Chapter 296

"... I didn't say that... Hurry up and go in, Captain Nana is waiting to use the bathroom last..."

"Hey? Speaking of which, we could do it together..."

"No, you can't... Typhon, let's help Mika with her bath, finish quickly, and get out as soon as possible..."

"... oh."

"Wait, wait a minute! At least give me that little yellow duck!"

Seeing Mika waving at her with a mix of cuteness and exasperation, Nana reluctantly checked the little yellow duck toy on the speaker in the safe house. Confirming it wasn't some fake bomb or pure sodium metal toy that had fallen from her bag, she tossed it to the pink-haired girl.

Watching the three of them squeeze into the bathroom, Nana looked down at her chest and fell into deep thought... Come to think of it, she was the senior here, wasn't she? Typhon, that precocious Sarkaz, it was one thing, but why did Mika, this Liberi, have a better figure than her?

It seemed that Nana's action of rubbing her chest caused Jessica, who was standing next to her with her ears drooping, to misunderstand something. Faced with Nana's probing gaze, Jessica blushed and grabbed her right arm with her left hand. Unlike Nana, who was a fake Chimera, the proper Feline's chest began to develop again during puberty, and its size was not to be underestimated.

As Jessica's curves became more pronounced beneath her tight-fitting T-shirt, Nana searched her own chest again in confusion... Finding nothing, she suddenly realized that the Doctor might have long ago foreseen her unchanging future.

[After all, you're Black-footed Cat...]

Long-forgotten memories flooded her mind again, recalling the feeling of the Doctor touching her ear. Nana blushed slightly and stopped looking at Jessica, the real Feline... The two of them stood motionless, a fist's distance between their shoulders.

So what exactly is Black-footed Cat? I also want a curvaceous figure like Cole's, clearly that of an adult woman... Otherwise, when the Little Cat grows up, won't calling it 'Little Cat' just me calling myself... Is this a unique growing pain of mine?!

While silently criticizing her figure, which she believed would likely never change, Jessica had already finished her drink.

Jessica, her tail swaying from side to side, glanced first at Nian, who was focused on operating her laptop and seemed to be editing a video, and then at Jingzhe was nodding her head and looking drowsy... She then pricked up her cat ears and listened to the pointless chatter between her two seniors in the room further away.

The pink-haired girl in the bathroom, squeezing a little yellow duck, would occasionally let out a string of light, cheerful laughs; clearly, the panting sounds from the other two people following her were not unfounded.

As for the Penguin Squad's main players, they had not yet returned, and Sora had already taken care of Rope and sent him to the first room to sleep... The television broadcast, which included Ch'en Hui-chieh and Hoshiguma as the 'parties involved,' seemed to be reminding Jessica that she could not miss this opportunity.

Having not had time alone with Nana for a long time, the Blacksteel cat first teased Nana's lower back with the tip of its tail, and then its right hand, which had nowhere to go, gradually moved up along Nana's waistline... At this moment, the black cat from Rhodes Island still had its hands on its chest, its eyes solemn as if the future of humanity lay within them.

First, she gently embraced her, then gradually pressed her entire body against Nana's. As if her own tail had responded to the wrapping of hers, Jessica smiled slightly and rested her cheek on Nana's shoulder...

Just that alone gave her a huge sense of peace, as if the work pressure of the past few months had been released. Jessica even hummed a little happily.

"Jessica?"

"Um... that... um..."

As if worried that someone else might suddenly appear in the living room, or as if trying to ease the awkwardness, Jessica unconsciously tightened her grip on Nana's shoulder during the news broadcast... Because Nana showed no sign of resistance, Jessica easily pulled her senior, who was half a head taller than her, into her arms.

"Hmm?"

Although Jessica's cheeks were already flushed, seeing Nana's still innocent eyes, the Blacksteel cat boldly propped up Nana's little head and coaxed her to lie on her side on its lap.

"... Jessica?"

Nana actually wanted to ask Jessica if her seemingly ingratiating actions were a way of asking for something, but Jessica, already infatuated, felt that since Nana hadn't refused, she didn't care. The tearful cat head, whose breath was even hot, even rolled the petite Nana over on her lap.

The T-shirt that was temporarily used as pajamas was flipped up, and Jessica excitedly stroked Nana's head with one hand while stroking her senior's belly with the other... Combined with the sensation from her knees, this was undoubtedly a complete lap pillow play.

This is an advanced gameplay mode that even top-tier players like Huang and Su Sulo have definitely never played before!

Although Nana is taller than Jessica, the Kitty Killer's body is light and slender, and it doesn't feel out of place at all for her junior to place her on her lap like a toy... Of course, this is based on the assumption that Jessica's head is emitting white smoke as if she has transformed into a humidifier.

Looking at Nana lying on her lap, who showed no sign of resistance as she kneaded her cat ears and played with her belly, and meeting her gaze with those beautiful, jewel-like heterochromatic eyes, Jessica blushed deeply. After licking her lips several times to make sure there was no strange taste, she slowly lowered her head... Then, with the sound of a door opening not far away, her whole body snapped back to its original position like a spring.

Jessica's face was flushed, and she kept her head down, not even looking to see who had ruined her plans. She wondered if the person who came out of the door had noticed anything amiss on the living room sofa... Jessica kept her head down, maintaining eye contact with Nana, her hands frozen in place as if time had stopped.

As for Croissant, who seemed oblivious to her surroundings, although she saw Jessica's ears burning red and her head steaming, she didn't think too far ahead because Penguin Logistics, due to that idiot Exusiai, had much more intimate contact with her than just lap pillows...

The innocent breadman quickly unpacked the supply box, grabbed two cartons of milk, and went back to his room. But before Jessica could even catch her breath, the bathroom door opened again... Amidst the rising steam, the temporary captain of Starlight Team and Miss Purple Sarkaz, wrapped wearily in towels, moved toward their assigned rooms.

However, a certain pink Angel with Halo was as concerned about Nana's movements as ever... And Mika, who also never looked at anyone but herself, was only wrapped in a bath towel and leaned against the back of the sofa, her gaze constantly switching between Nana on someone's lap and that person's stiff expression, which they completely avoided eye contact with:

"Nana, what are you guys playing at?"

"... As you can see, I'm relaxing..."

Ultimately, it was Nana, who never refused anyone, who saved Jessica's reputation.

The heterochromatic-eyed cat, enjoying a lap pillow, even used its right hand to hold Jessica's hand, which had stopped, so she could continue rubbing its belly... although in Feline culture, this kind of tickling game should be used by elders to tickle younger people.

But Jessica's not getting any younger, Nana figured that even if she were to scratch someone, she'd only scratch Rosemary at most... Maybe Kal'tsit could scratch her? Hmm? Really?

Just as Nana was wondering if she was being too old-fashioned, ignoring the long-absent 'abnormal increase in emotional pheromones' notification from her Halo, Nana tilted her head slightly to look to the other side, where the hidden staircase was lowered and two footsteps went upstairs.

The fact that they would return at this time clearly means that, apart from Texas and Exusiai, there is no one else.

Before the very boisterous Exusiai utter a sound, she came up to find three people sprawled out on the sofa, their clothes disheveled, and the pink-haired one seemed rather unhappy... Wait, shouldn't you put some clothes on before you start arguing?

Ignoring Exusiai's frozen-in-place mental whirlwind, Texas, who had witnessed more casual scenes of daily life during her past gang years, hung her coat on the hanger with Poki in her mouth and her back to Nana and the other two.

"... Did we come back at the wrong time?"

"Indeed, Jessica and I were just getting ready to use the bathroom..."

"I see, then I'll make some notes... Also, after you're done showering, Exusiai? We're all sticky after running around all day..."

Nana gave an OK sign, then flipped herself up and dragged Jessica, whose legs or perhaps her whole body was numb, into the bathroom.

As for the pink-haired Angel was still pondering what Nana was playing with another cat, she was naturally dragged back to her room to rest by others.

We still have to be on duty at night.

PS: Waaaaaaah!

This Mumu is truly beautiful... Speaking of which, I feel like a certain elf and her fastest ship should have arrived by now...

9th Lungmen Seafood: 339 (Multiple parties temporarily suspended)

As part of maintaining combat effectiveness, proper rest, a balanced diet, and strict punctual shift changes... Nana consciously or unconsciously adheres to these, after all, even 'Angel' need to sleep, eat, and play with family and friends.

Although the investigation team found evidence of Seaborn's existence right from the start, whether it was good luck or bad, the emergency deployment of the Starlight Squad even caused problems with the duty arrangements of Nana's front-line investigation team.

But it's not a big problem; the Doctor will help resolve it.

Just as Nana temporarily put aside Seaborn's troublesome nature and enjoyed Jessica's lap pillow... Amiya, who was like a child at night, or perhaps was indeed a child herself, had just finished her daily healthy sleep and climbed out of bed on time.

The brown-haired Little Bunny first tugged at her best friend who slept with her, urging her to get up and switch shifts with Sister Huang and the others. Then, the young girl, who was indeed the CEO of Rhodes Island, brushed her long hair while holding a hair tie in her mouth and lightly kicked the tablet on the table with her toes, thus waking up PRTS.

As the Lungmen morning news began reporting on yesterday's bizarre 'military operation,' the brown-haired girl listened to the PRTS briefing while confirming the situation... She glanced back at the motionless white fur ball in the blankets, pulled her tape measure-like tail out of Amiya pantyhose hole, adjusted its position, frowned, and took three steps forward to kick it.

Normally, Rosemary does things like turning on the Terminal, combing their hair, and finding the changes of clothes prepared yesterday. After all, Amiya doesn't have that many hands, and doing things like today is already considered a relatively good multitasking performance.

"Gurgle--! Ah... Amiya... let me sleep a little longer..."

"How long are you sleeping? Ten minutes?"

"... ten years."

Amiya, who was already aware of her friends' laziness, rolled her eyes in exasperation. Then, she yanked open the curtains, ignoring the white Little Cat on the bed struggling in the morning light like a vampire that turns to ash in the sunlight. Amiya then pushed open the door, letting the commotion from the former Penguin Logistics headquarters... now the command center for combat against Seaborn and the Demons, burst into the room.

The noise here specifically refers to someone.

"Mia!"

Because it was indoors, the Little Bunny, who wasn't wearing Rhodes Island's iconic coat, smiled at the sound of the voice and then let the other person hug her with burning passion.

"Sister Huang..."

"Good morning, Little Bunny! Did you sleep well last night? The mattresses at Penguin Logistics are all completely different brands from those on board..."

As she spoke, Huang, who was participating in the battle as a formal member of the action team, straightened Amiya's shirt collar. The latter nodded in response to the enthusiastic call of the big cat. Of course, it would be even better to ignore the shrill "So annoying!" voice coming from the house behind them at this moment.

"Actually, it's okay. I'm not that delicate... I can't sleep after changing the mattress."

"Really? But the Little Cat looks like she hasn't woken up at all... It seems that even among princesses of Rhodes Island, there are differences?"

Amiya chuckled as Huang pointed a finger behind her, and then, amidst the scorching sunlight and noisy chatter, Rosemary finally floated over, yawning and wearing pajamas with one shoulder strap dangling off. Amiya, speechless, grabbed the cat-shaped balloon and pulled it into the house, then began changing Rosemary's clothes.

"Indeed, Rosemary seems more suited to the description of 'princess' than me, she's completely pampered... but... what princess is like her?"

Both of them sighed simultaneously. Amiya's mind was filled with the carefree and unrestrained nature of her relatives and friends, their brainwaves so transparent that they were hard to match with ordinary people. Meanwhile, in Huang's mind, there was a humanoid Catastrophes with Halo above his head, throwing Tactical Unit to tear the earth apart, releasing psychic power with his bare hands to crush Landship, and striking fear into the hearts of countless criminals.

Although their thoughts were completely different, they nodded in unison as if they had reached a consensus:

"Right?"

"Yes... Ah, FrostNova- nee... Eh? No, sorry! It's Charlotte -nee?"

Upon seeing the silver-haired figure of Cautus carrying the food, Amiya subconsciously mistook him for FrostNova, one of her 'Medic Team comrades'. However, after carefully smelling the familiar scent of home in the air... and taking a closer look, she noticed that Katarus had no scars on his face and his eyes were twitching. Amiya quickly changed her mind, which earned her a pat on the head as a reward.

"Okay, okay, I know that person looks a lot like me... but from now on, just call me 'Outrage' directly. We need to use my code name at the company."

As he spoke, he glanced at the white Little Cat behind Amiya, whose attention was entirely focused on the food plate he had brought. Cautus's Guard, codenamed "Outrage" and carrying a demolition hammer, smiled, blew on a spoonful of stew, and then fed it to the Little Cat seemed to be drowsy in spring, tired in autumn, and dozing off in summer, and who never forgot to hibernate in winter.

Seeing Rosemary's blissful expression as she tried to wipe the lip oil on her pajamas, Amiya gave her a quick flick on the forehead, causing Rosemary to gasp and freeze in surprise.

"Change your clothes before you eat! Honestly... You're such a grown-up, yet you act like a child..."

"Amiya, you're too precocious..."

"Who do you think is being too childish on a regular basis?"

Watching the two little ones stand with their hands on their hips, bickering with each other, Outrage and Huang exchanged an amused glance. Then, the former put down a plate on the table in the room, and Huang also wandered around the children's room before opening the PRTS system and uploading Amiya's status record, which was at the same security level as the Doctor's, to the morning's report section.

[Amiya & Rosemary, 6:30 AM, confirmed awake and in good condition.]

"By the way, does that FrostNova operator look that much like me?"

Seeing the Outrage and the still hesitant look on her face after so long, Amiya scratched her ear and urged Rosemary to finish her meal, saying:

"Both Outrage and FrostNova are silver-haired Cautus characters, and both are gentle, older sister types. Although their uniforms are different, their overall style is quite similar... At first glance, it's indeed hard to tell them apart... But FrostNova's magical aura is more intense, and Outrage's explosive hammer is also very distinctive... It's not to the point where you need to specifically distinguish them."

"And then you confused the Outrage sister with FrostNova..."

Amiya turned around, somewhat annoyed, upon hearing the cold voice suddenly coming from behind her.

"No way!"

"You've clearly made a mistake again; I heard you change your mind halfway through..."

Watching Amiya and her Feline friends 'playing' again, the two little ones even circled around the tall Huang in a fit of arguing over a trivial topic.

He tilted his head, amused by the Outrage, then remembered the person who always wore a hooded protective suit in the outside world.

"Speaking of which, how is the Doctor? She seemed a bit dazed when she saw me at Rhodes Island... Wouldn't it be a bit much to ask her to command a battle now?"

"There shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"

Dipping bread in stew gravy to enhance the breakfast, Huang shrugged, recalling how the Doctor had blocked the escaping Frightfish in the shantytown module while playing chess yesterday.

"While amnesia is a real thing, Charlotte, your experience is... truly heartbreaking... But when it comes to your primary duty, the Commander is still the same Commander... Although some people feel that the Doctor seems a bit off, because she looks rather simple-minded?"

Watching Huang playfully swing her wrist, Cautus, who had long silver hair but wasn't from Ursus, pursed her lips as if recalling something:

"But she... always seems to be like that... naive and innocent."

"After all, you only have a very superficial impression of the Doctor from the past... And compared to the changes the Doctor underwent due to that special period, I think that if you're not willing to accept Outrage... no, it should be that you have to continue to strengthen your connection with the Doctor regardless of whether you're willing or not..."

"Strengthen ties? Well, I've already tried my best to apply for the mission... but the identity verification alone has taken this long. I came to Rhodes Island as soon as I heard Amiya's name."

"Ha... After all, Kal'tsit's watchfulness over the Doctor is much stricter than Amiya's oversight of Rosemary. So, I'm saying, whether you like it or not... you were planning to take the Doctor and Amiya back to Kazdel, weren't you... It's just fortunate that the Doctor left you behind."

"Can you call this a good thing? I'm actually quite disappointed..."

Watching the Outrage mutter things like, "They tricked me into renting a pack animal," "They suddenly disappeared," and "I was so scared I thought Amiya and the Doctor had been intercepted by Rusthammers," Huang recalled the days when "Babel" was transformed into "Rhodes Island," and just smiled without saying anything more.

After all, feeling down is better than dying in that incident... At the end of that civil war between the two Kazdel Emperors, there was nowhere safe, whether on field missions or on Landship.

Huang acknowledged Outrage as a mine guard, he was experienced in fighting dangerous creatures and directional blasting... but fighting humans and eliminating dangerous creatures are completely different things, and fighting Kazdel is even more of a different matter.

However, under Lady Kal'tsit's leadership, Rhodes Island has once again distanced itself from matters related to that prince. Whether it will be able to settle things with those people again next time... well, it remains to be seen.

However, speaking of that prince, Huang also remembered someone who, ever since Nana started working on field missions again, had gradually become restless and was often found loitering around the Doctor.

"Speaking of which, Amiya, that guy... is it alright for him to let W walk around next to the Doctor like that?"

Seeing Hoshino's clearly worried expression, Amiya, who had been happily eating her hometown food, froze upon hearing the name W. Then, the Little Bunny forced a smile at Outrage's seemingly oblivious demeanor, before looking at her:

"... It should be alright... After all, she's the one who keeps hovering in the distance with a camera, but never dares to approach..."

"... You just need to know she's a Sarkaz and what she's been doing before. When Medic was around, she could at least behave herself as the static beauty Nana described... Now that Rhodes Island is busy, she's started showing her true colors again."

"This 'natural disposition'... it's gone too far."

Seeing Amiya shaking her head, Huang knew she had gone too far, so she pursed her lips and shrugged.

"In short, although I understand why W and her group are so hysterical... even if the 'Tower' is gone, there's still the 'Castle.' If they want to mess with the Doctor, they'll have to get past me first."

Seeing Blaze pat the Rhodes Island 'castle' mark on her shoulder, even though she didn't know what cryptic talk Amiya and Blaze were playing, the Outrage were ultimately on Amiya and the Doctor's side.

"Yes, count me in... Last time the Doctor got away, and not only was Amiya injured, but she also lost her memory... This time I will definitely protect you all."