Steam hung like a white veil over the bathroom, and the tub was half a tiny pool. A petite blonde girl lay against the rim like a wilted lily in warm rain, while a brown‑haired sprite lounged on the far side like a cat after cream.
“I thought your tastes had flipped, Nana...” Xiao Qianxue sighed, a soft wind through reeds. Mist beaded on her golden hair like dew on wheat, and in the gauzy haze she looked like a fairy stepping out of a cloud.
“NONONO!” Joanna wagged her index finger like a ticking metronome. “Nothing on this earth is cuter than you. I’ll lock you up as my captive bride, the queen of my mountain bandits!” She flashed a wicked grin and sprang like a playful fox toward the blonde.
Her figure blurred like a swallow changing perches, and Joanna found Xiaoxue somehow on the other side of the tub. “Hey, you cheated! Ugh...” Knowing her bestie had powers, Joanna bit her lip like a slighted child, flicked her brown hair like a whip, and huffed. “Let’s talk about what happened back then.”
“From which part?” The blonde closed her eyes like shutting a lantern, and half a year of memories flipped past like a slideshow of fading postcards.
“When I left City A, I saw you wanted, maybe even caught?” Joanna cupped water like a silver bowl and poured it over her pale skin like moonlight.
“That was theater for the crowd. The ones who grabbed me were in on it. As for the cops...” The blonde paused, her golden eyes opening like suns through fog. “I cut them all down.” Her voice fell like a blade through still water.
“I heard bits about that big battle,” Joanna said, her mouth twisting like a thorn. “Soldiers who cleaned up told me. I busted my tail to find you. You went all in like a moth to flame—are you missing a screw?”
“No... I didn’t want to.” A chill pricked first, and she stopped her thoughts like slamming a door before her parents’ shadows slipped in. Back then Luke helped once; later Bloo and Hoshina chained her rampage like anchors in a storm. If anything happens now, trouble will swell like a tide.
“After that I ran to City M. A kind big brother took me in.” The blonde saw Luke’s face rise like a warm fire in winter, and her lips tilted up like a crescent moon. “Without him, my days would’ve been bleak.”
“Wow, my Xiaoxue is thinking about a man.” Joanna’s shock popped like a firecracker. City M and City A were far as two shores. “He didn’t do anything to you, right?”
“Of course not. The world isn’t only people ruled by their lower halves.” The blonde cut that thought like a knife through rope. “He treated me well.” She said it softly, the way a little sister tastes the word “brother” like sweet tea.
“Alright, enough talking. Let’s rinse off and get dinner.” Joanna spoke like a bell, and then, like a wolf seizing a lamb, she pounced when Xiao Qianxue relaxed, pulling a body pale as frost into her arms like silk slipping through fingers.
“Mmph!” She’d thought her bestie would bathe obediently, but she was too young for that illusion; it popped like a soap bubble.
“Before dinner, I want a little appetizer.” A queen’s smile bloomed on Joanna’s face like a red rose, and she kissed the blonde’s cherry‑soft lips like tasting spring—long dash—(one thousand five hundred words of fireworks omitted QWQ)
“Hmph. No next time!” Joanna, glowing in a nightdress, tugged her out of the bathroom like a comet dragging a tail, and the blonde scolded with cheeks flushed like ripe peaches.
“Yeah, yeah, my little lamb. How’s the nightdress?” Joanna eyed her like an art critic before a masterpiece.
“I like it.” The beige nightdress wore lace at every edge like frost on leaves. The hem showed a hint of shin like snow above boots. Flowers threaded the fabric like a garden in moonlight, and they crowned the wearer’s beauty like stars on dark water.
“Hand‑made. I had it custom for you this week.” Joanna nodded and laced their fingers like vines. “Hurry up. Any slower and I’ll lose control and eat you again.” Her grin glinted like a knife.
“Uh‑huh, let’s go.” Seeing the wolfish hunger in Joanna’s eyes, the blonde hurried like a deer sensing hunters.
They threw on coats like cloaks of night, and a maid led them to the dining hall like a lantern leading through mist. The hall stood apart like a small palace, a banquet table stretched long as a river down the center. Paintings clung to the walls like gathered mountains, and a crystal chandelier spilled light like a frozen waterfall. Every ornament gleamed like a coin from a dragon’s hoard.
“Is it just the two of us?” They sat, and with plates like little moons circling, the blonde glanced at the untouched seats like empty nests.
“Yeah. Looks like my family all had urgent business. No idea what tricks they’re playing.” Joanna plucked a chocolate macaron like a berry and popped it like a sweet secret, then handed the plate to Xiao Qianxue. “Eat. Flew in from England yesterday.”
“Mm.” The word fell like a nodding petal.
Everyone in the house, except Joanna, knew the organization planned to snare the visiting girl. After the Ouyang Clan swore again and again that Joanna would be unharmed, the family swallowed the poison like bitter tea and left.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
“It’s about time.” Ouyang Si shut his book like closing a trap and rose from the sofa like a shadow standing up. “They’ve started eating?”
“Yes, my lord. The target suspects nothing about the food.” The esper’s voice quivered like a plucked string. “It looks like our plan will work.”
“Good. If not for those old fossils upstairs, I’d never take this job.” Ouyang Si’s tone was sour as old wine. “Making a blood feud with Lin Fan gets me nothing.” Lin Fan’s last threat still burned like a brand, and Lin Fan’s power pinned his like rock over flame. However he counted, he lost like a loaded die.
“After dinner, we move. Let’s go.” The first hunt failed like an arrow in mud; this time had to land like a hawk on prey.
— — — — — — — — — — — —
“Ugh, I’m stuffed.” They talked and ate, their laughter rising like steam, and half the table vanished like snow in sun.
“Tea, miss.” A maid set down two cups of green tea like twin jade ponds. Thirst pricked, and the blonde lifted one and drank in gulps like a river fish.
“Long time no see, Xiao Qianxue.” A voice she knew and feared slid through the room like a knife through silk, and black‑clad figures bloomed from the walls like crows, circling them in a tightening ring.
“The guy in the blue cloak?!” Shock snapped her spine like ice, and with a flick like lightning she drew the Star‑Red Twins, her twin pistols, and leveled them like twin comets at the ring.
“Who are you? Why are you in my house?” Joanna’s mind stuttered like a skipping record. She’d met the owner of that voice once, but these black suits were night without stars.
“Nana? What’s going on?” Anxiety hit first like a cold wave. The black‑clad didn’t strike, but she didn’t dare throw the first spark with Joanna, a non‑fighter, at her side like porcelain.
“I don’t know.” Joanna’s answer fluttered like a trapped bird. “We should thank your good friend,” Ouyang Si said as he finally stepped in, his blue cloak falling like dusk. His voice held no rush, easy as a hunter watching a trapped stag, blade steady, breath even.
“Nana was used by you. Damn you!” Xiao Qianxue didn’t doubt her bestie for a heartbeat; her aim cut straight at Ouyang Si’s people like an arrow.
“Xiaoxue...” Gratitude stung Joanna’s eyes like smoke as she glanced at the blonde’s raised guns. Pressure and coaxing by the adults had boxed her in like walls closing. She’d called Xiao Qianxue, then knew nothing of the rest.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself.” The blue‑cloaked youth lifted a brow like a tilting spear. “Ouyang Si.”
“So you are Ouyang Clan.” Hoshina’s warning flashed in her mind like lightning, and the blonde ground out the words like teeth. Then her body went soft, strength draining like sand from a cracked hourglass.
“Looks like the drug kicked in. I did worry you wouldn’t drink the tea.” Ouyang Si’s smile deepened like a shadow at dusk. “Glad I didn’t waste those chats. So, will you surrender or make me force it?” His tone was almost lazy, a cat with a mouse. “Reminder: this anesthetic was forged in our lab for special types. However OP you are, once dosed, you lie down.”
“Tch. Don’t celebrate yet.” While her mind still burned bright, she whipped out a blue vial like drawing a hidden dagger. Hoshina had left it with the magazines, a purifier for abnormal states, fresh from her tinkering bench like a star in a bottle.
“Trying to outplay me? Not that easy...”
