Arknights, Suika's Messenger Journey

"The box was taken away by my companion. He already left Lungmen with it, while I stayed behind to look for the key!"

Pinned down by Suika, with his chest compressed so badly he could barely breathe, he struggled to speak.

"What's his name? What does he look like? Which direction did he go?"

Now that she had found a lead, she naturally needed to know more.

"I don't know his name. We only called each other by codenames. He's Red-clawed Spider, and I'm Venom Wolf Spider.

"We agreed to meet at the outpost on the Ursus border tomorrow night.

"That's everything I know. Can you give me a quick death now?"

After telling her everything, the man looked at Suika and asked calmly.

Suika nodded, then placed a hand over his head. Before his eyes, that hand grew larger and larger until it covered his entire face.

Then, with a light squeeze, a teeth-grating crunch of shattering bones rang out. Blood and brain matter seeped through her fingers.

After withdrawing her hand, Suika turned into mist once more and vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a mangled corpse.

After leaving the house, Suika flew back home. Hoshiguma had gone to the Guard Department and probably wouldn't be returning. After thinking for a moment, Suika took out some paper and a pen.

"I found some clues and am going to investigate. If I'm not back when you see this letter, don't worry."

After writing it, she weighed the paper down on the table and turned to leave the house again.

As she stepped outside, Suika considered that Ursus lay to the northwest, but the border stretched an enormous distance.

There simply wasn't enough time to search all of it.

But when she recalled what the man had said, he and his other companion had agreed to meet tomorrow night.

The shortest route from here to Ursus only took half a day. There was no reason for them to wait until nighttime to meet.

So, if he hadn't lied, then the other party wouldn't have chosen the nearest route.

With that in mind, she went back inside and looked at the map of Lungmen and its surrounding regions hanging on the wall, then fixed on a village.

It was about a hundred kilometers from Lungmen.

It was impossible to reach on foot in a day, but Lungmen had carriages heading there. At a carriage's pace, they could definitely arrive before dinner, which matched the meeting time he had mentioned.

Suika knew about the place because Hoshiguma had mentioned it before, saying the scenery there was lovely and that she would take Suika there to play once she had a vacation.

Cannot Be Forgiven

Could it be that place?

Suika didn't dare be completely certain.

Still, she felt there was a fifty-percent chance.

The border was so vast, and she didn't even know what they looked like or any other specifics. Searching alone was like a blind man fishing. A fifty-percent chance was already very high.

Besides, Suika had a feeling that this trip wouldn't end in vain.

Having made up her mind, she didn't linger any longer.

Turning into mist once more, she drifted toward her destination.

When she reached the edge of the city and saw the closed entrance and exit gates, she gave a light jump and floated down with the wind.

The guards stationed there noticed the patch of mist nearby, but they didn't become suspicious.

Of course, no normal person would be wary of a floating patch of mist or cloud.

After landing, Suika didn't stop and continued hurrying toward her destination.

By noon the next day, she had reached the entrance to the small town.

After returning to solid form and steadying herself, Suika walked into town.

She knew she couldn't rush.

Although the town wasn't large, its beautiful scenery had made it rather famous. Not to mention people from farther away—even in Lungmen, plenty of people came here to travel and admire the views during their days off.

So the flow of people wasn't low.

Walking down the streets and listening to the lively cries of vendors, she seemed to see Granny Wang again, sitting at her breakfast stall no matter the wind or rain and warmly greeting every familiar face that passed by.

At that thought, her heart ached.

Just as Suika sank into her memories, a hand suddenly grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"Why are you here by yourself?"

The little tiger's crisp, puzzled voice sounded by her ear.

Suika looked over in shock and found Swire dressed casually, sitting at an open-air breakfast stall and eating.

"Why are you here?" Suika asked, stunned.

"Hey, brat, I asked you first, didn't I?

"Hoshiguma isn't off today. How did you get all the way here alone so early in the morning?"

After speaking, Swire looked around and saw no sign of Hoshiguma. Her expression gradually turned serious.

Suika glanced around.

"Is there somewhere quieter?"

"Come with me. Boss, pack this up!

"And add an order of pan-fried buns and soy milk."

Swire stood and called to the stall owner beside her.

After collecting the breakfast, the two walked all the way to where Swire was staying.

Only after sitting down did Swire speak.

"Go on. Why did you come here alone?"

"Granny Wang is dead. Someone killed her."

Hearing Suika's words, Swire frowned. After thinking for several minutes, she finally said,

"The Granny Wang who ran the breakfast shop on the street where you lived?"

Suika nodded.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Hearing there had been a murder, Swire couldn't help but feel shaken.

Suika told her about what had happened during the day yesterday, then said that at night, she had seen a thief sneak into the ruins to look for something. After finding it, he headed out, so out of curiosity, she followed him all the way here.

"Really?" Swire straightened in her seat again.

She wasn't stupid. If he had been an ordinary vagrant, searching the ruins for things would have been normal, but he would never risk his life leaving the city in the middle of the night.

Much less come to this border town.

Ursus was just beyond the border. There was no need to spell out what he was planning.

"Did you get a clear look at his face?" Swire asked with concern.

"No." Suika had come here searching for a needle in a haystack. How could she possibly know what he looked like?

"So all we can confirm right now is that one of them is a vagrant, right?" Swire stood.

"Mm-hm!" Suika nodded.

"Then let's go." Swire got up.

"Where?"

"To catch the criminal! Didn't you sneak out of Lungmen alone because you wanted to do exactly that?" Swire said with a smile.

"Come to think of it, why are you here?" As they headed outside, Suika looked around.

"I'm on vacation, obviously. Cops are people too, you know. We need rest as well!"

With an expression that said what nonsense are you talking about?, Swire walked ahead.

Suika hurried after her. "Slow down!"

And so, the two wandered the streets aimlessly from morning until afternoon.

"Hey, little one, you're not messing with me, are you?" Sitting by the roadside, Swire held a hot drink and looked at Suika suspiciously.

"Why would I lie to you? It's not like we've seen anyone suspicious."

Suika was helpless too. She had already been looking for a needle in a haystack, and strolling slowly through the streets with Swire only made the chances of finding anyone even lower.

Just then, she suddenly spotted a somewhat familiar figure, and her gaze sharpened.

"Come with me!" With that, Suika grabbed Swire and headed toward the person.

"What's going on?" Swire looked in the direction Suika was staring, but didn't see anyone suspicious.

"Someone familiar. Someone who absolutely shouldn't be here. If it's really him..."

As Suika spoke, she pressed her lips together.

"So you really weren't lying to me?" Swire was shocked.

"You thought I came all this way just to fool around with you?" As she spoke, Suika moved toward the man.

Perhaps Suika was too anxious, or perhaps Swire was simply too eye-catching.

The two of them tugging at each other as they approached drew the other person's attention. The moment he met Suika's eyes, he froze for a second, then immediately slipped into the crowd.

"Quick, it's that guy in the gray coat." Seeing him run, Suika rushed after him.

"There are so many people in gray coats here. Which one are you talking about?" Swire said helplessly. There were at least three or four gray coats in front of her.

"Catch whoever tries to run first." As the man nearly vanished from her sight in the crowd, Suika grew anxious.

Seeing how serious Suika was, Swire stopped treating it like a game. She carefully watched the people in gray, followed Suika's gaze to identify one of them, and gave chase.

After taking a few steps, the man realized he was being watched and immediately broke into a run.

The two sides chased each other from the town to the outskirts. Only after more than half an hour of frantic pursuit did they finally intercept him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The man stopped, panting heavily.

"I imagined many possible outcomes. I guessed at all kinds of enemies. But the one person I never expected was you.

"Honestly, I thought coming here would be pointless.

"After all, I had no idea who the spy was that had left Lungmen before us and come here.

"Looking for someone I didn't know was pointless from the start.

"But then you appeared.

"Why did it have to be you? How could it be you...

"Ah!

"Red-clawed Spider!

"Or should I call you by your real name—

"Wang Ke, the youngest son of the Wang Family!"

Suika glared at the man before her and spoke through gritted teeth.

Alas, Falling Leaves Drift Away

"Huh?"

Swire's head was full of Liberi question marks.

This spy was Granny Wang's son?

She clearly remembered Suika saying that the spy had killed Granny Wang and the other elderly member of her household, then stolen a box containing important letters and left Lungmen.

If the spy was Granny Wang's son, then...

At that thought, Swire's pupils shook violently.

Though she had never met the man before her, Chen had investigated the old woman's records because Suika had been close to Granny Wang.

Granny Wang's record was exceptionally clean. She had been one of the pioneers who came with her husband to reclaim this land when Lungmen was first founded.

After putting down roots in Lungmen, she had never left again.