Huojin was reclining leisurely on a lounge chair in his back garden, drinking an unidentified beverage that appeared to be fine wine and watching the sun gradually disappear in the distance.
After the sun disappeared, Huojin addressed the butler beside him:
"Butler, have all the arrangements for the setting been made?"
The figure beside him, motionless as a statue with a pure white cloth draped over his arm, replied:
"Sir, apart from the airship rented yesterday, which is expected to arrive here in half an hour, everything is in place."
Huojin said, "Mm, good. It's also time to start preparing to trick my daughter... invite her back. But what excuse should I use when the time comes... right, what is she doing now?"
The butler said, "I'm not sure, sir."
"...I forgot. I only lowered her surveillance level to the baseline a few days ago. After all, personal privacy and such deserve some consideration."
Huojin took a small sip of the liquid in his glass, then continued:
"How about this, Butler? Just take a quick look at my daughter's beacon location."
The butler said, "Yes, sir. Checking now... sir, the young lady is currently in Vision Corporation's railway demolition zone outside Dead End Hollow."
Huojin said, "I see. Well, that's quite... wait, demolition zone?"
The butler said, "Yes, sir. The details have been sent to you."
Huojin paused for a few seconds to check the information, then asked in puzzlement, "What is she doing somewhere so dangerous? The protective device she's wearing can only block a few guided missiles. It can't withstand an explosion with that large a yield..."
Just as Huojin was considering whether to go there himself and sneak a few looks, the butler interrupted him.
The butler said, "Sir, the young lady's emergency alarm has been triggered."
Huojin said, "Oh, the same as before, then?"
The butler said, "Sir, this time it wasn't triggered automatically. The young lady activated it herself, and she appears to be in a great hurry."
Huojin lost his composure and immediately stood up. "Butler, get the car ready. We're leaving. Follow the original contingency plan for everything."
The butler said, "Very well, sir. Field personnel are being dispatched, and the vehicle is leaving the garage..."
Huojin stood still for a moment, seemingly remembering something, then asked the butler again, "...Almost forgot. Butler, are those three colors still at their assigned posts under the contingency plan?"
The butler said, "Sir, none of the three are at their designated posts today."
Huojin said, "Huh?! ＊＊＊, those three lazy color bastards are ＊＊ skipping work again. Looks like I'll have to straighten them out properly after this trip... let's leave first. Have the car hurry up next time."
The butler said, "Yes, sir."
The moment he finished speaking, a hovering car had already stopped in front of Huojin...
"Boss, are you done painting? The three of us brothers have something on tonight."
"Almost, almost. Just need to dot the eyes."
An elderly, tall, burly bovine Thiren modification mechanic was in his own modification shop, spray-painting a design onto the back of a gentleman intelligent construct lying before him.
After dotting in the final eyes, the old mechanic finally let out a breath of relief. He removed his reading glasses, wiped his sweat, and thumped his back as he said:
"There, all done. Whew, you've worn these old bones right out."
"Mm~, let me see how it looks."
The intelligent construct stood up and walked over to the shop's only full-length mirror to inspect his new look.
He had a muscular frame and stood over 1.8 meters tall, wearing nothing but black shorts and red sneakers. The rest of his exposed shell was covered in all sorts of fiery-red designs, the most striking of which was the freshly painted dragon on his back.
After striking several poses and looking himself over, he nodded in satisfaction. "Pretty good, Old Bull. Your skills are as good as ever!"
The bovine mechanic opened a bottle of fuel drink, pulled over a more comfortable stool, sat down, and took a sip. "Hmph, you come here every week for tattoos... paintings. How could my skills not be good?"
"Hehe, that's because you're the one we know best around here!"
Just then, a call came from outside. "Red One, are you done yet? If you don't come out, we're leaving without you!"
Red One said, "I'm done, I'm done! What are you rushing me for? So impatient."
Facing the mirror, Red One slicked back his thick red hair, then gestured at his metal face, which looked cast from the same mold as Billy's. Finally, he hurriedly draped himself in dozens of pounds of thick, pure-gold chains, several pure-gold bracelets, and ten pure-gold rings.
"We're off! No need to see us out!"
Red One spoke without waiting for a response, giving the briefcase beside the entrance a kick on his way out.
"I wasn't planning to."
The bovine mechanic tossed his empty fuel drink into the trash, then brought the briefcase over and opened it on the table. A gleam of gold greeted his eyes.
"Ah, I'm getting old. Sometimes I really don't understand. This is clearly a perfectly respectable modification shop, so why do I spend most of my time tattooing those three? When will these days ever end~?"
As he spoke, the bovine mechanic helplessly took out a thick stack of large-denomination Denny notes and began counting them with practiced ease...
"Red One, what did you paint on yourself? Why did it take so much longer than before?"
The moment Red One stepped out of the modification shop, someone leaning in the nighttime shadows questioned him. Only his blue electronic eyes and a dozen or so little colored lights were visible. He was also the one who had called from outside earlier.
Hearing this, Red One showed him the striking fire dragon painted on his back and boasted, "Because I got this painted, of course. What do you think, Blue Two? Cool, right?"
Blue Two, the intelligent construct who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, stepped out of the shadows.
He had the same humanoid build as Red One and the same head shape as Billy, with a similar chassis design. His hair was blue, and he wore loose black trousers and black-and-blue sneakers. His upper body was also covered in blue designs, and several thin, long strings of colored lights wound around him from his neck to his ankles.
After looking at the dragon on Red One's back, Blue Two said calmly, with a hint of disdain, "I was wondering what it was. Turns out you just copied that mural in Lumina Square."
Red One said, "Hey! What do you mean, copied? I spent ages finding this picture, okay? It looks way better than those two hemp ropes painted on your arms!"
Blue Two's tone remained calm, but his emotions were anything but steady:
"What do you mean, hemp ropes? Open those eyes of yours, which barely measure up to fifty thousand pixels, and take a good look. These are snakes. Giant pythons. Two imposing giant pythons, way more real than that red loach of yours."
Red One immediately started cursing too. "I ＊＊＊! What do you mean, a red loach that isn't real? Those ＊＊ giant pythons of yours-have you ever seen one? How the ＊＊ can you call them real? You ＊＊＊＊＊!"
Blue Two stopped holding back as well. "Why don't you ＊＊ look it up? Now you're even saying giant pythons aren't real. You ＊＊, you ＊＊＊＊＊＊!"
Just as the two traded insults and were about to come to blows, someone else arrived in time.
"Red One, Blue Two, what's up?"
Another intelligent construct descended from the sky, landing squarely between them.
Like the other two, he had Billy's face, with white electronic eyes and yellow hair. He wore yellow-and-black trousers and sneakers. His upper body had some designs painted on it too, but nowhere near as many as theirs, making him look much plainer by comparison. An old-fashioned, oversized cassette player rested on his shoulder.
Blue Two crossed his arms and said, "Nothing, Yellow Three. Just got tangled up with a certain slow, blind ＊＊ for a bit."
Red One turned his head away and said angrily, "Hmph, a certain ＊＊ with no appreciation brought it on himself!"
Yellow Three glanced at the two, who looked ready to hit each other, and continued in very halting speech, "You two, stop. Big news."