Seeing Gu Xin’s palm dart for her chest, Tang Coco was calm as a winter pond, smiling as she tipped Gu Xin’s chin up with feather-light fingers.

Gu Xin’s strike landed on Tang Coco’s chest; chill fanned out like frost on glass, then melted at her shoulders like sun on snow.

“How—how?” Her voice cracked like ice under a boot.

Gu Xin stared, stunned, words tumbling like loose stones. Her Anomaly Power should bite; even Tang Ke hadn’t dared take this wrist-close frost, a chain more than a blade.

“Mmm—chilly,” Tang Coco purred, pleasure curling like mist; “not bad at all.”

“Now… do you see the gulf between us?” Her smile stretched like a knife’s thin gleam.

“…” Silence pooled between them like rainwater in a gutter.

Gu Xin fell silent, doubts rising like fog. This Tang Coco pressed like a storm; not a trace of Tang Ke’s shadow. Was Tang Coco even him?

“Bang, bang, bang!” The door shuddered like a drum under rain.

“Who?” Tang Coco asked, voice lazy as smoke.

She flicked the question to the system, thoughts clicking like gears.

“Profile analysis—Ningxin,” the system replied, cold as a steel bell.

“Tch… they line up like buzzing flies—annoying,” Tang Coco clicked her tongue, irritation rippling like heat on pavement.

She rose, drifted to the bed’s edge, then sank back, motion as lazy as falling petals.

The door swung open; Ningxin hurried in, anxiety fluttering like sparrows, and saw the red-haired Tang Coco perched on the bed.

“Uh… so it’s true,” she thought, realization settling like dusk.

In her heart, it matched the girl by the sea that day, memory washing back like a tide.

“Heh—meeting again,” Tang Coco’s laugh skated like thin ice.

She sneered at Ningxin, the sound like a chill wind; Ningxin frowned, and her gaze snagged on Gu Xin sitting on the floor.

“You okay?” Ningxin asked, worry gathering like storm clouds.

She stepped forward, boots whispering like leaves.

“I’m fine,” Gu Xin said, shaking her head like a willow, then rising with the stiffness of cold iron.

Ningxin fixed on Tang Coco, gaze sharp as a drawn bow.

“You came all this way—surely not just to stare,” Tang Coco said, words drifting like smoke rings.

“Why did you show up… and—” Her question hesitated like a bird at a cliff.

“And not turn back right away, yeah?” Tang Coco cut in, voice snapping like a switch.

“…” The pause stretched thin, like glass.

“She wants it this way,” Tang Coco said, palm tapping her chest like a drumbeat.

“Coco!? How—” Ningxin’s disbelief flared like lightning.

“Because she knows that version of her can’t do a thing,” Tang Coco said coldly, words falling like sleet.

“What are you planning?” Ningxin asked softly, voice a low current.

“Me? Do I owe you a script?” Tang Coco’s tone was dry as sand.

“Today you’ve already pestered me more than enough,” she said, her face cooling like a night wind.

“Fine. In that case, let’s work together,” Ningxin said, resolve settling like a stone.

“Cooperate?” Tang Coco’s brow arched like a blade.

“I’m the head for the Ninghai region,” Ningxin said, authority ringing like a bell. “I can offer a lot of help.”

“You think I need help?” Tang Coco’s laugh was a cold spark.

“What you’re after isn’t easy,” Ningxin said, eyes steady as stars. “Otherwise, with your power, you’d be gone, not sitting here.”

“…” Tang Coco’s silence hung like a curtain.

She went quiet, then smiled and clapped, palms cracking like firecrackers.

“Pa-pa-pa!” The sound popped like dry bamboo.

“You’re smart,” Tang Coco said, nodding like a bobbing reed.

“Tell me—how do we cooperate?” Her voice was smooth as oil.

“First, I’ll give whatever help I can,” Ningxin said, words neat as stacked tiles. “But you’ll agree to two conditions.”

“Let’s hear them,” Tang Coco said, interest curling like a cat’s tail.

“First, don’t act on your own,” Ningxin said, tone firm as a gate. “This is Huaguo; Abnormals can’t stroll into ordinary sight.”

“Fine—so long as no one comes to bother me,” Tang Coco replied, like a cat agreeing from a windowsill.

“Second, you return to the original Tang Coco,” Ningxin said, words clear as water.

“Hmph. What could that version do—get ‘pushed around’ by you all day?” Tang Coco’s voice cut like a cold blade.

“Then fine—once you finish what you came for, switch back,” she said, compromise landing like soft snow.

“Mm… okay,” Tang Coco murmured, agreement settling like ash.

And so Ningxin and Tang Coco struck a pact, the air sealing it like lacquer.

“Then… as allies, let me clean up a few things for you,” Tang Coco said, kindness gleaming like a red thread.

As she rose and drifted toward Ningxin, red particles flared in her hand like fireflies, knitting fast into a sleek, tech-born gun.

Gu Xin stepped in front of Ningxin, hands spilling cold like winter breath, eyes sharp, wary as a wolf.

“What are you going to do?” Ningxin asked, brow pinched like a bowstring.

Unease pricked her like thorns; she couldn’t guess what this version of Tang Coco was thinking.

“I hate tails,” Tang Coco said, words flat as slate, meaning shadows that cling like burrs.

She lifted the weapon, voice still cold, the red mechanical frame humming like a hive as scarlet particles surged through its seams.

“Bang!” The shot sliced past the two like a hawk’s wing and punched through the door.

A glowing red round burned through the wood like a comet.

“Ah!” A man screamed outside, voice tearing like cloth.

“What!?” Ningxin gasped, shock blooming like a struck bell.

Ningxin cried out, but Gu Xin moved first, bolting out like a gust. At the doorway, a youth in black sportswear lay clutching his chest, blood pooling like dark water.

“Hmph. Invisibility—decent trick,” Tang Coco said, disdain curling like smoke. “Too bad you met me.”

“You’re—!” Ningxin stepped out, shock biting like frost as she recognized him, a member of her club’s Fiery Dragon Squad.

“Tap-tap-tap…” Urgent footsteps hammered the hall like rain.

Urgent steps rushed closer; Ningxin turned, and the remaining members of the Fiery Dragon Squad were arriving, faces tight as drawn wire.