to express it.

"I know that even if you agree to my plan, you will secretly evacuate the infected. If possible, I don't want to fight you."

"Hehehe...you really don't mean what you say. You know better than anyone that you've always longed to find another future, don't you, tsundere fellow?"

"What kind of future do you mean?"

"Who knows."

The Rat King laughed once again. The two lonely rulers in charge of Longmen, one light and one dark, looked at each other and then smiled knowingly.

As he was laughing, Wei Yanwu suddenly noticed that Wen Yue's laughter had blended in with his own. Wei Yanwu, who had been posing with ease a second before, was instantly frightened and broke out in a cold sweat.

"Wen, Wenyue!?"

"Hehehe, you're secretly smoking here again, huh, Hikogo?"

Wen Yue intertwined her hands in the sleeves of her Dongguo kimono. She slowly walked towards the two of them and asked with a gentle and warm smile on her face.

"No...well, actually, Lao Lin..."

"It was this guy Wei Lao Er who forced me to take a couple of puffs no matter what! Madam, you know my physical condition, right?"

Before Wei Yanwu could shirk responsibility, the Rat King took the initiative to put the blame on Wei Yanwu.

"Okay, it's almost time for a break. Many people are waiting for your response to today's matters. There's still a lot to do, Wei Yanwu."

"Lao Lin, you plotted against me—!"

Wei Yanwu showed the same expression as Shi Chen when he was stabbed in the back by Mapo, and then he was grabbed by the head by Wen Yueqiang and pulled back from the window.

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Orson, who was inexplicably used as a "chip in the bet", returned to the lobby of the Guard Bureau to help deal with subsequent matters after listening to the game and confrontation between Black Snake and Wei Yanwu about the slums.

Although the Guard Bureau building as a whole did not suffer much damage, the impact of the explosion still messed up a lot of things and damaged the structure in many places.

However, because Orson's "helping" posture was so strange, he received a lot of pointing eyes and comments:

"Is this guy the one who danced with Officer Chen earlier? I heard he's a noble from Ursus?"

"I heard he's a hands-off manager at a pharmaceutical company?"

"Why do I feel like he's just a butler who only appears in legends?"

A group of police officers were talking quietly, glancing at Orson out of the corner of their eyes.

At this time, Orson was carrying the knight sword "Red Queen" on his back, holding a broom in his left hand and a garbage bag in his right hand, and was carefully cleaning up the garbage and gravel he saw along the way. At the same time, a black invisible object extended behind him, which was entangled with a piano worth 180 million that was temporarily loaned to the police station by Officer Shi Huaiya.

Orson maintained this posture, cleaning while carrying the piano and walking in the original direction.

Some people were completely unaware of the existence of Orson and once thought that he was the newest special police officer of the Guards, codenamed "Sweeping Monk."

Some people knew a little bit about Orson, but they always thought that this guy was just a crosstalk performer, but they didn't expect that he was also a swordsman/warlock.

Those who knew more began to speculate which girl in the Guards Bureau Orson had his eyes on and what his job was.

In the end, the answer was revealed by a passing mascot - the keeper.

It sounded ridiculous, but when the Guards thought about the relationship between Orson and Snow Pheasant's pet owner, they all nodded in agreement. After all, this guy really had a knack for pets. Recently, he even managed to capture the Guards' supposedly "hot-tempered dragon lady" on the dance floor. Just how capable is that?! He probably doesn't even need a ball to capture Pokémon anymore.

The people around him thought they were talking quietly, but in fact, Orson, the person involved, could hear it all clearly. However, he really didn't know how to explain it, so he could only awkwardly pretend that he didn't hear it and continued to help deal with the situation.

"Orson, you're here—what the hell is that?"

Tallulah came down from upstairs and when she greeted Orson, she directly complained about his overly punk look.

"I'm just helping out... Where's Officer Chen?"

"He said he was going to the office and would be back in a while."

"With something like this happening suddenly, she'll probably have a lot more things to deal with... I'll try to help her sometime—it hurts!"

Orson expressed his concern and wanted to help Chen deal with the matter, but before he could finish his words, Tallulah hit him on the head in an unpleasant manner.

"Don't spoil Huijie too much, otherwise she will become a sloppy person who won't even bother to wash her clothes."

Tallulah made up an excuse seriously, while Orson almost came up with a fatal answer like "I went to Chen's house, and she still washed her clothes properly."

"Speaking of which, what do you think about Miss Black Snake's proposal, Tallulah?"

While asking Tallulah, Orson held Tallulah's hand and led her to a corner of the Guard Bureau building where almost no one came.

For a moment, Tallulah thought the chimera had finally "gotten its senses," but Orson was simply afraid that passersby, whispering, "Fuck, he's a breeder, he's tricked another Vaifan out so quickly!", would attract Tallulah's attention.

"I think this is also a solution, and Black Snake's proposal does have its merits. Let her talk about the details."

Tallulah re-projected the black snake's consciousness into a visible virtual image.

"Then let me take the place of my stupid daughter and you—Aaaaaaaaa!?"

The black snake had just been summoned, and before it even finished its opening line, it let out a shameful wail, then huddled behind Tallulah.

"Uh... sorry."

Orson glanced at the piano rest still dragging behind him, quickly put the 180W in a safe corner, and put away the rest.

I have to say, the scene of one 'Tallulah' hiding behind another Tallulah, alert and afraid with only half of its head sticking out, is quite interesting.

[Ahem... All in all, this is a rather arduous task. Longmen has spent decades failing to bridge the gap, only to have the misunderstandings deepen. But I believe in you. You possess a factor far superior to anything else: sincerity.]

After confirming that Recess was locked up, Black Snake walked out from behind Tallulah, revealing his usual unfathomable, mysterious and charming smile.

"Some things cannot be obtained through force or money. You understand this better than anyone else. At the same time, this is also my 'test' of you."

"Assessment?"

Tallulah and Orson tilted their heads in unison.

Ah, the test. If you can successfully repair the gap between Dragon Gate and the slums, then from now on, I will stand by your side without hesitation and provide you with all the help I can.

Black Snake looked at Orson and Tallulah and said with a smile. Orson rubbed his hair when he heard this.

"You've obviously helped us a lot, Miss Black Snake. Now that you've suddenly become so formal, I feel a little embarrassed."

[Ugh! You...]

Black Snake was stunned by Orson's overly unguarded response and smile. She could only put her hands on her chest and snorted.

[Anyway, think carefully about it from now on. If you need to mobilize Rhodes Island's forces, it's best to contact those people as soon as possible.]

The black snake said this, and then took the initiative to hide in the deepest part of Tallulah's consciousness again.

"Hmm...I always feel like Miss Black Snake is a little strange lately?"

After listening to Black Snake's words, Orson frowned and asked Tallulah.

"I feel the same way."

Tallulah nodded and agreed with Orson's guess, and the two idiots began to guess why Black Snake had been so abnormal recently.

"Is it because of her period...? Sometimes Froststar's face becomes extremely grim, and she starts picking fights everywhere. Usually, this is when Snow Rabbit is feeling unwell."

Tallulah made a serious guess, and the black snake hiding in her consciousness spat out a mouthful of blood after hearing it.

"Miss Black Snake doesn't have a physical form right now. I don't think that's the reason."

Orson questioned Tallulah's idea, and Black Snake quickly nodded to indicate that you kid is finally reliable.

"Maybe it's because your memory gets worse with age that you're starting to feel irritable. I've heard that many elderly people have this problem."

"Hmm...it seems possible."

Orson and Tallulah were analyzing seriously, while Black Snake was so angry that his hair stood on end.

Just as Black Snake was about to come out and explain to the two idiots, Tallulah suddenly opened her mouth again:

"Should I consider helping her? Even to this day, I still hate the Black Snake who abducted me, but she did help me a lot later, both in Che City and later in Casimir. Perhaps she still has some plans and purposes of her own, but she did, um... help me a little when I was walking on this path."

【…】

Hearing Tallulah's words, Black Snake was overwhelmed with emotions and remained silent.

At the very beginning, she never thought about hearing Tallulah's thanks for her. After all, her purpose was just to support a puppet.

However, at this point, Black Snake actually felt touched in his heart because of Tallulah's "gratitude" to him.

This is really... unexpected.

While Orson and Tallulah were thinking about what to do for Miss Black Snake, Chen Huijie also found them.

"Orson, Tallulah—what are you two doing here? I had to ask for directions to find this place. Could it be...?!"

"There's no 'probably', Huijie. Orson and I simply want to find a place where no one will disturb us and chat."

Tallulah directly killed Chen's guess, but Tallulah herself seemed a little lost when explaining.

——If only this fool had some "could it be" in his mind...

"That's good... No, I mean, uh... Anyway, Lin Yuxia seemed to have discussed some matters regarding slum management with Wei Yanwu and the Rat King, and then the top student went home. As for me, I just told the people from the Special Operations Group of the Imperial Guard Bureau that I will temporarily hand over the work authority to Xingxiong and Shi Huaiya."

Chen quickly changed his words and pretended that he didn't particularly care, then told the two of them what he had just done.

"Transfer of power? Is this really okay, Officer Chen? And you must have your own plans for doing this, right?"

Orson asked with some curiosity. After all, when he first met Chen Huijie, he was an out-and-out workaholic, a senior police superintendent who was always on edge in order to maintain the safety of Longmen and to be able to climb up the Guard Bureau.

Now she says she wants to delegate power voluntarily, and this level of change is very curious.

"I will do my best to help you deal with the slums. For this reason, I have temporarily turned down the position of Senior Superintendent."

Chen looked at Orson and responded with bright eyes and full of enthusiasm.

——Although it sounds very conscious, I always feel that Huijie is here to snatch Orsen from me...

Upon hearing Chen Huijie's thoughts, Tallulah frowned.

"There's no need to be so impulsive, Huijie. This matter is definitely not something we can accomplish alone. The help and coordination of the Imperial Guard Bureau are also very important. You should continue to stay here."

Tallulah coughed twice and then gave earnest advice.

"I understand, but Char Siu—but Shi Huaiya and Xing Xiong are also trustworthy partners. They are enough to provide the help that most of the Guards can provide."

"Even so, for the sake of your career, you should think again."

"The Imperial Guard isn't the kind of place where you have to rely on a pedantic bureaucratic system to get promoted."

"That being said, however..."

"Sister, you simply don't want me to disturb you and Orson's little chat!"

"No, no!? But you, Huijie, finally live in Bengbu, right?"

"Don't use your sister's status to lecture me at a time like this!"

After a brief trial, the two finally chose the simplest showdown.

After arguing for a long time, Tallulah finally compromised.

"In short, let's work together, Huijie. Our power is insignificant to this world, but even this insignificance can ultimately change something."

"...Yes, I understand, sister."

Chen Huijie and Tallulah nodded slightly, and Orson smiled like an old father when he saw this scene.

"Oh right! Let's have a welcome party later. I haven't cooked a proper meal for Tallulah in a while. Let's celebrate the reunion of sisters!"