Douluo Continent: Bibi Dong's Start with the Secret Chamber and Qian Xunji

These were Chihiro's jobs in the past.

And now, it belongs to her.

Bibi Dong sat down behind her desk and began to read.

Financial revenue and expenditure, personnel allocation, reports from branch halls, imperial trends, sect intelligence... She is becoming increasingly efficient in handling these matters. Once she gets a document, she can grasp the key points in just a few glances and then quickly make annotations.

Half an hour later, most of the documents on the desk had been processed.

Bibi Dong picked up the next document, her gaze casually sweeping over the cover. It was an intelligence document from the border branch of the Heaven Dou Empire.

She opened the bamboo slips and her gaze fell on the first line of text.

Then, her fingers froze.

[...Yu Xiaogang, son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Clan's leader, has recently been traveling with Soul Masters Flander and Liu Erlong. The three call themselves the "Golden Iron Triangle" and are active in the border region...]

Yu Xiaogang.

The name was like a thorn, piercing her eyes without warning.

Bibi Dong's fingers rested on the bamboo slips, her fingertips turning slightly white.

For a moment, the air in the study seemed to freeze.

Her gaze was fixed on those words, her pupils contracted slightly, but her expression remained unchanged.

Only her pale fingertips betrayed the turmoil in her heart at that moment.

This name.

I haven't seen Bibi Dong for several months.

No, it's not that I haven't seen it before.

She was deliberately avoiding it.

The Spirit Hall's intelligence network gathers massive amounts of information from all over the continent every day, and it's impossible that it wouldn't contain any mention of Yu Xiaogang. However, in the intelligence she's handled over the past few months, this name has never appeared.

She knew why.

Qian Xunji once issued an order—no one was allowed to mention Yu Xiaogang in front of the Holy Maiden.

Those subordinates responsible for compiling intelligence naturally treated this as an ironclad rule.

But now, Qian Xunji has gone into seclusion.

She, Bibi Dong, was in power.

There will always be people who want to take shortcuts.

Bibi Dong shifted her gaze from the bamboo slips to the signature of the person who submitted the intelligence report—Zhao Duo, the enforcer of the law.

She remembered this person.

A guy who finally made it to Spirit City after more than a decade of hard work in a branch hall. His abilities are mediocre, but his ambitions are considerable.

Clearly, Zhao Duo believed that Her Highness, now in power, would be eager to hear news of the man who had wronged her.

By catering to their preferences and winning their favor, one can gain a promotion.

A very reasonable idea.

Bibi Dong's lips curled into a mocking smile.

She didn't continue reading.

She placed the bamboo slips in her hands aside, stacking them with the documents she had already processed. Her movements were steady, and her expression was normal.

It was as if it were just an insignificant piece of ordinary intelligence.

However, when her gaze fell back on the next document, her pupils became slightly unfocused.

Those neat handwritings seemed to have turned into a blurry blot of ink, impossible to decipher.

Bibi Dong put down her pen, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

That figure buried in his books in the Spirit Hall's library.

The young man whose eyes light up when he talks about the theory of martial spirits.

The voice that whispered in her ear, "Dong'er, let's leave here together."

And that day—

That day, when she was forced to say those heartless words to him, his eyes flashed with shock, confusion, and finally, a deep disappointment.

He didn't ask any further questions.

There was no argument.

She wasn't even given a chance to explain.

He simply glanced at her silently, then turned and left.

From then on, there was no further news of them.

Bibi Dong opened her eyes, her purple pupils swirling with complex emotions.

She resented him.

She resented him for believing what she said without asking clearly.

He just walked away without looking back.

She resented him for not being there for her when she needed him most.

But what she resented even more was herself, who didn't even dare to speak the truth.

Bibi Dong's gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the bamboo slips she had placed aside.

After a while.

She reached out and picked it up again.

Turn it over.

[...Yu Xiaogang, Flander, and Liu Erlong traveled together, calling themselves the "Golden Iron Triangle," and their teamwork was impeccable...]

[...the three repeatedly defeated powerful enemies in the border region, and their reputation gradually grew...]

[...Based on observations, Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong have a close relationship, which is suspected to be...]

Bibi Dong's gaze lingered on those last few words.

Close relationship.

Her fingertips tightened slightly.

The bamboo slips made a slight sound in her hands, and the edges of the paper were pinched into tiny creases.

She continued reading.

The intelligence report detailed the three's travel routes, combat records, and—the details of Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong's interactions.

They went in and out of the inn together.

A pair of figures walking side by side, their backs to the camera.

A knowing glance exchanged during battle.

And then there was Liu Erlong's laughter.

Those images uncontrollably surfaced in Bibi Dong's mind. She could almost see that woman standing beside Yu Xiaogang, laughing wildly and unrestrainedly.

An indescribable feeling of frustration welled up in her chest.

In the secret chamber of the Spirit Hall, she was forced to submit to the man she loathed, enduring humiliation and torment day after day.

And what about him?

Only a few months later, he had already found new companions, started a new life, and even—had a new…

Bibi Dong didn't continue thinking about it.

She slammed the bamboo slips down on the table with a heavy thud.

The sunlight outside the window was still warm, illuminating her pale face.

Her eyes flickered in the light and shadow, a mixture of longing, resentment, unwillingness, and a hint of jealousy that she herself was unwilling to admit.

a long time.

She picked up the bamboo slip again and carefully read every single word.

Then, she did something she couldn't understand herself—

She neither destroyed the intelligence nor ordered a reprimand for the bishop Zhao Duo who had acted on his own initiative.

She put it in the bottom drawer of her desk.

That drawer held her most private belongings.

Bibi Dong stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the rows of buildings in Wuhun City outside the window. Something was quietly growing in the depths of her purple eyes.

……

From that day on, Bibi Dong spent more time processing intelligence each day.

She wouldn't deliberately seek out news about Yu Xiaogang.

But when those messages appeared on her desk, she would always take a second look.

Zhao Duo seemed to have also noticed the Holy Maiden's "tacit approval" of this information.

He would submit a new report every few days, with increasingly detailed content, from the itinerary of Yu Xiaogang and his two companions to their combat records, and even the smallest details of Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong's interactions.

Bibi Dong would watch it all the way through.

Then, each time, he would lock the bamboo slips into that drawer.

Her face was expressionless, as if she were simply reviewing an ordinary work report.

Only the increasingly longer reading time each time betrayed the turmoil in her heart.