Amid the heavy snowfall, a black armored off-road vehicle sat at the edge of the airfield. A thin layer of snow had settled over its body, making it clear that it had been waiting for some time.
The door opened, and a young man of average height with a slightly plump build stepped out. He strode over and called out from a distance, his voice booming.
“Governor Lu, Commander Jiang, Advisor Jiang—at long last, we’ve been looking forward to your arrival!”
He stopped and gave them a crisp salute. “I’m Zhang Qiang, reporting for duty. I’ve been ordered by the administrative chief of Area A’s branch of the Whale Harbor City Command to receive you throughout your stay. Your itinerary, accommodations, and dinner are all arranged. You must be exhausted from the journey.”
Large clouds of white vapor escaped his mouth as he spoke. His face was red from the cold, but his spirits were high.
Lu Shiyan nodded at him. “You’ve worked hard.”
Although it was only two words, Zhang Qiang looked as though he had received the highest commendation imaginable. His back straightened at once.
He turned sideways to lead the way, never stopping his chatter. “It’s been snowing nonstop in Area A these past few weeks, so the roads aren’t in the best condition. We’ve prepared hot tea in the car—black tea, and goji berry and red-date tea. Please help yourselves.”
After a pause, he turned toward Jiang Nuan, unable to hide his eagerness.
“Is this your first time in Area A, Advisor Jiang? It may be cold here, but the scenery is truly beautiful. The ice on the lake to the west is solid enough for skating at this time of year. There’s also a century-old shop nearby that sells hot candied chestnuts. Supposedly, you only need to squeeze the shells for them to pop right open.”
A knowing, tactful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he glanced toward Lu Shiyan.
“If Governor Lu has the time, he could take you there for a look around…”
…
Who was he to say that they were the sort of people who would be “taking her there for a look around”?
Lu Shiyan merely nodded. “We’ll see how things go.”
That was it. Now there was no explaining their relationship away.
Zhang Qiang nodded repeatedly, then hurried forward and opened the doors for them.
*
This deputy officer named Zhang Qiang was genuinely impressive when it came to getting things done.
The heating inside the vehicle was set to a comfortable temperature, and the seat warmers had already been switched on. The moment Jiang Nuan sat down, warmth spread across her back and backside. She almost sighed aloud in comfort.
Hot tea was placed in her hands, and even the cups had been warmed in advance.
Zhang Qiang never stopped talking, but he wasn’t irritating about it. He gave them a general overview of Area A’s roads, local customs, and other details, covering everything that needed to be said without asking a single inappropriate question.
“What foods does Governor Lu usually avoid?”
“Would Advisor Jiang like an extra blanket in her room?”
“Commander Jiang’s training equipment has already been prepared in the basement.”
He had thought of everything, no matter how minor. His efficiency was remarkable.
Jiang Nuan decided this man had a promising future.
That is, provided he stopped looking at her like a sister-in-law whenever he addressed her as “Advisor Jiang.”
Snow continued falling outside the windows, but after switching to the off-road vehicle, they no longer had to struggle through the snow on foot.
The architecture in Area A was completely different from that of Area E. There were none of Area E’s modern glass curtain walls or electronic screens. Instead, the buildings were tall and imposing, crowned with rounded domes, their spires thrusting into the sky and half a foot of snow piled atop their colonnades.
The roads were broad but empty. Every so often, a snowplow rumbled past.
It was like another world.
Though, technically speaking, it was another world.
When the vehicle passed a commercial street, the shops on either side glowed with warm-colored lights that stood out sharply against the wind and snow.
Jiang Nuan suddenly remembered something.
“Stop for a moment,” she said to Zhang Qiang. “I need to buy something.”
Zhang Qiang acknowledged her and smoothly pulled over to the side of the road.
Jiang Ce had already unfastened his seat belt and was preparing to get out with her. “I’ll go with you.”
“No need.” Jiang Nuan pressed a hand against his arm. “It’ll only take a few minutes. You can all wait here.”
She was embarrassed to have Jiang Ce accompany her to buy this particular item.
Jiang Ce nodded and sat back down, his gaze following her until the supermarket’s automatic doors closed behind her.
She opened the car door, and cold air immediately poured down her collar. Pulling her down jacket’s fur-trimmed collar tight around her neck, she hurried into the brightly lit supermarket by the roadside.
The supermarket was small, but it carried a surprisingly complete selection of goods.
Jiang Nuan shook the snow from her hat and headed straight for the aisle of feminine hygiene products.
It was her fourth day in this forbidden-zone dungeon, and she had only just remembered.
The first three days had been so hectic that she hadn’t had a moment to think about her period at all.
Now that she counted the days, she would need them in just a few days.
She examined the items on the shelf, placed three packs of sanitary pads in her basket, and grabbed a pack of wet wipes as well.
There. All set.
She was just about to head to the register when someone suddenly shouted from several aisles away.
“Stop, thief!”
Jiang Nuan didn’t even look up.
The world’s basic order was still intact. Someone had probably been caught shoplifting. It had nothing to do with her.
Then someone burst out from behind the shelves.
A man in his early twenties, with fair skin, round, bright eyes, and chapped lips.
He was wearing a black down jacket at least two sizes too large. The sleeves hung past his hands, and several packs of compressed biscuits were clutched in his arms, their edges poking out from beneath the long cuffs. He was running at a speed completely at odds with his excessively well-behaved appearance.
Without looking back, he plunged into the narrow gap between the shelves beside her.
Then he stopped.
Because the wall was directly ahead.
…
It was Chen Ping’an.
Jiang Nuan stared at the round face she could never have mistaken for anyone else’s. The new observer sent by the Federation—the same man who had still been studying the employee handbook on his first day in Area E—was now clutching several stolen packs of compressed biscuits, trapped in a dead end beside the feminine hygiene aisle.
How had he ended up in this world too?
Chen Ping’an saw Jiang Nuan.
Jiang Nuan saw him too.
His round eyes widened. Shock, confusion, embarrassment, and finally a pitiful plea for help flashed across his face in rapid succession.
With that range of expressions, he might want to consider taking up acting.
…It seemed this observer was having a rather miserable time in this world.
She hooked the shopping basket over her arm and gestured toward it. “Put the biscuits in here and come with me.”
Chen Ping’an froze for a moment. His eyes visibly reddened.
He quickly stuffed the packs of compressed biscuits into Jiang Nuan’s basket, then followed closely behind her toward the checkout.
*
Jiang Nuan placed the items on the counter one by one.
The employee was halfway through scanning them when her gaze landed on Chen Ping’an. Her voice rose sharply. “Hey, isn’t he the one who just—”
“He’s my assistant,” Jiang Nuan interrupted. “He’s having a bad day. I’m sorry.”
The employee looked Chen Ping’an up and down and curled her lips. “Having a bad day means stealing? What kind of excuse is that?!”
Another employee, an older woman, grabbed her by the arm.
She leaned over and whispered something in her ear.
As she spoke, her eyes drifted toward the black off-road vehicle parked not far outside the supermarket’s glass doors.
It was the vehicle Jiang Nuan had arrived in from the Investigation Department.
The Area A Investigation Department insignia was displayed on its side. That was more or less synonymous with “not someone you wanted to provoke.”
The muttering employee’s expression changed. She swallowed the rest of her words, lowered her head, and continued scanning. Her hands moved faster than before, and she even added an extra plastic bag.
…Fine. The extra bag was perfect for packing the stolen compressed biscuits separately.
“Eighty-seven Federation credits.”
Jiang Nuan paid through her terminal, picked up the bag, and started toward the door. She glanced back at Chen Ping'an.
He immediately followed, striding so quickly he looked like a puppy that had finally found its owner.
Night had already fallen outside.
The sky was completely dark, and the snow showed no sign of letting up. If anything, it was coming down harder. The warm glow of the streetlamps was churned into fuzzy patches by the snow.
The two of them trudged toward the parked vehicle, their footsteps making a soft, brittle crunch with every step.
Jiang Nuan divided the three packs of compressed biscuits in the shopping bag and handed them over.
Chen Ping'an took them, stuffed them along with the plastic bag into the pocket of his oversized down jacket, then impatiently pulled out one pack, tore it open, and shoved a biscuit into his mouth.
The sleeves of the jacket extended several inches past his hands. He had to struggle to push his fingers out through the cuffs before he could tear open the packaging.
“Good thing I ran into you. I thought I was done for!”
He seemed to have a stomach full of grievances and had finally found a living person to unload them on. Even with his mouth full of biscuits, he continued mumbling.
“I had no idea this restricted zone would be like this.”
Jiang Nuan walked beside him toward the parking area.
“I’ve only been here a day, and I nearly froze to death.” He struggled to swallow the compressed biscuit, his Adam’s apple bobbing once. “Then I found out that in this world, all outsiders like us are classified as heretics. The Investigation Department and the Federation want to eliminate us, and there’s also an underground organization called the Sweepers that wants to eliminate us too.”
“Caught between two sides,” Jiang Nuan sighed, remembering what had happened when she had been caught by patrol officers on her very first day here.
“Exactly! Caught between two sides!” Chen Ping'an became so agitated that he nearly choked. He thumped his chest. “I didn’t dare use my powers in case I attracted attention, so I could only hide…”
He lowered his head and glanced at the oversized down jacket he was wearing. “I got this from another supermarket…”
As he said “got,” his eyes drifted away.
Jiang Nuan turned her head and looked at him.
…So the other supermarket had already been successfully robbed.
Before that, this man had been a perfectly respectable licensed observer of the Federation—with an official position, a salary, and full benefits.
And look at him now. He had only been in this world for a short while, yet he had already successfully committed one theft and failed at another.
What had happened to this good kid to force him into this state?
They had reached the vehicle. Zhang Qiang, an outsider still inside, was waiting for them.
The details of how exactly he had ended up here could be asked about later.
While she had been paying, Jiang Nuan had already condensed the situation into a brief encrypted message and sent it to Lu Shiyan’s terminal.
By the time they reached the vehicle, Deputy Zhang Qiang had gotten out and opened the rear door. His expression was perfectly normal, and he greeted them with a broad smile.
Apparently, Lu Shiyan had given him an explanation in advance—something along the lines of, “Advisor Jiang ran into a friend on the way.”
Jiang Nuan got in first. Chen Ping'an hunched his shoulders and ducked in after her.
The moment the door closed, warm air washed over him. The tension visibly drained from his body.
Jiang Nuan stuffed the sanitary pads and wet wipes from the shopping bag into her travel pack, trying to make the motion look as natural as possible.
Lu Shiyan’s gaze swept over her furtive movements, and he had Zhang Qiang raise the temperature inside the vehicle by another two degrees.
…She couldn’t decide whether to call him considerate or say that his powers of observation were excessive.
Once the vehicle fell quiet, Chen Ping'an sat beside Jiang Nuan, still chewing on a compressed biscuit as his eyes secretly swept over the people inside.
On Jiang Nuan’s other side sat Lu Shiyan, Captain of Team Zero.
Before entering this restricted zone, Chen Ping'an had seen Captain Lu single-handedly hold up the Sea God Tower as it was on the verge of collapse—a feat that had bordered on a miracle.
But seeing someone from a distance and sharing a confined space with them were two entirely different experiences.
Lu Shiyan was doing nothing more than leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, yet Chen Ping'an felt as though even his breathing was taking up too much room.
It was the overwhelming presence of someone who existed on a dimension far above your own.
The person in the front passenger seat was no less intimidating.
Jiang Ce, an ability user specializing in absolute defense. He had once been the person every team had scrambled to recruit. In the end, it had been a foregone conclusion that Lu Shiyan would take him under his command.
Back in the Federation, Chen Ping'an had heard that this ability user had withstood the charge of an S-rank restricted-zone monster head-on without moving an inch.
Now Jiang Ce turned halfway around and glanced at him, giving him a nod as a greeting—a belated hello, in a sense.
Even so, Chen Ping'an still felt the subtle pressure of having been casually swept by the gaze of a full-grown male lion.
He silently swallowed the last bite of compressed biscuit.
This stolen dinner was proving exceptionally difficult to eat.
Jiang Nuan glanced at the way Chen Ping'an was trying to shrink himself into a ball. Both his hands had disappeared into his overly long sleeves, and biscuit crumbs clung to the corner of his mouth.
A little cute.
*
The vehicle stopped in front of a two-story house.
Once they arrived at their lodging, Jiang Ce and Jiang Nuan got out first.
Lu Shiyan was heading straight to the Investigation Department in Area A to deal with several matters. Although the impeachment case had been settled, the mess left behind still needed to be cleaned up.
There were several personnel transfers at the Area A branch that he had to approve in person, which meant an emergency meeting in the middle of the night.
Chen Ping'an was going with him as well, to apply for temporary identification.
Now that he had been dragged into this world, he needed a legal identity. Otherwise, he would have to keep stealing biscuits the next time he went out.
Besides, the offensive power of an A-rank lightning ability user was valuable here. They needed every fighter they could get right now.
With the heavy snow, the two of them would probably end up spending the night at the Investigation Department.
Chen Ping'an’s expression was a spectacular sight, repeatedly shifting between profound relief and complete tension. In the end, he forced out a stiff smile.
His face clearly said: Please save me. Will I die if I’m left alone with him?
Jiang Nuan mouthed, “Good luck.”
Chen Ping'an’s face fell for a moment, but he still braced himself and straightened his back.
The car door shut. The taillights of the black SUV glowed briefly before it slowly pulled away, vanishing into the blizzard.
The red points of light grew smaller and smaller, then disappeared into the vast white haze.
*
The two-story house before them was half-hidden beneath the snow. A string of warm lights even hung from the wrought-iron railing of the second-floor balcony, swaying and blinking in the wind and snow. Zhang Qiang had probably put them up so they would be able to find the door when they returned at night.
Jiang Ce stood half a step away from her, his broad shoulders and back shielding her from most of the wind blowing through.
Even through the thickness of their down jackets, she could feel the warm heat radiating from him beside her. He wasn’t deliberately moving closer, but neither was he putting distance between them.
“Let’s go inside.” Jiang Ce’s voice was softer than usual, as though he were afraid of disturbing the quiet snowy night. “It’s too cold out here.”
Jiang Nuan took two steps toward the door.
Then she suddenly realized something.
Tonight, there were only two people in the house.
Her and Jiang Ce.
