The view snapped back to the freighter, the steel hull rocking like a whale’s back under gray waves.
Tang Coco finally placed the feeling, like cold chains brushing her skin—the lab field from her last mission, the one that suppressed Anomalous Energy.
“Heh~” Her laugh was wry, like a nicked bell in drizzle.
That field was useless on her now; it pressed like low air before rain, but it didn’t blunt her power.
She chose to end it, resolve sharp as twin moons.
She clenched her two blades and moved to surge forward, like a hawk stooping—then pain stabbed her lower belly like an ice pick.
It wasn’t mild; it was a red-hot brand in a winter night.
The pain buckled her legs; she dropped to the deck with a thud, arms wrapped around her abdomen like a shield.
“Hahaha… a bit dirty, sure,” the young man crowed, pride bright as a blade catching sun.
“But if a cheap trick bags the Valkyrie, that’s a win in my book.”
“Lu… Lulu… what’s… happening?”
She squeezed the words through clenched teeth, her breath ragged like wind through rigging.
“The system is conducting a full-body scan…”
The reply was a mechanical woman’s voice, flat as a clock’s tick in a cold room.
“Hm? Where’s Lulu?”
Her confusion fluttered like a trapped sparrow against glass.
“Due to Dark Energy interference, the main system is offline,” the voice said, calm as frost on steel.
“The auxiliary system is addressing your issue…”
“…I… I Field!”
A pale blue dome flowered around her like ice glass, cocooning her in light.
“Oho? Not bad,” the young man sneered, grin thin as a knife’s edge.
“You can still move, but you’re a bent bow with no draw left.”
He hacked at the shield, each strike a ringing wave across the deck.
“System check complete… confirmed as a normal phenomenon.”
“What!?” Her shock hit like cold water over the head.
How could pain this savage, this bone-deep, be called normal?
“Wait—pain here… and it’s normal… don’t tell me—”
The truth slid in like a shy moon behind clouds, a girl’s answer she’d ignored.
“Why… why now of all times? And… why so bad…”
She clutched her belly tighter, face pale as washed jade.
“The system detected a slight irregularity,” the voice hedged, words stumbling like pebbles down a slope.
“Analysis suggests forced fusion of Anomaly Power left the host not fully adapted to I Energy, causing… certain side effects…”
“…You’re kidding me.”
Her mind screamed, a lightning flash in a storm.
“That side effect is this!?”
Bang! Bang!
His blade hammered the blue shell, each impact a drumbeat on iron.
“Damn it…”
She had no answer; the cramps gnawed like wolves, relentless and cold.
Crack!
The I Field shattered like brittle ice beneath boots.
“Hahaha! Come here, Valkyrie!”
He lunged, his hand reaching like a hooked talon.
Slash!
A black beam lanced in from afar, straight as a falling star.
It drilled his outstretched arm; the limb hit the deck like dead wood.
“—!”
“Aaaargh!” he howled, clutching the stump, blood spilling like ink on paper.
Tang Coco forced her head up, vision swimming like heat haze.
High above, a black Mech hung in the air, a shadow twin to hers, cradling an energy cannon like a thunder drum.
She saw the pilot’s face and her eyes widened, shock blooming like frost on glass.
“Mu… Muyan?”
“You idiot,” Li Muyan said with a smile, warm as sunrise through fog.
He raised the cannon and fired; the shot punched the young man’s heart like a nail through a board.
Boom!
Engines roared closer, a storm rolling in on steel wings, and Li Muyan dropped to the deck before her like a dark hawk landing.
“You… you did it…”
Her voice was thin yet bright, a lantern flickering in wind.
“Yeah,” he tilted his head, grin easy as spring rain.
“How could I let you guys down?”
“That’s… great…”
She forced a small smile, petals in frost, then released her Armor and plopped onto the deck like a duck, both hands on her belly.
“What’s up with you?” he asked, curiosity light as a poke.
“Your period hit?”
She pressed her lips together, silence heavy as a stone in a pond.
Li Muyan took one look and knew he’d nailed it.
“Pff—hahahaha~ I can’t—this is killing me~”
His laughter spilled out like beads from a snapped string.
She wanted to leap into the sea and vanish like a pebble in deep water.
Another stab folded her tighter, and sweat pearled on her brow like dew.
“Hey, no way it’s that intense…”
He stepped forward to check, concern rising like a tide—then a horn moaned from afar.
Tooooot—
He turned. Five warships cut the waves, black keels like mountains, Huaguo flags snapping like flames in salt wind.
A figure rose from a deck, drifting skyward like a crane.
He was an old man, sixty or so, an Abnormal whose presence pressed like a storm front over the sea.
He lifted his hands; golden light burst from him like dawn over peaks.
The remaining techs on the freighter slumped where they stood, sleep falling like a velvet curtain.
Li Muyan lifted the energy cannon, a shield of thunder between them, his nerves tight as drawn wire.
He could feel that old man shaving at their strength like a whetstone on steel.
“Don’t… don’t fire, Muyan,” Tang Coco managed, breath thin as thread.
“I called them…”
“Hm?”
She felt herself fading, the world quivering like a candle guttering in wind.
She curled tighter, and Li Muyan dropped his Armor and caught her, arms firm as a harbor wall.
“Mother of— it really hurts…”
Her whisper trembled like a plucked string.
With the old man’s pressure, her sight blurred, colors bleeding like wet ink.
Before her eyes closed, a military helicopter thumped down like a dragonfly on the deck.
Ningxin jumped out and ran toward her, quick as a swallow, and behind her came a girl with brown wavy hair, lips quirking in a fox’s smile as she approached.
