The next day at noon, Clara slipped out of the company after lunch.
“Going to study! Training!” Clara answered confidently.
“Hmm? Where is Senior Clara going?” Lucia asked.
No leave slip, no field assignment—nothing was filed.
Since President Qiexiya hadn’t shown up that morning, Clara could sneak out without being caught.
Even if Lucia received a commission right now, it wouldn’t matter. She could just fly over from Bamen Subway Station. There was no reason she had to stay in the office.
After all, the Inkstained Staff’s Upgraded Mode had achieved a new upgrade at the resort. By applying data from the Pure White Storm Exoskeleton, its mobility had skyrocketed!
Still, if she could take the subway, she’d rather not fly.
Central City in winter was too cold. Flying through the air was pure torture.
[I’m leaving now!]
She sent a message to Nangong Xiwang the moment she stepped out of the company. This time, a reply came quickly.
[Pretty early. I’ll head out early too, then.]
So, her relationship with Miss Nangong had been repaired?
Though Clara had no idea how the rift between them had even formed.
[By the way, take a look at the comic we’re pushing for this time. The ID is Heroes of the Flock.]
Clara immediately perked up.
[Oh, is it Beast Fox Bell-sensei?]
[You know her?]
[Of course! To get my manuscript accepted, I researched the publishing house’s preferences. I’ve been buying your Youth Creep, haven’t I?!]
Heroes of the Flock was one of the flagship comics in the Youth Creep weekly magazine. It had maintained a generous and consistent weekly update schedule for nearly ten years—a true workhorse.
Nangong: [Now that you mention it, your submission did show traces of her influence.]
Nangong: [Didn’t I say before that I’d arrange for you to study in another author’s studio?]
Nangong: [At first, I wanted you to try working as her assistant.]
Clara was a little excited. She hadn’t expected that following Miss Nangong would allow her to meet such an impressive figure.
In a way, Beast Fox Bell’s Heroes of the Flock was one of Clara’s references.
Though she was basically building her craft in isolation, she still needed textbooks. Those comics that had been successfully serialized and widely praised were her best study material.
Even her pen name, Zhenjian Yingxiong, was a reference to a character from the comic.
Clara: [I’m on the subway now.]
Clara: [Four stops.]
How could Clara not be excited? That author could practically be called her idol. Clara could feel a deep creative passion in Beast Fox Bell’s brushwork…
She must be someone who truly loves heroes and comics.
Bamen Subway Station, Exit Plaza.
They had agreed to meet in front of the Dog Stone Statue, a local landmark.
The original fixed turret Dog Stone Statue, destroyed by Naitemel, had already been dismantled. With the risk of ammunition explosion, it wasn’t suitable for a crowded plaza in front of the station.
Now, this one was just an ordinary Dog Stone Statue.
Clara arrived early and was kicking her feet idly beside the statue, breathing out frosty white mist to pass the time…
She had quite a knack for blowing things, even managing to shape the white mist into hearts.
The Dog Stone Statue was a landmark, so passersby getting off the subway or just walking by would glance at it.
Seeing the cute little girl next to the dog blowing heart shapes, quite a few people stopped to watch, and some even pulled out their phones to take pictures.
Click—
“Huh?! Oh…”
Clara quietly shut her mouth, but by the time she noticed, it was too late.
“Sorry! I’m late!”
A woman’s voice broke the awkwardness, but when Clara looked up, she froze.
“…Uh, Miss Nangong?”
Why the questioning tone?
“…Why are you dressed like that?”
Standing before her was not the usual professional female editor in a suit and leather shoes, but a delivery person wearing a baseball cap, a uniform T-shirt, short sleeves, and stretchy pants.
No, wait. With a mask and sunglasses on, she looked downright suspicious. Walking with a little girl like that, anyone would instinctively want to call the police.
“This is to get the door open,” Nangong Xiwang explained.
“Huh?” Clara had a lot of question marks.
“If I can’t break into their residence, getting the manuscript is out of the question, and your study session can’t happen either… So, disguise is a survival skill that any professional editor must master, in order to wage war against increasingly cunning manga artists.”
“Is that so?!”
Eye-opening!
Clara seemed to have slightly misunderstood the work of professional manga artists and editors.
Nangong Xiwang checked the time, then looked around at the pedestrians who seemed ready to call the cops. She beckoned Clara to follow her.
“Let’s go! Beast Fox Bell’s home is nearby… First, let me warn you: set aside any image of the author you’ve built up from the manga. She’s a real handful.”
Even in the suburbs like Blue Court, apartments near the subway station weren’t cheap.
Let alone Bamen Station in the city center. Only people with quite high incomes could afford or rent apartments around here…
But considering that she was the author of a long-running hit comic, Clara let it go.
If she could become a popular manga author herself, could she also afford a place in the city and bring her parents over from Earth to live with her?
As it turned out, after walking across a pedestrian bridge, Nangong Xiwang led Clara to… the basement of a high-rise apartment building?
Basements like this were usually given as storage rooms when buying an apartment, not exactly comfortable for living. Without an environmental control system, dampness and mold were inevitable.
Only a Mossima would like a place like this, right?
So, even a hit manga author could only live in a basement in the city center?!
Forget about bringing her parents to live in a basement.
Beast Fox Bell’s situation made Clara a little pessimistic about the future.
“Miss Nangong, this place is…”
She tried to ask, but Nangong pressed her index finger to Clara’s lips.
“Shh, quiet. We’ve entered her territory. Don’t let her hear us.”
Nangong Xiwang pulled a package out of the satchel she carried. She didn’t know what was inside, but it was probably a prop prepared in advance to get the door opened.
“Whew…”
She handed the satchel to Clara and had her wait by the corner of the wall. Nangong adjusted her cap, then knocked on the door that didn’t even have a doorbell.
Carrying the package toward the shabby basement entrance, she looked hurried, just like a delivery person rushing to the next drop-off.
The door opened quickly.
“Is anyone home? You’ve got a package!”
A hand, even whiter than Clara’s—pale in an almost sickly way—emerged from the crack.
But that hand wasn’t reaching for the package.
In that hand was a strangely shaped gun.
[That’s a taser, also called a stun gun.]
Nyx’s encyclopedia explained.
Then, with a series of convulsions, Nangong Xiwang was taken down.
“Mi-Miss Nangong?!”