Chapter 97: Stepping on Toes

1 o'clock in the early morning. Tsukimiya Rinna finally surrendered, realizing that the so-called “that thing after drinking” was fundamentally impossible, especially when the man was completely intoxicated. After tossing and turning for so long, she was utterly exhausted. So she simply crawled into Chen Ziang’s embrace, adjusted herself into a position where she was being held by him, and then kissed him on the lips.
“Good night, senior.”
She quietly closed her eyes, her face carrying a happy smile, like a young girl in the first bloom of love.

3 o’clock in the early morning. Tsukimiya Rinna unconsciously flipped over, pulled the blanket over herself, and continued to sleep soundly.

In her dream, Chen Ziang touched his abdomen and felt a slight chill.

7:30 in the morning. The alarm on the bedside table rang. Chen Ziang sat up groggily, picked up his phone, and checked the time. Then he slowly climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up.
“Ah-choo!”
“Probably drank too much last night… Did Rinna send me back?”
After rinsing his nose for a while and feeling that the sleepiness had basically faded, Chen Ziang left the bathroom.

There he saw Tsukimiya Rinna still hugging the blanket and sleeping soundly. She was wearing the pajamas his little sister loved most, with one entire long, fair leg exposed.
Truly good legs… what the hell! Why are you sleeping in my bed and wearing my sister’s clothes?
Chen Ziang rubbed his temples in distress, thinking to himself that he had known this girl would come to his house uninvited at any moment and something would happen eventually, but he had never expected it to happen so soon.

Don’t panic. First, confirm the situation.
The clothes were all intact with no strange liquid traces. It seemed last night had been nothing but a simple sleep, with nothing occurring.

Rinna had probably drunk too much last night as well. In a state of confusion, she had mistaken his room for her own bedroom and climbed onto the bed.

To avoid any awkwardness for her upon waking, Chen Ziang decided to pretend nothing had happened and silently go downstairs to make breakfast.

In the hazy dream, Tsukimiya Rinna stood before the command platform on the bridge, gazing at a long list on the screen.

After a long moment, she spoke softly, “Execute them all.”

A few minutes later, the adjutant quickly reported, “Execution complete. How should the bodies be handled?”
“The families want to claim the corpses.”
“No.” Tsukimiya Rinna shook her head. “Burn them with the engine’s exhaust flame.”

In the early days of interstellar travel, to lighten the ship’s overall mass, unwanted waste was frequently hurled out at high speed through a special porthole at the rear. They would soon be drawn into the vortex of the engine’s tail flame and incinerated in an instant.

With the advancement of matter reconstruction technology, nearly all waste could now be reconstructed and reused. Yet she still demanded the tail flame for handling corpses, and the purpose was singular: deterrence.

“From today onward, implement curfew,” Tsukimiya Rinna continued. “Return to quarters half an hour before lights out. No one is to leave the premises. Grant the patrol team free fire authority, and all departments must coordinate closely. Increase the call center by triple staffing. Please coordinate with the committee.”
“Yes.” The adjutant hesitated for a moment before saying, “After the rebels were executed, no one dares to openly express dissatisfaction anymore. But…”
“…but the dissatisfaction has not vanished; it has simply been buried deep in people’s hearts.”
“It matters not,” Tsukimiya Rinna shook her head. “As long as they behave on the surface.”
“Because I will save them.
Regardless of whether they understand, agree, or support…
…I do not care.”

The alarm rang for the third time. Tsukimiya Rinna finally climbed out of bed, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

It took her a long time to emerge from the new memories and realize she was in reality.

Since her birth, Tsukimiya Rinna had often received strange memories in her dreams—she had found herself inside her own body many years in the future, immersed in the other’s sadness and pain, feeling it as if it were her own, unable to pull herself away.

Perhaps, as that woman had said, it was not Tsukimiya Rinna from the future returning to the past and gradually awakening dormant memories.
Rather, it was the Tsukimiya Rinna of this era who had received memories from a parallel spacetime.

But.
Who cares. In any case, I like the senior; no one can stop me!

After washing up in the bathroom, Tsukimiya Rinna sorted her thoughts once more. She speculated that the incident of sleeping together last night had probably left the senior somewhat at a loss upon waking.

If she tried to use it to draw closer, it would only backfire. It would be better to pretend nothing had happened and simply go downstairs to greet the senior directly.

After changing her clothes, she happily trotted downstairs, just in time to see Chen Ziang working in the kitchen.
“Senior!” Tsukimiya Rinna rushed behind him, wrapped her arms around him tightly, and said, “Good morning!”

Then she felt the other person’s body stiffen abruptly.

Clever and sly Rinna had quickly released him and turned to run before Chen Ziang could react, calling out, “I’ll go check if my little sister has woken up!”

Afterwards, both of them tacitly never mentioned that night again.

Tsukimiya Rinna continued to come over every day as usual, having breakfast made by Chen Ziang, then going to work together with him. After work, they would return together to eat dinner… Of course, sometimes due to anomalies, temporary outfield duty was required, in which case they would eat out and come back.

The case assignment system would give each operator a case, but it never assigned one to Tsukimiya Rinna, as if defaulting that she would definitely not take any.

Another important matter was that, with the Intelligence Department moving out from the police station, a new batch of new hires had also come to report.

These new hires mostly came from civilian institutions. I do not know what means Xia Qingyu had used; even the detective agency of Ogubo Haruto had been poached, two people taken over.

Ogubo Haruto and Yozakura Chisato—these two were actually the ones previously seen.

“Chen Ziang bro.” Yozakura Chisato was still wearing her tight jeans and shirt jacket, smiling as she greeted Chen Ziang. “We meet again. From now on, we will be colleagues.”
“Are you in the intelligence group?” Chen Ziang asked curiously.
“No, I’m an outfield operator…” Before Yozakura Chisato could finish, Ogubo Haruto, standing beside him, had already darted forward, rushing to Tsukimiya Rinna and pointing at himself while laughing, “Rinna-san, do you remember me?”
“Remember.” Tsukimiya Rinna smiled. “Little Ogubo Haruto, right?”
“Uh, it’s Ogubo.” Ogubo Haruto said awkwardly.
“She was hinting that you’re too young.” Yozakura Chisato said lazily. “She likes older people.”
“Cut. What’s good about an uncle.” Ogubo Haruto gave Chen Ziang a sideways glance and, with disdain, stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away.
“Sorry, Haruto is just like a child.” Yozakura Chisato explained to Chen Ziang. “I heard you’re now a captain?”
“Yes.” Chen Ziang was about to explain that he hadn’t been angry, but before he could finish, Yozakura Chisato suddenly bent down, bowed, and said, “Please, please make sure to give him a hard time.”

(This chapter ends)