Night Plans in Nanjing

Fortunately, Churchill’s demand seemed to have been accepted as reasonable. Soon, two young female non-commissioned officers came running at the call of the lieutenant colonel and colonel, and adequately inspected our three bodies. Despite the NCOs being female, Churchill clearly showed her discomfort by frowning every time their hands slightly touched areas like her buttocks.

Each time this happened, rather than being forceful, the Chinese soldiers seemed to glance at each other and show signs of backing off.

The Huangpu military sword was briefly pointed out, but due to Zhou Lizhi’s identity and the fame of Huangpu Women’s School’s barrier, we passed the inspection without any particular issues. Even Zhou’s carried automatic pistol was allowed to be possessed, with only the ammunition confiscated.

Although they only appeared outwardly unintimidated, it was the same that non-superhuman field-grade officers subtly watched their behavior in front of China’s top-tier superhuman officer. Moreover, when they learned that both of us were foreign superhumans, the Chinese military’s attitude noticeably softened. An awakened person’s body itself is a weapon. While I don’t use any weapons to activate my abilities, even Churchill only uses a baton for style and convenience, not because she can’t use her ability without it.

Therefore, a thorough body search of dangerous awakened individuals was rather meaningless. Even if Churchill were holding a gun, it would be far less dangerous than her two hands. But since they can’t confiscate her hands, it’s better to finish the search at an appropriate level and let us pass.

Zhou seemed to have known from the beginning that the capital defense force officers would treat her party adequately, showing a consistently relaxed attitude. The three of us walked side by side towards the Presidential Office building in the center of Nanjing.

It wasn’t long before the fork in the road between our accommodation and the Presidential Office building appeared. Zhou Lizhi pressed her cap firmly and turned her body towards the Generalissimo’s residence.

“Then, as promised, I’ll leave it to you.”

“Leave it to us. We won’t get scared and back out now.”

Churchill responded cheerfully to Zhou’s request. I couldn’t quite understand why she looked so cheerful. Was it just that her usual cheerfulness stood out more because of the city’s gloomy atmosphere?

Zhou Lizhi also seemed to have some doubts about Churchill’s ready answer, but she didn’t show it much and walked towards her own path. Thus, the three of us temporarily parted ways.

The downtown of Nanjing was also heavy and cold, but perhaps because it was the capital of China, the situation was much better than in Guangzhou, a mere provincial capital. At least there were quite a few people walking on the streets, and cars were running on the roads instead of tanks. Shops like cafes and beauty salons also seemed to be open for business, not having been forced to close.

While walking towards the hotel, I even bumped shoulders with a passerby. In a place like Shanghai where organized crime has a strong presence, it could be dangerous to carelessly bump into strange people, but perhaps because this was Nanjing, nothing happened for now.

Churchill said to me:

“Be a little more careful when you walk. People are already likely to view foreigners negatively at a time like this, aren’t you being too careless?”

“You with your Western appearance would be in more danger.”

“I’m Anglo-Saxon, and it’s the Slavs who are ostracized in China. Looking at our features, we’re clearly different, right? It’s not like they’d mistake me for a Germanic person, would they make such a mistake?”

“Can you tell the difference between Koreans and Japanese when you see them?”

“They’re pretty much all the same, aren’t they?”

“That’s how it is. We can’t tell the difference either. Slavs and Germans and such. All the big-nosed people look pretty much the same to us, we can’t think they’re different ethnicities just by looking at their appearance.”

Churchill was momentarily speechless at my words, but she didn’t want to end the conversation there. She raised her voice slightly and argued:

“Wait, wait. Don’t go there. Look, Britain and Russia are far apart. Besides, I’m completely, completely British, okay? Even if there’s some immigrant blood mixed in, it’s from a very long time ago. On the other hand, Korea and Japan are a bit different. The three Northeast Asian countries…”

“Even compared to the mixing of blood between Britain and Russia, it’s not that much. Weren’t George VI and Nicholas so similar that even their mothers couldn’t tell them apart? If even the monarchs of different countries are like that, wouldn’t the citizens all look pretty similar too?”

Faced with such specific evidence, Briar’s racially discriminatory logic could no longer be expanded. But my perfect refutation didn’t completely dampen her mood. I lightly protested once to her, who kept talking to me incessantly.

“Why are you so excited?”

“Excited? Me?”

“You look excited. Try to lower your voice and at least pretend to mourn. We’re already speaking in English, which must sound very foreign to the people around us.”

“Isn’t it better because we’re speaking English? Chinese people can’t speak English, right? They think they’re not lacking anywhere just because they can speak Chinese.”

“Even if they can’t understand the content, or rather because they can’t understand, it’s more of a problem. Your voice is too loud. You sound like an excited person. Even if there are no gangsters in the capital center, what if a scary public security officer says, ‘Are you excited now? Why are you so excited during the national mourning period, you big-nosed fellow!’ What are you going to say?”

“I’ll turn their nose bones into powder.”

“I hope that doesn’t happen.”

Churchill grumbled but seemed to accept my advice to some extent. However, she didn’t want to completely shut her mouth, so she continued to chatter in English near my ear, just slightly lowering her voice.

“Actually, there is a reason why I’m excited.”

“It’s not some childish reason like being happy to tour the Chinese capital for the first time, is it?”

“No! It’s more of a perverted reason than a childish one!”

“You’re saying that too proudly with your own mouth… What’s the reason?”

“While Zhou Lizhi is away, it’s just the two of us in the room, right?”

“…So? You’re excited because you expect to roll around and play to your heart’s content, just that kind of reason?”

This time, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment and slightly raised my voice. Churchill made a playful gesture as if telling me to lower my voice.

“Well, that’s part of it, but the best part is the moment Zhou returns.”

“…Huh?”

“Even if she pretends otherwise, that proud Chinese major definitely has some sort of possessiveness towards you. No, it doesn’t make sense for a human not to have possessiveness towards their partner. So, we intentionally stay in a disheveled state until late, and when the major returns, we hastily act and say something like ‘You came back earlier than expected’, you know? Anyway, it’s that we can show off. Isn’t it fun?”

“I’m a bit surprised by how gloomy and honest you are.”

“If I lose my honesty too, I’d be a corpse. So, will you play along?”

“Honestly, there wouldn’t be a problem if we did that, but…”

At that moment, I felt something strange in the pocket of the coat I had carelessly put on. I could feel an unfamiliar piece of paper, a note that seemed to have just been inserted, in the pocket of my coat. I secretly pulled out the note from my pocket and quickly checked its contents without letting Churchill notice.

The content of the note was written in English, not Chinese.

‘9 PM, Senior citizen parking space behind the hotel’

I knew this handwriting.

This was certainly one of the handwritings of Marilyn Jefferson, my dedicated operative. Jefferson, an excellent agent, had several types of handwriting that I could immediately recognize. This was the handwriting she usually left for urgent calls.

If there was nothing unusual, it clearly meant that Jefferson was calling me tonight.

I started looking for an appropriate excuse to give to Churchill.

“But didn’t you say you don’t like threesomes?”

“Of course I don’t! You want me to strip and roll around with that Chinese major? That’s impossible.”

“Don’t you think Zhou will pounce on us if we’re in that state when she returns?”

“What? No, I’d blast her away if she did.”

“Do you think Zhou would lose? You know she won’t avoid you for reasons of appearance or taste.”

“Well, that’s true. It doesn’t make sense that she would avoid me because of my appearance.”

It wasn’t entirely wrong, but it was a statement that showed too much confidence in her own looks.

“So until now, she hasn’t laid hands on you partly because of political stance… but if we’re openly doing that in front of her, and if we’re in that state to intentionally insult her, the Zhou Lizhi I know would probably jump in right away, even if just to humiliate you. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a flawed plan?”

“Hmm…”

Churchill tilted her head at my words and fell into contemplation. It seemed I had found an appropriate reason to reject Bri’s request to play along with her until late at night.