The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

“Are you sure?” Sienna asked.

This wasn't the first time she had asked this question.

In fact, she knew very well that this probably wouldn't be the last time she asked the same question.

Mom rolled her eyes. "Sienna, I know you. In some ways, I probably know you better than you know yourself. I can tell when you're about to reach your limit."

The look in your eyes right now is exactly the same as the look your dad and I had after dragging you to a party and forcing you to socialize for over an hour.

Sienna frowned. "I'm fine."

Her mother gave her a hug. The hug felt a little condescending, but she accepted it nonetheless.

"Of course you're fine, honey. But you'd feel better if you had a few hours alone to think things through and relax."

Sienna shifted uncomfortably. "You'll keep in touch with me, won't you?"

Mom nodded. "I brought my phone with me, and you know my number. I'll send you a photo when we get there."

Sienna nodded, then turned to her sisters, trying to put on a serious expression. "You three will behave, right?" she asked.

All five heads nodded in unison. “We’ll be very good,” Teddy said. “We won’t cause any trouble for the eldest sister. We’ll do exactly what she says.”

"Please, darling, just call me Claire."

“Okay, eldest brother,” Teddy said.

Sienna pointed at Teddy. "Unless it's an extremely urgent situation, you're not allowed to turn into a bear, and you better believe me, if you do, you'll have to give me a proper explanation."

Teddy's head kept bobbing up and down.

Sienna then pointed at Athena, "Don't scare others just for fun, and don't tease your sisters too much. Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you're the most obedient."

“Understood, sister,” Athena said.

Sienna pointed at Trinity, then at her three bodies. "And you, no more rummaging through the trash cans."

Trinity's three mouths simultaneously emitted protest cries.

“Not even once,” Sienna said. “You’re not even allowed to rummage through the trash cans on the way there.”

Her mother's laughter interrupted her, "I never thought I'd see you so dignified, it suits you quite well. Okay, don't worry, I can take care of several children."

"I'm just going to buy some ice cream, I'll be right back, nothing will happen."

"Please, don't jinx it."

Her mother hugged her again, and then Sienna squatted down and hugged each of her younger sisters one by one. Only then did her sisters come out of the room. She was hugged a total of five times.

The door clicked shut, and Sienna suddenly found herself alone in the room.

She turned around and looked around the room.

The room was a bit messy, with several mischievous little ones crammed into such a small space, making it difficult to tidy up. However, apart from that, it was still the same room she had lived in since the start of the school year, only... it was quieter now.

Sienna frowned, then crossed her arms. Less than a minute had passed, and she couldn't allow herself to start missing her sisters; after all, she had always avoided others whenever possible.

Instead of dwelling on this contradictory and strange emotion, she walked to the desk and opened the desk drawer.

The documents I got from Sement were all in there, neatly stacked under crayon drawings on several loose-leaf sheets of paper.

She didn't bother to hide them, since she couldn't think of any good places in the house to hide things.

She pulled her chair closer to the desk, took a new notebook out of her bag, pressed out the nib of her fountain pen, and then leaned forward to begin studying it.

In reality, she felt that the chances of these documents solving her problem were slim, but not entirely impossible.

Moreover, while she is doing her research, she can also let those questions settle and settle in her mind.

Unfortunately, these documents were not compiled by the teacher for teaching purposes, nor were they excerpts from textbooks.

They were just a bunch of semi-organized reports, maps, pages printed from various websites, and some other printed documents.

After reading only five pages, she gave up on reading the whole thing and instead started cataloging and classifying them.

Her pen flew across the notebook as she began breaking everything down into smaller parts.

First, she numbered the top of each page according to the original order of the documents, and used the numbers to refer to them.

Once she figured out roughly which category these documents belonged to, she would assign them letter numbers.

Soon, her desk was divided into more than twenty small piles. When there wasn't enough space on the desk, several small piles were also piled up on the floor next to it.

"This is such a mess," Sienna remarked, though the mess itself was surprisingly organized.

These documents contained neither an action plan nor a simple explanation of the situation she faced.

Instead, they were scattered pieces of evidence that proved... Sienna gradually realized that this was evidence of the birth of a criminal organization.

Some documents are used for blackmail, proving that different people have committed certain crimes or been unfaithful to their spouses.

This type of evidence mostly appears in accounting reports, and in some places it is marked; it comes from several companies in the city.

Most of the printouts were listings of houses for sale. One of them was a place she and her sisters had raided.

Is it a hiding place? A safe house?

Sienna flipped through her notebook and listed the addresses so she could go and check them out to see if anyone lived there.

The report in her hand had an "H" at the bottom of almost every page, which looked a bit like a simple house design.

"Homi" is the villain that she and Teddy captured with the help of Meraton.

She quickly skimmed through the reports. Most of them mentioned shops in the city that had grudges against small gangs, and then detailed how those gangs had been driven out.

There are also some "receipt" reports, with the donation amounts listed next to them. Each individual amount may not seem like much, but when added together, they can add up to a considerable sum.

Sement can make tens of thousands of dollars every month just by collecting protection money.

He also runs two small businesses. As Sienna sees it, the businesses themselves are perfectly legitimate, except for some shady accounting practices that turn those "donations" into taxable income.

In general, he only made a little more money from his protection money business than from selling cheap pizzas to hungry college students.

Sienna's hand started cramping after she had only read half of the document.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.

It's really not easy to piece together all this fragmented information.

Honestly, Sement didn't need to label everything so clearly. This was his own business, and these were his notes. He didn't need to explain the business operations to himself.

Sienna suddenly realized how small this whole thing was. Of course, it was quite complex, but it was indeed very small in scale.

There were a few minor clashes with other gangs, a few reports of thieves being injured, and some small-scale tricks run by a few small groups. The city probably never even noticed any of this.

Sienna was forced to reassess her understanding of Sement, the old villain who had previously been a minor threat to her. Although she knew she had underestimated him, she hadn't realized how much.

This idea is quite frightening.

Sienna's phone suddenly vibrated, nearly startling her so much she jumped off her chair.

She was so used to the constant noise around her that she was startled when it quieted down.

She picked up her phone, opened it, and saw several messages from her mother, containing photos of her younger sisters.

They were all sitting around a table, holding ice cream cones, their faces and clothes covered in ice cream.

At least they had a lot of fun.

Sienna smiled, then quickly replied to her mother's message, and then looked at the documents again.

If she can't come up with a solution, their happy times may soon be over.

Sienna felt more determined than usual. She picked up her notebook and flipped through a few pages.

Sement runs several businesses, and as far as she can tell, at least from an accounting standpoint, the businesses themselves are legitimate.

He's gone. Who's running those businesses now?

And what about those who paid protection money to Sement? Now that Sement is gone, how will they react? Will this situation be advantageous for Sienna?

There are two leads we can follow up on.

She jotted down some addresses in her notebook while nodding to herself.

She had class the next afternoon, but was free in the morning, which would give her plenty of time to investigate.

If those who have escaped Sement's protection money extortion are generous enough to open their wallets, this might be her first legitimate income in a while.

Moreover, if those businesses need help, that could be a decent source of income.

There's at least a glimmer of hope.