The throbbing of the white Ferrari’s turbines settled into a low-frequency hum, but the silence that fell on the sidewalk was far heavier than the thunderous roar of that car’s engine and turbines.
Lohan took his first step toward the beautiful machine, feeling the weight of the backpack on his shoulders, and the weight of dozens of eyes fixed on the back of his neck.
The hearts of the two police officers raced in a way that Lohan could clearly hear through his Instinctive Perception.
Their heart rates, which had previously been like those of predators closing in on prey, were now skyrocketing in a panic-stricken pattern upon encountering someone even more powerful.
Even without being able to see who was inside the vehicle because of the angle of the tinted windows, a move Lohan suspected was intentional on the driver’s part, the mere presence of a Ferrari worth millions of credits in that sector was a death sentence for the career of any low-ranking officer who dared to cause trouble.
The low-ranking officers, who occupied the bottom of the federal agency’s hierarchy by patrolling the Scum Coast, the worst residential area in the Upper Zone, didn’t want to get themselves into trouble.The arrogance from just minutes ago dissolved like Jell-O in acid. Around them, ordinary people were also in a state of shock, practically drooling at the sight of the car.
To them, vehicles of that caliber were urban legends, something that only existed in science fiction movies or TV shows.
Lohan stopped a few inches from the gull-wing door that was beginning to rise with a soft, futuristic hiss. He glanced at the senior officer, noting how pale the man now looked; the hand that had previously held the baton was now visibly trembling at his side.
"It’s... it’s all right, citizen." The officer finally replied, his voice faltering and losing all the harsh authority it had held before. "The verification was... successfully completed. You may continue your journey. We apologize for the... for the unnecessary inconvenience."
Lohan stared at the badge on the man’s chest for a second longer than necessary.
He felt a sadistic temptation, fueled by his newly acquired Killing Intent, to ask for the officer’s badge number and watch the man break down in supplication. However, Lohan quickly suppressed the impulse.
He knew he would never see that person again and that initiating a formal investigation or a scandal there would only bring more bureaucratic work for Lisa and draw unwanted attention from the Federation to him.
With a wry smile hidden by his protective mask, Lohan ignored the police officers and got into the passenger seat.
As he sat down on the leather seat, he felt as if his body were being embraced by a cloud. Unlike the sports cars from his previous world, which, despite being extremely expensive, prioritized performance over comfort, this Ferrari, while retaining its sleek appearance and sportiness, offered divine comfort.
The car’s interior smelled of a delicate floral fragrance that definitely didn’t come from the car itself; however, upon glancing at the driver’s seat, Lohan was practically speechless.
He had already expected Isabella Vance to be beautiful; the memories of seeing her in the classroom and the sparkle in her golden eyes had already left a deep impression on him, but seeing her there, holding the steering wheel with her hands gloved in white silk, was even more beautiful than any Ferrari.
Isabella was dressed in the white silk ensemble that highlighted the impeccable symmetry of her face. Her red hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall of liquid fire, and her pearly skin glowed under the soft light of the car’s holographic dashboard.
Lisa was sitting in the driver’s seat, glancing at him only out of the corner of her eye, keeping her head turned stiffly forward, where the police officers still stood awkwardly on the sidewalk.
She didn’t say a single word. The moment she realized Lohan was properly settled, she pressed a touch button on the center console. The gull-wing door slid down silently, sealing the car’s interior in an acoustic vacuum that completely muffled the noise from the street.
Without warning, Isabella activated the repulsion turbines. Lohan felt the pressure of gravity increase as the Ferrari took off vertically, spinning on its own axis and shooting toward the upper layers of the Upper Zone with an acceleration that, despite all the vehicle’s cushioning technology, still pinned him to the passenger seat.
Lohan found her silence strange. He felt a little uncomfortable seeing her in person like that again; it was different from being in a classroom surrounded by hundreds of students.
There, in that confined space, the barrier between the Slime and the Fox seemed to have become an insurmountable crystal wall. He didn’t know how to start the conversation, considering they had never spoken in person in the real world without the Syn app interface as a medium.
He observed her profile. Isabella maintained the cold, calculating, and distant expression of the Ice Queen.
But as the car cut through the skies of Eden-3, Lohan noticed a detail that few noticed but that, to him, was very familiar... Thanks to his enhanced vision, he saw the subtle blush, an almost imperceptible pink hue, rising up her cheeks and reaching the tips of the girl’s ears.
Lohan let out a short, genuine laugh that echoed through the silent interior of the cabin.
"Damn, Lisa... I knew you liked to draw attention in Elysium, but that entrance with your car was on a whole different level." Lohan said, his human voice sounding deeper and more confident, yet in a pleasant, familiar tone that Isabella recognized. "You almost gave that cop a heart attack. It was... incredible."
Upon hearing the nickname "Lisa" spoken in person for the first time, Isabella wavered for a millisecond on the steering wheel. She tried to maintain her stiff posture, but the tension in her shoulders visibly relaxed.
A small, genuine, and restrained smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, the same smile Halon could coax out of the white fox after some silly joke he’d make in the other world.
"Shut up, Halon." She replied in her soft, melodic voice, trying to sound like she was joking, but sounding exactly like the fox Lisa did when she got angry. "I told you to get off at the next stop, not to put on a show for the local patrol. If I’d been five minutes later, the trouble you’d have caused me would have been on another level..."
Lohan relaxed in his seat, feeling that, despite the drastic change of scenery, this small interaction between them showed that their connection in Elysium was also present in the real world.
"You really came to pick me up personally..." Lohan murmured, watching the corporate towers of the Upper Zone blur by outside. "Aren’t you afraid someone will see Heiress Vance giving a ride to a rat from Sector 4?"
Isabella turned the steering wheel with elegance, steering the Ferrari onto an express route.
"On this planet, Hayes, I’m the law that decides who’s a rat and who’s a General," she replied, finally turning her face to look him in the eye for a full second. Her golden eyes shone with a defiant intensity. "And besides... I wanted to see if your human body was as round and fluffy as your Slime. I must say I’m slightly... disappointed."
Lohan laughed again, feeling relieved that she, too, was feeling comfortable enough to tease him as she did in the other world.
Placing his hand over his crotch, Lohan feigned shock and replied. "Hey hey, we just met and you’re already sizing up my body? In my defense, I’m not round and fluffy at all, okay?!"
Hearing his reply, Isabella, who had been feeling confident after a rare opportunity to tease Halon, felt her face flush completely and her vision go black for a moment.
"THAT’S NOT... THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT, HAAAALOOONNN!!!"