The next morning, Gu Xin and the girls dropped Ye Yiyi back home, and the villa felt like a hollow shell, wind tapping the windows like dry leaves. Li Muyan had flown to America, and after what happened to Tang Coco, the rooms echoed like a cold lake, and Yiyi’s chest ached like a bruise.
As for Meng Xiaoxiao, they told her Tang Coco and Ningxin had gone overseas on business, the ocean like a glass wall, the chance of Meng crossing paths with Ningxin slim as a thread.
At the Imperial Walk Club, Tang Coco had been placed in a guest room to rest, the corridor quiet as still water, while the Blaze Dragon Squad had already returned to headquarters like embers carried back to the hearth.
Bang, bang, bang.
Ningxin knocked on Tang Coco’s door, and the lock clicked open like a cricket in the grass.
Ningxin stepped in and found Tang Coco on the sofa, midnight-black fabric tracing her shape like ink on silk. Black shorts framed long legs like polished jade. Black sneakers with white trim rested easy, while a ribbon of red hair was tied into a single ponytail, draped across the backrest like a stroke of flame.
“Got business?”
Tang Coco asked without turning, her voice cool as moonlight on water.
“Yiyi just called me,” Ningxin said, her words steady like a straight blade. “She’s home.”
“Home is home,” Tang Coco smiled, a thin line like a cat’s grin in the dark. “Why tell me?”
“She’s living alone now,” Ningxin said, her tone soft as rain on paper. “She hopes… you’ll come back and stay.”
“Pass,” Tang Coco waved a hand, the gesture light as a swaying reed. “I’m not babysitting.”
“I want you to think about it seriously—not for you, but for the other Tang Coco,” Ningxin said, brows drawn like ink. “Don’t forget you two are the same person.”
Tang Coco’s face sank like a stone in a pond, and she rose, her shadow sliding across the floor like a knife of dusk.
“Your tone really grates,” she said, words like sparks skittering on iron.
“That’s because I like that Tang Coco too,” Ningxin met her gaze like a mountain holding the wind. “So care about her feelings.”
Silence pooled between them like deep water, and Tang Coco stared, while Ningxin didn’t flinch, her eyes steady as stars.
“Fine. I’ll go,” Tang Coco said at last, the word falling like a pebble that breaks the still.
“Good. There are too many people here,” she added, a dry smile like a thin cloud. “I want somewhere quieter.”
“That’s the best way to think,” Ningxin said, relief easing like dawn light.
“I’ll head out now,” Tang Coco said, turning for the door, her steps light as a cat on tiles.
“Hey—wait, how are you getting there?” Ningxin asked, surprise flicking like a sparrow.
“Relax. My way’s fast,” Tang Coco said, and red particles bloomed behind her like fireflies, folding into a thruster like a crimson fin.
Ningxin stared, speechless, her expression flat as a blank page.
Ten minutes later, Ningxin was driving toward Ye Yiyi’s villa, and Tang Coco sat in the passenger seat, the city flowing past like a slow river.
“This thing’s really slow,” Tang Coco said, her tone bored, a stone skimming.
“Slow or not, you can’t use that thing in broad daylight,” Ningxin snapped, anger rising like steam. “What if ordinary people see?”
“Trouble,” Tang Coco sighed, the word drifting like smoke.
After more than thirty minutes, they pulled up at Yiyi’s villa, the gates standing tall like silent pines.
“I’ll go in myself,” Tang Coco said, opening the door, her movement quick as a knife flick.
“Don’t bully Yiyi,” Ningxin reminded her, her voice firm as a tether.
“Relax. I’m not that bored,” Tang Coco said, a sideways glance like a sliver of ice. Ningxin drove off, responsibilities piling like ledgers waiting under a lamp.
Inside, Ye Yiyi was cleaning, dust glimmering in sunlight like tiny motes, and she didn’t know Tang Coco had agreed to move back.
Click.
No one touched the doorbell; Tang Coco used her Anomaly Power, and the lock yielded like a reed bending to the current.
Ye Yiyi heard the door open, and she looked over, surprise blooming like a white flower. A shock of red hair crossed the threshold, and Tang Coco stepped in, flame meeting quiet room.
Joy rose first like a bird taking wing, then fell like dusk, because this Tang Coco wasn’t the cute one anymore, even if she was just as dazzling, like a frosted lotus.
“What are you staring at me for?” Tang Coco gave her a sidelong look, sharp as a knife’s edge. “Weren’t you the one who called me back?”
“Uh… wel… welcome back,” Ye Yiyi said, words stumbling like pebbles in a stream.
“Ah… what a little dummy,” Tang Coco muttered, her tease light as wind.
Ye Yiyi puffed her cheeks, indignation swelling like a small drum, and she gathered courage like tying a sash, stepping up to her.
“You’re the dummy!”
Tang Coco looked at her like at a child, eyes cool as winter glass.
“Hey! What’s with that look?” Ye Yiyi flared, her temper sparking like tinder.
Pfft.
Tang Coco actually laughed, and when she stood, she was a lotus in full bloom, cold and radiant, beauty edged like ice.
“Interesting,” she said, and then sat on the sofa, the cushion sinking like soft earth.
“Um… did you eat breakfast?” Ye Yiyi asked, her voice soft as silk being folded.
“No,” Tang Coco said, the answer clean as a snapped twig.
“Then… I’ll make you something,” Ye Yiyi said, hope rising like steam from a pot.
“Go,” Tang Coco replied, without a blink, words neat as a command.
Ye Yiyi felt speechless for a beat, exasperation fluttering like a trapped sparrow—this girl really didn’t hold back. She headed for the kitchen, while Tang Coco’s lips tilted, a small smile like sunlight catching the edge of a blade.
More than half an hour later, Ningxin returned to the club, the corridor brisk as morning wind, and her assistant Xiao Qiao hurried over, footsteps tapping like rain.
“Ning-jie, headquarters called,” Xiao Qiao said, breath quick as a rabbit. “They need you.”
“So fast?” Ningxin frowned, thoughts gathering like clouds. She figured the Blaze Dragon had reported about Coco already. But she knew this had to be faced sooner or later, and she told Xiao Qiao to transfer the call to her office.
She picked up, and the voice on the line cut like a cold knife.
“What!?” Ningxin blurted, shock bursting like thunder behind her eyes.
“Yes. Understood,” she said, forcing calm like ice over a stream. “I’ll arrange people to head over.”
She hung up after a few clipped words, the room suddenly still as frost.
“Ning-jie, what happened?” Xiao Qiao asked, worry tight as a knotted cord.
“The military delegation to America for the international conference ran into trouble,” Ningxin said, brows drawn like storm-bent branches.
