Chapter 112: A Multipurpose Tail

The four of them continued their trek through the metallic corridors for some time, the echoes of their footsteps the only sound in the gradually encroaching silence.

Dan Heng walked at the very front, her posture as straight and unyielding as the spear she no longer carried. After a moment, she suddenly spoke, her voice low and pitched just so, a private murmur meant only for Chen, who walked beside her.

“March 7th and the others… how are they?”

Chen had been completely zoned out, his gaze fixed on the delicate embroidered shoes on his feet, now tragically dusted with a layer of black soot. Hearing her voice, he blinked and looked up, taking a second to process that Dan Heng was speaking to him.

“Ah, them? They’re doing great!” he replied, his tone snapping back to its usual breezy confidence. “Lady Welt took March and Caelus to follow… uh… whoever that was. They’re tracking Kafka, right on schedule. It’s perfectly safe, so don’t you worry your pretty head about it!”

“Then could it be,” Dan Heng’s voice remained unnervingly calm, a placid lake reflecting his own frantic energy, “that you came all this way specifically to find me?”

A cheeky, almost theatrical grin spread across Chen’s face. “Yeah. I had a feeling you’d slip off the Express by yourself, and I couldn’t rest easy. I know you’re powerful, but you can never be too careful, right? Isn’t it always better to have someone watching your back?”

Dan Heng gave a single, curt nod and said nothing more, turning her attention forward and resuming her brisk pace. Chen scrambled to keep up.

Before they had gone much farther, a small, private starship dock materialized from the gloom ahead. Several vessels were parked there, civilian models by the look of them, all appearing remarkably well-maintained under a thin layer of dust.

“Jackpot!” Chen’s eyes lit up, and he jabbed a finger toward the one that looked the newest and sleekest. “That one! Let’s go, let’s go, we’ll fly that one!”

He was about to bolt forward when a firm hand clamped down on the back of his collar, yanking him to an abrupt halt.

Dan Heng’s brow was furrowed. “Do you even know how to fly it?”

“Of course!” Chen declared with the unshakeable confidence of a man who had just recently performed an impromptu, unscheduled aerial ballet that ended in a crash. “What happened earlier was just an accident! I’m just a little out of practice, that’s all. It’s been so long since I’ve flown. It’ll definitely be fine now!”

An image of their previous shuttle spinning wildly through the air before plummeting towards the ground flashed through Dan Heng’s mind. Her gaze, already skeptical, became glacial.

Seeing the blatant disbelief on her face, Chen quickly doubled down. “Really! My skills are top-notch! Earlier was a pure accident! It was a problem with the shuttle, not me!”

Dan Heng raised a single, elegant eyebrow. “Then how do you explain the shuttle spinning five and a half times in the air?”

“That was… that was the wind! Right, the turbulence! The air currents above the Luofu are notoriously tricky!” Chen’s voice lost a significant amount of its conviction as the excuse left his lips.

Dan Heng didn’t respond. She simply looked at him, her expression a masterclass in silent judgment that screamed, ‘Please, continue making things up. This is fascinating.’

Chen’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click.

Just then, Li Sushang jogged over to the side of the designated starship, gave it a quick inspection, and called back, “This one still works! The power core is intact, and there’s still half a tank of fuel!”

Chen immediately puffed his chest out again. “See? Heaven itself is on my side! Let’s go, let’s go, get on quickly!”

He wriggled free from Dan Heng’s grasp and ran excitedly to the starship, pulling open the cockpit door to climb inside.

And was promptly hauled back by the collar by Dan Heng. Again.

“What are you doing?!” Chen squawked, thoroughly dissatisfied.

Dan Heng ignored him completely, turning instead to Li Sushang. “Young Hero Li, do you know how to fly a starship?”

Li Sushang blinked, then nodded earnestly. “Yes. I learned basic piloting during my training with the Cloud Knights.”

“Very good.” Dan Heng released Chen and pointed a slender finger at the pilot’s seat. “You fly.”

Chen stared, aghast. “…On what grounds?!”

Dan Heng spared him a sideways glance. “On the grounds that you almost killed the three of us just now.”

“That was an accident!”

“On the grounds that you spun five and a half times in the sky.”

“That was a wind direction issue!”

“On the grounds that I have no desire to ever experience an aerial barrel roll again.”

Chen opened his mouth, then closed it, finding himself, for once, utterly without a rebuttal.

Li Sushang looked from Dan Heng’s resolute expression to Chen’s crestfallen one and offered hesitantly, “Maybe… we should let Sister Tingyun fly? Maybe she really is just out of practice…”

“No,” Dan Heng stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. “She’s sitting in the co-pilot seat.”

Chen looked ready to protest further, but Dan Heng had already pulled open the co-pilot’s door and was staring at him expectantly. “Get in.”

Defeated, Chen had no choice but to slump into the co-pilot’s seat with all the grace of a pouting child.

Dan Heng then took a seat in the back row. Luocha, ever the silent observer, followed her in, settling beside her with a placid smile. Li Sushang took her place in the pilot’s seat and, with a few deft movements, brought the starship to life. The engine hummed with a steady, reassuring thrum as the vessel slowly lifted into the air.

Chen pressed his face against the window, watching the ground fall away with a look of deep envy. “Actually, I fly quite well…”

“Shut up,” Dan Heng said flatly from the back.

Chen’s neck snapped back, and he immediately sat up straight, a model of perfect behavior.

The starship flew with a comforting stability. Li Sushang’s skills were indeed excellent; her maneuvers were steady, her turns smooth and controlled. It was a world away from the heart-stopping, stomach-churning flight Chen had subjected them to earlier.

As he watched the scenery flash by, a thought suddenly struck him. He swiveled in his seat to look at Dan Heng. “By the way, your hands are covered in dust. Want to wipe them?”

Dan Heng glanced down at her hands. They were, in fact, smudged with the black soot she’d acquired when rubbing the grime off Chen’s face earlier. She frowned, realizing she had nothing to clean them with.

Seeing this, Chen let out a low chuckle and turned around, presenting his back to her. Then, with a soft poof, a magnificent, fluffy, wine-red tail emerged from behind him, swaying gently in the cabin air.

“Use this!” Chen declared proudly. “Fox fur is a natural dust magnet. It works great!”

Dan Heng was silent.

Li Sushang, catching the display in her peripheral vision, nearly sent the starship into a dive. “S-Sister Tingyun, your tail…!”

Luocha, for his part, simply watched the proceedings with an expression of deep and scholarly interest.

Dan Heng stared at the enormous, swaying appendage for a few seconds. Then, without a word, she reached out and grabbed it firmly at the base.

Chen’s entire body went rigid. “Hey, hey, hey?! I didn’t say to grab it there! That’s—”

Before he could finish his panicked protest, Dan Heng had already taken the plush tip of the tail and used it to wipe the back of her hand twice. The soft fur brushed against her skin, and true to his word, it lifted the soot with surprising efficiency.

She released the tail and inspected her now much cleaner hand, nodding in satisfaction. “It really is useful.”

Chen snatched his tail back, hugging it protectively in his arms with an aggrieved expression. “Be gentler… this tail is very sensitive…”

Dan Heng paid him no mind, proceeding to use the memory of the tail’s texture to wipe her other hand on her trousers.

Li Sushang choked back a laugh and forced herself to focus on piloting.

Luocha looked out the window at the passing night, the faint smile on his lips widening ever so slightly.

The starship flew on, a steady presence in the dark sky, heading toward its unknown destination.

Chen hugged his tail, stroking the fur while muttering under his breath. “So rough… completely rough… has no idea how to treat a beauty with tenderness at all…”

Dan Heng’s ear twitched. “What did you say?”

“Nothing!” Chen immediately sat bolt upright, his posture impeccable. “I said that Miss Dan Heng is wise and valiant, and your decision was absolutely correct!”

Dan Heng gave a soft, dismissive snort and leaned her head back, ignoring him again.

Chen stole a furtive glance at her. Seeing that she had already closed her eyes to rest, he finally let out a long, silent sigh of relief, slumping back into his seat.

[Elysian’s Note:

Having a good time with the story?

Every single bit helps immensely:

Thanks a ton for making this journey possible!]