By late morning, sunlight draped the hood like silk as Li Muyan drove Tang Coco to the Imperial Walk Club.

At the door, Xiao Qiao stood with a spring-bloom smile. “Hi, Ning-jie’s in her office. She asked me to fetch you.”

“Alright, let’s head up,” Tang Coco said, her voice light as a bell in clear air.

Ningxin sat at her desk, head bent over papers like a crane watching ripples. The door swung open like a tide, and she looked up with a crescent smile.

“Hey, Ning-jie, what’s wrong? Didn’t sleep?” Li Muyan asked, worry pooling like rain under eaves.

“Mm. I haven’t slept at all,” Ningxin said, her smile thin as paper, the night still clinging like fog.

“What’s keeping you that busy?” Tang Coco asked, concern rising like a warm wind.

“That’s why I called you,” she said, voice steady like a river stone. “Last night, our people swept Ninghai City.”

“And?” Tang Coco’s tone stretched tight like a taut bowstring.

“Not good.” Two words fell like stones into a well.

“What happened? Were my files wrong?” Doubt drifted across her face like a passing cloud.

“No, the data was right,” Ningxin said. “At every marked spot, we found strange devices like black insects tucked in corners. But no one. Only five bodies.”

“Bodies?” The word hung in the air like frost on glass.

“Mm. Five modified corpses,” she said, a cold metal glint like fish-scales in her voice.

“Where? Take me to see.” Tang Coco’s brow pulled tight like a knotted cord.

“In the basement. Come,” Ningxin said, leading them down. The corridor curled like a burrow, lamps dim as tired stars.

They turned the last corner, and a figure stood in the shadow like a thorn in dusk.

“Rose!? What are you doing here?” Ningxin’s surprise fluttered like startled sparrows.

“I wanted to see the bodies,” Rose said, her tone breezy as leaves in wind. “I was part of the operation.”

“So why didn’t you show up last night?” Ningxin’s stare pricked like a needle.

“Uh…” The sound dropped like a pebble into silence.

“Aiya— isn’t this Coco,” Rose sang, stepping closer with sugar on her tongue like candied haw. She reached for Coco’s hand, but Coco slipped away like a fish in clear water.

“Don’t. We’re not close,” Coco said, words crisp as frost.

“How can you be like that? We spent hours together on the cabin bed that day,” Rose sighed, feigning loss like a wilted petal.

“What did you two do?!” Li Muyan’s voice cracked like dry wood.

“Hey, don’t listen to her nonsense,” Tang Coco said, eyes firm as black jade.

“Of course Coco doesn’t remember,” Rose fanned the flames like a mischievous breeze. “She was unconscious. But imagine a great beauty laid out in front of you—what would you do?”

Li Muyan stared at Tang Coco, jealousy sparking like flint.

“Ahem… can we focus?” Coco said, her tone cool as a bucket of spring water. She slid past, heading for Ningxin like a bird escaping a snare.

Li Muyan and Rose exchanged a look, threat gleaming like twin blades, then stayed silent as stones. Ningxin opened the door, and the women stepped inside.

The room was dim, light thin as mist, a chill settling like damp moss. One side held a row of beds, five bodies covered like fallen logs under linen. Across the floor lay devices, odd shapes jutting like twisted roots.

“These are the devices you found?” Tang Coco crouched, lifting a rectangular black box like a mute brick. She looked to Gu Xin, gaze steady as moonlight.

“Yes,” Gu Xin said, her words even as a metronome. “Our team found comm units among them, and weapons. That box is a bomb. Its yield could level the whole club.”

“Whoa.” Coco set the box down, heart jerking like a bird at thunder. “You could’ve said that first.”

“Haha, it’s fine. We already removed the special explosive,” Ningxin said, relief drifting in like a soft breeze.

Tang Coco gave her a look as flat as a winter lake.

She moved to the bodies, breath held like a thin reed. “Looks like these people were modified too,” she said, eyes on their chests, where alien metal sat like dead embers.

“Yes,” Gu Xin said. “When we found them, the chest units had already stopped. No pulse in the machine.”

“So they caught wind of our plan,” Tang Coco muttered, anger cooling like iron. “And killed to seal lips.”

“It’s grim, but we gained a lot,” Ningxin said, resolve hard as a whetstone. “Headquarters now prioritizes illegal Abnormals. They plan to bring in human Armor from Bier Tech. With the material from that handgun you brought back, they’ll train a normal-unit force to counter Abnormals.”

“Good. Then you’ll have the strength to guard your country,” Tang Coco said, her smile absent, her words drifting like cold rain.

“This is your country too,” Ningxin said, stepping close. Her hand wrapped Coco’s like spring warmth over frost.

“I know,” Coco nodded, calm as a quiet pond. “If needed, I’ll act.”

“Alright, Ning-jie—my thing?” Coco asked, voice turning practical like a blade sheathed.

“Here.” Ningxin pulled out a military-green watch, olive drab as a leaf after rain. “It’s important to you, right?”

“Yeah. I was careless to lose it. Glad it’s back,” Coco said, relief settling like a stone in place.

“Keep it well. Don’t lose it again,” Ningxin said, teasing like a cat’s tail flick.

“Okay.” Coco’s answer was light as a feather.

“We’ll head out,” she added, purpose clear as sunlight.

“I’ll see you off,” Ningxin said, but Rose stepped forward like a sudden gust.

“No need. Xin’er, go work. I’ll take them,” Rose said, tone smooth as silk.

“You? What trick are you playing now?” Suspicion pricked Ningxin like thorned vine.

“No trick,” Rose said, palms up like a clear sky. “I just want to walk them out.”

Ningxin’s gaze stayed on her like a watchful moon, doubt cool as dew.

“Alright, alright. Go handle your work,” Rose coaxed, smile bright as lacquer. “Coco, Muyan—this way.”

She led them out, feet whispering like leaves on stone. Through the hall, Rose kept ahead, quiet as fog.

In the garage, engines slept like steel whales. “Muyan, get in and wait for me,” Coco said, voice soft as a brushstroke.

“Sure. Go on,” Li Muyan smiled, warmth like lamplight.

Coco turned to Rose, pulling her into the shade of a pillar like a bamboo grove’s hush. “Say it—what do you really want, Rose?” Her eyes were straight as an arrow.

“I want your help,” Rose said, seriousness sharp as a blade’s edge.

“With what?” Coco’s question landed like a pebble in a pond.

“I’ve got a misunderstanding with Xin’er,” Rose said. “I want to fix it. She won’t hear me now.”

“What misunderstanding?” Coco asked, curiosity curling like smoke.

“It’s a long story,” Rose said, a crease of trouble like a cloud between brows.

“Fine.” Coco sighed, resignation falling like slow rain. She glanced back at the car, then looked at Rose again.

“I told you. I’m with the Flower Group,” Rose began, voice low as a flute at dusk.

“Mm. All women,” Coco said. “So what? How’s that tied to Ningxin?”

“Of course it’s tied. Xin’er… used to be one of us,” Rose said, the past opening like a pressed petal releasing scent.

Coco paused, surprise flickering like a firefly. Then she nodded, calm returning like tide. “Alright. What happened?”

“After training under the National Anomaly Bureau, we were assigned to the Flower Group,” Rose said, memory flowing like a river. “We lived together. We worked in sync. We were close—very close. Truth is… we liked each other, all of us.”

“Figures,” Coco thought, humor dry as a cracked seed. “A lily club,” she muttered under her breath.

“And then,” Rose said, the words heavy as rain, “during a cliff exercise, a girl who loved Xin’er like I did lost her rope. She fell. She didn’t make it.”

Sadness pooled in Rose’s face like a shadow under lantern light. “I could have saved her. But I failed.”

“How would you save her?” Coco asked, voice steady as a bamboo stem.

“I’m a wind-type Abnormal,” Rose said. “If I go all out, I can lift her.” She raised her right hand, and a spiral of air bloomed like a small whirlwind in her palm.

“Then why did you fail?” Coco’s gaze tightened like a knot.

“The night before, she came to me,” Rose said. “She challenged me. During the whole exercise, no Anomaly Power. See who performs better.”

“So you refused to use power and watched?” Coco’s tone snapped like a twig. “That’s your reason?”

“I wanted to save her,” Rose said, pain raw as salt on a wound. “But we both drank a potion our org made. For a time, Abnormals can’t use their power.”

Coco fell silent, shock blank as winter sky. “Your brains were waterlogged,” she finally muttered. “You two actually drank that?”

“We both wanted to prove we loved Xin’er more,” Rose said, voice barely a thread.

“You only made Ningxin hurt more,” Coco said, anger flicking like sparks.

Rose quieted, regret heavy as wet cloth.

“Alright,” Coco said after a breath, eyes closing like a gate then opening calm. “I get it. I’ll talk to Ningxin when there’s time. Don’t expect too much.”

“Mm. Thank you—dear Coco,” Rose chirped, joy leaping like a puppy. She opened her arms, moving in for a hug.

“Scram, scram,” Coco snapped, stepping away like a swallow, words flying like small knives.