"A question from MiracleL: 'Why are you called Chlorine Sodium?'"
"Actually, the name Chlorine Sodium was an accident~"
Miss Manager said with a wicked grin, tearing down the facade.
"Indeed, it was originally written as Chlorine Sodium, but because that idiot Bill has a lifelong habit of using homophones for his outline notes, it resulted in the Arknights Chlorine Sodium using the outline's note name of Chlorine Sodium when laying out the main text. He only remembered this issue when publishing the book later, but it was too late to change it, so he just went with the flow and used Chlorine Sodium and Chlorine Sodium to distinguish between their personalities. After all, Chlorine Sodium isn't really Chlorine Sodium."
"How truly foolish. Why not hand the pen to me and let this manager write it instead?"
"Oh, Bill also said last time that he originally wanted to make you eat a knife, but then he softened his heart and felt that you, this mascot, still had some use, so he kept you."
"Gah! No!! I don't want to eat a knife anymore!!"
"Ja, next question wa doko?"
"This is the fanfiction set, wake up, you can't get into the game set, learning Japanese won't make you an Operator!"
"Hey hey hey hey, don't say the reality out loud!!!"
Seeing Pianna collapse to her knees on the ground, Elafia picked up the next letter once again.
"A message from Mint Sauce: 'Beilong is crying so hard she fainted in the bathroom, the Queen doesn't want her anymore'."
"That's truly tragic."
"That kind of thing like Beilong is hard to write into the plot. If there's a chance in the future, she'll also make cameo appearances."
"Her status is just like yours, a mascot."
"Joking aside, comedic characters can usually hang on until the very end!"
"Next up is the thank-you segment. After all, there are simply too many replies from the reader lords. If I were to reply to them one by one, it'd be impossible to write them all out at once, so I can only pick a few more important ones to reply to. We'll just read these for now, there are still plenty here, we'll read the rest next time. However, Bill really did read all the comments and inter-chapter notes, you know."
"Yeah, looking like a total fool as he grinned while browsing the author's backend for comments and notes every time he finished writing something."
"It seems you really don't want your own personal story anymore, huh~"
"Nooo!! I was wrong, I was wrong, ying ying ying."
Chapter 51: Making a Comeback
There were no lethal methods, nor were there any murder weapons.
That was because the people here had all been killed by a single strike, and the perpetrator's weapon was roughly an automobile.
Right, only someone who could pick up cars and smash them everywhere could produce an effect like this.
How the hell are we supposed to investigate this?!
She dabbed a finger in the crimson bloody water and rubbed her two fingers together in front of her eyes.
"The crime scene has been pretty much washed away by water; half of the physical evidence from the primary scene is gone."
The first floor was alright, but when the two of them arrived on the second floor, it was crowded with police officers and coroners.
Corpses wrapped in black body bags were being carried out one by one, and white camera flashes continuously flickered here.
Looking at the scene before them, the tiled walls were stained with bloody mist, the green floor had long since been stained blackish-brown by blood filth, and the sewer opening was viscous and covered in all kinds of residue and dirt.
Metal iron hooks were suspended from the ceiling, along with a blood-stained operating table.
Anyone would be able to imagine what exactly had happened in here.
"I remember this place wasn't originally gathered around by a bunch of societal scum. When did they change hands?"
Nine gradually adapted to this kind of environment. After all, she was a veteran of the precinct; she had been through all sorts of big storms, and there was no reason for her to flip her car over a scene like this.
However, the person reacting more intensely than her was Hoshiguma.
Though the tone of her voice remained calm, beneath that calmness were those tightly clenched fists.
"It originally was, but the original boss of the Black Hand Gang died two months ago."
"Oh?"
"They were originally just a bunch of hooligans and thugs collecting protection fees everywhere, but ever since the original syndicate boss died, the new Speaker who came here started pulling this kind of stuff."
"And that newly arrived Speaker seems to really like... exploiting the weaknesses of human nature... And this bunch of people no longer deserves to be called human."
Hearing this, Nine glanced somewhat surprised at the tall Oni Clan person beside her.
Rumor had it that the Oni Clan were all hot-headed, reckless fellows who abandoned all thought, brave and skilled in battle, yet bloodthirsty by nature.
This was the concept of the "Oni" of East Country in the impression of the vast majority of people.
Yet Hoshiguma didn't seem to fit such rumors.
If she had to describe it, it would be quiet.
A quiet Oni was truly a rare sight.
Still, today she discovered for the first time that this fellow actually possessed a little bit of a sense of justice?
At least in Nine's eyes, Hoshiguma's anger wasn't acting.
If it really was acting, it could only mean that Hoshiguma's acting skills had reached a consummate and superb level.
"Still, you're not angry at all, officer."
"Me? Being angry is useless, plus with so many cases, if I actually had any anger, I would've finished venting it long ago."
"Lately, even child abduction cases are enough to give one a headache."
"I know, it's even made the news."
With children going missing in multiple places, it seemed a group of people had their eyes locked entirely on little kids, and what's more, they were all young masters and young misses from wealthy families.
Even without Hoshiguma mentioning it, Nine knew that recently, the local gangs had also experienced splitting situations.
Originally, the underworld and the police had still temporarily maintained some sort of subtle balance, and there were even people acting as white gloves.
Lately, however, an undercurrent seemed to be surging quietly beneath Longmen.
It looked peaceful, but this undercurrent had already begun to churn.
Recent child abduction cases were just like that; although quite a few had been successfully rescued, the Major Crimes Unit actually had no leads.
There was no motive for the crime, and the guys they arrested were also a bunch of people who didn't know each other; there was no extortion afterward.
This was just like someone drawing lots to select a few people to act as kidnappers, and then drawing a target—completely random, leaving the Major Crimes Unit with no leads.
That was because their superiors—the organization that arranged for them to do these things—were elusive, extremely mysterious, and possessed quite sophisticated anti-reconnaissance methods, making clues hard to grasp.
Nine's premonitions were always very accurate.
And lately, she always felt that something rather bad and major might happen in Longmen.
As for what specifically it was, and when it would happen, no one knew.
This sense of unease and oppression put immense pressure on her as the Major Crimes Unit captain.
Late at night, Wei Mansion.
"Black Snake..."
In the study of the de facto supreme ruler, Wei Yanwu was staring at the report placed on the desk, as well as a great many photographs.
They were all many old photographs; among them were Wei Yanwu's own, as well as one of a Draco man embracing an Yan Nation woman.
There was also one of a white-haired little girl.
Yet all those photographs centered around an envelope in the center of the desk, coming from a man he hated to the bone.
"Koschei."
After a long while, the man murmured this name that had almost been washed away by time.
The man who had caused the death of his brother—for this secret, Wei Yanwu had delayed announcing his death for years, and even made his own sister hate him to the core.
Because of that, Chen Hui Jie was born, a child brought into existence by disaster.
He didn't know whether this was ultimately a blessing or a curse.
On the back of the envelope, someone had used a marker to write a short Ursus phrase.
Long time no see.
That was a line of handwriting that looked quite neat, elegant, and relaxed.
Yet such handwriting came from the hands of that devil, making one feel boundless arrogance.
Yes, the man who had caused all this had returned.
"This subordinate was negligent, I ask Lord Wei to punish me."
Before Wei Yanwu's desk, a figure entirely covered in a black rain cloak was half-kneeling, wearing a bamboo hat with their face obscured by a sleek, chilly black veil.
That was a special agent of Longmen's secret organ, one of the trump cards belonging exclusively to Wei Yanwu, the supreme ruler of Longmen.
A captive-reared death squad member.
"No, no one could have anticipated that he would return. I originally thought Chixiao had already slain this devil."
"Lord Wei, should we..."
The black-clad agent's hands, wrapped in black gloves, brought their ten fingers together and gently swiped across the neck position, the meaning self-evident.
"Do not act rashly. I am in the light and the enemy is in the dark; no one plays meaningless cards. This sort of brainless provocation is definitely not an isolated incident. Go investigate, find out what kind of trick Koschei is trying to pull in Longmen."
"Then those Ursus merchants and travelers..."
"...Keep an eye on them for now. The current focus... is on the Black Snake..."
"Understood."
The black-clad agent slowly retreated into the shadows, their trace no longer to be found.
Yet Wei Yanwu, hunched over his desk, did not have a single trace of relaxation on his face, merely gazing silently at the photograph of the Draco man on the tabletop.
"To think that after so many years have passed, why has he returned again?"
In the dim candlelight, the slit pupils belonging to a dragon slowly lifted.
"Koschei... What on earth are you plotting?"
PS: Setting scheduled releases for chapters on Ciwai Mao is such a pain when you want to change the order and have to modify the content and events chapter by chapter. Why don't they support one-click dragging?
Chapter 52: Morality or Not, Utterly Meaningless
"Chen Hui Jie? Interesting."
Early morning, Longmen, in an unassuming old apartment.
Complete procedures and an unpretentious exterior made this place quite safe and untraceable.
That was because the owner here had long since lost any definitive whereabouts; everything was done to make this place hide from the eyes of the ruling power's machinery of violence.
Yet outwardly, it looked merely like a dilapidated apartment building, but inside, unexpectedly, it was decorated quite exquisitely.
This place seemed to have originally been one of the hideouts of some syndicate boss.
Though right now, well, the person who had stolen the magpie's nest was sitting right before him.
A duke hailing from Ursus.
Koschei.
Before you continue