After eating and drinking her fill and seeing everything she wanted to see, Nian finally prepared to leave.
Although she was very curious about Shirou's abilities, she still needed some time to process everything she had just seen. Besides, there was no rush. She could always use it as an excuse to invite Shirou out again next time.
Plan successful.
Since Nian's personality matched quite well with Penguin Logistics, and because she had not mentioned trying to poach Shirou, everyone felt at ease letting Shirou escort her out.
After all, they still had to clean up the kitchen disaster zone, while Shirou also needed to take her to the Lungmen Guard Department to check on the progress of the building repairs.
Originally, Shirou had not planned to visit the Guard Department, but after reading the message he received, he remembered that he had projected a pile of Noble Phantasms to block off those supplies.
Now the Guard Department personnel could not get inside, naturally leaving them unable to deal with the supplies either.
To avoid causing trouble for others, Shirou decided to make the trip.
Bringing Nian along to take a look was only incidental, and he could also learn about what happened afterward yesterday.
"Thanks for the meal!"
Before leaving, Nian waved at the Penguin Logistics members and said her goodbyes. Compared to when she arrived, she now carried an extra bag in her hand, stuffed with the items Croissant had just sold to her.
As long as Croissant dared to sell it, Nian would buy it all.
Thinking about that, Shirou spoke up.
"About those things... sorry. Selling random items is kind of her little hobby. I did not expect you to buy so much."
Nian's style of shopping left Shirou somewhat speechless. If he had the same amount of money, he could easily make three large bags of identical goods himself and still have enough Lungmen dollars left over for another hotpot meal.
At this point, he could only treat it as paying for experience.
There was not much he could do about it anyway. Croissant's sales methods were perfectly reasonable. As long as Nian refused, Croissant would never force her to buy anything. Nian purchased all of this willingly because she found it interesting.
Shirou was not unreasonable enough to directly stop Croissant from making sales.
"It is fine, it is fine. These things are actually pretty hard to find! Besides, I already earned all the Lungmen dollars back anyway!"
Hearing Shirou's words, Nian understood what he was thinking and waved dismissively.
"Earned it back?"
Seeing Nian's expression, Shirou looked confused.
How exactly did she earn it back? Secretly taking Lungmen dollars from Croissant was basically equivalent to taking a treasured bottle of wine right out of boss's private collection.
"She sold me so many good things, so of course I had to show some appreciation. I invited her to invest in my movie! Miss Croissant really has excellent taste! She agreed immediately and even invested five thousand Lungmen dollars!"
Nian blurted everything out in one breath, her excitement practically overflowing. She looked only moments away from grabbing Shirou by the shoulders and shaking him.
Shirou: "..."
So after spending half the day selling things, Croissant not only failed to make any Lungmen dollars, she even lost some money instead?
Thinking of that, Shirou silently lit a candle in mourning for Croissant's little savings fund.
Still, it was not fair to call Croissant impulsive. Nian's persuasive abilities were simply too terrifying.
After all, Shirou himself was also one of the victims.
The difference was that instead of investing in Nian's movies, he had merely watched some of her past works.
He vaguely remembered discovering Nian's films buried in a dusty corner of a rental shop. When he told the clerk he wanted to rent them, the clerk looked at him with the grave expression of someone watching a warrior march toward certain death.
Only after finishing the movies did Shirou finally understand the meaning behind that look.
From that moment onward, no matter what Nian said, whenever the topic turned to movies or filmmaking, Shirou let every word go in one ear and out the other.
Still, now that Croissant had stepped into the pit herself... Shirou had no intention of helping her recover those Lungmen dollars.
At worst, he would just cook a little more food for her later.
After all, Croissant had managed to fleece Nian once already, and it was probably good for that bread-brained bread person to learn a lesson. Otherwise, if she got tricked into losing her entire savings next time, that would really become hilarious.
Starving was not likely with Shirou around, but Croissant probably would not be able to buy any of the games she wanted for quite a while.
"Why are you making that expression like you have seen through life and death itself? It really does not suit you. Smile a little, smile a little."
Noticing the expression on Shirou's face, Nian raised her hands and forced a smile onto her own face as an example.
She did not like seeing Shirou wear that kind of expression.
It felt like a forged blade that had been sharpened slightly crooked.
For some reason, she had always held a favorable impression of Shirou. Even though he treated those precious weapons carelessly, casually leaving them lying around, she had only cursed at him a little over it.
If it had been some ordinary craftsman daring to do the same thing, she definitely would have beaten them beyond recognition.
Maybe it had something to do with the aura of swords she sensed from him.
Afterward, she thought about it a lot, and the most reasonable explanation she came up with was that Shirou was literally a sword spirit in human form, which caused her to have this strange feeling.
Of course, that sort of possibility only existed in her movie scripts. She had never encountered anything like it in reality before. After searching through books and finding no answers, she eventually gave up trying to solve the mystery.
In any case, whatever it was, it benefited Shirou. It allowed him to wield blades with even greater ease.
That was probably what people called talent.
If there really was a problem...
It would probably be how, when she met Shirou some time ago, she felt that something about him had changed. He felt like a blade sharpened far too keenly.
Although he later restrained that sharpness somewhat, Nian could still tell that he was continuing to grow sharper.
If this continued, sooner or later he would end up hurting himself.
Meeting someone was fate, after all.
Since she had already noticed him, helping out a little was not a bad idea.
That way, at the very least, she could leave behind proof that she had once existed.
Was that not so?
"Haha."
Compared to Nian's complicated thoughts, Shirou merely forced a perfunctory smile and gave two dry laughs.
There was no deeper meaning behind it. Thinking about the plot of that movie simply left him in a rather bad mood.
Maintaining that atmosphere, the two walked all the way to the Lungmen Guard Department headquarters.
As soon as they entered the building, Nian and Shirou saw a crowd of people with dark circles under their eyes busily working away. The atmosphere was as oppressive as it could possibly be.
"Ah... Shirou, huh? Your hand is alright, right?"
At that moment, a passing sniper operator noticed Shirou, stopped walking, and greeted him.
The operator was very polite, but those heavy dark circles and the somewhat floaty tone of voice made Shirou worry that the man might collapse onto the floor in the next second.
"It is fine. The doctor said a couple days of rest will do."
Gently shaking his hand, Shirou endured the tingling soreness as he replied.
He did not want everyone at the Guard Department worrying about his arm in their current condition, which was why he deliberately moved his right hand a little.
"That is good then. If you are looking for Chief Chen and the others, you can head right up. I will swipe the access card for you!"
The moment the sniper saw Shirou move his injured hand, his previously exhausted demeanor instantly transformed into excitement.
This was the hand of a big shot, after all. Knowing it was fine was truly great news.
For a sniper, hands were incredibly important.
"Thank you."
Shirou did not refuse the kindness. It conveniently saved him the trouble of borrowing an access card himself.
After waving goodbye to the operator, Nian finally asked from beside him:
"Did something happen at the Guard Department? These people look seriously overworked."
"It was even worse during Remembrance day yesterday. Today the public order situation seems relatively stable."
After thinking about the exhausted appearances of those people just now, Shirou answered.
Although everyone looked extremely tired, some of them still had enough energy to carefully wipe down their equipment, so today's deployment frequency was probably nowhere near as intense as yesterday's.
Shirou even shared some details of yesterday's grand scene at the Guard Department with Nian.
"That really is... rough."
She knew some major incident had happened yesterday, but she did not expect it to be this severe.
Still, since the culprit had already been dealt with by Shirou, there probably was not much of a problem anymore, right?
Holding that question in mind, Nian followed behind Shirou into the Guard Department office.
Shirou planned to first report in to Chief Chen, then head directly to the slum district building to settle the issue there. On the way back, he intended to visit the children and then check on the damage to Nian's house.
The plan was ready. The schedule was set.
And then everything immediately went wrong at the very first stop.
"Wei Yenwu is looking for you. He says he wants to talk. Go see him after this."
The desk was piled with empty coffee cans and energy drink containers. Chen, dark circles under her eyes, spoke to Shirou.
As for Nian, she showed little interest in the matter and simply stood to the side with her arms crossed.
"...Alright. In his office?"
The moment he heard Wei Yenwu wanted to "have a talk," Shirou felt a chill run down his spine, as though something had set its sights on him.
Last time he was dragged into a "talk," he ended up practically selling himself into the arrangement...
Even though he desperately wanted to refuse, reality did not give Shirou that option.
"He is in the Guard Department conference room already waiting."
Chen could tell what Shirou was worried about, and honestly wanted to accompany him. Unfortunately, she still had far too much work piled up, and her mental state was not much better either. Even if she went, she would probably just sit there spacing out.
So all she could do was cheer Shirou on internally.
"Got it. Chief Chen, remember to get some rest."
Nodding, Shirou spoke before preparing to head toward the conference room, not wanting to interrupt Chen's work any further.
Originally, Shirou intended to have Nian stay behind, but unexpectedly she chose to follow him.
She claimed she wanted to greet an acquaintance.
Shirou knew that with Nian's personality, getting to know people was incredibly easy, so he did not think much of it.
He simply treated it as having someone accompany him for moral support.
Very quickly, Shirou arrived outside the conference room. After knocking several times and receiving permission to enter, he finally pushed the door open.
It was the same conference room used for yesterday's small meeting.
Only Wei Yenwu sat inside. A smoking pipe hung from his mouth as he stared fixedly at Shirou.
After taking a closer look, Shirou realized the pipe was not even lit. Wei Yenwu was merely holding it in his mouth for comfort.
Recalling what his boss had told him before, Shirou instantly felt a little less nervous.
"Hoo... so you came... ah?"
Seeing Shirou standing at the doorway, Wei Yenwu let out a deep breath before speaking.
However, before he could finish his sentence, he noticed Nian standing behind Shirou.
That final "Ah?" rose so sharply in pitch that it sounded like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.
Not only that, but Wei Yenwu's hand holding the pipe trembled, causing the pipe to fall.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to snatch it back midair, swiftly stuff it into his clothes, then return to his original posture and expression as though nothing had happened.
Watching all of this unfold, Shirou: "..."
He did not even know what to say. He felt an urge to complain, but seeing how imposing Wei Yenwu currently looked, Shirou ultimately held himself back.
Meanwhile, Nian acted as though nothing had happened at all. She casually walked past Shirou, found a chair off to the side, and sat down.
Then she immediately received the attention of both men.
"Do not mind me. Just pretend I do not exist."
Looking at the two of them, Nian waved her hand with a completely serious expression.
She knew who Wei Yenwu was. The main reason she followed Shirou here was because she worried Shirou might get bullied by him.
A man who devoured people whole without spitting out bones, someone who would never stop until he squeezed every last drop out of talented individuals...
Those were the labels attached to Wei Yenwu.
Although most of it was exaggerated, it still reflected the kind of person he was.
Judging from how Shirou constantly ran back and forth between Penguin Logistics and the Guard Department, he was probably already in the middle of being exploited.
Honestly, she really did not know how that penguin managed the people working under him.
"Uh... sorry. She came here together with me."
Seeing Nian's behavior, Shirou felt somewhat awkward.
To be fair, what she was doing really was not very polite.
"It is fine. She is someone I know as well. Sit down first."
Faced with Shirou's embarrassment and Nian's actions, Wei Yenwu quickly regained his composure and gestured for Shirou to take a seat.
Truthfully, this woman's sudden appearance had completely disrupted many of the plans he had just formed in his head. For now, he could only set those thoughts aside.
There would be plenty of opportunities later anyway.
On the other side, after seeing that Wei Yenwu truly did not care about Nian's behavior, Shirou was a little surprised, though he still quickly found a chair and sat down.
Since Wei Yenwu himself said he knew her, Shirou no longer felt the need to worry about it.
"First, let us talk about that Sarkaz. He is already dead."
The moment Shirou sat down, Wei Yenwu immediately got straight to the point.
"Dead? Was it because his injuries were too severe?"
After hearing Wei Yenwu's words, Shirou frowned.
In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Maybe the man committed suicide out of fear of punishment? Or perhaps it was because Shirou had severed his arm during the fight?
The possibility that the man had been beaten to death during interrogation never even crossed Shirou's mind.
"He died from poison. Besides grinding down his horns to resemble Forte horns, that fellow also hid poison inside them."
Seeing Shirou's expression, Wei Yenwu understood what he was worried about.
Using excessive force during battle and accidentally causing the trail of clues to go cold... even if it was not the person's fault, that sort of invisible pressure could still weigh heavily on someone.
However, the man's injuries had already received treatment from the very beginning, and the cause of death had been confirmed as poison hidden inside his own horns.
So there was no need for this kid to overthink things. Wei Yenwu directly explained the cause of death.