Understood?

*Ding-dong!* The chime chimed as the convenience store door swung open. Behind the counter, the clerk greeted listlessly, "Welcome in." A split second later, he rubbed his eyes vigorously, clutched his head with both hands, and practically launched out of his chair in sheer astonishment. "Oh my god! A superhero! You're... Bronze!! I can't believe a hero like you would show up in a place like this!" Qi Li glanced at the eye-catching functional sports drink on the shelf that bore his endorsement. With a faint smile, he nodded to the clerk, pulled down a bottle printed with his own portrait, and grabbed five packs of Queen Maeve super energy bars—the kind touted to spike one's insulin with a single bite. He walked over to the checkout counter and pushed the items forward. "Ring these up." "Oh? Oh, right!" Snapping out of his daze, the clerk clumsily grabbed the items. While scanning the barcodes, he couldn't stop sneaking glances at Qi Li. Unable to contain himself any longer, he asked, "Bronze, you're here to investigate last night's robbery, right?" *A robbery?* Keeping his expression unchanged, Qi Li asked, "What do you know about it?" The clerk immediately launched into an enthusiastic recount. "This was the scene of the crime! Simon, the guy working the night shift, had the worst luck. Out of nowhere, this tall guy showed up, smashed the window with a single punch, and grabbed a bunch of food and drinks without saying a word. He even stole Simon's clothes and backpack, leaving the poor guy shivering in his boxers for hours. "The weird thing is, he didn't touch the cash register at all. Those cops who do nothing but leech off taxpayer money came by, took a couple of half-assed glances, said the property loss didn't meet the threshold, didn't even file a report, and just walked out. The boss was cussing them out for hours!" Qi Li pressed for a few more details and confirmed it was Sam. Vought hadn't received any alerts simply because the local law enforcement couldn't be bothered to do their jobs. For Inubaku to track him down so quickly, the tracker really did have some genuine skill. Qi Li pulled out cash to pay. Seeing the clerk staring at him with wide, expectant eyes, he gave a casual nod. "Don't worry. He'll be brought to justice soon." The clerk beamed with excitement. "I knew it! Superheroes never let us down! Could I get an autograph...?" *** At that exact moment. Beside a nearby pile of trash, the superhero Inubaku was also valiantly subduing a "criminal." "You prudish, loose, hypocritical little bitch! Always playing innocent, but you can never get enough, can you? You actually dared to seduce me? Know your mistake now? Too late..." With a deadpan, stern expression, Inubaku pinned down the "offender," lecturing incessantly. Suddenly! "Oh—my—god—" Two Black guys in hip-hop gear happened to walk past nearby. Catching sight of the scene, their eyes popped wide in utter disbelief. They thought they partied wild, but they had never imagined someone could take depravity to such an astronomical level. One of them even recognized Inubaku. "It's him! The guy who says 'In the name of justice, I discipline all little bitches'—Inubaku! My pet poodle loves him!" "Bro! Film it, quick! This is huge news! Our Twitter followers are gonna blow the fuck up!" Both men eagerly looked down to pull out their phones. Yet just as they were about to look back up, a pair of hairy, muscular legs materialized right in front of them. "Hey," Inubaku greeted them with a bared-teeth grin. The very next second. "Aaargh—!" A bloodcurdling scream shattered the air. Inside the convenience store, Qi Li, who was signing an autograph for the clerk, frowned slightly and glanced out the window. "All done." Qi Li set the pen down and picked up the drink and energy bars. "Thanks for the intel." Leaving those parting words, he turned and strode briskly outside. Once Qi Li was out of sight, the clerk couldn't contain his ecstasy any longer, dancing with glee. "God! A superhero actually said thank you to me! And this is where his hands touched! No way, I've got to soak this in..." Outside, Qi Li was in an exceedingly foul mood. And it had nothing to do with the clerk. "You killed them?" Qi Li stared at the corpse dangling from each of Inubaku's hands, his brow knitted tightly. "Why did you—" Qi Li started to demand an explanation, but a glance at Inubaku's dropped trousers and the limp, spent stray dog lying nearby rendered the question entirely unnecessary. He cut himself off mid-sentence, his jaw tightening into a snarl. "Motherfucker!" Inubaku replied nonchalantly, "They saw what they shouldn't have seen. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. I'll clean it up in no time." Qi Li sneered coldly. "I saw it too. Are you planning to clean me up next?" Inubaku shot him a bewildered look. "You're a superhuman. You're one of us, not like them. So what if you saw? Why would I worry about you?" *So I should thank you for your mercy?* A chilly gleam flashed through Qi Li's eyes. Then he watched as Inubaku carried the two bodies toward the dumpster without a second thought. His frown deepened. "Don't tell me your grand cleanup plan is dumping the corpses in the trash and walking away?" Inubaku looked back over his shoulder. "What else? We've got to hunt down Sam Riordan right away." *You fucking knew we had to catch Sam Riordan, and you still went and caused this unnecessary mess?* Qi Li's fury boiled over. "Right now! This instant! You dog-fucking bastard! Dispose of those two bodies properly! We're the only ones who drove through this area at this hour. If you just toss them out like an idiot, do you want tomorrow's front-page headlines to scream about superheroes murdering people and going on the run?!" Originally, none of this was his business. Except he had arrived in the exact same car as Inubaku. If a scandal blew up, even if Qi Li managed to prove his innocence later, the hit to his popularity and approval ratings would be nearly impossible to recover from. By the same token, he couldn't simply kill Inubaku right now. Putting aside the tracking mission for Sam, if he stepped in to handle the corpses himself, he'd be implicated so deeply he could never wash himself clean. As for publicly declaring that Inubaku had lost control and slaughtered civilians, so he eliminated him in the name of justice? How would he explain that to Vought? Where was the proof? Wouldn't they suspect a frame-up? The moment that cascading avalanche of headaches crossed his mind, Qi Li cursed "fuck" a dozen times over, swearing he would never team up with an unfamiliar superhuman again. Sometimes they seemed useful on paper, but in reality they were nothing but endless trouble. Sure enough, Inubaku's temper flared in response. Glaring murderously at Qi Li, he snapped, "Fuck! You dare call me a bastard—" *Boom!* A deafening sonic boom cut his words short. Qi Li appeared in front of Inubaku in the blink of an eye. Before the man could even register the movement, a hand clamped brutally around his throat. Qi Li hoisted Inubaku completely off the ground along with the two dangling corpses in his hands. Every word dripped with ice as his gaze bore into the tracker: "Bastard! Right now, this instant, you do exactly what I tell you to do. Understood?" With his windpipe crushed in an iron grip and the air strangled from his lungs, Inubaku looked at him with trembling, terrified eyes, nodding frantically: "Un... Understood!!"