Zoe, who was on duty, suddenly received a call from Victoria.
"How many Chelated Beings have been killed so far?" Zoe turned and thought for a moment. "Everyone combined... probably seven... Hm? But—fine."
After hanging up, Zoe lightly leaped outside.
"Ende, Theresa," she said as she came between them. "Stop guarding the opera house. We need to check City Hall on Second Street and the mall on Fourth Street."
"But the people here haven't all evacuated yet..."
"Victoria said there are only seven Chelated Beings at the opera house in total," Zoe said. "Susie will watch this place from above in a moment. Let's split up first."
"Seven in total?" Theresa looked somewhat surprised. "Where did she get that information?"
"She didn't say. Anyway, she wants us to check both locations first," Zoe said. "She said there are four in City Hall and two in the mall, all ordinary Chelated Beings..."
"We already smelled the pheromones earlier," Ende said. "Since things have stayed calm, there probably won't be any Aberrants tonight."
"That's not what I mean." Zoe shook her head. "I mean the Chelated Beings over there all have pincers."
"..."
Both Theresa and Ende wore faintly puzzled expressions.
"Hurry up," Zoe said. "In five minutes, each of you update Victoria with the results."
"Got it!"
In the stairwell, Hesta and Victoria were still confronting the unknown enemies.
Compared to a few minutes ago, the atmosphere was no longer quite so tense. Of the four outsiders, only one continued watching Hesta closely. The other three either stood against the wall with their arms folded or leaned on the window rail, trying to strike up a conversation with Victoria.
"How did you find her?" the person who had proposed the deal asked. "She was inside the building. You should have—"