I'm on the Ark, and I start out as Gretchen.

"call--"

"Wow, there are so many people this time."

Pado carefully put Lin Yuxia down, then glanced at the person lying on the ground not far from her and muttered to herself.

After saying that, the cat wasted no more time. It jumped up and grabbed the top of the wall of Swire's house. Then, the cat cautiously peeked out and began to observe the situation in the yard.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual, she took out a black leather suitcase from her spatial storage and tossed it into the yard. Then she followed closely behind, deftly flipping over and landing gracefully and silently.

Afterwards, Pado picked up the suitcase, waved at the surveillance camera as usual, and then hurried towards the villa.

The box in her hand contained Lungmen dollars, the money the cat would use to "buy" the piano. Once she stuffed the money into the villa, this operation, except for the final escape, would be considered over.

However, just as Pado was about to reach the villa's door and take out her small tools to unlock it, her expression suddenly changed, and she abruptly retreated.

"Chong-"

"boom!"

Just as Pado retreated, a figure accompanied by a crimson sword light burst through the villa's gate and slashed straight at her.

However, the cat wasn't entirely unprepared. Faced with the rapidly approaching attack, she instantly drew her signature weapon and, with nimble movements, easily blocked the opponent's dense slashes with her dual blades.

Of course, while the action continued, Paddo's mouth was also busy, crying out in "terrification": "Waaah! We're just here to pay, there's no need to kill us to cover it up... oh wait, no, wipe us out? Anyway, don't kill us!"

“…Padofelis?!”

Pado's shouts successfully silenced the other side, and after a moment she spoke in a speechless yet somewhat surprised tone.

To be honest, Chen had not anticipated the current developments at all; in fact, she was somewhat bewildered.

As for why things turned out this way, we have to go back to before. Although no one woke Chen up, because she had things to do that night and wasn't at home, her sleep was relatively light. She woke up on her own after only a short while.

After waking up, Chen didn't plan to rest any longer. After tidying herself up, she intended to go downstairs to check the situation. However, before she even reached the bottom, she discovered a problem: it was far too quiet around her…

At the time, she didn't think much of it, assuming the person hadn't arrived and her two friends were resting. Until, through the second-floor window in the moonlight, she saw a shadowy figure lurking outside, trying to climb over the wall…

Upon seeing someone break in, Chen didn't hesitate at all. She grabbed her two swords and quickly went downstairs. Then, based on her experience, she estimated that the person was almost at the door, and cautiously gripped the hilts of her swords, preparing to react to any situation.

At first, Chen was only holding her ordinary side sword. Although she was very vigilant and hostile towards the people outside, she subconsciously felt that there was a high probability that it was Padofelis outside, until...

Until the other sword she was wearing, [Crimson Sky], emitted a long-lost, battle-ready hum.

The moment the buzzing sound broke the silence of the villa, Chen's scalp tingled, his mind went into overdrive, and his vigilance towards outsiders reached its peak.

After all, the person who can make [Crimson Sky] emit such a buzzing sound must be quite strong, not only not weak, but even very strong!

At the same time, the idea that the outside world might be Padofelis gradually disappeared. It's not that she's not strong, but that when Chen Ping faced her with [Chixiao], nothing unusual happened.

For all the reasons mentioned above, after confirming the timing, she unleashed her Crimson Blade sword, bursting through the door to launch the first attack.

As Chen predicted, his opponent was indeed very strong, easily blocking all his attacks. However, it was Padofelis...

Chapter 101 Clash and End

“…Padofelis?!”

"Oh dear, Officer Chen, are you so surprised? Didn't we give you the notice?" Pado blinked her eyes, which glowed faintly in the night, and looked at the expression on the person in front of her.

"Buzz!"

Just as Chen was about to say something, he was interrupted by the buzzing sound emanating from the Crimson Sky Sword in her hand. "Alright, enough nonsense. Since you're here, be prepared!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen's eyes sharpened again, and he raised his sword to attack Pado.

Although she was somewhat surprised by the sudden fighting spirit of [Crimson Sky] and the strength displayed by Padofelis, now that she had successfully drawn the sword, she naturally wouldn't give up such a good opportunity.

With Chixiao's help, if Chen wins, she can successfully capture the "Dragon Gate Thief." If she loses, it means Pado is very strong, and she can learn something from it.

"Chong-"

"clang--"

"..."

"Here we go again! I don't want to talk to you at all."

"Attack!" Pado blocked all of Chen's attacks again, deflecting them back, and then chattered away.

Continuing to stall with Chen here won't do Maomao any good. To be honest, not only is Chen clueless about how things have turned out this way, but Maomao herself is also somewhat bewildered.

After entering the courtyard, Pado sensed that there were still people in the villa, but their presence wasn't strong, so she wasn't sure which of the three members of the Dragon Gate trio they were.

Only after getting closer did she confirm that the person inside was Chen Huijie. Then, on a whim, she decided to open the door and scare her.

However, the cat really didn't expect that before she could even open the door, the person inside would forcefully break down the door and startle her.

Shouldn't a normal person wait for the thief to open the door first before making a close-range attack? Why did you just smash the door down? Aren't you afraid Swire will curse you out?

It wasn't until Chen wielded Chixiao and slashed at her that Pado finally came to her senses and roughly guessed what had happened.

Because it was during an operation and she wanted to scare people, the cat didn't conceal its aura too much, which led to Chen's [Red Sky] detecting it.

This was Pado's carelessness; otherwise, if she had wanted to hide her strength, a mere [Crimson Sky] wouldn't have detected it at all.

Not only the cat, but also the others were careful about this when they came into contact with Chen and her [Crimson Sky], in order to avoid unnecessary trouble. If they hadn't been careful, their swords would have started buzzing when they faced Chen earlier.

"Are you looking down on me, Padofelis!" Chen said, his face darkening as he looked at the person in front of him who claimed she didn't want to fight him but easily parried his attacks and repelled him.

Chen wasn't angry because he had been defeated, but because he felt that Pado's attitude was perfunctory and contemptuous, and that she had no intention of taking it seriously.

"Huh? Um... Never mind, I'm sorry for offending you now. Officer Chen, please don't retaliate against us later!" Upon hearing this, Pado was stunned for a moment before she reacted and said helplessly.

As soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her body, pushed off with her feet, and instantly disappeared from her spot, heading towards Chen.

"So fast."

Seeing this, Chen immediately raised her sword to block. However, in Pado's eyes, her actions were full of flaws.

However, the cat did not come with the intention of killing or injuring anyone, so she did not dodge, but instead directly used the curved blade held in her left hand to meet the attack head-on.

"clang--"

As the two weapons clashed, producing a crisp sound, a tremendous force was transmitted through the sword in her hand towards Chen, causing her hand to slam into the skin with excruciating pain.

In the next instant, Pado adjusted her posture, twirling her twin blades. The left blade of the Dream of the Past grazed against [Crimson Sky], leaving a trail of sparks in the darkness. At the same time, it successfully slipped from Chen's grasp and fell to the ground.

Then the right blade followed, grazing Chen's body and bringing with it an extremely cold current, freezing his calves and feet to the ground.

"It might be a bit cold, but I'll undo it for you, Officer Chen, after we leave..." Looking at Chen, who was frozen to the ground and still had a look of shock on his face, Pado put away her weapon and touched her nose guiltily as she spoke.

To be honest, you really can't blame her for being perfunctory in the fight at the beginning. She was just afraid that she might hurt Chen if she didn't know her limits. She didn't mean to underestimate him at all!

After all, most of her combat experience in her memory was fighting Honkai Beasts and the like, which made the cat unsure of her strength, especially since she didn't want to hurt the person in front of her.

Putting aside the fact that accidentally injuring the opponent would inevitably lead to being wanted by the police, let's also take a step back and say that Pado actually quite likes the Lungmen 3... ah, I mean, the 4-person group.

Of course, it would be even better if these guys didn't try to get her arrested.

"Ugh……"

Pado seemed to suddenly remember something, glancing enviously at the fallen [Crimson Sky], sighing inwardly at the pity, before picking up the suitcase that had fallen nearby and placing it in front of Chen, saying:

"We didn't come here to buy goods, but to pay. I've left the items here."

"And there's also the guy I remember, Officer Chen's partner, who's lying outside in the yard right now." As she spoke, Pado pointed in the direction she had climbed in from.

"!"

"What did you do?!" Upon hearing this, Chen's expression suddenly changed, and he quickly asked.

"Nothing much, just let them take a nap. Officer Chen, remember to go out and check later, it's not just your friends sleeping outside." With that, Pado shrugged helplessly.

"Alright, let's call it a day. If we drag this out any longer, someone will be coming. I'll take my leave now." With that, Pado didn't even bother to check Chen's reaction before nimbly scaling the wall and slipping away the way she came.

The moment the cat landed, the ice that had been freezing and restricting Chen's movements vanished in an instant, turning into a cloud of icy mist.

"..."

After staring at the spot where Pado had disappeared for a long time with a complicated expression, Chen seemed to finally come to his senses. He moved his feet, which were so cold they were almost numb, and bent down to pick up the [Crimson Cloud] from the ground and put it back into its sheath.

After doing all that, she rushed out of the courtyard gate to check the situation outside.

……

What's going on tonight?

"This is so exciting! I hope Chen won't tell Wen Yue!" Pado muttered to herself as she quickly retreated, avoiding the surveillance cameras.

While she was distracted by her rant, she suddenly stepped on something and almost fell.

"what?"

Chapter 102 The Vanishing Door of the Villa

After spending some time moving Lin Yuxia and the others who were lying outside into the yard, and after searching around but not finding the person he wanted to see, Chen quickly took out his phone and made a call.

"Dudu-"

While waiting for the call to connect, Chen Wei frowned and tried to sort out her chaotic thoughts.

For example, she wanted to know what had happened while she was asleep, why there were so many people lying around outside, what money that Padrolifelis was bringing again, and where were Swire and Hoshiguma?

Just as she was filled with questions, the call she made was quietly answered, and a voice, clearly suppressing anger but full of vigor, came from the other end.

"Old Chen, you're awake? What's up? If not, you can stay at my place. Xingxiong and I are busy right now!"

"...What are you all busy with?"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Chen Momo breathed a sigh of relief and then asked.

"Of course they're searching for Padofelis! That girl stole a piano from my family's property, a piano worth over 180 million!!" Chen's question only fueled Swire's anger, and her voice rose several decibels.

"..."

Chen fell completely silent. She probably knew what kind of money Padofelis had brought...

"So, are you alright, you idiot dragon? If not, I'm done for!"

“I think you don’t need to look anymore, Padofelis shouldn’t be there… because I just bumped into her, and she said she was here to deliver money.”

"Then Lin Yuxia and the others are unconscious. I can't leave right now. When you come back, remember to check if there are any other unconscious people in the villa area."

"..."

As soon as Chen said this, the other side fell completely silent.

"Padofelis!! *Lungmen swear words*!"