After returning to the Guard Department, things were just as busy as Chen had predicted. Fortunately, they were all minor incidents, so nobody had specifically informed her earlier.
As a result, she immediately threw herself back into work, handling the kinds of tasks ordinary Guard Department officers struggled to deal with.
After all, following what had just happened, she was feeling especially energized. It felt like she could take on ten Shirous at once!
Boom—
Not far away, Shirou used Kanshou and Bakuya to pin one criminal to the ground, while another had been smashed directly against a wall.
Looking at the cratered and battered scene before her, Chen fell silent.
Perhaps she should tone that statement down a little. It was better not to speak too confidently.
Was it just her imagination, or did Shirou seem a little irritable? Had he not rested properly?
"Officer Chen, it is handled. These two are infected as well."
The irritable Shirou lifted the unconscious man at his feet, then dug the other one out of the wall. After tying them both up with rope, he even used Structural Analysis magecraft to confirm their physical condition, just in case the earlier situation repeated itself.
Only after analyzing them for quite some time and finding nothing abnormal did Shirou finally put away Kanshou and Bakuya before reporting back to Chen.
As for why Shirou was being so irritable...
It was mainly because his embarrassing black history had been seen. Just thinking about it made him cringe, so he threw one hundred and twenty percent of his effort into his work instead.
It could only be said that these people were extremely unlucky.
"...Have the others bring them back. We will continue patrolling outside."
Seeing the satisfied expression on Shirou's face, Chen felt this issue needed to be solved quickly.
Perhaps letting Shirou relax in the passenger seat while they patrolled would be a good idea.
In any case, she had already finished most of her paperwork. She could just leave the rest to the char siu cat.
The more Chen thought about it, the more practical the idea seemed.
Besides, the car had a communicator. Even if there was a task or assignment, they would not miss it.
"Alright."
While working, Shirou was very cooperative with the Guard Department.
When facing unfamiliar situations, all he had to do was listen to the advice of his seniors and follow their instructions.
Of course, if the demands went too far, he would still refuse.
After the Guard Department officers arrived to take over custody of the two criminals, the pair finally got into the car and resumed patrol duty.
By now, half the Remembrance day had already passed. The midday sun was somewhat hot, but for the two of them sitting inside an air-conditioned vehicle, it was nothing to fear.
At the moment, the greatest problem facing them was what to eat for lunch.
They had finished breakfast quite early, and now it was already well past noon. After staying busy all morning, both of them were getting hungry.
If circumstances did not allow it, they could have endured a little longer, but now...
As the car passed one storefront after another, who could possibly endure that?
So Chen brought Shirou to a snack shop she visited often, buying a few simple things to make do for lunch.
Neither of them was picky. As long as there was something in their stomachs, it was enough.
And so Shirou sat in the car, eating while keeping watch for anything suspicious happening around them.
"Hmm... I think this is my first time wandering around Lungmen at this hour. It is pretty lively."
After swallowing the food in his mouth, Shirou sighed emotionally.
Normally, at this time of day, he would already be riding his bicycle from the Guard Department toward the slums. He genuinely did not come to this district very often.
If not for the fact that everyone in Penguin Logistics had their own favorite shops scattered all over Lungmen, Shirou probably would have ended up living a repetitive routine between the dormitory, the Guard Department, Fuyuki Store, and the office.
Still, nighttime Lungmen and daytime Lungmen were very different.
On ordinary mornings, most people were busy with work, so the streets were nowhere near as crowded as they were at night.
Today was an exception, however. Lungmen's Remembrance day was still extremely lively.
Feeling the atmosphere around him, Shirou even considered calling everyone from Penguin Logistics.
Not for any special reason. He just wanted to ask whether they had gotten too excited and started street racing or causing trouble somewhere.
If he ended up receiving a report later and caught them personally, then they had better not blame him for being ruthless.
"It is nice, is it not?"
Hearing Shirou's words, Chen smiled lightly while driving.
It seemed Shirou's mood had stabilized a bit. He was not as irritable anymore.
"It really is."
Shirou nodded. Looking at the laughing crowds outside the window, a faint smile appeared on his face as well.
However, his phone soon began vibrating.
After briefly signaling Chen, he answered the call.
"Minmin? What is wrong?"
The moment he picked up, he heard Minmin's anxious voice. Shirou immediately frowned and questioned her.
Ever since he had met Minmin, they rarely communicated through phone calls. Combined with the obvious urgency in her tone... something had clearly happened.
Then again, with so many infected people causing trouble in Lungmen's urban district, there was no way the slums would remain peaceful.
"The A4 Reserve Operations Team was ambushed while transporting medicine, and now they are being chased by Reunion members?"
Minmin sounded extremely flustered, so her explanation came out fragmented. Even so, Shirou quickly pieced together the situation after listening.
After Shirou said that, Chen beside him also revealed a puzzled expression. She pulled the car over to the roadside and picked up her phone to check something.
"...Understood. I will head over immediately."
After confirming the details on his side, Shirou agreed without hesitation.
He was not worried about being criticized for it either, since this had already been discussed with everyone long ago.
It was just that problems rarely occurred at the office, so this was the first time Minmin had ever contacted Shirou for help.
Simply put, the A4 Reserve Operations Team had once again been ambushed while transporting medicine. After learning from the previous incident, the attackers had brought even more people this time.
Their primary objective was still to seize the medicine, but the members of the A4 Reserve Operations Team obviously could not just stand by and watch the medicine get stolen. As a result, a full-scale chase broke out through the streets of the slums.
It was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the A4 team, whose vehicle was loaded with medicine, got caught. Minmin was already organizing manpower, but for safety reasons she had specifically called for Shirou, a powerful reinforcement.
"A side job? Something happened in the slums?"
Seeing Shirou hang up the phone and prepare to unbuckle his seatbelt and get out, Chen glanced at him and asked.
"Yeah. Someone is trying to steal suppressants. An entire truckload of them."
Just as Shirou was about to open the door and step out, the car doors locked again.
"?"
Shirou looked toward Chen with a confused expression, since she was the only one who could freely control the car locks.
"I will take you there. We will treat that phone call as an official report."
Chen viciously gulped down a mouthful of iced lemon tea, then slammed her foot onto the accelerator and sent the car surging forward.
The Guard Department vehicle continuously blared its siren, and the cars ahead very sensibly moved aside to let them pass first.
"Huh?"
Since Shirou had been in the middle of trying to get out of the car, not only was his posture awkward, he also had not fastened his seatbelt yet.
As a result, the instant Chen accelerated, Shirou's entire face slammed against the windshield.
How should he put this...
Her driving skills were not as good as Texas'.
After finally finding an opportunity to sit properly and fasten his seatbelt, Shirou felt a slight sense of security return.
But that still was not enough. He reached out and tightly grabbed the handle above the car window, trying to seek even more reassurance.
He had experienced Texas driving recklessly before, but that had been out in the wilderness.
Experiencing it in Lungmen's urban district was a first for him!
Every time they passed another vehicle, Shirou felt like they were about to crash into it.
The sensation was honestly not very friendly to him.
Fortunately, things improved somewhat after they left the urban district, since both traffic and pedestrians became much sparser.
"Do you have a detailed address?"
Only after leaving the crowded areas did Chen finally spare the attention to ask Shirou for their location.
"No. Their position is constantly changing."
Shirou shook his head as he replied.
The members of A4 were running for their lives, so naturally their route had no pattern.
Fortunately, they had practiced beforehand what to do if they were chased through the slums, so for now they could still keep escaping for a while longer.
But they could only run temporarily. The enemy had more people and more vehicles. Once they were surrounded, things would become very dangerous.
"What a hassle... You said the people chasing them are Reunion members? Are there a lot of them?"
Hearing Shirou's explanation, Chen immediately felt a headache coming on.
There was too little information, and the destination was unclear. That made operations very inconvenient.
And after hearing the mention of Reunion, Chen became even more concerned.
She knew of the organization. Many of the recent incidents in Lungmen had been caused by this group called Reunion, so Chen could not exactly say she had a good impression of them.
Afterward, another group in the slums calling themselves Reunion had also begun contacting infected people there. Because of that, Chen had planted several informants among them. Whenever something happened, those people would report back to her.
All she could say was that the actual situation seemed somewhat strange.
After her informants joined, their lives had apparently remained extremely peaceful.
Over the past two days, the informants had not discovered anything unusual either. The people inside mostly just stayed there quietly, with no suspicious activity.
Right after hearing Shirou's words earlier, Chen had immediately pulled over and sent messages to them. The replies she received all said the same thing: nothing unusual.
If it had only been one informant, she might still have been suspicious. But if every single informant she had planted reported the same thing... then perhaps there genuinely was no problem there.
But that only made things more contradictory.
Over the past two days, they had arrested quite a few people claiming to be Reunion members, so why had her informants noticed nothing unusual?
Or perhaps...
There were actually two different Reunion groups?
One group was interacting with the infected in the slums and recruiting manpower, while the other consisted of veteran infected members going around causing chaos and committing crimes?
Chen had no way of knowing for now. She could only wait for more intelligence from her informants.
"They should be Reunion members... I heard there are more than fifty of them, split across ten vehicles. Their cars are slower, so they still have not managed to catch up yet."
As for whether those people were truly Reunion members, Shirou himself was not entirely certain either.
At this point, the phrase "Reunion" was practically losing all meaning to him.
"Fifty... that really is quite a lot."
After confirming the number, Chen frowned deeply.
Her first instinct had been to request support from the Guard Department immediately, but after remembering that the location was the slums, she abandoned the idea.
The Guard Department likely would not concern itself with affairs happening in the slums.
Facing fifty people with just herself, Shirou, and the so-called A4 Reserve Operations Team...
It would be troublesome, but not impossible.
"Rhodes Island has people on standby as well. They probably contacted me just to be safe, and I am also acquainted with the members of the A4 Reserve Operations Team."
Noticing what Chen was worried about, Shirou explained the situation first.
He had almost forgotten. This woman really hated having outsiders interfere during missions.
Back then, that seemed to be exactly how he had ended up catching her attention.
"I understand."
After hearing Shirou's explanation, Chen's expression relaxed slightly.
As for Rhodes Island's office sending people to intervene, she did not particularly mind.
After all, this incident had originally happened on their side. It was perfectly reasonable for them to dispatch their own personnel. Besides, they had not contacted the Guard Department either, so technically she was not acting under the Guard Department's banner this time.
And since it involved medicine...
The office was probably transporting medication related to infected patients, right? If it was stolen, then the office would no longer be able to provide treatment for other infected people.
Since she had happened to run into the situation, there was no way she would stand by and ignore it.
"Um... those people might not actually be Reunion members. They could just be an infected organization using the Reunion name as a disguise."
After thinking about it, Shirou felt he should at least give Officer Chen a warning in advance.
"I already know that."
Chen replied calmly while driving.
"Ah? I see..."
Compared to Chen's composed expression, Shirou looked completely lost.
So all the mental preparation he had spent so long making was for nothing?
Well, forget it. Officer Chen clearly already had her own plans, so there was no need for him to overthink things anymore.
He had heard from Yith before that Chen had planted many informants throughout the slums. Since the Guard Department could not directly extend its influence there, she could only rely on arrangements like that.
Honestly, it matched Shirou's image of the Guard Department and police quite well, so he accepted it rather quickly.
"The people you are worried about should be the group constantly taking in infected people from the slums, right? That side has actually been fairly peaceful so far. They have not made any strange moves these past few days."
"But the ones constantly causing trouble are another matter entirely. We have no idea who is behind them, or what exactly their purpose is for stirring up trouble all around Lungmen."
Once Shirou brought this up, Chen realized he probably did know a few things already, though not as much as she did.
Considering how frequently he traveled through the slums, it was not strange for him to know these things.
And since Shirou would likely come into contact with these people again in the future, Chen figured it would be better to give him a bit of information now so he could understand the situation somewhat.