On a lone island in the Pacific, the Shadow Division kept its nest like a blade out at sea. On the training ground, a dozen figures stood straight as spears.

Two striking women faced them, bright as twin lanterns cutting the salt wind.

“Tomorrow is live combat,” Gu Xin said, her voice like chilled steel under a gray sky. “It’s your last trial.”

“Pass, and you’re official Shadow Division,” she went on, frost steady on her face. “Fail, or don’t make it back, and you know the rest.”

“Captain, if we pass, do we get to run missions with you?” a tall youth asked, street swagger in his grin like a stray cat in sunlight.

He’d fallen for the cold princess on day one, like a moth circling ice, and she hadn’t spared him a spark.

“Pass first,” Gu Xin said, eyes flat as a winter lake. “Dismissed.”

She couldn’t be bothered to waste breath, and the line broke like a wave rolling back.

After the crowd thinned, Meng Yuting came to her side, red hair burning like a small flame against the sea wind.

“Xin’er, that was hard work,” she said, her tone a warm shawl in the chill air.

“I’m fine,” Gu Xin replied, calm as pressed paper. “You done?”

“Mm.” Meng Yuting paused, the fire in her hair gentling like dusk. “I’ve mulled something for a long time.”

“I’m going home in a while,” she said, the words slow as falling leaves. “It’s time to see family I haven’t faced in over a decade.”

Gu Xin’s lashes lowered like shutters, and a thin sorrow bled through like rain behind glass.

“You’re right,” she said softly, the words cool as mist. “You joined after awakening your Anomaly Power, and years have settled.”

“You can protect yourself now, and those around you,” she added, gaze drifting like a lone crane. “Besides… he isn’t here anymore.”

“Staying here has no meaning,” she finished, grief a faint bruise under the skin.

Meng Yuting’s heart pinched like a string pulled tight; her own chest had been a broken drum for years.

“Xin’er, come back with me,” she said, hope flickering like a hearth. “We can walk ordinary streets together.”

“The organization has fresh blood,” she added, light as a breeze. “Old Hong will agree.”

She thought a brush with ordinary life might wash Gu Xin back to color, like rain rinsing dust from leaves.

“And I believe you feel it too,” Meng Yuting murmured, eyes bright as stars behind clouds. “That guy isn’t dead.”

“He’s out there somewhere, like a stone under deep water.”

“I… I’m afraid I can’t fit into ordinary anymore,” Gu Xin said, her voice a tight knot in her throat.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Meng Yuting smiled, warmth like spring sun on frost. “We’ll be together, and the road will feel soft.”

“Maybe we’ll even find that guy,” she added, hugging Gu Xin tight, two reeds in the same wind. “And when we do, we’ll punish him good.”

They both held to the same stubborn faith, like incense that never went out: Tang Ke was somewhere under the sky.

“…All right,” Gu Xin breathed, a slight thaw under ice. “Maybe it’s time to change the season.”

“Let’s talk to Old Hong,” she said, resolve settling like a stone.

“Mm!” Meng Yuting nodded, sparks leaping in her eyes.

Meanwhile, in Ninghai City, the Imperial Walk Club glowed like a harbor at night. Tang Coco lay on a wide, soft bed, tucked under a quilt like a shell.

Under the blanket, she wore nothing, pale as moonlight under snow.

“Yiyi, Coco’s staying with me tonight,” Ningxin said outside the room, her voice smooth as satin over the phone. “I’ll take her to school tomorrow.”

“Relax, it’s handled,” she added, neatly tying off doubts like silk knots. “Mm, that’s that.”

At noon, Ye Yiyi had been frantic, a sparrow beating wings at a window. She and Li Muyan couldn’t find Tang Coco, so she’d called Ningxin in fear.

Ningxin had told her Coco was already at the club, and with the grace of a dancer, she’d folded every question away.

Hanging up, Ningxin pushed open the door, the latch clicking like a small bell. She sat by the bed and studied Coco’s face, lovely as a carved jade mask.

Her mind replayed noon’s image: Tang Coco with red eyes, wearing Armor, like a crimson comet in iron sky.

“So that’s her Anomaly Power,” she thought, memory heavy as thunderheads. “That pressure was SS-class, no doubt.”

“And the red hair… is that another persona, or…”

Possibilities flickered like fish under dark water, until Coco’s lashes trembled and her eyes slowly opened.

“Mm… uh… this… where…” Her voice was a drowsy thread, thin as smoke rising.

“You’re awake,” Ningxin said, leaning close, her smile a candle in a quiet room.

“Ning… Ning-jie? How am I… here?” Coco blinked, surprise breaking like dawn over a ridge.

“Mm? You don’t remember what happened?” Ningxin asked, her gaze steady as a handrail.

“I… I remember… I went to the beach,” Coco said, thoughts stumbling like stones in a stream. “Then some… men in black tried to kill me.”

“I got shot, and then…”

“Enough,” Ningxin cut in gently, palm out like a wall of silk. “Don’t push it.”

“Rest first,” she said, voice warm as soup. “We’ll talk after. I’ll get you something to eat.”

“…Okay,” Coco murmured, sinking back like a leaf on water.

Ningxin slipped out, and Coco stared at the ceiling, a blank sky where broken film fluttered.

“What was it… forget it,” she thought, belly a hollow drum. “I’m actually hungry.”

After a breath, she sat up slowly, careful as a deer rising. The quilt slid from her chest, a snowfall she couldn’t catch.

Two pale, full curves met the air like twin moons, and Coco stared, stunned, for a heartbeat stretched to ten.

“Aaaah!” Her scream burst like a firecracker, snapping the quiet to shreds.

Ningxin, prepping food, jumped like a cat and rushed back, her steps quick as rain.

“Coco, what happened!” she cried, pushing the door open like a wave breaking.

Tang Coco was curled in the corner of the bed, a cocoon of blanket around her like a fortress.

“You… you, you, you—” Her eyes were wide, bright as wet glass.

“What about me?” Ningxin asked, brows lifting like fine lines of ink.

“My… clothes?” Coco demanded, the words a trembling blade.

“I took them off,” Ningxin said, calm as a pond at night.

“Who… who took them off?” Coco pressed, thunder stuck in her throat.

“Me,” Ningxin repeated, unblinking as the moon.

“…”

Coco stared, shame and anger mixing like storm and tide across her face.

“You didn’t scream just for that, right?” Ningxin asked, a bit speechless, her tone light as a tap.

“…”

“I thought something serious happened,” she said, sighing like a tired breeze, and turned to finish the food.

“You—!” Coco sputtered, watching her leave like a door shutting on a shout, and grew even more flustered.

“A girl just saw everything,” she thought, pride crumpling like paper. “My dignity…”

A moment later, Ningxin came in with a bowl of porridge, steam curling like small clouds.

She took one look at Coco still wrapped like a stubborn dumpling and sighed, helpless as a mother cat.

“Still mad? I only looked,” she said, tone a teasing feather. “We’re both women. What are you shy about?”

“When I brought you back, your clothes were shredded like fallen leaves,” she added. “I couldn’t let you wear rags on my bed.”

“My underwear then…” Coco narrowed her eyes, her stare a pinned butterfly.

“That… came off along the way,” Ningxin said, confidence wobbling like a reed in water.

“…”

Coco’s face went dark with exasperation, the kind that cracks ice. “‘Along the way,’ seriously?”

“How are you going to drink porridge like that?” Ningxin asked, pointing at the blanket like a scolding fan.

“I want clothes,” Coco said, each word neat as a folded note.

“…”

“Fine, I’ll get you some,” Ningxin said, striding to the wardrobe, doors opening like a screen.

She picked out a white dress, clean as first snow, and a pink set of underwear, soft as dawn. She tossed them over.

“Here. Wear these,” she said, voice breezy as a kite string.

“You. Out,” Coco said, chin up like a blade.

“No need, I’ve already—”

“Out!” The word cracked like a whip.

“Alright, alright, I’m going,” Ningxin sighed, shoulders dipping like a tired crane, and slipped out.

Coco hurried, fingers clumsy as cold birds. The dress and panties were easy, but the bra tangled like ivy.

Anxious, she fumbled more, the hooks a stubborn puzzle, her breath hitching like a snared fish.

“Done yet? I’m coming in,” Ningxin called, amusement bubbling like a spring.

“Don’t! I’m—” The door swung in anyway, soft as a cat.

Ningxin saw Coco with the bra half-on, eyes wild, and burst into laughter, clear as chimes. “Pfhaha!”

“You can’t even do that?” she teased, grinning like sunlight. “Want big sis to help?”

“No,” Coco snapped, heat blooming like a rose. “I don’t!”

“Really don’t?” Ningxin’s smile curled like smoke.

“Don’t!” Coco bit the word, then wrestled the hooks with fierce patience, finally snapping them shut like a clasped jewel.

She slipped on the white dress, the fabric falling like quiet rain.

“Mm, beautiful,” Ningxin said, satisfied as a painter. “As expected of Coco.”

Coco ignored her, lifted the porridge, and sipped, warmth flowing down like honey.

She set the bowl down, her face tightening like drawn string. “Alright,” she said, eyes steady as stones.

“Tell me what happened.”