Ke Xue: I picked up a bottle of sherry at the beginning.

"Are those high-ranking officials planning to abandon the common people and escape on their own?!"

This wasn't deliberate incitement, but rather the unleashing of a long-simmering sense of unease and distrust. One person rushed out, and in the next moment, hundreds followed. The chaotic clatter of footsteps made the floor rumble. The crowd, jostling and shoving each other, raced up the stairs, heading for the helicopter on the rooftop. Some people accidentally stepped on empty space and were dragged down, eventually being lost in the sea of ​​people. Shiraizumi quickly stepped forward to pull up a few who had fallen to the ground to prevent a stampede.

"Hey, hey...now is not the time for this kind of thing."

Ryoko scolded Shiraizumi Masu, grabbed his arm and pulled him under the decorative beam.

"Inspector, what suggestions do you have?" asked Baiquan Yi.

"Let's wait and see what happens."

"Well, that's as good as nothing."

Shiraizumi complained, then, along with Ryoko, stared at the large screen in the deserted hall. The channel's camera, incidentally, had a prime position, capturing images using telescopic night-vision goggles. The imagery showed a gloomy building, and the thought of being inside it made him feel a little uneasy.

The two helicopters slowly lowered their altitude from a stationary position in the air, and the words "Metropolitan Police Department" were clearly visible on the fuselage.

In less than a moment, a helicopter stopped descending and finally landed smoothly. This must have been the moment when a huge stone fell from the hearts of the people watching TV in the lounge. However, the helicopter overturned without warning.

Directly above the overturned helicopter on the rooftop was a second helicopter. Or rather, just as the second helicopter was about to touch down, the first helicopter below it suddenly overturned. The pilot quickly climbed to avoid the impact, but was a second too late—no, half a second. The overturned helicopter's rotor blades struck the second helicopter squarely. A strange noise echoed through the night sky, and the helicopter lost balance in mid-air, its speed plummeting.

The helicopters plummeted from a height of five meters. The two helicopters collided with each other, and with a loud bang, they were suddenly surrounded by flames, triggering an orange-red fireball more violent than the patrol car explosion, followed by a large cloud of black smoke.

Riding the night wind blowing in from Tokyo Bay, it flows towards the city center.

"The helicopter crashed!"

The reporter screamed in shock.

"From where I'm standing, I can't get the details, but from what just happened, it seems the first helicopter that landed was attacked, and the second one was caught in the crossfire... I wonder if the pilot is safe? The crew is currently extinguishing the fire on the helicopter. I urge them to be extra careful, as there's no telling when the criminals might attack again...!"

"They're clearly hoping the criminal will attack again. How can they be so gloating over someone else's misfortune? It's truly despicable!"

Ryoko harshly criticized the others, then confirmed with the silent Shiraizumi Masu:

"The helicopter wasn't attacked mid-air, was it?"

"Probably after landing on the roof."

"Well, it's true."

Ryoko held her chin with her fingertips and thought, and made a decision quickly.

"Baiquan Yi, follow me to the floor where the department store is located!"

The department store was brightly lit and bustling with customers, but the lively atmosphere was gone. A group of trapped customers and staff gathered together, whispering anxiously, interrupted by the cries of babies.

Even if a protracted war ensued, food wouldn't be a problem, as an entire department store was housed in this building. However, if a riot broke out, bloodshed over food supplies was unavoidable.

Ryoko stopped in front of the store's route sign, and Shiraizumi asked:

"Which store are you going to?"

"Guess which one?"

"I don't know divination, so I can't guess."

"That's useless! It's a bookstore!"

"The bookstore is on the fourth floor..."

"I'm going to look for the book 'Encyclopedia of Fantasy Beasts and Insects'. You can come and help me."

The two of them half ran, half walked to the fourth floor.

"Sir, the shop is closed today."

Ryoko thrust the police manual under the nose of the explaining clerk. Perhaps the glint of power and authority was too dazzling, the clerk narrowed his eyes and took a few steps back. After asking about the location of the mythology and legend bookshelf, Ryoko immediately rushed forward with loud steps in her high heels, with Shiraizumi Masu and the clerk following closely behind. Ryoko spent five minutes searching the backs of all the books arranged on the shelves, and also inspecting all the new books that were laid out flat. Finally, she gave her conclusion:

“It’s not complete at all!”

Ryoko yelled, and the clerk took a step or two back in embarrassment.

"I should have known better than to count on department store books. There are plenty of them, but I can't find what I want. They're just good-looking, but useless!"

"Do you want to look for it again?"

"I've looked through all the relevant bookshelves!"

"is it?"

"It's just a waste of time to keep looking. Let's go."

"Wait a mininute."

Shiraizumi's eyes explored the biology bookshelf. While still searching for a book, he said to Ryoko:

"I once went to a bookstore. Although it was large, the staff were quite careless in their work."

"What do you mean?"

"Conan Doyle's 'The Baskerville Dog' is relegated to the pets section of the shelf, and the clerk here seems to be in the same league."

Shiraizumi reached for the top shelf and pulled out a thick book. After confirming the title, he handed it to Ryoko, "A Complete Collection of Fantasy Beasts, Demons, and Insects." Ryoko's brows and lips twitched slightly as she took the book she had been searching for. Just as she was about to flip through the pages, her hand suddenly stopped.

"Why are you looking for this book?" Bai Quanyi couldn't understand the logic behind Yakushiji Ryoko's behavior.

"This book will tell us who the murderer is!" Ryoko Yakushiji said something incomprehensible.

As Ryoko spoke, she flipped the pages with her fingertips. She had hands worthy of being a nail polish model. As her fingers stopped, a title frame with an illustration jumped into Shiraizumi's eyes.

"Stone-dwelling Demonic Scorpion."

Bai Quanyi had just seen this pattern on the wall of the corridor.

"What exactly is this?"

"The demonic insects in the stone are tentatively classified as a type of scorpion, but this has not been verified by modern biology. Scorpions are a general term for arthropods that make webs. They have a pair of pincers and four pairs of legs, eight in total, exactly like spiders."

"So, the culprit behind tonight's series of events is this bug?"

"There's a 90% chance."

Ryoko answered carefully, and Shirazumi was sure she wasn't joking.

"Finally, we must ask the Kaohsiung City Chairman for clarification. This insect must be the cause of the trouble."

“Is this bug so powerful?

"Yes, the Stone-Dwelling Scorpion is a monster that lives in marble. It is extremely evil and has a sexual appetite for struggle and blood."

Hitting the Bull's Eye

The criminal turned out to be a bug, which was beyond Bai Quanyi's understanding.

Well...anyway, this case is handled by Yakushiji Ryoko, so it's none of his business.

"Inspector, are you planning to close the case as a bug?"

"Do you have any objections?" Yakushiji Ryoko raised her beautiful eyebrows and looked at Baiquan Yi.

"I have no opinion!"

……

The large screen installed in the venue showed a strange scene - a monster-like metal behemoth appeared in the lobby of the Seaside City Plaza, which was the crane of the Special Vehicle Unit.

At the end of the massive crane's thick steel cable hung an equally massive iron ball. This glistening black iron ball felt like a bowling ball, ten times its diameter. At this moment, the reporter on the screen shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Now the iron ball is about to begin its destruction. Ever since 1972, with the... Asama Villa Incident, I never imagined that scene would reappear decades later. I was still in kindergarten then! Ah, it brings back such nostalgia. The 1970s... Japan was so vibrant back then."

The decision to destroy it with the iron ball was a last resort. Everyone present was glued to the screen.

To Shiraizumi's surprise, Superintendent Hakuba was also present, accompanying a member of the ruling party.

"Stop it! Otherwise I won't let you go!"

A roar filled with rage surged up, and everyone's attention was instantly diverted from the large screen. The voice came from the Gao City Chairman, whose entire body was trembling, his eyes flashing with lightning and fire, and his face was extremely ferocious.

"Stop! I told you to stop! Don't destroy my castle!"

Gao Shi's image was completely different from what it was a second ago, and he looked like an obstinate tyrant.

"Mr. Takaichi, no matter what..."

Inspector Hakuba's tone sounded heavy.

"This involves the lives of nearly ten thousand people. About fifty have already died, and the number of injured is several times greater. Although I think this approach is a bit crude, it's better than doing nothing..."

"Let's go, Shirazumi Mashi. Now we're going to have a fight. Let's leave it to Superintendent Hakuba to negotiate."

Ryoko said nonchalantly, then quickly turned and left, followed closely by Shiraizumi Masu. As I left the venue, I heard the sounds of a violent struggle behind me. I turned back and witnessed the rare sight of Superintendent Hakuba lying on the ground. Takaichi rushed forward, straddling the director and gripping his neck tightly. Five or six special agents quickly rushed forward to pull away the senior executive who had caused the commotion. Takaichi, who was throwing punches and kicks, was forcibly dragged off the director in an instant, his hands clamped behind his back.

"I'm going to arrest you for committing violent assault and obstructing public service!"

With the help of SP, Director Bai Ma finally stood up. His collar and sparse hair were all messed up, his eyes and lips were swollen, and his nose was bleeding. There was no doubt that Gao Shi had become a criminal in the act of violence.

The demolition work has been completed, and Shiraizumi Mashi followed Ryoko out of the building.

"Captain, where are we going now?"

"We, the police force, shoulder the expectations of everyone and must now fight off the monsters."

"monster."

"That's right, we can't leave the Stone-Dwelling Demon Scorpion alone."

Bai Quanyi didn't know what to say. He didn't know whether there were monsters in this world. After all, it was a world of science, and everything was possible.

"Just the two of us, can we really do it?" Shiraizumi asked tentatively. Because Yakushiji Ryoko was so confident in her fundraising, she acted like she could handle it all on her own.

"Are you scared? Don't worry, I will protect you if there is any danger." As she said this, Yakushiji Ryoko also threw a wink at Shiraizumi. Shiraizumi felt that his and Yakushiji Ryoko's identities were completely reversed.

Suddenly, the air and the floor began to shake, and then there was a sound like distant thunder. Perhaps it was the iron ball hitting the outer wall of the building.

"Will the iron ball's approach be successful?"

"Even if it doesn't succeed, it's none of my business. Those people in the National Public Safety Commission want to show off their wisdom and decisiveness, so they're so proactive."

"It seems... something is coming." Bai Quanyi suddenly felt something was wrong. It was not the big iron ball that was wrong, but something else.

Ryoko's face instantly became serious. She unfastened the safety of her pistol and looked at the ground. She was shocked to find a large reddish-brown spot crawling at an alarming speed.

As it approached, a spot with many protrusions was seen running wildly on the ground with an unfriendly attitude, and it was about to run towards many elite politicians.

At this time, gunshots were heard. Ryoko held the COLT 32 caliber in her right hand, supported her right wrist with her left hand, aimed at the reddish-brown ground, pulled the trigger and fired three shots. The three bullets penetrated the floor, splashing marble fragments.

The reddish-brown spot stopped moving, but it only lasted for a moment. The protrusion was seen wriggling irregularly, and finally moved away at the same speed as when it approached, disappearing without a trace.

"This is... the Stone-dwelling Demon Scorpion. It turns out that Yakushiji Ryoko was not joking." Baiquan Yi was shocked beyond words.

The floor and the air began to vibrate again. The mobile team's crane hit the outer wall of the building with a huge iron ball. Once a hole was successfully knocked out, the mobile team's elite troops would be able to break in.

"Let's go."

After saying this, Ryoko turned and left, and Shiraizumi followed closely behind with a pistol that had not yet fired a bullet.

Ryoko and Shiraizumi Mashi came to the donut-shaped sofa in the middle of the floor and sat down. It was not clear when and where the monster would appear, so they decided to take a short rest first, otherwise rushing around would be useless.

Ryoko remained silent, and Shiraizumi Mashi also remained silent, looking around casually.

Suddenly, a "Hello" was heard and the security personnel at the venue came running over.

"The storming operation is about to begin. The entrance and exit halls are littered with glittering broken glass. It seems that many people have been injured as all those imprisoned are scrambling to escape."

The entire forecourt was packed with people desperately trying to escape, like a terminal at rush hour. Half the mobile team was unable to move, let alone disperse the general public or disperse the crowd. The scene was in chaos.

The mobile team that entered the building treated everyone equally and did their best to complete their duties. They led ordinary people outside and helped the elderly, women and a few children leave the building. In contrast, they were less friendly towards men.

However, this was not a discrimination between men and women, but rather a measure to prevent terrorists or radical elements from escaping by blending in with the crowd. Since this was a forced breakout with a kill-first-and-report-later approach, they knew almost nothing about the situation inside the building.

The mobile team finally reunited with the approximately one hundred police officers held captive in the building and met with the Metropolitan Police Department's chief of security and counselor. Yukiko Muromachi explained our actions and instructed us to provide cover if we were spotted.

The mobile team members followed orders, but after just a few minutes, they encountered a reddish-brown monster that could move freely through the walls, resulting in more than ten team members being killed or injured.

According to Ryoko's explanation, moving in the air for the Stone Scorpion is the same as for ordinary creatures moving in a vacuum, but it seems that it can also jump between walls.

Shiraizumi could imagine the shock the unprepared troopers felt upon encountering this monster. They were completely wiped out before they could even raise their batons. The troopers rushed in and out of the building, rescuing ordinary citizens while being forced into an unprecedented battle with the elusive monster.

It was like a road sign. The long corridor was littered with corpses, shields, and batons—the traces left by the monster's rampage. Shiraizumi, sitting in the sidecar, glanced to the side and realized he had arrived on the wrong set.

A reddish-brown monster appeared on the wall at some point and was moving, sprinting along the wall at the same speed as a heavy motorcycle.

"¨" Shoot!"

When Ryoko said this, Shiraizumi Masaru had already grasped the COLT 32 caliber in both hands. He aimed at the target and pulled the trigger. The reaction force hit his wrist, and he fired the second and third rounds in succession.

All hits.