Tang Coco popped open the suitcase, fingers skimming like fish through river silt.

“Uh… Yiyi-jie, what even is this wardrobe?” she sighed, words curling like kettle steam.

She stared, speechless, at the pile; the outerwear was tame, mall-bright like afternoon sun, but the underwear was all wildfire silk with no calm shore.

“Mm… whatever… it’s hidden inside anyway,” she muttered, little waves lapping at her patience.

She plucked a black set and tossed it onto the bed like a raven feather, then a purple nightdress like dusk falling on water.

She left the suitcase on the floor like a shed shell and plopped onto the soft bed, sinking like a cloud.

The bath towel came loose like a melting snowdrift, and she started putting on the lingerie, breath steady like a thread.

She pulled the purple nightdress over her head; the fabric slid down her front like rain on glass, but her back stayed chill like night wind.

She reached behind; her fingers found netted fabric snagged on the U-shaped clasp, tangled like vines on a gate.

“Seriously…” she grumbled, a small storm rolling behind her teeth.

She tried freeing the dress with one hand like a cat worrying yarn, then used both hands like two kids tugging a kite.

“So much work… ah!!” she hissed, the word snapping like a twig.

Suddenly a force clamped both wrists from behind like iron cuffs, pushing her forward; she fell onto the bed like a felled willow.

Her reflexes sparked; hands and feet flailed like a startled octopus, striking back into the shadow behind her.

But she’d started on the back foot; the other took the high ground like a hawk, weight planted at her thigh roots like a stone on a bridge.

Her legs couldn’t sweep wide; her wrists were gripped tight and wrapped with something like coiled rope.

She tried turning her head, but only saw a flash of white like a gull’s wing; then her vision went dark under a towel like a cloud over the moon.

The towel was huge, a tent of cotton; no matter how she shook, it clung like fog to a pine.

“System, initi—” she blurted, the first spark leaping like lightning over dry grass.

A voice chimed in her skull, calm as still water: “Please remain calm; no threat detected. Define status, or you’ll expose your Anomaly Power.”

“…” Silence pooled like ink.

She steadied; the person on her back wasn’t doing anything else, only binding her arms like a patient spider.

A scent drifted close, bright and sweet like a garden after rain.

“Hmm? Not struggling anymore? That’s no fun~” came a lilting girl’s voice like wind-chimes under eaves.

The voice danced, but the hands kept moving, wrapping her upper body like silk bands on a bamboo frame.

“Hey, you—have you made enough trouble?” Tang Coco snapped, temper flaring like a red lantern.

“Ooh~ you figured out who I am?” the stranger teased, laughter skipping like pebbles on a lake.

“…” Tang Coco chased the voice in her memory like a kite in shifting wind, but it stayed just out of reach.

“Sigh… you really forgot me… then I’ll have to punish you tonight~” the voice pouted, regret soft as twilight.

“Hey! If you’ve got guts, take off the towel. Don’t let me see who you are! Or else—” her threat rose like thunder at the ridge.

The towel lifted at once, light peeling like dawn; she lay with her head turned, seeing only a curtain of long hair like a waterfall.

The person slid off her, then lay on her side before her, face bright like a crescent moon.

“It’s you! Xu Yinuo!” Tang Coco stared, shock popping like firecrackers.

“Heehee~ it’s me~” Xu Yinuo smiled, eyes curved like drifting petals.

“How are you here? When did you get in?” Tang Coco asked, nerves taut like bowstrings.

“I came back earlier than you~ Be glad… I didn’t ambush your shower,” she sang, mischief glinting like foxfire.

“…” Relief blew through Tang Coco like a cool breeze; in the bath she’d only spoken to the system in her head like whispering under bamboo.

“Untie me, now!” she shouted, shoulders straining like trapped wings.

She wriggled; the bindings held fast behind her back like knotted roots, no wonder Xu had moved off her.

“Wow~ listen to you,” Xu Yinuo chirped, smile sweet as candied haw. “The whole amusement island is under my family’s management; why wouldn’t I be here?”

“…” The answer landed like a pebble in a pond.

“And why would I let you go? I wove a big net to catch you~” she said, fingers brushing Tang Coco’s cheek like a dragonfly touching water.

“So the room assignment… you rigged it!” Tang Coco’s realization flared like sunrise.

“Heehee~ correct! No prize, though~” Xu Yinuo laughed, voice bubbling like spring water. “I planned for Meng Xiaoxiao and Ye Yiyi; you three together.”

“I heard Meng Xiaoxiao brought family, so I thought the plan would sink like a stone, but I probed and found she brought just two.”

“Then I knew my plan would sail like a boat with a fair wind,” she ended, pride shining like polished jade.

“Hey! Are you sick? Why do all this?” Tang Coco snapped, anger spitting like sparks.

“Relax~ I just want more time with you,” Xu said, tone warm as morning sun. “We don’t get chances, so I grabbed the National Day break like a thief of hours.”

“So that invitation to Yiyi was from you,” Tang Coco murmured, the truth sliding in like a tide.

“Heehee~” Xu’s giggle fluttered like a butterfly.

“I’m warning you, untie me, or tomorrow I’ll accuse you of kidnapping!” Tang Coco threatened, voice cracking like ice.

“Wow, so fierce~ If you dare, I don’t mind doing some unspeakable things tonight,” Xu purred, words winding like smoke.

“This is my turf, and you’ve got no proof,” she added, thinking out loud like a chess player. “Hmm… first, a few pictures; a souvenir to savor later~”

She actually pulled her phone, black glass gleaming like a pond at night.

“Wait! Wait! Don’t take any!” Tang Coco panicked, heart fluttering like a trapped bird; what if someone saw this and her grand image shattered like porcelain?

“Don’t move~” Xu sang, lifting the phone with both hands like a priest raising an offering.

“Okay, okay… I won’t report you, alright? Just don’t shoot,” Tang Coco pleaded, voice soft as rain on moss.

“Really?” Xu tilted her head, doubt flickering like a candle.

“Really.” The word landed firm like a stone.

“Then fine~” Xu smiled, sweetness bright as spring.

“Phew—” Tang Coco exhaled, relief spreading like warm tea.

Click! The shutter popped like a seed.

“!!!” Her eyes widened, shock bursting like a firework.

“You!” she glared, gaze sharp like a drawn blade.

“Always keep a backup,” Xu said, phone snug in her hands like a captured bird. “In case you go back on your word~”

“Xu Yinuo!! I’ll fight you!” Tang Coco roared, fury rising like a storm tide.

Her upper body was tied, so her legs became spears, twin bolts snapping like lightning.

She kicked fast, both heels flashing like arrows; Xu Yinuo, two hands full of phone, didn’t expect the strike, guard open like a door.

The kicks landed square at her abdomen, impact thumping like a drum; the mattress was cloud-soft, and Xu sat at the edge like a perched swallow.

That surprise double-kick sent her off, clean as a gust sweeping leaves.

Bang! The sound hit the floorboards like a falling stone.

“Ah—” Xu cried out, voice rippling like a shaken bell.

She dropped on her backside, heavy as a sack of rice, tailbone burning like hot coal.

“Tss— hurts, hurts…” she hissed, wearing a thin blue dress that clung like summer water.

She sat rubbing her rear, face scrunched like a bitten plum; she truly looked in pain.

“Uh… you okay?” Tang Coco asked, lying on her side like a wary fox; she’d gotten too heated, strength spilling like a flood.

“Hah… tss… it hurts to death…” Xu winced, massaging as she stood, movements messy as scattered papers.

“Um…” Tang Coco ventured, voice tiptoeing like a cat.

“You’re done… you’re so done tonight!” Xu snapped, temper flaring like wildfire.

She sprang toward Tang Coco, rushing like a storm down the valley.

“Whoa, whoa— don’t come over! Yiyi-jie!! There’s a kidnapper!!” Tang Coco yelped, alarm ringing like a temple bell.