She was standing so close to Zane, and her voice hadn't exactly been quiet. It wasn't noisy around them either—how could he not have heard her?
This was totally selective hearing!
And now he was changing the subject!
She glanced at Zane, who happened to look back at her at the same time. Their eyes met—Zane looked completely clueless.
"Senior, what's wrong?"
Oh, right. When there's a problem, she's his master. But when there's nothing going on, suddenly it's just senior.
Ever since they confirmed their master-disciple relationship, Zane had only called her "master" twice. She really wanted to hear it a few more times.
Qingyi gritted her teeth but chose to let it go.
"By the way, Zane, there's something I need to tell you."
"Those two guys who managed to survive earlier—due to some unexpected circumstances, they couldn't be convicted. So you won't need to testify after all."
Qingyi had nearly forgotten about it, so she figured she'd mention it now while there was time.
"Unexpected circumstances? What kind?"
Although Zane already knew the truth, he still played along with a fairly normal reaction in front of Qingyi.
"The Defense Force base in the Mars District was attacked. Those two... Let's just say they won't be needing lawyers anymore."
Qingyi said lightly, letting the euphemism speak for itself.
"What?! Something like that happened...?"
Zane feigned shock, then let out a sigh.
But seeing that he didn't ask for more details, Qingyi raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"What? Aren't you curious about what happened exactly?"
She had even prepared how to dramatically describe the entire event to him.
"Not really. If it involves the Defense Force, it's probably classified. Better if I stay out of it."
Zane shook his head. Like hell he'd be curious—the mastermind was him. No one in all of New Eridu knew more about what happened than he did.
"Eh... it's not exactly a secret. There are already posts about it online…"
Qingyi recalled the reports she'd seen, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Oh right! Zane, do you remember the Fire Picker I mentioned to you before?"
"I told you—right before we helped evacuate the residents with Hare's House, I ran into him in the Dead End Hollow!"
Zane raised his eyebrows. He'd already been curious about this "Fire Picker" character, but he didn't expect Qingyi had actually encountered him.
Unfortunately, he had been busy dealing with the Dead End Butcher at the time and missed it.
Seeing that Zane was interested, Qingyi continued.
"He was fighting the Dead End Butcher when I saw him. He even taught my coworker a lesson in the middle of it. Sadly, we didn't get to talk much before he left."
"Actually, he saved my life once."
"I want to look into him. It's not an assignment—it's personal. Zhu Yuan is helping me."
Dead End Butcher?
Zane, who was growing increasingly curious, frowned the moment he heard that name. Something felt... off.
"That attack on the Defense Force base I mentioned? The Fire Picker was the one who did it."
When Qingyi said that, everything finally clicked for Zane. He looked at her—still so curious about the Fire Picker—and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
So... he was the Fire Picker all along.
And someone had come up with that weird name for him?
He hadn't even used much fire energy.
...
Meanwhile, far above, in one of the city's tall buildings, a certain Staff Corps major sneezed. Her friends looked over with concern, but she just waved it off.
Frowning slightly, she glanced at the weather forecast from the past few days. Strange. She shouldn't be catching anything...
Had her constitution gotten weaker?
...
Demolition Command Site.
"Senior, remember how you mentioned there was a mole in the Public Security Bureau? What's the situation with that now?"
Zane seized the opportunity to change the subject as soon as Qingyi stopped talking about the Fire Picker.
Hearing her talk about "him"—even though she didn't know it was actually him—still made him feel awkward.
As for this mole in the Bureau, he didn't recall any such thing, so he was genuinely curious.
"The mole, huh…"
Qingyi paused and sighed.
"It's complicated. I can't explain it clearly, but let's just say it's not something that can be resolved anytime soon."
"There are too many players involved."
It was the first time Zane had seen her with such a weary expression. It gave him a rough idea of how tangled the power structures in New Eridu really were.
Moles... yeah, no place was ever free of them.
Qingyi's eyes flickered thoughtfully as if she was recalling something.
"The infighting among the powerful never ends. The greed, the scheming—it never stops."
"It was like this in the old capital. It's still like this now in the new one."
"Leeching off the dead, rising through shady deals... humans, honestly... sigh."
She seemed worried that Zane would become too disillusioned with the Bureau, so she looked at him again and smiled.
"But in the end, people who still believe in justice outnumber the corrupt ones. Don't worry—those parasites will get flushed out eventually."
"I believe you, Senior."
Zane nodded at her.
Qingyi smiled softly at his words, the mechanical coldness in her gaze melting away without her even realizing it.
A Android and a human. Master and disciple.
What a strange pairing.
"Alright, I've talked long enough. I've still got work to do. You'd better go meet up with your friends."
She waved him off.
Zane knew what she meant—she didn't want to hold him up.
But honestly, if he had to compare, his connection to Hare's House wasn't even half as deep as the bond he had with Qingyi.
...
In the center of the command site, Billy and Eous finally arrived.
Nekomata was listening to Nicole and Anby, tears running down her face.
When Zane walked over, Nekomata tried to stop crying, but emotions weren't something she could just switch off.
"Why the tears?"
"If a cat cries too much, her eyes will turn into cat's eye stones…"
Zane chuckled softly, teasing her.
Nekomata wiped her eyes, muttering through her sniffles,
"Where the heck did you hear that? Eyes turning into gemstones from crying? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard…"
"And I'm a Catperson, not a cat-cat, okay?"
Seeing her mood lift a bit, Zane gave a small smile, then turned to Nicole.
"Hey, Nicole. You're planning a group dinner, right? You included everyone—but not me?"
"I helped you all out so much. How could you leave me out?"
His tone was calm, his face still smiling—but to Nicole, it felt like a looming threat.
Like if she didn't fix this fast, he'd turn into an Ethereal and deck her.
That Dead End Butcher had been nearly crippled by one kick. If she took a punch...
Just imagining it made Nicole shiver, and she quickly blurted out—