Chapter 219: Encountering an Acquaintance

When Fang Cheng arrived at the Fox Spirit House, he noticed a car already parked outside.

Peering inside, he saw Tsukikage Chuxia behind the wheel while Tsukikage Hoshi sat in the backseat flipping through a fashion magazine.

After tossing his luggage into the trunk, Fang Cheng slid into the seat beside the boss lady and called to the front: “Fat cat, you’re joining us?”

Tsukikage Chuxia kept facing forward and snorted. “I’m mad at you! Ten minutes of silence as punishment. Don’t talk to me.”

The bastard’s electric shock running cage had tormented her endlessly, making her furious just looking at him.

Fang Cheng chuckled and pulled out his phone. “Make it thirty minutes. I’ll start a game.”

Tsukikage Chuxia: …

Tsukikage Hoshi set down her magazine. “Chuxia’s staying behind to mind the shop. She’s just driving us to the airport.”

Fang Cheng’s body stiffened as he remembered Chuxia’s nearly lethal Cat Cat delivery service from last time.

“Let me drive instead. Getting pulled over by traffic cops would waste time.”

Tsukikage Hoshi smiled gently. “Relax, Chuxia drives carefully.”

Fang Cheng suspected the boss lady had never ridden with her reckless cat.

Chuxia stuck her tongue out at Fang Cheng through the rearview mirror before smoothly pulling away.

The drive proved uneventful, Chuxia behaving like a veteran driver without any speeding tendencies.

Fang Cheng knew better – this cat only pretended to be well-behaved around her mistress.

At the airport, Tsukikage Hoshi donned her mask and sunglasses before exiting. Her passive ability would’ve caused chaos among ordinary people otherwise.

After waving goodbye to the fat cat, Fang Cheng followed the owner into the terminal.

He secretly hoped to see the boss lady forced to remove her disguise during boarding.

Instead, staff and passengers alike acted like she was invisible.

“That’s the inverted use of my Enchantment ability,” Tsukikage Hoshi explained. “Normally it attracts attention, but reversed it dampens presence.”

Fang Cheng marveled at this unconventional spell use, wondering if his own ability could adapt similarly.

The Tokyo-to-Hokkaido flight took merely an hour, but monsters now controlling Hokkaido meant no operational airports.

They flew to Aomori Prefecture instead, planning to cross the strait by ferry.

A beautiful girl from the Tsukikage family met them at Aomori’s airport.

Through the car window, Fang Cheng immediately sensed this city’s stark contrast to Tokyo.

Tokyo’s first two layers offered steel canyons, bustling crowds, and relentless pace. Though monster-plagued, its third and fourth layers maintained capital-of-Area-11 prosperity.

Aomori Prefecture resembled third-world destitution. Few pedestrians haunted the streets, their faces blank as they hurried past shuttered stores with peeling signs. Many buildings bore residue of military fortifications.

At the end of the last century, Area 11’s military battled monsters in Hokkaido while Aomori Prefecture served as their logistics base.

Later, the Area 11 Government effectively abandoned Hokkaido, ending the war against monsters. But Aomori Prefecture became the de facto front line instead, remaining under military control for years.

When the restrictions finally lifted, Aomori’s economy lay in ruins. Young people fled across the sea to Hokkaido or headed to Tokyo and other cities for work.

The entire prefecture’s Infrastructure Development and cityscape stayed frozen in the previous century.

Ferries once crossed the strait between Aomori and Hokkaido, but after Mechanical City’s establishment, the government canceled all routes.

Now only smuggling operations crossed the water.

“The government looks the other way these days, but daytime patrols stay strict,” Tsukikage Hoshi told Fang Cheng. “We’ll cross after dark.” The fox-eared woman casually added, “I recall some vampires can fly. Can’t you just soar over the strait?”

Her probing question made Fang Cheng chuckle. “I was hoping you’d give me a lift, boss lady.”

He’d recently discovered limited flight ability, but couldn’t carry passengers yet – and preferred keeping it secret.

When Fang Cheng declined to elaborate, Tsukikage Hoshi changed subjects.

His gaze drifted to the car window, where a familiar figure suddenly caught his eye. A girl hurried down the sidewalk, scarf covering half her face as she nervously checked her surroundings.

“Why’s she here?” Fang Cheng muttered, surprised to see someone he recognized.

The girl’s anxious movements screamed “trouble.” Concentrating, Fang Cheng willed blood from his fingertips into a crimson sparrow. The tiny creature pecked his fingers, its fur-feathers soft despite the unnatural color.

This Blood Beast Nest ability let him create reconnaissance animals. At his current Proficiency level, they could roam two kilometers before dissolving.

Tsukikage Hoshi leaned closer. “Planning something?”

“Just sightseeing from above.” He released the sparrow out the window.

The yokai woman raised an eyebrow but stayed silent as the blood-bird circled overhead before diving toward the girl. Through their shared vision, Fang Cheng watched his creation tail the unsuspecting target – an organic drone missing nothing.

They soon reached the town’s best hotel, its faded decor decades outdated. “Not luxury, but better than streets,” Tsukikage Hoshi said.

“Beats sleeping rough.” Though enjoying financial freedom, Fang Cheng didn’t mind roughing it.

Her subordinates had prepared two rooms. “Rest or explore,” she advised, “but avoid shady areas. We move at ten.”

Alone in his room, Fang Cheng opened the window to salty sea air. Dragging a chair over, he split focus between honing his abilities and watching the sparrow’s feed. The girl kept glancing over her shoulder, unaware of her crimson shadow.