“There’s no way to know my name just from my computer. I don’t have any personal information in this one, and I definitely don’t have a name they’ll recognize. They’d get…my IP address, at the very least. My hacker name. If I came in with another computer, they’d be able to tell from my signature that it’s still me, but they’d have to go through the work again to locate me before they catch me in person. As long as I have a steady stream of hotels and laptops I can bounce between, I’m not super concerned at this stage.”

“And you?” Xiao-Xiao swiveled his attention to Xingyu, who almost wanted to flinch under his gaze. “I assume you haven’t gotten any farther.”

“Xiaokai,” Weiran hissed, but Xingyu just nodded.

“You know Ba. He’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

“Do you have a time frame for when he’s going to trust you?”

“You know I don’t.”

“It’s not like I have an extensive knowledge of what your lessons are like together.”

Xingyu actually did flinch this time. Weiran looked alarmed.

“Is there anything you can do to make him trust you more?”

“I could try to be more obedient, but I think it’s too early at this point to concede to him. He’ll think I’m up to something if I do. I’ve been slowly listening to him more and more, but right now he’s still under the impression that I’m only doing this for the money.” He hoped. Liu Xingyu still wasn’t convinced that his father wasn’t aware of all of this from the beginning, that he was pulling the strings—he even had the terrible suspicious planted in his mind now that Xiao-Xiao was a part of whatever nefarious plan their father had cooking up, helping to test Xingyu, ready to slide into his place as soon as Xingyu slipped up. He knew this wasn’t true—knew that Xiao-Xiao was here with them to take down the List, knew that, if Xiao-Xiao really wanted to take Xingyu’s place, he already had ample evidence for their father to slit Xingyu’s throat without hesitation.

“What about you?” Weiran’s voice was testy. “What have you accomplished?”

Xiao-Xiao’s gaze slid slowly to Weiran and lingered there. Xingyu could see Weiran get antsy after a few seconds of silence. “I brought you information,” he said softly.

“Well, I know, but—”

“So far,” said Xiao-Xiao in that same dangerously soft voice, “that’s more than either of you have been able to accomplish.”

“What about your progress with Laoma?”