[Stelle and the others arrived at Aurum Alley. After asking around extensively, they finally found Bailu…s in a remote little corner.]
[Huohuo rubbed her eyes, confirming she wasn't seeing things, then tugged Stelle's sleeve: "Why are there two… two Lady Bailus…"]
[Sushang looked over at the sound and saw two identical Bailus chatting away. Her eyes rolled back as she let out a world-destroying high note on the spot: "—Ghoooost aaaaaaaaah!"]
["Sis, you scared me to death… these two identical Lady Bailus didn't freak me out, but your scream almost sent me off…" Guinaifen covered her ears and gave Sushang a resentful glance.]
[Sushang apologized repeatedly in embarrassment, but after the commotion, Bailu and the Suiyang vanished again. The group searched hard nearby for quite a while before finally relocating the two in front of a rundown house.]
[Using Huohuo's bell, they pushed open the door and entered straight into the illusion constructed by the Suiyang. Not far off, the two Bailus were happily playing.]
[Sushang put her hands on her hips: "Hey! That Suiyang over there, let Lady Bailu go right now!"]
["You troublemakers! We were having so much fun playing here! Alu doesn't want to go home with you guys!" Azhuo shoved Bailu behind itself, declaring that as long as Bailu was willing, it could conjure endless Qiongshi bird skewers and star potato boba for her—they could play forever.]
[The only condition: they must not be caught by Stelle and the others.]
[With that, the two Bailus took off running. In this illusion, Bailu's two little short legs churned like sewing machine needles, so fast only afterimages flipped up and down could be seen.]
[Stelle felt like she was about to run out of breath, yet she still couldn't even touch Bailu's hem.]
[Only her voice drifted back on the wind from ahead: "Why should I live the way adults do? Adults always say: 'Don't play around now, wait till you're grown up.' But I see the adults in the Alchemy Commission don't have time to play either!"]
——
Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid.
"Wow—" Tohru's eyes widened, her tail unconsciously wagging, "Luofu Dragon Venerable has amazing stamina! She can run even better than Kanna!"
"No way!" Kanna puffed out her chubby cheeks and huffed defiantly, "If Kanna's fully charged, she'd definitely run faster than Bailu! If Lady Tohru doesn't believe me, I'll go right now!"
"Okay, okay, calm down." Tohru giggled and ruffled Kanna's head, "What does Kobayashi think—who's faster, Kanna or Bailu? Hm… Kobayashi?"
No familiar reply came as expected. Tohru turned and saw Kobayashi staring blankly at the Celestial Screen, her eyes somewhat dim.
"Kobayashi?" Tohru tilted her head and leaned closer, "What's wrong?"
Kobayashi was silent for a long while before forcing a tired smile: "Just now Bailu said… don't play around now, wait till you're grown up… When I was little, adults said the same thing to me. Hearing it now just hits a little close to home."
With that, she grabbed the beer on the table and chugged it down with big gulps.
Kanna lifted her little face curiously: "Kobayashi, once you're grown up, you really can't play anymore?"
"Ah… it's not that you can't play, just…"
A flush of drunken red began to appear on Kobayashi's face, her table-slapping growing stronger, "Every day you face shitty bosses and endless code! Sometimes you have to work overtime till eleven at night! The trains stop running by then! Damn boss, pay me proper overtime! Saturday night hangover, Sunday morning renovation! And endless car loans and mortgages! Unacceptable aaaaaah—!"
Finally, slapping the table wasn't enough to vent. Kobayashi simply screamed at the Celestial Screen at the top of her lungs:
"Bailu! Growing up means becoming a corporate slave! That's hell over there! You have to play as hard as you can while you're little! Don't let them catch you!"
——
["Reignbow Arbiter above… this guy's running way too fast…"]
[Sushang was so exhausted she couldn't even stand straight, panting as she suggested: "Let's… let's have a strategy meeting. Chasing like this isn't working—we need to use our brains…"]
["…Even a stamina monster like Sushang is resorting to brains now!"]
[Even now, Stelle stubbornly insisted: "I can run all day!"]
["Wow… you're so amazing!" Sushang looked at Stelle speechlessly, "Wipe the white foam from your mouth before you talk."]
[After calming down, little Guinaifen thought of a method from childhood for catching floating weasels. She suggested closing the gates in various areas ahead of time to corner Bailu and lure the Suiyang into the trap itself.]
[The tactic worked. Bailu was quickly cornered by the group, crying and shouting that she wanted to go play.]
[Hearing Bailu's cries for help, Azhuo indeed appeared and said coldly: "Adults are truly despicable—stealing away a child's rare happy time!"]
[Despicable?]
[Stelle put her hands on her hips, looking quite proud instead: "Hehe, I'm super despicable, aren't I!"]
[Azhuo was stunned—never expecting this person to feel no shame and instead take pride in it. It gritted its teeth in hatred and decided to use violence against them.]
["Violence—only violence is the one language you adults know how to speak and the only one you understand, right?! Just like how you discipline children every time!"]
——
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind.
For once, Fugo genuinely agreed with what this Suiyang said from the bottom of his heart.
"If it possessed me, we'd probably get along great, huh?" —The thought suddenly surged in his mind, and Fugo let out a soft laugh.
At 13 he had earned university admission—a bona fide genius youth. But when the professor he admired molested him, the only thought in his heart was "violence." Only violence could make the other stop. Only violence could bring safety. It was the only language that professor could understand at that moment.
So he grabbed that 4kg encyclopedia and smashed the professor's face into a bloody pulp.
Then came expulsion from the family—
Right up to now.
"Phew…" Fugo let out a long breath. Only then did he realize he was trembling. His whole skin shivered as if touching ice directly.
The feeling of brutally tearing open the most unbearable scar in his memories—it hurt intensely in that instant, but once he got used to it, it felt incredibly liberating. He looked up at the Suiyang on the light screen, faintly beginning to anticipate what it would look like when it wielded "violence."