Evening draped the city like a silk shawl when Meng Xiaoxiao got Ye Yiyi’s call and headed to her place.

Ding-dong. The bell chimed like a pebble on still water, rippling through the quiet.

Ye Yiyi hurried over and opened the door, a warm glow like a hearth in winter.

“Yiyi-jie!” Meng Xiaoxiao beamed, her smile bright as a sugar glaze catching lamplight.

“Xiaoxiao, come in,” Ye Yiyi said, closing the door with the hush of a falling leaf.

“You got your sister’s call, right?” Her tone was light, a lantern lifted under the eaves.

“Mm-hm. She said it’ll take two more days to come back, told me to stay with you,” Meng Xiaoxiao pouted, tossing her backpack to the sofa like a puff of cloud. “I could stay alone just fine.”

“Alone’s boring as a dry well. Come here, I’ll introduce a new friend,” Ye Yiyi said, eyes smiling like crescent moons.

“Huh? A new friend?” Suspicion flickered in Meng Xiaoxiao’s eyes like a cat’s in dusk.

“Lulu! What are you up to? Come down a sec!” Ye Yiyi called toward the stairs, voice a bell through the house.

“Oh! Coming!” A sweet loli voice floated down like a wind chime in a spring breeze. A moment later, a little girl—Marilyn—ran down in a white camisole dress and off-white bunny slippers, soft as snow.

“Eh!? Who is she!?” Meng Xiaoxiao blurted, shock flashing like lightning at midnight. The white hair, porcelain face, small frame—like an anime doll had stepped out of the screen.

“Catch me!” The little loli launched from six steps up, a swallow diving from the eaves toward the person below.

“Hey, hey!?” Ye Yiyi jolted, arms snapping up like branches catching a falling bird. Marilyn was so light she didn’t knock her over.

“Lulu! Don’t do that again. It’s too dangerous.” Ye Yiyi set her down, voice firm as a tapped gong.

“Hee-hee.” Marilyn’s smile bloomed like a peach blossom after rain.

“Ai, what am I supposed to do with you,” Ye Yiyi sighed, palm to her forehead like shading her eyes from glaring sun.

“Xiaoxiao, let me introduce you. This is Li Marilyn… we all call her Lulu. She’s Muyan’s distant cousin.” The words landed smooth as tea poured into a cup.

After a day of scheming, Li Muyan had finally accepted the cover. To sell it better, they’d given Marilyn the surname Li, a paper seal on a water jar.

“His cousin!?” Meng Xiaoxiao’s disbelief snapped like a twig. “How does he have a cousin this cute!”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” Li Muyan came down from upstairs, temper flaring like a struck match.

“Tch.” Meng Xiaoxiao shot him a look like a flicked blade, then opened her arms to the little loli. “Come, Lulu, let big sister give you a hug.”

“No. Yours are too small.” Marilyn hugged Ye Yiyi’s slim waist, clinging like ivy to a white wall.

“Too small!?” Meng Xiaoxiao blinked, the meaning dawning like sunrise over mist.

“What did you say!?” Her temper popped like oil in a hot pan.

“Pff—hahaha, I’m dying here,” Li Muyan doubled over, laughter spilling like marbles across a floor.

“You!” Meng Xiaoxiao’s glare could have cut paper.

“Alright, Xiaoxiao. Lulu’s just teasing. You’re sharing a bed with her tonight anyway,” Ye Yiyi soothed, voice like cool water over a hot stone.

“Huh? Why? I wanna sleep with Yiyi-jie. Yiyi-jie’s pillow is comfy,” Marilyn whined, rubbing at Ye Yiyi’s skirt like a kitten kneading silk.

“…” The three girls stared, exasperation dark as ink on white paper.

“Yiyi-jie… you two are teaching the kid the wrong things,” Meng Xiaoxiao squinted, words dry as autumn leaves.

“Uh…” Embarrassment flushed Ye Yiyi’s cheeks like sunset on clouds. She clearly wanted to flee like a startled rabbit.

“Muyan, you handle this. I’m making dinner,” Ye Yiyi said, pushing Marilyn into Li Muyan’s arms and slipping toward the kitchen like a wisp of steam.

“…” Li Muyan and Meng Xiaoxiao watched her retreating back, twin black lines of helplessness written in the air like brushstrokes.

Night settled like ink. While the four girls ate, a family banquet was underway at the Xu residence in Ninghai City, lanterns framing faces like halos on still water. Many Xus sat around the table, including Xu Yinuo—plus a surprise: Xu Ling, Tang Coco’s classmate. She was Xu family too, though her standing was thin as paper. Old Master Xu had two sons and a daughter; he’d passed the family headship to his elder son, Xu Yinuo’s father. Xu Ling was the daughter of the younger sister, a branch twig under a heavy canopy.

“Nuo’er, it was right to let you handle the partnership with the Will family,” Old Master Xu said from the head seat, smile steady as an old pine.

“Of course. I won’t let the family down,” Xu Yinuo replied, voice calm as a sealed lake. Everything from Amusement Island had been erased like footprints in rain. Her curiosity lingered like fog, but she spoke of it to no one.

“Xiao Ling, learn from your cousin Yinuo,” Xu Ling’s mother murmured, a gentle prod like a fan tap. Then she turned with a soft smile. “Nuo’er, take care of Xiao Ling when you can.”

“Okay, Auntie,” Xu Yinuo agreed, her smile thin as frost on glass. She knew her cousin’s temper—spoiled by her backing at school, crossing lines like a child in a flowerbed—and disliked her for it.

“Enough. I gathered everyone for two reasons,” Old Master Xu said, tone steady as a bell toll. “First, we haven’t shared a table in too long. Second, to praise Nuo’er’s results. There’s also one more matter.”

“You all know this: with the Will partnership, our Xu family’s standing in Ninghai has peaked,” he said, pride like a warm brazier in winter. “Seeing this in my lifetime comforts me.”

“Father, please,” said Yinuo’s father, hands raised like calming waves.

“Haha. We still can’t relax.” Old Master Xu’s eyes sharpened like stars through cloud. “I’ve received word: the Meng family from Yanjing has begun moving into Ninghai.”

“The Mengs? Why come to Ninghai?” asked a middle-aged man, the second son, brow furrowed like plowed fields.

“No clue,” Old Master Xu said, shaking his head like a leaf in wind. “But the Mengs are strong. We can’t underestimate them.”

“There’s one more thing, more important than the Mengs,” he added, voice dropping like a stone into a deep well.

“You all know Huacheng International, right…”

“Huacheng International? That world-class conglomerate?” Yinuo’s father asked, surprise sparking like flint.

“Correct… they’ve come to Ninghai too.”

“What!?” Those who understood business were startled like birds thrown from branches.

“Why? Is Ninghai that big a market?” Xu Yinuo asked, curiosity bright as a lantern.

“Who knows. But it’s another chance,” Old Master Xu said, fingers tapping rhythms like rain on eaves. “I know because Huacheng notified the Ninghai City leadership. They’ll host a meet-and-greet here first, inviting the city’s top brass and the major families.”

“…” Silence pooled like a dark pond.

“Grandfather, do you have a plan?” Xu Yinuo asked, voice steady as a taut bowstring.

“Nuo’er, keep handling the Will family. That’s vital; we can’t loosen our grip,” he said, gaze like iron under velvet. “Huacheng is a slab of meat everyone will try to bite. I plan to handle that myself.”

“You’ll negotiate in person?”

“Mm. But it’s early to say more. We don’t know Huacheng’s aims. I want you prepared ahead of time. I’ll pick a few to attend the meet with me.”

“Understood,” several answered, voices aligned like reeds in a stream.

Meanwhile, at the seaside villa, Gu Xin sat in Tang Coco’s room, laptop open like a night lotus, riffling through shadowed intel from mercenary channels.

Her mind tugged at that night in America—the Bobcat she’d met, warped like a blade left in acid. She needed to know who twisted him, and what that black power was, the one even Tang Coco couldn’t withstand—Dark Energy, a moonless tide.

She lifted her water glass, sipped like tasting rain, set it down, then looked at Tang Coco on the bed, quiet as a drifting cloud.

The bandages were off. Gu Xin had dressed her in a pink nightgown, soft as dawn light on petals.

Putting her ex-boyfriend into women’s underwear and a sleep dress had struck Gu Xin like thunder under silk—complicated, hot and cold.

Tang Coco didn’t know her girlfriend had seen everything, gaze like a clear spring. She was still wrestling Mechs in her mind, blades ringing like cicadas.

“This system won’t hurry and let me wake up, but it keeps upgrading my Mechs,” Tang Coco huffed, anger fizzing like soda on the tongue.

“Marilyn’s a tsundere kid, too,” a voice chimed from the Armor beside her, sweet as a bell behind a fan.

“Holy—!” Tang Coco jumped back two steps, heart thumping like a drum at a festival. The Armor opened slowly, petals parting, and a red-haired girl stepped out.

“Are you sick or what? Why jump-scare me for no reason?” Tang Coco snapped, temper flaring like a comet’s tail.

“Hehe. Your reaction’s cute. You really are a girl now,” the redhead smiled, eyes warm as coals. Tang Coco’s cheeks puffed red, adorable as a steamed bun.

“Uh… Why are you here? Didn’t you say you were going to sleep?” Tang Coco asked, suspicion a thin blade.

“I’m here to teach you,” the redhead said, smile sheathing like a sword. “Fusion’s in the final stage. You’ll wake soon. Before that, I’ll show you how to fight Dark Energy holders.”

“Oh… that.” Her interest stirred like wind through bamboo.

“Alright. Pick any Armor,” the redhead said, turning, slipping back into her frame like a spirit into jade.

Tang Coco chose an Armor. They faced off, two figures under a pale sky. Armor had two modes: fully sealed or half-sealed. Both chose half-sealed. White and red hair flowed outside like twin banners in wind.

“Dark Energy holders have a fatal weakness—the energy core,” the redhead said, voice crisp as frost.

“Energy core?” The words hung like a lantern over a gate.

“Yes. Think of it as a second heart,” she said, gaze steady as steel. “As long as the core exists, even if you pierce their heart, they’ll stand back up.”

“You remember the Abnormal they modified—the Bobcat?” she asked.

“You mean Bobcat,” Tang Coco said, the name like grit between teeth.

“Right.”

“What was he, exactly?” Anger pricked Tang Coco’s chest like thorns.

“He was remade by Dark Energy holders,” the redhead said, expression cold as a winter river. “Looks like they found Abnormals exist in this world and started human-modification.”

“That one’s on me. I wanted to use a split-body to generate I Energy, slam it against their Dark Energy, and blow the device from the inside,” she admitted, voice low as a midnight confession. “But they expected someone might try it. They set a self-destruct trap.”

“Is that core easy to smash?” Tang Coco asked, eyes narrowing like a fox’s.

“No. The surface looks unguarded, but I Energy gets undone if it approaches. To destroy it, you need physical means—close-quarters weapons formed by Anomaly Power, packed to high density, to punch through,” the redhead said, each word a hammer on anvil.

“I see,” Tang Coco murmured, thoughts knitting like threads on a loom.

“So, I’ll drill you in fighting Dark holders,” the redhead said, drawing the long blade at her back. The arc flashed like lightning over dark sea as she lunged.

“Hey!?” Tang Coco cried, caught off guard like a sparrow in sudden wind—but her reaction was quick as spring thunder. She drew her blade and met the strike, sparks scattering like fireflies.