Anastasia’s furious roar startled everyone in the ‘Sweet Magic’ restaurant, from the dining patrons to the maids themselves.
After all, no one had anticipated that a seemingly soft and adorable maid, who moments ago had been pole-dancing while impersonating a cat, would unleash such a thunderous cry.
Well, perhaps ‘soft and adorable’ wasn’t entirely accurate, considering Anastasia’s muscular, leopard-like physique.
Even so, her actions left everyone utterly bewildered.
Alice had just caused such a monumental mess; by all rights, the customer’s failure to demand compensation was already a blessing.
Why, then, should he be forced to leave his briefcase behind?
Yet, to everyone’s astonishment, upon hearing Anastasia’s roar, the bald young man’s expression shifted to one of profound shock.
He immediately clutched his briefcase and bolted!
His guilt-ridden flight unequivocally confirmed one thing: there was indeed something amiss with that briefcase!
And it was a profoundly serious issue!
“Stop right there!”
Seeing this, Ji Bingyao, who had been playing her guitar moments before, swung the instrument in a wide arc, aiming it at the man’s back.
Simultaneously, Eileen, holding a freshly brewed pot of coffee, reacted by hurling the entire scalding pot at the fleeing figure.
However, what followed was utterly astonishing.
An invisible shield suddenly materialized around the young man, deflecting both the coffee pot and the guitar with equal force!
Not a single drop of the scalding coffee splashed from the pot managed to touch him.
Instead, a significant amount splattered onto the surrounding patrons.
“Eeek! It’s—it’s an intruder! A hybrid intruder!”
At this point, even the most oblivious individual realized something was terribly wrong.
More than one person erupted into screams of abject terror, their voices hoarse with fright.
In this era, after decades of portal cataclysms and conflicts with otherworldly parasites, anyone with even basic education possessed a fundamental understanding of parasitic hybrids.
Most parasitic hybrids bore both human and insectoid features, enough to trigger an instinctive fear deep within the human psyche.
However, a faction of these hybrids appeared almost indistinguishable from humans, allowing them to effortlessly infiltrate human society and wreak havoc.
Even more ominously, many of these human-like hybrids wielded special, almost magical powers originating from Lihentian.
This granted them an asymmetrical advantage in any conflict with humanity.
Innumerable tales recounted the horrifying deeds of these non-human entities lurking among mankind, supplanting traditional vampires and ghosts to become the undisputed protagonists of urban legends in this age.
“Quick, contact the National Security Force!” another person shouted.
Immediately afterward, the hybrid fixed them with a piercing glare, and the individual clutched their throat, beginning to convulse in agony.
They mirrored the Imperial Fleet officers in Star Wars who had incurred Vader’s wrath.
“You bastard!” Anastasia roared, charging at the foe like an enraged tigress.
Though this was New Ravenna, territory of the Human Revival Council, both the Council and the Free Army tacitly agreed that otherworldly parasites and their offspring constituted the gravest threat.
Certainly, the Council was not above employing unsavory tactics, such as using decoy craft in geosynchronous orbit to lure parasite swarms into attacking their enemies in the wilderness.
Indeed, when St. Lian Girls’ Academy was first transported to this world, those very individuals had orchestrated such a scheme after detecting high-frequency communications from Salome and others within the school.
However, ‘under no circumstances must parasites be allowed to infiltrate human city-states’ and ‘parasite swarms must be prioritized for annihilation’ were mutually recognized tenets.
On these points, there was no room for compromise.
“Watch me!”
Drawing upon years of rigorous training and battle-honed experience, Anastasia, with a mere thought, channeled the power from Lihentian into her arm.
It coalesced into an invisible blade, defying all human comprehension.
Against this blade, forged from the same ethereal energy, the opponent’s invisible shield shattered like a soap bubble.
Naturally, as ordinary individuals could not perceive this power channeled from the interstices of the world, their perception of the events was far simpler.
They merely witnessed the muscular, cat-eared maid, who had been pole-dancing moments before, suddenly lunge forward and strike the bald young man—the suspected hybrid monster—with a direct hand-chop.
With a muffled groan, the young man’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground.
However, Anastasia made no move to retrieve the briefcase.
Her instincts warned her that another individual nearby was radiating hostility towards her.
“Watch out, to your right!”
As a customer’s lower body suddenly distended, and a flexible, tubular appendage emerged from their rear, Ji Bingyao, with lightning-fast reflexes, snatched up a table.
She instantly hurled it between the hybrid and Anastasia.
Several hollow, needle-like projectiles, fired at high velocity from within the appendage, embedded themselves into the black-lacquered tabletop with dull thuds, releasing a torrent of corrosive substances.
By the time the table shattered against the opposite wall, a large, charred and carbonized area had already appeared on its wooden surface, emitting a thick plume of white smoke.
“Thanks! Now, watch this!”
Anastasia spared a glance for the ruined table on the floor before lunging forward with a swift, arrow-like movement.
It was then that the others noticed a brimming pot of scalding coffee had inexplicably appeared in her hand.
“Hey there, buddy, have a drink of this!”
Before the creature could even react, she had seized its throat, forcibly pouring the searing hot coffee down its gullet.
The hybrid’s face turned a blistering, fiery red, its eyes rolling back until only the whites were visible, as it twitched incessantly like a fly struck by an electric swatter.
Anastasia, however, granted it no quarter.
She pinned the hybrid down with overwhelming force, continuously pouring the scorching coffee into its mouth until a full two liters had been consumed, only then ceasing her assault.
“Oh…”
As Anastasia dropped the now-empty coffee pot, she noticed that everyone in the maid café—excluding, of course, the two unfortunate individuals who lay incapacitated on the floor—was staring at her with expressions of utter astonishment.
Many had already begun to discreetly slip out of the restaurant.
Perhaps they were terrified, or perhaps they merely seized the opportunity to dine and dash.
“Huh, are these… really hybrids?” Eileen asked, a hint of unease in her voice.
“Both of them are clearly men…”
“It’s merely mimicry,” Anastasia explained.
“Their chromosomes are definitely double-Y—there’s no mistake about that.”
“However, for ease of infiltration, some hybrids develop appearances strikingly similar to human males, allowing them to blend into human settlements for reconnaissance, infiltration, and sabotage.”
“Because most people hold the preconceived notion that ‘parthenogenetic hybrids are female,’ their infiltration efforts are often more successful.”
“Oh dear…” Xia Hua murmured softly, still clutching a pink plastic tray adorned with heart patterns.
“Did we perhaps… act a bit too ostentatiously just now? Is this really alright?”
“Indeed. While demonstrating a maid’s prowess as we did just now is certainly a glorious enhancement to the Maid’s Way, drawing too much attention is problematic,” Alice, who had initially botched everything, whispered as she sidled up to Anastasia.
“After all, those two were hybrids…”
“I know,” Anastasia replied, furrowing her brow and instinctively swallowing.
While the strength of parasitic hybrids varied and couldn’t be generalized—some could even be defeated by a single ordinary person—the common understanding that ‘humans struggle to overcome hybrids’ was deeply ingrained.
Even when armed, it usually required a full infantry squad to safely neutralize the weakest hybrids.
Her recent display had clearly far exceeded the capabilities of the ‘ordinary maids’ they were meant to portray.
So, what was to be done next?
Anastasia glanced around, her thoughts mired in hesitation.
Bribing or outright eliminating all the customers to prevent leaks was clearly unrealistic.
Could she find a plausible reason to convince them that the recent events were entirely normal? That, too, seemed highly improbable.
In that moment, she finally felt a pang of regret… but there was nothing to be done.
After all, her mother had, during her creation, genetically embedded a deep-seated hatred for all non-human intelligent species.
She simply could not refrain from acting when confronted with such monsters.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I kindly request that you refrain from disclosing anything that has transpired here,” a young girl in a pink dress announced as she entered, addressing the bewildered customers.
“These ladies are professional security personnel from Helios Technology Corporation, tasked today with investigating a significant incident of technological information theft.”
She bent down and picked up the briefcase.
“All relevant information is classified.”
While the words of this young girl, who appeared too young even for middle school, carried little inherent persuasive power, all doubts vanished once a squad of X-Commando soldiers in brown armor followed her into the ‘Sweet Magic’ restaurant.
After all, only high-ranking members of the Human Revival Council possessed the authority to deploy these elite guards.
Thus, the young girl before them was clearly no ordinary individual.
“Alright, everyone. Mission accomplished, you may return to the ‘Castle,’ ” the girl in the dress declared, waving to Anastasia and the others after the commandos had secured the two barely-alive ‘hybrids.’
“This evening, each of you will report to me individually.”
“Hmm…” The members of ‘Pink FM Frequency’ hesitated.
Although they had encountered numerous unexpected events since arriving in this world, having a boss suddenly appear out of nowhere was an absolute first for them!
Consequently, everyone found themselves in a state of bewilderment.
Fortunately, Anastasia eventually nodded, signaling for everyone to follow.
“As you command, Honolina-sama. I trust you will be pleased with the task we have completed.”