Baal: Boss, Take Me with You!

"From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you were my destined benefactor, my boss! So..."

"Boss, please take me with you!"

Zhu Yufeng looked at Baal, who was clinging to his leg and wouldn't let go, with a black line on his face. He wondered why he had the brain fart to let this Nahamah No. 2 join his team in his past life.

His investigation had just concluded, essentially clearing Aponia of suspicion. However, for future arrangements, he still needed to bring Aponia to the Fire Moth. As for her taking in the children at the orphanage? Didn't Seele come from an orphanage before? The director of that orphanage is the Present also the director of the Fire Moth's shelter for Honkai -infected orphans. With funding from Eden and Nahamah, it would just be a matter of a few more expenses; it wouldn't make a difference to them whether it was there or not.

This arrangement was planned before we arrived. Regardless of the investigation results, in order to strictly implement protection measures, the Aponia Sanatorium is no longer suitable to continue operating.

After he finished speaking with Aponia, he made arrangements, and Aponia agreed. Just as he was about to leave with Aponia and the others, he was still thinking about how to find Baal. After all, in his previous life, he had come to Dusk Street a few days later to clean up and finish up the cleanup before leaving Dusk Street, and this guy came to him on his own.

The Present had arrived in Dusk Street a few days earlier than planned. If things followed his previous trajectory, he might not return until the Eighth Herrscher... No, he wouldn't come to Dusk Street again. This time, he was going to bring Astaroth directly. Whether it was Baal or Astaroth, the Gray Serpent, which the World Serpent had sent to guard this place, had already ascertained their locations and made preparations.

Just as Zhu Yufeng was about to go find Baal and Astaroth, this guy showed up again, and as soon as he arrived, he clung to his leg and wouldn't let go...

Zhu Yufeng: "..."

Suddenly I don't really want this teammate anymore.

Baal is called the second Nahamah because this guy's chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) is even more severe than Kosma's. When he goes crazy, he won't behave unless he gets beaten up, and once he behaves, he'll do it again next time. Nahamah at least knows his place. Although he is often beaten up by Xila or Lilith, Baal is the one who gets beaten up the most.

Because Baal had absolutely no sense of self-awareness, he acted without any scruples, simply put, "Who cares about anything else, just do it first..."

He's not exactly simple-minded, but rather rather naive... In the Dusk Street area, Baal isn't entirely without skill; he just treats the other Fallen Angel as his most trusted confidants, which is why he acts so recklessly. When interacting with outsiders, Baal still has a strong sense of urgency and a tendency to avoid danger.

According to Baal, when he was hanging around Dusk Street, he would run away as soon as he sensed something was wrong. Although it was just his intuition, he never thought about why. He would just run away as soon as he felt it.

Even when the tragedy of the impending doom occurred, he still insisted on coming along...

Just as Zhu Yufeng was considering whether to make do, since Baal was also one of his teammates, Baal suddenly looked up at the other side. "Astaroth, don't just stand there! I finally managed to take down your damn parents. If you want to leave, now's your the Present! Come on, come and cling to my coattails!"

Zhu Yufeng glanced at Astaroth, who was standing expressionlessly to the side, then clenched his fist. His fist hardened. He wanted to beat Baal up the Present. It was one thing for him to be crazy, but he also wanted to corrupt Astaroth, right?

Very good, excellent!

"Thump!"

A large bump appeared on Baal's head.

Baal, clutching his head, released his grip and cried out, "Boss, why did you hit me? No, wait, I feel like your punch could shatter a wall, which means... Boss, you're willing to take me and Astaroth with you out of this hellhole, right?"

Kosma, who had been watching the whole thing unfold, covered his face, unable to bear the sight. Zhu Yufeng's punch had been too fast; he had instinctively tried to block it for Astaroth, but unfortunately, he was too late...

He glanced at Astaroth, Astaroth said expressionlessly, "If you had been quiet, big brother wouldn't have punched you."

Judging from her tone, she showed absolutely no affection for Baal, and even seemed to dislike him.

Kosma: "..."

He's overthinking it.

Aponia glanced at Astaroth. She had also cared for this child and had a particularly deep impression of her. The main reason was that... she clearly saw this child collapse because of being hurt and eventually be killed by Kevin. However, Zhu Yufeng's fate was forcibly altered, and the broken threads of her destiny were reconnected.

If she had only started paying attention to Zhu Yufeng because she couldn't see his destiny threads like Elysia, then after that, she even started paying more attention to Zhu Yufeng. As the first person she saw whose destiny had been altered, and also a child who had been imprisoned in the Deepest Place for many years, Astaroth naturally paid more attention to him.

In most cases, Astaroth is completely indifferent to the outside world. Griseo only became more susceptible to external influences after undergoing the Fusion Warrior surgery, and her own abilities forced her to avoid others. In reality, Griseo's inner world is far from as indifferent as she appears. She has the strong curiosity that children have, but... Astaroth seems to have never had any curiosity.

During Aponia's observation, when she the Deepest Place, Astaroth spent most of her time reading stories. Whether the outside world was noisy or not was irrelevant to her. She didn't care what was happening outside. Even when other criminals tore up Astaroth's stories and mocked her when she wasn't looking, Astaroth didn't react much.

Of course, the final fate of those criminals was that they were eaten alive by Beelzebub in his collapsed state.

Literally, it means to eat raw.

Astaroth may not take action, but that doesn't mean the Fallen Angel will ignore it, and they certainly won't be bound by any so-called constraints.

After that, sensing something was wrong, Aponia still imposed the Discipline on all the Fallen Angel. Beelzebub initially strongly opposed it, but later accepted the Discipline only after being beaten half to death by Zhu Yufeng.

This was the norm for Beelzebub; he wouldn't stop until he was half-dead.

Zhu Yufeng also had his own considerations. Beelzebub's actions were too shocking and unprecedented. In addition, there was Esmodius, who would occasionally go crazy, Astaroth's own abilities made the higher-ups fearful. After that incident, the Fire Moth in a state of panic. Therefore, all the Fallen Angel had to accept the Aponia Discipline in order to barely calm their restless hearts.

If it weren't for the fact that she had beaten Beelzebub half to death, Astaroth would have been the victim in this incident, and she and Kevin were also quite prestigious. However, given Beelzebub's actions, the Fallen Angel Squad would have been forcibly disbanded, or at best, Beelzebub would have been executed.

In truth, Zhu Yufeng himself also had to take the blame. Before, Astaroth collapsed passively because she couldn't stand being bullied. After Zhu Yufeng calmed Astaroth down, he asked the other Fallen Angel to keep an eye on her and prevent her from being bullied again. Astaroth thought it would be much simpler: no more being bullied? Simple, just kill the problem-makers and let others Beelzebub want to create problems see the consequences of their actions.

Although the method was flawed, it was very effective, even a permanent solution, in terms of preventing others from bullying Astaroth. This is how the rumor that "Astaroth is the most untouchable person among the Fire Moth" came about. If you accidentally provoke Beelzebub, you can find Zhu Yufeng to beat Beelzebub up and resolve the situation. If you provoke Astaroth, she won't say anything, but it's hard to say what the other Fallen Angel will do, especially since the Fallen Angel leader Zhu Yufeng is highly likely to ignore it.

Even if there are Discipline, no one would dare to risk their life to test them.

"How did you meet Astaroth and then bring her out?" Zhu Yufeng glanced at Baal and asked. He had been thinking about whether he should just break down the door and snatch Astaroth when he found her, but Baal brought Astaroth out directly. If it weren't for that, he would have punched Baal on the head the moment Baal grabbed his leg.

Normally, Baal wouldn't have known Astaroth when he was still in Dusk Street, but this time he sent Gray Serpent over first.

Baal touched the bump on his head that hadn't yet disappeared and said, "Parents like Astaroth are always arguing, or they're arguing and then they scold the child. When they get tired of scolding, they hit the child to vent their anger. I've been wandering around Dusk Street for so long, and that Gray Serpent even asked me about this. I've become inexplicably interested in it, so I've been paying close attention."

It seems that sending Gray Serpent to investigate ahead of time was not without its problems.

Zhu Yufeng looked at Astaroth, Astaroth looked at Baal, and Baal was silent for a moment before saying, "To be honest, I've always felt that less is more. So, since there are always people on Dusk Street every day, I've basically been watching them... But I don't know why, at that time, I suddenly felt very annoyed by those two bastards, so... if I had the ability, I... together with that Gray Serpent, would try to find a way to bring Astaroth out."

Zhu Yufeng glanced at Aponia subconsciously. Aponia sighed softly. She really didn't know about this, but even if she did, there was nothing she could do. Astaroth wasn't an orphan, and her parents wouldn't allow Astaroth to leave "home." She had no reason to take Astaroth away. As for beating and scolding children... that was quite common in Dusk Street. She couldn't get involved; she was the kind of person she simply couldn't control.

"Oh, isn't this Sister Nia?" Baal said as if he had just recognized her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I only saw the boss just now... Sister Nia, are you also planning to run away with the boss?"

Aponia smiled helplessly and said, "You can... think of it that way."

Baal rested his chin on his hand and carefully examined Aponia before saying, "Although Sister Nia very popular with the children and seems to know how to take care of them, I always feel that the people around the boss should be..."

"Thump!"

Zhu Yufeng stopped, the bag he just made was exactly symmetrical to the bag he made before, that's good.

He acted almost subconsciously, probably because he had been tormented by Kevin or Nahamah too many times in his daily life. He was so used to being in a chaotic situation with them that he would inevitably bring up this topic and immediately end the conversation.

Speaking of which, Lionel seemed to have said he wanted to transfer Beifengge to the Fire Moth, and now that troublemaker is coming over...

"Boss, why did you hit me again..." Baal asked, looking aggrieved.

"Don't say what you shouldn't say." Zhu Yufeng said expressionlessly. He seemed to have seen Seele's gaze become a little strange for a moment... In the end, for Baal's sake, he'd throw a punch first.

Seele crossed her arms and sized up Baal. If she remembered correctly, in her past life she had seen Baal, Abaddon, and Nahamah secretly plotting how to get Zhu Yufeng and Lilith to kiss. If they hadn't managed to steal Black Abyss White Flower to carry out their plan, she wouldn't have known.

Of all the Fallen Angel, these three are the most steadfast supporters of the male Feng-Lilith Faction. Esmodius is probably the only female Fallen Angel with a firm stance and no intention of supporting Feng-Lilith Faction. As for Astaroth, she seems to have an indifferent attitude.

However, Seele also remembered that Abaddon had always been honest and would only act when the opportunity was right. If it weren't for the time they stole Black Abyss White Flower, she wouldn't have known that Abaddon was actually a staunch Feng-Lilith Faction of Maple Leaf. Later, when Nahamah and Baal talked, well, they could both beat him up.

Upon hearing about Astaroth's situation, Kosma instinctively clenched his fists. Beating the child after an argument? What's the point of having a child if you don't love them? If he could, he'd love to beat Astaroth's parents up too.

This child, born in the 19th century, should have been a little prince or princess in his parents' eyes, not a puppet to be beaten and scolded at will.

He looked at Zhu Yufeng again, and thinking about what Astaroth had gone through after meeting Zhu Yufeng, he felt a little relieved. At least, Astaroth had finally met someone who was good to her.

But then he thought about how the opportunity for Astaroth and Zhu Yufeng to meet was the Eighth Herrscher event, Kosma's mood became heavy again.

"So how did you bring Astaroth out?" Zhu Yufeng changed the subject, looking at Astaroth. Astaroth was even smaller than when he remembered meeting her, still as thin and frail as ever, looking dirty, with bruises visible on her exposed skin.

He crouched down, reached out and patted Astaroth's head, and after a long while said, "Sorry I'm late."

"What else could we do? With the help of that guy called Gray Serpent, we just put him in a sack and knock him out." Baal shrugged. "I even kicked him a few times before we left, and then I heard Gray Serpent say that his boss, you, were coming today, so I brought Astaroth with me."

"Afterwards, I will have Gray Serpent handle the rest of the situation." Zhu Yufeng stood up and said. As for Astaroth's past, he only knew the general outline. He knew that her parents were not good to her, but... he was ultimately born into a harmonious and happy family, and even grew up in a warm and harmonious environment. He was focused on the light and failed to think about the darkness.