Skadi, My Wife

Rope was the one speaking—the Rope whom Ch'en had arrested, then had Penguin Logistics deliver here, and who kept insisting she had been trafficked by some bastard old woman.

After arriving in Chernobog, she had transformed from an ordinary little thief into a special operator of Dawn. Since she had no combat experience, she was not assigned any combat duties and was only responsible for infiltration and intelligence gathering.

She should have started working after receiving an official identity, but Dawn had far too many people in combat and espionage—so many that quite a few former Reunion Movement captains and department heads had been sent off to act as neighborhood committee aunties and uncles. Some who truly had nothing to do had even volunteered to farm. Dawn's predecessor was the Reunion Movement, and the Reunion Movement had practically specialized in opposing Ursus. If they had lacked combat and intelligence personnel, they would have been finished long ago.

Moreover, aside from discussing cooperation with Lungmen, Chernobog had not made any external moves recently. There was nowhere that required intelligence gathering. No matter how much the Human Resources Department thought about it, they could not figure out what to assign Rope. They could hardly send her back where she came from and have her gather intelligence in Lungmen, could they?

Not to mention that Chernobog had already taken in many Infected from Lungmen. Their boss, Talulah, had been born into Lungmen aristocracy, so they had more than enough intelligence regarding Lungmen from top to bottom. Even if they did not, they still could not do that.

After all, Rope had been sent over by that Lungmen police officer named Ch'en, who was supposedly the boss's sister. That was a Lungmen police officer!

If they sent back someone she had personally caught and delivered here, would that not get discovered immediately? If she complained afterward that someone was trying to undermine the harmony between Lungmen and Chernobog, the consequences would be disastrous!

So in the end, Rope received her operator identity but was sent off to play before she had even started work.

If she felt like wandering around Chernobog, she could report any suspicious people she saw. If she did not feel like it, she could stay home. She could do whatever she wanted, as long as she submitted one report every day.

No work, and she still got paid? Was there really such a good deal in this world!?

When Rope first heard the Human Resources Department's arrangements for her, she had first found them unbelievable, then been overjoyed.

Then, after lying around at home for two days, she happily began her work of searching for suspicious people and gathering intelligence around the city.

She could not help it. She had been used to working hard just to survive since childhood. Suddenly being told she did not have to do anything at all felt far too strange.

Besides, she harbored a tiny hope that if she worked hard and became an outstanding operator, she might catch the attention of someone higher up, receive better treatment, recover from Oripathy faster, then leave and return to Lungmen. She had no choice but to work hard.

Filled with fighting spirit, Rope began working diligently. Then, after working diligently for three days, she gave up.

Because she realized that after wandering around the city and meeting so many people for three days, the most suspicious person she had encountered was the one she saw in the mirror every morning while washing her face.

That was right, herself!

"Hey! Where did you come from? Why have I never seen you before? What are you doing skulking around the streets?"

Three days. In only three days, she had heard that sentence no fewer than ten times. Several times, groups of students had even stopped her to ask. It was absurd!

After reality crushed her, her dream of working hard, becoming an outstanding operator, curing her Oripathy, returning home, and becoming some man's little wife was shattered. Rope latched onto Croissant.

They had not been close before, but they at least knew each other. In an unfamiliar city, having someone she knew to talk to was better than being alone, right?

After that,

She set up her stall with Croissant every day, bickered with her, complained about how difficult reports were to write, and Rope, forced to become a couch potato, drifted through life until today.

With a stalk of dry grass in her mouth, she sat behind Croissant, leaning against a lamppost like a salted fish.

Croissant was unconvinced. "Nonsense! How could my business strategy possibly be wrong? When I first came here, these goods of mine sold very well!"

"It was just the novelty."

The salted fish... no, Rope lazily said, "Chernobog used to belong to Ursus, and the people here are tough as hell. Your refined little trinkets are fine to buy once or twice, but who would keep buying them? If you ask me, you should stock sturdy baseball bats, boxing gloves, and things like that, then sell them outside schools. I guarantee they would sell well... Bastards!"

Seemingly recalling something unpleasant, Rope suddenly cursed, then sat upright with a pained expression. "What is wrong with the students here?! They start group fights at the drop of a hat. Fighting among themselves is one thing, but they even like dragging innocent passersby into it. Last time, I was just watching the excitement when I ran into one on the street, and they nearly beat me up too! Do they have no public decency at all?! Didn't that rotten police officer say the environment here was good and that they were very friendly toward Infected like us? What kind of good and friendly is this?!"

"Of course they're friendly. In other places, how could Infected and non-Infected possibly get into group fights together, fighting just because neither side respected the other rather than because of discrimination, then drinking together afterward?"

As Croissant considered Rope's suggestion and pondered whether she should change her business strategy in the future, selling tools that could be used as weapons without actually causing serious harm, she casually said, "The students here are actually pretty easy to talk to. As long as you do not provoke them, ordinary citizens are the same. Most of them are nice people... unless they have been drinking."

After thinking about it, Croissant added one final sentence.

Rope glanced sideways at her. "Are there any people here who do not drink?"

Croissant refused to answer, because the answer was obvious.

"Looks like there really won't be any business today."

She sighed deeply and decided to pack up her stall and set up somewhere else. Just then, she suddenly saw a red figure pass by at the street corner and froze.

"Skadi?"

"!?"

Rope sprang to her feet, moving as nimbly as a rabbit thrown alive into a pot full of boiling water.

"Where? Where?"

She looked around in every direction and shouted, "Where's Chen An? Where's Chen An?!"

Croissant: "..."

Black lines filled her forehead. "Which ear of yours heard me say Chen An? I said Skadi, okay?"

"That freakishly strong woman follows Chen An even when he goes grocery shopping. This is Chernobog, so far from Lungmen. How could she possibly come here alone? If she appears here, Chen An must be here too."

After making her case with complete confidence, Rope hurriedly urged, "Stop wasting time. Tell me where you saw Chen An. Hurry, tell me!"

"Maybe I saw wrong."

Croissant scratched her ponytail and began packing up the stall. "I only saw one person, and she was wearing red. Skadi does not seem to own clothes like that."

"One person..."

Like a deflated balloon, Rope was deeply disappointed.

Just as she had said, this was Chernobog, not Lungmen. Skadi, who liked following Chen An everywhere and always called for him to come with her, could not possibly leave Chen An behind and come here alone.

So if it was one person, then Croissant must really have mistaken someone else for her.

Shining suddenly stopped walking and looked toward the side street with some concern.

At the other end of the street, two unfamiliar people were packing up a stall.

Nightingale and Nearl were both confused. "What is it? Aren't we going after Skadi?"

"I think I heard someone mention Chen An's name."

Shining frowned, then relaxed. "It was probably someone reminiscing about him. Although he left and Talulah ordered that people were not to casually discuss him, it is still normal to occasionally hear his name here. Come on, let's hurry after Skadi. Something is wrong with her right now. We cannot let her cause trouble."

"Mm." Nightingale and Nearl nodded.

Red Skadi stood at the intersection, unable to decide.

There were three roads in front of her: straight ahead, left, and right.

Yet her memories of this city were almost entirely blurred away. She did not know which direction she should take to find Chen An.

As she hesitated, she suddenly heard Shining calling her name.

She turned around and watched Shining and the other two hurry toward her. Only when they reached her did she calmly ask, "Chen An, where is he?"

"You..."

Shining wanted to say something, but she inadvertently met Red Skadi's earnest gaze. She paused, then sighed.

"I understand. Since you want to know Chen An's whereabouts first, I will take you to see Talulah. If Chen An has returned, she will definitely be able to tell you where he is."

Shining's group of four met Talulah in her office. FrostNova was there as well—Alina was a teacher and was currently teaching at school.

"Where is Chen An?"

Before Talulah could say much, Skadi, whose entire heart was focused on finding Chen An and learning where he was, directly questioned her.

Talulah froze, and FrostNova frowned as well.

It was not that they were displeased by Skadi's rudeness. Rather, in their impression, Skadi was not someone who would seize the initiative and question people like this.

She was quiet and gentle. Even when Chen An was not beside her and her gentle expression turned cold, her personality did not change.

It would have been one thing if they were strangers, but Talulah and FrostNova could both be considered her friends. No matter her attitude, she should not have been this impolite.

Shining gave the two of them an apologetic look. "Sorry. Skadi has been searching for Chen An for a long time, just like us. Before we came, I told her that Chen An might have returned, so she may be a little anxious."

"It is fine."

Talulah could tell that was not what Shining truly wanted to say, only that she seemed to have some concerns and therefore had not said it.

Talulah revealed a gentle smile. "I know her relationship with Chen An. I will not blame her."

At that moment, Red Skadi asked again, "Where is Chen An?"

"I am sorry, but Chen An has not returned."

Talulah said apologetically, "We have been searching for him as well, but we still have not received any news of him."

Upon hearing that, Red Skadi looked deeply disappointed. She glanced at Shining, said nothing, and silently turned to leave.

"Skadi! Shining, please explain Skadi's situation to Talulah and the others. Nearl and I will keep an eye on her."

Worried that something unexpected might happen if Red Skadi left alone, Nightingale called out to her. When she could not stop her, she quickly informed Shining, grabbed Nearl, and chased after her.

Only after the three left did Talulah ask Shining with concern, "Did something happen to Skadi? Why does she feel like a completely different person?"

"Yes. She would never have spoken to us like that before."

FrostNova nodded, then raised another question. "Wasn't she supposed to have left with Chen An? How did she end up with you? You also said she had been searching for Chen An for a long time, just like you?"

"To be honest, I want to know the answer to that question too."

Shining sighed, her words filled with melancholy. "But Skadi is unwilling to explain any of it. I only know that she and Chen An should have separated a long time ago, possibly not long after they left Chernobog. And before we met her, she seemed to have gone through many things."

She pointed at her head. "Not only has her personality become more withdrawn and pessimistic than before, she has also lost much of her memory. When we first encountered her, if we had not called out to her, she might have walked right past us without recognizing us. When we mentioned Chernobog on the way here, she had no impression of Chernobog at all."

Shining had not mentioned these matters when she contacted Talulah and said they would soon return to Chernobog. Hearing them now, Talulah found them difficult to believe.

"How could this happen? Could she have contracted Oripathy like Specter? But didn't the Medical Department say that she had almost no possibility of contracting Oripathy? Even Specter only contracted Oripathy because... Mm."

Talulah suddenly could not continue.

Shining understood, because she knew about Specter as well and had even participated in treating her.

Like Skadi, Specter was also one of the Abyssal Hunters.

And Abyssal Hunters had almost no possibility of contracting Oripathy.

The reason Specter had contracted Oripathy was because she had been captured by an enemy organization called the Deep Sea Church while carrying out a mission, then subjected to a monstrous experiment where massive amounts of liquid Originium were injected into her body.

It was only natural that Talulah did not wish to bring up her companion's tragic past. Just as Shining herself did not wish to casually mention Nightingale's past, even if Nightingale herself did not mind.

"Skadi has not contracted Oripathy. It should simply be amnesia."

Shining changed the subject as if nothing had happened, only asking one concerned question at the end. "By the way, where is Specter? I heard she left Chernobog too. What happened?"

"It does not really count as leaving. She said she obtained information about her former captain and went to find her. She wanted to ask her something and, if possible, recruit her into Dawn."

FrostNova was the one who answered. She spread her hands, looking a little playful. "But I think she probably went to get revenge, because the place she went was Iberia."

—The Deep Sea Church, the organization that had captured Specter and experimented on her, was based in Iberia.

"There is a third Abyssal Hunter?"

Shining paused, then shook her head. "I hope Specter's captain had the same experience coming ashore as Skadi. Otherwise, with Chen An absent, if another Specter appears, Dawn's current medical technology will not be able to save her."

She then intended to take her leave. Talulah had no news of Chen An, so there was nothing more for her to say.

Besides, she was somewhat worried about how Red Skadi was doing after leaving.

Talulah stopped her. "I will be going to Lungmen after some time. Shining, would you like to come with me?"

"Going to Lungmen?"

Shining stopped in surprise.

"Yes, to discuss some cooperation."

Talulah smiled. "There should be matters involving Lungmen's Oripathy patients among them. I think you would be interested. What do you say? Would you like to come with me then?"

After a brief moment of thought, Shining agreed.

Chen An's house exploded.

Literally. Someone had blown up Chen An's house.