“Do you... recognize this watch?”
Tang Coco set the battered watch on the tea table, her voice a thin thread over still water.
“!!!!”
Su Xinhua saw the scarred metal, and her composure cracked like ice under a heel.
Relief warmed Tang Coco first, then a thorn of panic. That face—those eyes—this had to be her mother. Her heart eased, then knotted again. If that’s true, how does she tell her who she is?
“Who are you.”
Su Xinhua’s tone chilled; her smile folded like a fan. Her gaze cut sharp, a blade catching winter light.
“I... I’m actually Tang Ke.”
Tang Coco wrestled with the words, drowning and surfacing. In the end, she chose the straight road, like a spear thrust.
“What!? Are you joking with me!”
Su Xinhua stood with a shout, thunder without rain. Inside, she wasn’t that surprised; her shock was a mask she had rehearsed. The scene was moving the way she had imagined days ago, but another shadow crossed her mind—an enemy, using her son’s disappearance to get close. So she kept acting, watching for the hook beneath the bait.
“I’ve said this already. I have a son, not a daughter. Isn’t this lie childish—ridiculous?”
She spoke from a height, voice like frost on stone.
“You know Abnormals exist, right.”
Tang Coco kept her head low, words falling like small stones into a deep well.
“...”
Su Xinhua didn’t answer, the silence like a closed door. She conceded without admitting.
“So... the extraordinary... in the real world... does happen.”
Tang Coco’s fingers locked together, knuckles pale as bone.
“Heh. And so what? Without enough proof, I won’t believe you.”
Su Xinhua’s smile was a thin knife.
“Proof...”
Tang Coco let her eyes fall shut, like curtains against a storm.
“Sorry... my memories... are training and missions and killing, again and again. You... didn’t leave me much. I don’t even know how Father died. I don’t even know his face.”
The pain flushed her features; her heart felt like a thorn pressed under skin.
“...”
Su Xinhua softened, a cloud dimming the sun. She wanted—badly—to believe this girl was her “son.” She had given him too little; she owed too much. But her identity, the secrets she carried, chained her to caution.
“Fine. I’m not begging for your recognition. I just want to ask if you know where this watch came from.”
Tang Coco caught her breath, gathered her scattered emotions, and asked from the quiet edge.
“Mm? Why should I tell you?”
Su Xinhua kept her stance hard—steel under silk.
“...”
Tang Coco fell silent. She lifted her head and looked at the woman she believed was her mother, words drying like leaves in drought.
“Right... why would you tell me...”
After a moment, Tang Coco gave a wan smile. She steadied herself on the sofa, picked up the watch.
“Sorry for disturbing you. Just call me a lunatic. This was all my one-woman play.”
She turned for the door, voice like a candle about to gutter.
“Stop! Put it down. That doesn’t belong to you!”
Su Xinhua’s shout cracked the air like a whip.
“This? Sorry. It’s my father’s relic.”
Even to her mother, Tang Coco wouldn’t yield. Her stance held like a planted spear.
“Heh. Who knows if you’re Shoucheng’s killer.”
Su Xinhua folded her arms, cold mirth like frost blooming on glass.
“...”
The words hit; Tang Coco faltered, a stone to the chest.
“I see... From where you stand... that’s not wrong.”
She laughed, low and worn, like a broken string plucked.
“Drop the act! Hand it over, then explain who you are. Otherwise, you won’t walk out. Tiantian! Stop her!”
Su Xinhua’s heart twisted, but she kept the blade in her hand.
Clack!
The door swung open. Tiantian entered, face blank as a white mask, a folder cradled in her arms.
“I had a good impression of you. Too bad—faces lie.”
She opened the folder. Sheets flew out one by one, circling her like white birds. A bright light woke on paper wings.
“So that’s it... The ‘Secretary’ who vanished—guarding you this whole time.”
Tang Coco watched the paper glow and knew the codename. Number Two on the international bodyguard rankings: “Secretary.”
“...”
Tiantian and Su Xinhua held their silence, a pause sharp as a pulled bow. If Tang Coco could peg her at a glance, the chance she was Su Xinhua’s son rose like tide. The chance she was an international killer rose just as fast.
“Gonna fight? I don’t want to. And right now... I can’t beat you.”
Tang Coco smiled, ragged, a torn banner in wind.
Suddenly, she moved—a hawk stooping—but not at Tiantian. She shot for Su Xinhua.
“Don’t even think!”
Tiantian’s shout cracked. The floating sheets snapped toward Su Xinhua, weaving tight around her. Tang Coco flowed past Su Xinhua’s side, a shadow sliding along stone. Her real target was the living room’s floor-to-ceiling window behind Su Xinhua.
To avoid a scene, she kept it “civilized.” No shattering glass—she pushed the window open, a quiet river instead of a storm.
But cost follows choice. Tiantian flicked her wrist, and the lit paper outside knit a wall of light in the open air.
Tsk.
Tang Coco clicked her tongue. Her mind spun and locked into plan. This time she truly lunged for Su Xinhua, arm sweeping her waist, driving her out toward the light wall.
“Ah!”
Su Xinhua cried out. The wall took her clean, steady as a caught wave. Tang Coco saw it—the paper count was limited, most of it guarding Su Xinhua. Now was the gap in the fence.
She sprinted for the door, breath a drum. Then behind her came laughter, wrong as a rusted bell.
“Hahahaha~”
“Hm?”
The laugh hooked her attention. She turned. Tiantian was grinning, delighted like a cat with a bird. The light wall outside had grown straps, slick lines of radiance binding Su Xinhua tight.
“Tiantian! What are you doing!”
Su Xinhua’s voice shook, confusion and anger flaring like dry grass.
“Sorry, Su-jie. I’ve waited ages for this. The last missing clue walked in on its own. I can’t waste it. You—hand over the watch. Or I drop her.”
Tiantian smiled at Su Xinhua, then turned to Tang Coco, smile sharp as a crescent blade.
“...”
Tang Coco stood still, eyes on Tiantian. Her mind ran fast as a river in flood. Was this betrayal real, or theater with knives?
“Tiantian! What are you doing! How can you!”
Su Xinhua broke, her poise burned away. Tears welled, bright as broken pearls.
“You’re smart—you get it. I’ve stayed by you to pry out your secrets. What I lack is the other half—the watch. And look—the timing is perfect. A stranger appears. If you fall today... do they say I killed you, or she did?”
Tiantian’s smile tilted, a crescent that promised cuts.
“You! You lied to me! I treated you like a sister!”
Su Xinhua’s fury flashed, a strike of lightning with rain behind it.
“Heh. It’s my mission.”
Tiantian’s shrug was light, like dust flicked from a sleeve.
“Alright, stranger. I liked you. Too bad—you stepped into this muddy water.”
Her eyes slid back to Tang Coco, the way a knife slides into a sheath.
“...”
Tang Coco held, a bowstring drawn but not loosed. Surface tells were not enough.
“Give me the thing, and I’ll let her go.”
Tiantian’s smile thinned, appetite gone, blade left.
“Oh? You think I’ll save her? She just treated me like an enemy.”
Tang Coco lifted her hands, casual as a man under rain.
“Mm. That’s true.”
Tiantian tapped her chin, playful as a cat.
“Let’s gamble. I count to three, then I drop her. Want to save her—hand me the watch. Don’t want to—run. Either way, it’s your murder. I don’t lose.”
Her cheer was vicious, like a child pulling wings.
“...”
Tang Coco didn’t answer. She fixed on Su Xinhua. Su Xinhua stared back, confusion deep as mist over a lake.
“One—”
Tiantian raised a finger, slow as a lever.
“...”
Tang Coco didn’t move.
“Two—”
“Go! Whoever you are! That secret cannot fall into their hands!”
Su Xinhua screamed, her voice tearing, tears breaking loose.
The third finger began to lift.
“Enough!”
Tang Coco shouted, cutting the air like a whip.
“Here. Let her go.”
She tossed the watch. A small arc of metal flew like a thrown moon.
“Oh? You really save her? Don’t tell me you’re actually her son.”
Tiantian blinked, surprise like a gust.
“Cut the crap. You’ve got it. Let her go.”
Tang Coco’s face darkened, a storm rolling in.
“Mm. My cover’s blown. Without a scapegoat, it’s hard to slip out of Huaguo.”
Tiantian pocketed the watch, her smirk carving a crescent.
“...”
The wrongness rang in Tang Coco’s bones. She locked eyes on Tiantian, steady as a hunter under trees.
“You showed up too perfectly. Wasting a ‘scapegoat’ like you would be a shame. So whether you’re her son or not... she—”
A thin flare of killing intent flickered in Tiantian’s eyes, like a needle glinting.
“Still dies by your hand.”
The light wall vanished at once, and the open air yawned. Su Xinhua’s body hung on nothing—eleventh floor below her like a hungry sea.
“!!!!”
Tang Coco had been fixed on Su Xinhua. The instant the light dissolved, her pupils blew wide, and rage erupted, a wildfire with no wind to tame it.
“System, activate!!!”
She shouted. Black Armor bloomed across her body like midnight flowers, and she shot for the window, a bolt of shadow and steel.
