Reading the Comments [Happy]

The manager of the police force, a woman who had appeared here only because of the severity of the case.

Nine.

At least, every member of the police force called their immediate superior Nine.

"You go take care of something else. I'll handle this."

She was a red-haired woman dressed in the police force's blue uniform. With her arms folded, she watched the Oni Clan woman in front of her.

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

"Don't put it so harshly, Ssir. I've helped you out before, haven't I? Even if I haven't made any great contributions, I've at least done some hard work, right? Besides..."

Hoshiguma whistled toward the alley behind her. The meaning was obvious.

"The ones who died in there were all those loan sharks. Are you sure..."

"You want to arrest me right now?"

After weighing the pros and cons, Hoshiguma was an extremely famous enforcer for the local gangs and still commanded considerable respect among the local organizations.

Although she was merely an enforcer, she was highly regarded, and the legitimate authorities sometimes cooperated with her.

Just like this time.

"Hmph. If necessary."

In other words, it wasn't necessary yet.

Hoshiguma understood Nine's meaning and smiled. It was a signal of goodwill.

After all, no matter how powerful a gang was, it was still a gang, and no matter how lowly a police officer was, she was still a police officer. Unless Nine shed this uniform, she would always outrank Hoshiguma.

"When did you discover it?"

The two of them bypassed the forensic examiner investigating the scene and walked toward the center of the crime scene as they talked.

"Precisely speaking, around three in the morning. A few months ago, someone below me said that a group of loan sharks was operating here, so I had people from the organization keep watch. Then something happened in the early morning."

"Jie was just the person you arranged to report it, right?"

"Just doing me a favor. Her identity is clean, and she's trustworthy."

"Hmph. When the word 'trustworthy' comes from you, its value is truly low."

The two walked on and finally stopped before the main entrance.

It was obvious that this place had caught fire.

A land vehicle that had burned into nothing but a vehicle shell sat in the very center, while a layer of standing water remained on the soot-blackened floor.

That was probably left behind after the firefighters arrived.

"You were the ones who reported the fire first."

"That's right. The surrounding buildings are all small houses, after all. If a fire started, the entire neighborhood could be affected."

Just as Nine was about to reach out, pull aside the yellow cordon, and step into the very center of the crime scene, Hoshiguma stopped her.

"?"

"Let me make this clear first. If you don't want to throw up your breakfast inside, you'd better find a way to deal with it outside first."

What kind of international joke was this?

Nine looked at Hoshiguma as if she were an idiot and rolled her eyes. She wasn't some newly recruited officer. How could she possibly throw up?

Yet when she stepped inside, the bloody stench that hit her face seemed to open some kind of valve!

Ugh, what the hell?!

The scene before her was probably enough to make an ordinary person vomit until she passed out.

At the entrance, the metal fragments of the door had already been photographed and moved aside, but the corpse beneath them had not been touched. If the door hadn't been moved, the firefighters couldn't have gotten inside.

As a result, the spread of the fire had left the entire floor covered in standing water.

Yet the water here was a deep crimson.

The corpse that had originally been crushed beneath the door had also been exposed to the light of day. It was an utterly tragic corpse. Its entire head had been flattened, its eyes bulging straight outward. Its shattered teeth filled the mouth, mixed with fragments of brain matter forced out by the pressure and stirred into the shriveled oral cavity.

"..."

Apparently feeling somewhat unwell, Nine instinctively raised her fist to her mouth to conceal her nausea.

It seemed that even Nine, a veteran police officer, couldn't quite endure a scene like this.

Yet one or two corpses like this were not all that frightening. What was frightening was that this was only the beginning!

The remaining corpses were even more horrific. At least this fellow was still a complete corpse. The others had become blood and fragments scattered everywhere. To figure out who was who, they would have needed someone good at putting puzzles together.

They had been shattered far too thoroughly.

If it had to be compared to something, this place looked as though some psychotic killer had run over it repeatedly.

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

"I think this has gone beyond the scope of gang-on-gang violence."

"Actually, I don't think this is something humans could have done. No one knew what had happened inside when it occurred. The organization's people received the news and hurried over, but by the time they arrived, it was already like this."

"The blood was even still warm."

P.S.: I stayed up late writing this. It seems like there are quite a few questions in the comments section, so I'll make a separate post to answer them later. Going through them one by one is too exhausting.

Section 50: A Happy Comment-Reading Session

Early morning, at the clinic.

Today was a holiday. Of course, it was usually a holiday anyway, since this place only had a few customers all year.

"So, what's in this box?"

Pianna looked suspiciously at the dimwitted Miss Manager, who had brought a cardboard box in from outside.

"Letters from readers."

"Huh??"

Why did this feel like the plot had suddenly broken character?

"They're letters from readers. Hurry, hurry."

The woman, who looked quite well-endowed, somehow couldn't carry the box at all.

With a grunt, Miss Manager tore open the packaging right there and then. She pulled something out and tossed it at Pianna.

"What's this?"

Holding the envelope in her hand, Pianna had no idea what this deer was plotting today.

"Read it. Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Tch. What a gag character.

"Ahem, ahem. Hmm, let me see..."

"'A reminder to rest' from Six-tailed Time Robber."

"Bill collapsed into USA time ages ago. After all, generally speaking, she only gets more inspiration at night."

Miss Manager sat to the side and explained.

"Someone like Bill is going to die from overwork sooner or later."

"Emmmmm. Ahem, ahem. Bill says she's still considering whether to reset your collected edition... Looks like Bill needs more rest."

Miss Manager spoke with malicious amusement.

"Ahhhhhhh! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

..............................

"Second letter..."

Ignoring the Sarkaz noble young lady beside her, who was acting cute and clowning around, Elafia picked up the second letter and spoke.

"'A question from Mother-in-law is the Best: "A Hundred Marriages."' It seems someone was very concerned about this in the previous book too."

"Why would anyone care about something like that?"

"Of course they care. It means the readers really care about how this book develops."

"In the distant East, there's a saying."

Pianna raised one finger as she spoke.

"There was originally no road in the world. When enough people walk along it, a road appears."

"That's true. Flattened, labeled categories really are the current trend, since they're easy to remember and understand. But it seems that excessive labeling has now put the cart before the horse. Instead of having content first and organizing and labeling it afterward, people now start with labels, organize around them, and only then write the book.

"That's why Bill is always saying that this is a constraint on storytelling."

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

Pianna looked deeply suspicious.

"As for the answer... Bill doesn't know either. After all, the outline for this book never considered this issue from the beginning, which resulted in it containing a bit of everything. All I can say is that it has yuri elements, but no actual yuri relationships. If being single counts as being single, then although she has Yelena accompanying her, she only has the element of being single without the actual single part."

"You could consider marrying me. My family is very rich. We're nobles from Kazdel."

"Get lost, you rotten woman. And 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's mine."

After clearing her throat, Pianna picked another letter from the pile.

"'A question from Loves Low Blood Sugar Too Much: "Could it be that the protagonist is actually me in the end?"' Don't worry, there's definitely a protagonist. It's just that I can't spoil it. If I gave away the spoilers, there'd be no need to write the book."

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

"She's the protagonist, but not the 'protagonist.'"

"So when can I be the protagonist again?"

"Hmm~ When Sariel finishes dealing with her affairs."

"Damn."

..............................

"Okay, next one."

Miss Manager randomly picked out a letter.

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

"She's been both male and female before. After all, there are quite a lot of villains from other worlds, both male and female. But if we go by her own inner definition, she leans more toward the feeling of a single father."

"Hmm, a female dad."

Pianna added.

"I feel like women like that are really charming. They're beautiful and have the aura of a single father."

"I really think your tastes are a little strange, Miss Manager."

..............................

"Oh? Most of the rest are requests for updates. Don't rush. I'll write more, I'll write more."

"That applies to Sariel's book too."

Elafia said so.