The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 160

Thomas shook his head.

"No, I've covertly checked out every student. So far, I haven't found anything unusual."

"We must continue searching." Percival's voice was gravelly. "That girl is the key to investigating what went wrong with Lark's last mission. We have to replace her."

"Understood," replied Thomas. "But, during our investigation, we found out that, besides us, two other groups are also on the lookout for this girl, one being the GTO, and the other seems to be the Nine Mystics Society."

"Why on earth would the Nine Mystics Society get involved?"

The Nine Mystics Society was an incredibly ancient organization. They were shrouded in mystery and wielded enormous power; they were even more elusive than the GTO.

The people of the Nine Mystics Society seldom made their moves.

Yet this time, they were mobilizing for this girl.

"We haven't figured that out yet." Thomas shook his head. "All we know is that Lark is tangled in too many secrets."

Just then, Vivienne, who had finished setting the revision schedule for the remaining half-month and managed to settle the transfer student, Coral, heard the name "Lark" coming from Thomas.

Her eyes narrowed subtly as her gaze rested on Percival's back for a moment with a barely detectable glint in her eyes.

A moment later, she walked over. "What about Lark?"

Percival gave Thomas a look.

Thomas immediately responded. "A friend of mine has recently taken to bird-keeping and ended up with a lark, which is a protected species, and got fined."

Vivienne didn't press further. Her eyes were fleetingly scrutinizing the faces of Percival and Thomas.

"Everything arranged?" Percival asked Vivienne.

"Yes." Vivienne nodded. "We're down to the last physical education class for the seniors. When do you plan to schedule it?"

"The day after tomorrow afternoon."

With the college entrance exams just half a month away, the physical education class couldn't possibly be scheduled in the last week before the exams.

"Alright." Vivienne nodded and headed towards the staff office.

Percival followed her after a glance at Thomas, who left on his own.

The pair ascended the staircase together, bumping into Felix, who was descending with a stack of papers. They exchanged polite nods and continued on their way.

However, after Felix had walked away, he couldn't help but look back at the duo, sensing that something was off with their atmosphere, almost as if they had had a disagreement.

Indeed, Vivienne felt a bit uneasy.

Lark...

That was her mother's code-name.

Why was Percival investigating her mother?

Moreover, it seemed like they were both looking for the same person.

From the information Matthew had found and her own investigations, the girl she was looking for was indeed among the seniors at Cloudcrest High School.

But after checking and rechecking the information and even observing all the senior students, she still couldn't figure it out.

According to the information she had, the member of her mother's team who disappeared after their last mission was very good at hiding and impersonation, often playing the role of a spy in the organization.

It seemed that he had passed on his skills to his daughter, which was why the girl was able to hide so well.

Vivienne put the files on her desk as her gaze fell on a few bags of nuts. Recalling the way Percival had playfully fed her in the morning, she felt a strange pain in her heart.

She had started to feel differently about Percival.

That was why, despite living with him for so long, she never investigated the origin of the pendant he had, as she had initially intended.

She didn't want to uncover something she didn't want to see.

Percival's kindness had indeed swayed her heart.

But after hearing the code-name "Lark" today, she felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her head.

She had almost gotten lost in Percival's affection and forgotten her purpose.

Some things needed to be resolved sooner rather than later.

She and Percival needed to settle things as well.

Lifting her eyes, she looked at the stern man beside her, her lips parting slightly.

"Percival, I hope you're a friend, not a foe."

At 3 a.m., a figure emerged from Vivienne's room in Bay Estates and silently made their way to the study downstairs.

The study, which she and Percival had messed up last time, had been tidied up and the broken bookshelves replaced.

Vivienne had been to this study more than once, yet she wanted to search it again.

She made her way through the room, finally stopping at the bookshelf where she had found the box with the combination lock. The box was still there.

Using her birth date to unlock the box, she found the anklet she had lost as a child still inside.

She stared at the anklet for a long while in silence, then locked the box and took it with her.

After searching the entire house, she finally stopped outside Percival's bedroom.

She inserted the key into the lock and quietly opened the door.

Inside the bedroom, Percival lay on the bed, his eyes closed in deep sleep. However, she used a mild sedative, not noticing that when she sprayed it, Percival held his breath. She walked in and picked up Percival's phone from the bedside table. She had already checked his computer during her last use.

Now, only the phone remained unsearched.

She unlocked the phone, and when she saw the numbers displayed, she paused.

It was her birthday.

She glanced at Percival, who was still sleeping peacefully. His handsome face softened in a way that only happened when he was with her.

She took out a minicomputer, connected it to Percival's phone through the network, and copied all the content within. Even the deleted content was recovered and copied.

After she was done, she put the phone back on the bedside table and sat down in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on Percival's bedroom balcony with the minicomputer, ready to sift through the data. Unbeknownst to her, a faint smile danced at the corner of Percival's lips as she returned his phone.

Percival's phone screen was remarkably clean, featuring only communication apps and a lone gaming app.

Indeed, he had been persistently researching "Lark."

However, the specific reason for his investigation into her mother was nowhere to be found in the phone's contents. All she could gather was that he had been looking into her mother's last mission, just like her and was also searching for the daughter of the team member who disappeared during that time.

A frown knitted Vivienne's brow.

Who was he, really?

Was his investigation of her mother simply to get his hands on the potion, or did he have other motives?

Her gaze landed on an innocuous health app, causing Vivienne to pause. Percival didn't seem like the type to use such an app.

She opened the app.

A smirk tugged at her lips.

So, this was where it was hidden.

The app was merely a facade. Bypassing this disguise, a dark-themed login screen appeared. Using the login traces stolen from Percival's phone, she logged in. It required face recognition. Torn between waking Percival for face recognition and hacking it, Vivienne chose the latter.

Then she saw a code-name, 'Wolf.'

A code-name that belonged to Percival.