"COMEBACKHERE!"
With a quick turn to the side, Alain dodged a heavy punch from Jiang.
"Stop yelling, Jiang. You're gonna attract security —"
"Shut up, Yong!"
Following up with a small jump backward to avoid the knife strike thrown by Yong.
(The teamwork between them is completely chaotic…)
"Damn it… this brat is annoyi— AHRG?!"
Still, the boy wasn't just playing defense, stepping in with a clean elbow strike straight to Jiang's chin.
"Brute force isn't gonna work in your favor."
"Shut up, brat!"
(And on top of that, they're easy to provoke…)
Taking the impact of the blow, the man tried to rush Alain, but—
"Jiang, back off!"
"Huh?—"
The boy quickly lifted his leg like a whip, landing a kick straight to the man's face.
"Didn't I say? Brute force won't help you much…"
(Whoa… this guy's serious trouble…)
Seeing his partner drop to the ground after the hit, Yong started sweating a little.
(That strike he landed on me… an Ding Zhou? and just now, followed by a Bian Tui…)
"Bajiquan, right?"
With a small frustrated smile, Yong asked Alain directly.
In response, Alain just shrugged.
"Not like knowing that gives you any advantage, right?"
"Haha…"
Yong could only answer with a dry laugh.
In that short exchange, Alain fired again at Yong.
"Tsk… Missed again even with full stability?"
(The first shot… it definitely connected, I saw it. The second was point blank, almost no chance to miss and now this one…)
Alain quickly ran through several hypotheses about what could be causing the misses, still keeping his focus on the fight.
He made a small hop, avoiding a low kick coming from behind him.
"You know… I hate being interrupted."
He connected an elbow strike behind him, right into Jiang's face.
Landing back on the ground, he quickly turned and drove an open palm strike into the man's neck.
"Staying down is better than keeping on losing, you know? There's no round 2 if this keeps up."
(He's tough… even though I don't feel much solidity in the hits I landed on him.)
Alain let out a sigh, turning toward Yong and charging straight at him.
"You're the more troublesome one."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Take it however you want."
The boy started with a low kick aimed at the thigh.
Then a straight punch to the chest.
And finally the same whip kick that had dropped Jiang earlier.
All done with impressive speed and fluidity in Yong's eyes.
(Fast and still strong… he's good.)
But the man barely managed to avoid the full impact of the kick and stepped back.
… Or at least that's what he thought.
The moment Alain's foot touched the ground, in one swift motion, the boy dropped low and swept Yong's legs.
As the man fell, Alain moved in on him. All within a split second.
"You're a bit smarter than that guy over there, but not as physically capable."
Alain placed the gun right at his waist, literally pressing it against his skin.
"You know… I was wondering, how did you walk away from that first shot? I'm sure it hit."
He spoke calmly, but kept a steady finger on the trigger.
"The second one had almost zero chance of missing…"
"Maybe I'm just really lucky?"
"Cut the jokes, we both know that's not it."
Alain's expression turned serious almost instantly.
"The third was a fully stable shot, perfect right angle. And it still missed."
"Sorry, but if you're trying to figure out my ability then—"
"Ah, it's not yours I'm trying to figure out. Because… you don't have one."
Involuntarily, Yong swallowed hard, and that was exactly what Alain needed.
"Bingo. It's not yours, and definitely not that brute's over there… so how about you show yourself before I decide to aim somewhere fatal on him?"
With a light, almost teasing press on the trigger.
"After all, direct contact can't be blocked by your ability, right?"
Alain's tone was firm and heavy.
"… I see, so you noticed."
From the door he had opened earlier… that third delicate figure who had been escorted before stepped out.
"M-Miss Yichen! Get back!"
"Oh… so you weren't being dragged around, you were actually part of whatever's going on?"
Pulling down the hood from her face, a girl with delicate features and cyan hair looked firmly at Alain.
"My apologies for that, but how about you get off my subordinate?"
"I don't know… I kinda look like I'm winning here."
"Even if we're not enemies?"
Yong looked confused, but Alain, with a small sigh followed by a corner smile, stood up while holstering his gun at his waist.
"So the brains stayed with you then."
Alain stretched his arms, lowering his hand to cover a yawn.
Yong, on the other hand, rushed over to the young woman.
"H-huh? Miss Yichen, he doesn't work for Old Man Wei…?"
"Of course not, Yong. If he did, he had plenty of chances to eliminate Jiang physically and take you out for good in that last moment."
"B-but Jiang, he—"
"Snoooore~"
"… He's asleep?"
Jiang seemed unconscious on the ground, but more in a deep sleep than actual loss of consciousness.
"But that strike to his neck…"
"That? I didn't use much force, I just focused on rattling his head until it shut down for a bit."
Alain leaned against the wall, staring at the trio with a cold analytical gaze.
"As for this old Wei, never heard of him. I just followed you guys because it seemed interesting to kill the boredom on the cruise."
Yong still looked confused about the situation, but the girl named Yichen seemed more understanding of what had happened.
"And yet, you were armed. Not something someone around my age would usually have access to."
Alain watched Yichen carefully as she spoke.
"On top of the training and conditioning to handle two adults in combat. You might not be connected to Mr. Wei… but you're not just anyone either, right?"
(She's sharp… but I doubt she'll find much more to uncover my identity…)
The boy pushed off the wall and walked back down the hallway they all came from, heading toward the deck again.
"I'm just an esper mercenary trying to live a normal life after getting out of conflicts, let's say it was just an involuntary reflex from the old days."
(A simple and convenient excuse. No need to go deeper than that.)
Alain left the place for good.
"Miss Yichen…? Is it really okay to just let him walk away like that?"
Yong approached Yichen carefully, looking in the direction Alain had gone.
"I can't really say… at the very least, he must have his own circumstances."
(An esper mercenary, huh? Maybe that info will be useful.)
Yichen also kept her eyes on the direction Alain had taken.
Meanwhile, the person in question…
"… Man, I really stepped wrong back there, didn't I?"
He was slouched in his own cabin.
"I really should've brought a handheld console to pass the time."
The boy rolled from one side to the other on the bed, looking grumpy before letting out a sigh.
"Anyway, I'd better report this to the Captain and Jean later…"
He lay still, hugging his blanket while staring at the wall.
(That girl… she said it herself, but we really do look about the same age.)
Alain turned again, now staring at the cabin ceiling.
(She had two escorts… Old Man Wei… is this guy after her? That might be a variable in the mission…)
He grabbed his phone, scrolling through his contacts for a few seconds before stopping and calling someone.
(Doesn't matter, having info is always good…)
After a few rings, the call connected and an upbeat voice came through.
"Alain? What's up, man?"
"Hey, Marcos. Sorry to bug you, but I need you to pull some info for me."
The person was Marcos, a skilled hacker who acted as an informal informant for MASK.
"What's the deal?"
"I need you to look up information on an man named Wei."
"Wei? Is this tied to some operation in Asia?"
"Not exact—"
"Kidding, you're heading to Nereus-0, right? Hoshi already gave me a heads up in case you needed outside info."
Alain turned to the side, letting out another sigh.
(The Captain really likes tying up loose ends.)
"Great, in that case. What can you get on that name for me?"
"Wei huh… definitely sounds Chinese. But it's way too common."
The boy closed his eyes for a moment, trying to pull up anything useful from memory.
"He seems to be after a girl, her name's apparently Yichen."
"Yichen…? Connected to some Wei? Hmm… give me a sec."
Through the phone, Alain could hear the rapid sound of keys being pressed.
"Not 100%, but maybe this Wei belongs to the Yunlong Syndicate, chinese mafia."
"Tsk…"
"But why do you wanna know? It's not like their activities reach where you're going."
Alain stayed silent for a few minutes, a conflicted expression on his face.
"Well…"
He explained the events from half an hour ago to Marcos.
"HAHAHA YOU REALLY MESSED UP BIG TIME, HUH?!"
"Did you have to laugh that loud?"
"My bad, my bad… haa… man, sometimes I forget you're still a teenager deep down."
After a few seconds, Alain heard a cough on the other end of the line.
"Anyway, I doubt whatever's going on with this Yichen is gonna involve you, but just in case, I'll see if I can dig up more."
"Thanks, Marcos."
"No problem."
Alain ended the call, tossing the phone onto the bedside table.
"Okay… let's not make any more mistakes like that before we get there… or after we get there."