·38｜Exclusive to Jinjiang·38

Perhaps I am just a copy.

Regarding Yomi's special abilities, Rei Furuya and the Mobile Suit Gundam Ace hold completely different opinions.

Rei Furuya believed that resources should be used rationally, and Yomi Yorikawa should be allowed to help in special situations whenever possible. However, both Hagiwara and Matsuda opposed this without exception, fiercely protecting Yomi Yorikawa like a mother hen protecting her own.

Morofushi Kagemitsu chose to remain silent. He personally hoped that Yomi Yorikawa could offer assistance, but he also fully respected Yomi Yorikawa's opinion. He would never take the initiative to express his opinion or induce Yomi Yorikawa to make a choice.

But before this matter could be resolved, a major incident occurred in the Mihana district.

"Soft bread, the mobile team will also be on patrol today. I estimate they won't be back until very late. You'll have to take care of your own dinner. Remember to be careful, okay?"

Kenji Hagiwara wished he could call Yomi Rikawa ten times a day to give her instructions.

"Okay."

"Don't buy fast food from convenience stores! Absolutely! Don't buy it!"

"Don't worry, I won't get food poisoning."

Several people in the Beika neighborhood were taken to the hospital after being poisoned. After an all-night investigation, the First Investigation Division classified the incident as a random poisoning murder targeting convenience store bento boxes. Now, all departments of the Metropolitan Police Department have been mobilized for 24-hour patrols and investigations.

After hanging up the phone, Kenji Hagiwara stared blankly at the name of Yomi Laichuan on his phone screen. He hadn't eaten with his "soft bread" (his friend) for several days, and these past two days he'd been so busy he hadn't even had time to see him.

"Hagi's gone," Matsuda Jinpei said, having already changed out of his suit and into a police uniform. "It's time to relieve the Second Mobile Unit."

"Yes—" Ken Hagiwara, the second-in-command, tucked his gun into his police belt and picked up his police cap from the table: "Hopefully there won't be any more victims."

Matsuda Jinpei fastened his police cap, pressing down his smooth curly hair: "Did you tell Yomi not to buy food outside?"

"It might be unrealistic to tell her not to eat it, but I did tell her not to eat convenient bento boxes."

All known victims have experienced food poisoning after consuming snacks from vending machines.

Just as Kenji Hagiwara said, Yomi Laichuan, who had just hung up the phone, was sitting in a dessert shop, eating one cup of ice cream after another with a spoon in her mouth.

Panic began to spread in Tokyo following the poisoning incident. Although the poison had so far only been injected into sealed bento boxes on the shelves, who knew if the perpetrator might suddenly decide to target other areas?

No one dares to gamble their life on an unknown possibility, even if the probability of it happening is less than one percent. But once it happens, for the victim, it's one hundred percent.

As a result, not only bento boxes, but also other food items on the shelves and delivery services all fell into a state of desertedness, with no one buying them. Even Kenji Hagiwara stopped buying bear-shaped cookies and yogurt for Yomi Raikawa.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan put the strawberry on top of the ice cream into her mouth, then sat by the shop window with her chin resting on her hand, watching the patrolling police officers who passed by from time to time.

— "1107, do you remember the red-haired woman you met last time, 'Yomi Raikawa'?"

The administrator's voice suddenly rang in my ears.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan took out his phone and pretended to make a call, replying softly, "I remember."

She was deeply impressed by the woman who shared her name but had no face.

"She's in danger, go save her!"

"Huh?" Lai Chuan Huang Quan was stunned. "But didn't you tell me not to get close to her?"

"Yes, you need to avoid direct contact with her as much as possible, but she absolutely cannot die."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan took another spoonful of ice cream, looked around, and then lowered his voice to ask, "Will her death affect my relief mission?"

"No. But if she dies, the relief efforts will have disastrous consequences. At least for both of us."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan frowned: "Where is she now?"

"I will send you there via spatial teleportation. Be prepared."

Upon hearing this, Lai Chuan Huang Quan grabbed her bag and went into the dessert shop's public restroom. The countdown in her ears kept decreasing, and the moment it reached zero, she landed inside an abandoned building that was about to be demolished.

The interior was dilapidated, with pitted holes in the walls and piles of stones and a thick layer of dust on the cement floor. The building stood at the end of a deserted street, where passersby hurried by, unaware that a murder was taking place inside the abandoned building, separated by green netting.

When Lai Chuan Huang Quan landed, the air was stirred up and a cloud of dust rose up. She raised her hand to brush away the dust that was blocking her vision and finally saw the scene in front of her clearly.

The demolished walls revealed the entire floor of the flat building. A woman, whose face was obscured, lay on the ground, her bright red hair scattered like seaweed. A man dressed in black straddled her waist, his hands gripping her neck tightly.

The sound of Lai Chuan Huang Quan landing startled the man. He glared with his long, narrow, bloodshot phoenix eyes, a murderous intent surging within them. The attacked woman tensed her muscles, her fingers gripping the man's fingers that were choking her throat. She slowly kicked her legs twice, on the verge of shock.

“Another one,” the man’s voice was hoarse, his words like the flicking tongue of a snake: “How come I’ve been caught killing someone twice in a row today?”

He tightened his grip, squeezing the woman's neck muscles until they caved in. The next second, he rolled to the side, dodging Lai Chuan Huang Quan's kick.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan stood in front of the woman, taking a step back and assuming a posture ready to attack at any moment.

The red-haired woman, now released, lay limp on the ground, unconscious. A ring of finger marks and the Yoshikawa lines she had drawn while struggling were visible on her neck. Her chest was rising and falling slightly. The caretaker offered no further warnings or instructions; it seemed Yomi Yorikawa had arrived just in time.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan stared intently at the man in front of him, not daring to even blink.

As the man got up from the ground, he casually picked up a piece of rusty metal pipe. The highly corroded metal pipe had become brittle and had lost its original hardness. But if this thing had scratched him and caused a bleeding wound, without getting a tetanus shot at the hospital immediately, he would most likely have died from an infected wound.

He glanced quickly at the unconscious woman on the ground, then stared at Lai Chuan Huang Quan with a sinister look. He sneered, but what he said was incomprehensible to Lai Chuan Huang Quan: "Two sisters, huh? They look so alike."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan frowned, but had no time to heed the man's words. Her gaze darted back and forth between the man and the pipe in his hand, then she took a deep breath: "Don't move a thing!"

The next second, she lowered her center of gravity, her taut leg muscles like a spring, propelling her forward. After two running starts, Lai Chuan Huang Quan executed a 360° spin side kick, her taut calf striking the man's head with force. She then bent her leg and delivered a powerful knee strike to the man's abdomen.

The man remained in a severely injured posture in the suspended time and space, his eyes wide open, so wide that his eyeballs bulged out.

The countdown ended, and the man slammed heavily to the ground with a loud thud, losing consciousness amidst the rising dust.

Seeing that the man had no chance of getting up, Lai Chuan Huang Quan squatted down next to the red-haired woman in the mask, his fingers probing her pulse: "Administrator, what should I do now? Should I call the police?"

After a moment's thought, the administrator provided an answer.

—"Call Rei Furuya, he'll take care of the rest."

—"As for 'Lai Chuan Huang Quan' on the ground, take her home now before her father gets off work. I will erase this memory of her later."

"But I don't know her address."

--"I know."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan was stunned. She keenly grasped the key to the problem: "...? Administrator, how do you know her address? Not only that, but you also keep track of her movements. What secret does she hold?"

The administrator paused for a moment, then slowly spoke:

"Let's deal with the situation first; that's more important. We can discuss the rest later."

"Alright."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan also knew the importance and urgency of things. She called Furuya Rei to explain the situation, and then hurriedly went to a convenience store to buy a bottle of baijiu.

The bottle was tilted, and the clear liquid was spilled onto the woman by Raikawa Yomi. After confirming that the woman's smell of alcohol was enough to disguise her as a drunkard, Raikawa Yomi rolled up his sleeves and prepared to carry the woman on the ground.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan has good footwork skills, so she can almost always land a Taekwondo kick attack. However, she has weak arm strength, the kind of person who can be easily overpowered in an arm wrestling match.

Now, Lai Chuan Huang Quan is asked to move a woman of similar size to herself. She puts her hands on her hips and feels a headache coming on.

Although he really wanted to ask Kenji for help, he was busy on patrol right now. Officer Matsuda was probably in no better shape. As for Morofushi Hiromitsu, he was currently the one with the least freedom of movement among the four.

After much deliberation, Lai Chuan Huang Quan closed his eyes, sighed deeply, and resignedly squatted down.

She placed her arms under the woman's knees and armpits, took a deep breath, tensed her muscles, and exerted force with all her might. The result was completely unexpected—she easily lifted the woman up.

Moreover, because the woman in his arms was much lighter than expected, Lai Chuan Huang Quan exerted too much force when he stood up, and lost his balance, taking several steps backward.

...?

Lai Chuan Huang Quan froze, she bounced the woman in her arms, and her mind went blank for a moment.

Why is it so light? It's as if... she's just holding an empty shell.

But she could indeed feel the woman's warm body temperature and her throbbing pulse.

Without thinking twice, Lai Chuan Huang Quan hailed a taxi, made an excuse that his best friend was drunk, paid the driver for lost wages and cleaning fees, and then sent the woman home.

The dimly lit detached villa was located in the most bustling 2-cho area of ​​Beika Street. Following the administrator's instructions, Yomi Yorikawa easily opened the villa's door by entering the correct password.

"There are security cameras at the entrance of this villa. I will sabotage the equipment, erase all the footage from today, and create the illusion that the equipment is malfunctioning. Now, you should leave this place."

But Lai Chuan Huang Quan didn't leave; she looked at the photos hanging on the escalator wall one by one.

The wall of photos, arranged chronologically from left to right, features a dense row of pictures of faceless women from infancy to adulthood.

Occasionally there will be a few photos with family, but after the woman grew up to the age of wearing a junior high school sailor uniform, the mother's role has never appeared in the photos again, only the father.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan raised his hand and gently stroked the most recent photograph with his fingertips. Under the glass frame, a man in an expensive suit with a mustache had his slicked-back hair framing a few strands of gray hair.

“Administrator,” Lai Chuan Huang Quan stared wide-eyed at the middle-aged man, “I always feel that this man’s features look a bit like mine.”

But Lai Chuan Huang Quan searched through all her memories and found that she had never seen this man, nor had she ever had any blood relatives. She was born into the Time and Space Administration Bureau as an adult, a mature being.

The administrator remained silent for a long time. When he spoke again, his suddenly hoarse voice held emotions that Lai Chuan and Huang Quan could not understand:

--"……I guess so."

Lai Chuan Huang Quan opened her mouth as if to ask something, but after several attempts, she ultimately chose to remain silent.

Wiping the fingerprints off the photo frame with his sleeve, Lai Chuan Huang Quan gently closed the door and left the "Lai Chuan" family villa without looking back.

The night was long, and Kenji Hagiwara hadn't finished get off work yet; the bustling streets remained lively.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan, however, lost all interest in shopping.

She returned alone to the single apartment where she had stayed with Hagiwara, without turning on the lights, and threw herself onto the soft bedding after taking off her shoes.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan rested her head on her hands, staring at the dark ceiling. The curtains were not drawn, and the dim yellow light from the streetlights outside shone through the window, casting a faint glow into the room.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan turned to look at the bedside table, where there was also a photo frame. In it, Kenji Hagiwara, dressed in a suit, had his arm around Jinpei Matsuda's shoulder, and they were celebrating their university graduation with bright smiles.

Darkness was the seasoning of loneliness. Yomi Lai stared blankly at the photos of the two SM officers. After a long while, she finally spoke, breaking the deathly silence.

“Administrator,” she said, “I always thought I was born into the Administration Bureau, a completely independent individual. But perhaps…”

Lai Chuan Huang Quan stopped speaking. She pursed her lips, swallowed, took a deep breath, and continued, "Am I actually a clone of that red-haired Huang Quan?"

Yomi Laichuan is just a stand-in for Yomi Shank, which is why she shares the same name and similar appearance with Yomi Shank; that's why the administrator told her that Yomi Shank must never die.

This is the most likely possibility that Yomi Laichuan could think of.

With those words, the room fell silent once more. The only sound in the crowded room was the gentle breathing of Yomi Laichuan, as if she were asleep.

Lai Chuan Huang Quan pulled the pillow over and buried his face in its soft surface, in a bad mood: "If you don't answer me, then don't expect me to do any more work for you."

Her threat seemed to have worked; the administrator sighed and finally spoke slowly:

"I won't stop you from seeking the truth, but I also won't tell you everything I know at this time."

"Knowing the truth at the wrong time will only cause you pain."

—"Yomiwa Yomi, I hope you are happy."

[Author's Note]

Yoshikawa Line: Marks left by the deceased scratching his own neck as he was strangled.

1. Lai Chuan Huang Quan's understanding of the Time and Space Administration Bureau is currently somewhat incomplete.

2. Lai Chuan Huang Quan knows the administrator, but the administrator has changed his appearance with the help of the management bureau, so Huang Quan would not recognize him even if he saw him.

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