FF, Fay Florasalin

My name Fay.

"Fay·ForoisinFay·Foroisin."

"Yes, I'm here to receive government assistance. This is my ID card."

The queue stretched out in a long line, and a young brown-haired girl stood in front of the board member's counter, looking around.

However, not long after autumn began in early September, she arrived at the Civil Affairs Hall bundled up in warm clothes to collect supplies.

The woman at the office who was issuing and stamping the receipts took a second look at the young girl, and felt a sense of kinship when she recognized her ethnic origin.

"The Ireland?"

Fay nodded, looking like he would never wake up, clasped his hands together, rested his arms on the counter, and leaned forward to speak.

"Yes, madam."

Eldest sister. "Little Rose?"

"That's right," Fay continued, "My name was given to me by my mother, and it means—to bestow vitality and creativity as blessings upon Rosalin, upon Little Rose."

The resident relief application form contained Ms. Fay's basic information.

Two years ago, she still had a home.

--District 39 is not a peaceful place. Madness Butterfly likes it very much. This district has a large population, dense cities, and is well-connected. It is a transportation hub of the Southwest Railway Network and also a paradise for wanted criminals.

Fay once had an elder brother who later became a henchman of the Zhan Gang. Her father took his eldest son to engage in shady dealings, while her mother took her daughter and left without saying goodbye, fearing that the father and son would attract enemies.

Until the nameless man arrived, the criminals were executed, and the ringleader was punished, Fay became a special family in need of relief and care. Her father and brother had both died in the riots before dawn.

Every two weeks, counselors from the warband or militia organization would visit the mother and daughter to talk about their current situation and discuss the future. The goal was to minimize the damage caused by the Madness Butterfly Sect and help this family, which had lost its main breadwinner, to regain its vitality.

The families of criminals must undergo rigorous background checks to receive this relief. Fay was not originally eligible for the money—after all, Ming De was a shrewd business cat who wouldn't do anything that would lose money.

Criminals' money usually flows to their families. These families who receive ill-gotten gains should be self-reliant. If they have hands and feet, they don't need to rely on society to support them.

But Fay's mother knew this—

If the mother and daughter want to continue living in District 39 and find work in their hometown, they have to deal with the mess of debts left behind by their husband and son.

How much trouble have these two remnants of the war gang caused them? As long as they are associated with the Madness Butterfly Sect, this widow and her child will never have a peaceful life.

In an effort to secure this relief, Fay's mother repeatedly caused a scene at the Civil Affairs Bureau, hoping that the militia and the fighting group would come to protect them, but all her efforts were in vain.

To this day, Fay Foroisin is able to receive this money entirely thanks to her mother's noble spirit and self-sacrifice—literally, her mother committed suicide.

"How have you been lately?" The older sister urged Fay not to leave so she could chat with the young girl a little longer.

Fay received the stamp, somewhat bewildered. "Living in public housing is not bad."

The older sister was a little embarrassed and didn't know how to continue the conversation. She only knew that the girl was pitiful and wanted to offer more words of comfort.

"Well, life is unpredictable."

Miss Fay interrupted, "Thank you."

Elder sister. "Did the militia come to your house to see you?"

Miss Fay: "They come often, telling me to be strong and not to be as fragile as my mother."

The older sister said, "Hey, I also think we should be optimistic and positive. We've gotten through such tough times, right? How could you... how could you suddenly become so pessimistic?"

"I should say it like this, sister." Fay opened her eyes with difficulty, revealing beautiful eyes as red as bloodstone. "The two men in the family are both useless. They want to get ahead, they want to make money by any means necessary, they want to join a cult—my mother may have developed psychological trauma, she doesn't believe she can find anything to rely on in life."

The eldest sister's expression darkened. "That's true."

Fay, however, seemed quite philosophical about it. "What can we do? Are we going to run off to another city and start over? Marry another man? We're penniless, who would want us? Especially a criminal's family."

The older sister pursed her lips, unsure of what to say.

"My mother left so resolutely; she didn't even leave me any last words. She probably didn't want me to be sad." Fay glanced away, her eyes reddening, and gritted her teeth. "I just remember the day before, we argued, just because the ceiling was leaking. I said we should spend some money, just forty yuan, to call a plumber to fix the drain."

"She wouldn't listen; she wanted to do it herself."

Fay increasingly agitated, clutching the signed document, the paper all crumpled.

"She climbed onto the scaffold, then fell down, groaning in pain."

"I tried to show her concern, and she yelled at me."

"Now it's all right! Now it's all right! You're happy now! Your curse has worked!"

"I really shouldn't have gotten involved in this! It was all my wishful thinking!"

Fay hissed softly, gesturing wildly.

"Should we just stop living? I'm always arguing and bickering with my mother."

"I was just kidding. I was just kidding, I think I must have lost my temper."

"I wish there was a man in the house. At least he could dig out the water pipe in the ceiling and plug it up."

That night, I snuggled in bed and sent my mom another message on my phone. I thought if I couldn't sleep well, I'd make sure she couldn't sleep well either, so I asked her again—

"--Should we just stop living?"

Fay silent for a very long time, her expression quite frightening. The clerk at the counter dared not answer, fearing she might upset the young girl.

She sent me an "OK" emoji and then left.

As she spoke, she suddenly let out a sigh of relief, stood up, and bowed to her elder sister, thanking someone for listening to her vent.

"Sorry"

Eldest sister. "Hey! FF (short for Fay Foroisin)! Wait a minute!"

"Is there anything else?" Miss Fay clutched the hem of her winter coat, wrapping it tightly around her slender body.

She saw the line behind her, and the looks in the people's eyes frightened her.

--All sorts of people come here to receive relief.

Most of them are middle-aged or elderly people who have lost their ability to work, or orphans and young children.

The older sister thought for a moment, then cautiously asked, "FF, have you found a suitable man?"

Fay Foroisin's thoughts are simple: she wants to re-enter society, to escape loneliness, and to have a normal social identity. Re-establishing a family is a shortcut. Unlike her mother, she does not have such terrible psychological problems.

"Um."

"Hey!" The older woman immediately beamed, calling the next resident to get their paperwork stamped. While working, she chatted with Fay, and when she heard the good news, she was practically grinning from ear to ear. "Where are you from? How old are you, young man?"

Fay did not leave immediately; she told her older sister about the man who had suddenly entered her life.

"He was a Latino who often bragged to me about his job—he said he was an apprentice in an anonymous workshop, and the gunsmith was his teacher."

When the gunsmith was mentioned, there was a noticeable commotion in the group, as many of the people here had family members who had gone astray and died at the hands of the gunsmith.

They felt fear, hatred, or relief, but simply believed their loved ones deserved their fate.

Fay Foroisin continued, "His name is Billy. He used to be a caregiver for the militia. He was wounded in battle and transferred to logistics to take care of us special families—he also has a good brother, and the two of them are very good at making people laugh."

"Ah!" The older sister was momentarily stunned. To be honest, she hadn't expected FF to have this kind of connection. Then, after thinking about it carefully—

--If this girl's mother could know this from beyond the grave, she would probably be happy for her daughter.

But as soon as she thought of this, the eldest sister immediately shook her head violently—wouldn't this turn into a human flesh trade? If this old mother hadn't died, her daughter wouldn't have had such good fortune! No, no, no! That's not how it works!

While the eldest sister was still caught in her own internal struggle and turmoil, Miss Fay quietly left, took the stamp, and went to the supplies management office to collect next month's oil and grain ration coupons and Blood Butterfly vouchers. She was extremely grateful for Ming De's generosity, bowing and thanking each staff member before slowly walking out of the Civil Affairs Bureau.

--Even as I left, I could still hear the gossip behind me.

"That young lady is really beautiful!"

"Is she from a criminal family? I hope she can undergo ideological reform soon and overcome her trauma to reintegrate into society."

"Now that you mention it, I'm tempted to become a counselor too! Hey! Who knows, I might even snag a widow from one of those old big shots from the Madness Butterfly Sect! They're all stunningly beautiful concubines, either celebrities or models!"

"Too late! What are you thinking? Two or three years have passed! It's too late for you to enlist in the reserves! Where are there any cults left now?"

She hurried away from this place of trouble, finding it both ridiculous and terrifying, and headed towards the fresh produce market.

--Her beloved older brother Billy was waiting for her there.

After crossing two streets in the bustling city center, she deliberately avoided the Rare Animal Market, which was managed by mixed breeds of monstrous creatures. She found these animals savage and terrifying, and finally arrived at the river seafood market on the Taiyun River.

"Billy!" Fuyanni spotted Fay Foroisin from over fifty meters away. He nudged his best friend's armpit, urging Billy to perk up. "Your girlfriend's back! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

"What's the rush! Let her come over herself!" Billy was busy with his live stream. After the gunsmith left, the small orders in the workshop were quickly completed. Without Jiang Xueming overseeing the big projects, he and Fuyanni simply couldn't handle them.

During his vacations, he would take all sorts of equipment, psionic probes, and anti-counterfeiting tools, buy himself exorbitant insurance, and travel to various places to punish illegal vendors, which could be considered a righteous act.

At this moment, Billy was extremely focused on his career and didn't care about FF—she was just a blind date.

He had to outwit the seafood vendors, focusing all his energy on the two treacherous scales in front of the market entrance.

--This cheating scale can empty the wallets of travelers and ruin the tourism industry in the Taiyun River tributary and Xiaoluoyang.

That's how it is in Fay Foroisin's hometown. Nameless people can punish demons, and the little devils under the demons' command, before they are all dead, will slowly turn into all sorts of charlatans.

"Oh! Oh oh oh oh!" Billy Teng stood up abruptly, finally noticing the ingenious mechanism at work in the Ghost Scales.

Ignoring Fay Foroisin, he hoisted the signboard of the seafood shop, grabbed the insurance contract and his service pistol, and stormed into the restaurant manager's office. Several security guards tried to stop him, but when they saw the nameless Black Stone Man's combat hero medal, they silently made way—everyone knew that someone else was about to be in trouble.

"What are you doing! What are you doing! Hey, what are you doing!?"

The hotel manager dragged Billy the Kid to the front desk, his eyes filled with disgust. Billy's suit was wrinkled and his tie was almost torn off. He reeked of fish. This once refined man had turned into a scoundrel.

"Hey! Officer! What are you doing?!"

Billy put down the scales on his shoulder and smashed the restaurant sign to pieces. Immediately, the customers stopped eating and rushed over to see what was happening.

"Are you in charge?"

The manager's heart sank; he knew he couldn't escape the situation. So he smiled and said, "Officer, we sell Chinese food—we're from the same hometown as your two bosses."

Before he could finish his polite words, Billy jumped onto the weighing platform and immediately started banging on the scale, finally triggering the magnetic switch. His weight, which had been over seventy kilograms, suddenly jumped to one hundred and twenty kilograms.

"I've seen eight-ounce and nine-ounce scales before! You want to use a five-ounce scale?! You've got some kind of audacity?!"

In Forty-One District, in Pellegrini's Wings of Light, there was an unlucky fellow named Haitang who was also ripped off when he stumbled upon these restaurants.

Billy the Kid pulled out the insurance policy and pointed it at the manager's nose, yelling, "Have you no conscience? Have you no shame? My perfect eight-pack abs become a 240-pound fatso on your scale!? You could have just robbed me! And now you're giving away river fish to everyone!"

"Hehe. Heh." The manager's eyes shifted rapidly, from awkward indifference to fierce resentment in a mere second, before returning to nonchalant composure. "There must be some misunderstanding! This thing is malfunctioning! How about this! All our customers here today! Their orders are all free! I'll personally treat everyone to this meal! How about that?!"

Billy the Kid, undeterred, snapped, "You think you can get away with this?!"

The manager immediately shouted, "No more customers are allowed in! Close the door!"

Billy the Kid yelled back, "You think you can get away with this?!"

"Hey! Have you two had lunch today?" the manager said with a grin to Billy. "How about I treat you to a meal privately?"

Billy the Kid slammed his fist on a pillar in the porch. "You think this can be let go?"

The guests understood what the manager meant. Most of them were backpackers who happened to have encountered Billy, the ringleader, and had been cheated. It would be best if they could get their money back. But asking them to be heroes was really asking too much.

In Clark Port, District 39, this place is a transportation hub. Most passengers are just here to transfer trains and don't stay for long. If they come to this restaurant to eat, they are accepting the local rules and paying a "stupidity tax" to the locals. They might even be able to use this relationship to say a few good words and find some good tour guides who know the way.

When the hotel manager saw that there were only two people outside the door— Fuyanni, who was live-streaming on his phone, and Fay Foroisin, who had just arrived—and no one else, he finally felt confident.

"Officer, turn off the live stream. Let's have a proper talk."

Billy had no intention of letting this restaurant off easily.

"--I have nothing to talk to you about. When the food and drug inspectors and market management officials arrive, you can talk to them."

"So you're asking for my life?" The restaurant manager licked his lips, a little nervous. He needed to stand his ground, or he'd lose his job. "You want me to pack my bags and leave? You want all my brothers to be kicked out by the boss?"

"Ha!" Billy sneered, "What does this have to do with me!?"

The manager pointed at the guests. "Then I can't afford to treat you to this meal, guests, family members! I can't afford it. If the compensation process delays your plans, there's nothing I can do—it's all the police officers' fault for causing us trouble. The guests will also have to be questioned one by one later."

Billy waved his hand dismissively, winking, "I'll step in first! Come on, you keep up the antics! Keep performing!"

Fay Foroisin watched with delight, finding it utterly amusing.

--In her memory, nameless people were all high-flying figures, but she never expected that Billy and Fuyanni would like to argue with the hooligans and bullies in the streets.

The manager then whispered sternly, "You're asking for it, aren't you? I'm just an employee working for the boss! Who on this street doesn't cheat on weights and measures? You can find out who cheats on their scales! But what about those without cheating scales? They just switch hands between the front desk and back office! Fish heads become fish bones, fresh meat becomes frozen meat, they're all magicians with precise knife skills! Why don't you go check on them? Why are you making things difficult for a nobody like me!"

"Then I'll have to check them one by one!" Billy said immediately.

The manager yelled, "You're going to get yourself killed! Do you think the scenic area along the Taiyun River makes a lot of money in a day? If you try to ruin someone's livelihood, they'll kill you! You're too young to be a police officer."

"I have insurance." Billy patted the insurance policy and polished his war hero medals until they shone. "What? Still not convinced? Can't bribe me? So you're trying to threaten me?"

Fay Foroisin shouted, "Fool! What use is money if you're dead!"

"Then Fuyanni will be rich! He'll be the beneficiary!" Billy the Kid laughed heartily. "Finally, one of the brothers will have his dream come true and suddenly become rich!"

Fuyanni laughed loudly and cursed, "Bastard! Hahahaha!"

"You need to have some real skills," Billy the Kid, lightly patting the restaurant manager's face. "Don't get in my brother's way to make money! I'm not afraid to die. My teacher was a gunsmith, and he told us that there are many precious things in the world that are far more important than life."

At this moment, the guests in the restaurant also started shouting, seemingly not intending to ask for payment for their meals.

"Beat him up! Damn it! This guy cheats you out of your money and thinks he's right?"

"Hero! Call some reinforcements right now! Can the two of you beat these security guards?"

"I have a gun! I have a gun! Damn it! I finally got through security! Stop! Honey, stop!"

Everything seems to be moving in a positive direction.

The next second, the television broadcast suddenly switched without warning, from the evening news studio to the deathly silent train.

That was an armed special train, a special express train belonging to the Lapis Lazuli Guards used to transport prisoners.

--Pellegrini Touan, his face covered in blood, gave a horrifying smile to the camera.

Hehe. Hehehehehehehe

The Immortals had broken free of his cage, regained his senses, and was freed during the transport.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Unable to contain his elation, he turned on the full-channel signal in the armed train, wanting to share this good news with everyone in the underworld and tell all his comrades.

"The gunsmith is dead! The gunsmith is dead!"

He slowly stood up, and people could see the bloody holes in the body of this heinous prisoner, as if he had been seriously injured.

He brought his camera to the locomotive. The windowsills, seats, tables, and storage shelves on both sides were covered with bits of flesh and organs, a horrific trace left by the power of the Storm Eye.

"Come, come! Come and see! Come and see! The gunsmith is dead!"

Like a completely insane mental patient who had lost his mind, he peeled off the rubber pads of the connecting plate and pulled out a bloody, mangled corpse.

The corpse's features were almost unrecognizable. Pellegrini picked up the gooey chunks of flesh and pieced them together bit by bit to complete the "Gunsmith's" face. Finally, he placed the "Steel Heart" as a garnish on the "Gunsmith's" forehead as part of this human flesh cake tower.

He was spitting blood while laughing, then collapsed to his knees from exhaustion.

"Hehehehehehehehehehehe."

"I'm all better now, I'm completely cured, hehehe."

The camera fell next to Pellegrini's head, and blood kept flowing, eventually flooding part of the screen.

The recording wasn't over yet; it was like a live broadcast, only no one was stopping it—even though the TV station staff were frantic, they still couldn't forcibly cut off the signal.

As Pellegrini's pupils slowly dilated under the watchful eyes of the crowd, and he completely lost his vital signs, his body convulsed. Plump, fleshy worms crawled out of his abdomen. In the darkness, these strong, White Lady could survive for a while longer, slowly gnawing at Pellegrini's flesh, causing the corpse to writhe unnaturally.

The people in the restaurant were motionless, as if their minds were frozen, seemingly unable to comprehend what had happened.

No one dared to speak, including the restaurant manager who had just been shouting, begging for mercy, and struggling.

Everything seemed to stand still, with doubts constantly being dispelled and beliefs constantly being overturned. The story on television seemed too fantastical; people weren't prepared at all. It was like a natural disaster.

Just then, Fay Foroisin silently left the place.

She dropped everything and practically scaled walls to get back to her public housing apartment. After taking off her winter clothes, she was revealed to be wearing a tight-fitting, quick-drying outfit suitable for rapid movement.

She pulled a set of luggage from the bathroom tiles, stuffed it all into her suitcase, and immediately checked it in.

She took out a small metal box containing satellite phones from different systems, and a Chaos Egg.

The ferocious ball of flesh had just opened its blood-red teeth when it was subdued by the spiritual pressure emanating from FF.

The seemingly frail woman dialed a secret number.

"The gunsmith is dead? Did you see that?"

"I'm not sure, I find it hard to believe."

"Let's wait for the autopsy results."

"Whether it's true or not, try hurting his family, kill his children, and you'll know once you try."

"I'm not doing this." FF's tone was meaningful, tinged with a flippant smugness, as if he were boasting about his achievements. "I've gathered so much intelligence for Pellegrini, gotten close to the gunsmith's students, learned about his family situation, and even sent him to the mortal world to work as a kindergarten teacher, but this good-for-nothing still got caught—he's much smarter than me, and he values his life more than I do. I'm not taking that risk. I'm going back to Shambhala to lay low for a while. If the gunsmith really is dead, shall we meet in Eureka and pop some champagne together?"

"This meal is on me."

FF was about to hang up the phone--

"--FF, I don't trust you. You seem to have a soft spot for the gunsmith's apprentice."

Miss Fay frowned and narrowed her eyes, her face full of sarcasm. "Please! I'm not a child, do you really think I'd act on emotion?"

The voice on the other end of the phone questioned, "So why did you stay with those two apprentices after Pellegrini was arrested?"

"Just experience life! The most important thing in life is to experience!" FF sneered. "Don't trust me? How about I go cut off their heads right now? Before you start slaughtering Eureka again, let's get some snacks to liven things up?"

An elderly voice came from the phone.

"No need, don't expose yourself."