Aside from the ambush at the factory entrance and the flammable materials inside, the rest of the operation went very smoothly. Shirou's agile movements quickly suppressed the remaining wanted criminals.
The presence of those gas cylinders gave Chen a bad feeling.
Brand-new cylinders filled with flammable gas being stored in an abandoned factory was simply too suspicious. Yet no matter how the Guard Department interrogated the criminals, they could not get any useful information.
They could not learn why these people had joined forces, nor who had placed the cylinders there.
And most importantly... just after they returned to the Guard Department, they immediately received news that more wanted criminals had appeared.
However, manpower was still insufficient, and this time the criminals had split up. That meant she and Hoshiguma would have to divide their teams.
"Shirou should stay with Old Chen."
After thinking for a moment, Hoshiguma decided to bring a few extra people with her while assigning Shirou to Chen's side.
After all, teaming up with either her or Chen would not make much difference for Shirou. Besides, she did not really have experience commanding him.
And if Shirou paired with Chen, they would probably be able to finish things as quickly as possible and then move to support the others.
Additionally, Shirou could somewhat cover the role of a Defender for her. Setting aside that semi-transparent purple shield from earlier, he had previously used her Hannya shield to withstand a car crash. Hoshiguma was quite optimistic about him.
Actually, the ideal arrangement would have been one team for her, one team for Chen, and one team for Shirou alone. But Shirou lacked experience leading a squad, so that idea had to be abandoned.
As for Swire?
Missy was extremely busy. The workload at the Guard Department had been enormous lately. Whenever she and Chen went out on missions, Swire was the one maintaining the department's operations.
Just how busy was she?
Hoshiguma said that she had not seen the usual dragon-and-tiger arguments for quite a while now. She actually missed them a little, because if those two had the energy to argue, it meant work pressure was not so high.
Not only had the arguments disappeared, but even the number of times they came together for lunch had dropped significantly. Most of the time, Shirou simply delivered lunchboxes to her, and Missy would eat while handling paperwork at the same time.
Otherwise, there simply would not be enough time.
"No problem. You all go ahead first."
Chen thought Hoshiguma's proposal was quite reliable.
Hoshiguma's squad specialized in steady and cautious progress, while Chen's side focused on quick resolutions and rapidly supporting other teams afterward.
After receiving Chen's instructions, Hoshiguma departed first with part of the squad. Shirou remained behind with Chen and the other squad members.
"Looks like I will be working overtime very late again today."
After exchanging glances with everyone, Shirou decided to speak first and break the silence.
Chen and the other Guard Department members: "..."
The words "again today" stabbed directly into everyone's hearts. Heaven knew how many days of overtime they had already endured, and now Shirou had unintentionally added another blow.
Painful indeed.
"Remember to inform Penguin Logistics... otherwise if those few start causing trouble, our workload will increase even more."
Faced with Shirou's unintentional verbal attack, Chen could only brush it aside lightly.
At the same time, she reminded him to notify Penguin Logistics. She definitely did not want to receive reports later that night about Penguin Logistics street racing and fighting again.
"Do not worry. I already told them."
Waving the phone in his hand slightly, Shirou replied.
He had naturally thought of that as well, and even more deeply than Chen had. He only managed to calm those few down by promising an extra-large feast tomorrow as compensation.
"Then let us head out... and Shirou, be careful during the operation. The things stored in that factory earlier seemed specifically aimed at you."
Seeing that Shirou had already handled everything properly, Chen nodded.
There was no time to think too much about these matters now. They needed to capture these criminals as quickly as possible.
After boarding the Guard Department vehicle, Chen and Shirou sat in the back seat. She intended to use the travel time to think through their next course of action.
Recalling what had happened in the abandoned warehouse earlier, she spoke to Shirou.
"Understood."
Shirou nodded in response. He had also seen those things and naturally understood what would have happened if he had used even more firepower at the time.
After seeing that Shirou understood her meaning, Chen lowered her head again and began studying the terminal in her hands.
Until they reached their destination, the atmosphere inside the vehicle remained extremely quiet.
Chen was thinking about tactics, while the others took the opportunity to rest with their eyes closed. Only Shirou sat there, seemingly lost in thought.
He vaguely had a bad feeling, as though someone was specifically targeting him.
Or perhaps they were targeting the Guard Department?
The existence of those gas cylinders alone did not prove anything. Anyone from the Guard Department using heavier firepower could have triggered an explosion. He was not the only one capable of setting them off.
If Chen beside him had failed to notice those things and drawn Chi Xiao, those cylinders definitely would have exploded as well.
At that moment, Shirou felt somewhat uneasy.
What kind of wanted criminals would all suddenly appear during the same time period? Chen and Hoshiguma had definitely realized this as well. But as members of the Guard Department, their job was to bring these people to justice. Even if there was a trap ahead, they still had to walk into it.
As for Shirou, he simply did not want to see the people of the Guard Department getting hurt by these traps, whether it was Chen, Hoshiguma, Swire, whom he knew relatively well, or the other Guard Department members.
After all, Shirou had spent a long time at the Guard Department already. Even though those people always used strange nicknames for him behind his back, it did not stop him from thinking that way.
Even if they were strangers, Shirou still did not want to see them get hurt before his eyes.
Licking his slightly dry lips, Shirou formed a decision in his heart.
He intended to stop holding back.
If the enemy chose to surrender, he could restrain himself somewhat. But if they insisted on resisting to the end...
Looking at his own hands, Shirou clearly understood what he was thinking.
He did not care about staining his hands with blood. From the day he became a magus, he had already prepared himself for that. Besides, back on the snowy plains along the Ursus border, he had already killed the casters who drove infected creatures to attack villages.
And compared to back then, he was much stronger now. Not only had his proficiency with magecraft improved greatly, but his body had become stronger as well.
Additionally, the Emperor and Yith had intentionally exposed Shirou to many things, broadening his experience.
He was no longer the Emiya Shirouwho knew nothing about this land.
Clenching his fists tightly, Shirou had already made up his mind.
Clack—
The sound of gears turning rang out.
However, Shirou paid no attention to it. After all, the vehicle was currently driving through the streets of Lungmen, and his hearing was fairly sharp now. Hearing strange noises felt perfectly normal to him.
The following operations were fairly simple. Since they already had intelligence, mobilizing the Guard Department's resources to search the last known locations of those people was not difficult at all. With physical descriptions available, tracing them through surveillance cameras was easy.
It was almost as if someone intentionally wanted the Guard Department to find them.
None of them paid much attention to that detail. Shirou was practically giving everything he had in capturing these people.
With his excellent eyesight, hearing, and combat ability, combined with the Guard Department's logistical support, Shirou almost never missed his targets. Before those people could even react, his blade was already at their throats, leaving them no choice but to obediently surrender to the Guard Department.
This forceful approach naturally caused quite a bit of property damage, but this was not the time to worry about such issues. So Chen simply turned a blind eye, telling the cleanup personnel to make some records so she could apply for compensation later.
Honestly, the destruction caused by Shirou was already relatively minor. If it had been her instead, it might have been even worse. After all, she had collapsed that underground room previously.
Right now, Shirou looked exactly like someone desperately trying to finish work early and go home to rest. Combined with the intense overtime of the past few days, Chen herself was not in particularly good condition either, so she naturally did not notice the subtle change in him.
Or rather, the change itself was difficult to notice. Shirou handled things far too quickly, and those criminals were all smart enough not to resist, so the worst-case scenario had not yet occurred.
The biggest problem was probably Shirou's stamina. The moment he finished dealing with one criminal, another location would immediately arrive, as though all the criminals in Lungmen were hosting some massive gathering tonight.
One after another they came out partying, and one after another they were arrested by the Guard Department.
To conserve magical energy and stamina, Shirou simply kept Kanshou and Bakuya manifested beside him instead of dismissing them. Saving even a little energy mattered.
At the moment, they were still only capturing criminals within the city and suburban areas. No one had gone into the slums yet.
However, they also had not received any reports from the slums so far.
"Good work. Take a short break."
After Shirou once again subdued a criminal at incredible speed, Chen handed him a bottle of water.
While Shirou had been capturing people, she had not been idle either. New messages had constantly been arriving on her terminal until just now.
She had been handling the scene while also processing those messages, but currently no new information was coming in.
That was good news. It meant they could finally rest for a little while.
The other Guard Department members nearby were currently napping inside the vehicles. The long hours of overtime combined with continuously taking turns driving had exhausted them.
However, the most exhausted people present were definitely not them, but rather Chen, who was still busy working, and Shirou, who had been acting as the main force the entire time.
"So these people have finally calmed down?"
After accepting the water, Shirou asked the question before tilting his head back and taking a mouthful.
He no longer even knew how many people he had captured. By now, the time had already passed one in the morning.
That meant they had been busy the entire night without any rest at all.
And today was the Remembrance day, which only made the Guard Department even busier.
Shirou could already imagine how terrible the atmosphere at the Guard Department would be tomorrow, though he himself was not in much better condition right now.
Although they had not encountered the worst-case scenario today, they had still gone through quite a few battles.
Fortunately, during all these operations, Shirou had never sensed any overwhelming malice. That was also one of the main reasons why he dared to act so aggressively.
"You have already captured quite a lot of people... at the very least, the Guard Department's wanted list should shrink by more than twenty pages now."
After confirming Hoshiguma's progress, Chen put away her terminal and leaned back against the vehicle.
She really was somewhat tired, though still within acceptable limits. During this operation, Shirou had basically handled everything on the front lines, and she could not recklessly jump into combat herself. All she could do was stay behind, direct the others, and provide support for Shirou.
"Only twenty pages? That little?"
Hearing that it would only reduce the list by a little over twenty pages, Shirou felt it sounded rather small.
"That is already a lot. Each page records several people."
Seeing Shirou looking dissatisfied, Chen complained.
The number of arrests they had made during that period alone was practically equal to around half a year's worth of work, and he still thought it was too little?
If there had been even more, they probably would have had to work until sunrise.
"I see... then what do we do now? Head back?"
After hearing Chen's explanation, Shirou realized he had misunderstood, though it was not really a major issue.
What he cared about more now was what they would do next. Were they returning, or staying here on standby?
"Let us head back to the Guard Department and rest first. This is not exactly a good place to rest."
Chen glanced around at the surroundings as she spoke.
Although Lungmen's city streets were very quiet in the early morning, a Guard Department vehicle was hardly a good place to sleep.
And it was time to refuel as well. After all, they had been driving around for the entire night, practically covering all of Lungmen's urban and suburban areas.
"Alright. Are you driving?"
Noticing the others resting in the back seats, Shirou asked.
"...I am driving. And you really should go get a driver's license already."
Hearing Shirou's question, Chen revealed a helpless expression as she answered.
She genuinely did not understand why Shirou kept delaying getting a license. Was a driver's license not necessary for working at Penguin Logistics?
Oh right, this guy rode a bicycle faster than most people drove cars. Never mind then.
Chen knew about the trending post on Lungmen's online headlines some time ago, the one about a cyclist leaving behind afterimages while speeding through the streets.
Back then, the Guard Department had not been nearly this busy, so they had still had the leisure to discuss things like that.
Besides, anyone somewhat familiar with Shirou would have recognized him immediately. After all, there was only one red-haired person in Lungmen without racial characteristics, and that was Shirou.
Still, no matter how fast a bicycle was, it could never truly match the convenience of a car.
"Ah, well... I will go when I have time later."
After hearing Chen say that, Shirou felt that he really should learn how to drive.
Previously, he had always felt awkward because he had concealed his age, so he never went to take the test. But now his actual age was already eighteen, which meant he was old enough to get a license in Lungmen.
And he had some money saved up too. Buying a motorcycle should still be possible.
He actually felt somewhat excited about the idea. He had wanted one for a while already, but back then most of his money had gone into the Fuyuki Shop, so he had given up on it.
Now that Chen had reminded him, Shirou felt he could absolutely go learn how to drive and maybe even get both types of licenses while he was at it.
After all, who could resist a motorcycle with a cool design?