Ling Yi waited at the foot of the building, steady as a shadow clinging to concrete.

“Did you pay the workers?”

“Not a cent short.”

“Great! Our sweat didn’t wash away for nothing!”

The cheer hit first, like sunrise catching on glass. Yekase couldn’t bring herself to douse that glow with hard truths. She kept a smile, light as a paper lantern.

“Special training starts tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah. Bring a change of clothes.”

“Could you… give me a hint?”

“I reached out to the Beast King Squadron. I’m taking you to their secret base for drills and sparring. Their professor will run the program. Her name’s Omega F, but just call her Professor F. She’s way more pro than me.”

Ling Yi hooked her arm through Yekase’s like ivy twining a branch. “I don’t care. You’re the world’s number one doctor.”

“Uh… thanks?”

“You told me, as long as I don’t die, it’s fine. I said, as long as my family and friends stay safe, it’s enough. But now I realize, within reach, I can nudge the world a little better.”

“It can hardly get worse.”

“So, if I want my reach to stretch wider without dying, with my family and friends still safe—wider, and wider—until I’m a hero I won’t feel guilty being… will you keep backing me, Doctor?”

Her eyes shone like stars caught in a river.

A strange ache rose in Yekase’s chest, warm and old as smoke. She curled her forefinger and scraped the tip of Ling Yi’s nose, a breeze flicking a leaf.

“Dummy.”

It felt like her whole life had sailed through fog, and one day, a seed she tossed without thinking sprouted into a beam of light—maybe blessing, maybe blaze—but something had shifted, like wind changing at sea.

“The moment you wanted to be a hero, you already were.”

…

After that, Ling Yi wanted to report to Pu Lu, but Pu Lu’s family said she’d fallen in the surge of evacuees and was in the hospital. Ling Yi could only let it go, like a kite string slipping from wet fingers.

Prep for special training… didn’t exist.

She told the Ling family it was a one-week self-guided trip. She added that Yekase would be with her, and trust came, soft as rain on soil.

Dew went into Ling Yi’s hands as well. With that, strong-type, speed-type, and spell-type were all collected. What remained was harmony, like three instruments learning one song.

After she made Ling Yi rest well that last afternoon, Yekase took a bus toward Unrecognized Consortium X—its old base, a ruin with roots still alive.

Half of Triple Calamity’s base and legacy, plus the half not yet received, were all paid out to Emerald Pool Industries. Emerald Pool converted it into stacks of hundred-yuan bills for the workers. Yekase herself had handed those thick kraft envelopes to Foreman Xu, paper heavy as wet clay.

All told, it felt damn good, like a river wind in summer.

Waiting at the gate, Jiang Bailu’s face was thundercloud-dark.

“That crazy hag, that leech, that man-eater! If you’re gonna stir the pot, do it two days earlier! We counted half the money just to ship it out again!”

She even lost her cool—rare as frost in June.

“Uh, two days earlier we hadn’t gotten the money…”

Needless to say, Yekase came as Mechbreaker—outside aid with first merit in the annexation fight—here to collect from the consortium. If you don’t take free money, the gods frown.

Though she’d already given away all the spoils, like throwing grain to the hungry.

Jiang Bailu studied her. “I saw Flashblade Red in the videos. Doctor, how many steps did you plan in advance?”

“You could say all of them. You could say none of them.”

That was the truth, a net tossed into fog.

Yekase didn’t yet have the nerve or skill to factor Mira into the math. Those endgame moves, calling them strategy was generous; they were struggles, reeds in a flood.

“Gale handled like a charm on first use, that kid. At the end she even seemed to awaken Mind Energy…”

“She’s talented.”

Yekase let it drift past like a leaf on water.

Ling Yi wanted to save people, to be a hero. Yekase understood and backed her. But privately, she didn’t want Ling Yi too strong—greater power draws greater hunters. The world is fair only in that.

Enough to protect yourself. No more than that.

“What reward do you want, Doctor? I’ll talk to Finance.”

“Mm. First, what’s a number they’ll tolerate?”

A rare chance to freeload openly. Food in someone else’s bowl always smells better; Yekase pondered it with care, chopsticks poised.

“About ten thousand. It might’ve been fifty, but we paid it all out. Finance won’t swallow a big bite.”

“Ten thousand…”

Parts and gadgets? She’d left those here. Buying her own inventions would be brainless. A collider? Out of reach, like the moon in a well.

So, a different angle.

“I want study materials on magic or Mind Energy. Skip the fringe stuff. The more systematic and complete, the better.”

The Sinister Organization’s underway contacts in the underworld were steadier than Yekase’s faded ones. Having them hunt for materials made sense, and they’d bring back versions richer than anything retail, like manuscripts with the margins intact.

Magic for herself. Mind Energy for Ling Yi. As for Flash Energy—Bailu, her de facto heir, would never be kept in the dark if anyone else researched it.

“Got it. I’ll compile and send within two business days.”

“Thanks.”

Worried she might bump into the leader and get recognized, Yekase left fast, a fish flicking free of the net.

An afternoon vanished before the screen like sand through fingers, and dawn of day one arrived.

Yekase met Ling Yi at the rental. They caught a shuttle to a thinly-peopled suburb—Beast King Squadron would pick them up for transfer to a branch base.

In the back row of the shuttle, Yekase pulled something soft from her bag, like a jellyfish cupped in two hands.

“Eek! What is that?”

Ling Yi had a hard time with anything mollusk-shaped. She curled up like a shrimp.

“A human-skin mask. Bought on the black market.”

“The black market… so it’s real! Wasn’t it dangerous going alone?” Her focus flipped like a sparrow midair.

“Wear a mask and your face is gone. Not dangerous.”

“Wait—so you wear a mask to go to the black market… but the mask came from the black market… wait—”

Her thoughts tangled like yarn.

Yekase didn’t give her time to unravel it. “Hero or not, we keep identities sealed. It trains your safety habits. We agree on this: outside your own room, you never show your real face.”

“Ohhh…! Secret-hero vibes.”

“The Flashblade System doesn’t drain stamina. You can wear it all day. Just stay transformed.”

“What about eating?”

She went straight to the real-life problem, like a cat nosing the pantry.

“In our rooms. We can still eat together.”

“Mm. I wanted to sit in a circle with the squad and bond over food…”

“Bond in training and battle. That’s enough.”

Yekase didn’t get this approach to making friends. Her own few friends came from academic exchange or black market run-ins. No effort spent on crafting ties. Ling Yi’s way was a foreign song.

She flattened the soft gel, then pressed it over her face.

“Eugh…”

Under Ling Yi’s alarmed stare, the gel wriggled and reshaped into a stranger. Gone were Yekase’s fine, neat features. What stared back was a quiet, forgettable face, plain as a stone by the road.

“Hey there.”

“Even your voice changed?!”

“Tech. Impressive, right?”

At the last stop, they cut across dirt roads like threads through a loom, then came to a riverbank. On the shingle lay a sci‑fi ship, silver as a fish in moonlight.

“Thanks for waiting!” Yekase raised a hand, voice bright as a bell.

As if answering the call, a side panel hissed open. The flipped shell became a staircase, smooth as poured silk.

Professor F stood there, hands in the pockets of a white coat that billowed like a sail.

“Welcome, both of you. This is my private ride. You can transform on the way… Dr. Yekase, you went with disguise.”

“Yeah. This is my cover.”

Counting them up, this made a third mask. Sins piling like snow on branches.

“And this is Miss Flashblade Red?”

“Uh-h-hello.”

“No need to be nervous. Treat me like the big sister next door, alright?”

Her smile was warm as tea cupped in both hands. Heroes holding each other up—how clean that looked. Unlike Yekase, who moved with the current, a counterfeit coin in a temple bowl.

“Dr. Yekase? What’s with the face? Did I bungle the welcome?”

“Ignore her. She’s jealous.”

“Ah? What do you take me for—”

They nudged each other, laughing, and boarded. Inside, the cabin was business-van spacious, but taller, air open as a hall. A robot sat up front, hands on controls. Piloting was child’s play to Professor F.

After seating them in the back, F took the co‑pilot’s chair, spun it around, and faced them. Arms unfolded from the walls, offering drinks and snacks like courteous servants.

…She’d been meaning to ask. The Beast King Squadron had super robots, a main base and branches, and now Professor F had a ship. Where did their funds flow from, a spring under rock?

“So soft, so comfy… haa…”

Ling Yi melted into the seat like butter on warm bread.

“Uh… too comfy. I’m getting sleepy…”

“Sleeping as soon as we’re aboard?”

“Last night… I stayed up too late…”

Are you an elementary schooler on the night before a field trip?

“I suggest you put on your armor first. Otherwise, you might not have time to mask up when we arrive.”

“True… Flashblade Activation…”

Probably the laziest Flashblade Activation yet. The Flashblade System didn’t care. It loaded the full suit faithfully, and the Sky Striker leaned quietly against the seat, a blade at rest.

“…”

…And she was out. Incredible.

After watching their back‑and‑forth, Professor F waited until Ling Yi’s breathing evened, a tide smoothing to shore, before speaking.

“The Flashblade System’s condition… worries me. The glow in the blade’s dark filigree is pulsing irregularly.”

“Yeah. She hasn’t noticed.”

Yekase sighed, a leaf turning over in wind.

“She fought a leader‑class from the Sinister Organization yesterday. The damage she took must’ve stacked. Several circuits are running rough. Tuning them all is tedious, so I haven’t fixed it yet.”

“Yesterday… ah, the Emerald Pool Water Park fight?”

“That’s right. It was meant to be a holiday, and turned into hardship. Thankfully, no injuries.”

“When the Dragon God Pioneer came back to port yesterday, that gash on its arm scared me. For this kid to face that kind of enemy—she’s trying so hard… But can she still take special training like this? Will it hurt her body?”

“If it’s her, I’m not worried.”

Yekase looked at Ling Yi’s sleeping profile—masked, unseen—and smiled, small as a crescent moon.

“She went beyond her limits against a leader. That means she knows exactly where those limits lie. She still has to protect her family, so she won’t do herself harm. Besides, her gift for Mind Energy is just budding. Don’t you want to see what that unknown blooms into?”

“…I won’t deny it.”

The ship sailed steady over the land of Huaxia, a white gull riding a vast green sea.