The smoke of battle in Monument Plaza had not fully dispersed. A heavy stench of blood—mixed with dust and the scorched bite of burning—pressed down on every inch of the square.
By the monument's base, insurgent corpses lay strewn in every direction, twisted across the cold concrete. Dark-red blood ran freely, blending with pale gray dust and congealing into a brutal, eye-searing abstract painting.
Qianye stood amid the wreckage, looking a little too slender for a place like this, dust clinging to the hem of his clothes.
"Lord Qianye—are you hurt?"
Lycaon strode in quickly. A few dark-red flecks stained the ends of his silver-gray hair. He looked Qianye over from head to toe with urgent scrutiny, open worry burning in his red eyes. His tall frame carried the faint rasp of post-combat breathing, yet his posture remained straight as a pine.
Qianye shook his head. His jade-green gaze swept over the faces around him—Belobog Heavy Industries' crew, Victoria Housekeeping's steward and maids, the members of the Cunning Hares—each one marked with concern.
He drew a slow breath, forcing down the sweet-sour tang of blood in the air, then beckoned firmly.
"I'm fine. Thanks to Hans, most of the attacks were blocked."
His voice was gentle, but the insistence in it left no room for argument.
"As for you—and everyone else—come here. I'm checking all of you."
Faced with the doctor's reflexive stubbornness, Lycaon let out a helpless sigh. Respect and a faint, reluctant frustration crossed his brow.
"Lord Qianye," he said in a low, admonishing tone, "I hope you will pay more attention to yourself. Compared to us agents… your body is like fine porcelain—beautiful, but fragile. So—"
"I'm not a decorative vase, Lycaon!"
Qianye cut him off sharply, hands on his hips. His jade-green eyes were so serious they looked like a forest set alight.
"As a doctor, if I can't eliminate every threat to my companions, then at the very least I have to heal my companions the moment they're injured!"
There was something almost naïvely stubborn in the way he said it.
Lycaon met that unyielding stare, and in the end he conceded with a slight shake of his head—resigned, faintly indulgent—then lifted the blood-stained hem of his clothing.
Qianye stepped in at once. His fingers were slender but steady, focused with a physician's concentration as he palpated and inspected Lycaon's firm waist, abdomen, and back. He remained solemn until he confirmed the dark stains were all enemy blood.
Only then did the tension in his shoulders ease, and he let out a long breath.
But the moment he turned to the next person, the fragile harmony shattered.
"Oh my~ Miss Nicole?"
Rina drifted forward like a phantom, silver hair lifting lightly in the blood-tainted wind. She wore a flawless smile that hid a blade, her crimson eyes slanting toward Nicole beside her.
"If not for Drusilla and Anastasia just now, that insurgent's blade would've left a little souvenir on your pretty face."
Her voice was sweet and syrupy, laced with deliberate self-credit.
"Given our 'friendship,' why don't I go first?"
"Spare me!"
Nicole snapped like a cat with its tail stepped on. Her pink twin-tails practically bristled as she planted herself between Rina and Qianye, green eyes blazing.
"If my energy shot hadn't blown that gunner away in time, your so-called proud face would've bloomed like a flower already! And besides—"
She put her hands on her hips, all swagger and outrage.
"To help you lot fight, the Cunning Hares burned through ammo until it could pile into a mountain! I didn't even ask Victoria Housekeeping to reimburse us—consider that saintly!"
Rina covered her lips and chuckled, elegant as if she were at a tea party.
"Oh, pardon me—so Miss Nicole is the sort of 'leader' who can't even guarantee her own employees' ammunition logistics?"
She dragged out the word leader with surgical cruelty, her gaze full of pity.
"How tragic. Well then—although Victoria Housekeeping has no obligation to subsidize a 'three-nothings organization' with no money, no network, and no logistics…"
Her tone turned with a single pivot, blooming into condescending magnanimity.
"As an exchange, I, Rina personally, can sponsor your Cunning Hares with a tiny bit of pitiful funding—if you'll take one step back. How about it?"
"Hmmm…"
Billy stroked his chin theatrically, thinking very hard.
"If it's just moving the checkup order back a bit and we get a big donation… Boss Nicole, this deal doesn't sound like a loss?"
"Idiot!"
Nicole, furious beyond words, swung around and punched his hard mechanical abdomen—clang!—a crisp metal ring.
"Ow! 'Today we give five steps, tomorrow ten—then we gain one night of peace!' That kind of slow-motion suicide is NOT an option I'll—ow!"
Her rant cut off mid-breath, because Qianye had finally had enough.
He reached out and pinched her puffed-up cheeks with two fingers—firmly.
"All of you are absolute idiots. How long are you going to keep fighting?!"
Qianye's voice was the exasperated kind that was somehow also amused, his gaze sweeping over the jealous, bickering "patients."
"Belobog's people are all checked already! Lycaon tried to dodge it, but he couldn't out-stubborn me—he's checked too! You're the only idiots left!"
"So fast?!" someone blurted.
"Time is life!" Qianye snapped back automatically.
He released Nicole's face, planted his hands on his hips again, and glared at Nicole and Rina.
"You two have so much to say—clearly you're both full of energy. Fine. Anby goes first!"
"Qianye-baby!" / "Lord Qianye!"
Nicole and Rina cried out at the same time, both sounding wounded at being ignored.
"Okay. I'll listen to Qianye."
Anby—who had been watching in silence—answered like a precision machine receiving a command.
She stepped to Qianye in a few brisk strides, then, as naturally as breathing, reached out and took his wrist.
Her motion was smooth and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
She turned and pulled him along toward a corner at the edge of the plaza—cleaner, quieter.
After a few steps, she seemed to remember something. She paused and tilted her face slightly, her orange-green gradient eyes calmly sweeping over the stunned Nicole and Rina.
For once, her lips lifted—just barely—into a tiny curve that was almost too subtle to see.
"The movies already said it," she stated in the same cool, flat tone as always—yet the words hit like an icicle stabbed straight into the heart.
"Girls who are too noisy… won't catch their chance."
She paused, then added with perfect politeness:
"My apologies, everyone."
And without looking back again, she led Qianye onward to claim her "checkup time."
Glowview Plaza — Li Cha Tea & Milk Shop
Neon lights rose into the evening.
Glowview Plaza shed the daytime clamor, taking on a gentle, bustling warmth instead. Colored lights painted mottled reflections across the damp ground. Soft music drifted out from storefronts, intertwining with the low hum of traffic.
The air carried the sweet fragrance of milk tea, the cozy warmth of baked pastries, and the fresh moisture of rain-washed night—severing the blood and brutality of Monument Plaza as if it belonged to a different world.
"Miss Clerk, thank you! Three cups of pearl milk tea, and one… uh—Boss, what do you want?"
Ben's heavy voice sounded in the warm shop. He'd just ordered for himself, Grace, and Anton, then turned to Koleda, who sat in a chair looking distracted, her mind clearly elsewhere.
Clumsy as he was, he tried to use ordering to pull her attention back.
Koleda's small body sank into the soft seat, chin propped in both hands. Her unfocused gaze drifted out the window at the endless river of headlights—streams of light flowing like luminous rivers.
"Anything," she muttered, voice muffled with lingering gloom. "Honestly… I feel kind of awful."
"Awful?!" Ben tensed instantly, his huge frame tightening. "But Doctor Qianye checked you so carefully not long ago… is it a sudden illness?"
He fumbled for his phone.
"I'll message Doctor Qianye right now!"
"Ben."
Grace sighed and pressed a hand down on his thick wrist.
"Qianye finished giving his statement before we did. He's probably already rushing back to check on the other 'Phaethon'—and even if you call him now, you'll just interrupt him, and he won't be able to come right away."
She looked at Koleda's small, lonely silhouette by the window. Her gaze softened.
"Besides… our little one isn't sick," Grace lowered her voice, the insight in it unmistakably feminine.
"It's here."
She pointed at her heart.
"This kind of trouble… you two big men won't understand."
"It's like a brand-new part that's just come off the lathe—smooth on the surface, but still tender and unseasoned inside—tasting, for the first time, the sour bite of something called caring."
She stood and moved to Koleda's side, reaching out gently in a soothing gesture, intending to stroke her soft silver hair.
"Little one, it's okay. You still have so much room to grow, so don't worry—"
"I KNOW! Don't pat my head! I'm not a kid anymore!"
Koleda batted Grace's hand away like a startled little animal, embarrassment flaring at having her feelings exposed.
She turned stubbornly, giving her sister her entire back, eyes returning to the flickering light-river outside.
Her voice dropped, thick with melancholy.
"Seriously… that Public Security officer, Zhu Yuan…"
She poked idly at the bottom of her empty cup with the straw.
"What did she even eat growing up…?"
"It feels like… her headlights and taillights…"
She trailed off, then finished in a tiny mutter:
"…are way more outrageous than even yours, Sis."
Grace: "..."
Her beautiful face froze instantly. The warm sisterly moment shattered on impact.
"…Little one," Grace said, voice trembling with disbelief and the pain of betrayal, "I went out of my way to comfort you and you're in here insulting me?"
Koleda whipped around, her small face red.
"You're not any better! Shut up! You, that maid Rina, and that officer—right now you're all my biggest enemies!"
She huffed, then accused her sister with conviction.
"And back at the Public Security Bureau—if Ben and Anton hadn't held you back, you would've packed up the other officer and carried her off, wouldn't you?!"
Grace's eyes widened. A flush spread across her pale cheeks.
"Koleda! Don't accuse me out of thin air—!"
"What do you mean 'out of thin air'?" Koleda shot back mercilessly. "If Ben and Anton hadn't grabbed you on both sides, you would've sprung off that hard plastic chair and pounced! Your eyes were literally glowing!"
Grace's face went even redder. A vein throbbed faintly at her temple as she waved her arms in flustered denial.
"W-what pounce?! That was investigation! That was exploration! An engineer's curiosity about exquisite structures—what's wrong with that? That was academic exchange!"
She tried to bury it under professional jargon—rattling off terms like "automaton body," "bionic nerves," "a rare crystallization of technology unseen in the world," until even Anton and Ben couldn't help laughing good-naturedly.
For a moment, the little milk tea shop filled with easy, bright warmth.
That happiness rolled in like a warm tide, quietly washing at the gloom around Koleda's heart.
When Ben slid a cup toward her—straw already in place, sweet aroma rising—Koleda hesitated, then took it anyway.
The cold cup pressed into her palm. She lowered her head, long lashes casting a small shadow under her eyes.
She took a big sip.
Brown sugar sweetness and soft pearls slid down her throat, offering a brief comfort—
but it couldn't fully suppress the heavy ache deep inside.
Grace was still seeing it too simply.
Did Grace really think she was only troubled by her figure—by those "enemies" existing?
That was only a small part of it.
What truly made Koleda's chest feel tight, like it was being wrapped in fine, invisible threads—
was the way the officer named Qingyi looked when she spoke about Qianye.
That familiarity. That closeness.
A tacit understanding polished by time—
a realm Koleda could not reach, not now.
"If your past… already includes so, so many people…"
Koleda's eyes drifted back to the glowing night outside, her voice light as a sigh, nearly swallowed by traffic.
"Then me—the president of Belobog Heavy Industries—when I'm in your eyes…"
"Will I also… just be a 'pretty good' friend?"
Her fingers tightened around the cup until her knuckles paled.
"You have too many secrets, Qianye…"
She screamed it silently in her heart, jade-green eyes fogging with moisture.
"I have no secrets from you anymore…"
"But when… when will I be able to touch all of you?"
The sugary milk tea melted on her tongue—
and yet a faint bitterness rose with it.
A selfish, sour thought surfaced against her will—one that made her feel ashamed, yet also painfully real:
"Qianye… if only you didn't know so many people…"
"If only you didn't have so many ties… so many feelings you couldn't cut away…"
"If only…"
She rested her forehead lightly against the cold cup, staring at the blurred, flowing lights beyond the glass.
In a breath only she could hear, she spoke the deepest, humblest wish in her heart—
"Just… let that smile be only for me."
The words fell as lightly as a feather, carrying the sweet bloom of a girl's first love—
and the helpless sorrow of knowing she couldn't hold it.
They dissolved into the warm shop lights and the noisy, ordinary world around her.
Author's Note:
"I'm writing some main-plot now, but I also need to write some side quests—otherwise it won't feel complete!"
If you paste Chapter 66, I'll translate it the same way (clean English, correct ZZZ names, and removing the site noise).
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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