“Stop, now—” her voice snapped like a cold whip.

Silence hung between them like fog over morning fields.

Hearing her mother’s sour tone, Tang Coco’s heart dropped like a stone into a deep well.

“Wh-what’s wrong…” Her voice fluttered like a startled sparrow.

Tang Coco turned slowly, her smile stiff like paint not yet dry.

“Come sit.” Su Xinhua patted the spot beside her, hand knocking the cushion like a small gavel.

“Oh…” Coco walked over with her head bowed, steps light as a cat on wet tiles, and sat by her mother like a wilted lily.

“Speak! What’s going on between you and her?” The question flared like oil catching fire.

Suddenly, Su Xinhua pinched Coco’s ear and folded her over her lap, her arm pressing across Coco’s back like a steel bar, leaving no room to twist free.

“Ah! It hurts, it hurts! I… there’s nothing between us…” Her scream tore out like paper ripping.

“Nothing, huh? You think I can’t see what she feels for you? And you still won’t tell me the truth?” Su Xinhua’s anger blazed like noon sun, then she flipped Coco’s skirt with a snap like wind turning a page.

“Mom, what are you doing??” Cold air washed her lower body like winter river water, and dread pooled like storm clouds.

Smack! The sound cracked through the sitting room like a bamboo rod striking a drum.

“Ah!” Her cry rang bright as glass, lovely even in pain—yet her own mother had actually spanked her like thunder right under the eaves.

“Keeping secrets from me, are you! Speak! How much else are you hiding?” Su Xinhua talked while her palm fell again and again like rain on a tin roof, truly angry, counting more than ten blows.

“Ah! Mom… stop… I was wrong… uuu…” Coco kicked her legs like a fish on sand as she pleaded.

“Do you know you were wrong?” Her voice cooled like shade under old pines.

“I know… I know…” The words drooped like wet clothes on a line.

“Hmph.” Su Xinhua snorted a puff like steam and let the skirt fall like a curtain.

“Wow, Mom, you really got mad.” Coco’s cheeks flushed rosy like sunset; she looked sweet enough to melt sugar, but Su Xinhua stayed firm, face hard as lacquer.

“How could I not be mad? You think I don’t know Mu Qingcheng’s background? Not long ago you couldn’t protect yourself; if she had made a move, who knows what storm would’ve hit?” Her care rolled out like a strong wind behind stern clouds.

“Uh…” Coco hadn’t expected her mother’s anger to be worry; warmth rose in her chest like fresh tea.

“Honestly, did that transformation knock your brain crooked too?” Her quip fell like a pebble skipping water.

“Mm…” Coco rubbed her butt with her right hand, fingers circling like moths around a lamp.

“Hurt?” Su Xinhua caught the small motion, her gaze landing like a feather.

“Of course. You used so much strength…” Coco puffed her cheeks like a drumfish.

The pause stretched between them like twilight over a field.

“I’ll rub it for you. It’s you making me mad. Mom has only you—one daughter like a single flame in winter; I can’t let anything happen to you.” She spoke and kneaded Coco’s sore spot like dough on a board.

Hearing her mother’s words, warmth flowed through Coco’s heart like a spring under ice.

“Mom…” After a moment, Coco’s face blushed scarlet like ripe cherries, and her whisper drifted like a breeze.

“Hmm?” The sound rose like a leaf caught by light wind.

“If… you rub, then rub… don’t pinch, okay…” Her plea tiptoed out like a shy rabbit.

Su Xinhua’s face flushed in a rush like spilled wine, but she smoothed it back quickly like snow leveled by wind.

“Heh-heh—couldn’t help it, the feel’s too good; my hand slipped like a little thief.” Her laughter clinked like beads.

“Is this really my mother… So my rogue streak’s inherited…” Coco griped inwardly, the thought grumbling like distant thunder.

“All right. Come with me to the factory later.” The decision landed like a stamp on paper.

“Factory? It’s already built?” Surprise flickered in Coco’s eyes like fireflies; Su Xinhua had been in Ninghai only a few weeks.

“Mm, it’s almost done. Gear shipped straight from HQ, smooth as river barges. But the lab hit some obstacles; help me clear them.” Her tone turned pragmatic like a carpenter checking joints.

“Okay.” The answer rose like a flag in wind.

Coco eased off her mother’s lap and stood up slow, like a sapling pushing through wind. As she straightened—

Hiss— Her breath slipped through her teeth like cold air through reeds.

She grabbed at her sore backside, kneading like a cat nursing a paw.

“Still hurts?” The question drifted like frost on glass.

“Mm…” Coco winced, brows knitting like two willow leaves; why was this body so tender? The thought buzzed like a trapped bee.

“Your body’s too sensitive. You need more adj—training.” Su Xinhua caught herself mid-word, her smile crooked like a crescent moon.

“Hey, hey… what were you about to say!” Coco shot her a look, sharp as an arrow.

“Nothing~” The tease floated like a feather.

Coco stared with full-on disdain, her gaze flat as a cold lake.

They entered the building; tech flooded the eyes like stars on a clear night. A giant silhouette rose in Coco’s view like a mountain out of mist.

“That’s…” Coco lifted her head, voice a breath of wind. In the lobby stood a massive Mech, roughly twenty meters tall, Transformer-tall, with a white frame, a blue visor, a black backpack-style thruster, and no weapon in its hands.

“R&D made that while bored, like kids stacking bricks. It’s useless—no flexibility—but it looks imposing, so we parked it here as an exhibit.” Her words clacked down like dominoes.

“…Your R&D is that casual?” Coco’s doubt waved like a flag in a breeze.

“Of course~ Otherwise how would we birth so many new ideas~” Su Xinhua laughed, light as chimes, and tugged Coco toward the elevator like a kite string. Coco’s hunch proved right: the factory had six underground levels, matching the above-ground footprint like twin fields.

“Your build speed is wild.” Her awe blazed like a comet crossing night.

“Don’t use old-world notions. We’ve got cutting-edge science, and Abnormals across fields. This underground base? Our earth-type Abnormal squad dug it out in two days, like moles through loam.” Pride shone like polished brass.

“…Poor Mother Earth,” Coco thought, sympathy pooling like rain over soil.

Ding— The elevator reached B6, doors sliding open like theater curtains. Instruments sprawled everywhere, scattered like toys across a giant room.

“Xiao Yi! Help me! The secondary assist unit’s out of balance!” A voice crackled like static from a radio.

“Coming, coming—hold on, I’m still connected to the power here!” Another shout popped like sparks from a wire.

“Dawei! Stop playing with your energy cannon and help me set the shield’s initial energy value!” A call boomed like a drum in a hall.

Noise spilled through the lab like a market at noon, and Coco wondered if this place had really developed a Mech or just bottled chaos.

“Uh…” Su Xinhua went speechless, silence heavy as fog, then shouted, “I’ve been gone only a few days, and you’ve turned this place into a storm-tossed deck!”

“Ah! Su-jie, you’re here!” cried a young woman, voice bright as bells; the one called Xiao Yi was only twenty-five, fresh as spring water.

“Su-jie! When do your reinforcements arrive? We’re dying over here.” A man around thirty wore a bitter face like chewed herbs.

“Eh? Who’s this? So pretty—Is she your new girlfriend, Su-jie…” Xiao Yi stared at Coco, eyes round as moons.

Coco and Su Xinhua froze together, expressions stiff as clay masks.

“What nonsense is that!? What do you keep in that head of yours!” Su Xinhua snapped, words slicing like a paper fan through humid air.

“Heh-heh, just kidding~” Xiao Yi laughed, skipping away like a pebble across water.

“Xiao Chen, call everyone over. I’ve got something to say.” Su Xinhua’s tone gathered like clouds before rain.

“On it.” A girl in a white lab coat with a red single ponytail answered, voice steady as rope.

Soon the lab’s members assembled, faces circling like petals. Coco counted eight in total, three men and five women, all between their twenties and thirties, a young team like new bamboo.

“First, an introduction: my daughter, Tang Coco.” Su Xinhua held Coco’s hand, grip warm like sunlight through paper windows.

“Whoa!!! Heaven above!” Gasps burst like fireworks across a square.

“She’s actually Su-jie’s daughter.” Awe spread like ripples over a pond.

“She’s even prettier than Su-jie.” Compliments fell like confetti in spring wind.

“Can I date you~?” The one called Dawei struck a pose he thought was cool, shoulders angled like a crane, and shot the line at Coco.

Coco looked at him like he was a brick on the road, plain as dust.

“Oh, right. My daughter is an SS-class Abnormal. The number who died by her hand is in the thousands, if not tens of thousands.” Su Xinhua waved her hand like brushing snow, as if stating the weather.

Faces froze all around, stiff as painted masks on a temple wall.

“Ah-ha-ha~ Just joking earlier! Greetings, milady~” The guy who’d tried to confess scratched his head, smile wobbling like jelly on a plate.

...

Su Xinhua and Tang Coco chose to ignore him, like wind skimming past a stubborn stone.

Ahem... We're here for two reasons, like banners raised before a charge.

First: we need to pick up the pace; these Mechs will see action soon, like storm clouds closing in.

You're right, Sister Su; we know, like sailors reading a clear sky.

But some knots still won't come loose; we can't solve them yet.

said the girl called Xiao Chen, her voice steady like a plucked string.

I know; that's the second reason we're here, like a card kept up a sleeve.

Coco, show them; let the curtain lift.

Alright, Tang Coco said, her voice like pond water at dawn.

Blue particles bloomed around her like fireflies in midsummer.

A blinding glare rose, and everyone shielded their eyes like sailors in noon sun.

When the light fell away, the Mech stood revealed like a moon slipping from cloud.

She had called up an aerial-combat Mech, its form made ornate by Marilyn's refit, like a swan forged in steel.

A white chassis gleamed, paired with white mechanical wings that unfurled like frost-feathered fans.

Its hands held two slender, high-powered rifles, like twin brushstrokes cut from lightning.

Feathers of particles drifted around it like snow, circling the frame.

The Mech felt courtly yet commanding, like a white crane wearing a warrior's helm.