The sudden ping was a lifeline tossed into a storm, and it pulled Yue Liuyi back from the brink.

Her phone chimed, a ding-dong like a tiny bell in a dark corridor, which meant it was from a friend.

“Any news?”

“Mm… let me check first!”

She slipped out of Dixue’s arms, breath still shaky like wind in bamboo, and pulled her phone. It ran multi-number mode, a net that caught messages from several lines.

The text was short—two stark characters—and her heart seized like a bird struck mid-flight the moment she saw it.

“Help.”

Sender: Zaocun.

A thousand thoughts scattered like leaves in a gale through the blue-haired girl’s mind. She’d never given Zaocun her number, so this had to be meant for Dongfang Chen.

Zaocun ran into danger? Did I miss a bugged communicator somewhere?

“Xiaoyue, your face went serious as winter stone. What happened?” Dixue leaned in, curiosity bright as a cat’s flash of eyes.

“Um… please let me reply first!”

No time to explain. Yue fired back: “What happened? Where are you?”

The reply came fast, and it hooked cold iron through her chest. It wasn’t from Zaocun anymore.

“Oh? One of the girl’s friends? She’s already in our hands. If you want to save her, come to Compartment 317. Don’t call the cops, or you’ll… hehe.”

“I’ll come.”

Yue gripped the phone, eyes closing like shutters against rain. Who were they? Why hurt Zaocun? She had no answers, only the old vow that flared like a lantern whenever a friend cried out.

From start to finish, that’s the way she lived—step into the storm, bring someone home.

“Xiaoyue, I’m going with you.”

Even without seeing the screen, Dixue heard the drumbeat in Yue’s voice and knew her next move.

“Huh? Dixue, how did you—”

“A friend’s in trouble, right? Your face is the same as when we first met. So this time, I’m staying at your side.”

“B-but… LittleSnow, you still have a rescue mission. And these are bad guys who grabbed my friend, and they said no police!”

Outside, rain chewed the sea into black foam, a boiling ocean that hid knife-faces in its belly, only flashing its fangs when lightning wrote scars across the night.

“We’re not the police,” Dixue said, calm as moonlight on steel. “And in this kind of weather, the cops will be short-handed. That’s our cue. It’s Rangers Lodge time.”

“Did Yue-sis run into trouble? Please don’t go alone…”

Zero Wei trotted over, voice like a bell wrapped in cotton. “Keeping it all inside and solving it by yourself looks cool, sure! But it makes your friends worry, and it won’t fix things.”

“Zero Wei actually said something sensible,” Maria chimed in, laughter soft as velvet. “So, wherever you want to go, the seniors will handle it.”

She twirled a finger, lashes lowering, as if this were no more than brushing dust off a sleeve.

“You can’t call the police, but you can cling tight to LittleSnow,” she added, voice teasing as silk. “Just act cute to Big Sis, and I’ll handle everything for you.”

“Uu… I’m not acting cute!”

“Why not…”

“Because I won’t go alone. We do this together.”

Yue flashed a bright, sun-after-rain smile at the silver-haired girl, who stood blinking like a startled deer.

Compartment 317 sat near the stern of the Sky Voyager. Like most cruise liners’ holds, the storage zone stacked with cargo was a place passengers rarely tread.

Even crew kept their steps light here, since this region grew no sunlight. Most hauling was done by magic golems, metal hands moving to prewritten orders. They loaded each compartment’s goods onto conveyor stations, a hidden river feeding every facility aboard.

Dixue, Yue Liuyi, Zero Wei, Maria, and Xiang Xiaoyan stood at the entrance from the lower-deck garage to Cargo Zone 7, rain smell clinging like smoke. They checked in with the gate guard.

“You said… something happened inside? That’s rough. Old Zhang and Old Liu went out in the toxic squall to patrol for leaks. They can’t guide you.”

The middle-aged guard sighed, his breath a tired fog.

“Then what about the engineering mage who runs this zone? We’d like his help.”

“He precompiled orders for the golems and left. Doing what, I dunno. Tonight’s disaster hit like a hammer out of nowhere.”

“So we can’t get support…”

Yue murmured to herself. Because of the toxic downpour, the Sky Voyager needed hands everywhere, and the ship’s defenses showed seams. If someone wanted to slip past cameras and prep something nasty, this night was their harbor.

“No support is fine,” Maria said, confidence ringing like steel on steel. “Rangers Lodge moves as one. On this ship, there’s not much that can stop us.”

“Mm. I may look small, but I fight just fine,” Zero Wei piped up, bouncing twice like a cat on springs.

Yue blinked. This tiny catfolk girl looked delicate as flower tea, but hidden under her sleeves was power that could rival a Murder Fiend.

“But keep it quiet, okay?” Dixue’s smile was a blade in silk. “If we spook the culprits and they bolt, that’s no good.”

The calm in her voice settled Yue’s nerves like a hand smoothing ripples on water.

Rangers Lodge really is strong…

“Really, thank you all.”

“No need. It’s our job.”

Xiang Xiaoyan stepped to the access panel. Her face was still as frost. She swiped her card—and somewhere in another room, Gong Linxun let out a wail that rose like a kettle shriek, then turned oddly delighted.

Is Mr. Gong awakening some weird attribute? Sir, I get it, you’re a guy, but I can’t save you from that. Pray for yourself…

The doors slid open like a mouth, revealing a world of dim steel. Cargo shafts run with wires and cables dropped from above like a hanging forest. A few weak lamps pressed pale coins of light into the gloom.

Red-eyed drones drifted on silent wings. Magic golems rolled like patient beetles through shadows. Their hum and clank made up the only heartbeat in this maze.

“Uu, the vibe is scary!”

Zero Wei flinched back, cat ears almost folding. Everyone knows catfolk courage is small as a sparrow.

Maria didn’t comfort her. She grinned, wicked as a candle in a haunted hall. “This feels like a horror flick. If an alien beast crawled out right now, I wouldn’t even blink.”

“Waa, so scary! Maoqiu, light!”

“Light.”

At her call, Maoqiu’s body bloomed with honey-gold glow, a lighthouse lifting through night, and the space around the girls brightened like morning breaking.

“Don’t be afraid, Xiaoyue. Dive into Big Sis Dixue’s arms.”

Dixue walked forward without a tremor, arms opening like warm clouds.

“I’m not that scared, so nope.”

She’d been scooped up by Dixue too many times lately. As a boy under blue hair, Yue felt heat rise to his ears. In a place this dangerous, he had to claim a bit of face and show he was an elite mage, not just a plushie.

“Uu…”

When Yue didn’t come, Dixue lowered her head and peeked up. Her eyes turned damp, moonlight on a lake, the look of a girl abandoned by a scoundrel—impossible to refuse.

“O-okay, one hug…”

“Xiaoyue cuddles are the best! Soft, warm, perfect.”

The silver-haired girl’s smile bloomed like a thief’s prize.

“Hey, we’re saving someone, LittleSnow, don’t—ah! Don’t squish me there, it tickles!”

“No can do. I have to charge up on Little Yue energy.”

“What is Little Yue energy even!”

The warehouse’s tension dissolved like fog under sun, kneaded away by Dixue’s hands.

“Move out.”

Xiang Xiaoyan spoke little and stepped first, stride firm as a spear.

In a shadowed corner no one watched, the faintest curve lifted at her lips.

Yes. This is the real you, Dixue. So…

“Hey, Xiaoyan, wait up…”

The girls went together, feet whispering over metal, and slipped deeper into the cargo zone where the dark ran like a river.