Who's There? / Another Attack, Ready Once More

"Hmm, a note that fell from some unknown void?"

The girl looked curiously at the note. "[Your doll works great. Want to come over and check it out, and maybe get some after-sales service? If you'd like, just stick this note on the door and you can come over when you open it.]"

The girl chuckled softly, "Interesting, interesting."

He then stood up, took the note, and walked towards the door.

Inside the Hakurei Shrine, a drunken girl shoved aside the note that had fallen in front of her...

Chapter 352 Who is it?

In a daze, she rolled over and crushed the note to pieces.

The note she didn't see read, "[Otherworld, battle, exhilarating, want to come?]"

Seeing the two people appear in front of him, he breathed a sigh of relief; at least these two would still take advantage of his face.

Feeling the heartbeat behind her, Suika turned to look at Hoshiguma.

Hoshiguma looked at the tall woman not far away with a surprised expression.

The instant the other person appeared, she had a feeling, like seeing her reflection in a mirror move—fear? unease? surprise?

She didn't know, but she tried to understand the various emotions that came rushing in.

When that person opened his eyes, a terrifying aura swept over them. In that instant, everyone felt like a Cloud Beast Rift Beast, and could be torn apart at any moment with a single thought.

"Calm down, don't scare the kids." After Suika's voice rang out, that imposing aura vanished instantly, as if it had never existed.

"You said there was trouble, that's why I came... What's the trouble?" The tall woman took two steps forward and stood in front of Suika, looking down at her.

"Don't rush, trouble is just around the corner. We have enough time, how about we grab a drink first?"

Suika raised her glass and swirled it.

Upon hearing Suika's words, the man's lips curled into a smile.

"Of course, and while you're at it, tell me about your little... friends?"

As she spoke, her gaze fell upon Hoshiguma looked somewhat bewildered not far away.

"Where's my doll? You don't just have this one on your head left, do you?" At this moment, another girl's voice rang out from the side, making everyone realize that there were two people there, not one.

"Of course not, it's just a hundred dolls. I'm not like you, why would I carry so many with me? I only brought one, and the rest were distributed to my friends. Of course, I also told them to treat them well."

As Suika spoke, the doll above her head flew into the girl's hand, like a daughter who had traveled far away seeing her suddenly arrive, happily snuggling in the girl's palm.

"Treat it well?"

"The first time we let them out, they were torn to pieces by the enemy. When did ghosts learn to lie?"

The girl looked at Suika with a look in her eyes that was hard to tell whether it was mockery or something else.

"That was an accident. I didn't expect her to have the ability to resist. But ask her if I've been good to her along the way."

Suika shrugged, indicating that she did bear some responsibility for that incident, but overall she was quite good to the dolls.

As Suika spoke, the doll nodded and flew back onto Suika's head.

"Tsk, you were so easily bribed by this drunkard."

"Fine, she paid anyway, I'll just leave it at that."

Although the girl looked angry, her beautiful appearance completely masked any hint of it.

"Suika, won't you introduce your two friends?" Talulah forward and looked at the two.

"Please come inside and have a seat. This doesn't look like a meeting between friends."

Because of the terrifying aura at the beginning, all the Reunion Movement members subconsciously drew their weapons, but after Suika spoke up, they sheepishly put their weapons away.

Then the two followed Suika to a bonfire inside and sat down.

"Want some?"

As Suika spoke, the blonde girl shook her head, while the other handed Suika her sake bowl.

"I have some fine wines here, much more interesting than that sake. Would you like to try some?"

Suika looked at that person.

The other person nodded, Suika took out the Ibuki Gourd and poured her a whole bowl.

"A locally brewed beer, made from Originium Bug from Columbia."

As soon as Suika finished speaking, the other person drank it all in one gulp.

"Want something stronger?" Suika asked.

Nod

"Leithanien aged red wine, that's some good stuff..."

The bright red liquor, like blood, gurgled into the other person's bowl. Just as she was about to gulp it down, the girl next to her reached out and stopped her.

"Red wine should be savored slowly. Drinking it down in one gulp is like a cow chewing on a peony—it's such a waste."

Then the blonde girl took the glass of red wine that Suika handed her, took a small sip, and her eyes lit up. "It's indeed a good wine."

"Ahem, let's have a drink and I'll introduce you all..." At this moment, Suika felt someone nudging her shoulder. Looking over, she saw it was Chen. She gestured to Hoshiguma next to her, who had seemed a bit off from the start.

"This is Alice Margotroved, the puppeteer of the Seven Colors. She is also the creator of the Shanghai Dolls."

You have all witnessed the skills of the Shanghai Dolls, and the Shanghai Dolls is just one of her puppets.

Don't let her pretty appearance fool you, she really is very pretty...

Okay, I won't waste any more words... Although Alice's true form lacks combat power, with the help of her puppets, our numerical disadvantage can be easily made up for."

After Suika finished speaking, she nodded to Alice.

Alice stood up and gracefully gave a ladylike curtsy.

"I've already asked the dolls, and they're all doing well and satisfied with their lives. So I forgive you for hurting her. I've already had her wounds repaired. Just be more careful in the future."

Upon hearing Alice's words Suika took Shanghai off her head and saw that, sure enough, the previous repair marks had disappeared.

When Suika got close to her, the doll pushed her face away in disgust.

Seeing the two of them playfully bickering, Alice's smile widened even more.

After bringing Shanghai back into her mind, Suika pointed to another tall figure who had silently drunk several more bowls of wine.

"This is a heavyweight, my drinking buddy, and one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the supernatural being everyone talks about— Hoshiguma Yuugi."

When Suika said Hoshiguma's name, she deliberately drew out the words.

Upon hearing her words, everyone instinctively looked at Hoshiguma on the other side, and at that moment they felt that the two did indeed look somewhat alike.

"The Four Heavenly Kings are long gone; I'm just a lowly manager in the hot spring town now."

Yuugi Hoshiguma felt something was off after arriving here, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Several times she tried to ask, but Alice stopped her each time.

At this moment, she picked up her wine bowl and looked at the person not far away who seemed familiar to her at first glance.

"Would you like to have a drink, my friend?"

Hoshiguma pursed her lips, then walked up.

"Good!"

After saying that, he picked up the wine bowl and downed it in one gulp, his face instantly turning red.

"Hey, slow down! I poured out Burning Knife this time!"

Only after she finished drinking did Suika belatedly speak up.

On the other side, just as Suika finished speaking Yuugi Hoshiguma also downed the strong liquor in his bowl in one gulp.

Chapter 353 The Attack Prepared Again

Seeing the two of them drinking one glass after another as if they were about to have a showdown, Suika stepped between them and coughed lightly twice.

"Hey, you're drinking my wine, so at least listen to what I have to say!"

Suika was quite self-aware, knowing that she didn't possess any succubus constitution. She figured that these two otherworldly counterparts weren't competing because of her, but rather because of the two of them.

Just like if you met someone in another world who had the same name and looked similar to you, you would compare the strengths and weaknesses of both of you.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on her, Suika continued.

"Now that we've introduced our two guests, let's introduce our team members and our next target. We can't just leave this cave and start killing everyone we see, can we?"

Suika pointed at Talulah

"This is Ms. Talulah, the leader and proposer of this plan, and the leader of the Reunion Movement."

Upon hearing Suika's introduction Talulah nodded slightly to the two of them.

Then Suika pointed to the remaining people and said, "Red, a swordsman with decent strength. Chen, Omnislash... Sorry, I switched channels, but he's also a swordsman with decent strength..."

And then there's this... a member of the Oni from the Eastern Country, whose name is -- Hoshiguma.

After Suika finished speaking, Yuugi Hoshiguma looked at her, still smiling.

"No wonder I felt an instant connection; it turns out we share the same name. It really is fate."

"It is indeed fate."

Hoshiguma glanced at Suika, then at Yuugi Hoshiguma across from her, recalling their first meeting when Suika probably mistook her for Yuugi.

For a moment, she seemed to see the kind of melodramatic youth novels about substitutes that a little tiger would read when he was bored at work.

"These two, like Yagokoro Eirin, are from my hometown."

As for their capabilities... after helping us deal with that town, a smooth retreat shouldn't be a problem."

After learning that the two were from the same hometown as Yagokoro Eirin life to the Infected and the Reunion Movement, everyone looked at the two with much more respect.

That's why Suika brought this up specifically.

Of the two on the other side, Yuugi Hoshiguma didn't show much expression after hearing Suika's words, while Alice's eyes lit up.

Although she wasn't very clear about Suika's situation, she knew that there had indeed been quite a commotion in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost before, and that the Hakurei Shrine Maiden and Yukari Yakumo had both gone there to investigate.

After receiving the news from Marisa, I thought something strange had happened there, but it turned out to be all bark and no bite. Now it seems that the Moon Sage was probably in the same place as them now.

Then, one could see from their eyes that their respect for the Sage of the Moon was genuine, suggesting that he must have made some truly remarkable contributions during his time here.

After introducing everyone, Suika gave her seat to Talulah.

Talulah then took out a map of Ursus, unfolded it, and explained her group's plan.

After Talulah finished speaking, Yuugi Hoshiguma and Alice both looked at Suika with puzzled expressions, as if to say, "You need to ask for help with something like this?"

But unexpectedly, Suika was also somewhat speechless at the time.

After all, items are too unpredictable. Suika's goal at the time was simply to spend money to get an item and have Talulah pay for it, then reveal some of her strength and resolve the matter.

Unexpectedly, another invitation arrived. The last invitation brought one person, and this time two showed up. Following this pattern, the next round should bring three...

"Ahem, it's always good to have a backup plan when you're out and about... Besides, if there's a legitimate reason for a fight, would you refuse?"

Suika awkwardly turned her head away.

Hearing Suika's conversation with the two, Talulah and her group, including Chen and Hoshiguma, were somewhat surprised. They hadn't expected Suika's abilities to far exceed what she had shown; this girl was still hiding something.

"So, Miss Talulah, what is your plan?"

Yuugi Hoshiguma looked down at the map and inquired about Talulah's battle plan.

"Originally, we planned to use fire, with Suika and I launching a surprise attack under the cover of night to split up the group, while the others would decapitate the target."

But unexpectedly, it suddenly started raining, and according to the Ursus rainy season, this rain will last for at least one to two weeks.

We can't wait here for the rain to stop, but unfortunately we are outnumbered, so we are looking at other plans.

Suika said she could call someone to help, and then you two appeared."

After gesturing on the map, Talulah marked out the original plan, including the subsequent route of action.

After reading Yuugi Hoshiguma nodded in understanding.

"So what we need is to eliminate all the enemies in this town, and then wander around the area with the distracted troops, right?"

"That's right!" Talulah nodded and looked at the other person, wanting to hear their thoughts.