Chapter 49: The Cute Maid Lulu

A low groan rumbled through the air.
Lin Yu froze instantly, her body as stiff as if she’d been hit with a binding spell.
She heard the faint rustle of fabric behind her—sha, sha—followed by a deep, slightly hoarse voice laced with magnetic resonance.

“…Where is this place?”

Lin Yu’s heart skipped a beat.
She whipped around, locking eyes with a pair of sharp, wary pupils gleaming like cold light.

Luo Shaotian.
He was awake.

Another groan escaped him.
At that moment, Lin Yu’s mind was sucked into a black hole, leaving nothing but blankness behind.

“Hm?”

Luo Shaotian, meanwhile, had already slipped into a state of professional vigilance the moment he regained consciousness.
He didn’t move immediately.
Instead, his eyes swept swiftly across the unfamiliar surroundings, taking in every possible detail.
Only then did that hawk-like gaze land on the figure before him.

A girl… dressed in a maid outfit?
She looked young—almost naive—but her features were striking enough to debut as an idol.

(Wait…)
Luo Shaotian narrowed his eyes.
(A maid outfit?)

Even his battle-hardened heart, which had weathered countless storms, stalled for half a beat at the surreal sight before him.

(What the hell is going on? Wasn’t I knocked out by the Akagi Gang? How did I end up next to… a maid?)

Eventually, police instinct overrode confusion.
His tone deepened, cautious and probing.

“Who are you?”
“I… I remember getting hit by a stun gun… Is this still that factory?”

The uncertain edge in his voice snapped Lin Yu out of her dazed blankness.

(Crap… what do I do now? How am I supposed to answer this guy?)

Her brain spun faster than ever, desperately trying to weave a lie that sounded even remotely believable.

(Say I’m actually your good buddy Lin Yu? Like, surprise! I turned into a magical girl and came to rescue you! …Yeah, no. I’d rather die than say that!)
(Maybe claim I’m an employee from Dawn Corporation, and our mission was to—no, that’s useless. He probably doesn’t even know what Dawn Corporation is. If he asks, I’ll have no way to explain it…)
(Then… what if I say I’m Lin Yu’s friend? I happened to find out she was in danger, so I rushed in to help… That sounds… passable. Sort of.)

Under Luo Shaotian’s increasingly intense stare, she could only bite the bullet and force a smile she hoped looked calm—
though her trembling voice betrayed her instantly.

“You… you… you’re awake?”

Her words came out dry and faint, like the mewl of a frightened kitten.

“Mm… this is still the factory. I… I was the one who saved you.”
She stumbled over her words, flustered.
“I can’t tell you who I am, but please believe me… I—I’m not one of the Akagi people.”

To make herself sound more convincing, she subconsciously puffed out her modest chest—just like Chen Bing always did—trying to appear a little more confident, a little more trustworthy.

Unfortunately, paired with that frilly maid uniform and her adorably panicked expression, the gesture only made her look even more helpless and pitiable.

(Ugh… was that move totally out of place just now?)
Regret hit her instantly, and heat crawled up her cheeks.

Luo Shaotian watched her quietly, a flicker of confusion crossing his otherwise straightforward gaze.
But he didn’t press the issue.

“You saved me?… Thank you.”

He struggled to push himself upright, bracing against the wall, but the lingering numbness from the electric shock sent his body reeling.
He stumbled, catching himself before slumping back down.
A faint frown creased his brow—clearly, he wasn’t used to feeling this weak.

“…Back to the point,” he said, lifting his head again, eyes regaining their sharpness.
“My friend… the guy they kidnapped earlier. Did you see him?”

“Uh…”

Cold sweat soaked through the back of Lin Yu’s maid uniform.

“Ah! You mean that… that guy!”

Her words tumbled out faster and faster, betraying her nervousness.

“He—he’s fine! Don’t worry! M-my partner is taking him away from here right now!”

As she spoke, she didn’t dare meet Luo Shaotian’s eyes—those sharp, probing eyes that seemed able to see straight through her.
Her gaze drifted upward, toward the impenetrable darkness that swallowed the ceiling above them.

Her small hands, gloved in white silk, fidgeted uncontrollably with the lace hem of her apron, twisting and tangling it over and over.

Every one of those telltale gestures—nervous, unguarded, full of cracks—did not escape the eyes of a seasoned criminal investigator.

(She’s lying.)

Luo Shaotian came to that conclusion almost instantly.

(Her eyes are evasive, her hands are trembling… and when she said “partner,” there was a pause. She’s hiding something—deliberately.)

But he didn’t expose her right away.
Instead, he followed her lead, speaking in a tone that sounded almost casual.

“Your partner, huh? Makes sense. You couldn’t have come here alone anyway. A little girl like you rescuing two grown men from a gang like that—pretty unlikely.”

He kept his tone even, unthreatening, as if he were merely making an observation.
“Since your partner took my friend away, what about us? Can you still contact your reinforcements?”

Reinforcements…

Lin Yu let out a bitter, almost helpless smile.
She lifted her arm, showing the communication device strapped to her wrist.

“I’d love to call for help, but there’s no signal in here. Didn’t you say you had colleagues outside? When are the police coming in?”

Her eyes were filled with hope as she looked at him.

…

For a long moment, Luo Shaotian was silent.
Then he sighed softly.

“That was a bluff,” he admitted. “I don’t have any backup.”

“Ah?”

For the first time, a flicker of awkwardness—and faint embarrassment—appeared on his face.

“I was tailing those guys in secret. When I saw them start endangering civilians, I wanted to call it in to the precinct, but… there was no signal.”

WHAT—?!

Lin Yu was completely dumbfounded.

All her hopes shattered in an instant, and despair washed over her like cold water.

The room fell into a heavy silence.

“So… we’re completely trapped here now?”

Her voice trembled—a soft, hopeless tone of a girl cornered by fate—as she gave a painfully accurate summary of their situation.

“From an objective standpoint… yes,” Luo Shaotian admitted with a wry smile.

He tried moving his limbs again; the lingering numbness from the electric shock had finally begun to fade.

Supporting himself against the wall, he rose slowly to his feet.
The moment he stood upright, his tall frame made the already cramped storage room feel even smaller.

He walked over to the rusted iron door and pressed his ear against the cold metal, listening carefully to the sounds beyond.

“Footsteps,” he murmured. “At least three groups, patrolling both east and west corridors. They haven’t given up the search.”

His tone turned analytical, calm, utterly professional.
“We can’t stay here any longer. The room’s too small—no alternate exit, no place to maneuver. If they find us… we’re dead.”

“Then… what do we do?”

Lin Yu’s heartbeat, which had just started to steady, suddenly began to race again.
Her eyes instinctively sought his, looking for direction.
Despite their shared predicament, Luo Shaotian remained composed—rational, focused—and that calmness was like a lifeline she couldn’t help but cling to.
It was the instinctive reliance one feels toward a leader.

Luo Shaotian didn’t answer right away.
He lifted his gaze, scanning the dimly lit space from corner to corner.

Finally, his eyes landed on a dusty ventilation pipe tucked into the ceiling corner, covered in grime and cobwebs.

“…Got it.”

Hope flickered back to life in his eyes.

“When I was in college,” he began, his voice low but firm, “I used to follow one of my dad’s old colleagues to factory inspections. I still remember a bit about this kind of layout.”

He pointed up at the thick ventilation duct above them.
“If I’m not mistaken, the central ventilation system in this plant connects all the floors. To prevent dust buildup, the main ducts are wide enough for a grown man to crawl through.”

He paused, his gaze steady and bright even in the gloom.

“More importantly,” he continued, “there’s an emergency comms station near the main power room on the top floor. It’s the factory’s central signal hub. Even with their jammers running, interference there should be weakest.”

His words worked like a powerful sedative, soothing the panic that had been gnawing at Lin Yu’s heart.
Watching the quiet confidence in his expression—the poise of a professional—she finally felt a sense of solid ground beneath her feet.

“Then… then let’s go, quickly!” she urged.

“Mm.”

Luo Shaotian nodded.

They had reached an understanding, ready to begin their dangerous crawl through the ducts.

But just as he was about to find a way to climb up to the vent nearly three meters above, his movements suddenly halted.
He turned toward the girl beside him—the one still dressed in that absurdly out-of-place maid outfit—and an odd, awkward look crossed his face.

“Um…”

He hesitated, as if choosing his words carefully.
“This might sound a little forward, but before we start… I should at least know what to call you, right?”

His gaze flicked to the black-and-white frills of her skirt, and despite himself, the ridiculous nickname circling in his mind slipped out.

“I can’t just… call you, uh… ‘Miss Cute Maid,’ can I?”

“Ah…”

The moment she heard it, Lin Yu felt her cheeks flush and her heart pound wildly in her chest.

(Don’t—don’t add weird prefixes like that, you idiot!)

Her throat felt uncomfortably dry.
“Uh… just call me… Lulu.”

The name had been a lie she’d made up on the fly earlier—to fool her sister Lin Xue.
But now, saying it aloud herself, it almost felt like the name truly belonged to this body… to this girl she was pretending to be.

“Alright then, Miss Lulu.”

Luo Shaotian nodded, his deep voice warm and steady.

“I’m Luo Shaotian, police officer. From here on… I’ll be counting on you.”