Night had fallen. Stars dotted the dark canopy overhead, their light flickering now and then as though they were peering into Earth's secrets.
Looking down on Yangzhou City from the sky, scattered lights could still be seen. Due to the shortage of electricity, no base city seemed able to recreate the prosperous nightscape from before the Great Nirvana.
Moonlight draped the earth in silver, while a faint blue glow flashed past like a meteor.
Within Mingyue Residential Area, the warrior-exclusive district of Yangzhou City's Limitless Martial Arts Hall, Kurumi was seeing off Patrol Officer Liu.
"All right, Gu Mo'er. Once I finish my business in Kyoto Base City in a couple of days, I'll come pick you up."
The smiling girl seemed like an elf beneath the moonlight. She waved at him. "Then I'll have to trouble Patrol Officer Liu."
"It's nothing. We'll be colleagues before long anyway, so I'll have to rely on Patrol Officer Gu then."
Just as the two were chatting pleasantly, another circular aircraft descended into Mingyue Residential Area.
Kurumi paused her conversation with Patrol Officer Liu and looked toward the aircraft. With a click, the hatch of the dark blue aircraft opened. Yang Hui was the first to step out, followed by Zhou Zhengyong, Zhuge Tao, Heng Xia...
"Uncle Liu!"
"Patrol Officer Liu!"
Zhou Zhengyong, the chief director of Jiangnan Base City's Limitless Martial Arts Hall, hurried forward and said with a smile, "Patrol Officer Liu, why didn't you notify us? We could have made some preparations."
The man surnamed Liu waved him off. "Forget all that formalism. I only came to drop someone off. I'll be leaving right away."
"Dropping someone off..." Zhou Zhengyong turned his head and met Kurumi's gaze. His heart jolted slightly. Although he had already guessed the identity of that