Chapter 10：The Gilded Cage

Chapter 10：The Gilded Cage

“Delicious magic, inject~! Meow~”

Loy recited the incantation, his face a blank mask. He mechanically made a ridiculously stiff heart shape with his hands over a cup of latte. The cat-ear headband on his head felt like a brand of shame, a silent mockery of his last shred of dignity. Across from him, a brutish-faced mercenary erupted in thunderous laughter, tossing a few silver coins into the tip jar hanging from his chest.

“Nice one, big guy! I’m ordering from you next time!”

Loy turned stiffly and shuffled back to the bar, each step like walking on broken glass.

This was the third day. The third, hellish day.

“Mr. Loy, your service is too rigid. You’ll scare the customers away,” Bunny’s voice, sweet as honey, came from behind him. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned in close to his ear, her warm breath making him flinch. “You have to learn to observe. See that gentleman in the corner? He likes to be scolded harshly. And the one by the window, you need to coddle him like a puppy. That’s the secret to enhancing the customer experience, you see.”

Loy glanced over. The man in the corner was staring at him with an expectant gaze. His stomach churned.

Riko, on the other hand, had adapted remarkably well. She wore a maid outfit but radiated the aura of a queen. She handled customers with a languid tone, which, paradoxically, earned her a legion of admirers. Keiko was like an exquisite doll, quietly polishing glasses and only offering a dependent smile when her sister looked her way. Ling, due to her frail health, was assigned to prepare desserts in the back kitchen, having escaped the ordeal.

Night fell, and the cafe closed. Under the warm-toned lights, the air grew cold and heavy with a stifling silence.

“How much longer do we have to endure this?” Loy ripped the cat ears from his head and slammed them on the table.

“Until we get what we came for,” Riko replied, leaning casually against the bar while sipping a beer.

"Oh my, had enough already? We're just getting started~"

Bunny chimed in playfully, her head down. Her fingers flew across her screen, pulling up an encrypted file. Her avatar flickered on the screen as a message marked "Burn After Reading" scrolled past.

After reading it, she closed the interface without a change in expression. She glanced at Ling and Loy, her gaze like that of an appraiser evaluating a rare collectible.

Loy didn't notice her strange look. He couldn't just be a sitting duck. Pinning his hopes on an inscrutable woman was like putting his own neck in a noose.

At two in the morning, Loy rose without a sound. He bypassed the infrared detectors in the hallway and easily opened the back door’s electronic lock with his decoding module. The cold night air cleared his head.

He melted into the dark alley like a shadow. This was a haven for intelligence brokers and smugglers, a lawless land beyond official jurisdiction. He avoided the surveillance cameras on the street corners and came to a sharp halt at a turn.

A spider-like drone the size of his palm was crawling across a wall. Its matte shell was painted in a style that didn't match any NSRU or corporate design he knew.

He didn't dwell on it, quickly ducking back into the shadows. Loy was here to find a supposedly well-informed broker, a scrawny, one-eyed man known as Rat-Eye.

“What can I get for you, customer?” Rat-Eye’s murky eye glinted with greed as he recognized Loy's arm. “Hey, wait a minute. Aren’t you that big dummy who tried to pay with a bank card at Sweet Dream?”

Loy’s heart sank. The incident where he tried to use his bank card had become a local joke. In this den of unregistered individuals, using traceable, official currency was tantamount to writing “I’M AN OUTSIDER” on his forehead.

“I’m here to buy information,” Loy said, his voice low. “Novalette Group, Solaria, and any available transport around here.”

“Now that’s a big order.” Rat-Eye licked his chapped lips. “But newcomers like you are either cops or fat sheep. I’ll need to check the merchandise.” As he spoke, he pretended to arrange his wares, but the scanner in his prosthetic eye was already aimed at Loy.

Loy took one look at the man and turned to leave. He knew he’d been exposed; saying more was pointless.

He didn’t know that after he left, a glaring red alert flashed on Rat-Eye’s terminal—an NSRU S-class wanted notice, with a reward so high it was staggering. Rat-Eye’s breath hitched, and he immediately dialed an encrypted line.

“Hoo-whee! I’m gonna be rich!”

“Hello, NSRU Intelligence? I’ve got a tip for you, about the people you’re after. Wire the crypto to…”

On the afternoon of the fourth day, the cafe was bustling with noise.

Loy carried a tray, his mind heavy with worry. An invisible net was tightening, and he could smell the danger.

Suddenly, the wind chime on the door clanged in a series of sharp, jarring rings.

The door was kicked open. Five fully-armed NSRU security troops stormed in. The black muzzles of their guns instantly aimed at everyone. Customers screamed, and chaos erupted.

The officer in command had a cold, merciless face. He raised his tactical terminal, which projected a hologram of their four wanted photos.

“By the emergency directive of the New Star Resource Union, we are apprehending fugitive targets,” the officer’s voice was like ice. “The informant said they were here.”

Every single gun barrel swiveled in unison, pointing at the man still wearing the cat-ear headband.

Riko and Keiko tensed instantly. Ling peeked out from the kitchen doorway, her face pale.

In the dead silence, only Bunny, the owner, walked out slowly from behind the bar.

Amid the chaos, her smile never wavered. She even tilted her head with a look of genuine curiosity. Her cherry-blossom pink eyes, reflecting the flashing red lights on the soldiers' helmets, glinted with delight.

“My, my,” Bunny said softly, her sweet voice nearly drowned out by the screams. “These are my valued customers. My humble shop is a legitimate business, you know. We don't accept payment in bullets.”