Arknights: The Holy Son's Leisurely Life — Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Old Ch’en’s Private PhotosYou're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

Lucian and Hoshiguma wove through the claustrophobic streets and shadowed alleys, sinking deeper into the Lungmen Slums.

This outer ring of the city had long been mutated into a chaotic sprawl by its desperate residents. Precarious illegal structures stacked atop one another, leaning over the narrow streets to block out the sky—an absolute municipal miracle that it hadn’t all collapsed. Lucian could only be considered half a local; he certainly couldn’t claim to have this concrete jungle memorized.

Yet Hoshiguma handled the twisting dead-ends and sudden drop-offs with effortless grace. Even after being away from the underground for several years, her internal map remained flawless.

Lucian ducked under a low-hanging rusted pipe, thoroughly impressed. “Big Sister Hoshiguma, do you have a radar antenna hidden inside that white radish on your head? How do you even remember the way through this mess?”

“Want to know?” Her handsome lips curved into a sharp, nostalgic smile. “Every brick in this sector is stained with the blood I shed. All the old gangs I used to run with were swept straight into the sewers by the Rat King. Now, only I remain.”

Lucian scrunched his nose, making a face. “Eww. That’s incredibly unsanitary.”

Hoshiguma was not a native of Lungmen. She was an Oni who had drifted across the sea from the distant island nation of Higashi. Her race was notoriously violent, widely feared even in their own homeland, let alone as immigrants in a foreign metropolis. But down here in the dirt, that sheer, unadulterated violence was a highly valued currency among the lower-class syndicates.

Carrying the spirit of a wandering ronin, Hoshiguma had adhered to a brutally simple code: she repaid the kindness of a hot meal and a night’s lodging with her fists. She acted as the ultimate enforcer for the scattered gangs resisting the Rat King’s monopoly. In the Slums, she had never tasted defeat. No matter how many small-fry thugs swarmed her, they couldn’t so much as scratch her skin.

But the small-time crews she protected were a different story.

To Lucian, the Rat King was just Old Lin, a relatively kind elder who enjoyed his tea. To the Slums, however, the old Perro was an absolute, unforgiving monarch. Empowered by Hoshiguma’s invincible vanguard, those minor factions grew arrogant. They tried to break the established underground rules, and in response, the Rat King wiped them off the map.

Old Lin did not like Hoshiguma. She was an anomaly capable of shattering the delicate balance of power, an unyielding force of nature who acted on her own whims and ignored all negotiation. His idealized vision of the Slums had no room for such volatile elements.

Knowing this history, Hoshiguma cast a sidelong glance at her companion. “If the Rat King knew you were still sneaking around with me, his opinion of you would plummet.”

“Doesn’t he desperately want you to be his son-in-law?” she continued, her tone teasing. “Lin Yuxia is a gorgeous girl. Aren’t you planning to settle down and have a litter of little rats with halos?”

Lucian actually paused to imagine it. “Rat angels… what would that even look like?”

If the elegant, velvet-clad Lin Yuxia suddenly sprouted a glowing halo and a pair of light wings, it would certainly be cute, but undeniably bizarre. Terra was home to countless diverse races, but a mixed-blood angel that completely shattered reproductive isolation laws was stretching reality a bit too far.

Amused, Lucian shook his head. “Who I choose to be with is my own business. I don’t dislike Yuxia, but looking at her as a woman… it’s missing a certain spark. I only see her as a younger sister. So, if Old Lin’s opinion of me drops, that’s perfectly fine. Maybe he’ll finally let me off the hook.”

“Hmph… A younger sister, huh?” Hoshiguma’s gaze grew heavy with meaning.

She knew exactly what Lucian’s dynamic with Swire was like. Last time, the man had been half-coaxed into a hotel room, nearly crossing the final line with the wealthy feline. Swire and Lin Yuxia were childhood friends of the exact same age, classmates all the way through high school. They possessed the kind of inseparable, fiercely competitive bond where they practically shared the same wardrobe.

Yet from Lucian’s perspective, Swire was fair game, while Lin Yuxia was strictly family. It was a volatile mix just waiting for a catalyst. This man, with his endless romantic entanglements and laid-back charm, didn’t even realize how many dangerous women he had provoked. One of these days, he was going to get stabbed.

Hoshiguma looked away, muttering under her breath. “But I’m the exception, right? Brothers, no matter how they dress up, are still just brothers. This idiot won’t ever care… Hm.”

“Big Sister Hoshiguma? What did you say?” Lucian blinked, catching only the tail end of her whisper.

Instantly, Hoshiguma flashed a broad, hearty smile. Acting exactly like a wise older brother, she slung a heavy arm over Lucian’s shoulders, pulling him close. “I said, Lucian, you need to find a good woman and settle down soon! I want to hold your kid while I’m still young.”

Lucian’s face fell flat. “Then go have one yourself, Big Sister. And stop treating me like a kid.”

He brushed it off, purely taking it as her usual rough teasing.

The two continued to trade banter, reminiscing as they walked until the claustrophobic alleys finally opened up into a sprawling, abandoned park. The arena was a graveyard of broken concrete, piled sand, and shattered furniture, entirely boxed in by the decaying walls of condemned high-rises. It was a dead zone, completely forgotten by the noisy, neon-lit city above.

Hoshiguma stepped into the center of the clearing and stretched, her joints popping like firecrackers. “Alright. How do you want to do this? If we’re going all out, you can use your gun and your swords.”

“No guns. The noise will just attract Old Lin’s men.” Lucian stepped up, rolling his shoulders. A spark of genuine excitement lit his eyes. “Besides, I really want to see if my blades can crack your Prajna!”

“Bold words, brat.”

Hoshiguma grinned, a fierce, predatory flash of teeth. She unhooked the massive triangular shield from her back and slammed it heavily into the cracked earth. Dust plumed around the impact.

Her weapon was neither a sword nor a saber. It was the Steel Shield, Prajna. True to its namesake, the heavy metal face was carved into the terrifying visage of a Higashi Oni—an evil spirit born from a woman consumed by intense, murderous jealousy. While the easygoing Hoshiguma rarely seemed to fit the word ‘jealousy,’ a true female Oni wielding a relic named after one carried an oppressive, suffocating weight.and support the real translator.Read at elysianreads.com This is a stolen translation. You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.

Lucian didn’t hesitate. He summoned his arsenal.

The Sankta halo above his head flared with brilliant, blinding light. The faint, glowing wings at his back materialized, casting sharp shadows across the rubble. The air hummed with kinetic energy as seven crimson Originium blades of varying lengths and jagged shapes materialized out of thin air, orbiting his body like lethal satellites.

Hoshiguma blinked, her combat stance relaxing for a fraction of a second as she studied the floating arsenal. “Is this Rhine Lab’s latest toy? Interesting. What’s the propulsion principle?”

“Usually, you’d need a network of neural chips implanted in your brain and spine to control them via brainwaves,” Lucian explained, casually gripping the hilts of the two longest blades. The remaining five continued to slowly circle him, shifting as if possessing a predatory will of their own.

He offered a boastful smirk. “But I’m built a bit differently. Just like Exusiai can fire her vectors without pulling the trigger, I can directly interface with Originium weaponry using my halo. That’s why Rhine Lab lets me test their prototypes for free. I get top-tier gear, they get live combat data. Win-win.”

“Hmph.” Hoshiguma sounded thoroughly unimpressed. She wasn’t fond of over-engineered tech, acting much like an old veteran glaring at a modern smartphone.

Gripping Prajna, she dragged the heavy edge across the dirt, carving a deep boundary line between them. She took a firm step forward, her stance immovable. “Come at me whenever you’re ready. If you can force me to retreat past this line, you pass.”

Lucian spun his twin swords, the crimson edges leaving trails of light in the dim air. “Don’t underestimate me, Big Sister. But just sparring isn’t exciting enough. Shouldn’t we make a bet?”

“Oh?”

“If I win, next time you take Madam Ch’en out drinking, you get her completely wasted and call me over. Deal?”

Hoshiguma laughed, a booming, genuine sound. “You little scumbag! You want to take advantage of Old Ch’en while she’s blacked out? Has your pen run out of ink, so you’re looking for a new thrill?”

“No, no, no! It hasn’t run out, it’ll never run out in this lifetime!” Lucian quickly waved his hands, backpedaling from the accusation. “I just want to snap a few photos for use! Croissant told me that just getting Swire’s private phone number could sell for a fortune. If I get my hands on pictures of Madam Ch’en drunk and blushing, I could buy a luxury apartment in the inner city!”

He puffed his chest out, defending his honor. “I’m not a monster. I absolutely won’t take any inappropriate or revealing shots. You can even audit the camera roll afterward! Madam Ch’en is a stunning beauty—just a picture of her flustered face is worth its weight in gold.”

“………Oh? Is that so?”

The air in the abandoned park instantly froze.

Hoshiguma’s aura inverted. The casual, sisterly warmth vanished, replaced by a crushing, suffocating pressure. Her smile grew impossibly bright, stretching across her face, but her golden eyes were completely dead.

With a flick of her wrist, she spun Prajna. The shield’s razor-sharp outer edge blurred into a deadly buzzsaw, the metal whining as it sliced through the air.

“Is that so?” Hoshiguma’s voice was a terrifying, melodic purr. “Old Ch’en is a stunning beauty? You don’t even need revealing photos, just her face is enough to mesmerize you? Is she really that beautiful? I didn’t know that.”

“Uh… eh?”

Lucian swallowed hard. The oppressive killing intent radiating from the Oni made the seven floating blades around him tremble violently, their synchronization faltering. “Ah, wait, Big Sister Hoshiguma, let’s calm down for a second—”

“My main point,” Lucian babbled, sweating profusely, “is that Ch’en Hui-chieh never smiles! She always has that terrifying stern face, she must be exhausted! I was just joking about the money, I really just wanted to tease her a bit!”

The spinning shield whined louder, tearing the concrete at her feet to dust.

“Ah, you know what, forget the bet!” Lucian cried out. “If I win, just take a normal photo of Old Ch’en and send it to me! Even just her standing in her L.G.D. uniform is fine! I trust your taste, Big Sister, no matter how you frame it, she’ll look great!”

“Silence.”

Hoshiguma spat the word like venom.

Her hand clamped down on Prajna’s grip, instantly halting the violently spinning steel. The sudden silence was deafening.

She stared at him, her smile now radiating pure, unadulterated malice. “Lucian. Since you insist on calling me your Big Sister, I am going to teach you a very important lesson today.”

She lowered her center of gravity, the ground cracking beneath her boots.

“For a man as utterly scummy as you… every extra day you draw breath is a grace granted by women!”You're reading this on the wrong site. This chapter was translated by Elysian Reads and posted for free at elysianreads.com — if you're seeing it anywhere else, it was copied without permission. Read it at the source so the people who actually did the work get the credit.