Chapter 107: The Ambush

“Hmm, Chika! What are you doing here? No, what’s wrong with you?”

Chika heard Qin Fei’s voice and averted her tear-filled eyes, as if she didn’t want the boy before her to see her crying.

“Are you… you’re… Qin Fei?”

After a moment, Chika finally recalled the name of the handsome boy before her. Her face flushed instantly, feeling even more aggrieved at being caught with tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Qin Fei feigned concern, though he already knew the cause of her distress but couldn’t reveal it outright.

“I…I…”

Chika hesitated, seeming reluctant to speak. Could it be that she felt inferior after seeing the opulence of Toma’s family?

“Chika!!!”

At that moment, a loud voice called out from the manor’s gate, chasing after Chika.

“Ah! Brother?!”

Hearing that voice, Chika seemed to recall something, and tears welled up in her eyes again as if she wanted to run away once more.

But Qin Fei suddenly grabbed her firmly, his expression grave as he looked toward the approaching figure.

“Let go of me! I don’t want to see him.”

“Don’t run. Your brother has a serious problem—there might be danger!”

Qin Fei knew who she was referring to, but to delay the man’s approach, he had to find a way to keep Chika there for now.

“W-what?!”

Seeing Qin Fei’s sudden seriousness, Chika was momentarily stunned. Concern for her brother’s safety made her suppress her earlier embarrassment and sorrow.

“Stay here and don’t move. I’ll handle this. Otherwise, everyone will be at risk.”

“O-okay.”

Qin Fei deliberately spoke with gravity, making Chika too afraid to move rashly.

“Qin Fei?! Why are you here… and Chika is…”

Seeing Qin Fei approach with his worried sister behind him, the man at the gate was momentarily taken aback. Judging by their looks, it almost seemed like he was the one with the problem.

“Gatekeeper, Chika said she wants to talk to you.”

Qin Fei casually slipped his hand into his pocket and stepped forward toward the gatekeeper, his gaze casually scanning behind him.

The gatekeeper found Qin Fei’s behavior odd but couldn’t pinpoint what was off.

After speaking, Qin Fei stepped aside, as if inviting the gatekeeper to pass him.

The gatekeeper glanced at him suspiciously once more but, thinking of his sister Chika waiting ahead, didn’t dwell on it and walked forward.

“It was me just now…”

As the gatekeeper apologized while passing by Qin Fei, the latter suddenly noticed a banana peel mysteriously appear at the gatekeeper’s feet.

“Now’s the time!”

Qin Fei’s eyes narrowed. Without hesitation, he pulled a spray from his pocket and sprayed it all around the gatekeeper.

“What are you doing?!”

The gatekeeper’s face changed instantly as red ink splattered all over him.

He grabbed Qin Fei’s collar angrily, demanding an explanation. If Qin Fei couldn’t satisfy him, he was ready to throw a punch.

Qin Fei smiled and snapped his fingers.

“Bang!”

A gunshot echoed, followed by a horrifying, inhuman scream from above the gatekeeper, startling everyone.

“Gatekeeper, look up!”

Toma and Gaomon, who had just chased after them, immediately noticed something amiss and stared incredulously overhead.

Startled by the gunshot, the gatekeeper instinctively looked up with everyone else.

But all he saw was an oval shadow just covering his eyes.

“Plop.”

“Ah! It hurts!”

With a crisp thud, the gatekeeper clutched his nose and howled in pain. He hadn’t expected a Digi-Egg to fall from the sky and land squarely on the bridge of his nose.

“What’s going on, Qin Fei…”

Toma approached with a serious expression, ignoring the gatekeeper’s wails as he looked questioningly at Qin Fei.

“Nothing much. I just happened to notice a Digimon trailing behind the gatekeeper, so I took care of it.”

Qin Fei said lightly. Apart from being hit by the Digi-Egg, the gatekeeper hadn’t suffered the usual misfortunes from the animated battles—a blessing indeed.

“You should have warned me! And why did you spray me with red ink?!”

Rubbing his still-sore nose, the gatekeeper looked helplessly at Qin Fei, still a bit angry.

“Sorry, big brother Gatekeeper. The situation was a bit unusual, so I had to resort to this. My apologies.”

“What unusual situation?”

The gatekeeper glared at the rolling Digi-Egg on the ground.

“It’s because this Digimon can turn invisible, right…”

Before Qin Fei could answer, Toma immediately understood. No wonder—the keen young genius’s observation skills had quickly caught on.

“Toma’s right. To be safe, I ambushed it with the red ink. Otherwise, with its invisibility, if it escaped, it’d be a big problem…”

“I see… Well, forget it.”

Hearing Qin Fei’s explanation, the gatekeeper’s displeasure mostly faded. Scratching at the sticky red ink on his hands, he could only admit his misfortune.

Qin Fei was right—letting an invisible Digimon escape would indeed be troublesome.

“Brother… you… haha.”

Seeing her brother Gatekeeper in such a ridiculous state, Chika’s gloom instantly vanished, and she laughed openly.

“Chika, you’re finally not angry. Big brother, you too… haha.”

Agumon grinned broadly, showing his sharp teeth as he laughed along with his partner.

After giving Agumon a playful shove, the gatekeeper looked at Chika’s smiling face. The irritation from being doused in red ink quietly melted away, replaced by a newfound lightheartedness as he laughed with them.

However, Toma stared at the Digi-Egg on the ground, feeling a vague sense that something important had been overlooked.

“…”

“This is Qin Fei reporting: a Digimon was discovered at Toma’s home and has been defeated…”

“The Digi-Egg is here and can be delivered to headquarters at any time…”

“…”

After finishing his report into the earpiece, Qin Fei noticed Toma’s puzzled expression and recalled that because of this Digimon, Toma had sensed how human desires affected Digimon and had even conducted an investigation.

But now, Qin Fei had intercepted it.

He wondered if this would affect Toma’s research on Digimon.

Still, as Qin Fei fumbled with a new card in his pocket, his earlier guilt quickly faded. He did not regret the outcome.

“Qin Fei, since you’re here, why don’t you come to my place for a meal?”

Just then, Toma suddenly invited him over. The earlier little incident had disrupted the carefully prepared lunch, and neither the gatekeeper nor Chika had eaten much, only Agumon had eaten heartily.

It would be a shame to let the food go to waste.

“Can I mooch some food? Of course, I’m coming! My Digimon are about to eat me out of house and home!”

Toma and Gaomon exchanged glances.

Seeing Qin Fei’s eyes suddenly light up, Chika realized there was someone even more down-to-earth than her own brother.