Chapter 25: A Tangled Web of Secrets

“I had originally intended to cast a long line to catch a big fish. Those two thugs are Red’s more trusted subordinates.”

Red Spider began to explain to Xiluo’er.

“No matter what those two ruffians were plotting, if they would just lead me to their hideout, wouldn’t I be able to secretly gather some information about the missing persons cases?”

“Cat’s Tail, if you had only thought about it for a moment, you would have realized I was deliberately feigning weakness towards them, wouldn’t you?”

Red Spider playfully winked her grey eyes at Xiluo’er.

Xiluo’er was momentarily speechless. Indeed, she had acted somewhat impulsively.

If she had taken a moment to think more carefully, she surely would have understood what was happening.

Her thoughts had become a complete mess after realizing that Red Spider was Irene, leaving her no capacity to consider such details.

“…I was worried about you.”

Facing Red Spider’s question, Xiluo’er struggled to come up with a good reason for a long time, eventually offering that dry explanation.

She was indeed very worried about Red Spider. What if something had gone wrong just now, leading to Eve coming after her with a machete in the future?

“Oh?”

Red Spider narrowed her eyes slightly, seemingly trying to discern the truth behind Xiluo’er’s words.

Could a member of the Chaos Cult, that organization of lunatics dedicated to resurrecting an evil god, actually care about others?

Their acquaintance wasn’t particularly deep, so Red Spider had unreservedly applied her stereotypes of the Chaos Cult to Xiluo’er.

Members of the Chaos Cult were, in fact, mostly lunatics obsessed with the grand task of resurrecting an evil god. However, Cat’s Tail seemed to be different.

Red Spider’s narrowed eyes scrutinized Xiluo’er from head to toe, a gaze that made Xiluo’er feel a slight discomfort.

“My apologies, I was rather thoughtless just now.”

“Since everything is fine, I’ll be taking my leave.”

Xiluo’er turned, intending to exit the alley. In any case, she had inadvertently disrupted Red Spider’s plan, making it impossible to gather any intelligence today.

More importantly, having learned Red Spider’s true identity, Xiluo’er had already decided to minimize all non-essential contact with her.

Not only was this person an important character in the game, but she was also closely connected to Eve. In Xiluo’er’s eyes, Irene, with her identity as “Red Spider,” was nothing short of a ticking time bomb.

Red Spider showed no intention of stopping Xiluo’er, merely watching her back as she departed.

However, after only a few steps, Xiluo’er sensed something amiss.

Something seemed to be stretched taut in the air before her.

Catching a glimpse of a fleeting shimmer in the air, Xiluo’er immediately understood and halted her steps.

Her plain mask, worn on her face, was sliced horizontally into two halves from the middle, falling to the ground.

In the narrow alley, Red Spider’s silk-like threads were stretched horizontally between the two walls.

Xiluo’er broke out in a cold sweat. If she had taken one more step forward, it wouldn’t have been just her mask that was cut.

Hearing a movement from behind her, Xiluo’er’s heart tightened. Disregarding everything else, she quickly lowered her head, attempting to pull out another spare mask from her cloak to cover her face.

However, Xiluo’er’s hasty movements were naturally no match for Red Spider’s speed. Just as her hand reached into her cloak to grasp the mask, Xiluo’er saw a figure flash before her.

“Oh dear, my apologies. That was a trap I set as a backup, just in case, and I forgot to retract it.”

“Are you alright, little Cat’s Tail? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

Xiluo’er’s hand was caught by Red Spider, leaving her unable to move. Xiluo’er gritted her teeth, quickly lowering her head to prevent Red Spider from seeing her face.

Yet, she was still a step too late. As she lowered her head, a smiling face met Xiluo’er’s gaze.

Xiluo’er’s heart clenched. She immediately broke free from Red Spider’s grasp, retreated a few steps, and shielded her face.

“Oh, why are you hiding? I haven’t even checked if you’re hurt, little Cat’s Tail.”

Xiluo’er said nothing, merely staring coldly at Red Spider through the gaps in her fingers.

That spider silk had clearly not been “forgotten.” This woman had done it on purpose.

Exposing one’s true face for an assassin meant losing their stealth. A qualified assassin, once their identity was revealed, should only have three types of people know their true face.

They themselves, the dead, and those about to die.

Clearly, those two thugs belonged to the third category. After exposing her identity to them, Red Spider had no intention of letting them live.

Xiluo’er, appearing here as an uninvited guest, evidently did not belong to any of these three types of people.

However, Red Spider naturally couldn’t allow Xiluo’er, who now held a leverage against her, to simply leave. She had sought to remove Xiluo’er’s mask to gain leverage over her as well.

Xiluo’er wasn’t actually that concerned about her true face being exposed. What she cared about was that it was exposed to Irene!

Irene in the original game certainly didn’t know that Xiluo’er was Cat’s Tail. If she had, she wouldn’t have allowed an internal spy from the Chaos Cult, placed beside her sister, to sow discord.

Xiluo’er worried about whether letting Irene know she was “Cat’s Tail” would have any serious impact on the subsequent plot.

What should she do now? Had Irene seen her face clearly? Should she simply escape and never appear before Red Spider again, or…?

“Oh dear, don’t be so shy. I’ve already seen your face, Cat’s Tail.”

Red Spider’s words shattered Xiluo’er’s last shred of illusion. She lowered the hand covering her face and, with a displeased expression, walked up to Red Spider.

Thus, the two unexpectedly “met in person.”

However, rather than a simple meeting, it was more like they had each gained a small leverage over the other.

“Don’t worry, I’m good at keeping secrets.”

Xiluo’er didn’t beat around the bush. She made a zipping motion over her mouth with her hand and spoke directly.

“It’s fine, I trust you, Cat’s Tail.”

“Aren’t we friends?”

Xiluo’er quietly scoffed in her mind but said nothing more.

She was already contemplating countermeasures. Red Spider had seen her face; that was a done deal. She needed to consider how to minimize the impact of this event.

Nevertheless, one thing Xiluo’er was certain of.

Since they had inadvertently seen each other’s faces under these circumstances, it would likely be difficult for “Cat’s Tail” and “Red Spider” to continue their purely transactional relationship, as it was in the game.

By holding leverage over each other, for better or worse, their relationship had been forced to become more intimate.