Poseidon in Arknights

'Brother Jie, the real person looks even fiercer than the character artist did! No wonder he gets that kind of feedback about the story.'

Meanwhile, the two tourists who had arrived earlier than Yuuki and the other two had already received their Scale Balls.

"I definitely made the right choice buying that book. These fish balls are really delicious, they're chewy and bouncy, even better than the ones in restaurants."

"Those restaurants probably just pounded the scaled beast into mincemeat and then shaped it. Let alone hammering it, it might even have fish bones in it, it wasn't cleaned properly."

“That makes sense, but the guidebook clearly says that the person who makes the Scale Balls is an old man, but this owner seems a bit…” One of the tourists’ voices gradually faded.

Another tourist traveling with him nodded repeatedly, but after hearing what he said next, he glanced at the shopkeeper carefully and whispered something.

"I think you're worrying unnecessarily. That guy is pretty good, well, except for his fierce expression. But look at how he's cooking the fish-scale pills, he's probably a successor or an apprentice or something."

Boss Linmaru's ears twitched slightly, clearly indicating he had heard, but he only sighed and didn't say anything, seemingly used to it.

The fish balls were simmering in the pot, with one or two occasionally floating to the surface. Clearly, the fish balls, which had already been pre-cooked for a while, didn't need much longer.

Meanwhile, the owner, holding a plastic bowl, quickly scooped up a little seasoning from each condiment bowl with the spoon inside and put it into the bowl with practiced skill. Finally, he used the spoon on the side of the pot to scoop up the fish balls and mix them with the broth to dilute the seasoning.

Soon, the two scale balls were ready, and Jie called the two of them over to take them.

"Be careful, it's hot. You can let it cool down a bit before eating; the taste won't deteriorate so quickly," Jie said casually as he placed the two bowls on the counter.

"Thank you." Xi Yue made a water glove on her hands to prevent being burned, and also made one for Hong.

Compared to Kurenai, who was holding onto her food after learning she had a cat tongue and was waiting for it to cool down a bit, Yuuki didn't care as much and directly scooped up Rinmaru with a spoon and ate it.

Just then, an explosion suddenly came from above the park. Yuuki, who was eating a Scale Ball, was caught off guard and swallowed half of the Scale Ball before it was even chewed.

"Ugh!" Xi Yue's eyes widened. She quickly liquefied her throat, letting the half-scaled pill fall into her stomach.

"Cough cough."

Several tourists nearby stared in astonishment at the skybridge above, and then another explosion was heard.

"It's really noisy." Several elderly people exercising in the park didn't pay much attention. They just glanced up twice and then looked down again, continuing their own exercises.

Jie did speak up to comfort several tourists who were eating at his place.

"Don't worry, they won't harm us."

Seeing the still somewhat frightened tourists in front of him, Jie spoke up again to remind them.

"Yes, besides crowded places, it's best to avoid some places at night. Lungmen's Guard Bureau will protect everyone's safety."

Jie looked up and scratched his head: "Seriously, can't we have a few days of peace and quiet every month? The Requiem Festival is almost here."

As a long-time resident of Lungmen, how many of you could guess who caused this explosion?

40% is due to gang warfare, and the other 60% is the work of those troublesome Penguin Logistics.

After confirming that there were no more explosions above his head, Brother Jie lowered his head and continued watching. He figured there were plenty of these kinds of things in Lungmen, and as long as they didn't happen to him, there wouldn't be any problem.

Moreover, the rules of Lungmen stipulate that fighting must not harm civilians; if violated, one will be punished afterward.

"Mom?" Hong looked worriedly at the overpass above.

Xi Yue patted Hong's head to reassure her: "It's alright. Look at the expressions of the people around you. They're probably used to these sudden explosions. It's definitely different from where we are."

"Alright, eat up, it'll get cold if you wait any longer."

"Uh-huh."

After a while, the two of them finished eating the fish balls and continued to stroll around the street. Xi Yue was still in high spirits and was still enthusiastically flipping through the book "One Hundred Ways of Dragon Gate Folk Cuisine Guide".

Suddenly, a deep engine sound reached Yuuki's ears.

"Are there street racers in Lungmen too?" Yu Yue looked up and saw a truck speeding towards her from a distance, moving at a speed that seemed unusual for a truck.

Xi Yue looked at the truck, the wall on the left side of the truck bed that had been lifted up: "Judging from this, the explosion just now was from those four."

Xi Yue pulled Hong to stand in the passageway, while the more experienced Lungmen residents ran faster to stand in the street.

The truck spun out, almost taking off in two-wheeled fashion.

'Blade driving, impressive technique.' Just as Yuuki was making her comment, a dark figure flew over from the truck.

"Hmm." Xi Yue frowned. To prevent the dark figure from hitting anyone, Xi Yue raised her hand and summoned a water ball to intercept it from mid-air.

"What is this? A box? Judging from the broken straps, it looks like their cargo."

After this commotion, Xi Yue completely lost interest in shopping. As for the box, seeing that they were still being chased, she decided to go back to the store tomorrow.

Xi Yue didn't want to get involved in troublesome matters, so she thought it would be better to wait until things were settled tomorrow before going.

As for whose box it is? Well, based on the fluorescent light tube that Yuuki saw speeding past from the truck's cab, leaving a trail of afterimages, she could roughly guess whose it was.

Chapter 17: Invitation

Penguin Logistics, secure outpost, office lobby

This is Penguin Logistics' office in Longmen, a well-known office building that also serves as one of several homes for several Penguin Logistics employees.

The girls basically stayed wherever was closest to them. Anyway, there are several safe houses from Penguin Logistics throughout Longmen, so they basically stayed wherever was closest.

I was woken up by my alarm clock today while I was walking to the office lobby.

"So, Exusiai, what's the use of you?" Texas sat on the sofa with a displeased look, staring at Exusiai kneeling on the ground.

Sora, who was standing to the side, saw this scene as soon as she got up. Not knowing what was going on, she decisively poked Croissant, who seemed to have been watching the show all morning.

"Croissant, what's going on now? What did Exusiai do to upset her senior this time?"

"Remember the other day when the three of us teased Exusiai in bed? Texas even drew on Exusiai with a marker."

“Of course…” Sora’s expression was slightly unnatural. After all, in that battle, she was chased by Exusiai for a long time and was the second most seriously injured in the entire battle.

As for the one who was most seriously injured, it was of course Exusiai, who was Lu Bu's ally in the Battle of the Three Heroes.

However, it was obvious that Exusiai did not have the unparalleled fighting power of Lu Bu, who could fight three opponents at once and still not be defeated. In that battle, she was defeated and even had her armor and weapons discarded. In the end, she was marked with a humiliating mark.

"You know Exia's personality. She says she wants to save money to buy a gun, but given her spendthrift lifestyle, she might even have to borrow money. She'll never be able to afford one in her lifetime."

"What you said doesn't seem wrong, but wait, Croissant, you've gone off-topic. That's not what we're talking about."

"Anyway, there's no particular theme. In short, yesterday Exusiai used the fact that Texas drew on him to blackmail him into taking him on a mission."

Croissant shrugged and pointed to the disc on the table: "I don't know exactly what it is, but Exusiai seems to be busy. She was just keeping watch in the car, so nothing happened."

At this point, Sora also showed a knowing expression. After all, they had worked together for several years, and she already had a good understanding of Exusiai's personality.

Although he saw a look of sudden realization on his face, Croissant still didn't stop.

"You probably guessed it already. That's right, Exusiai couldn't stay idle again. She secretly followed them, but as you know, with her fluorescent tube-like appearance, this infiltration had absolutely nothing to do with her."

"Exusiai isn't that unreliable, is she..." Sora's words became less and less confident, so her voice grew softer and softer.

"Well, Exusiai didn't follow, or rather, her fluorescent tube had just gotten off the bus when she was spotted. And you know how conspicuous we were."

"I think I understand. But Texas-senpai should have already gotten the disc, so why is he still so angry?" Sora nodded but asked with a puzzled look.

"Who was in charge of unloading yesterday?"

"Nengtian... she hasn't forgotten, has she?"

Croissant simply shrugged: "Yesterday, in order to pester Texas to take her, I completely forgot about the alcohol. During the chase, the carriage was blown open, and a case of premium brandy flew out."

"Uh……"

Well, Exusiai's persistent efforts were ultimately aimed at making money, but this whole mess has resulted in a case of high-end brandy. Based on Exusiai's salary, that would be at least half a year's wages, and only if each order was a large one.

"Well, we can only hope that Exusiai can be found, or that the boss is not going to pursue the matter."

"Boss, are you aware of this?"

"They probably don't know yet, otherwise you wouldn't have been woken up by an alarm clock today, but by the screams of penguins. But whether Is has said anything yet, we don't know?"

Texas heard what the two people next to her were saying, but she didn't stop them from discussing it, because this was the kind of thing that stupid bear angel had done.

"I've lost both my wife and my army! It's a huge loss! Texas, you have to help me!" Exusiai looked utterly miserable, practically ready to grab Texas's leg and beg for help.

"What can I do to help you? You'd better hope that your boss is in a good mood right now and doesn't intend to pursue the matter. Otherwise, you might as well use your six months' salary to offset the debt, or you could sign a contract to sell yourself into servitude, which would be faster."

Texas, who was already a bit annoyed because he had been busy all night, was pulled out of bed by a phone call from Is this morning, who asked him where the wine from yesterday had gone.

Texas, still half asleep and having just woken up, casually replied that it must have been Exusiai who carried it down.

But then Is's voice came from over there: "The usual unloading place doesn't have it, so I went to check your truck. Yesterday's wine wasn't unloaded, and a case of premium brandy is missing."

Upon hearing this, Texas broke out in a light sweat, despite the crisp autumn air.

Texas, who had just hung up the phone, rushed into Exusiai's room and grabbed the girl who was having a sweet dream.

Then it turned out to be what I saw when I woke up in the morning, and it was truly not worthy of any pity.

Although they were best friends for many years, Texas couldn't possibly not help at all, but she really couldn't think of a good solution at the moment.

After all, Texas knew the price of that case of wine. The Emperor paid them quite generously, with a commission on every order, but it would still be difficult to pay it off.

"Sigh, I'll call Is and ask him to check the surveillance footage to see if anyone found it. Hopefully, it hasn't been opened yet, and the person who found it is easy to talk to."

Texas was about to pick up the phone when a notification popped up on the communicator on the table next to her, indicating that someone had arrived.

"Hey, Croissant, someone's here. Go greet them," Texas said casually as she picked up the phone.

"And Exusiai, get up! Stop kneeling, what kind of behavior is this?"

After finishing Texas, he picked up the phone to call Is and ask him to help him check.

"Hello?" The phone was answered almost as soon as it rang, making one wonder if the person on the other end had been waiting for Texas to call.

“Is, about that box of white orchids…” Texas hadn’t finished speaking when a girl carrying a ball of water walked in through the doorway, and inside the ball of water was a box that looked quite familiar.

"This was flown in from a truck last night. I think it must be yours." Xi Yue walked in, and the box was carried in by water.

Looking at the familiar box, Texas remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking into the phone, "...You know?"

"To be precise, I just found out. After all, it was the boss's liquor, so I've already checked the security footage. I know it wasn't stolen; someone just picked it up."

Texas raised an eyebrow. She didn't believe the guy on the other end of the phone who said he just found out. Texas was certain that he already knew before he made the call.

"How can you be sure the other party will return it? Did you see him coming over on the surveillance footage?"

"No, I was looking at last night's surveillance footage, but I don't think that person would be so greedy as to covet a case of wine. That stuff wouldn't mean anything to her unless she wanted to use it for disinfection."

"Okay, I understand." Texas hung up the phone and rubbed her head with her hand.

"This morning..."