Aside from the ambush at the factory entrance and the flammable materials inside, the rest of the operation went very smoothly. Shirou's agile movents quickly suppressed the remaining wanted criminals.
The presence of those gas cylinders gave Chen a bad feeling.
Brand-new cylinders filled with flammable gas being stored in an abandoned factory was simply too suspicious. Yet no matter how the Guard Departnt interrogated the criminals, they could not get any useful information.
They could not learn why these people had joined forces, nor who had placed the cylinders there.
And most importantly... just after they returned to the Guard Departnt, they imdiately received news that more wanted criminals had appeared.
However, manpower was still insufficient, and this ti the criminals had split up. That ant she and Hoshiguma would have to divide their teams.
"Shirou should stay with Old Chen."
After thinking for a mont, Hoshiguma decided to bring a few extra people with her while assigning Shirou to Chen's side.
After all, teaming up with either her or Chen would not make much difference for Shirou. Besides, she did not really have experience commanding him.
And if Shirou paired with Chen, they would probably be able to finish things as quickly as possible and then move to support the others.
Additionally, Shirou could sowhat cover the role of a Defender for her. Setting aside that semi-transparent purple shield from earlier, he had previously used her Hannya shield to withstand a car crash. Hoshiguma was quite optimistic about him.
Actually, the ideal arrangent would have been one team for her, one team for Chen, and one team for Shirou alone. But Shirou lacked experience leading a squad, so that idea had to be abandoned.
As for Swire?
Missy was extrely busy. The workload at the Guard Departnt had been enormous lately. Whenever she and Chen went out on missions, Swire was the one maintaining the departnt's operations.
Just how busy was she?
Hoshiguma said that she had not seen the usual dragon-and-tiger argunts for quite a while now. She actually missed them a little, because if those two had the energy to argue, it ant work pressure was not so high.
Not only had the argunts disappeared, but even the number of tis they ca together for lunch had dropped significantly. Most of the ti, Shirou simply delivered lunchboxes to her, and Missy would eat while handling paperwork at the sa ti.
Otherwise, there simply would not be enough ti.
"No problem. You all go ahead first."
Chen thought Hoshiguma's proposal was quite reliable.
Hoshiguma's squad specialized in steady and cautious progress, while Chen's side focused on quick resolutions and rapidly supporting other teams afterward.
After receiving Chen's instructions, Hoshiguma departed first with part of the squad. Shirou remained behind with Chen and the other squad mbers.
"Looks like I will be working overti very late again today."
After exchanging glances with everyone, Shirou decided to speak first and break the silence.
Chen and the other Guard Departnt mbers: "..."
The words "again today" stabbed directly into everyone's hearts. Heaven knew how many days of overti they had already endured, and now Shirou had unintentionally added another blow.
Painful indeed.
"Rember to inform Penguin Logistics... otherwise if those few start causing trouble, our workload will increase even more."
Faced with Shirou's unintentional verbal attack, Chen could only brush it aside lightly.
At the sa ti, she reminded him to notify Penguin Logistics. She definitely did not want to receive reports later that night about Penguin Logistics street racing and fighting again.
"Do not worry. I already told them."
Waving the phone in his hand slightly, Shirou replied.
He had naturally thought of that as well, and even more deeply than Chen had. He only managed to calm those few down by promising an extra-large feast tomorrow as compensation.
"Then let us head out... and Shirou, be careful during the operation. The things stored in that factory earlier seed specifically aid at you."
Seeing that Shirou had already handled everything properly, Chen nodded.
There was no ti to think too much about these matters now. They needed to capture these criminals as quickly as possible.
After boarding the Guard Departnt vehicle, Chen and Shirou sat in the back seat. She intended to use the travel ti to think through their next course of action.
Recalling what had happened in the abandoned warehouse earlier, she spoke to Shirou.
"Understood."
Shirou nodded in response. He had also seen those things and naturally understood what would have happened if he had used even more firepower at the ti.
After seeing that Shirou understood her aning, Chen lowered her head again and began studying the terminal in her hands.
Until they reached their destination, the atmosphere inside the vehicle remained extrely quiet.
Chen was thinking about tactics, while the others took the opportunity to rest with their eyes closed. Only Shirou sat there, seemingly lost in thought.
He vaguely had a bad feeling, as though soone was specifically targeting him.
Or perhaps they were targeting the Guard Departnt?
The existence of those gas cylinders alone did not prove anything. Anyone from the Guard Departnt using heavier firepower could have triggered an explosion. He was not the only one capable of setting them off.
If Chen beside him had failed to notice those things and drawn Chi Xiao, those cylinders definitely would have exploded as well.
At that mont, Shirou felt sowhat uneasy.
What kind of wanted criminals would all suddenly appear during the sa ti period? Chen and Hoshiguma had definitely realized this as well. But as mbers of the Guard Departnt, their job was to bring these people to justice. Even if there was a trap ahead, they still had to walk into it.
As for Shirou, he simply did not want to see the people of the Guard Departnt getting hurt by these traps, whether it was Chen, Hoshiguma, Swire, whom he knew relatively well, or the other Guard Departnt mbers.
After all, Shirou had spent a long ti at the Guard Departnt already. Even though those people always used strange nicknas for him behind his back, it did not stop him from thinking that way.
Even if they were strangers, Shirou still did not want to see them get hurt before his eyes.
Licking his slightly dry lips, Shirou ford a decision in his heart.
He intended to stop holding back.
If the enemy chose to surrender, he could restrain himself sowhat. But if they insisted on resisting to the end...
Looking at his own hands, Shirou clearly understood what he was thinking.
He did not care about staining his hands with blood. From the day he beca a magus, he had already prepared himself for that. Besides, back on the snowy plains along the Ursus border, he had already killed the casters who drove infected creatures to attack villages.
And compared to back then, he was much stronger now. Not only had his proficiency with magecraft improved greatly, but his body had beco stronger as well.
Additionally, the Emperor and Yith had intentionally exposed Shirou to many things, broadening his experience.
He was no longer the Emiya Shirouwho knew nothing about this land.
Clenching his fists tightly, Shirou had already made up his mind.
Clack—
The sound of gears turning rang out.
However, Shirou paid no attention to it. After all, the vehicle was currently driving through the streets of Lungn, and his hearing was fairly sharp now. Hearing strange noises felt perfectly normal to him.
The following operations were fairly simple. Since they already had intelligence, mobilizing the Guard Departnt's resources to search the last known locations of those people was not difficult at all. With physical descriptions available, tracing them through surveillance caras was easy.
It was almost as if soone intentionally wanted the Guard Departnt to find them.
None of them paid much attention to that detail. Shirou was practically giving everything he had in capturing these people.
With his excellent eyesight, hearing, and combat ability, combined with the Guard Departnt's logistical support, Shirou almost never missed his targets. Before those people could even react, his blade was already at their throats, leaving them no choice but to obediently surrender to the Guard Departnt.
This forceful approach naturally caused quite a bit of property damage, but this was not the ti to worry about such issues. So Chen simply turned a blind eye, telling the cleanup personnel to make so records so she could apply for compensation later.
Honestly, the destruction caused by Shirou was already relatively minor. If it had been her instead, it might have been even worse. After all, she had collapsed that underground room previously.
Right now, Shirou looked exactly like soone desperately trying to finish work early and go ho to rest. Combined with the intense overti of the past few days, Chen herself was not in particularly good condition either, so she naturally did not notice the subtle change in him.
Or rather, the change itself was difficult to notice. Shirou handled things far too quickly, and those criminals were all smart enough not to resist, so the worst-case scenario had not yet occurred.
The biggest problem was probably Shirou's stamina. The mont he finished dealing with one criminal, another location would imdiately arrive, as though all the criminals in Lungn were hosting so massive gathering tonight.
One after another they ca out partying, and one after another they were arrested by the Guard Departnt.
To conserve magical energy and stamina, Shirou simply kept Kanshou and Bakuya manifested beside him instead of dismissing them. Saving even a little energy mattered.
At the mont, they were still only capturing criminals within the city and suburban areas. No one had gone into the slums yet.
However, they also had not received any reports from the slums so far.
"Good work. Take a short break."
After Shirou once again subdued a criminal at incredible speed, Chen handed him a bottle of water.
While Shirou had been capturing people, she had not been idle either. New ssages had constantly been arriving on her terminal until just now.
She had been handling the scene while also processing those ssages, but currently no new information was coming in.
That was good news. It ant they could finally rest for a little while.
The other Guard Departnt mbers nearby were currently napping inside the vehicles. The long hours of overti combined with continuously taking turns driving had exhausted them.
However, the most exhausted people present were definitely not them, but rather Chen, who was still busy working, and Shirou, who had been acting as the main force the entire ti.
"So these people have finally cald down?"
After accepting the water, Shirou asked the question before tilting his head back and taking a mouthful.
He no longer even knew how many people he had captured. By now, the ti had already passed one in the morning.
That ant they had been busy the entire night without any rest at all.
And today was the Rembrance day, which only made the Guard Departnt even busier.
Shirou could already imagine how terrible the atmosphere at the Guard Departnt would be tomorrow, though he himself was not in much better condition right now.
Although they had not encountered the worst-case scenario today, they had still gone through quite a few battles.
Fortunately, during all these operations, Shirou had never sensed any overwhelming malice. That was also one of the main reasons why he dared to act so aggressively.
"You have already captured quite a lot of people... at the very least, the Guard Departnt's wanted list should shrink by more than twenty pages now."
After confirming Hoshiguma's progress, Chen put away her terminal and leaned back against the vehicle.
She really was sowhat tired, though still within acceptable limits. During this operation, Shirou had basically handled everything on the front lines, and she could not recklessly jump into combat herself. All she could do was stay behind, direct the others, and provide support for Shirou.
"Only twenty pages? That little?"
Hearing that it would only reduce the list by a little over twenty pages, Shirou felt it sounded rather small.
"That is already a lot. Each page records several people."
Seeing Shirou looking dissatisfied, Chen complained.
The number of arrests they had made during that period alone was practically equal to around half a year's worth of work, and he still thought it was too little?
If there had been even more, they probably would have had to work until sunrise.
"I see... then what do we do now? Head back?"
After hearing Chen's explanation, Shirou realized he had misunderstood, though it was not really a major issue.
What he cared about more now was what they would do next. Were they returning, or staying here on standby?
"Let us head back to the Guard Departnt and rest first. This is not exactly a good place to rest."
Chen glanced around at the surroundings as she spoke.
Although Lungn's city streets were very quiet in the early morning, a Guard Departnt vehicle was hardly a good place to sleep.
And it was ti to refuel as well. After all, they had been driving around for the entire night, practically covering all of Lungn's urban and suburban areas.
"Alright. Are you driving?"
Noticing the others resting in the back seats, Shirou asked.
"...I am driving. And you really should go get a driver's license already."
Hearing Shirou's question, Chen revealed a helpless expression as she answered.
She genuinely did not understand why Shirou kept delaying getting a license. Was a driver's license not necessary for working at Penguin Logistics?
Oh right, this guy rode a bicycle faster than most people drove cars. Never mind then.
Chen knew about the trending post on Lungn's online headlines so ti ago, the one about a cyclist leaving behind afterimages while speeding through the streets.
Back then, the Guard Departnt had not been nearly this busy, so they had still had the leisure to discuss things like that.
Besides, anyone sowhat familiar with Shirou would have recognized him imdiately. After all, there was only one red-haired person in Lungn without racial characteristics, and that was Shirou.
Still, no matter how fast a bicycle was, it could never truly match the convenience of a car.
"Ah, well... I will go when I have ti later."
After hearing Chen say that, Shirou felt that he really should learn how to drive.
Previously, he had always felt awkward because he had concealed his age, so he never went to take the test. But now his actual age was already eighteen, which ant he was old enough to get a license in Lungn.
And he had so money saved up too. Buying a motorcycle should still be possible.
He actually felt sowhat excited about the idea. He had wanted one for a while already, but back then most of his money had gone into the Fuyuki Shop, so he had given up on it.
Now that Chen had reminded him, Shirou felt he could absolutely go learn how to drive and maybe even get both types of licenses while he was at it.
After all, who could resist a motorcycle with a cool design?
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