"What did you look like? You were unconscious—what 'look' is there to talk about?"
Madam Wenyue had been around the block. One glance at Ch'en Hui-chieh's flushed cheeks and spring-bright eyes, and she knew something was off.
Besides, Ch'en had been dosed with an aphrodisiac—not a knockout drug. Why would she be unconscious?
"Don't tell me you couldn't control yourself and… did something?!" Madam Wenyue demanded.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Ch'en reacted like a cloudbeast whose tail had just been stepped on—fur bristling, hissing on reflex.
Realizing she'd overreacted, she hurriedly tried to patch it up. "I-I mean… I'm still a girl, you know. I do care about my image, at least a little."
"If you really cared about your image, why is there nothing in your drawer except one bottle of Dabao SOD lotion? You're as rough as a man. I used to keep waiting for you to bring a boyfriend home so I could have a look," Madam Wenyue snapped.
"Now that I've got Oripathy, you've finally given up, and my ears can finally have some peace," Ch'en said, oddly satisfied.
But deep down, she couldn't help hiding the tiniest sliver of regret.
She'd never wanted romance, and she'd never met the right person—but… what girl doesn't daydream?
Before, being single had been her own choice.
Now, being single was a qualification she'd been stripped of.
…That said, can Oripathy spread through saliva?
Did I… infect him?!!
"Madam Wenyue—where's my terminal?" Ch'en asked urgently, fumbling around.
"What do you want your terminal for?" Madam Wenyue asked.
She took out Ch'en's device, about to hand it over—only to hear Ch'en say, "I need to handle a bit of work."
That immediately put Madam Wenyue in a bad mood.
You just woke up and you're already thinking about work—are you trying to prove you've got too much life left?
No.
Not happening.
"Street-trash dragon! Look at you now—your whole face screams 'washed-up'… screams—"
With a loud bang, Shih Huaiya kicked the door open. She'd clearly been rehearsing her opening line the whole way over—only to freeze mid-sentence when she saw Madam Wenyue seated calmly by the bedside.
One second she was a ferocious little tiger; the next, she turned into a well-behaved kitten.
Even though Madam Wenyue was gentle and easy to talk to—and she obviously understood their usual dynamic—an elder was still an elder. The pressure on the younger generation was instinctive.
Xingxiong stepped in to smooth things over. "Madam Wenyue—Missy just has a sharp tongue. When she heard Chief Ch'en was awake, she was over the moon and rushed straight here to visit."
"Don't say unnecessary things!" Shih Huaiya hissed under her breath, mortified, and jabbed Xingxiong with her elbow.
"I'll leave you young people to talk. Don't chat for too long—Little Ch'en still needs to rest for a while," Madam Wenyue said tactfully.
She gave them space—and took the terminal with her.
The moment she was gone, Shih Huaiya's firepower came roaring back. "Oh wow, where'd this baby come from? Still not weaned or what?"
Ch'en, unusually, didn't snap back right away. She turned to Xingxiong instead. "Let me borrow your terminal. I need to check something."
"Here." Xingxiong handed it over.
Ch'en opened the browser and searched: "Can saliva transmit Oripathy?"
"Saliva typically does not transmit Oripathy. Oripathy is only transmitted through blood, mother-to-child transmission, sex, and exposure to high-concentration Originium environments. Ordinary daily contact such as eating together, kissing, etc., will not result in Oripathy transmission."
So it doesn't spread… good. Good…
Ch'en finally exhaled—then noticed a pop-up window had appeared.
[Have you discovered an infected person near you?
010-XXXX-1332
Lungmen 24-hour Infected Reporting Hotline]
Ch'en's gaze dimmed. She cleared the browser history and returned the terminal to Xingxiong.
Lungmen's "humanitarian care" was always done well. If you had a terminal illness—or searched for suicide—your browser would pop up help hotlines like this.
It was just that this "care" clearly did not include the infected.
"Where are we now? Did we catch them?" Ch'en snapped into work mode.
"Thanks to you spooking them, by the time we arrived the place was already empty," Shih Huaiya said, displeased.
"I won't shirk responsibility. I'll take full responsibility for letting that criminal ring slip away," Ch'en said solemnly. "But you can all see it too—this isn't a simple human trafficking case. The Guard Department first suspected that company was using its logistics network to move people. The moment I went in to feel them out, they dared to strike a senior superintendent directly, then withdrew in an organized fashion—right under our noses—vanishing without a trace.
"This isn't an ordinary gang. There's a major criminal organization behind them. We need to hit them with a heavy hand."
"Old Ch'en—what are you planning to do?" Xingxiong asked.
"With so little time, they can't have left Lungmen yet. First, increase patrol intensity. Anyone suspicious—no one leaves the city," Ch'en said.
Shih Huaiya objected immediately. "Lungmen is a metropolis of nearly four million people, and a major economic hub for Yan. Do you have any idea how much pressure that kind of control puts on every faction—and on our own people?"
"All I know is this: I will not allow evil to walk away unpunished," Ch'en said, bracing herself to get out of bed. "I'll sign it. I'll take responsibility. I'll bear every consequence. Starting tonight, I patrol with you."
"Lie down," Shih Huaiya said. "All you know is showing off and forcing it. Without my permission, you think you can mobilize every officer in the Guard Department? You're not the commissioner yet."
She extended a pale finger and poked Ch'en lightly—pushing her straight back onto the bed.
"Tonight, Xingxiong and I will patrol for you and push the assignments down. Tomorrow you can go back to trying to play the hero."
Xingxiong: Since when is this my job too? I'm just a grunt.
Ch'en's gaze softened. Sincerely: "Thank you, Shih Huaiya."
"Don't thank me. I just don't want you taking all the credit," Shih Huaiya said, insisting on her usual stubborn pride. "Besides, if people see a patient dragging herself to work, they'll think the Guard Department has no one left."
…
…
Elsewhere—Penguin Logistics Headquarters.
Su Yi lay on the sofa, using a slice of cold apple pie to hold off hunger while flipping through A General History of Terra.
For an "amnesiac" (an isekai'd outsider), reading was the fastest and most convenient way to understand this world.
On the other end of the sofa, Exusiai lay sprawled out, humming as she maintained her firearm. Her small, adorable stockinged feet tapped the sofa rhythmically—up and down, up and down.
Texas was in the kitchen cooking. Croissant and Sora—who knew where—were whispering to each other.
"Exusiai, come here a second," Croissant called as she and Sora emerged from the corner.
"Coming, coming!" Exusiai replied.
She snapped her gun back together and followed them into the kitchen.
The already-cramped kitchen instantly had three more bodies squeezed into it, which made Texas—currently boiling macaroni—visibly unimpressed.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Croissant answered, matter-of-fact: "Discussing Exusiai's lifelong, once-and-for-all personal business!"
-------
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