Heisenberg

Dark clouds gradually swallowed the afternoon sun, and the wind brought the chill of autumn.

Mori no Natsu Kuri had been waiting downstairs for a long time. Her eyes reflected the figure of the blonde girl. Before she could even greet Xu Xiaoyou, a heavy weight pressed down on the back of the motorcycle.

Seeing Xu Xiaoyou wordlessly pull a helmet over her own head, Mori no Natsu Kuri’s brows twitched. Sensing something was off, she pulled back the leg she had been using for support and gripped the bike’s body with her thighs. "We’re running out of time. I’m going to drive a bit fast, so hold on tight."

The girl’s motorcycle had undergone many modifications. Although it wasn't as extreme as the ones used by biker gangs, the roar of the engine was still loud enough to make one’s ears ring. It wasn't until the wind started howling past them that the discomfort began to subside.

Like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, the Ranger sped along Dragonfly Town’s ring-road highway. The moisture in the wind condensed into ice crystals, carving into the girls' skin like sharp blades. Giant walls stood in the distance, towering into the gloomy sky like two rows of silent giants.

During wartime preparations, this highway served as an emergency route for transporting military supplies. On ordinary days, few people drove here, leaving the area quite empty. The engine roared under the gray sky; starting from here provided a perfect vantage point to overlook all of Dragonfly Town.

Dragonfly Town wasn't particularly large—only dozens of square kilometers—situated in the gap between two mega-cities. Even the act of breathing felt slightly oppressive. The dim sunlight vanished into the clouds, and the entire city darkened in an instant, turning into a silent gray shadow. The thick moisture in the air brought a premonition of rain, and the cold wind grew increasingly biting.

Finally, Mori no Natsu Kuri couldn't help but speak first: "What's wrong, Yuzu? You’ve looked like you have something on your mind ever since I saw you."

Xu Xiaoyou shook her head. She was still thinking about matters related to moon sugar. Most of the time, rules stood on the side of justice, and the two were mutually inclusive and supportive. However, that chemistry teacher had challenged the bottom line of morality and rules out of a sense of justice. Without a doubt, in any hive city where law was the primary keynote, his actions would never be tolerated.

But this was Red Heaven. The underworld didn't have any clearly defined acts related to rules. People used morality as a yardstick to measure their own behavior. Actions that violated the moral baseline left no room for self-defense; military force, violence, and dictators would suppress any voice that challenged their authority.

Laws are absolutely just, cold-blooded, selfless, and possess immense binding power. Morality, on the other hand, can breed evil without a bottom line.

If everything is measured by the blind justice in people's hearts, the evil within them will continue to grow on the other side. When those who commit small mistakes face the same punishment as those who are truly heinous, no sin becomes too great to be surprising, and no lapse becomes too small to be tolerated. The collapse of the tower of order becomes inevitable.

The city of sin has ten thousand reasons for its existence. Extreme evil serves to warn every lost soul, drawing a clear line between different degrees of wickedness.

Before long, they arrived in front of an abandoned steel plant. Night Owl and Owl were crouching in a waist-high thicket of bushes.

Owl was wrapping a bandage around her arm, while Night Owl took a fierce bite out of an energy bar. The silhouette of the steel plant was reflected in his binoculars. The entire place was heavily guarded; there were over a dozen sentries just on the zinc-steel fence of the outer wall, every one of them holding a submachine gun. The Eight-Spider tattoos on their bare arms were very prominent.

"It seems the intel was real. A batch of moon sugar really is being traded here. There are ten minutes left until the trade time. Let’s move." Night Owl stood up, wiped the cookie crumbs from his mouth, and patted the dust off his clothes.

Everyone looked at Mori no Natsu Kuri in unison. The latter spread her hands and spoke with a helpless tone, "I promise this time, I won’t let my own little temper drag everyone down again. Really!"

The group moved through the tall grass behind the outer wall of the compound, sneaking inside. Before long, they took down a guard who was relieving himself. Seeing the tattoo on the guard’s arm up close, Mori no Natsu Kuri suddenly realized it looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.

The group tacitly exchanged information through silence. They slipped into the steel plant compound through a small gap in the fence and hid behind an abandoned armored vehicle. Using the shadows, they spotted two patrolling figures walking nearby, seemingly unaware of their presence.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Mori no Natsu Kuri looked back and found that Xu Xiaoyou was still half-crouching beside the unconscious guard outside the wall, seemingly lost in thought. Mori no Natsu Kuri wanted to warn her urgently, but Night Owl pulled her back and shook his head.

This blonde girl with an eccentric personality and unpredictable behavior had been acting with them for half a month. She often detached herself from their operations to do things they found difficult to understand. However, no matter what, it was precisely those seemingly incomprehensible actions that ended up providing immense help to their missions in the end. Consequently, they stopped trying to restrain Xu Xiaoyou and let her move freely during operations.

Watching the others slowly head deeper until they vanished from sight, Xu Xiaoyou thoughtfully leaned down and picked up the unconscious guard’s sidearm. She skillfully ejected the magazine. After seeing that there were no live rounds inside, a faint, almost imperceptible smile played across her lips. She chuckled twice, changed into the guard's uniform, and completed her disguise in just a few moves. Her movements were no longer restrained; meeting the eyes of several guards, she walked calmly toward another heavily guarded passage in the steel plant.

Ten minutes later, an off-road vehicle slowly drove into the compound. Inside the car, a man was tightly clutching a briefcase in his arms. His hood was removed, and upon seeing his situation through the window, his panic could be felt even through his mask. As soon as he moved, a dark muzzle was pressed against his head.

"Why don't you get out of the car, Mr. Heisenberg?"

"Didn't I say that the trade should take place in the city area?" The man's voice trembled. "Why did you bring me to such a remote place?"

"Do you... do you people even want to continue the trade or not?"

Before he could say more, the car door was thrown open. A guard smoking a cigar and holding an Arkav assault rifle dragged him out of the car. He was pulled roughly onto the ground. If he hadn't been clutching the briefcase so tightly, the contents probably would have scattered everywhere.

"Are you trying to rob me!?" the man shouted, holding the briefcase for dear life. "Aren't you afraid that word will get out that you people from Eight-Spider don't keep your word?"

"I am the only person who can produce this new type of moon sugar! If you dare touch me, I guarantee that Roman won't let you off!"

The guard took a deep drag of his cigar, exhaling a cloud of smoke as he slowly crouched down. A scar stretched from the corner of his mouth to the corner of his eye, making him look quite hideous. The muscles on his arms were as thick as a bull's. He picked the man up off the ground like a little chick and gave a wicked grin, pointing his gun directly at the youth accompanying the man.

The gun flashed. The reaper’s toxic scythe fell amidst the flickering light, snatching the youth’s life in an instant. Seeing the youth collapse limp to the ground, the man calling himself Heisenberg nearly lost his mind. He roared while pinned to the ground, his entire body crawling toward the youth like a wriggling insect. The guard, however, seemed to enjoy the scene. A smile hiding a treacherous snake appeared as he patted Heisenberg's shoulder.

"Damn it, coming to our turf and still shouting at me? Get the hell up."

The man was immersed in extreme grief, saliva dripping as he retched. Seeing this, the guard grabbed Heisenberg by the hair, intending to drag him up. Another relatively slender guard stopped him. Heisenberg looked up in his daze and pain, spotting the flowing blonde hair of the slender guard.

Xu Xiaoyou placed her index finger in front of her lips, making a shushing gesture.

"You scumbags... I won't let you off... Everyone here... I won't let a single one of you off..."

Heisenberg clearly failed to understand her intention. He kept cursing until he finally fell unconscious after taking a heavy blow from Xu Xiaoyou's pistol whip.