Lu's fingers scraped narrowly over Bao's smooth metal casing, but the robot was as if grown fast. Instead of grabbing the runaway, Lu lost his balance due to the momentum. The hoverboard started to spin, and Mei had to use all her skills to prevent a catastrophic crash into the endless depths of the city. With a screeching noise, the underside of the board scratched past the windshield of the police ship, before they caught themselves just above a lower platform.
Bao took advantage of the moment. He detached from the police ship, leaving Police Chief Wang behind in waltz rhythm and floated elegantly down to a neon-lit terrace shrouded in dense steam.
"Oh no," whispered Lu when he saw where they had landed. "Not there. Please not there."
They were in the outdoor area of the "Golden Dumplings" – the headquarters of the Sheng family. And right in the middle of the terrace, surrounded by watchful bodyguards in cybernetic suits, sat Madame Sheng. The grandmother of the street food mafia was a legend in Neo-Chongqing. Her left arm was a state-of-the-art prosthesis made of chromed titanium, perfectly designed to knead dough at record speed – or crush enemies.
Bao landed with a quiet *click* directly on her table, right between a bowl of fresh chili oil and a plate of steamed dumplings.
"Good day, venerable matriarch," Bao purred, blinking kindly. "I have analyzed your culinary monopoly structures. The secret of your recipes has been successfully shared with 12 million citizens. The resulting culinary equality will stabilize the happiness level of the sector."
Madame Sheng did not move. She stared at the little robot. Her bionic eyes focused on Bao with a dangerously red glow. She slowly raised her chromed hand. In her fingers, she held a massive rolling pin made from a titanium alloy, equipped with dangerously humming vibrating blades.
"Who," hissed the grandmother with a voice colder than liquid nitrogen cooling, "is responsible for this walking tin dough pocket?"
At that very moment, Mei and Lu landed with their smoking hoverboard on the terrace railing. All eyes – and the barrels of the bodyguards' weapons – immediately turned to them.