About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"..."

"But what does it matter? As long as I wipe the entire city off the map through a volcanic eruption, no one will hold me accountable for my crime."

Cronin smiled and walked over to sit in the chair across from Herman.

"I have to thank that idiot from the Sicilian Gang. I never thought that lunatic would know how to stimulate and guide the 'natural disaster' to its fullest extent. Now I can manually 'detonate' the volcano at any time. So the only remaining question is: can you transfer the assets and funds owned by you and your daughter to me? These things can only be operated at Longmen; there's no way to just grab them. So if you can honestly hand them over to me, I'll let you escape this dead city as soon as possible."

"Hand it over or you'll die, Cronin."

Herman smiled in response.

"...Alas, you were like this before, which is why I could only sneak around and do everything I could to build my own channels. But it doesn't matter anymore. Your daughter is stronger than you think, but she has a weakness you don't have. When she sees her 'sister' being humiliated, tortured, and disintegrated bit by bit right in front of her, what kind of expression will she show?"

"...!!"

Ceylon, who was standing by, felt a chill when he heard this. Cronin, who caught the other person's expression, smiled with satisfaction, then took out his mobile phone and made a call, and at the same time controlled the remote control to turn on the screen next to him.

"Hey, are you guys done over there? Okay, take over the signal."

Following Cronin's command, the screen lit up and a set of images appeared on it.

"——!!!"

Ceylon, who had said nothing before, opened his eyes wide the moment he saw the picture on the screen.

What was displayed on the screen was an abandoned mine, and in the center of the mine was his "sister", the guard who sometimes seemed too worried, Hei.

Her clothes were tattered at the moment (but subtly, nothing was exposed, everything that needed to be covered was covered, and the rips were quite beautiful), there were traces of blood on her forehead, and she was tied to a chair.

Behind Hei stood four bodyguards. These fully armed men wearing sunglasses were like messengers of death, standing silently with their hands behind their backs.

"Haha, Miss, say hello to your guards."

Cronin, pleased with Ceylan's response, then raised his phone.

"Karen?"

"I'm recording, boss."

The voice coming from the other end of the phone was indeed the voice of the guard who did not appear in the picture.

"Well, how's the adjustment of our 'cargo' going?"

"She's already been very honest. Let her speak for herself, boss."

"Hmm? Tell it in person—haha, that's fine too."

Cronin sat next to Ceylon and held her shoulders with one hand to prevent her from turning her head.

The back of the fifth bodyguard appeared in the corner of the screen, and he handed the phone to the tied-up Hei.

——Has Karen been this short before... Maybe it's because of the wide-angle lens.

Cronin frowned slightly, but didn't think about it too much. Instead, he turned on the hands-free mode of his phone.

"Please... please don't hurt me! I'll do anything. Please, don't go on... let me see Miss Ceylon. I, I will personally persuade her...!!"

Hei's voice came out from the receiver. The Hei in the receiver kept begging for mercy as if he was on the verge of collapse, and he no longer had any dignity.

After hearing these words, Cronin showed a twisted smile on his face.

"Hahaha! This is your guard, Miss Ceylon! How funny! How does it feel to be abandoned so easily, Miss? Hahaha, oh well, then I'll fulfill this wish. I'll send someone to pick you up, Director - you really disappoint me, hahahaha!"

Cronin, who had been ignored by Hei for a long time, was now filled with the pleasure of successful revenge. Without thinking twice, he agreed to let Hei come and meet Ceylon.

——Then I will kill that Philin in front of this young lady.

Being in control of everything, even the life and death of others, the feeling of dignity is far more comfortable than I expected.

"Those two guests from Longmen are still searching for a corpse like headless flies. Half of the Security Bureau has already been bribed and infiltrated by me. At the Obsidian Music Festival, people don't care at all about the mayor and her daughter's temporary disappearance. This is the first time I've loved this stupid city so much."

Cronin closed the screen and hung up the phone. He smiled and patted Ceylon on the shoulder. For him, the next step was to wait for the contract to be signed and then destroy Xiosta. And no one could stop this process.

Cronin, who was immersed in his fantasy of the future, didn't even notice that Ceylon had become more determined than before.

------

"Okay, CUT."

On the other side, in the abandoned mine, after confirming that Cronin had hung up, the bodyguard "Karen" took off his sunglasses, then took off his suit jacket and handed it to Hei, who was not restrained at all.

"I didn't expect you, Orson, to have this ability. You can even disguise a woman's voice?"

Hei asked in surprise as he stood up from his chair and put on his suit.

"Hehe, don't underestimate the value of the former intelligence minister of Qie City!"

Orson said proudly with his chest puffed out.

"But if possible, I don't really want to have a girl's voice. After all, I don't have any good memories of this kind of situation..."

Orson wiped the sweat off his forehead and complained softly. He didn't want those weird rumors to spread in a place like Xiosta.

"I'm sorry, I just can't say that. Orson, you're amazing. You were able to act out that undignified, spineless plea for mercy so convincingly."

Hei said seriously.

"...I can't feel happy at all even if I hear that kind of praise."

Orson smiled awkwardly.

In the communication just now, whether it was "Karen" or "Hei" begging for mercy, they were all simulated by Orson using virtual vocal cords.

The real "Karen" was now stripped naked and lying in a corner behind the camera. The real "Blackie" was sitting in a chair, desperately trying not to blush with shame as Orson begged for mercy.

Hearing the person you like say all kinds of embarrassing words in your own voice seriously, what level of shameful play is this?

"But is there really no problem with Miss Ceylon?"

"Well, I believe Miss. She has spent so much time with me, I believe she must have noticed. I would never say such words."

"Indeed, during rehearsals, Miss Hei couldn't say it properly no matter how many times she tried, so in the end, she had to let me take the blame this way."

Orson sighed. His original plan was just to act as a photographer, but now the heroine was also included, so he had to pay extra.

"Sir...sir...should we...?"

While Orson was talking to Hei, several bodyguards behind him asked Orson tremblingly, their tone full of fear and submission.

The "bodyguards" had bruises under their sunglasses, and there were several holes on the fingers of their hands behind their backs.

"You should die here—but I'll leave it to Miss Hei to choose."

Orson handed the crossbow to Hei, and then began to clean up the mess on the ground that he had made because of his "good relationship" with these people.

"..."

Hei raised the crossbow and aimed it at the guards. After a brief hesitation, Hei sighed and put the crossbow down.

If it were my old self, facing these bastards, I would definitely shoot the crossbow arrow through their heart or head without hesitation, right?

But this time Hei hesitated. After witnessing the "light" of the young man, Hei realized that he seemed to still have the opportunity to follow the light, as long as he made changes now.

“Thank you, thank you, Director…!!”

The bodyguards were madly thanking Hei.

But the next second, Hei Jiang broke the arrowhead of the crossbow, aimed the blunt arrow at the lower body of several people and pulled the trigger.

Click!

"Wow..."

As the egg shattered under the blunt impact of the ultra-high-speed crossbow arrow, Orson, who was standing by, felt a pain.

"Then we have to go find that guy."

Hei threw the crossbow aside and then hid several daggers behind himself.

"Kal'tsit is still temporarily monitoring the volcano... Sigh, I feel like I really can't escape death after this."

"?"

Speaking of Kal'tsit, Orson felt sad again, not because of the huge crisis Xiosta was facing now, but because of his own youth that was about to disappear... and his life.

Orson had just met up with Kal'tsit and killed a few Originium bugs when he received a text message from the restaurant owner. He then used his motorcycle, pause, and full speed to rush over and follow the trail.

It's no wonder that Kal'tsit was completely furious at this behavior, which was like taking a cat toy out of a drawer, shaking it for two seconds, and then putting it back.

Thanks to this, Orson, who was originally just passing by, has now become the number one enemy of the Scourge Messenger named Cronin.

"Then we just have to throw that guy into the sea to feed the sharks, and everything will be over. Simple, right, Miss Black?"

Orson spoke harshly and viciously.

——As expected, she’s cute no matter how you look at her.

And Hei thought so while looking at Orson.

26. Who are you sending it to?

In a wasteland filled with rocks and trees near the Xiosta volcano, a green Filin girl wearing a strange off-shoulder dress of unknown type was sitting on a large rock.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, crossed her right leg, and stared fixedly at the mechanical display screen in front of her, which looked out of place in the open space.

The numbers on the display screen jumped at a fixed frequency, and the green cat's eyebrows twitched along with it. Even the most clueless person could see at a glance that the old lynx was very, very, very unhappy at this moment.

—Orson, you idiot…!

Kal'tsit, who was continuously monitoring the numerical conditions at the edge of the volcano, was loudly complaining to a certain Chimera in her mind.

When Orson ran over breathlessly to reunite with Kal'tsit, she felt particularly happy. After all, judging from the way the other party came over without any delay, he still cared about her comfort.

Of course, this is not the reason why Kal'tsit is happy. She has always known that Orson is a person who cares about others. What really makes her excited is that she can finally be alone with Orson when she is serious and sober.

In the past, on Rhodes Island, which was full of strange guys, such as the rabbit who loved to lock the door, the gossipy bridge vampire who loved to blow up Maudrak, if you wanted to find time to be completely alone with Orson, you could only rely on the excuse of "physical examination" to deal with it.

Although they were physically two people, Kal'tsit couldn't do anything because of her identity as a "doctor".

But this time it was different. Although the surrounding environment was not very beautiful, there were indeed only Orson and I, and Orson and I were not in a doctor-patient relationship now.

While waiting to meet Orson, Kal'tsit even thought about what topics to talk about later.

Although Xiosta may explode at any time, this does not affect the opportunity for him and Orson to be alone together.

Although the plan was good, the actual situation was slightly different from what Kal'tsit expected.

After Orson reunited with him, he didn't even have time to sit down. After hearing about the situation of the volcano, Orson received a phone call and ran away again. He didn't even have time to tell him what he was going to do. He just said, "Miss Hei is in danger."

—That Filin lady is really... No, maybe I'm older in terms of age? But judging by her appearance... Ahhhh, seriously!

Kal'tsit rubbed her hair hard and shook her head, trying to put aside these messy thoughts.

——After this incident is over, I will definitely, definitely give that idiot Orson a good beating... uh, a beating.

Even in her imagination, Kal'tsit dare not be too unrealistic. Perhaps this is the sadness of rational thinkers.

"Hiss-"

Just when Kal'tsit was upset because Orson stood her up, a rustling sound came from the depths of the surrounding forest. Several Originium worms with skin covered in slowly burning ashes slowly approached Kal'tsit. They seemed to think that this lone and seemingly powerless Filin "girl" was a good hunting target.

"Ss ...

The Originium worms slowly approached Kal'tsit, and when their eyes met Kal'tsit's, even the Originium worms, which had almost no intelligence, vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

"Originium bugs—that's perfect. It's not exactly a release, but at least I can move around a bit, right, Mon3tr?"

Kal'tsit smiled at the group of Originium bugs, then raised her hand slightly and summoned M3.

“Ssssssssss???”

The weak, pitiful and helpless Originium worms were frightened by the sudden appearance of M3, and turned around and tried to escape. However, due to their body structure, these Originium worms became M3's fresh teething sticks and a tool for Kal'tsit to vent her anger before they could run away.

"...What a bummer! I actually took this Originium bug so seriously."

Although she killed all the Originium Worms that approached her, Kal'tsit felt even more lost. Ever since she came to Xiosta, she had been doing things that her former self "absolutely could not understand". Moreover, the plan that she had designed at the beginning to build a seamless relationship with Orson had all disappeared, and now there was no trace of the original outline.

Anyway, it’s all Orson’s fault!!

Because she couldn't be distracted for long periods of time because she had to monitor the level, Kal'tsit finally made a brief summary of why she was in her current situation.

All in all, it's all because of that idiot Chimera.

Drop drop-

Kal'tsit returned to the surveillance camera and took out her cell phone from her pocket, which contained several text messages.