Boom!!!

Black energy erupted at the center, like a storm cloud ripping itself open.

“What happened?”

On the hotel’s surrounding rooftops, Abnormals in black robes felt a surge of Anomalous Energy within the field, like a river suddenly in flood.

“Not good! The field won’t hold!”

A young man in black shouted, panic flickering like sparks in dry grass.

“Don’t break formation. Keep feeding the field.”

An old man with classic American features stepped behind him. He raised a wrinkled hand; pale energy bloomed like frost and poured into the barrier. The field steadied, caging the blast like a net around a raging wave. The outside still heard the detonation roll like thunder.

“Go inform them—National Security will take over from here.”

He eyed the police below, his tone cold as night rain.

“Yes!”

The youth sprinted down, feet like drumbeats on stone.

“Report—Huaguo’s helicopter has arrived.”

A runner came panting, voice sharp as a blade.

“Fine. We won’t intervene. This farce should end soon…”

The elder looked toward the ink-dark horizon. A U.S. military helicopter was cutting in, a steel hawk under the moon.

Back to the rooftop—no, it wasn’t a rooftop anymore. The hotel’s top three floors had been shredded, like a mountain sheared flat.

Zzzzt—zzzzzt—

The sound of a live wire seeped into the delegation’s corner. Gu Xin eased her eyes open. Her gaze swam; everyone lay scattered, like reeds after a gale. The blast’s shock had rattled bones and brains. People stirred, groggy, rising like fish breaking the surface.

“You all okay…?”

Gu Xin asked, breath tight as a drawn bowstring.

“We’re fine…”

Li Shoujing answered, then checked his daughter. Li Muyan pushed up, legs unsteady as saplings in wind.

“Are we buried under the rubble?”

Meng Yuting scanned the dim blue glow. The olive-green Mech’s energy dome still held. Through its blue particles, they saw shattered concrete layered over them like heavy snow, the Mech alone keeping their pocket of air.

“Seems like it…”

Gu Xin frowned, a storm collecting behind her eyes.

“Warning… host vitals low. Divine General will disengage power. Prioritize host treatment. S-class ice Abnormal detected—use Anomalous Energy to brace the overhead debris.”

The Mech’s neutral system voice buzzed. Arcs snapped at its joints, lightning crawling like snakes.

“What happened to Coco!?”

Li Muyan’s voice cracked, fear flaring like a struck match.

“Icecraft!”

Gu Xin moved on instinct. A shell of cold formed, a crystal dome blooming beneath the blue barrier. The moment it settled, the olive-green Mech dropped to one knee, then dissolved into pale-blue particles, vanishing like embers in wind.

Thud!

Broken concrete rained onto the ice dome, clattering like hail on winter glass.

“…”

They stared, hearts sinking like stones in deep water. The Mech had saved them, faceless yet faithful; grief still weighed like dusk.

“Xin…”

Meng Yuting’s worry trembled like a thin reed.

“Everyone—close in on me!”

Gu Xin barked, voice iron under ice. Fear for Tang Coco pounded in her chest like a drum. They huddled near, no dissent, breaths syncing like tides.

Gu Xin surged power. The ice dome opened from the crown like a lotus unfurling, pushing the rubble outward, petals of frost peeling stone aside.

Boom!

Clear night returned, a bowl of ink scattered with salt-white stars.

“Coco!”

Li Muyan cried and clawed free of wreckage, legs flashing like a deer’s. Gu Xin and Meng Yuting checked the last stragglers, then ran, eyes hunting through ruin like lanterns in fog.

In a jagged corner of what had been the top floor, Avril stared ahead, stunned, her mind blank as snow.

“W-Why… why would you do that? You saw through my double from the start!?”

Avril’s eyes were wide, disbelief brittle as glass.

“Heh… that little trick of yours? You really thought it’d stump me…”

Tang Coco’s voice was weak, words like ash on wind.

In front of Avril, the wreckage should’ve been dark, but a soft brightness gathered. Tang Coco stood there, blue particles whirling around her like fireflies. They sparked, clear as winter stars. Her long red hair had turned silver-white, and her eyes were once more a pale blue, like thawing ice. Beauty lit one side; the other was ruin. Her body was a map of wounds, blood painting rivulets down her waist to her legs, dripping to the ground like red rain. Worst was her back—steel claws from that lynx had carved deep. The blast had torn it open further, the wound a jagged canyon that bled without end.

“Coco!”

Gu Xin and Li Muyan’s voices cut through, sharp as bells.

“Go…”

Tang Coco kept her eyes closed, speaking softly to Avril, her breath like a fading candle. “You shouldn’t be here next.”

“You—”

Avril stared at Tang Coco, disbelief trembling like a broken bowstring. Then she saw Li Muyan sprinting in, hope and terror woven like smoke.

“…”

Avril hesitated, then slipped through a gap in the rubble and dropped to the next level, vanishing like a shadow at dawn.

“Coco!”

Gu Xin and Meng Yuting reached the near edge, calling, voices raw as scraped rock. When they saw Coco’s back, tears spilled like warm rain.

“Xin…”

Tang Coco’s weak voice touched Gu Xin’s ears like a feather. Gu Xin ran toward her, heart battering the ribs like wings in a cage.

Tang Coco lifted her face and cracked her eyes open, gaze drifting to the far night where a helicopter slid closer, a metal crane under the moon.

“Xin… take everyone… home…”

Her words barely rose, like frost melting. She closed her eyes and pitched forward, body a felled willow.

“Coco!!!”

Gu Xin’s shout broke like thunder.

“Teleport!”

In that instant, far off, Meng Yuting snapped her power. Space flickered, and Coco fell into her arms, caught like a leaf in cupped hands.

“…”

Meng Yuting looked down and saw the ravine across Coco’s back, a wound that seemed to breathe, horror biting cold.

“Coco!”

Gu Xin reached them at last, lungs burning like coal.

“No… no! Freeze!”

Gu Xin shoved out cold. Ice sealed the wound, a frost-lock clamping shut a torrent.

“Coco… please don’t leave us…”

Li Muyan stumbled in, collapsed at Coco’s side, tears spilling like streams.

“She’s still breathing. We need treatment now!”

Meng Yuting snapped, voice a steel wire.

“There should be a healer-type Abnormal on the helicopter. Let’s get her aboard!”

Gu Xin pointed. The helicopter was settling on a patch of rubble, rotors chopping the night like a falcon’s wings.

“Right!”

Meng Yuting answered, fire returned to her stride.

The two lifted Tang Coco and ran for the bird, bodies angled forward like runners breaking tape. Li Muyan fought to stand. Though Coco had been carried off, the bright blue particles around her had not dispersed. They hung in the air like a slow constellation. As Li Muyan turned to go, the particles converged, gathering like snow into a drift.

“Huh?”

She watched, breath hitching. The blue motes condensed into two oval spheres, each about the size of a basketball, then settled to the ground like falling fruit.

“What is…”

She picked one up—pale white now, cool as moonstone—and turned it in her hands, puzzled. Finally she clutched it close and ran for the helicopter, the oval lifting like a silent egg.

Down at the hotel entrance, Avril staggered out, steps erratic as a drunk sparrow, and fell into her sports car.

“Why…”

Her eyes were lost, sea-light gone. The helicopter’s roar rose overhead. She opened the door and looked up. The military bird clawed altitude fast, then peeled away, a hawk vanishing into dusk.

“Tang Coco…”

Avril breathed the name like a small prayer, fading into the hum.

The rescue moved faster than planned, swift as a tide at new moon. Not even a day passed. By U.S. morning, the delegation and Gu Xin’s group boarded a flight for Huaguo’s Ninghai City with the wounded Tang Coco.

It was past seven in the evening in Ninghai City. At Ye Yiyi’s home, she and Meng Xiaoxiao were still blissfully unaware. In Ye Yiyi’s mind, Tang Coco had only left that morning, a shadow warm on memory.

“Yiyi-jie, you sure we’re not ordering takeout?”

Meng Xiaoxiao sank into the couch, voice soft as marshmallow.

“No! Really, no!”

Ye Yiyi hurried, tying on an apron, the string snapping like a bowline.

“But when your period’s here, you shouldn’t be moving too much… and kitchen smoke’s bad, right?”

Meng Xiaoxiao kept pleading, concern fluttering like a sparrow.

“Aiya, Xiaoxiao, don’t listen to Coco’s nonsense. I’m not on my period!”

Ye Yiyi had spent the whole afternoon in this loop, headache like a drum. Even if she swore it wasn’t true—that Tang Coco had teased her—Meng Xiaoxiao wouldn’t budge.

“No way. Don’t tough it out, Yiyi-jie. I saw it. There was blood on the bedsheet in the washer.”

“What!!!”

Ye Yiyi yelped, face flushing like sunrise.

“How do you even know!?”

“When you went to rest, I wanted to help with laundry… and I saw it.”

Meng Xiaoxiao blinked her big, bright eyes, innocence like a pond.

“Uh…”

Ye Yiyi wanted to sink into the floor like rain into sand.

“So—let’s do takeout, yeah?”

Meng Xiaoxiao smiled and pulled out her phone, thumbs dancing like dragonflies.

“Coco!!!! This is all your fault!”

Ye Yiyi screamed in her heart, words stomping like angry boots.

Dinner ended up as takeout for the two, boxes warm as little hearths.

After eating, they watched a movie in the living room. Later, Meng Xiaoxiao insisted on sleeping with Ye Yiyi. Yiyi couldn’t refuse, cheeks a little pink. This time, she prepared—on her other side, she set her favorite big white bear plushie, a soft moon to hold. Meng Xiaoxiao wasn’t Tang Coco. If Yiyi hugged Xiaoxiao in the night, that’d be awkward.

“Huh? Yiyi-jie, why are you hugging that huge bear?”

Meng Xiaoxiao lay beside her, curiosity crisp as apples.

“Uh… habit. Can’t sleep without it~”

Ye Yiyi smiled, voice floating like a feather.

“I see…”

Meng Xiaoxiao murmured, content as warm milk.

“Sleep now, Xiaoxiao~”

“It’s still early… I’ll play on my phone a bit.”

She wiggled her phone, screen glinting like a firefly.

“Okay~ I’ll sleep first~”

“Mhm!”

Ye Yiyi closed her eyes, arms around the bear, seeking a harbor.

She didn’t fall asleep. Eyes shut, she drifted through memories of Tang Coco, moments flickering like lanterns in rain. After last night’s… thing, what would they be to each other now? The question sat heavy as mist.

Eyes closed, she rode that wakefulness past midnight. Meng Xiaoxiao was long asleep, phone quiet as a cooled ember. Yiyi, for some reason, hugging her favorite white bear, still couldn’t find the old comfort, the pillow refusing to cradle like before.

“Why is it like this…”

The thought brushed her heart, a chill under the ribs. A bad premonition folded in, black-winged. Finally, she slid off the bed, feet touching the floor like dew. She peered through a slit in the curtain, looking at Ninghai’s night—a lacquer bowl of sky pricked with lights.

At that moment, a private jet was descending toward Ninghai International Airport, its lights gliding like a fallen star seeking ground.