When an icy finger poked Su Xiaoxiao in the neck, she shot half a foot into the air as if she had been electrocuted.
The soles of her fluffy slippers were already muddy, and when she landed, she planted them squarely on slippery moss.
She lost her balance and toppled sideways toward the Air-Raid Shelter's rusty iron ladder.
Below lay a concrete pit three meters deep. A fall would mean broken bones.
Su Bai caught the back collar of her old jacket and hauled her straight back onto level ground.
Su Xiaoxiao kicked twice in midair before her back hit the low wall, and she finally regained her footing.
Panicking, Xia Ning hastily stuffed the little duck with beady eyes deep inside her raincoat.
She whipped both hands behind her back, stood ramrod straight, and forced on a model student's smile.
"Su Bai! What a coincidence, haha."
Xia Ning blinked, her gaze wandering everywhere. "The air's so fresh tonight. Xiaoxiao and I came out to enjoy the scenery."
The wire-mesh exhaust vent on the Air-Raid Shelter's first basement level faced the viewing platform, blasting the smell of machine oil and rust straight into their noses.
Forget scenery-even live rats would rather not linger here.
Su Bai stood over them, still holding two unfinished soda crackers, crumbs raining down from his hand.
"You rode a broken-down E-Scooter across two administrative districts to enjoy the scenery?"
Su Bai lowered his eyelids slightly, his tone unruffled. "Finished your force diagrams? Worked out the moment balance?"
Rubbing the sore back of her head, Su Xiaoxiao leaned against the concrete wall and tried to put on a brave front.
"Hajige! You've got some nerve asking us that!"
She reached into her old jacket's pocket, pulled out the heavy military Shard, and held it across her