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

Qin Xuan stretched out his left hand, intending to grab Bie Gong's. This brat was as shameless and vicious as the Empress, so he had to be allowed to face the judgment alive.

Unfortunately, only Begong's left arm was rescued. His left arm was broken at the shoulder, with flesh and bone exposed through the hole in his clothes, and a lot of blood spurted out.

Qin Xuan immediately threw away the arm, then jumped up and took out the Beretta.

Qin Xuan pointed his gun in the direction where the other palace had disappeared, took two or three steps back, adjusted his breathing, and mentally prepared for the worst. Just as he was about to move forward, he felt a hard, foreign object on the left side of his head. It was the muzzle of the gun. I stood there motionless, unable to utter a sound. At this moment, a young woman spoke:

Mr. Quan Yi?

It was Marianne. She was of average height for a Parisian woman, about twenty centimeters shorter than me, and the muzzle of her gun was angled upwards. She withdrew the gun and lowered her head slightly in apology. I could only smile wryly.

Where on earth did your mistress go?

Another vortex of fog rolled in, and the thick, milky vapor chilled Marian and I. When the fog thinned a little, I saw another figure about the same size as Marian.

Lucien?

In response to Qin Xuan's whispered call, the figure approached gracefully. The two maids nodded to each other and wordlessly leaned on my left and right. We must not make the foolish mistake of getting separated in the thick fog again.

I heard a loud crash, not quite like gunfire. It sounded like a fight was underway, right in front of us. The three of us crouched, practically shoulder to shoulder, moving forward.

Through the mist, a dark figure could be seen. It was a bodyguard in black, a combat knife resting on his right shoulder, poised for a throw. Perhaps he had run out of bullets and had no choice but to throw the knife.

At that instant, I sprang up noiselessly and struck him in the temple with the barrel of my Beretta.

The black-clad bodyguard fell to the grass without making a sound. He should be thankful that I didn't kill him.

Qin Xuan turned over the man who had fainted on the ground, picked up the knife, and suddenly recognized Ryoko's figure on the other side of the fog.

Police officer!

Say hello later, this is a critical moment!

Dr. Mosa was pinned face-down by Ryoko, who was straddling him. If Kasai Keigo were to be pinned down like this by a hot-pants beauty, he'd surely be completely captivated. However, Dr. Mosa didn't seem to have that fetish. He made sounds more like a monkey than a human, trying to shake off Ryoko's grip.

Stop it, Lobsterman!

"It might be disrespectful to an elder, but I don't mind it at all," Ryoko shouted, swinging her left hand and slapping Dr. Mosa.

Tell me quickly, how do we defeat that guy?

That guy, what is that guy, little girl?

The one that ran out of the coffin.

Ah, Artemisia

Before he could finish, Ryoko's nails scratched his left cheek and slapped him again. Dr. Mosha couldn't help but whine in disgust. Through the swirling fog, I could see the rage burning in Ryoko's eyes, dancing like flames.

Tell me now. Otherwise, I will break your legs so that you can’t move, and then throw you over there!

Browning's gun was pressed against Dr. Mosha's thigh. No matter how shameless Mosha was, he knew at this moment that Ryoko was serious.

I understand, I said he moaned obscenely,

Meila wanted to be forever young and beautiful, and I had a hard time convincing her that it would take more than a short time to achieve that wish. She finally believed that to achieve her wish, she needed to be fully prepared and follow a strict procedure.

So let her spend a lot of money?

That's all. I've put so much effort into preserving Mela's integrity. Mela has never been in trouble, and all her achievements are due to me.

Too much nonsense in the preface!

I understand. I'll skip the details. I had Artemisia take several drugs. Simply put, they extremely enhance the body's metabolic function. Even if the body tissue is damaged, it can be restored immediately. This can prolong life, but there are side effects.

Stop talking nonsense, I understand.

What? What did you understand?

By enhancing her metabolic function, her body has become invulnerable even to fire, right? It seems she can also exert extraordinary powers. Your experiment is considered a success, which is amazing. So, what you created is a drug that can push metabolic function to the limit, right?

Dr. Mosha's face twisted strangely. I had been listening to their conversation silently, and now I interrupted:

what happened?

Well, that's not hard to understand. If you don't eat for a few days, you'll lose weight, right?

Yes.

In other words, to put it dramatically, the human body will eat its own body in order to survive, right?

Well, first of all it will burn fat.

Mosha developed a drug that speeds up this process. If the drug's effectiveness could be controlled, it would be the ultimate weight-loss drug. However, this bastard has created the ultimate deadly chemical weapon. After taking the drug, the metabolism will go haywire, and the body will wither and shrink like a mummy, and eventually collapse.

Ryoko, still riding on Dr. Mosha, continued to explain:

He probably wants to use this medicine to fulfill Meera's delusion.

Qin Xuan's hatred for Dr. Mosha grew deeper and deeper. He had thought it was impossible for it to get any deeper, but he had never expected there was such a layer of hatred.

Ryoko held Browning in her right hand and grabbed Mosha's hair with her left hand:

Give me the medicine!

She exerted overwhelming majesty and force,

Otherwise, you would have been eaten by maggots long before billions of pagans died. Where did you hide the medicine?

In the pocket, right pocket of the white coat. Powdered.

Quan Yijun, take it out.

Qin Xuan was about to reach into the doctor's pocket when a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him. He used the knife he had snatched from the enemy to slash the pocket of the white coat as quickly and carefully as possible.

A small plastic bag filled with powder fell out of his coat pocket. There was also a strange metal ring. I touched it with the tip of my knife, and with a clang, a small blade popped out from inside. If I had reached in rashly, I might have severed my finger. And if the blade was coated with poison, I could have been ambushed.

Found it, these are the capsules.

You are worthy of being my aide-de-camp.

In contrast to Liangzi's satisfaction, Dr. Mosha's face was filled with disappointment and malice. Qin Xuan secretly rejoiced and handed the small plastic bag to his boss.

Well, this guy is no longer useful.

Ryoko stood up suddenly.

Dr. Mosha had just been released, and he rolled over halfway with a whine, getting on all fours and trying to get up. Ryoko had already stretched out her long, graceful legs and lifted one foot onto the buttocks covered in the dirty white clothes:

"Get out of here as soon as possible, the farther away the better. There's no point in killing this guy."

Dr. Mosha rolled and crawled into the grass, and his figure quickly fell into the fog and disappeared from sight.

Is it okay to let him run away like this?

That guy is just a parasite. As long as the host he parasitizes disappears, he will be finished.

Ryoko handed the plastic bag to Lucien, and Marian opened the small lid of the tranquilizer cartridge and poured out the contents. It took them less than a minute to pour the metabolism-accelerating drug into the anesthetic cartridge. After cleaning up, they respectfully returned the tranquilizer gun to the hostess.

Okay, let’s go! Ryoko’s voice broke the silence.

Silence. Yes, the sea, once covered in white fog, had returned to calm. The gunfire had ceased, and the creaking of the helicopter's wind had faded. Perhaps they had finally given up on landing and retreated.

Ryoko walked forward, her footsteps seemingly dispersing the mist. That didn't make sense, but she held her head high and chest puffed out, striding confidently with a swift, dashing stride. Water droplets dripped from her brown hair, sparkling like pearls.

Annihilate the Lobstermen

The gunfire ceased, signaling the complete annihilation of the Routledge family's private soldiers. Within a few steps, the group encountered two corpses. Their necks and limbs were twisted at impossible angles, their faces and chests a bloody mess. Even so, they kept their guns in their hands, clearly professional assassins. If they had been free to use their favorite weapons back home, they wouldn't have met such tragic deaths.

Suddenly, for what seemed like the umpteenth time, a scream of agony pierced the mist. Ryoko took a half step back, and Qin Xuan lowered his stance, groping towards the sound.

It was a tragically dead body. It was the Earthling who had just been called Dr. Mosha. Qin Xuan didn't want to describe it in detail, but it looked like someone had grabbed his upper and lower jaws and torn them apart. He had no sympathy for Dr. Mosha. In the Earthling lexicon, the phrase "you got what you deserved" was never more aptly exemplified than Dr. Mosha.

However, Qin Xuan still carefully avoided it to avoid stepping on Dr. Mosha, or more precisely, the object that used to be Dr. Mosha.

Suddenly, the grass rustled. I turned and pointed my gun in that direction. Would an alien object suddenly appear through the fog?

Ryoko stopped him sharply:

Do not move!

Qin Xuan felt a surge of air above his head, as if someone was flying over his head in the swirling fog, or jumping over.

The black alien shadow flew across the white curtain, as if the fog had turned into a river in the air, and he was just swimming along the river.

The shape looked a bit like a human, but more like a frog or a salamander. Being able to see only this much was a blessing for both the viewer and the viewed. All the ugliness was obscured by the thick fog.

The alien's shadow fell to the ground. Ryoko switched hands, gripping the tranquilizer gun, and resolutely stepped forward. To her right was me, and to her left were two maids. We walked about fifty steps through the fog.

There was a voice up ahead, a hysterical female voice speaking English. It was, of course, Melanie Routledge.

What are you doing, Artemisia? I'm your mother! How could you treat your mother like this? Don't you have any shame?

Ryoko shrugged:

She will enjoy freedom of speech to the greatest extent possible.

Don't you need to rescue her?

You, why are you asking me to do something you don't even want to do? You sly ghost!

What a shame! If I really wanted to save Mela Routledge, I should have done it myself.

Stop it, Artemisia! If you don't let go, I won't let you go!

The foolish, wealthy woman's scolding turned into a scream. As the scream pierced the mist, I could see her face—Mella Routledge's face, filled with rage and terror, her eyes and mouth stretched to their fullest. Neither I nor the two maids could say a word.

Ryoko calmed down a bit and shouted at her:

Only God can save you. Pray now. If there really is an almighty God, he will give you a fair judgment.

Mella Routledge didn't answer, and it was obvious that even if she wanted to, she couldn't say anything, and perhaps she was already unable to hear Ryoko.

Melarotridge struggled to squeeze out a sound from his wide-open mouth, and his face, with bulging veins, finally disappeared in the mist.

I couldn't imagine what the scene on the other side of the turbulent white gas was like. All I heard was a voice filled with anger and a cry filled with fear.

There were only painful moans from then on. When the moans finally died down, a silence heavier than lead fell.

A dark shadow swayed on the other side of the curtain of fog. Ryoko said quietly to the shadow:

It's all over.

Is it time for you to finish?

Don't worry, I'll make your body completely disappear from the ground and no one will see you. I promise.

There was no answer. Beyond the curtain of mist, the shadow seemed to have stopped moving.

Ryoko pulled the trigger of the tranquilizer gun. The feathered bullet, loaded with metabolic enhancement drugs, streaked through the air, heading toward the center of the swirling mist.

At the lowest level that could be heard, a small, low, heavy voice was heard.

Only a few seconds passed, yet it felt like an eternity. A strong wind swept up the thick fog, as if to lift a curtain in one breath, and the view beyond opened up. All around was a colorless, empty world, devoid of any human presence. Against the backdrop of mountains and forests, the wild grass swayed and rustled, as if singing a mournful elegy.

·· ·······Request flowers····· ·····

All burned out.

Ryoko shook her hair, and pearl-like drops of water splashed everywhere.

If I were to investigate, there might be something left. But there was no need, as everything was carried away by the wind and fog.

Yes

Okay, let's go back. I've had enough of this spooky place.

Ryoko put her right hand around my left arm.

I walked back with her, and Marian and Lucien followed behind us. Five minutes later, we returned to the battlefield, the field where the large group of Earthlings and Earthling dogs had just been fighting.

.. .. 0

The hormones had worn off. The dogs, with their characteristically confused expressions, wandered back in a daze. They would probably find their respective owners. Only the defeated remained on the battlefield: the gang members. It seemed like none of them were unharmed; cries of pain and calls for help were heard non-stop.

I can't stand it anymore. I quit and I want to turn over a new leaf.

That's good, your parents will be happy too. Wait, I'll call an ambulance.

Why should a guy who doesn’t even pay taxes enjoy such treatment!

That won't do. There are already many dead, and we still have to deal with the aftermath.

Never mind, it's too much trouble. What needs to be solved has been solved!

In reality, nothing had been resolved. From the police's perspective, it was barely the beginning. Just listing the issues to be addressed, the names of the perpetrators and those involved, would fill a magazine. The only possible conclusion was that the unfortunate American woman had been caught up in a dispute with a Japanese yakuza. However, Ryoko had no interest in simply dealing with the aftermath.

Otherwise, why would Yuki exist? Having someone like her to do odd jobs properly wouldn't cause me any trouble. This is her proper role!