And things went just as Shirou expected, Yith really wanted him to whip something up on the spot to see.
Unfortunately, the few things Yith wanted to see were exactly what Shirou could not produce, so in the end he had to give up that idea.
As for the rest… he had already seen them before, and found them uninteresting.
Having received permission, Yith took out his phone, snapped a few photos, and planned to study them carefully later.
Meanwhile, on the other side, after an intense exchange between the Emperor and Wei Yenwu, they seemed to have reached some kind of… shady agreement. No, it would be more accurate to say it was a conversation between adults.
In any case, that string of Lungmen profanity and Yanese profanity just now made Shirou keep his distance.
It was only after the two finished that round of discussion and their emotions calmed down that Emperor called Shirou over.
"Kid, explain things to this old dragon yourself. In return, he will give you an explanation as well."
After their talk, the Emperor also realized that Wei Yenwu seemed to have uncovered something related to Shirou.
That fell under Shirou's personal matters, so he had no intention of interfering and instead left it to Shirou to handle.
He might be protective of his people, but he was not going to handle every little matter for Penguin Logistics forever.
If he really did that, then he would not be a boss, but a babysitter.
"…"
Even with his boss standing between them, Shirou still felt somewhat uneasy facing Wei Yenwu.
After all, the person who had just shown hostility toward him was now sitting calmly in front of him, even brewing his own tea.
It was as strange as it could get.
"Sit. What happened just now was only a test. Do not take it too seriously. It was all part of my duty."
Seeing Shirou's reaction, Wei Yenwu took a sip of tea and spoke.
He deliberately lowered his stance. After all, many answers he needed had to come from the other party, and the old penguin beside them was truly irritating, so this was the only way to proceed with the conversation.
If the other party had arrived just a little later, he might have already finished questioning Shirou with his own methods.
"I understand."
Seeing his demeanor, Shirou let out a sigh of relief and sat down. He had no intention of pursuing what had just happened.
"Tch."
Watching Shirou get led around so easily by Wei Yenwu, the Emperor clicked his tongue, but did not intervene. He simply watched quietly from the side.
At this moment, he was suffering just like Wei Yenwu.
Wei Yenwu could not smoke here because of his family status.
As for him, he had simply forgotten to bring his stuff.
He had left in a hurry just now and forget alcohol he had not even brought his usual toy gun.
"Let us start with the first question. Do you come from Ursus?"
Ignoring the Emperor's protests, Wei Yenwu picked up the question he had prepared at the beginning.
"Uh… no. Although I do not remember how I came to Lungmen, I am certain that I did not come from Ursus. I have only been there once during a past mission. Other than that, I have nothing to do with Ursus."
Faced with the question, Shirou directly denied it.
He had noticed earlier that the other party had an unusual fixation on Ursus, so distancing himself from it was the best choice.
And besides, he really was not from Ursus.
As for how he arrived in Lungmen, he had only heard others say that he was tied up and smuggled back.
When Shirou heard that, he even felt like reporting it to the Guard Department.
"You are not from Ursus? Then what is your relationship with that person from the Ursus?"
Hearing Shirou's answer, Wei Yenwu frowned.
If Shirou had never been to Ursus, then he would have almost no connection to the file in his hands about the Red Devil of Ursus.
Of course, there was still the possibility that Shirou was lying. This kind of questioning environment was troublesome, there was too much uncertainty.
"Relationship? If I go by those records, then I should know him, I suppose?"
Shirou thought for a moment before answering.
"'Should'?"
Hearing such uncertain wording gave Wei Yenwu a headache.
"Yes."
Shirou did not feel that there was anything wrong with what he said, and nodded.
"…"
Looking at Shirou, Wei Yenwu thought for a moment.
Combining what he had just learned from the Emperor, Shirou, and the intelligence in his hands, he could roughly piece things together.
Still, Shirou's way of speaking gave him a headache.
Speaking in a profound manner was one thing, but this kind of uncertainty… it was somewhat unpleasant.
Thus, Wei Yenwu continued to talk with Shirou for quite a while. Shirou answered as best as he could, and in the process also learned some not-so-important information.
For example, aside from Ursus, the one Wei Yenwu was truly wary of seemed to be someone called Kashchey, also known as the Black Snake.
No wonder the man had been so wary of him after all, Kashchey was active in Ursus, and the information Wei Yenwu held made it seem as though Shirou had come from there.
The Emperor could tell at a glance that those things were meant to distract Wei Yenwu, yet that old dragon really did take the bait.
However, based on his understanding of him, Wei Yenwu must have kept a backup plan.
At the very least, he had noticed earlier that more than half of the Black Cloak personnel were gone—those were all Wei Yenwu's subordinates.
"I more or less understand now. From what it looks like, your people indeed have nothing to do with Kashchey. This time, the mistake was on my side. As agreed earlier, you can coordinate those matters with my subordinates."
After getting the information and answers he wanted, Wei Yenwu finally relaxed, leaned back in his chair, and spoke to the Emperor.
"Yeah, yeah. I will make sure to charge you dearly for it. Do not worry."
Seeing that the two had finally finished talking, the Emperor jumped down from his chair and said.
Heaven knew how he had endured all this time, Wei Yenwu was way too annoying.
If it had been him talking to Wei Yenwu, he would have clashed head-on long ago. He would not have been as cooperative as Shirou.
Just now, Wei Yenwu had been like a machine that never stopped asking questions, while Shirou kept answering them one after another.
Do not be so honest answering everything! It is painful to watch!
Unfortunately, he had agreed not to interfere in this conversation, so he could only stand by and watch Shirou continuously reveal his own information.
Although Shirou was consciously avoiding certain topics, Wei Yenwu still managed to piece things together through a large number of questions.
"Then please try not to scare my subordinates. The last one who went on a run with your Penguin Logistics had to visit a psychiatrist several times afterward."
Faced with the Emperor's verbal threat, Wei Yenwu looked completely unconcerned.
In any case, everything that needed to be handled had already been dealt with. Shirou could now be placed on the whitelist, and now he still held a card in his hand,.Shirou who was a humanoid tactical terminator.
Compared to that, whatever benefits he gave Penguin Logistics were hardly worth mentioning.
As the saying went, he might lose, but he would never come out at a loss.
"Last time I only took him around most of Lungmen once, and he could not handle that? Your people are way too weak, Old Wei."
Hearing Wei Yenwu's complaint, the Emperor sneered.
"At the very least, this time, please do not drive at 250 kilometers per hour in Lungmen again. Otherwise, I will have the Guard Department cut your vehicle to pieces."
"Yeah, yeah, got it. Kid, let us go! This place is boring as hell. I need to get back to my bar and find my old friends unlike a poor someone who is stuck in his own home yet unable to do what he wants."
Brushing off Wei Yenwu's words, the Emperor strode off on his short legs.
Before leaving, he did not forget to take a jab at Wei Yenwu's family status.
"What does that mean?"
Shirou followed behind the Emperor as they left, puzzled by his remark.
"You will understand after spending more time around."
The Emperor did not explain directly. Some things were better left unsaid in private—saying them out loud would hurt feelings.
Especially something like this, which everyone in Lungmen probably deserved to know.
If not for the concern that Penguin Logistics might have to relocate, the Emperor would have already written a song about household hierarchy.
"Oh… alright."
Seeing that his boss had no intention of explaining, Shirou did not press further.
Once they walked out of Wei Yenwu's office, he finally relaxed. Things had escalated quickly just now, if Emperor had not arrived in time, a fight might really have broken out.
"Officer Wei did not give you a hard time, right?"
Seeing the two come out, Hoshiguma, who had been guarding the door, stepped forward and asked.
The others nearby also turned their attention over.
"It was fine, I guess? At least it was much better than at the beginning. He just asked some questions."
Facing all the eyes on him, Shirou thought for a moment before answering.
"'Some'? More like a ton, right? That guy really dared to ask, and you really dared to answer. Good thing it was all about your own matters."
Hearing Shirou's reply, the Emperor turned around and complained while talking with Yith.
Such a simple-minded guy! Just a few questions and you spilled everything!
No, that was not Shirou's fault. It was that Wei Yenwu guy who was too cunning and underhanded.
That guy was truly devious.
"Was it not you who told me to answer his questions as much as possible?"
Shirou said awkwardly after being mercilessly mocked.
"Sigh… Yith, is there still any saving him?"
Seeing Shirou like this, the Emperor gave up complaining and turned to Yith.
"Boss, please do not make things difficult for me. I am just a programmer."
Faced with his boss's expectant gaze, Yith admitted he was powerless.
If he could beat Shirou, he would have been the first to rush up and shock him.
He wondered whether all the life lessons he had taught Shirou before had been fed to the Lupos, there had been no improvement at all!
"…Was I just disliked?"
Looking at the two of them, Shirou turned to his teammates and asked.
Unfortunately, what answered him was not their replies but laughter.
It was not just the three from Penguin Logistics, even Hoshiguma, Ch'en, and Swire were laughing.
Ch'en and Texas were a bit more restrained, but as for the others… Shirou would rather not mention it.
"Do not mind it, we are like this too."
Exusiai laughed so hard her stomach began to hurt, and she patted Shirou on the shoulder in consolation.
Though the effect was minimal.
"Us three will go in first. Shirou, are you going to wait here for us, or head back on your own?"
After laughing for quite a while, Swire wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing too hard and spoke.
It could not be helped, the scene just now was too funny. Even the "rice noodle dragon" beside her had laughed. It was not excessive for her to laugh this much, right?
"I will wait here—"
Originally, Shirou wanted to say he would wait for the three of them to finish and then head back together, but the Emperor interrupted him.
"We have something to discuss with this kid as well. We will send him back to the Guard Department before noon."
"Then can we also…?"
Hearing her boss, Exusiai wondered if she could take half a day off.
"You three go back and deliver the goods! Getting caught for speeding? That is ridiculous!"
Hearing Exusiai, the Emperor replied mercilessly.
Trying to slack off in front of the boss?
Dream on.
"Ah! How could this happen!"
With her dream of slacking shattered, Exusiai felt terrible. Even the glow of her halo and wings dimmed noticeably.
"It was not speeding. Officer Shi misjudged it."
Texas, standing nearby, did not care much about that and simply corrected her boss's statement.
"Whew… good thing she already went inside, or that would have been bad."
Hearing Texas refer to Swire that way, Shirou almost instinctively felt like covering his ears.
Everyone working at the Guard Department knew that when Swire got angry, her first sentence would be especially loud, loud enough to pierce eardrums.
And since Swire cared a lot about how her name was addressed, Shirou's first reaction upon hearing "Officer Shi" was now to cover his ears.
Fortunately, she had already gone into the office, so it was safe.
"What were you talking about in there just now?"
Croissant asked curiously. When they had just arrived, they saw the tense atmosphere between the three of them and Wei Yenwu, and had no idea what Shirou had done to be treated like that.
Luckily, she had sharp ears and overheard things about Shirou from Officer Swire, then passed the message along. Otherwise, things could have turned out badly.
"Hmm… Mr. Wei misunderstood some things?"
After thinking for a moment, Shirou decided it was better not to reveal too much.
Combined with his boss and Yith's earlier attitudes, he had become much more cautious about this kind of matter.
"I see? Well, it is fine as long as nothing happened."
Croissant had only asked casually and did not really expect to learn what had happened from Shirou.
As an intelligence gatherer, she knew well which things she should know and which she should not pry into.
"Alright, you three should get back to work."
Watching them fool around, the Emperor said.
He was not in a good mood right now and urgently needed the alcohol he had stored in his bar.
But before that, he still had to deal with Shirou's situation.
Hearing their boss's order, the three quickly left the scene.
Because of Swire, their delivery progress was already behind. If they delayed any further, they might not make it back in time for dinner.
That was something they absolutely wanted to avoid.
"As for you, kid, come with us."
After watching the three take the elevator down, the Emperor turned to Shirou and said.