Wolf Tail

Sig, feeling a bit awkward, tossed two 500-Beli coins onto the counter and turned to leave. The bartender called out, "Two glasses of orange wine, two glasses of beer, that'll be 1200 Beli, sir."

"You didn't charge me for the beer earlier!" Sig stated indignantly.

The bartender: ...

Foiling the profiteer, Sig left the tavern and then cautiously began to follow.

While he hadn't yet mastered advanced skills like psychological invisibility, Sig's "Mind Reader" ability allowed him to observe others without easily raising their suspicion.

The sky had already grown dark. Sig, with his agile movements, followed without being discovered by Bekal.

"Damn it! Are there no other warships available? They actually sent Rear Admiral Kuri all the way out here to capture those Fish-Men..."

"Damn Fish-Men, damn pirates! Causing trouble everywhere. If we miss them this time, who knows when we'll be able to eliminate the Two-Headed Wolf!"

Sig listened, curling his lip—they were angry, they were angry. Once he got the information about the Two-Headed Wolf, he'd beat them up! That pert backside, it would be a shame not to kick it...

"Have you heard? It's rumored that within our Marines, someone seems to be involved with the Two-Headed Wolf people..."

"Shut up!" Bekal silenced her two followers' dangerous remarks.

After another round of arguments, Bekal finally sighed and relented, "Alright! You two go back and pack up. Send away all the subordinates you've gathered locally."

"Sergeant, what about you?" one of the followers asked, worried.

Their leader, the "big sister," was usually prone to getting worked up—they all knew that. It was because she had offended a superior that she was sent to investigate the Two-Headed Wolf's secret base. After more than a year, she had actually made some progress.

Unfortunately, just as they were about to close in, the main force responsible for the encirclement couldn't come!

Who knew how long they would have to wait before they could catch the Two-Headed Wolf's tail again...

"I'm going to check on the orphanage," Bekal said, turning and waving her hand.

Sig followed Bekal all the way to a somewhat dilapidated-looking orphanage outside the village.

"Auntie Bekal is here!"

"Auntie Bekal, I didn't cry today..."

Seeing the children rush to welcome Bekal, Sig could feel that despite the orphanage's rundown exterior, its interior was quite warm.

Just then, a young Nun emerged from the shadows, greeting them with a smile, "Bekal, here to see the children again?"

Sig's brow immediately furrowed. On the surface, there seemed to be no problem, but Sig's "Mind Reader" ability sensed her smile... was very strained!

Bekal clearly didn't notice anything unusual. She forced a smile and said, "Yes... Please take this money. I might not be able to come for a while."

The Nun looked surprised and asked, "Did something happen?"

"Nothing, just some small matters within the gang," Bekal said, trying to sound cheerful.

According to Bekal's investigation, Machu Picchu Island was indeed where the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad met annually. However... a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its burrow. There had been no reports of missing children on Machu Picchu Island. On the surface, it just looked like an ordinary island.

Bekal had only stumbled upon the date of the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad's meeting this year by chance, without thoroughly investigating who else the Two-Headed Wolf had in place there.

She only knew that the mole who usually kept watch there was someone codenamed "Wolf Tail" within the Two-Headed Wolf Slaver Squad.

"If you have something going on, this money is still..." the Nun began, trying to refuse Bekal's donation.

"No, it's not a big deal, and it's not something money can solve," Bekal shook her head.

Seeing Bekal in such a hurry to leave this time, the children were reluctant, but the Nun stopped them, teaching them to say goodbye properly to Auntie Bekal.

"Auntie Bekal! Will you come back?" a little blue-haired girl asked in a childish voice.

"Yes! I'll be back soon!" Bekal wasn't lying. She planned to go back and question her superiors about why the operation had ended so abruptly, and then bring people back.

Although they had alerted the enemy, clearing out the slavers' informants on Machu Picchu Island was still good. Otherwise, if the Two-Headed Wolf knew they were exposed, they might retaliate against Machu Picchu Island in a fit of rage.

"Take good care of the children. If you have any difficulties... I'll be back in a while," Bekal said before turning to leave.

"Say goodbye to Auntie Bekal," the Nun prompted the children.

"Goodbye, Auntie Bekal!" the children said in their childish voices.

Bekal forcefully dispelled the gloom on her face and waved back at the children...

BANG--

Bekal's expression turned blank. The children's voices abruptly stopped. Sig, hidden in the shadows, also had his eyes widen sharply!

The Nun, while maintaining a seemingly kind smile and using the children's voices to mask the sound, pulled a flintlock pistol from her robes and shot Bekal in the abdomen, causing a large amount of blood to gush out...

Screams and cries erupted. The twenty or thirty children present descended into chaos, looking in terror at the somewhat unfamiliar Nun.

"Since you've said goodbye, it's time to exit the stage... Bekal, no, Sergeant Bellemere." The Nun not only knew Bekal was a Marine but even knew her name.

Sig hadn't seen such detailed information in any Marine files!

As the children either cried on the spot, sat on the ground in disbelief, or... tried to scatter and flee, over a dozen burly men wearing cloaks and carrying flintlock pistols appeared around them.

If the Nun could easily fool ordinary people with her appearance, these burly men practically had "I am evil" written all over their faces!

"Sister Tail, is this all you've got? It doesn't quite match your status!" A bearded man lightly extended his foot, kicking a little blue-haired girl who was trying to run back into the house. He spoke in a tone that was both dismissive and complimentary.

"Tch, stop with the smart remarks. We're changing locations next year anyway, just cleaning up the local grass that was helping us out," the Nun said, pulling off her nun's habit to reveal long, gray hair that resembled a wolf's tail.

"You guys..." Bekal... no, Bellemere gritted her teeth and stood firm, pulling the blue-haired girl who had just been kicked back behind her.

"Is this the little brat who's making us move next year? You think you've done something great? Trying to catch us?"

"Pfft, that person took so much of our money… Was Rear Admiral Kuri transferred away with some other excuse?"

"The only thing you've accomplished is that since Machu Picchu Island has been discovered, there's no need for any more cover here. Let's just sort these dozens of children and sell them off!"

"Tsk, tsk. Originally, they might have grown up as our cover, and perhaps some of the more ruthless ones could have even joined us. But now… we'll see their luck at the auction house."

The slave traders mocked Bellemere.

At the same time, from the direction of the distant town, a faint clamor could be heard, along with firelight reflecting in the sky!

Bellemere tried to draw the short flintlock pistol at her waist, but as soon as she got a grip on it, the Nun… no, Wolf Tail shot it out of her hand—clearly, he had grasped the rudiments of Observation Haki.

Although Bellemere quickly drew a long dagger from her high boots, she still appeared outnumbered. The scoundrels of the slave trading team obviously didn't take her resistance seriously.

But just then…

"Alright, hurry up and finish her. After this, there's still…" Wolf Tail's voice from behind paused.

A sense of incongruity made all the slave traders turn their heads. They saw a young man who, at some point, had darted out and was now standing in front of Sister Tail, holding a strange-looking short flintlock pistol with the muzzle almost pressed against Sister Tail's face.

The rustling night wind blew up the young man's open shirt. A corner of the sun was revealed on his back, and the bright moonlight illuminated the skull flag on his arm…

Dong Dong: Sob sob, my intelligence has been crushed. Buying a Qixi Festival gift for my wife, I bought a 288 yuan lipstick from Pinduoduo, and it really was "radish paste" – a domestic knock-off brand made to look like Louboutin. The problem is, other knock-offs are only twenty or thirty yuan, and in the customer photos, they used Louboutin tags and even stole photos of beauty bloggers using Louboutin. After screenshotting and reporting it to Pinduoduo, the customer service told me it wasn't considered selling fakes, and returning it would require it not affecting secondary sales. They wouldn't deal with the store… I've complained to 315. I spend all day researching these things and my wife even laughed at me… Three hundred yuan isn't a big deal, but it severely impacts my writing efficiency. A warning to everyone: stay away from Pinduoduo, you will become unhappy, lol.