“Dear passengers, we’ve reached the final stop of this journey, SH City.” The plane kissed the runway, and the stewardess’s voice poured through the cabin like warm rain.

“Finally here.” “Yeah, my back’s killing me.” Students and professors unbuckled, chatter fluttering like sparrows under a low sky.

The blonde opened her backpack. Inside lay a change of clothes, folded like clouds after dawn. She had some cash, crisp as autumn leaves. She packed the Star-Red Twins and ammo, cold as river pebbles. A small plush sat there, soft as a kept secret. The doll was one Luke had given her; she brought the one she loved most.

“Time to go.” Xiao Qianxue rose and watched the crowd reach for luggage like a shoal surging toward a net. In a shadowed corner, she melted into a red pool—Blood Pool—and slipped through the cracks like rain, unseen.

At the terminal gate, she studied a white slip in her hand, ink lines like a river map. It held the place to meet Joanna. After checking a free computer, she saw it was a suburban villa not far from here.

She tightened her hood like a cloak against the breeze and slid into a waiting taxi, quiet as dusk.

“Where to?” The driver looked young, fresh as a spring leaf. He glanced back. The passenger was petite and bundled tight; her small nose and lips glowed like petals beneath the hood’s shadow, enough to sketch her beauty.

She handed him the note. He felt a prickle of oddness but asked nothing, eyes on the address like a compass. “Huh… never been there. I’ll set up navigation.” He scratched his head, then pecked at his phone like a sparrow.

Xiao Qianxue opened a paper bag like a nest. She took out a croissant and a latte from COSTA and nibbled, sip by sip, like a squirrel working a nut.

The route set, the car slipped from the airport, headlights cutting the road like knives. In the rearview, he watched the pretty girl cradle her bread and nibble, too cute to look away, his glances drawn like moths to light.

It wasn’t long before they stopped near a villa glowing with luxury, stone and glass still as a lake. “Here. Keep the change.” Her voice was airy and sweet, bells over snow, and two red banknotes fluttered into his hand.

“Thanks. Take care.” A generous passenger is rare, and a cute one rarer. He pocketed the cash like a warm sun. “If I saw her face, it’d be perfect,” he thought as the car slid off like a fish. “A voice that sweet has to match.”

“This is it, Nana?” Xiao Qianxue pulled off her hood. Gold hair lifted in the wind like ripened wheat, and her refined face bloomed with a sugared smile.

At the villa, she ran into the driver who usually handled Joanna’s pickups, a guy she’d met more than once. “Yo, Uncle Driver?” She hopped over with a mischievous grin, light as a cat.

“Miss Xiao? Lady Joanna said you’d come soon.” His smile opened like rain after drought.

“She’s waiting inside. Go on in.” She waved and ran for the door, footsteps pattering like beads on stone.

“Miss Xiao, right?” A maid approached with hands folded, bow neat as a ribbon. “My lady ordered that you be brought to her at once. Please, this way.” Her voice floated like gauze.

“Looks like Nana’s been living well.” The blonde’s gaze skimmed the décor like a breeze through reeds, though none of it impressed her much.

In a secret passage threaded through the villa like roots, an esper flickered into view. He spoke toward Ouyang Si, who read a book, calm as a deep pond. “Sir, the target has arrived and entered. Everything’s set. Do we move now?”

Ouyang Si raised a hand, a halt sharp as a blade. “Don’t spook the snake. Let her savor a last calm,” he said, voice smooth as silk. “Despair after hope is the finest flavor, isn’t it?” He turned the page like a drifting leaf. “When it’s time, I’ll speak.”

“Understood.” The esper nodded and vanished like smoke.

Knock, knock. The sound struck the door like drums at dusk. Joanna’s tired voice floated from within, soft as evening. “Miss, your—” The maid didn’t finish. Xiao Qianxue shoved the door open with a bang, thunder in a close room.

“Xiaoxue?” Joanna’s voice sharpened like an arrow loosed. She flipped off the bed in two moves, nightdress thin as cloud, and rushed the blonde, wrapping her tight, arms like silk cords.

“Out. Now.” Joanna held Xiao Qianxue and snapped at the maid, spark bright as flint. The maid took the hint, closed the door, and fled down the hall like wind.

“Xiaoxue, I missed you to death.” She hugged the soft, boneless body, voice warm as tea by the ear. “Your jasmine scent is still the best.” She buried her face in the gold, drinking the familiar fragrance like summer rain.

“Me too, Nana.” The blonde hugged the brown-haired girl back. After months apart, Joanna looked sharper, taller by half a head, like a willow grown in season.

“But first, something more important.” Joanna’s wicked laugh rose like a cat’s purr. Before the blonde could react, she was lifted and set on the bed, light as a feather on silk.

“Nana, you— mmph.” Cherry lips were sealed, a kiss pressed like a stamp. A deft tongue slipped past her guard like water, hunting, twining around her tongue like a snake after prey.

“Mmph… mmh.” Strength fled her body like a tide pulling back. “I haven’t seen you for so long,” Joanna said, eyes bright as stars, gazing at Xiao Qianxue’s blush, peach-soft and dizzying. “Tonight, I’m collecting with interest.” She tasted her again, then claimed another kiss like a thief at midnight.

Her hands refused to behave, cupping the blonde’s chest like twin moons. “Ah—” A sensitive spark leaped, and Xiao Qianxue cried out, voice like silver bells. “Bigger again. Looks like you didn’t miss a beat in growing.” Joanna’s queenly edge returned like a crown. In a blur she stripped her bare, petals falling in warm light, then pounced like a starving tiger.

“Thanks for the feast.” Joanna slid off the now-naked blonde, wiped her lips with a thumb, and smiled, satisfied as a cat after cream.