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The water in the pot was boiling, and the beef fat had melted into the broth. The milky scent of the rendered fat mixed with the aroma of the spices, making it hard not to swallow.
Ignis poked the beef a few times with his chopsticks to test how tender it had become. It looked like it needed a little more time, so he closed the lid again. Although celebrating victory with a feast—drinking heavily and devouring meat—was more in line with the Space Wolves, the Salamander had no objections to the idea.
But this victory was far from perfect.
"What's wrong? You've been wearing that miserable look all day." Nicole walked from the hall into the kitchen, dressed in homely clothes with a cluster of curlers in her hair, entirely different from her appearance outside.
"I told you the repair funds for the autocannon can be processed through public expenses. It counts as office equipment maintenance. No need to keep scowling. We did resolve the airship incident after all." Nicole was in a rather good mood; though the airship had been hijacked, Rain had been rescued.
"Boss Nicole, you know that's not what's bothering me." The Salamander wiped his hands on his apron and began peeling white radishes.
Although gatherings at the Cunning Hares usually served American or European cuisine, in Ignis's heart, Chinese food was always the best. A pot of braised beef brisket with radish would be today's main dish, and of course, a Space Marine who excelled at controlling fire would certainly prepare a few more refined works of culinary precision.
"Perlman, huh…" Nicole rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. "He actually woke up while everyone was busy rescuing passengers, and then quietly took the escape craft to the Outer Ring. What a troublesome guy…"
The mistress of the Cunning Hares looked at the distracted Salamander crouched on the floor peeling radishes and walked over to pat his shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'll help you find him, even if he's in the Outer Ring. I'll mobilize every contact I have. He still owes everyone in Canvas Street an apology—and compensation." Nicole patted her chest. "Even in the Outer Ring, I, Nicole, still have a functioning intel network!"
The Salamander let out a sigh at her attempt to comfort him and paused his work. "Boss Nicole, you sure you're not just doing this because you want the commission for winning the lawsuit for everyone in Canvas Street? If I knew it'd be like this, I should've snapped his neck in that tunnel and saved us the trouble."
Though Nicole knew Ignis was playing dumb to bait her into venting, she still cooperated and lightly smacked the back of his head, pretending to be angry. "There you go again. You're not a kid anymore—you can't be letting emotions decide your actions. We agreed the goal was to win the maximum compensation for everyone in Canvas Street and to make Vision Corporation think twice before doing this garbage again. And we agreed—no more reckless solo actions. The Proxy left you alone in the Ballet Twins Hollow; weren't you afraid you wouldn't get out?"
Ignis scratched the spot she'd hit. "I trusted her. Phaethon would never leave me."
That sentence left Nicole briefly speechless; she also believed Phaethon wouldn't abandon the giant. According to Billy, after Von Lycaon leapt onto the hijacked airship and landed it on the helipad atop Tower B of the Ballet Twins, the Proxy led Ellen Joe and Corin Wickes to extract Ignis from the Hollow.
Speaking of which, if there hadn't been so few conscious people left, and if Von Lycaon, Rina, Rain, and Billy hadn't been busy transporting and caring for the unconscious passengers, Perlman wouldn't have found an opportunity to sneak back onto the airship and escape with it.
"By the way, the airship crashed in the Outer Ring. At the crash site, they didn't find that short bastard's body." Nicole shared the latest news with the Salamander. "Looks like he parachuted. Otherwise, he'd be dead for sure."
"A pest lives a thousand years. If people like him aren't physically eliminated, they just keep crawling forward." Ignis washed the peeled radishes clean and cut them into chunks. "What kind of place is the Outer Ring?"
Nicole pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and organized her words. "Simply put, the Outer Ring isn't under the jurisdiction of the New Eridu City Council. It's an independent area—mostly wasteland. Scorching deserts, deep drainage ravines carved by runoff, and bare, dome-shaped hills. People there rely on outdated petroleum as their main fuel source, unlike New Eridu's ether-powered systems. The region is controlled by various motorcycle clans that govern different small towns. Their primary business is trading their specialties with New Eridu. They control the trade routes—and therefore the lifelines of the Outer Ring."
A wasteland of deserts, ravines, bare hills, ruled by motorcycle clans, powered by petroleum, outside governmental control… Sounds a lot like Mad Max…
Ever since Ignis arrived here, he had barely paid attention to anything outside New Eridu. The official propaganda always claimed this city was humanity's last stronghold, the last bastion of civilization. It seemed the people of the Outer Ring were problematic for New Eridu's leadership—at the very least, difficult to control.
It wasn't surprising that Perlman chose to escape there. It would take significant time and effort for New Eridu's agents to infiltrate that region. Maybe that damned little rat intended to hide there for the rest of his life.
"Even though the Cunning Hares mainly operate within New Eridu, we still have some acquaintances in the Outer Ring." Nicole noticed the Salamander's disappointment. "I'll do my best to activate every connection and find that annoying little roach."
"Mm." Ignis nodded and set the chopped radish aside. He still had other dishes to prepare.
For today's celebration banquet, of course their other friends would be present. After the Ballet Twins incident, Nicole had planned to invite everyone who participated to gather together, but Victoria Housekeeping declined due to 'busy official duties.' Nicole wasn't delighted by the refusal, but her intel network confirmed their schedule truly was packed. As a high-end housekeeping service for high-net-worth clients, capable of handling all sorts of complex matters, their prices were steep—something Nicole envied deeply.
The Phaethon siblings were likely already on their way. Belle and Wise became extremely excited upon hearing that the Salamander himself was cooking—and preparing several "special dishes." Even over the phone, Nicole could clearly feel Belle's ecstatic cheering and Wise's helpless resignation. With a sister that energetic, being her older brother was never an easy task.
"Boss Nicole, are you sure you want this deleted?" Billy walked into the kitchen holding up his phone. "I think it looks great—very memorable."
"What is it?" Ignis was also intrigued. Although Billy's phone mostly contained various tokusatsu clips, anything Nicole wanted removed usually meant it was something strange.
Sharing strange things was, after all, a universal habit among men.
"This." Billy handed the phone to the Salamander.
Ignis saw it was a video and pressed play.
The video showed Nicole fast asleep, covered in a yellow emergency blanket. She was sleeping so soundly she was even drooling. Judging by the background noises, this was on the rooftop of Tower B, where Von Lycaon and Rina were checking the emergency supplies aboard the airship.
If it had only been Nicole's less-than-elegant sleeping posture, it wouldn't have been anything unusual. The women of the Cunning Hares were generally thick-skinned and didn't care much about the two men around them—well, if Billy, as a robot, could even be considered a typical "man."
Suddenly, in the video, Boss Nicole extended her left hand and flung the blanket off.
"Judge! I object!" she shouted groggily, waving her tiny fist a few times, brows furrowed in deep irritation.
Doesn't look staged… And even if it were, she'd have rehearsed that pose endlessly. Ignis thought to himself. Boss Nicole must've practiced that 'Objection!' stance in secret for ages—just waiting to use it in court against Perlman.
"Pretty good, right? I put in a lot of effort to capture that moment." Billy said proudly. "See? Even in her sleep, Boss Nicole hasn't forgotten to fight for justice for everyone in Canvas Street—and to verbally duel with that sly criminal."
Billy let out an exaggerated sigh. "I said we should keep this and add it to our promotional material, but Boss Nicole wasn't happy about it. I honestly think it's a great idea."
Before the robot even finished speaking, his reinforced alloy abs were assaulted. Nicole grabbed the nearby cooking ladle and smacked him hard enough to spark.
"Delete it! Immediately!" The mistress of the Cunning Hares was red with embarrassment. "You malfunctioning tin-can! What part of this is worth promoting? Filming a lady's sleeping face without permission—who taught you that!?"
"Ignis! I order you to delete that damned video!" Nicole turned toward the Salamander, lips pressed tightly, her entire face flushed deep red.
Seeing the leader of the Cunning Hares slip into a blood-boil state, Ignis long-pressed and erased the video. He had no desire to face an angered Nicole. Her physical damage output was limited, but she could lecture longer than a Chaplain delivering a sermon.
"Hey—no!" Billy watched in dismay as Ignis truly deleted the footage. "That was hard to capture! It really could've been used for promotion!"
But realistically, what viewers would focus on was simply that Boss Nicole seemed more like an unreliable, adorable ditz. Then again, maybe that would actually enhance her disguise tactics.
Still, the video was gone. No going back.
"Ah, what a waste." Billy scrolled through his phone a couple more times, then slapped his forehead. "Oh! I sent a copy to the store manager! I can just download it from our chat history!"
"Billy. You know the consequences." Nicole's voice suddenly dropped an octave—cold enough to make Ignis shiver. "Distributing material detrimental to the company's public image? Fine. Your bonus for the month is gone."
"What?" Billy froze, then immediately begged. "No, come on! Boss! Boss Nicole! I just ordered a full Starlight Knight armor replica—it costed me a fortune! Without my bonus I can't even pay my phone bill!"
Nicole ignored him and walked out stiffly, clearly actually angry.
Ignis shook his head and returned his focus to his work. The Outer Ring… If he ever got the chance, he should go see it for himself.
His phone buzzed. It was a message from Markus. Earlier today Ignis had asked if he could help forge a new gun barrel. Although the Salamander could craft one himself, buying a finished product would save time. He couldn't rely on handcrafting every piece of logistics forever; as his arsenal grew, doing everything by hand became unrealistic. New Eridu's industrial capabilities weren't weak—if money could solve the problem, better to spend it than do everything personally.
Of course, some equipment still had to be handmade, like those five- and ten-kilogram charges. Markus could supply prefabricated shrapnel, but the cost would be outrageous. For disposable explosives, cost-efficiency mattered more. With enough payload, ball bearings were nearly as effective as pre-shaped fragments.
Markus replied that the factory had barely resumed production and the gun barrel wouldn't take long. But Markus himself needed Ignis's help with something—and was willing to pay generously. The Salamander wouldn't refuse; staying on good terms with his supplier saved enormous time. Ignis replied, agreeing to meet tomorrow.
After closing the chat, he tapped open another conversation—the one with that rat, Jane Doe. She hadn't contacted him in a long while. Ignis didn't like messaging others first, especially an undercover agent. If he texted carelessly and caused her to be exposed, it'd be disastrous.
The last message was from the time she invited him fishing—almost a month ago.
He wondered how she was doing. But a woman that cunning likely wasn't in danger—and if she were, she'd have fled long before anyone noticed.
He also wondered how Rain was doing. After returning from the Ballet Tower, Rain had told him she still had a backlog of commissions, and his request would take a few more days.
While his thoughts drifted, the doorbell rang. Anby went to open it—but Belle's voice arrived first, faster than her footsteps.
"Oh! It smells amazing!" The ever-energetic girl shouted, "Nicole! I saw it—hahaha! She's way too cute!"
O Proxy… Looked like this incident wouldn't disappear anytime soon.
"Ignis!" Belle hopped cheerfully into the kitchen with a plastic bag in hand. "We brought ingredients too! See how you want to handle them? Hmm—the kitchen smells even better up close!"
The Salamander took the bag. Inside were cleaned fish fillets—perfect for a spicy poached fish dish. Time to show the people of New Eridu the charm of Jianghu cuisine: a bowl of blazing-hot broth.
Before he could respond, the girl had already darted back to the hall to join the chaos. Her brother, Wise, looked apologetic. "Sorry. My sister can be… forward."
"It's fine. You're my rescuers—and part of the Cunning Hares." Ignis set the bag on the table. "How well do you handle spice?"
"Pretty well." Wise seemed confused, but the massive black-armored giant looked pleased.
"Good. Then watch closely." Ignis laughed heartily and returned to the stove.
Next to arrive was Rain, the indoors-loving hacker who disliked going out. But the invitation came from her major client and lifesaver—refusing would feel wrong. And Nicole had aggressively bragged over the phone about the giant's cooking, so Rain forced herself to come.
Not because she was curious what miracles the giant could cook, of course.
Once inside, she didn't say much. Online she could talk endlessly, but in person… clearly a social recluse. Nicole must've done serious work to get her comfortable.
The last to come were Ignis's chief disciple, Vesmir, and the young painter Emile Volt. The two boys had long put aside their schoolyard rivalry and become good friends. Emile had even painted promotional posters for Vesmir's food cart—which had become popular nearby.
Their early-morning and night markets were gaining fame for cheap, delicious handmade snacks. Some well-known streamers were even coming by to film. There were troublemakers too, but Vesmir and his crew had all their permits in order—and hadn't lost their street-wise edge. When dealing with reasonable people, they gave discounts and smiles. But when facing freeloading pests, the boys united and applied… a bit of pressure.
No fighting, of course. Just rolling up sleeves to reveal their newly strengthened arms—then demonstrating extremely proficient knife skills.
Too close to your nose? Well, maybe your camera shouldn't be that close.
The two boys were initially a bit stiff, but with Billy—the overgrown man-child—present, the atmosphere quickly escalated into full chaotic camaraderie.
Even Nekomiya got coaxed into showing off how she could twirl two short blades like blooming flowers while peeling an apple. Vesmir admired it so much he practically begged the cat-eared rascal to teach him.
The compliments inflated Nekomiya's ego immensely—even without seeing her, Ignis knew both of that thief-cat's tails had to be pointing straight up.
It was nice. Days like this were truly nice.
Ignis looked at the sunlight spilling through the window and felt a quiet sense of contentment.
It would be even nicer if those four damned troublemakers weren't around.