Exusiai!!

"Let me tie them up."

Croissant was thoroughly familiar with this routine. As she tied people up, she did not forget to puncture the tires one by one, making sure no one could catch up.

As for taking lives...

This was Lungmen. Croissant was only an ordinary courier, and she would not do anything dangerous.

Hogg lay flat on his back. Hoshino's hand chop seemed to have been a little too forceful, knocking drool from his mouth. His dog tongue hung halfway out, matted with blackish-gray fur, making for a rather disgusting sight.

After tying everyone up, Croissant stood and rubbed her aching lower back.

"What a pain~ You're pretty strong, Miss Shrine Maiden. I'm already this tired from tying them up one by one. Wouldn't you be even more tired from knocking them down one by one?"

"Enemies at this level are all the same, no matter how many there are."

Hoshino answered modestly.

She was telling the truth. This organization looked imposing, and its convoy even had matching paint jobs, but in reality, they had never once managed an organized charge. They basically crumbled at the slightest contact. Hoshino even felt that beating two hundred of them would be as easy as slaughtering two hundred yellow chickens.

There was a reason for all this.

Hoshino gave Croissant a questioning look, hoping she could explain.

"Don't look at me like that."

Croissant was clearly troubled as well. "I don't know much either, but something the boss once said might explain your confusion..."

"What did he say?"

Croissant paused slightly, then coughed and began imitating Emperor's tone. "In the dead of night, walking beneath the stars with a bottle in hand, the rooftops covered in snow, sorrow suddenly wells up in your heart—you're just working hard and being yourself, yet your peers are about to lose their livelihoods. The world is so cruel."

"Did he really say something like that?"

Hoshino asked doubtfully, and Croissant nodded repeatedly.

His narcissism was practically overflowing.

Unfortunately, Penguin Logistics was currently just an oddity within the Terra Logistics Company. It had not reached the point where all its competitors would be left without food.

Unless...

Hoshino turned back to glance at the scattered remnants of the defeated group.

Could the "peers" Emperor spoke of have referred not to other logistics companies, but to this rabble?

Then he really had succeeded.

Croissant noticed the shrine maiden's expression and hurriedly explained awkwardly:

"Our Penguin Logistics really isn't a criminal enterprise. It's all just rumors that got twisted and passed around. Please, don't give up on cooperating with our company because of this."

Hoshino nodded, half convinced.

Croissant let out a sigh of relief. What the shrine maiden thought of Penguin Logistics was not particularly important. What mattered was what Hoshino thought of Croissant. If Croissant got disliked over something like this and lost her chance to earn extra money, she would have no one to blame but herself.

Putting that rabble out of her mind, Croissant focused on searching for any glowing rings that might appear. In her experience, that was the quickest way to find a hidden Exusiai, and finding Exusiai meant finding Texas.

Who knew which of those two was actually glued to the other.

In the bushes.

Texas and Exusiai were evading pursuit. Whenever this happened, Exusiai had to lower her head as much as possible, looking thoroughly miserable.

"Wait."

Texas stopped and listened carefully.

"It feels awfully quiet. Hogg's men haven't caught up either. It's like all the pursuers vanished."

"Maybe they moved their forces to the main road."

Texas was not used to this. Pursuers giving up halfway was simply too unbelievable. Even a group of frightened birds should have possessed some degree of organization. Something must have happened to make them abandon the search midway.

They had been out for less than half an hour, and Texas discarded the possibility that they had simply escaped successfully.

"Maybe they ran into Croissant?"

Exusiai straightened up with a troubled expression, constantly rubbing her sore back.

She hated fighting while fleeing, because she always had to bend over to hide the halo above her head. She could not endure that kind of punishment.

Exusiai preferred charging straight in.

"Croissant has her shield. She might have wiped out that entire convoy in one go."

"Not very likely."

A shield did not count as a weapon, so Croissant was a Defender outside and a Defender within Lungmen as well. Her combat strength had not suffered much loss.

Rustling sounds came from ahead.

Texas pounced on Exusiai and forced her to the ground. She spread open her coat, blocking every source of light. Exusiai saw nothing but darkness, followed by two soft, ample masses pressing hard against her back.

Texas watched the outside world coldly.

It was another convoy. Unlike Hogg's group, they stopped nearby, and their leader got out to deliver a speech about justice.

"Hogg has already fallen! The evil Penguin Logistics has finally bared its fangs! But do not fear! Every force that has suffered oppression has risen up! We will unite and raise the banner of rebellion against those damned penguins!"

"Tch."

Texas had a bad feeling about this.

Judging by the boss's usual style, this incident had definitely been caused by another momentary whim. It did not even count as a prank. For these people to twist their reading comprehension into this was truly impressive. She had no idea how their brains were wired.

There was definitely something wrong with them...

The people below kept making accusations, receiving thunderous cheers in response. Everyone climbed into their vehicles and headed toward the scene, their eyes filled with excitement without a trace of fear.

Texas was starting to regret coming out to make deliveries.

Once everyone had left, she got up and pulled Exusiai to her feet.

Texas found something strange.

Why was Exusiai suddenly sticking her butt out?

"By the way, that guy just said Hogg was already down. Did they really run into Croissant? Should we go back and take a look?"

"That makes sense."

Texas nodded.

"Croissant's assignment was to go to Yae Shrine to invite someone over. That person is highly skilled with a sword. They say that after Ch'en exchanged moves with her, both her hands ended up wrapped in bandages, and now she even needs someone to feed her."

"Who could feed that fierce Ch'en sir?"

The question came out of nowhere. Texas gave Exusiai a suspicious glance before answering:

"Who else but Hoshiguma?"

She saw sparks flashing in Exusiai's eyes. A courier's intuition told Texas that something was off, but she did not want to think of her partner as being childish, so she automatically ignored it.

In hindsight, Texas had brought trouble upon herself.

The tides of Lungmen churned in secret, with forces from every side swirling together like a vortex. At the center of that vortex stood the oddity of the logistics world—Penguin Logistics.

Emperor hid in the base, smiling as he watched the storm unfold.

"You think you can find this place? If you can find this place, I'll eat this whole box of records on the spot!"

When you encounter ads asking things like "Are you a real person?", there is no need to pay attention to them. Just close them. Do not scan QR codes or send text messages!