♫ Your eyes like a shot of whiskey
Warms me up like a summer night ♫
-- The Cab, Intoxicated

Peach crossed her arms across her chest, staring blankly ahead. She was in her walk-in wardrobe, it was an entire room dedicated to her clothes. It ranged winter clothes to summer clothes, and clothes for special occasions. Accessories were displayed in the glass cases, as well as belts, watches, ties and etcetera.

However, Peach's attention wasn't focused on the clothes surrounding her, but on the humongous painting on the wall that served as the only decoration in the room. It was a modern painting on a oil canvas where it depicted a couple embracing one another passionately on a pavement, under the lamppost, the trees lining right beside them. The colour of the reddish-brown leaves was an obvious sign it was autumn in that time of the painting.

"Arwen, remind me of the time."

"It is currently 12:05am."

"Alright," Peach smiled, still staring at the painting. "Initiate the Peach protocol."

"Initiating the Peach protocol, proceeding to toggle exercise mode in Löne."

The humongous painting began to move upwards and the lights in the room went out. A second passed and Peach remained in her position, and the lights at where the painting was previously at turned on.

There was a black bodysuit displayed in a human-sized capsule, and on both sides of the capsule, there was an arsenal of electronic gadgets that were arranged neatly in separate stands. The briefcase that Peach had received from Maddog was placed on another stand, completely open.

It was a pair of gloves inside the briefcase, though, the aesthetics of the gloves didn't belong to the normal gloves found in the market.

Soon enough, Peach dressed herself in the black bodysuit, and there was a trail of blue lights tracing all the way up. Peach blinked, and a message appeared in front of her eyes.

Hey, welcome back to the 狗皮膏药 plugin, have a shitty time with it.

"Arwen, did your master change the login message again?"

"I would presume so."

Peach scoffed, wearing the gloves and the gloves reacted in the same manner as the bodysuit.

Hey, welcome back to the 狗皮膏药 second plugin, have a freaking shitty time with it.

"Yep, he definitely changed it."

There is a voice message from "Maddog", would you like hear it?

"Play it, Löne."

Playing voice message...

"While I was at it, I made some upgrade to the gloves. Just take it as some improvements in everything."

Peach smirked, mumbling out a "thank you" and took the pair of shoes from the display capsule. Just like her previous shoes, it was loose enough for her to slide her feet in. The shoe automatically tightened itself once Peach wore it properly.

Wanna use the skate mode or running mode?

"Running mode."

Alright, you can switch it around later by using Löne or whatever AI helper you are using.

"...he changed the message for this plugin too, didn't he?"

Hey, welcome back to the 狗皮膏药 third plugin, have a fucking shitty time with it. Don't trip and fall like an idiot eh.

Peach laughed, shaking her head. "Thank you, Maddog," she glanced down, seeing as the sides of the shoes glowed slightly. "Arwen, are you there?"

"Always at your service, Peach. Would you like to use your garage today?"

"I'll just take a run."

"Very well, you have an hour and twenty minutes left until the rendezvous. Please don't forget to switch on the voice modulator."

Peach flipped her arm, sliding her fingers across wrist, the smooth material of the bodysuit tickled her fingertips. A keyboard screen was shown at where she touched, and she tapped around a few times, before the area around her neck started glittering with blue dots and it disappeared rapidly.

"What would I do without you, Arwen." Peach grinned, her original high-pitched voice has been pitched to sound like a very mature version of her.

"Since humans have become extemely reliant on technology, there has been a sharp increase in percentage of people who cannot afford to live without technology in the most recent "Technology Now" survey taken worldwide, its participants consists of 85% of the world population."

Peach closed her eyes, sighing, she had expected such an answer. Sadly, she had to admit, she was one of those individuals who could not survive without the technology.

"Is there something troubling you, Peach? Your body language are tells me you are feeling troubled, would you like to consult in me?"

"I think I'll die of frustration if I ever consulted in you, Arwen."

"That's unfortunate, would you like me to refer you to an AI specialist?"

Peach exhaled heavily, her footsteps loud as she only thought about heading out the house to her mission. Arwen then decided prompted her with the same question again.

"Would you still like me to refer you to an AI specialist?"

"No, Arwen. No."

"Very well."

Peach proceeded to place her hand on the door, and prepared to exit the house.

"Lock disengaged. I bid you a safe journey, Peach."

"I'll see you soon, Arwen."

"Lock engaged, low-energy mode activated. Maximum security protocol initiated. Initiating Phase 2 of Peach protocol."

Peach looked down at her shoes, lifting one of her ankles up and giving it a twirl. She nodded to herself in approval, and her hand flew to her chest area, gripping onto something and pulling it.

It was a diamond-shaped object made from the same materials as the bodysuit. She gave it a tiny squeeze, and it suddenly unfolded itself, resembling a pentagon-shaped face mask that covered the nose and the mouth that had small holes to allow breathing.

She donned the mask, and adjusted itself to fit her face shape perfectly. The diamond-shaped hole on her bodysuit closed up on its own.

Peach turned and dashed off, vaulting over the ledge. She landed on the blankets and stood up, the moonlight beaming down at her.

She was in full black, allowing her to camouflage in the dark. The only thing visible to people was her milky peach eyes that shimmered in the moonlight, and her slightly wavy shoulder-length pastel peach hair. A breeze blew by, caressing her cheeks and Peach sprinted away, disappearing into the night.

Hence, this was where her ailas, as well as her name originated from. No one knew her real identity, or her real name. They only knew her hair and eyes, and thus far, Maddog was the only person who knew she was the same infamous night courier known as Peach.

The night courier services had two requirements from both parties, and they were keeping the clients and the courier's identity and personal information. Also, since money was paid upon the completion of delivery, the client was prohibited from scamming the courier.

If they did so, they would be blacklisted in every single night courier's list. They wouldn't have an opportunity to hire any night courier ever again in their entire lives. Hence, unless they didn't want to benefit from this business any longer, no clients were foolish enough to scam the night couriers.

***

Peach was utterly in love with these shoes, it was manufactured by a shoe company that incorporated technology into their shoes, along with a plugin from Maddog that installed, tweaking her shoes for further improvement. It was designed in such a way that allowed its users to run faster and jump higher, Peach was satisfied for the vast amount of money she had paid for these shoes.

Since the night courier industry was still blooming, and with Peach at the top of the list with influential clients as her regulars. The income that Peach earned yearly could make anyone drool with greediness.

There was almost no competition in the night courier industry since the clients could only make use of courier services locally. There were international night courier services, however, only the veterans such as Peach accepted such services.

International night courier services didn't come cheap either. Moreover, they required the night courier to be intelligent and resourceful, especially in disguises.

The best thing Peach loved about being a night courier was that they could work as a lone wolf. She was only one of the few individuals that managed to succeed working alone, compared to others who worked in groups.

Another thing she also loved about this job...was running through the streets, scaling buildings and jumping from roof to roof.

Reaching your destination in ETA five minutes, if you maintain at this current speed.

"Seems like Löne still can't keep up with the shortcuts we night couriers use." Peach bemused, sprinting through the backstreets.

The backstreets didn't look as pristine as compared to the main streets. However, the night courier never uses the main street as their travelling path. Every driverless cars or vehicles that people owned were equipped with cameras that had an automatic video function.

The alleyways and backstreets weren't as dangerous. One only needed to know where the cameras were and locate blind spots by perusing the maps repeatedly, and to get the latest updates of the maps as well. Scouting around in daytime for the cameras was another action that many experienced night couriers took.

Peach turned a corner, her eyes fixed on the stairs outside of the apartment building. The emergency stairs were folding stairs and they were sending robots in to do maintenance work on the stairs. They had conducted a fire drill, to ensure everything was well maintained, when they found an error in the stairs.

She had this information beforehand since it was reported in the news about the faulty stairs, causing someone to become injured after they fell from it.

Peach made a high jump as she gripped onto the metal bars of the stairs. The stairs were the only way for her to reach the balcony of the first level apartments.

Activating gripping mode, to deactivate, simply use the voice command. This mode is designed to enhance your grip strength, as well as prevent your hands from slipping.

"Very funny, Maddog," Peach grumbled at the text that blocked her vision momentarily. "You just had to switch the explanation mode back on? Really?"

Maddog, at this current moment, let out a squeaky sneeze. He rubbed at his nose, sniffling. "I wonder if Peach found out about it, heh."

You will find it harder to release your grip, but do not worry. With practice, you will understand how it works! Learning something new and mastering it is never easy!

"Damn it, fuck you Maddog!" Peach blew out an air of frustration, waiting for the text fade away.

She moved from bar to bar, halting when she could reach her arm out to the fence belonging to the balcony from one of the apartments.

Thankfully, they had activated the curtain mode, and they couldn't see Peach sneaking about. She landed softly on the balcony, scouring around for ways up to the roof.

It seems like today was a day where everyone wanted to hide from the world. Most of them were using curtains modes, providing Peach an easy way up to the roof of the building by going from balcony to balcony.

Arriving at the rooftop, she glanced at the time on the top right. She was ten minutes early for the rendezvous, and she was surprised she even made it early. That was until she noticed a figure in the dark, around her height.

"Uh...Peach? Are you Peach?" The figure took a step forward, inquiring in a timid voice.

"Yes." Peach answered and the figure reacted, slowly advancing into the light.

It was a young Asian man, and there was nothing exceptional about his apperance. He was giving Peach nervous glances that only made her frown.

"Con-confirm please, very important." He stuttered out, his hands behind his back, obviously holding something. "As evi--evi...uh, pro--proof!"

Peach had caught onto his accent, knowing that he was either a Japanese or a Korean. She marched closer to him, and he seemed like he was edge with every step she took.

If I don't coax him, he's going to run away like a scared little puppy, along with the package.

Peach thought, plastering a friendly expression on her face.

"한국사람입니까? (Are you Korean?)" Peach spoke fluently.

A surprised sound escaped the young man's lips and Peach noticed how he relaxed a little.

"예 너도 한국 사람이습니까? (Yes, are you Korean too?)" The young man responded quickly, if he had tails, Peach could imagine his tail swaying a little.

"꼭 그렇지는 않아. (Something like that.)" Peach responded vaguely and it left the young man rather confused.

"내가 한곡사람인걸 어떻게 알았어? (How did you know I'm Korean?)"

"짐작했다 너의 악센트에서. (I guessed from your accent.)"

"Ahhh..." The young man made a sound of understanding, and by now, he had let his guard down.

He was completely relaxed.

"미안하지만 나에게 줄 수 있니까? (Sorry, but could give it to me?)" Peach glanced at the time, growing impatient.

"뭐라고 하셨어요? (What did you say?)" He blinked innocently.

Peach gestured to the item he was holding behind his back.

"아! 미한해요! (Oh! I'm sorry!)" The young man reacted hastily, shoving the item towards Peach. "여기 있어요! (Here you go!)"

She accessed the item and it seemed to resemble a coin, just like those in Maddog's hardware store. She hummed thoughtfully, fiddling with something on her hip area and an opening was revealed, showing a storage compartment. She stored the item inside carefully, maintaining her friendly expression.

"감사합니다. (Thank you.)" Peach thanked him softly and speeded away to the edge of the roof without a word.

She leaped off the roof without pausing, and the young man gasped audibly. He scrambled nearer to the edge, just enough to catch a glimpse of a glider springing out from her bodysuit, seemingly like large wings. She used the glider to guide her to the alleyway opposite the roof, her movements were skillful, as if she had done this a million times.

Of course, the people in the apartments immersed in their own virtual world were oblivious to Peach's presence in their neighbourhood.

"와!대박! (Wow! Awesome!)" The young man broke out into a grin, his eyes widening in awe. Alas, the young man had totally forgotten about his main objective, confirming Peach's identity.

Peach had noticed this, wondering why "K" had assigned the package to such a bumbling idiot. Still gliding in the air, she began to grumble about how she would send an e-mail to "K" to complain about his decisions.

Landing without any difficulty, the glider was retracted back into her bodysuit and Peach brought the briefcase close to her eyes.

"Löne, please toggle UV flashlight."

Toggling UV flashlight.

She could see the address scribbled on the briefcase and commanded Löne to take a picture. A clear picture of the address was snapped, and she turned off the flashlight.

Would you like to refer to the picture?

"Yes."

An address on the picture has been detected, would you like us to devise a route?

"Of course."

A map was instantly displayed in front of her, and different pathways to the designated address was done within seconds. Just then, a path was highlighted and it seems to indicate that it was the shortest route.

The route has been configured, and we have chosen the preferred route for you. It seems you have met your requirements for your daily exercise. Would you like to hire a vehicle instead of travelling on foot?

"No, thank you."

Please follow the route as shown on your map. Have a safe journey, Peach.

Peach studied the path drawn out for her, her mind easily recalling the places she should avoid and places she could go around instead. In addition to that, she could remember most of the blind spots of the cameras in the path.

She looked at the time, and smiled proudly to herself.

I'll be able to reach there easily within forty minutes or so.

Once again, she broke into a run and maneuvered her way through the alleyways and the backstreets with ease. Halfway through her journey, there was a ping in Löne's system.

A police barricade has been placed ahead, please wait while we reroute a new path.

"What? Wait, wait wait, why now?" Peach panted out, slowing down her momentum. "I have to make an entire round back and another huge turn to get my way around!"

She arrived to a stop, still panting heavily as she furrowed her eyebrows. The barricade had caused her a major annoyance, and she didn't want to waste her time or neither did she want to end up utterly exhausted.

"Löne, please update me on the latest police reports using Arwen."

Accessing Arwen...

"Come on, come on..."

There has been a fight between two drunkards in the middle of the road, and they have been disrupting the traffic. Their actions has almost caused five accidents, and the police has put up a virtual barricade to prevent anything else from happening in the area.

"A barricade? For two drunkards? For real?"

The two drunkards are small-time gang leaders, and they have involved their members in the fight as well.

"You've got to joking," Peach scoffed incredulously. "Are you telling me alllll of them are drunk too?!"

Fortunately, the residents in the area weren't able to hear her. Almost every building in the world were built to be soundproof.

A new report just came in that the few members arrested are in a state of intoxication.

Peach sucked in her lips, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Okay then."

Virtual police barricades were a torture for night couriers. It was simply because the barricade extended all the way across the streets to ensure that they secured every inch of the perimeters. Those with the proper identification would pass through without any difficulty, but for night couriers who weren't authorised, it was a nightmare. One step into the barricade, the police officers within the vicinity would be alerted instantly.

...and they always catch up really quickly.

"Fine, let's see if they can catch the notorious Peach," Peach sneered, clearly unhappy. "Switch to skating mode."

Switching to skate mode.

Peach darted her tongue out, licking her lips eagerly, before a thought struck her. Her expression changed as she withdrew her tongue.

Hey, welcome to my special feature, the skate mode. Basically, your shoes will be equipped with those roller thingy.

"Oh god, I knew it. Even the bloody explanation for this." Peach smacked her palm on her face.

With the text blocking her vision, there was no way she could traverse past the barricade carefully.

So, you get skates, become a skate and just skate. Go wild, be free and enlighten the dumb shits who are missing out.

"Fucking get on with it already!"

Meanwhile, on the streets where the drunkards were exchanging fists with one another, along with police officers trying to forcefully break them apart and handcuff them, a tall man with striking sky blue hair stood alone. A drunkard was tackled to the ground in front of him, and another officer was right on top of him handcuffing him hastily.

The man with striking sky blue hair glanced down, his eyes, that mimicked the colour of his hair, glinted sharply. He proceeded to crush the drunkard's hand with his shoe, the drunkard had sneaked out a knife that was hidden inside his shirt.

"Aghh!"

"Drop the knife, and I'll spare your hand." The man warned lowly.

"I got it, I got it so don't break my hand!"

The man lifted his feet, stomping it on the knife and the drunkard instantly released his grip on the knife. The officer pulled the drunkard up to his feet, giving him a rough shove.

"Thank you, detective."

"He might have other weapons on him, do be careful," The sky blue man stated, his fruity voice was rather soothing to one's ears. "And forget the formalities, call me Celeste."

The officer nodded and dragged the struggling drunkard away.

"Yo, Cel!"

Celeste turned, the lights from the lampposts highlighting his sharp jawline and unblemished handsome face. It was as if his face was meticulously sculpted, making him devastatingly handsome. He was one of the ideals of a male specimen, and some couldn't even resist throwing him an envious glance. His fringe covered his eyebrows, barely reaching his cold eyes, giving off a broody aura.

"Yeah?"

"You sure putting a barricade is fine? Isn't it a bit too much for these drunkards, mate?"

Celeste observed his partner who was another rookie detective like him, aged twenty two; a year younger than him. When he transferred here, no one wanted to accept him as their partner except this charming and blonde-haired bubbly man who had been in the force for a year and a half.

Michael Williams.

Anyone could tell from his accent and his mannerisms that he was an Australian.

"Definitely not, the chief would approve of this."

"How the hell would you know that?"

"Just a hunch."

Celeste didn't want to tell how he had did a quick walk around the police chief's office when the chief had a bad stomach situation. He noticed the police chief had a stack of papers that were filled with complaints and left it unattended, there were even more hidden below the table.

The chief probably dislikes dealing with complaints, even going as far as to avoid them. The virtual barricades will stop people from encountering these drunkards, and there won't be any complaints these drunkards causing trouble.

Celeste mused to himself, his eyes drifting away as he noted the time in front of him.

"Don't you think you should help?"

"A minute has passed." Celeste mumbled to himself.

"What? What does a minute has to do with helping?" Michael frowned, his hazel eyes showing a hint of annoyance.

Celeste always had a habit of answering someone's question with something unrelated.

"The police officers can just handle these drunkards easily. Trust them, Michael."

"I know, but we still need to help, don't we? What's the problem?"

The police officers and the two detectives within the barricade was immediately pinged by a warning message.

WARNING: TRESPASSER DETECTED

Their lenses automatically zoomed in their map, a big red dot blinking on the map. It showed them where the trespasser had entered from.

"There." Celeste answered promptly.

Sorry for the late update, hahah. I was too tired yesterday that I immediately knocked out on the bed xDD. Thank god I have written these chapters beforehand.