The ball was now in the other girls'' court, as they seemed a bit indecisive about what to do.

In the end, they decided to fold, not wanting to risk losing half of their candies in a single bet.

As Yuqi and Xiaoyun both revealed their cards, he was a little shocked to find her hands were just two 2s.

Meanwhile, his hand totaled 24, making it a bust that would have won if he had not drawn two extra cards to risk a higher number.

"You sneaky little bug," Xiaoyun murmured as Yuqi gathered all of the candies on the table.

"You guys are just too gullible. It''s not my fault you guys failed to see through the bluff."

As the third turn played out, everyone drew two cards again.

This time, everyone was raised by one candy, with no one willing to fold their hands or draw any cards.

With a flip, everyone had an extremely high number from 17 to 20.

Unfortunately, Yuqi managed to hit 21, beating all of the numbers, and she now has the most candies.

"Who are you picking?" Xiaoyun asked as they all waited for Yuqi to pick someone to answer her question.

"Hmm... How about Kate?"

"Sure, what do you want to ask?"

"When was the last you had your period?"

Kate froze for a second, looking surprised by Yuqi''s odd question.

"Um, last week."

"Dang it, she didn''t get pregnant that night..."

Kate''s face blushed as she thought back to the time she was creampied by Xiaoyun for the first time after the karaoke.

"Ahem, let''s keep playing now."

Nami immediately started shuffling as everyone''s attention turned back to the table at hand.

As everyone drew the card from the deck, the main entrance door was being knocked.

"I''ll go. It''s probably just Yueyue coming from work. You guys can play for now."

After walking over to the living room, Xiaoyun opened the door, only to find his prediction correct.

"Welcome back. What took so long today?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he helped her put away her coat.

"What do you think? Somebody almost got assassinated under my eyes again.

Xiaoyun, I don''t think I''m fit for this job... It''s my failure for them to get even close to you——"

"You silly. Who told you that your role is to protect me? Your job is the Department of Internal Security.

It''s not the governor''s bodyguard. I went out alone because I was confident no one could kill me.

Remember, your main job is to investigate corruption and organized crime, not a secret service, okay?"

Xiaoyun''s words made Yueyue feel a little better, but she was still visibly upset about her failure.

"Ahem, anyway, did your agents find anything regarding where the assassin came from?"

"He confessed everything right away. It''s from the North of us in Jiangxi."

"North?"

"The Ming empire that Renqin had reported in the past," Yueyue explained.

"Who''s this?"

"It''s me, Xiaoyun. Chicken boiled egg." Xiaoyun suddenly mentioned out of nowhere.

"Mr.Commander, is there something wrong?"

Renqin''s voice finally appeared on the other side, taking in Xiaoyun''s hidden password.

"You have the assassin in custody right now, right?"

"Yes. We''re interrogating him right now, trying to get as much information as possible."

"What information have you gotten so far?"

"We had learned his code name is Yihao, and the Ming emperor in the north assigned him to examine the threat in the south."

Seeing Renqin''s answer matching with Yueyue''s, Xiaoyun started to believe the fact.

"Did he take action himself, or did someone above him send him to start the assassination?"

After a short silence, sounds of paper being flipped could be heard on the other side.

"He took action himself... His original order was only to spy and report information back."

"Are you sure?"

"I''m certain. No contact or messages were being sent after he sent back what he saw in the military parade."

"Thank you. Call me if you find anything important."

"Yes, sir."

As Xiaoyun hung up the phone call, he headed over to his desk and pulled a map out of his drawer.

It was the map Renqin last updated a few weeks ago, with all the areas painted under the other faction''s control.

Guangdong was completely covered in blue, with Luoping written all over as a sphere of influence and control.

Meanwhile, the Ming Empire controlled Ganzhou and the nearby areas around the Jiangxi Province.

With a small bit of incusion into Hunan, which was controlled by the Zhongxiong Self-Defense force.

Although Zhongxiong''s faction was way bigger on the map, all of them were on the outskirts of the cities rather than having it colored in.

An idea began to form in Xiaoyun''s head as he remembered how the two factions had been fighting each other since a year after the outbreak.

It just felt disturbing to him that someone was old-fashioned enough to form something so old in the history textbook.

More importantly, declaring themselves emperors despite only ruling a single city just looked so stupid to his eyes.

"Maybe I can use this opportunity..."

As Xiaoyun thought more about it, he realized that only two barriers were facing him.

The supplies needed and who to send to travel past Qingyuan and Shaoguan had been reported to be mostly emptied now.

He could simply send Lingang to rush to Ganzhou in less than half a day through the highway.

However, the risk involved could be severe, as there weren''t detailed reports on how strong the Ming Empire really was besides traders'' info.

Not wanting to destabilize the situation he''s facing in Guangzhou and Luoping, Xiaoyun chose to do nothing with it for now.

But still, he kept it as a note, knowing it could be useful one day as an excuse for war.

"Time to sleep... I had been sleeping alone for the past few days, haven''t I?"

As Xiaoyun lay on the bed, he didn''t think too much of it as there was plenty of work tomorrow.