Chapter Eight: The Beginning of Cooperation

"Keep talking nonsense. It's been over half an hour since we met—going mad now is way too late."
Alice's gaze wandered; except for moments when the young man’s banter deflected the conversation, she usually held the reins of their dialogue. Yet now, for reasons unknown, she seemed somewhat lacking in confidence.
"Another reason I approached you is... Well, I know this sounds absurd, hardly the words of a professional like myself, but I have to say it..."
She pressed her lips together, awkwardly admitting, "I need your help."
The young man opposite her looked skeptical.
"You, an expert in handling such anomalies, are asking me—a student dragged into an abnormal incident—for help? Just now, the official staff didn't come upstairs, which means they're aware of your situation and see no issue with your contact with me. Let's take this as proof you're backed by the authorities, shall we?"
"In theory, yes..."
The young man's gaze was as sharp as a blade.
"You have the authorities of the City of the Sky as your backing, yet you seek my assistance. You should avoid involving ordinary residents in such matters, but instead, you invite me into the whirlpool. Miss Alice, don't you find this laughable?"
"Ugh, why are kids today so relentlessly aggressive!"
What a way to put it.
First 'young man,' then 'kids nowadays'—if age matters that much, don't use such old-fashioned terms.
"Many things can't be explained in a few words. I'm in a situation where, in theory, there's no problem, but in reality, I desperately need help! I thought it would be a light task dealing with a couple of kittens, but who could have guessed that midway we'd uncover a major event, and upon arriving in this city, things would deteriorate so badly! If I chase this alone, it's bound to end in disaster. If not for my current predicament, who would waste time here chatting with an irritating person like you, ugh—!!"
By the end, she was practically wailing.
Don't cry, hey, don't cry!!
Gongsun Ce used his ability to float a tissue over.
Miss Alice pushed it aside with her hand, "Ugh... I'm not... so fragile yet!"
"Your recent remarks could easily make the Top 10 for this year's Tough Act Contest."
"If you were in my place, you'd break down too! Who could have expected they'd want to summon an evil dragon!"
Click.
A sound echoed in his mind.
Like a massive pendulum stuck in place, the mechanical clang reverberated inside his head.
"When I heard it, I was chilled to the bone... After verifying... they truly believe it..."
Fragments of Alice's words reached his ears, blending with the meaningless background noise.
He couldn't attend to the rest.
Someone intended to summon a giant dragon. The sudden revelation shattered every smoothly functioning logical chain.
The tracks of his simultaneous thoughts halted, broke off, unable to continue.
Only one thing remained for him to consider.
"I will help you."
"I know it's a lot to—wait, what?"

Before the astonished huntress, the psychic stood up.
"You said they intend to summon an evil dragon. Then I'll help you stop them. No matter how absurd such madness may sound, as long as there’s the slightest chance it could come true, I’ll do everything in my power to eliminate that possibility."
He glanced at his pocket watch: it was 5:10, thirty minutes since they had met.
"We've wasted too much time. Miss Alice, you should have told me the most important thing right from the start."
"No, wait, what’s happening? You’re just agreeing?"
Alice sat on the sofa, her mouth agape.
"Yes, I will help you. I’ll be your ally, assist your actions in this city—however you want to phrase it. We can discuss technical details later; now is the time to act. Where do we need to go, who must be dealt with, please tell me."
The blue-haired huntress pointed at the sofa, gesturing for him to sit back down.
"I'm glad you're willing to help, but you should trust me a bit more. Do I look like the sort of idiot who'd abandon serious work to chat with a student?"
"..."
"Don’t go silent now!"
Wasn’t she the one who almost broke down moments ago?
"I believe honesty would cause you some psychological harm, so I chose not to speak."
"Too gentle! Thank you!" Alice pinched a short arrow between two fingers, aiming it threateningly at the young man's brow. "Do you know what I was doing before meeting you?"
The glossy arrowhead glinted coldly.
Gongsun Ce recalled the green-crested figure struggling in pain at the apartment entrance forty-five minutes earlier.
He remembered clearly: the man had two identical arrows lodged in his ankles.
When he first encountered the Ku Pu Pu alien, that man seemed barely alive, and it wouldn’t have been surprising if he’d died right there. It was unlikely he could use his last breath to cause any threat.
Before employing the Sky-Splitting Serpent, it had only lunged less than two meters... In this city, a large beast with a two-meter attack range, immobilized on the ground, is nothing at all.
Which means, from a hunter's perspective, the Ku Ka Ka alien was almost entirely harmless, unless some Good Samaritan approached and gave him a chance for a desperate attack, coincidentally pulling out those arrows.
Considering Alice Eidahl’s recent words, the psychic already had his answer.
"Before I encountered the Ku Pu Ka alien, you must have been fighting him and his allies atop the apartment or some high place. Either this lowly crested fool held you off to let his companions escape, or you decided to eliminate one before pursuing the others. In any case, after easily dealing with him, you immediately went after the more crucial enemy. As for him using the ‘divine’ Sky-Splitting Serpent, that was out of your control—a completely unexpected accident."
Alice nearly threw the short arrow at him.
"Are you an empath or a mind-reader? What kind of nonsense is this?!"
Again, with words only she understood.
At least call it psychic ability.
"A psychic only has one superpower, which I thought was common knowledge. As you see, my ability... is merely a special form of telekinesis."
"Nonsense, I’d have to be crazy to believe you! You created a giant hammer with your ability not long ago—are you telling me that’s telekinesis?"
It certainly isn’t.

But it’s much easier to explain it as telekinesis.
Drip, drip.
He intended to fabricate some excuse to brush off further questions about his powers, but the sound of water interrupted his thoughts.
It emanated from the huntress’s pocket—it must be Alice’s phone ringing.
Alice took out her phone, glanced at the screen, and whistled cheerfully.
She slid the short arrow back into the quiver at her waist, then stood up: "Finally! Just as you said, I judged that guy as no longer a threat and decisively pursued the more dangerous enemy. The crested fool delayed me, and his ability was a real hassle, so ultimately I couldn’t catch up. But…"
The blue-haired woman raised her phone, its screen displaying a satellite map of the City of the Sky.
A blue flower-shaped light flashed within a peculiar fan-shaped region stretching left from the city’s central axis.
Alice clenched her fist: "I managed to pull off a trick at the last moment—"
"It’s the signal from a transmitter, fixed with your so-called Impermanence technique."
"How did you know?"
"Looks like your transmitter isn’t very good; once he entered certain areas, the signal was lost, only now reappearing. Give me a few more minutes, and I could take a photo, call a friend, and even find out exactly which transmitter you used."
The young man walked to the door, placing his hand on the handle. "Judging by the map, he’s in the Fixed Wing District. Do you know the way?"
Alice Eidahl hurried after him: "I plan to call a cab and follow the GPS."
"How professional. We’re in the Thorn District—if you take a cab to the Fixed Wing District now, you’ll get stuck in traffic on the central axis in fifteen minutes. Follow me, and tell me anything else as we go... Oh, almost forgot."
Gongsun Ce halted.
He turned and reached out to the huntress.
"Gongsun Ce, as you see, a psychic. My power is a special form of telekinesis: it can deliver simple attacks, aid my movement, and, as just now, serve as a means of detection. When used invisibly, it’s fast; when manifest as white substance, it’s more powerful."
The huntress smiled and shook his hand.
"Alice Eidahl, Impermanence practitioner of the Brahma Aspect. My divine art is Shadow Azure Orchid—Azure Orchid blossoms in shadow, allowing myself and anything I touch to move between the flowers. To resolve this incident, let’s work together for now!"
She mentioned neither the scope nor the limitations of her powers—a truly cautious person.
Though, when it comes to secrecy, he had no right to judge.
"Let’s go. There’s no subway in this city and the roads are clogged; it’s best we travel by air."
"By air? I underestimated you. I didn’t expect you had a helicopter!"
Just from the gray-haired youth’s expression, Alice knew she’d guessed wrong.
"Could it be one of those flying ships, retrofitted from old military gear for fantasy film shoots?"
"What are you imagining?" Gongsun Ce adjusted his glasses. "If you want to travel through the air here, it has to be by bird."
"...Bird?"
Alice blinked, utterly baffled.