Chlorine Sodium's Arknights

The precinct's administrator, a woman who only showed up when cases were this severe.

Nine.

At least, that's what all the precinct members called their boss.

"You should go take care of other things. I've got this."

She was a red-haired woman in the precinct's blue uniform, arms crossed, looking at the Oni woman before her.

"Hoshiguma, if I recall correctly, you still have quite a few charges pending against you, don't you?"

"Officer, don't be so harsh. I've helped you out before, too. If I don't get credit, I at least deserve some recognition for my effort, and besides..."

Hoshiguma whistled towards the alley behind her, her meaning clear.

"All those loan sharks inside are dead. Are you sure...

you want to arrest me right now?"

Presenting the pros and cons, Hoshiguma, a notorious enforcer for a local gang, held considerable prestige among the area's syndicates.

Even though she was merely an enforcer, she was highly respected, and sometimes even the legitimate channels would cooperate with her.

Just like this time.

"Hmph, if necessary."

Meaning, it wasn't necessary at the moment.

Hoshiguma understood Nine's implication and smiled, a signal of goodwill.

After all, no matter how large a syndicate was, it was still a syndicate, and no matter how low-ranking a police officer was, they were still police. Unless Nine shed her uniform, she would always be above Hoshiguma.

"When was it discovered?"

Bypassing the coroner who was surveying the scene, the two walked and talked towards the center of the crime scene.

"To be precise, it was around three in the morning. A few months ago, people below reported that a group of loan sharks were operating here, so I had my gang keep an eye on them. Then, the incident happened early this morning."

"Jie was just the informant you arranged, wasn't he?"

"Just helping out. His background is clean, and he's trustworthy."

"Hmph, the words 'trustworthy' coming from your mouth really don't carry much weight."

As they walked, the two finally stopped before the entrance.

It was obvious that a fire had occurred here.

A Landship, long since burned into a pile of wreckage, sat in the center. A layer of residual water covered the scorched ground.

That must have been left by the firefighters.

"You reported the fire first."

"Yes, after all, this area is full of small houses. If a fire breaks out, it could affect the entire block."

Just as Nine was about to reach out and pull aside the yellow police tape to step into the heart of the crime scene, Hoshiguma stopped her.

"?"

"Let's get this straight. If you don't want to vomit your breakfast inside, you'd better find a way to deal with it out here first."

What kind of joke was this?

Nine shot Hoshiguma a look of disbelief, as if she were an idiot. She wasn't some rookie officer, how could she possibly vomit?

However, the moment she stepped inside, the overwhelming smell of blood seemed to open some kind of valve!

Ugh, what the hell!

And the scene she saw would probably make an ordinary person faint from vomiting.

At the entrance, the metal door fragments had been photographed and moved, but the bodies underneath had not been touched. Without moving the door, the fire department couldn't get in.

This also meant that due to the fire spreading, the entire interior was filled with standing water.

However, the water here was crimson red.

The bodies that had been crushed by the door were now exposed to the light of day. It was a gruesome sight. The entire head of one corpse was flattened, its eyes bulging outwards, with shattered teeth filling its mouth, and brain matter squeezed out and mixed with the shriveled oral cavity.

"..."

Seemingly feeling unwell, Nine instinctively brought her fist to her mouth, trying to hide her nausea.

It seemed that even an experienced police officer like Nine couldn't stomach such a sight.

However, one or two bodies like this weren't that terrifying. What was terrifying was that this was just the beginning!

The remaining bodies were even more horrific than this one. At least this poor fellow was a complete corpse. The others were scattered everywhere, a mess of blood and body parts. You'd need someone good at jigsaw puzzles to even try and identify who was who.

They were just too thoroughly mangled.

If you had to compare it, this place looked like it had been run over by some psychopathic killer.

Even a horror movie director probably couldn't film something this horrifying!

"I think this has gone beyond the scope of a gang war."

"Actually, I don't think what I did was something a human could do. When it happened, no one knew what was going on inside. The gang members got the message and went there quickly, but by the time they arrived, it was already like this.

Even the blood was still warm."

ps: I'm writing late into the night. It seems there are many questions in the comment section. I'll answer them in a separate post later. It's too tiring to reply to each one individually.

Chapter 50: Reading Comments [Happy]

Early morning, the clinic.

It was a holiday today, though it usually was anyway, as there were very few customers here throughout the year.

"So, what's in this box?"

Pianna looked at the dazed manager lady who came back with a cardboard box from outside, her face full of suspicion.

"It's the replies."

"Huh??"

What was with this breaking the fourth wall feeling?

"It's letters from readers, hurry, hurry."

Saying that, the woman, who looked quite voluptuous, couldn't lift the box at all.

With a grunt, the manager lady directly tore open the packaging on the spot, pulled something out, and threw it towards Pianna.

"What is this?"

Holding the envelope in her hand, Pianna didn't understand what this deer was up to today.

"Read it, quick, quick, quick."

Tch, a comedic character.

"Cough, cough, cough, hmm, let me see…

From [Six-tailed Time Robber]: 'Rest well.'"

"Bill already collapsed from jet lag in the USA. After all, generally speaking, inspiration only comes more at night."

The manager lady sat aside and explained.

"Someone like Bill will die of overwork sooner or later."

"Emmmm, cough, cough, cough, Bill said she's still thinking about whether to reset your standalone chapter… It looks like Bill needs more rest."

The manager lady said mischievously.

"Ahhhhhh!! I was wrong, I was wrong!"

"The second one…"

Ignoring the Sarkaz noble lady beside her who was acting cute and silly, Elafia picked up the second letter and said.

"A question from [Mother-in-law is the Best]: 'Hundred marriages single.' Someone was very concerned about this issue in the last book too."

"Why would anyone care about such a thing?"

"Of course they would care. It shows that our esteemed readers are very concerned about the development of this book."

"In a distant land to the east, there is a saying."

Pianna raised a finger and said.

"There are no roads in the world, but when many people walk, a road is made."

"Indeed, flat labeling is indeed the current major trend. It's easy to remember and understand. But now, it seems that more labeling has become counterproductive. Instead of having content first and then organizing and labeling, it has become labeling first and then organizing to finally create a book.

So Bill always drones on about how this is a constraint on story creation."

"Has she ever thought about how to answer this question?"

Pianna looked skeptical.

"As for the answer… Bill doesn't know either. After all, this book's outline didn't consider such issues from the beginning. It resulted in there being everything, but one could only say there are yuri elements, but not the substance of yuri. If being single means being single, then she, who is accompanied by Yelena, also only has the element of being single, not the substance of being single, right?"

"If you want to get married, you can consider me. My family is very rich, a noble from Kazdel."

"Get lost, you scumbag woman. I'm not getting married!"

···································

"So why didn't you let Bill read it herself?"

"Because she's still writing today's update."

···························

"Come, come, this one is mine."

Clearing her throat, Pianna picked out another letter.

"From [Loves Low Blood Sugar Too Much]: 'Could it be that in the end, the protagonist is me?' Don't worry, there will definitely be a protagonist, but I can't spoil it. If I spoil it, this book won't need to be written."

"Although in a certain sense, Chlorine Sodium is indeed the protagonist."

"It's the protagonist, but not the 'Protagonist'."

"So when can I be the protagonist again?"

"Mmm~ Wait until Sariel finishes her business."

"Shit."

"Okay, next one."

The administrator casually picked out a message.

"A question from [Dream Broken Sorrow]: Is the protagonist male or female?"

"I've been both male and female. After all, there are quite a lot of villains in other worlds, both male and female. But if we go by my inner self-definition, I lean more towards the feeling of a single father."

"Uh-huh, a 'girl dad'."

Pianna added.

"I always feel like women like that are very charming. Good-looking and with the aura of a single father."

"I feel like your taste is a bit strange, Administrator."

"Huh, a lot of the remaining ones are requests for more updates. Don't worry, I'm writing, I'm writing."

"Sariel's book is like that too."

Elafia said.