Vroom— The black Porsche kicked up a veil of dust as it slipped into the abandoned plant, a steel husk with empty ribs, and rolled to a stop inside a wide workshop.

“Here okay?”

Mo Zitong parked and glanced at Tang Coco, her eyes a quiet lake.

“Good. Don’t come out. The car’s safe.” Her tone was a cool blade before her hand moved to the door.

“I want to help.”

“What can you do in a fight? Sit tight.” Her voice fell cold, like frost on glass; time left no room for warmth.

“...” Mo Zitong froze, stunned by the sudden bite in the words.

“System, start Jin Yushen.”

“Understood.”

Swish— Boom— The long-lost heavy defensive Armor strode up beside Tang Coco, a giant green mechanical shield rooting next to the Porsche, while a green energy dome blossomed and wrapped the car like a jade bell.

Tang Coco stood, a shadow at the gate, and watched the black business van creep in like a predator testing the dark.

It stopped at the factory entrance. Three youths and a middle-aged man climbed out, suits and sunglasses, posturing for cool like crows preening in oil.

“You’ve tailed me long enough. What do you want?”

“No wonder you’re Asura. Always so cautious.” The leader’s Huaguo tongue was mangled, his accent a clumsy blade—he sounded American.

“...” Tang Coco’s stare went iron-hard. They’d named her cleanly—proof they hadn’t come from nowhere.

“Actually, our company has a problem. We want Miss Tang to help solve it.”

“Spare me. If it’s a fight, fight. I still need sleep.” Her hand flicked, dismissal sharp as a leaf falling on stone.

“Fine. Do it!” At his gesture, the three Abnormals lit their Anomaly Power like storm-signals.

Boom— The ground around Tang Coco heaved up, an earthen ring snaring her like a clay trap. A wind Abnormal scooped the fire Abnormal with a gale, lifting him skyward. Up there, a giant fireball swelled like a red moon, then plunged into the pen.

Boom— Fire flowered and smashed the walls to dry shards.

“Coco!” Mo Zitong’s voice cracked from the car, fear ringing like a crystal rim.

Through the blaze, a figure over two meters tall walked into sight, a purple-black Mech drinking flame like night iron. Not a scratch marred its hide.

“That all?” Her words were a knife of mockery.

“For special people, we use special means. Start it.”

“Yes.” The wind Abnormal sprinted back to the van, a shadow slipping into a metal belly.

Wonnn— A low drone bored into Tang Coco’s skull, like hornets trapped in a jar.

“Warning. Interference signal detected. Countermeasures engaged. Normal in five seconds.”

Unease first; thought second. “Interference...” The hum faded. Her brow tightened, a bowstring drawn near breaking.

“Wait. Could it be—”

Boom— The idea snapped and her thrusters roared open, comets blazing from the Mech’s back as she launched for the van.

“What? Why didn’t it work? Stop her!” Panic tumbled out of the middle-aged man like marbles on tile.

“Out of my way!” Faces rose like a hedge; she raised an energy shield and rammed through, a ram cutting reeds.

She reached the van, tore the side door clean off with a metal scream, and hauled a youth out like a sack, flinging him aside.

“This is...” Inside, a sleek silver instrument sat with cold lights blinking like little stars. She didn’t read the panels; she read the label.

“IST.” Recognition went ice. “Knew it. No wonder it felt familiar.”

Her face fell to frost.

Thump— Plates on the purple-black Mech peeled open. Beneath, crimson energy streamed, molten and feral.

The Mech blurred so fast it nearly vanished. A scream tore the air a heartbeat later.

“Ah!” They turned and gagged. The black long blade glowed with red veins, the edge scything up through the fire Abnormal’s body. He split cleanly, two lengths thudding to the floor.

“!” “Earth Shield!” The earth Abnormal shouted, walling himself in thick soil like a clay tomb, safety prayed on dirt.

Slash— A red arc swung from the long blade. The wall split across the middle—so did the man inside.

“How— How’s this possible? The file said we could suppress her!” The middle-aged man’s face frayed to panic. He saw the Mech rushing him and shrieked, “Block her!”

“I— I—” The last wind Abnormal staggered back, trembling like a leaf in a gale.

“Go! Or you die!” The middle-aged man ripped off his shades, purple light flooding his eyes like poison wine. The youth’s tremor died; his face went blank. He charged Tang Coco while the man bolted for the factory’s night mouth.

“Death Storm—” The Abnormal called, wind coiling into a hungry funnel.

“Remnant Blades.” Tang Coco’s glance was cool as moonlight.

Shrr— Dozens of small mechanical blades bloomed around her like steel petals. At her word, they streaked for the airborne youth. He spun up a tornado around himself, a whirling shell. He guessed wrong. The blades dove into the funnel. The wind became a grinder. Outside, only the wet whisk of metal through flesh whispered. In moments, the tornado turned deep red—a blood cyclone, obscene and mesmerizing.

“Urgh...” Mo Zitong couldn’t hold it. She cracked the door and retched, sickness spilling like rain.

Tang Coco didn’t look back. She sprinted for the fleeing middle-aged man.

Whoosh, whoosh— Thunk, thunk— Two blades punched through his shoulders, pinning him to the ground like a moth to cork.

She strode in, grabbed his hair, and jerked his face up to hers.

“IST, huh? If you live, tell them this. I’ll visit soon. Don’t send invitations.”

Her eyes were winter. Then— “Ah!” Both his arms fell away, severed clean. He blacked out and dropped like a cut string.

Suddenly, four identical black Mechs rose around Tang Coco, ravens with wing-like fins on their backs, fighter-born for sky and speed.

“System, dump him by the sea.” Her voice was stone. “And send that van to the tech plant in Ninghai.”

“Understood.” One black Mech scooped the unconscious man. Three others hooked the van with mechanical claws. They lifted and vanished into the night, shadows returning to sky.

“...” Tang Coco let the Mech dissolve and walked back to the Porsche. Mo Zitong stared with a strange, fragile look, moonlight caught on broken glass.

“What? First time seeing me like this? Surprised?”

“Mm...” The sound was small and soft.

“Yeah. I’ve never been a good person. People who’ve died by my hand... Forget it.” Bitterness crept like smoke. She cut herself off.

“No. That’s not you.” Mo Zitong shook her head, her voice a steady ribbon. “You only turned like this after you saw what was in that van. The usual you—everyone likes her.”

“...” Pride tangled with hurt. “You don’t understand.” Tang turned her face away, a shutter closing against light.

“Let’s go back to campus.”

“And this place?”

“Blow it.”

“...”

KABOOM— The abandoned factory erupted. Heat washed out and melted everything inside like wax in a furnace, a ruin erased by fire.

“...” The road after was hushed. IST lodged in Tang Coco’s mind like a thorn. No word for so long. She’d barely hit Yanjing, and they came. Their talk said they knew she was alive. They knew she could change forms. Why? Eyes in Huaguo? In Ninghai? Or... right beside her?

The thought bit hard. Her brow knotted tighter, a drawn bow that wouldn’t ease.

“...” Mo Zitong watched her face and made a sudden decision, quiet as a seed taking root.

Thirty minutes later, road markers slid by like scales. Tang Coco looked up. “Hm? This isn’t the way to the dorm.”

“You’re miles away in your head. I’m taking you somewhere.”

Soon, the Porsche rolled to the gate of North Mountain Park, pines cresting like black waves.

“That place...” Tang eyed the slope. “You’re not taking me to see that tree.”

“You know it?” Mo smiled, sunlight through leaves.

“Yeah.” “My roommates dragged me here on day two.” Tang lifted a hand, helpless as a sigh.

“Oh? Then they don’t know the tree’s secret. Come on.” Mo Zitong laced her fingers with Tang’s and pulled her uphill, their shadows flickering like fish under ripples.

“Secret?” They reached the tree again, its form too fantastical to be real, a dream hanging in daylight. Tang Coco still sighed—those Abnormals had way too much free time to make something like this.

“Do you know its origin?” Mo asked.

“A bunch of Abnormals got bored and made it, right?”

“That’s what they told you? Figures. That’s what most people think.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“There’s another story. It’s not Abnormals who created the tree. It’s the tree that created Abnormals.”

“...” The words landed and didn’t fit. Tang’s mind stalled, a foot stepping into air.

“You don’t believe it. Come.” Mo led her behind the trunk, where fewer people passed. She rose on tiptoe and plucked a pink petal, light as a whisper.

“Watch the color, okay?” Mo closed her eyes. The petal in her fingers slowly turned purple, dusk bleeding through silk.

“This is—” Wonder pricked like a spark.

“Cool, right? These petals change to match the Anomalous Energy they touch.”

“...” Tang Coco felt a flicker of surprise. She hadn’t expected this.

“You try.” Mo’s voice was soft as moss.

Tang plucked a petal too. She cupped it, shut her eyes, and leaked a little power. The pink petal turned blood-red, a drop of war burning in her palm.

“...” “Warning. Unknown substance absorbing Anomalous Energy.” The System’s voice slid in, clinical as glass.

Calm first; choice second. “Leave it.” Tang told the System, then studied the petal, gaze steady as a scalpel.

“Magic, right?” Mo laughed, pure spring water. “Back in Yanjing, when I was sad, I’d sneak here and turn a petal to my color. Then I felt like something still cared.”

Tang Coco gave her a small smile, then lowered her gaze to the crimson petal.

“System, analyze the Anomalous Energy in this petal.”

“Understood. Scanning. 50%... 70%... 100%. Scan complete. Confirmed same-attribute I Energy.”

“...” The answer deepened her curiosity until the tree felt less like a sculpture, more like a heartbeat.

“This tree... might be alive.”