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"He should like this… right?"
Ch'en rode an LGD-issued little electric scooter at a slow crawl through the streets, one hand pressing down the blue wide-brimmed cap on her head. She kept glancing down—uneasy—at the item she'd just bought for Chen Mo.
It was a grooming brush: soft, resilient, and sturdy, imported from Columbia—one of those products practically designed for races like the Vouivre and similar tailed folk.
She'd even heard that senior executives at Rhine Lab spoke highly of it.
Chen Mo would probably like it.
VROOOOM—
A car roared past her, close enough that the engine note seemed to explode at her side. Ch'en glanced over—then her mood immediately soured when she saw the familiar company insignia.
Penguin Logistics. Of course.
Those people truly never outgrew their habit of skirting laws and playing with taboos. And they wanted her to hand Chen Mo over to them?
Not a chance.
Bzzz—bzzz—
A sudden call interrupted her thoughts. Ch'en didn't lose her temper; she'd already carved this time out of an overloaded schedule just to visit Chen Mo.
If someone was calling now, it might actually be urgent.
She slowed even further, pulled out her phone, and answered one-handed while keeping the scooter steady.
"This is Ch'en Hui-chieh. Report."
"Little Mo is heading for the Lungmen checkpoint. He's trying to go to Ursus. Stop him—now."
Screech—
The scooter snapped to a violent stop in the middle of the street. In broad daylight, with people all around, Ch'en burst into furious curses into the phone.
"I—[Lungmen profanity]—why didn't you have people detain him?!"
"I can deploy the Black Coats in full force to intercept Little Mo," Wei Yenwu replied calmly, "but if we do, he will absolutely be injured in the struggle."
"He's already struck one Black Coat hard enough to leave a minor injury. The rest hesitated—afraid of hurting him—so they didn't press the interception."
Wei Yenwu's tone didn't rise in the slightest, despite Ch'en's outburst.
Ch'en knew what that meant.
He was already furious beyond words.
"His determination has also convinced me not to personally move to seize him," Wei Yenwu continued. "Now it can only be you, Hui-chieh."
"You've spent the most time with him. If it's you… you may be able to change his mind before he throws himself into something this dangerous."
Ch'en clenched her jaw so hard her molars felt like they might crack.
"Where is he?"
"He's driving a Penguin Logistics vehicle. He passed near your position not long ago."
Penguin Logistics… Penguin Logistics!
Ch'en whipped the little scooter around in a brutal one-eighty, leaving a deep, black tire mark carved into the pavement.
Whoosh—
No more slow-and-steady compliance with traffic rules. Her expression turned ice-cold as she cranked the throttle repeatedly, forcing the poor scooter to spit out a speed it had no business reaching.
In the blink of an eye, she shot off in the direction the Penguin Logistics vehicle had gone.
…
"Huh. Feels like a wave of malice just rolled over me."
Chen Mo shivered in the driver's seat, as if he were playing a real-life street-racing game. The last time he'd felt a chill like this was when Ch'en had caught Exusiai.
Having just brushed past another encounter with the Black Coats, a tight unease twisted in his chest—but the checkpoint ahead was getting closer, and he forced himself to shove the feeling aside.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was how to punch through.
The checkpoint was almost certainly a net laid out for him—waiting for him to drive straight into it.
Bang!
"What the hell was that?"
A sharp pounding from outside made Chen Mo turn his head.
And there she was—Ch'en—rage blazing on her face as she hammered at his window.
It scared the life out of him. For a split second, he genuinely felt his heart stop.
Bang, bang—
With the relentless knocking, Chen Mo couldn't pretend he hadn't noticed anymore. He lowered the window a crack and forced an awkward laugh.
"Haha… what a coincidence, Ch'en. Didn't know you were this good on a scooter. You actually caught up to me."
"Stop the car, Chen Mo!" Ch'en roared. "Do you even know what you're doing?!"
Before Chen Mo could react, she reached for the door handle.
No use.
After the earlier incident with the Black Coats, Chen Mo had locked the doors completely.
Unable to open it—and unwilling to smash her way in and risk hurting him—Ch'en forced herself to swallow the volcanic anger rising in her throat and tried to speak like a rational person.
"Listen. Whatever it is, we can talk. If you need something, if you're unhappy about something—tell me."
"You're my brother. I'm your family. I don't want you in danger. I don't want you treating your life like it's disposable."
"If you still consider me your sister… then pull over. Now."
Instead of slowing, Chen Mo accelerated—hard—instantly widening the gap between them.
He even had the spare attention to lean out the window, grin, and flash her a thumbs-up.
"Because I do think of you as my little sis, that's why I'm going to Ursus!"
"Stop chasing me, Ch'en. Go back. Trust me—once I'm back, you won't be this busy anymore."
Clang—
"Is that all you have to say?!!"
Chi Xiao was out.
For years, Ch'en had been unable to draw the dragon-slaying blade—but now it stood revealed to the world. Balanced on the scooter, she gritted her teeth and pointed the cold, gleaming sword straight at Chen Mo.
"You've disobeyed me so many times—whether I told you to mind your manners or to stay away from those women with ulterior motives. You never listened to a single word."
"I let all of that go. But this time—this is the last warning."
"Stop!"
The scene… was painfully similar to something decades ago.
The same helplessness. The same person leaving her behind.
Ch'en's gaze sharpened, muscles taut, ready to leap into the road in front of his car and block him with her own body.
She would not allow her family to leave her again.
Chen Mo's scalp went numb. With Chi Xiao aimed at him, even he felt fear crawling up his spine.
A dragon-slaying sword…
Was Ch'en about to "do the right thing" and cut down her own brother like some western dragon today?
Chen Mo swallowed, forced his lips into a smile, and shouted at her as loudly as he could.
"Just… indulge me one last time, Ch'en! Don't worry—I'll come back after I beat the boss!"
Utter nonsense.
Ch'en lost the last of her patience.
She stomped down—hard—shattering the scooter that had carried her here.
Boom!
In the next instant, she dropped into the roadway directly in front of Chen Mo's car. The impact was so heavy it spiderwebbed cracks across the pavement, leaving a crater beneath her boots.
Chi Xiao hung at her waist, gripped tight.
She planted herself in the very center of the road, poised to draw and meet the car head-on.
One strike.
If she drew the blade, she could split the vehicle cleanly in half and stop him from heading into the lethal chaos of Ursus.
All she had to do…
…was draw.
But—
VROOOOM—
At the moment the car was about to reach her, it swerved violently to the side, whipping past with a slicing gust of wind, and shot into the distance.
"WOO—! Thanks for going easy on me, Ch'en! I knew you were the best to me!"
His cheerful holler faded with the engine as the vehicle dwindled into the far end of the road.
Ch'en's tense grip loosened. Chi Xiao lowered, resting at her side.
She could have stopped him.
And yet—
"How could I ever truly raise my blade against him…"
She let out a long, exhausted sigh, pulled the grooming brush from where she'd kept it tucked close to her body, and stood there in silence.
Bzzz—bzzz—
Her phone rang again.
Ch'en stared at the caller ID for a moment—then answered.
"This is Ch'en."
"Old Ch'en, what happened?!" Hoshiguma's voice was loud and chaotic, layered with distant shouting, curses, and barked orders. "A Penguin Logistics car just forced its way through the checkpoint! Wei's been calling you nonstop—he's so anxious he called me!"
"Want me to take people and intercept them? They shouldn't be far yet."
"No need," Ch'en said.
"What? But Wei said—"
Ch'en took a slow breath, sheathed Chi Xiao, and began walking in the direction Penguin Logistics had gone.
"I said no. You can't stop him."
"…Alright," Hoshiguma replied, reading the situation and ending the call decisively. "Handle what you need to, then get here as soon as you can."
Ch'en slipped the gift back into her coat and continued forward on foot.
Penguin Logistics…
Good.
She'd been holding that in for a long time, too.
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My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
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