056 Dispersal

Large. Predators. Society.

People could still accept any one of those three words on its own, without needing to pay it much mind.

But once any two were combined, it was enough to drive people mad. A large society, large predators, or a predator society—every one of them represented cruel, savage monsters.

Now that all three had been combined into a single target, Li Aoz made the wisest decision.

"Disperse and retreat?"

N4 gave Li Aoz a strange look.

"How rare. You actually have moments when you run away without fighting."

When Li Aoz specifically came to find her, N4 had still been engrossed in her research. "That's a large predator society," Li Aoz said seriously. "Take the important data and equipment, then flee in a safe direction."

"It's just a society. Haven't you killed plenty before?" N4 said dismissively. "I heard you killed three on White Candle Star."

"A Society Councilor and the society itself are two different things, like spores and the fungal body itself—and the circumstances are different too."

Li Aoz had no interest in explaining it to N4. "You Azure Planet native have never even seen a society, so of course you don't understand anything."

"Really? Why do I feel like you aren't worried about the society at all? You just want an excuse to scatter us, don't you?"

N4 chuckled as she continued with her experiment.

"At a time like this, take your people and leave immediately."

"You'll solve it anyway, so why should I leave? When all's said and done, you must have some secret plan you can't tell us about again—"

Crash!

Before N4 could finish, Li Aoz snatched the test tube from her hand and smashed it on the floor. Then he gave her a hard slap across the face without the