Precious "Everyday Life"

Saturday, the fifth day since Tiandao and the others arrived in Deep Blue Metropolis.

"Hey! Kong, Tiandao, we're almost out of beef in the fridge. Which one of you is going to the supermarket to buy some?"

In the villa's living room, Chen Xing walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron, the spatula in her hand striking the doorframe with a bang.

The sudden sound startled Tiandao, who was lounging lazily on the sofa, eating snacks while cheerfully watching a melodramatic comedy.

Meanwhile, Chen Kong, who was working on two sets of class assignments, silently set down his pen when he heard the commotion.

As for why there were two sets, that was naturally because Tiandao had been too lazy and handed his own homework to Chen Kong.

He had even dressed it up as helping him reinforce his knowledge, claiming it was an act of goodwill.

Of course, Chen Kong was no fool.

He naturally knew Tiandao was pulling one over on him.

But he did not mind too much.

After all, writing one assignment was writing, and writing two assignments was still writing.

Yet in Chen Xing's eyes, what Chen Kong was doing now was no different from Tiandao lying on the sofa watching television. Both of them were slacking off.

So when she saw herself working herself to the bone preparing dinner for everyone while Tiandao and Chen Kong were both loafing around—

Chen Xing was thoroughly displeased.

We all came here to do a mission, so why are you two the only ones so free?

What added fuel to the fire was that—

After hearing her, Tiandao not only failed to respond.

He immediately put down his potato chips, grabbed a document from the coffee table, and held it over his face, putting on an act as if he were busy.

His acting was so terrible that it could barely be called acting at all; every movement screamed pretense.

"Tiandao."

Chen Xing gritted her teeth, the corner of her eye twitching nonstop.

The spatula in her hand visibly bent, clearly on the verge of being unable to contain the fury in her heart.

Fortunately, Chen Kong stood up in time and smoothed things over for them.

"Sis, I'll go. I happen to have nothing else to do."

Upon hearing that, Tiandao, who had been pretending to be serious, immediately chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, Xing, let Kong go. It's not far anyway—just past one or two streets."

Chen Xing gave Tiandao a deep look, then snorted and returned to the kitchen, clearly too lazy to bother with him.

What Chen Xing did not expect was that the person in the living room not only felt no guilt whatsoever after seeing this, but when Chen Kong was about to leave—

He even shouted, "Kong, when you get to the supermarket, remember to buy me some more snacks too. Thanks!"

"Okay, Brother Tiandao."

Chen Kong closed the door, then turned and headed out of the villa.

But before he had taken more than a few steps, he heard a series of crackling sounds of things breaking from inside the living room.

As well as some indistinct "arguing."

Things like, "Why don't you go yourself? You're always making my brother go."

Or, "If you do this again, I'll make you go eat out by yourself next time."

Although Chen Kong was no longer inside the villa, he could guess what was happening.

Most likely, the moment he left, Chen Xing had rushed out of the kitchen and started chasing Tiandao around to beat him, while Tiandao dodged all over the place.

Thinking of that, Chen Kong could not help shaking his head with a smile.

But after smiling for a while, he suddenly sighed.

"Sigh... It would be nice if life like this could go on forever."

Though he said that, Chen Kong understood that it was nothing more than an unrealistic fantasy.

After all, in a month, he, Tiandao, and the others would have to return to the base.

Then, he would once again become that insignificant little nobody, unseen and unnoticed.

"Forget it. I'll think about the future when it comes. For now, I should hurry and buy the ingredients Sis needs, along with the snacks Brother Tiandao likes. Otherwise, everyone will go hungry."

Chen Kong patted his face and pulled himself together.

Then he pushed open the villa courtyard gate and headed straight for the nearest pedestrian street.

Not long after he left the villa district and arrived at the pedestrian street outside—

A figure sitting atop a rooftop immediately stood up in excitement.

"After waiting all day, the fish has finally come out."

"Claude, how long can your Silent Coffin last in total?"

Hearing Molten Mountain's question, Iron Coffin Claude set down the rag he had been using to polish the coffin and calmly replied, "One hour. Beyond that, the disturbance you make will be detected by the nearest star energy detector, drawing the attention of the Star Envoy Association."

"Only one hour? Still, that's enough. After all, dealing with a mere Rank 1 Star Envoy won't take that long, even if he's a genius."

Molten Mountain watched Chen Kong below merge into the crowd and head toward the nearest department supermarket.

A sickly, cruel smile appeared on his rugged, bearded face.

"Though he isn't the toy I want most, as an appetizer, this fellow named Chen Kong is passable enough."

Molten Mountain placed a hand on the upright iron coffin beside Claude and reached out to open it.

Inside the metal-sheened iron coffin was not some tangible object.

It was a strange black vortex of energy.

As Molten Mountain plunged his hand into the black vortex, he said, "Wonderful. After enduring for so long, I can finally watch those arrogant, haughty geniuses fall at my feet and wag their tails as they beg for mercy again."

With that, Molten Mountain stepped entirely into Claude's iron coffin.

Bang!

As Molten Mountain fully entered the coffin, the open iron coffin slowly closed.

When it shut completely, a ring of ripples like water suddenly appeared across the rooftop floor beneath it.

Under the effect of those ripples, the iron coffin containing Molten Mountain slowly sank into them and vanished from the rooftop entirely.

Seeing that his "iron coffin" and "Molten Mountain" had both departed—

Claude immediately sat cross-legged in the center of the rooftop.

Whoosh!

A cold wind swept across the rooftop, lifting a corner of Claude's black cloak and revealing the metallic sheen of the skin beneath it.

He gazed at the "iron coffin" that had already appeared before the entrance of a department supermarket on the pedestrian street.

His red electronic eyes flickered continuously, as if calculating something.

Name: Claude Ironvault

Type: Mechanical type / Control type

Level: Rank 1 Star Envoy

Star Source: Mechanical Shrine

Crime: Once slaughtered over a hundred people single-handedly, all to perfect his own "human body data."

Federal Wanted Level: One Star

Federal Bounty: 350,000 Star Source Coins

By evening, Chen Kong pushed open the supermarket's glass door, and the setting sun outside stretched his shadow long behind him.

Inside the supermarket, several housewives pushed shopping carts through the aisles between the shelves.

Not far away, the television above the checkout counter was broadcasting the weather forecast. Below it, the cashier gave a bored yawn, occasionally lowering their head to glance at their watch and silently calculating the time until work ended.

It was an utterly ordinary everyday scene, yet it brimmed with the warmth of mortal life.

Watching this, Chen Kong could not help sighing inwardly. Days this peaceful are so nice. It's just a pity... they don't belong to me.

After his sigh, Chen Kong was about to head toward the supermarket's fresh food section.

But before he had taken two steps, he suddenly sensed an aura coming from behind him.

Clang—

Under the pressure of that terrifying aura, the supermarket's glass doors began to tremble continuously, while the lights flickered bright and dim.

This strange sight filled everyone in the supermarket with terror, and they kept looking around in all directions.

Chen Kong, who had sensed the aura immediately, promptly turned to look outside.

A strange black vortex had appeared abruptly on the ground before the supermarket's main entrance.

From within the vortex, an eerie iron coffin covered in circuits slowly emerged.

Bang!

As the iron coffin opened, a short, solidly built man with a face full of beard walked out of it with a smile.

"Pleased to meet you, genius Star Envoy of unknown origins—Chen Kong."