Deviant: No Longer Human

"But you said mines were off limits!" Anran protested with widened eyes, rapidly welling up with glistening, fake tears.

"..."

Wang Xiao caught himself marveling at her quicksilver emotions, \'Again? How does she manage to cry at the drop of a second...?\'

He then nodded, recalling his own decree. "True, I did say that working in the mines is off limits as punishment until after your delivery."

Turning to Luna, he gave a new directive, "Luna, assign her to the Amazon if she starts up with more drama."

"!!"

Anran\'s eyes shot open in horror, and Luna responded crisply, "Noted, Prince."

"No! No! No! I am not going back to the Amazon!" Anran sprang to her feet, her earlier laziness forgotten.

!?

Wang Xiao was momentarily taken aback by her reaction, then remembered—she must have had some challenging experiences there during past missions.

"I am just bored lying around here! I want to go out, but not to the Amazon!" Anran protested, her voice a mix of desperation and protest.

Wang Xiao looked at her with a skeptical frown. "Can you even get bored of being lazy...?" he questioned.

"Yes!" Anran replied emphatically. "We can! You — won\'t understand!"

______

Boom!

The engine of a sleek R8 Spyder roared as it raced down Highway 261, the matte dark green body of the car slicing through the wind like a blade.

The iconic emblem of four rings gleamed under the sun, signaling a fusion of power and elegance on wheels.

In the passenger seat, Anran was a portrait of wild exhilaration.

Her hair whipped around her face in frenzied dance, her eyes alight with the thrill of speed.

She leaned forward, soaking in the blur of the landscape as it flew by.

"Yay!" she exclaimed, her voice lost in the rush of air.

Beside her, Wang Xiao gripped the steering wheel with controlled precision, his focus momentarily broken by her cheer.

He shot her a sharp look, his brow furrowed with concern. "What are you doing!? Do you want to fall out of the car?" he scolded, his voice tense over the roar of the engine.

"Don\'t worry! I can handle this!" Anran declared boldly, standing up against the force of the wind, her figure outlined against the open sky.

Whoosh!

Wang Xiao\'s expression darkened further, his concern turning into frustration. "Anran, look at yourself! Do you really think you can pull off those acrobatics with that huge belly?" His tone was a mix of disbelief and irritation.

Caught off guard, Anran glanced down at her pronounced belly, a momentary lapse of judgment washing over her.

With a sheepish grin, she settled back into her seat, her laughter tinged with embarrassment. "Hehe... I\'m sorry."

"You better be," Wang Xiao retorted sharply, his gaze still fixed on the road ahead. "The child isn\'t my responsibility.... Is this how you plan to be responsible while raising it?"

Anran pouted, her initial thrill dampened by his scolding. "Hey, loosen up a bit..." she murmured, her adventurous spirit momentarily cowed.

Wang Xiao sighed, his features softening as the initial spike of adrenaline faded. "Just be careful...and don\'t jump around..." he said, a hint of softness creeping into his voice as he glanced at her belly, then back at the road.

Anran nodded, a mix of gratitude and chastened excitement settling over her.

She knew he was right, and as the car sped along, Anran\'s initial burst of excitement mellowed into a casual hum, her fingers tapping rhythmically on her thighs.

Curiosity piqued, she couldn\'t help but ask, "Where are we going?"

Hearing her enthusiastic tone, Wang Xiao replied with a hint of a casual smile, "Towards Trox Golf Club on Fra Island."

"Yay!" Anran exclaimed, her cheer infectious.

"Do you even know anything about that place?" Wang Xiao inquired, his tone laced with amusement.

"Nope!" Anran responded immediately, her honesty unguarded.

"Then why are you so excited?" Wang Xiao asked, his eyebrow arching curiously.

"Um? Why???" Anran paused, genuinely puzzled for a moment before her face lit up with realization. "Because—it\'s my first road trip!" She couldn\'t help but laugh, the sound light and carefree.

"First...?" Wang Xiao echoed, his voice tinged with surprise.

"Hm! Hm!" Anran nodded vigorously, her enthusiasm undiminished.

Wang Xiao\'s expression turned complex as he processed her response, wondering if she was perhaps embellishing her experiences.

After a moment, he decided to delve deeper into her past, a topic that had long intrigued him. "...When did you become a spy?"

"When did I become a spy?" Anran repeated, blinking in surprise before shaking her head with a smile. "I don\'t remember exactly. It just happened... Initially... It was only the army... Then spy work..."

Wang Xiao nodded, his interest piqued. "So when did you get enrolled in the army?"

Whoosh!

"Hm?" Wang Xiao looked surprised as he noticed Anran smiling with her eyes closed, her hands presented to him with four fingers tucked and six extended.

"Six...?" He muttered, trying to decipher her signal.

"Yup!" Anran nodded, confirming his guess.

Wang Xiao\'s expression shifted to a frown, puzzled by her gesture. "Was it an army full of children?"

Anran shook her head, her smile widening. "Nope, more like they were all big giants in front of me at that time..." She raised her hand, mimicking the towering height of her former comrades, before chuckling and wiping her face. "In fact... I was quite scared, you know..."

Wang Xiao observed her, his thoughts internal and contemplative. \'Broken...\' he considered, noting how her smile lingered even as she recounted such daunting memories.

"What before that?" He probed further, sensing there was more to her story.

"Before that?" Anran\'s expression dimmed slightly, a shadow passing over her features. "Before that was just me... and my mother and father... in the cold county..."

She paused, her voice trailing off as she lost herself in a distant memory. "I was outside one day... playing in the snow... when...I heard a blast and turned around, only to find..."

Wang Xiao kept his eyes focused on the road, giving her the space to gather her thoughts, his hands steady on the wheel.

Listening to her recount her past stirred a mix of emotions within him, a melancholic smile occasionally breaking through his typically collection demeanor.

This girl, he thought, really knew how to make things dramatic.

He pondered whether her theatrical aura was a mechanism to veil the true impact of her experiences, a way to overshadow the somberness of her history with a layer of drama.

It was her way, perhaps, of coping with the shadows that lingered from those days.