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"Barrett is dead?" Silco was sitting at a mahogany desk reading documents. Upon hearing the news, he merely lifted his eyes slightly. "How did he die?"
"He died in the sewers. It seemed like something broke his leg, and he bled to death."
"Hmm. He used so much shimmer, it was about time," Silco said, flipping another page of the document. In the undercity, people died every day; it wasn't a big deal.
"But... Barrett's men said he was killed while pursuing Vi and an enforcer."
"Vi? An enforcer?" Silco finally looked up, linking the news from the upper city. "So that's it... That child has returned too? She's a big troublemaker. And the identity of that enforcer... Where are they now?"
"They went to the deserted café on the edge of the black street, probably to find former allies."
"Hmm..." Silco nodded, lost in thought. "Alright, I understand. You can leave now."
Silco was alone in the room. He pondered for a long time, then refocused on the documents in his hand. Suddenly, Silco furrowed his brows, a look of pain flashing across his face. He opened a drawer and took out a copper shimmer syringe, aiming it at his left eye. His hand trembled slightly—anyone would tremble injecting a needle into their own eye. Once, he missed. Twice, thrice... finally, Silco pressed the plunger, and the sharp needle pierced straight into his pupil. The shimmer injected, healing his wounds and stimulating his nerves. "Ah..." Silco slumped in his chair, eyes tightly shut, gasping in pain. The shimmer mixed with tears, flowing slowly from the corner of his eye. Every shimmer injection was an indescribable torment for Silco. But what could he do? He had no one he could trust—only himself.
Silco's office was in a loft, the highest point in the entire undercity. Only here could the black clouds of industrial smoke be underfoot, revealing the pure white full moon in the sky. The window blew open, and cold moonlight streamed in, adding a layer of chill to the loft. "It's lonely at the top..." Silco recalled a phrase he once heard and the person who said it. "Justin." Silco tapped his finger on the desk, creating a "thud, thud, thud" sound, echoing in the empty loft, echoing in solitude.
"Justin!" Jinx was surprisingly up early today, straddling Justin's stomach like a kid riding a rocking horse, moving back and forth. "Get up and make breakfast!"
"Just a little longer..." Justin yawned, not opening his eyes. There was no sunlight in the undercity, just a simple distinction between day and night, making it hard to tell the time. The clock on the wall had long stopped moving. Justin and Jinx had always been the type to sleep in naturally. After all the exhaustion of the past few days, shouldn't they get a good rest today? What was this girl making a fuss about?
"Get up, get up~" Jinx continued rocking on him. Justin finally felt something was wrong and opened his eyes. "Where did you learn this position from, MD? Has Isaac been teaching you weird things again? Get off of me now!"
Justin wanted to stop her actions, but Jinx's hair once again wrapped around him, leaving him no choice but to turn over and pin Jinx beneath him. The girl suddenly stopped moving, lying motionless in the bathtub, her beautiful sapphire-blue eyes staring straight at him, as if ready to be at his mercy.
"Is your hair alive or what? Why does it always tangle around me when we sleep…" Justin started to untangle Jinx's hair, as he always did, but suddenly he felt an unusual sensation rise within him. She was still wearing the JK uniform from yesterday. After the playful scuffle, a few buttons on her shirt had come undone, and the zipper of her skirt was loose, revealing her smooth and flat stomach.
"Do you want to touch?" Jinx suddenly asked with a mischievous grin.
"No!" Justin instinctively flinched and hurriedly buttoned Jinx's shirt and zipped up her skirt. "From now on, don't wear this at home. It's inconvenient."
"Don't you like it?" Jinx asked in a feigned innocent tone.
"…It's inconvenient."
Thinking back, Jinx's clothes always showed part of her belly, and it never bothered him before. It was the half-revealed state that made it seem provocative. Humans are truly fascinating creatures.
"Hmm-hmm~" The girl hummed a cheerful tune and brought breakfast to Vi and Caitlyn. Residents of the undercity generally didn't have the habit of eating breakfast, but since Justin made a lot, she didn't mind bringing them some—after all, she was in a good mood now. "Hmm?" Jinx saw that Caitlyn had already freed herself from the bindings and her expression instantly changed. She dropped the plate, drew her gun, and aimed at Caitlyn. Before the plate hit the ground, she was ready to fire, ready to pull the trigger and blow Caitlyn's head off.
"Powder, no! Let me explain…" Vi rushed forward, placing herself between Jinx and Caitlyn. Seeing this, Jinx widened her eyes and gritted her teeth, "Explain what? Explain why you brought an enforcer here to disrupt my life!"
"No, Powder! I'm here for you!"
"Oh? Really, then what's with the enforcer?"
"She was supposed to capture me, and then…"
"Then kill her now!" Jinx once again turned paranoid. "Kill her, and I'll believe you! Kill her, and I… no, Justin can welcome you back!"
"Kill her? No, that's not necessary…" Vi waved her hands frantically. She hadn't anticipated things would unfold this way. If she had known, she wouldn't have brought Caitlyn along.
"This is called a 'blood oath'," Jinx seemingly "calmed" down, taking a few steps back, grinning. "Five years apart, who knows what you've turned into now?"
"Kill her, and I'll believe you! Or you can stay with her, forever locked away by me." Jinx turned and left, mercilessly stepping on the fallen bread on the ground and walked to the basement door, locking it behind her. She did so without hesitation and didn't even glance back at them.