Chapter 146 - Post Call Interrogation Pt. 2

When they had first come to this city, the roles were divided with what they thought was best for them. She was in charge of designing the base but Neo and Ming Ming were the backbone of the development. Ming Ming had done the heavy installations alongside Neo and built it up to where it was now. Not to say she had done nothing at all but it did not lessen the guilt that she had. 

It was only a year ago that they decided on coming to this unknown city and made it theirs. However, there was a lot of work put into the move. Just the overhead and operation costs were astronomical, the weaponry, the technology, finding people who would create their base and keep their mouth shut, etcetera. Money was the least of their problems but she remembered the stress of making sure everything was perfect. Even sneaking in the weaponry into this community and having their base built under a house without anyone knowing involved a lot of planning. Yet in her opinion, what she did was just setting the roots. 

Without the extra work they did, their base would not be as all encompassing or successful as it was today. They put in hours and put a lot of effort into keeping track of the surrounding news. She was the most skilled in fighting so it was decided she would be outside for most of the time. There were a lot of underhanded things that they could not assign others and only depend on themselves for. So she became the face that carried out those things and had a couple of other duties that kept her outside. 

That was the reason her apartment was more lived in and she could have a bit more of a relaxed time. She knew they were intentionally staying at the base more and more, so hearing Ming Ming's statement made her feel upset for them. 

She stared at Ming Ming with concern in her eyes and from the corner she could see that Neo's shoulder's had become stiffer. His typing became mechanical on a off beat so she knew that he had heard her as well. 

"Ying Ying, stop. You know I actually don't want to sleep with 5 men, I'm okay with this setting. Its also too annoying to go to the apartment when everything I want is here."

"But still, you guys should go out more. Eat the food, see some sights, get some air."

"...why are you acting like we never leave here? You do know we go out for food and air and all of that right? How else is that fridge stocked??" There was a comedic expression of disbelief on Ming Ming's face. 

Despite the expression and light hearted words of her friend, she did not feel better. Sure, they went out a lot but the majority of their time was in the base. It had to get stuffy and depressing at times, especially to stare at the numbers and codes they did. Half of what they tracked was almost like a sitting goose situation. Planting seeds and waiting to see when the egg would hatch. 

"Okay but stop dismissing my point. You could easily stay in the apartment and I could be here, take more turns. I know in the beginning it was more uneven as we were stabilizing but now it should be fine. I'm not doing anything anyways."

Even as she spoke the last line she knew that they would call her out on it immediately. 

"YOU are not doing anything? Well you could be doing something or SOMEONE...huehue." 

'Okay that was not the answer I was expecting but...' A small smile threatened to come out after hearing the comment. She kept trying to make the conversation serious but Ming Ming put equal amount of effort to make it casual. Pushing her smile down she continued to push her original topic. 

"First of all, no. Second of all, NO. I am not doing anyone or will be for the foreseeable future. Be serious, I'm worried about you guys, I just don't want you guys to have to suffer more than necessary."

Seeing the genuine look in her eyes, Ming Ming finally responded with a serious expression.

"Okay but that does mean you have to -"

"Can you shut up for one second please. Listen carefully, I know you feel guilty but its stupid to feel guilty for things we chose to do. No one is forcing us, no is holding a gun to our head and no we are not doing it to repay you. Our mission, what we are trying to do is the main reason. There is no way we would let you guys do this by yourselves. Until we bring every single one of them down I cannot be peaceful outside. Adding onto all of that, we love you. You are our best friend and our only family. Neo a little assistance is helpful."

"I agree with what she said." A familiar monotonous voice spoke out and were his first words in the past ten minutes. Though it was short she could still feel the warmth behind his words, he truly meant it and did not say it to pacify her. 

"Neo....I'm leaving you I can't do this anymore. Please I'm begging for you to add more words." Ming Ming put her hands in a prayer position and shook them dramatically. She made the moment so s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e and touching, just by a couple of his words the atmosphere went back to the lighthearted one from before. 

"Leave him, he's doing more important things right now like cyber fighting Zhuang Wei, XI Long's best friend. I believe you guys and I love you too but you know I still don't agree."

As she finished there was a subsequent knock on her head as Ming Ming hit her. 

"You're so dumb, do I have to knock it into you??! WHY DO YOU ACT SO SELFLESS?! Maybe we should write a diary out recording everything if old age is affecting you. You can't just be like 'yeah yeah I saved your lives and all but bohoo you guys are restricted cause of me, I'm so sad.' As if any of that is comparable to being alive. I can count on one hand the amount of times you've let yourself relax in the past ten years. Straight up, tell me right now what was the last time you got to sleep without worrying about an assassin sneaking in the middle of the night? Better yet, just answer me when was the last time you slept properly?"

"For your information sake, I slept well all these years."

"Oh yeah, what is sleeping well. Having a blade in your pillow and only get four to max six hours a night? Don't even think about mentioning our child years, for the past 4 years that was your routine and I know. We were bloody roommates."

Her eyebrow raised as she took in Ming Ming's words. Yes, she did sleep a little less than eight hours but not everyone needed that many. She did sleep well, it was just that she was a light sleeper so she was disturbed easier. Of course, the situations Ming Ming mentioned happened as well. There were a lot of assassins and different hitmen sent to them but it was not that stressful as it sounded. It came with the title she had then, there were a lot of perks and those were part of the negatives. These situations also helped her build her reputation and her status there to become an unshakeable existence.  If not for what happened last year, she would still be there instead of suffering in this city to be so low-key.

"Hyperbole my a.s.s. You rarely got to do something normal as buying take out in person. Now that you're able to enjoy a little bit in life why reject it. You even found a romantic relationship AND the man seems fairly good, why bring unnecessary thoughts into it. Just enjoy it! Neo and I have no d.e.s.i.r.e for other things right now and even if we did, we would just do it. You see my looks, I don't lose out to the high-society girls here either. If I wanted their man I could take them! I just chose not to out of the kindness in my heart and I'm really happy here anyways. Neo is always by my side, I'm not alone. If I wanted to be alone there are separate rooms here I can go and isolate myself in."

Neo cleared his throat before speaking "... please isolate yourself more."

"....Neo I'm ending this friendship."