Reunion's Arrangements

Upon hearing Texas's call, Sora's dilated pupils gradually contracted.

She turned her head and looked at Texas, who was holding her and showing concern, and her lips curled slightly.

But she seemed hesitant when faced with the question about Texas.

"This..."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"Ms. Maria... she didn't escape..."

Texas fell silent.

She turned her head blankly, staring at the thick concrete that had collapsed and piled up in front of her, and a terrible thought suddenly surged into her mind.

Lappland, standing to the side, simply pursed his lips.

"Impossible!"

"Absolutely impossible!"

"This is no problem for her!"

"More importantly... do you know what actually happened here? This building couldn't have collapsed so easily, could it?"

Lappland asked a question.

But clearly, no one at the scene could answer her question.

Lappland, seeing her question met with indifference, didn't seem to mind. She turned and sheathed her longsword, slowly walking towards the ruins.

Texas remained silent.

What do you want to do?

"Go find her."

Lappland's answer was simple.

"With such a commotion, there's no way Ms. Maria could be injured... Something must be restricting her movement, preventing her from coming out for the time being."

As she spoke, she began to walk through the dangerous pile of rubble.

Texas, after hesitating for a moment, handed Sora over to Exusiai take care of, and then decisively followed Lappland to begin searching for Maria.

Even at this moment, Lappland didn't stop her incessant chatter.

"That's unexpected... You just mentioned that woman's name, didn't you?"

The white-haired girl lowered her head slightly, sniffing the surrounding air, trying to find that familiar, sweet, smoky scent.

"... You clearly knew all along." Texas bent over, rummaging through the large rocks around her.

She knew what Lappland meant.

Everyone had been deliberately suppressing their urge to mention that woman's name, but in the end, she was the one who spoke first and revealed it.

This probably makes Lappland quite proud.

But it doesn't matter anymore.

She knew she couldn't keep it from Lappland forever.

The previous delays were simply because I wanted to occupy Ms. Maria's time a little longer.

Now that Lappland already knows, there's no need for me to keep it a secret any longer.

"Hmm~" Lappland maintained her calm and composed expression. Seeing that Texas had finally been thwarted, she didn't say much, but simply squinted and continued to quietly search.

But clearly, their help was not very meaningful.

Just moments later, accompanied by the shaking and twitching of the stones, the tall woman slowly pushed aside the boulder and walked out of the ruins, with an unconscious woman in her arms.

It was the waitress they had seen before.

Immediately after the chaos broke out, Maria threw several girls out on the spot, while she herself went to find the last waiter.

Although she couldn't run out immediately due to environmental factors, she successfully protected the other person.

He has only fainted due to the tremors, but overall he is fine.

After emerging from the ruins, Maria's first action was to check on the people present.

Exusiai, Croissant, Sora... and Texas, all fine...

And then...

Turning her head, Maria looked again at the white-haired woman beside her, who was beaming with excitement.

After a quick search of her memory, she quickly recalled who the other person was.

Lappland...

What is she doing here?

Was the person Texas just saw... her?

After hesitating for a moment, Maria ultimately said nothing, quietly placed the waiter next to Exusiai, and then turned back to continue searching for something in the ruins.

This action drew puzzled looks from those around them.

Everyone in the room has been rescued; there shouldn't be anything of value left, right?

Maria... what else are you looking for?

Was something left inside?

Everyone hesitated.

But at that very moment, not far from them, the Lungmen Guard Department arrived in a hurry...

Chapter 132 Arrangements for the Reunion Movement

The Lungmen Guard Department sent quite a few people this time.

Among them were familiar faces, including Exusiai.

"Oh, we meet again."

Exusiai cheerfully carried the unconscious waiter over to seek help, and the Lungmen Guard Department Medical Operators did not hesitate much. After evacuating the crowd, they turned around and began to help treat him, their practiced movements suggesting that this was not the first time they had done this.

Meanwhile, Hoshiguma and Chen looked helplessly at Penguin Logistics.

"What trouble have you gotten into this time?"

"Well~" Exusiai scratched her head, grinning.

This time, she was indeed embarrassed to say that Penguin Logistics was merely a passive counterattack.

Based on what she saw, Maria was indeed responsible for the building collapse, and Maria was indeed an employee of Penguin Logistics.

That is indeed their problem.

"This is such a hassle..."

Chen spoke wearily, his voice lacking its former confidence.

They've been working overtime every day lately, with no time to even go home. Although she felt she could keep going, her body was giving her the real feedback.

She started to feel weak.

But work is work, and no matter how exhausted she was, she had to continue. She took out her notebook and began asking Exusiai what had happened.

Seeing that Chen had started, Hoshiguma saw that there was no need to interfere, so she turned to look at Maria, who was searching for something.

"We meet again."

She smiled, waved to Maria in front of her, and relaxed her posture.

Compared to Chen, she didn't have as much work pressure, but sitting in the office all day long did make her a little uncomfortable.

It's more relaxing to go out for a walk.

"Hmm... We meet again, Ms. Hoshiguma."

Maria nodded politely when she saw Hoshiguma, then hesitated for a moment before looking around.

"Why... did you get here?"

"It's work."

Hoshiguma smiled.

"Although building collapses are not within our scope of work, since it happened, we might as well take a look since we don't have any missions right now."

"... Thanks for your hard work."

Maria nodded to Hoshiguma.

Although she still doesn't really understand what the Lungmen Guard Department does, judging from their actions of evacuating the crowd and investigating the scene, their job must include protecting citizens... and the work of protecting others is always worthy of respect.

"I'm just doing what I can do." Hoshiguma felt a little embarrassed by Maria's frank praise.

She scratched her head, then looked curiously at the stone in Maria's hand.

"So what are you doing here?"

"... Have a meal."

"Eat?" Hoshiguma looked at the stone in Maria's hand with a subtle expression.

"This?"

"...No." Maria noticed that the other person's gaze was fixed on the stone in her hand, and she remained silent for a few moments.

While she is indeed somewhat special, she is not powerful enough to chew on rocks.

It's not that she can't eat them, it's just that eating stones wouldn't do her any good.

So, after Hoshiguma clearly misunderstood, she silently threw away the stone and then turned back to continue searching.

"This was just a... dessert shop. I came here for breakfast, but... someone behind me wanted to declare war on me, I accepted, and launched an attack."

"But... my attack shouldn't be enough to cause a building to collapse; I'm carefully controlling my strength."

Maria continued speaking, ignoring Hoshiguma's incomprehensible gaze behind her.

"I noticed that there were several explosions after my attack... but I didn't launch an attack during those times. Something was triggered by my attack."

"Trigger?"

Upon hearing Maria's words, Hoshiguma, who had been relaxed, suddenly became serious.

After thinking for a moment, she turned around, put on her gloves from a car not far away, and then turned back to help Maria search for stones.

"Are you sure?"

"... I can't be sure, but I know exactly what my attack was like. Those few punches weren't powerful enough to destroy a building like this."

Maria's words were serious, and Hoshiguma fell silent at that moment.

After hesitating for a moment, she helped Maria while whispering in her ear.

"We've intercepted intelligence about the Reunion Movement today..."

"Um?"

"Although they have temporarily retreated, they have not given up their attack on Lungmen. The current information is that the Reunion Movement is now divided into two parts. One part is operating on the Chernobog mobile platform and is moving towards Lungmen."

"The other part moves inside the Lungmen, preparing to engage the enemy."

Hoshiguma's voice was very soft, only Maria, who was next to her, could hear it.

Obviously, this wasn't information to be shared, but out of trust in Maria, Hoshiguma still explained what she knew to Maria.

Maria quickly realized what the other person meant.

"Are you saying... you think this time, it might have been done by those Reunion Movement members hiding in Lungmen?"

"... Uncertain, but possible."

Hoshiguma shook her head softly, "I remember, during the last Reunion Movement, there was someone who could use similar Originium Arts, right?"

"... Alex?" Hearing Hoshiguma's whisper, Maria instantly thought of Misha's younger brother, Alex, who was known as the Skullshatterer.

At first, Maria thought it was some kind of professional industrial product... like gunpowder or something.