Xia'an and Dabu exchanged a look.
The two of them quickly raised their hands and knocked on the door of the low-rise house.
“Old Palace Yard police!”
“Open the door!”
It took a dozen seconds before several door bolts were slid open one by one.
The door opened less than half a foot.
Hawthorne stood behind the door, using his body to block the gap completely.
The old man’s face was filled with wariness.
White smoke from the burnt magnesium powder still drifted faintly behind him.
“Is there something I can help you with, Officers?”
His tone sounded very calm.
If sweat weren't pouring down his forehead, he might have been more believable.
Dabu looked down at the old man, who only reached his shoulders, and glanced inside the house.
“A nationwide fugitive just entered your house.”
“No!”
Hawthorne replied resolutely.
He answered so quickly it was as if he had memorized the script beforehand.
“I've been the only one here this whole time.”
Dabu took another look through the gap in the door.
Two teacups sat by the fireplace.
One of them was still steaming.
A lady’s wide-brimmed hat lay on the floor.
Hawthorne looked up at Dabu.
The two of them fell silent for two seconds.
“I like wearing women’s hats,” Hawthorne said, his face completely expressionless.
“...I respect personal preferences.” Dabu barely held back a laugh, but he still nodded.
Xia'an couldn't watch this farce any longer.
“Why is your back door open?” she asked, pointing toward the back of the house.
Hawthorne’s eyes clearly flickered.
“Ventilation.”
“Your curtains are all drawn. What kind of ventilation is that?”
“Air comes in through the back door and goes out through the chimney,” Hawthorne forced an explanation. “Air circulation.”
Xia'an glanced at the chimney, which wasn't emitting any smoke.
Just as the two of them were about to flash their badges and force their way in, a sudden bang echoed from the backyard.
It was the sound of a wooden door slamming heavily against a wall.
Immediately after, hurried footsteps rushed into the back alley.
Xia'an and Dabu turned their heads at the same time.
“Pardon the intrusion,” the young girl tossed out those words and turned to leave.
“Safe travels,” Hawthorne said, immediately preparing to shut the door.
Dabu reached out and blocked the door frame.
“Nice hat.” Only after saying that did he release his grip.
Hawthorne slammed the door shut with a bang and bolted it once more.
The two of them bypassed the low-rise house and rushed into the back alley.
Ophelia had already run dozens of meters away.
Her gorgeous dress was originally tight around her legs, making it completely unsuitable for running.
So, she simply ripped the skirt open from the knees.
The expensive fabric fell into the muddy water along the way, laying out a clear trail down the entire alley.
Her wide-brimmed hat was gone.
Her shawl was nowhere to be found either.
A lady who looked like she was about to attend a noble banquet just a moment ago had, in the blink of an eye, sprinted off with the fierce momentum of a dockworker rushing to grab a carriage after work.
“She's quite willing to make sacrifices,” Dabu sighed as he looked at the skirt discarded in the muddy water.
That kind of fabric was clearly not cheap.
If he sold it at a secondhand market, it could at least buy him a new buckle for his toolbox.
“If we don't chase her, we're going to lose her completely!” Xia'an took off in pursuit.
Dabu quickly secured his toolbox on his back and followed her out of the back alley.
Just as the two of them reached the end of the alley, several figures reappeared from the side street.
It was the Wayland Security Department personnel who had just left.
The two sides bumped right into each other, and the scene froze in a brief, awkward standoff.
The leader was the first to speak, trying to cover for his actions.
“We suspected she might run, so we didn't go far.”
Xia'an stared at him.
So that cooperative departure earlier was entirely an act.
“I really must thank you for your assistance!” Dabu couldn't help but sneer.
“Don't mention it.” The leader didn't catch his sarcastic tone, wearing a smug expression as if saying "you're welcome."
Dabu was momentarily choked up by this response.
Xia'an didn't have time to keep arguing.
Ophelia had already run past the intersection ahead, about to disappear into the crowd at any moment.
She glared at the leader and gritted her teeth, saying, “Chase her together!”
The group immediately took off after Ophelia.
Pedestrians on the street scrambled out of the way.
Seeing the woman in the torn dress sprinting at the front, followed by two investigators and four corporate security guards, some people quickly pressed themselves against the walls.
A vendor selling grilled fish even picked up his stall with practiced ease.
Hastings Port had experienced too many incidents lately.
Seeing someone being chased, protecting one's merchandise first had already become a survival instinct.
Ophelia was clearly very familiar with the local terrain.
She avoided the wide main streets and specifically chose narrow alleyways.
Rows of clotheslines hung overhead.
She ducked under a bedsheet, dodged a line full of work overalls, and squeezed through two wooden barrels filled with wastewater.
Dabu followed close behind.
His height became an absolute burden in a place like this.
The clotheslines that Ophelia could easily duck under caught him right in the face.
Smack!
A pair of still-dripping trousers wrapped around his head.
Dabu yanked the trousers off.
“Who hangs their pants this low?!”
A middle-aged woman leaned out of a second-story window.
“Who are you blaming for being so tall?”
“Sorry!” Dabu hung the pants back up and continued the chase.
The Wayland security guards behind them weren't nearly as polite.
The leader tore down a clothesline with a hard yank.
Wet clothes immediately rained down on the heads of the men behind him.
Angry curses, apologies, and the sound of running footsteps jumbled together.
Ophelia took the opportunity to climb over a wooden fence left behind from the post-disaster reconstruction.
She stumbled slightly upon landing.
Quickly supporting herself against a wall, she kept running forward.
Xia'an propped a hand on the fence and vaulted over nimbly.
After landing, she gritted her teeth and muttered, “Not being allowed to use spells in front of ordinary people—this rule is absolutely detestable!”
If not for this rule, she could have ended the chase with a single scroll.
Of course.
That was assuming she was willing to waste another scroll.
Dabu stepped over from the other side of the fence.
“You didn't make the rules.”
“Can't I at least complain about them?!”
“You can.”
“Then shut up!”
Dabu wisely dropped the subject of rules.
Seeing that Wayland's men were still hot on their heels, Xia'an quickly scanned the terrain ahead.
To the left was a narrow alley cluttered with debris.
To the right, it led to the fish market.
Further ahead was a temporary passage undergoing post-disaster reconstruction.
She suddenly turned back and pointed toward the entrance of the left alley.
“You two, guard this alley entrance!”
“Prevent her from doubling back!”
The two security guards running at the rear froze for a moment.
“But she ran straight ahead—”
“The fugitive is familiar with the terrain! She might use a side path to circle around behind us!” Xia'an cut them off sharply. “Act on police orders!”
The two of them didn't dare argue further and could only stop at the alley entrance.
They stood guard on either side, staring solemnly down a dead-end alley that even stray cats couldn't be bothered to enter.
The remaining security guard still wanted to give chase.
Xia'an suddenly pointed to the right.
“Take a shortcut through the fish market!”
“You can block her off up ahead!”
Without hesitation, the man darted into the alley next to the fish market.
Just a dozen meters in, the roar of a steam valve releasing pressure echoed from ahead.
Chester Works' steam crane slowly turned.
A heavy section of rail used to repair tracks was lowered into the alley by the crane arm, blocking the middle of the path.
Thud!
The rail settled onto its supports.
The entire alley was completely sealed off.
The security guard stood behind the rail, unable to move forward or backward.
“Let me through!” he shouted at the workers.
“Construction zone! No entry!” the foreman shouted back even louder.
Dabu looked back at Xia'an.
“Did you see that beforehand?”
“I only gave him a choice,” Xia'an said, her face completely calm. “He chose the fish market himself.”
Dabu felt like he had heard similar words before.
The leader was still chasing behind them.
He had clearly noticed that Xia'an was intentionally scattering his men, so he no longer accepted her orders so easily.
By now, Ophelia had already crossed the intersection ahead.
She was less than half a block away from them.
Xia'an suddenly pointed toward another street.
“Go ahead and block the carriage road!”
“Don't let her blend into the crowd!”
The leader looked at Ophelia, who was about to be caught, and clearly hesitated.
“That's the opposite direction.”
“She might double back,” Xia'an spoke with absolute confidence.
The man still didn't budge.
Dabu turned his head and barked in a deep voice, “Obey police orders!”
When the tall boy put on a stern face, he indeed carried a heavy sense of pressure.
The leader’s expression shifted several times.
Ultimately, unwilling to bear the responsibility of obstructing an arrest, he could only turn toward the carriage road.
Once he had run far away, Dabu asked in a low voice, “Why didn't we go block the carriage road?”
“Because she didn't run that way at all,” Xia'an said. “Since he was so eager to assist, I had to give him some room to shine.”
The last Wayland security guard had also been sent away.
Only Xia'an and Dabu remained on the street.
The speed of the two suddenly surged.
Previously, they had carefully controlled their pace to avoid exposing their transcendent physical conditioning in front of ordinary citizens and the security department.
Now that there were no onlookers, they no longer held back.
Xia'an’s steps became light and swift.
Every stride she took crossed several meters.
Dabu, carrying the heavy toolbox, didn't lag behind in the slightest.
His long legs finally came in handy on this wide street.
The gap of half a block from moments ago closed rapidly.
Ophelia glanced back.
She had thought she had shaken off most of her pursuers.
Instead, those two so-called officers were suddenly running faster than horses.
The expression on her face froze completely.
“Damn it,” Ophelia cursed, panting heavily.
These two had indeed been putting on an act earlier.
She ducked into a side alley, hoping to circle back to the main street from the other side.
But after rounding two corners in succession, a brick wall blocking the path appeared ahead.
A dead end.
Ophelia stopped in her tracks.
She turned to look back at the entrance, then raised her head to inspect the roofs on both sides.
There were no ladders.
There were no footholds on the walls either.
A few seconds later, Xia'an and Dabu appeared at the mouth of the alley.
Both of them slowed their pace simultaneously.
To their surprise, Ophelia didn't continue searching for an escape route.
She merely leaned against the wall, took a few deep breaths, then stood up straight and willingly extended both hands.
“Cuff me.”
“...”
Xia'an looked at her suspiciously.
“Giving up?”
“You chased me for three blocks, yet you aren't even out of breath.” Ophelia glanced at the toolbox on Dabu’s back. “And he's carrying something so heavy. What's the point of me running anymore?”
Ophelia composed her breathing slightly, her gaze shifting back and forth between Xia'an and Dabu’s faces.
“When the projection was cast near the door earlier, a portion of the image seemed to bend around something invisible in the air. At first, I thought there was an issue with the projection stone.” Ophelia stared at Dabu. “That invisible thing... was it placed by you two?”
Dabu instinctively glanced at Xia'an.
The moment he made the gesture, he realized his mistake.
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
Ophelia understood immediately.
“It seems so.”
Dabu silently averted his gaze.
Xia'an wished she could stuff this foolish teammate, along with his toolbox, right into the wall.
Before she could even begin to lie, he had already volunteered the answer.
“We were commissioned by Mr. Rockland. We are here to protect you,” Xia'an said, abandoning any attempts to beat around the bush.
Ophelia didn't relax upon hearing Elias's name.
“How can you prove that? You snuck an invisible eye into Mr. Hawthorne's home, and you impersonated police officers to chase me across three blocks.” She shook her hands, which were still extended in front of her. “This whole sequence doesn't sound very much like protection.”
“Strictly speaking, we already possessed temporary law enforcement authority,” Dabu explained.
“Shut up,” Xia'an said without looking back.
She looked at the still-wary Ophelia and suddenly let out a soft chuckle.
“Let's put it this way. In this city, the name Rockland is a guarantee in and of itself.”
Ophelia knit her brows. She had thought the surname was exceptionally powerful, until Xia'an continued.
“Because other than those who actually know him, nobody dares to admit they do.”
He had offended Wayland.
The Mist Veil Society wanted to capture him.
From this perspective, Elias was indeed a rare lone wolf in Hastings Port.
It wasn't that nobody knew him.
It was that those who did were completely unwilling to advertise it.
Anyone who actively uttered his name actually had quite high credibility.
Ophelia clearly failed to follow this logic.
“Huh?”
Rate on N.U.
