Poseidon in Arknights

“We must speed things up and bring the Lower City and slums under the official jurisdiction of the Lungmen Guard Bureau as soon as possible.” Wei Yanwu tapped his fingers on the armrest of the sofa.

"This way I can get more people to openly exercise jurisdiction there, and even conduct searches, instead of just relying on covert investigations and Lao Lin's help. This way we can provide early warnings and even prevent such incidents from happening in the first place."

"Should we speed it up further?" Wen Yue shook her head. "To be honest, I was already quite surprised that the guard posts in the east of the city could be built so quickly. If we speed it up any further, it might cause a backlash."

“I know, but I’m afraid that even if we speed things up, it won’t be enough time.” Wei Yanwu took a deep breath and looked out the window. “I’m afraid that rainy night will happen again.”

“I know.” Wen Yue stood up and sat down next to Wei Yanwu again. “But this matter probably can’t be rushed.”

"Let's take one step at a time."

Chapter 62: Invitation

—————Longmen Inspection Checkpoint—————

"Oh, we're almost there." Exusiai stretched as she looked at the traffic ahead. "Yuzuki, want to switch seats? I don't think I'll get my driver's license yet."

"Okay, okay~"

Seeing that Yuuki agreed, Exusiai smiled and let go of the steering wheel. The moment she let go, a blue hand reached out from beside Exusiai and grasped the steering wheel.

"Don't let go suddenly." Yuuki patted Exusiai's head. "That's a bad habit. If you want your driver's license to stay with you for a long time, you need to get rid of this habit."

"Hehe, I'm just trusting you~" Exusiai chuckled twice, then turned around and climbed into the back seat. "Come on, Texas, make room for me."

"Honestly," Texas put away her phone and moved to the side, "We should have changed it before."

“You guys drove all the way here, so I just wanted to help you drive,” Exusiai said with a smile, looking at Texas. “Besides, didn’t you agree?”

"Alright, alright, stop chatting and let's go over there." Yuuki patted Exusiai's butt. "It would be terrible if someone saw us."

"Yes, yes, yes~" Exusiai nimbly squeezed into the back seat through the gap between the seats.

After seeing Exusiai pass through, Yuuki also moved to the driver's seat and placed her hands on the steering wheel. The blue hand that had been holding the steering wheel turned into water and merged into Yuuki's body.

Hmm...

"Huh? Whose phone is ringing?" Exusiai looked up.

“Mine.” Xi Yue looked straight ahead, reached into her trench coat to take out her phone, hung up the call, and then opened the text message and blindly sent a message to that number.

If you need anything, please wait for my call or call back at least an hour later.

"Wow, Yuuki, you're really good at this." Exusiai was a little surprised by Yuuki's blind typing skills.

If it were her messy desktop, she simply couldn't do that. Sometimes, Exusiai would have to search for chat software or other software.

Then Exusiai remembered another question, "By the way, Yuuki, aren't you worried that it might be a prank call or a scam call?"

"If it's a prank call, they probably won't even read the message, and they certainly won't call me again." Yu Yue looked at the road ahead. "If it's someone I know, they'll answer the phone when I call back after I'm done with this, right?"

“That’s true.” Exusiai nodded, then looked at Texas, who had been quiet from the beginning and seemed to have been reading a novel, and a mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

—————Penguin Logistics Headquarters · Staff Rest Area—————

"Hmm? Nobody's here~" Exusiai skipped into the rest area, but it seemed that Croissant and Sora weren't there.

"They must have gone out, right?" Yuzuki walked to the sofa and took out the personal items that Exusiai and Texas had entrusted to her for safekeeping from her trench coat.

"That's true." Exusiai picked up the bag containing her personal belongings and walked towards the room. She opened the door and casually tossed the bag inside.

Texas, who was standing nearby, picked up her bag and walked into the room. Following Exusiai's example, she pushed open the door and casually tossed the bag inside.

As for cleaning up, we can do that when they have time later, or we can see when Yuuki gets annoyed and helps them clean up.

It's simply a matter of one having to do it themselves and the other having to listen to Xiyue's nagging.

"Mom~" Hong rushed out of the room upon hearing the noise and pounced on Xiyue.

"Good girl, let me pat your head~" Xi Yue took Hong off her body, hugged her, and patted her head.

"Mommy~" Red eyes widened as she stretched out her hands to Yuuzuki, "My present~"

"Hong, come down here first." Xi Yue patted Hong's head and placed her on the sofa, then reached into her trench coat and took out a box. "Here, want to open it and take a look?"

Hong opened the box and took out a red crystal necklace. The red crystal emitted a faint glow under the light. The metal chain was black, and although it was metal, it gave people a warm and gentle feeling.

"So beautiful." Hong looked at the necklace in her hand and put it on her neck without saying a word.

"I'm glad you like it." Xi Yue patted Hong's head.

"By the way, didn't you call back that number Yuuki called earlier?" Exusiai looked at Yuuki. "Or was it really a scam call?"

“That’s true, but I haven’t seen who it is yet.” Xi Yue nodded, took out her phone from her pocket, looked at the call log on the screen, and raised an eyebrow.

Exusiai looked at Yuuki's expression and understood: "Judging from your expression, it shouldn't be a scam call. Who is it?"

“It’s from Officer Swire.” Yuuki turned the screen to show Exusiai what it was about. “I have a pretty good idea what it is.”

"If nothing unexpected happens." Before Xiyue pressed the call button, her phone rang quickly. Before the music had even started playing a few notes, a voice came from the other end.

"Hello? Xiyue, you can finally answer the phone?" Swire's voice came from the phone.

"Hello or good morning, Officer Swire." Yuuki smiled. "So, Officer Swire, what brings you here? Is there a problem with the medical outreach, or has there been any progress?"

“The former is impossible, but you guessed right about the latter. Why don’t you take a guess?” Swire’s voice was filled with excitement.

"To make Officer Swire so happy." Yuzuki smiled and tapped the back of the sofa with her fingers. "I guess the Guard Bureau is starting to be able to set up guard posts and the like in the slums of the Lower City, right?"

"Tch, I really couldn't hide it from you." Swire paused for a moment, then said, "You guessed right, Dr. Yuzuki, the Guard Bureau did indeed successfully set up a guard post in the slums of the east of the city."

“That’s wonderful. Our efforts have paid off.” Yu Yue smiled. “Officer Swire, this is a good start.”

"Just call me Swire."

“Then, Swire, you can call me Xiyue.” Xiyue’s face was full of smiles. She enjoyed the feeling that her efforts were rewarded, especially since she had really changed something.

"Okay, by the way, Xiyue, where are you now? Can you get to Lungmen tonight?"

Xi Yue smiled and said, "Swire, I'm at the headquarters of Penguin Logistics right now. Do you think I'm here or not?"

"Ahem, Xiyue, are you free to come out for dinner tonight? It's a victory celebration, to mark our milestone." Swire paused for a moment before continuing, "It's on me, you can bring as many people as you like~"

"Okay, I know."

"I'll send you the location later. See you tonight!"

"Okay~ See you tonight~" Yuuki smiled and hung up the phone, then turned around and saw Exusiai and Texas looking surprised.

"What's wrong?" Yuuki looked at Exusiai and Texas with surprise. "Is there a problem? Why do you look so surprised?"

"No, what did I just hear?" Exusiai's expression was as if her worldview had been shattered. "What happened to the Guard Bureau?"

"The Guard Bureau has successfully established a guard post in the slums of the eastern part of the city." Yuzuki smiled as she watched Neng stop repeating the information she had just received.

"Is it really possible? The Guard Bureau building facilities in the slums and all that?"

"Hmm..." Texas pulled a Pocky stick from her pocket and popped it into her mouth. "Although I guessed there would be such a change, it happened much faster than I expected."

“I originally thought that at most, they would only allow the Guard Bureau personnel to go through.” Texas paused slightly, then shook her head. “I didn’t expect the progress to be so fast; they actually managed to secure a guard post.”

“Perhaps it is indeed a bit too fast.” Xi Yue smiled. “But for the people in the slums, this is a good thing. They may not see results in the short term, and there may even be some obvious consequences first.”

"But for the vast majority of people, in the long run, this will be a good thing."

After thinking for a moment, Exusiai said, "But the people in the slums, especially some gangsters, are used to freedom and may not necessarily obey the jurisdiction of the security bureau. According to them, they have their own rules."

Yuzuki looked at Exusiai with a smile: "Perhaps, Exusiai, but their rules protect their own interests and have nothing to do with the others in the slums. Their freedom is freedom without rules, and such freedom cannot be called freedom."

"Previously, it was the Rat King who maintained the balance of the Lungmen slums and upheld the rules, but a gang is a gang after all, and there are some things that a gang cannot do."

Texas nodded, confirming Yuuki's statement, but after thinking for a moment, she said, "But there might be some backlash. Perhaps some foolish guys who are used to freedom are already preparing to cause trouble."

"Those fools who might jump up and down?" Yuuki looked at Texas. "Their words might be buried under a cup of sand, or perhaps..."

“Or become the object of our authority.” Texas smiled and helped Yuuki finish the last sentence.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore!" Exusiai stood between the two, watching their coordinated attack, then pointed to her stomach at Yuuki. "More importantly, it's lunchtime for Yuuki!"

"Okay, okay, I got it." Yuuki reached out and ruffled Exusiai's hair. "What do you want to eat?"

"Dessert?"

"Noon won't work."

Upon hearing Yuuki's refusal, Exusiai immediately lost interest: "Then it's up to you."

—————Security Bureau, Police Superintendent's Office—————

"Hmm, where should we go for dinner tonight?" Swire put down her phone and started thinking about where to eat tonight.

"What's wrong, Swire?" Chen pushed open the door and entered. "You look like you're deep in thought. What happened?"

"Can't you think of something good for yourself?" Swire looked at Chen speechlessly. "It's Xiyue. Xiyue is back."

"Oh, I see." Chen nodded, putting down the lunchbox in his hand. "Did you mention the victory celebration banquet?"

"Of course I told you." Shih Huai-ya glanced at the lunchbox. "Alright, let's not think about dinner for now. Let's take care of lunch first."

—————Penguin Logistics Headquarters · Staff Rest Area—————

While waiting for Yuuki to cook, Texas lay bored on the sofa watching TV.

While watching TV, Texas suddenly looked up at Yuuki in the kitchen, then took out her phone from her pocket and skillfully opened the novel app on her phone.

[While drying his lover's tail, Deli's tail kept wriggling back and forth...]

'This novel is like that too…' Texas looked at the contents of the novel, her tail tip swaying slightly, 'But Yuuki doesn't have a tail either…'

'Liboli expresses shyness in a way that's... no, Yuuki isn't Liboli, is she...' Texas sighed slightly, 'and would Yuuki really be shy? Even with Skadi and Red before, Yuuki's expression seemed more like helplessness than shyness.'

Texas sighed, and just then, the weight in her hand lightened. Texas turned around and found that her phone was in the hands of Exusiai, who had appeared behind her at some unknown time.

"Give it back." Texas's gaze towards Exusiai grew increasingly cold.

"Okay, okay~" Exusiai tossed the phone back with a mischievous grin.

Texas caught the phone and immediately noticed something was wrong. Sure enough, when she looked down, she saw a phone case with an apple pie pattern.

This is Exia's phone, not hers.

Just as Texas was about to take action, she saw Angel typing something on his phone, and then Texas's phone vibrated.

Exusiai smiled and pointed to her phone, then pointed to Yuuki, who was cooking in the kitchen.

Texas paused for a moment before turning on Exusiai's phone.

[You wouldn't want Yuuki to know you're reading this novel, would you? Whatever, Miss Texas~]