Bai Youyou?

"I'm still the little family head of the Chi family!" Natsu Kuri said, waving her hand.

"I really am Dark Gold Rose," Xu Xiaoyou nodded.

"I really am the little family head of the Chi family," Natsu Kuri repeated seriously.

Xu Xiaoyou didn't argue with the girl further. Her long whip lashed out, wrapping around a monster's neck before slamming it hard against the ceiling and then back onto the floor.

"Follow me. Let's get out of here before the mountaintop is locked down. I'm looking forward to getting back for a good night's sleep."

"Mm."

Natsu Kuri gave a few distracted replies as she recalled things related to Dark Gold Rose. She had, of course, seen the videos going viral online. The mysterious and powerful appearance of Dark Gold Rose during the execution of the Siren King had deeply captivated her.

In her impression, a luminous prism grade fixer should be such a powerful existence—someone who stood up in times of crisis, holding the line alone and turning the tide.

After all, she had many posters of Dark Gold Rose pasted in her bedroom. If possible, Natsu Kuri really wanted to meet that mysterious fixer.

Of course, compared to Dark Gold Rose, Yuzu held a higher place in her heart. Yuzu was the one who had given her countless moments of mental solace during her lowest points.

Without needing skill cards, Xu Xiaoyou and Natsu Kuri cooperated with each other, tearing through the monsters' encirclement in no time. What surprised Xu Xiaoyou was Natsu Kuri's agile movements and incredible neural reaction speeds. Once she confirmed that those people had turned into monsters, she struck decisively and cleanly, her blade always aiming for vital spots. Often, a monster would be decapitated before it could even get close to her.

The girl didn't seem like a little family head who had been pampered since childhood at all. Instead, she seemed like a venomous insect that had crawled out of a pile of corpses.

And it seemed she wasn't even aware of it herself.

Natsu Kuri slit the throats of two monsters from behind, her actions perfectly embodying the assassination techniques commonly used by a shadow striker.

The surrounding area was littered with the corpses of various monsters. The different personalities of the people of Red Heaven resulted in drastically different forms when they transformed into these creatures.

Among those Xu Xiaoyou saw were disabled people who had grown thick, grasshopper-like hind legs, allowing them to leap to the rooftops of the temple. There were middle-aged men who had sprouted dragonfly wings, girls whose waists and abdomens had become as bloated as bees, and children with dense teeth packed within leech-like mouthparts. One such child was currently crouched over the corpses of his parents, gulping down their blood.

Natsu Kuri walked toward a girl lying on the ground whose body was constantly sprouting spider-like characteristics. The girl was begging piteously, even though such a transformation was irreversible once it began.

"I will try my best to ease your pain."

Natsu Kuri's dagger pierced the girl's neck. Without any pain, the girl's pupils dilated sharply, just before compound eyes could crawl across her entire face.

Natsu Kuri shed her upper jacket. After fighting for a while, her body temperature had dropped rapidly, and cold mist escaped her mouth. Eerie spider totems, resembling dense black insects, crawled across her back and arms. As she turned her head, a flash of scarlet appeared in her compound eyes before returning to normal a moment later.

"Sorry, Yuzu, for letting you see this side of me," Natsu Kuri said with a smile.

Xu Xiaoyou remained silent. The other girl's hands were extraordinarily cold, her skin as translucent as fine jade, radiating a chill that reminded her of Chihong. That girl was also a member of the Chi family and had undergone countless body modification surgeries.

The butler Sebas had once mentioned that the current family head, Chi Qiu, treated his younger sister with an almost drowning level of indulgence, which had shaped Chi Chuchun's arrogant personality. Could someone who was the apple of so many people's eyes have also accepted the Chi family's human body modifications?

The chaos ultimately did not last long. Before the lockdown was complete, Xu Xiaoyou led Natsu Kuri away. Armed helicopters from the Mountain Crow family surrounded the mountaintop ten minutes later, and armored vehicles sealed the temple courtyard completely. The people of Red Heaven were already accustomed to such outbreaks of horror; the tourists who had gathered in a circle to watch the commotion soon dispersed.

Gunshots rang out occasionally within the temple. Men with tattoos on their arms, their trench coats fluttering, were responsible for cleaning up everything inside the courtyard.

As the head of the last monster was blown apart, the temple, which had previously been filled with screams and roars, suddenly fell silent.

A man walking in the lead flicked his cigarette butt onto the ground and stepped forward to pull away a girl who was carrying a corpse. "Move aside. This kind of heavy labor isn't for you women."

After speaking, he cracked his joints, revealing an ukiyo-e tattoo on his back. Under a massive setting sun was a sea with raging waves, the colors as thick as ink. Spider lilies bloomed as if in another world. The man, bare-chested, stood on a sea vessel with his arms raised, shouting as he fought a sea serpent.

The girl frowned. She had her long, waist-length hair tied in a high ponytail and wore a black-and-white kendo uniform. Her pure white kendo top was stained with bright red blood, and her pitch-black kendo skirt hung down to her wooden sandals, the darker patches clearly stained by blood as well. Only the cleaners of the Mountain Crow family's Sword Covenant Group would dress this way, specializing in handling the Chi family's unsavory business.

As cold-blooded devils who killed without blinking, their names were considered taboo in the underworld. If a subordinate accidentally mentioned them, they would have their tongue pierced by bamboo skewers.

Seeing the man grunting as he dragged several corpses out like he was pulling radishes, Aoi said nothing. Everyone knew the men of the Mountain Crow family were all chauvinists. Women held a very low status in the underworld, especially in the Mountain Crow family, which valued loyalty and brotherhood above all else. Women were often viewed as rewards for righteous acts. Aside from the family head's wives and concubines, it was perfectly normal for brothers to exchange concubines or lovers to strengthen their bonds.

The man before her was the head of the Mountain Crow family. After becoming the head, he no longer had any other name. People in the underworld could only call him Mountain Crow. While losing his name, he gained the supreme honor of the underworld.

Mountain Crow chuckled as he dragged a heavy corpse. He had been the most courageous performer just now, and he especially cherished the feeling of showing off in front of a woman. Especially since the other party was the sister of the Snow family head. Just thinking of the girl's face, which was as proud as a cold plum blossom, the man spat on his hands and filled himself with drive.

Gradually, he found he couldn't drag it anymore. The corpse became heavier and heavier, leaving two deep gouges in the ground. Seeing the corpse he was dragging suddenly twitch and turn its head, its spider chelicerae snapping open hideously, Mountain Crow let out a strange cry:

"Damn it, this guy isn't dead yet!"

He quickly followed up with a punch, blowing the monster's head apart. When he turned his head and saw Aoi looking at him speechlessly before turning to leave, Mountain Crow felt a wave of frustration.

The surrounding cleaning members of the Mountain Crow family began to tease him. "Boss, there's no need to be so jumpy, right?"

"Little Sister Snow is here, after all. Boss is dying to show off."

Mountain Crow's face turned red with embarrassment. He roared at the sky, "Don't you all have things to do?"

"I'll give you twenty more minutes. Clean everything up. Do you want the outside world to laugh at us tomorrow?"

"Yes, sir!" the crowd responded in unison.

The members of the Mountain Crow family finished processing the scene in no time. They were experts at this. Little did they know that in the shadows, a silver-haired girl was leaning against a roof with her hands behind her head, taking in everything below.

Angelina noticed that the Mountain Crow family members were collecting and transporting the human corpses into a tank truck, as if they had long anticipated everything that happened tonight.

What caught her attention even more was a black-haired girl who kept her back turned. The girl also had her hair in a high ponytail and wore an investigator's military cap. Her slim white military uniform accentuated her tall proportions, and a fur-lined coat draped over her shoulders fluttered in the wind. Angelina had noticed this girl even before the incident broke out; she was an investigator from the association.

From the very beginning of the incident, she had stood there, silently observing everything. She hadn't stepped in to stop it, nor had she allowed those civilians to be killed before her eyes, standing there as steady as a cedar tree.

Suddenly, the girl turned her head as if sensing something. Her cold, unusual red eyes saw only the darkness on the eaves.

Was it her imagination? Bai Youyou frowned.

Since a moment ago, it felt as though eyes in the shadows had been watching her.