When Gu Qiye opened his eyes, the plane had already landed, and the sign inside the cabin in red letters read: Arrived at Osaka International Airport. Please disembark soon and take all personal belongings with you.
He took out his phone from the seat, skillfully switched the ti zone, and then glanced at the numbers at the top right corner of the screen.
Local ti was 12 noon on August 10.
Looking up and around, the airplane cabin was empty except for him and You Ruirui.
Everyone else had already left, but You Ruirui hadn’t woken him up. Instead, she sat beside him, quietly playing on a tablet.
Gu Qiye put his phone back in his pocket, turned his head to look at her, and saw she was still playing the ga called Life Is Strange, where a brunette girl and a blue-haired girl held hands, walking along train tracks.
The midsumr sunlight stread in through the window, casting light on the girl’s transparent skin. She lowered her ice-blue eyes and said without lifting her head:
"You’re awake."
"Why didn’t you wake up?" Gu Qiye asked as he straightened up from the seatback, rubbing the sides of his nose.
"Because you looked tired," You Ruirui said, putting away the tablet.
"Everyone else has left?"
"More or less," You Ruirui said calmly, "Next, we should head to the Osaka Mutants Branch building. Japan’s officials have prepared our accommodations in advance, and we have a eting there." With that, she got up first.
Gu Qiye slowly got up and followed her to the cabin exit ramp.
"Wait a mont. There’s still one more person on the plane. We have a duty to wake her up." The Icelandic girl suddenly turned around, opened the door to the connecting passage, and walked into the corridor between the two cabins.
Gu Qiye stopped, turned his head, and followed her with his gaze, only to see a black coffin lying quietly on the central passage.
The coffin’s surface was decorated with bright red roses and green thorns, intertwined to create a stark contrast with the coffin itself, exuding a strangely enchanting yet old-fashioned beauty. It would be eye-catching anywhere, let alone on a plane.
"Esther still hasn’t woken up?" Gu Qiye asked curiously.
"Not awake,"
You Ruirui replied as she continued playing on her tablet, leisurely walking toward the coffin.
Then, without any change in her expression, she lifted her foot and kicked the coffin without holding back.
A "thud" sounded, and Gu Qiye blinked in slight surprise, then let out a dry chuckle.
Watching You Ruirui’s back, he asked in a teasing tone, "Aren’t you afraid that two-hundred-year-old lady might suddenly jump out of the coffin and eat you?"
"This is the only way to wake her up," You Ruirui said as she turned and walked out of the central passage, like a cat leaving after doing sothing naughty, her steps light and indifferent.
She suddenly hooked Gu Qiye’s sleeve, pulling him toward the ramp, and quickly let go, "If we don’t want to be eaten, let’s hurry up and leave."
Gu Qiye shrugged and obediently followed her off the plane.
Just after stepping off the ramp, he suddenly heard a rumbling sound from the coffin on the plane, and the coffin lid was moved. It seed the black-haired, red-eyed gothic girl had finally erged, and judging by the noise, she was in quite a mood upon waking up.
Gu Qiye and You Ruirui felt a chill emanate from behind them, their hair standing on end, so they walked straight toward the exit of Osaka Airport without looking back.
"Oh, right, I heard others calling you ’Emotionless Girl’ before, so I looked up the definition online. So said, ’cut open, they’re all black inside,’ and it seems to be true," Gu Qiye said with a sigh.
"I don’t think of myself as emotionless at all; it’s just a code na Urushibara Ryuri casually gave ," You Ruirui said. "Quite the contrary, I have a lot of little ideas."
"Okay, okay, sorry, I also ntioned before you seed like a robot."
"I don’t accept your apology."
"I’ll take your little ideas into account more in the future and not treat you like a robot."
"Okay, I forgive you," You Ruirui said softly.
The two continued to chat as they left the airport, arriving at the streets of Osaka. The designated cars for transportation had already been taken by others, so they caught a yellow taxi to the Osaka Mutants Association headquarters.
They took a glass-walled elevator, looking out at the bright sumr sky.
White birds flitted beneath the clouds, and utility poles and neon signboards were as ubiquitous as a deck of cards spread casually on a table. On the building’s LED screen, an advertisent for a ring endorsed by Japanese celebrity Shintani Makoto flickered.
The carriage was silent. The two stood side by side but didn’t speak, the glass walls glistening in the sumr sunlight, like a sea under the setting sun.
Gu Qiye turned his head, daydreaming as he looked at the Osaka streetscape, while You Ruirui played on her tablet, occasionally glancing at his profile with the corner of her eye.
"By the way," You Ruirui suddenly spoke.
"What is it?" Gu Qiye turned to look at her.
"Do you rember the Welfare Institute I ntioned before?" she asked.
"I rember," Gu Qiye nodded.
The Icelandic girl had ntioned to him before that there were children from a Welfare Institute in Li Jing who got caught in a terrorist attack. He saved them, and You Ruirui has been using her salary from Rainbow Wings to support that Welfare Institute, sotis visiting there to see them, so she learned about this from the kids.
"After this mission is over, could you accompany to Li Jing?"
"Why?"
"I want to take you to see the kids at the Welfare Institute. They really want to et you," You Ruirui said. "At first, most of what I knew about you was from them. At that ti, to make them a bit happier, I promised them that if I ever t you, I’d bring you to see them."
She thought for a mont: "But I never expected that I would actually get to know you later on."
Gu Qiye was stunned for a mont, then smiled and calmly said, "Anyway, I have to go ho after the mission, so..." he stopped abruptly.
Suddenly, he rembered that once the Light-Eating Bee mission ended, he would have to part ways with You Ruirui. By then, he was labeled as the culprit who killed the Father of Puppets, standing in stark opposition to Rainbow Wings, becoming a bona fide fugitive.
"What’s wrong?" You Ruirui noticed he suddenly stopped talking and turned her head to stare at him.
"It’s nothing..." Gu Qiye shook his head, "Let think about it so more."
You Ruirui thought for a mont and said softly:
"Of course, you can totally refuse without feeling any ntal burden because this is not so kind of ’moral blackmail’; it’s just an invitation from as a friend.
"Being with those kids at the Welfare Institute is one of the few tis I feel a sense of belonging... I’m a wanderer, with very little to my na, no family, and very few friends. As a friend, I’m a boring person. So, I thought about sothing I could share with you, and the answer I ca up with was their smiles..."
She paused: "So, I hope I can share them with you, and hope to share you with them, that’s all."
For once, the Icelandic girl spoke haltingly. She lacked the usual cleanliness and brevity like a robot and seed instead to be rambling, incoherent.
It was as if there was an error in the program weaving her words, but she tried hard to prevent her words from turning into a jumble.
"Could a robot also fear rejection?" Gu Qiye thought, looking at her expression.
He was silent for a mont, then caught on to her words, "Sharing with them, why does it sound like I’m your possession."
Hearing this, You Ruirui was stunned, then shook her head slightly, her snow-white bangs swaying lightly.
"That’s just imprecise language, it’s not my true intention."
"Alright, I promise you." Gu Qiye curled up the corners of his mouth, "After the mission, if there’s still a chance, I’ll accompany you to the Welfare Institute to see those kids... Actually, I wasn’t hesitating to refuse you, I just suddenly rembered other plans and was considering if they would conflict."
You Ruirui remained silent.
After a long while, a faint smile appeared on her face, "Thank you."
"No need to thank , we’re friends," Gu Qiye said, "I should be thanking you for introducing your... little friends to ."
"They’re really good kids; after Blue Arc died, so cried all night, wailing and unable to get up the next day, and even got punished by the nurse for standing," she said, glancing up at Gu Qiye. "Heartbreaker."
"Alright, alright, how did I end up being a heartbreaker now?"
With laughter and chatter, the elevator reached the 20th floor of the Osaka Mutants Association building. With a "buzz," the carriage doors opened outward.
The two walked into a hallway lined with red carpet, walked straight ahead, and arrived at the conference room at the end.
Pushing open the black door and entering the room, they saw Commander Chen Xi was sitting in a swivel chair, while the other 9 mbers of Rainbow Wings had already gathered. They seated themselves around the long table, with Esther slowly making her way over.
Gu Qiye and You Ruirui silently found adjacent seats and sat down.
Chen Xi said, "With the help of the Exorcist Association, the authorities now have equipnt to detect the Light-Eating Bee’s location. So we are sending a team to eliminate the Light-Eating Bees hidden in the city within today, and to completely clear out their nests built in the city; while another team will head to Naless Island to investigate the situation there, to facilitate future strategic planning."
She paused, "I know you won’t follow my arrangents, so allocate your personnel yourselves to ensure completing these two tasks by today."
"Can’t we just head straight to the island and wipe them all out?" asked Fan Dongqing.
"No."
"Arrogance... is humanity’s greatest weakness," ca a hoarse voice from beneath the bandages on the Father of Puppets’ face.
Fan Dongqing turned to look at him, "Bandage man, don’t teach how to do things."
"The arrogant... will bring about their own downfall," continued the Father of Puppets.
"Switch to manual," Fan Dongqing sighed.
Gu Qiye raised his head and quietly gazed at the Father of Puppets, as if a pitch-black electric light passed through his pupils.
He took a deep breath, lowered his head in silence for a mont, then turned to You Ruirui, "What do you say?"
"What?" You Ruirui looked up from her tablet to him.
"Should we stay in Japan to clear the grunts, or should we explore the situation on the island?" he asked.
"Both are possible," You Ruirui said, "These tasks can all be resolved today."
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