"I—I'll go get some ice for Su Yi's lips."
Exusiai's face turned red. She shrank her neck, grabbed the first excuse she could find, and slipped into the back kitchen.
"Su Yi—what, did you trigger another incident again?"
A penguin in sunglasses and a thick gold chain, dressed in full hip-hop swagger, waddled over.
Even after three months of knowing Emperor, Su Yi was perfectly aware this emperor penguin had nothing to do with that other "Tencent" from his previous life—but he still couldn't shake the feeling that Emperor might blurt out, any second now, "Hey, wanna top up some Q-coins?"
Or start going goo-goo ga-ga.
Or perhaps drop a deadpan, "Creating obscene materials.JPG"…
What on earth had happened to their… penguins…? (choking up)
"Yeah. I saw someone being chased down on the street, so I saved her," Su Yi said simply.
He kept it brief—there was no way he was going to admit he'd been forcibly kissed by a female cop.
Emperor reached out a flipper and patted Su Yi's thigh, comforting him. "That one's on me. I didn't think it through. Your constitution isn't suited for solo ops. When I get back, I'll assign you a fixed partner."
"You're leaving Lungmen?" Su Yi asked.
"Some overconfident punk in Siesta wants to challenge my status as Rap King. I'm going to teach the kid a lesson—and pick up some vinyl while I'm at it. The last batch I bought, I didn't even finish listening before you went and broke it," Emperor complained.
Su Yi pretended he hadn't heard the second half and stared fixedly at the bar counter.
This table sure was… a table…
"Alright, I'm out. You lot hold down the fort!"
Emperor flapped his wings, then left the bar with the bouncer.
"Don't take it to heart. The boss just likes to complain—he's not really blaming you," Texas said suddenly.
Her tone was cool as ever, but every word was clearly meant to reassure him.
Croissant chimed in too. "Yeah. Last time our hideout got hit by the Ax Gang, I thought you were going to die from that flying axe. Lucky you were helping the boss move his vinyl—one record blocked it for you, so you got out fine."
Su Yi was genuinely moved. Then he said, "When you take the subway, you should always ride it to the terminal."
"Why?" Croissant asked.
"Because good deeds should be done to the end!"
Croissant: …
Texas: …
So cold. Looks like the temperature dropped again this winter.
While they were talking, Exusiai came back with ice. In the company group chat, Sora also said her event was over and she'd already gone home.
…
…
That night.
Lungmen First People's Hospital. A private room.
Ch'en Hui-chieh slowly came to. The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling, and the faint, lingering smell of disinfectant.
"You're awake? Getting drugged with an aphrodisiac—careless. That doesn't sound like you, Superintendent Ch'en."
By the bedside, a beautiful Oni woman in an elegant kimono teased her. Her eyes were slightly red, as if she'd been crying.
She was Madam Wenyue—wife of Lungmen's current Chief Wei Yenwu—and Ch'en Hui-chieh's aunt by marriage. Childless her entire life, she treated Ch'en as her own.
The moment she heard Ch'en had been brought to the hospital, she rushed over and stayed by her side.
"Madam Wenyue…"
Ch'en tried to sit up, but her body was limp and weak, refusing to obey.
Wenyue immediately stopped her. "The drug hasn't fully cleared your system. Stay lying down."
"My apologies," Ch'en said, settling back.
Then indignation flared in her voice. "I underestimated them. I only suspected that company of human trafficking and went to probe them—who would've thought they'd be that decisive, that bold? They drugged me on the spot!"
"Count yourself lucky their 'small head' overruled the 'big head.' If they'd chosen poison instead, they might've succeeded long ago," Wenyue said.
"You're right. I'll reflect properly," Ch'en replied.
Wenyue picked up a thick stack of exam reports from the bedside cabinet. "Since you were already here, I had the doctors run a physical while you were unconscious. Want to hear the results?"
"No," Ch'en said at once.
She turned her head away like a sulking child.
"Then I'll read it to you anyway."
Madam Wenyue flipped the report open and skipped the trivial parts.
"Imaging results indicate blurred outlines of internal organs with abnormal shadowing. Originium particle detection within the circulatory system is abnormal. Signs consistent with Oripathy infection are present. At this stage, the patient can be confirmed as an Oripathy carrier."
If this report ever leaked, it would cause an uproar in Lungmen.
Senior Superintendent and Special Inspection Unit leader of the Lungmen Guard Department—Superintendent Ch'en—was an infected.
On Terra, even a murderer could repent and start over.
But not the infected. They were seen as walking pathogens, the source of an incurable plague.
You could say Terra's discrimination against the infected ran through its entire history.
"Madam Wenyue…"
"Somatic cell–Originium fusion rate: 4%. Minor Originium crystallization has appeared on the body surface.
"Blood Originium crystal density: 0.18 u/L. Although the infection appears to have begun earlier, and you have not received sufficiently comprehensive treatment—"
"Auntie!"
"Only at times like this do you call me Auntie?!"
Madam Wenyue's emotions finally broke. She covered her face and began to cry.
Ch'en wanted to comfort her, but the words stuck in her throat—like a dense five-nut mooncake jammed halfway down. She couldn't get it up, couldn't swallow it down. Miserable either way.
After a long while, Madam Wenyue wiped her tears away, forced an ugly smile, and spoke in a tone that allowed no refusal:
"Little Ch'en, you can't keep going like this. In the first half of the year, your fusion rate was still 3%, and your blood crystal density was only 0.16 u/L… It hasn't even been a year! You're going to die!"
Ch'en stubbornly shot back, "Everyone dies eventually! Oripathy just speeds the process up!"
"Little Ch'en!"
"…"
"Fine. I can't win with you," Madam Wenyue said, producing several boxes of medicine. "If you insist on continuing, then you must promise me this: take your medication every day, on time, in full. Otherwise I'll have Yenwu remove you from your post as Senior Superintendent!"
Ch'en glanced at the boxes—each stamped with Rhodes Island Pharmaceuticals—and finally compromised. "I promise."
With terms agreed upon, the atmosphere in the room eased noticeably.
"Be more careful from now on. Thank goodness whoever brought you here sent you to Lungmen First People's Hospital. If it had been any other hospital, your infected status would've been exposed," Madam Wenyue warned.
This hospital had been personally "briefed" by Wei Yenwu. The moment Ch'en arrived, a few reliable doctors who knew the situation took over.
If Wenyue hadn't mentioned it, it would've been fine—but now that she had, Ch'en's mind immediately flashed back to that strikingly handsome male employee from Penguin Logistics, and her cheeks heated.
One second she'd been boasting that she could control herself.
The next second she saw his face—and lost her mind, grabbing him and kissing him like her life depended on it…
And after that… why is everything after that missing?!
Don't tell me I actually… did it to him?!
"Senior LGD Superintendent Caught in Street-Side Car Tryst with Handsome Penguin Logistics Employee"
Aaaaahhhhh!
The thought of tomorrow's front-page headline nearly made Ch'en let out a shriek.
"A-Auntie… when I was brought to the hospital… what did I look like?" Ch'en asked, dread pooling in her stomach.
-------
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