At nightfall, Ch'en and Hoshiguma—who had spent half the day scouring the slums without finding a single lead—were weaving through the streets of Lungmen on their electric scooter.
It wasn't that Ch'en and Hoshiguma were unwilling to drive a car to investigate; it was simply that there were far too few police cars that didn't hinder Hoshiguma's movements. In an emergency, a woman of Hoshiguma's height, whose horns reached nearly two meters, could easily pierce the roof of a standard car. If someone were to maliciously ram the vehicle, Hoshiguma's neck could be easily snapped, potentially putting her life in danger.
"The whole day, forget a lead—we haven't even found a hair on those mobsters. If it weren't for the lack of bodies, I'd suspect those gangs had already been silenced," Ch'en muttered, frustrated. She scanned the diverse crowd on the street, wishing the suspect would just appear before her eyes so she could close the case and get back to her vacation.
But alas, that was a beautiful pipe dream. How could such an absurd thing happen in the real world? If one refused to acknowledge reality, they might as well just go to sleep—you can find anything in your dreams.
Moreover, she didn't know if that "Char Siu" had found any leads. If Swire found something and came back to show off, it would surely be another "Dragon-Tiger" clash between the Pink Sausage Dragon and the "Char Siu Cat."
"Old Ch'en, look at that car ahead. Isn't that a Penguin Logistics vehicle? Are they heading to the Guard Department to bail someone out again?"
Hearing this, Ch'en leaned over Hoshiguma's body to look ahead. This was a move that could easily throw out one's back if they hadn't practiced it for years, to which Ch'en could only say: "Practice makes perfect." Sitting behind Hoshiguma, she couldn't see a thing in front of her except for Hoshiguma's broad back.
It was indeed a Penguin Logistics car, and seeing as it was traveling in the same direction as them, it was likely headed for the LGD. Ch'en had a massive headache whenever it came to that company. In her eyes, their corporate culture was strictly: "Avoid major crimes, but never stop committing minor ones."
Sometimes Ch'en wondered why that company even existed. Was Wei Yenwu specifically using them to pad the LGD's performance quotas? Those three troublemakers, plus the idol in their team, were like the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Penguin Logistics, personally responsible for a fifth of the LGD's workload.
"Hoshiguma, speed up! I want a closer look!"
Ch'en suddenly noticed a Sankta sitting in the passenger seat. At first glance, the person looked familiar—why did they look so recognizable?
As the scooter accelerated, they finally overtook the car, which was still stuck at a crossroad. Both of them looked inside at the same time, finally seeing what the person looked like. Then, the two of them vanished ahead. The sound of the electric scooter attracted the attention of Jeanne and Lemuen, who were sitting bored in the car.
"Is this Lungmen? That electric scooter is actually faster than the cars. Is racing electric scooters the trend here? That's a good strategy—the traffic police can't catch you," Jeanne remarked as she watched the blur of blue and green vanish from her peripheral vision. She hadn't been paying close attention and only saw the figures flash by.
Meanwhile, she could only sit there waiting for the traffic jam to end. In this time, she could have run back and forth several times with her own speed, but now she was forced to wait.
"That Sankta just now... why does she look so much like Exusiai? I've never heard of Penguin Logistics having someone like her," Ch'en said, her head beginning to ache. Who was Exusiai? Out of ten times Penguin Logistics came in, eight were because of that ancestor. To this day, no one in Lungmen dared to grant that woman a driver's license.
Now, if there was someone who looked almost identical to her, Ch'en only hoped this one's personality was more stable. Lungmen could not withstand two Exusiais.
"Maybe they're family? It's not impossible that she's visiting Exusiai and just borrowed a Penguin Logistics car. Looking at the resemblance, they're likely sisters," Hoshiguma suggested while driving her "mount." She quickly formed a hypothesis that was quite close to the truth.
Ch'en agreed with Hoshiguma's assessment, but hearing the word "sisters" caused her to fall into a brief silence.
"Sisters, huh..."
"The road is finally clear! I was wondering, if the traffic is always this bad, what do the LGD officers do when they have to respond to a call? Do they all ride electric scooters to the crime scenes?"
After an unknown amount of time, they finally left the congested street and made their way to the LGD. This road led directly to the Guard Department, so traffic was very sparse. After all, unless they had business there, who would take a detour past the police station?
When they arrived at the LGD, those looks of disbelief appeared again. Especially the officers in charge of traffic and maintenance—they immediately clutched their stomach medicine.
"Hello, Penguin Logistics commissioned us to pick up their employees. Which floor do we go to for the paperwork?" Jeanne asked, stepping up to the reception desk, seemingly oblivious to the strange looks from the surrounding officers.
"Penguin Logistics, right? Just follow us. I'm the officer in charge of these matters."
Before the receptionist could speak, a voice came from behind Jeanne. It was Hoshiguma and Ch'en walking up. They had already done a quick check and found that these two were first-time visitors to Lungmen today. According to their papers, they had come from Chernobog in Ursus.
This hit a nerve for Ch'en. To her, "Ursus" was currently a restricted topic, so she pretended she had just arrived back at the station, hoping to use this chance to learn more.
"Then we'll trouble you both."
Jeanne and Lemuen followed the two into the elevator. Curiously, even though the LGD seemed busy, they were the only ones who got on when the elevator arrived.
"If I may ask, Miss Sankta, do you have any relation to Exusiai? You two look remarkably alike," Hoshiguma began, trying to break the ice as the doors closed.
Normally, the relatively petite Ch'en would be better suited for small talk than the tall, imposing Hoshiguma, who carried a natural sense of pressure just by standing there. However, Ch'en's "vigorous and resolute" style meant that any question she asked sounded like a police interrogation. It wouldn't be good to trigger their suspicion.
"Oh, that? The Exusiai you're talking about is actually my little sister. She's probably a bit too 'lively' and sometimes acts without thinking. Her personality must have caused you a lot of trouble, right?"
Lemuen thought back to the officers clutching their stomach medicine. It seemed her little sister had no trouble adjusting to life in Lungmen; she might even be more "free-spirited" here than she was in Laterano.
"Hahaha, not at all. The things she does aren't major crimes; it's just that her personality makes her quite famous."
As Hoshiguma said, Exusiai was famous in the LGD for more than just making trouble—it was that vibrant personality. In truth, there weren't many people in Lungmen more troublesome than her, yet she never broke any serious laws. She simply spent her time hopping back and forth across the legal line.
"Alright, we're here. This is our office. Once the paperwork is finished, you can take her home."