Pearl

“Seriously, how can there be psychiatric patients running out?

Sigh, the taste of that newly opened restaurant was actually quite good, what a pity, after this kind of incident I wonder if it can even stay open.”

“Oh right, a new Ice-Fire Milk Tea opened up ahead, it is very viral online, come and check it out with me later!”

“And also…”

Her friend beside her was chattering on endlessly.

Zhi Yuan was walking alongside her but her mind was miles away, until the other party realized she seemed to be dazing off and gave her a light nudge.

“Yuanyuan, are you listening?”

“Ah? I am listening, I am listening.”

Zhi Yuan nodded quickly.

But her friend still maintained a suspicious expression.

“Then what did I just say?”

“You said…”

The girl with the ball-bun hair was just about to recall what she had said, but her gaze caught a figure walking out from the corner ahead.

It looked like an ordinary person, but for some reason when she first looked over, she always felt something was a bit off.

The approaching figure appeared to be female in terms of appearance, but her clothing was quite neutral, a shirt jacket with jeans, plus a pair of sneakers, wrapping her whole body tightly.

She wore a wide-brimmed baseball cap on her head and a mask on her face, revealing only a pair of slightly upturned eyes that gave off a foxy feeling.

Although her specific looks could not be seen, the first impression was that this person should be very beautiful.

However, whether someone was beautiful or not meant nothing to Zhi Yuan.

She simply felt that something about this person seemed off, but she could not figure out exactly what it was.

‘A hallucination?’

Just as she was feeling a bit strange, her friend’s helpless voice drifted over.

“After talking for so long, you really did not hear a single word, Yuanyuan, if you keep this up you will not be able to find a boyfriend in the future!”

“If I can not find one, then I can not find one…”

Zhi Yuan shook her head indifferently.

Just then, the strange woman approached them, and when they brushed past each other, she could not help but take an extra look, but still could not find any problem.

‘Is it really because there have been too many things lately that I have become too sensitive?’

Zhi Yuan was a bit puzzled, but professional instinct still made her stop her pace and turn around to look at the person’s back.

Hmm… there really was nothing strange.

She kept watching that slender figure walk far away and disappear at the corner before finally withdrawing her gaze.

Then she turned around and met her best friend’s incredibly weird look.

The tall woman named Fang Zhixia looked at her friend as if she wanted to say something, but finally could not hold back.

“Yuanyuan, why did you suddenly keep staring at that passing girl? Could it be that you…”

As she spoke, she crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back.

“Statement first, even though we are best friends I like men, you must absolutely not get any ideas about me!”

“…”

Zhi Yuan was speechless.

Finally, she rolled her eyes, truly too lazy to pay her any mind.

She accelerated her pace as if she were angry and soon opened up a distance.

“Eh, why are you walking so fast? I was joking!”

Seeing her best friend walk far away, Fang Zhixia also hurriedly followed.

But her physical fitness was far inferior to the other, to the point that she was panting after not chasing for long.

Fortunately, Zhi Yuan suddenly stood still up ahead.

Fang Zhixia thought she was waiting for her, but as soon as she got close, she suddenly heard the girl with the ball-bun hair speak.

“Wait for me here for a while, I am going to pluck a flower.”

“Ah? Pluck a flower? Oh, you are going to the bathroom.”

After Fang Zhixia reacted, she instinctively nodded, but then immediately realized something was wrong and widened her eyes.

“Wait, there is no bathroom nearby, right? You…”

But before she could finish speaking, Zhi Yuan had already ducked into the small alleyway nearby.

Her movements were swift and agile, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

“Is… is it that urgent?”

The woman was a bit dumbfounded.

On the other side, Zhi Yuan was in no mood to consider what she would think of her behavior.

After ducking into the small alley, the girl climbed over several walls with agile movements, turning left and right.

She soon entered another area and then blocked the exit of another secluded alley.

Pausing slightly, she tapped the black wireless earpiece she had put on her ear at some unknown time.

“Captain, I have cornered it.”

Zhi Yuan’s gaze fell into the interior of the alley.

In the cluttered and filthy environment, a tall and gaunt figure was hunched on the ground feasting greedily.

It seemed to hear the noise, and that weird existence—ash-white all over, tall and thin, but with a belly bulging high like a pregnant woman—raised its head.

Those emerald green eyes stared fixedly at the girl slowly walking in, its mouth full of blood and meat scraps splitting into an exaggerated arc.

“Ugh… ah!”

In the next second, accompanied by a hoarse and unpleasant strange cry, that thing threw away the stray dog in its hand that had been gnawed until only half a head remained.

It suddenly stood up and lunged over!

Then—

“Bang!”

Responding to it was an incredibly muffled gunshot.

The huge noise even startled the birds on the nearby eaves into flight.

The weird person’s upper body exploded like a balloon, flesh and internal organs splashing everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, half the alley was turned into an abstract painting.

As the girl lowered the uniquely shaped silver-white pistol in her hand, the remaining half of its body also fell to the ground like mud.

In the completely exposed abdominal cavity, a large amount of undigested food could still be seen.

There were normal rice noodles and buns, but also uncommon mud and weeds, as well as flesh and blood that could not be distinguished as to what animal it belonged to.

It was all mixed together in a mess, and combined with the rapidly spreading stench, looking at it once more would make one lose their appetite.

But Zhi Yuan did not care at all.

She first carefully checked her body to confirm she had not been stained by any blood or filth.

Then she walked expressionlessly to the side of the monster’s half-corpse and gave it two kicks with her sneakers in a clean spot to confirm it was truly dead.

At this exact moment, the sound of footsteps came from the other end of the alley.

Before the person’s identity could be clearly seen, that voice full of complaints had already arrived first.

“Ah… I guessed it would be like this!”

Zhi Yuan raised her head.

A girl was slowly walking in, looking quite young in appearance, probably about fourteen or fifteen years old.

It made one wonder if she was a middle school student.

The girl was not tall, with hair reaching her waist.

Her black gothic skirt was quite distinctive, paired with a large number of strange decorations on her body and a white square eyepatch over her right eye.

She was suspected of suffering from some indescribable disease of shame.

Zhi Yuan looked at her and could not help but reveal a somewhat surprised expression.

“Pearl? Are you not recovering from your injuries?”

“You are still on vacation.”

The girl called Pearl, which was clearly a codename, curled her lip.

Then her gaze fell upon the surrounding scene which could be called grotesque, and she immediately revealed a look of disgust.

“I said, if you are on vacation then just be on vacation, can you stop making extra trouble for me?”

“What do you mean making trouble!”

“You tell me?”

Seeing that Zhi Yuan seemed unwilling, Pearl raised her hand and pointed around.

“Look at this, every time you turn it into this, do you know how much trouble it is for us to handle the aftermath? Wouldn’t it be fine to just break its limbs or cut off its head!”

The girl was speechless.

Pearl then let out another sigh and shook her head.

“Forget it, I have said it a few times and you do not listen anyway, but next time you make it like this you will clean it up yourself.”

“Ah… haha…”

To this, Zhi Yuan could only look at the sky and smile awkwardly.

Then she decisively changed the topic.

“Speaking of which, why are these Gluttony Devilmen appearing here again? Didn’t they say they had already been cleared out?”

“Who knows.”

Pearl walked to the side of the corpse and squatted down.

Then she pulled out a pair of white gloves and a small knife from nowhere.

After putting them on and enduring the nausea, she cut off some flesh and blood from the monster’s remains.

After placing it in a special containment bag, she stood up and waved her hand expressionlessly.

Snow-white flames scattered out, accurately projecting onto all the meat chunks and filth inside the alley.

The flames rose, but for some reason, the nearby temperature actually became even lower.

Soon, as the snow-white flames dissipated, all the residue left on the spot also vanished completely.

If it weren’t for the thick putrid smell still lingering in the air, everything just now would have seemed like a hallucination.

After finishing with the scene, Pearl stowed the containment bag and clapped her hands.

Then she suddenly turned to look at Zhi Yuan and revealed a puzzled expression.

“Eh, why are you still staying here? The business is finished, you can go.”

“What’s with this tone of rejection?”

Zhi Yuan was a bit depressed.

This girl Pearl, she had not seen her for a while but her words were getting more and more irritating!

But the girl ignored her completely, starting to check for anything that shouldn’t remain in the alley on her own.

Seeing this, Zhi Yuan could only wave her hand.

“Alright then, if there’s trouble remember to contact me anytime.”

“Go back to your vacation.”

“…”

Zhi Yuan was very speechless.

She wanted to say more but then remembered her best friend was still waiting for her on the other side.

If she was away for too long she might be suspected.

She could only turn around helplessly and soon walked far away.

Only after her figure completely disappeared did Pearl stop her performative movements.

She turned to look at the short-haired woman who had appeared nearby for some reason.

The woman wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket glanced at the direction Zhi Yuan left, then said to her with a smile.

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“I don’t really mind.”

Pearl shook her head.

“But I am very puzzled, since the situation has already deteriorated to the point that an injured person like me needs to step out, why do you still give Zhi Yuan a vacation, Captain?”

“It’s an order from the Bureau.”

The woman looked through the alley at the somewhat gloomy sky, her voice carrying helplessness.

“It’s not like you don’t know, she was saved by the Team One Captain before, and then there’s always been a bit of an ‘ambiguity’ between the two.”

“Does the Bureau actually forbid dating?”

Pearl revealed a slightly surprised expression.

In return, she got a roll of the eyes that even sunglasses couldn’t block.

The Captain knocked her once before shaking her head.

“What nonsense are you talking about, it’s the Team One Captain who has a problem, he was recently found out to be an undercover agent for the Truth Society.”

“The Truth Society? Is that the evil organization that likes to research demons and even wants to turn all humans into demons through some means?”

“That’s them.”

The woman nodded gently.

And Pearl was truly very surprised this time, widening her eyes.

“Weren’t they wiped out over ten years ago? And the Bureau actually had their undercover agent? He even made it to Team Captain!”

“Probably because the roots weren’t completely pulled out.”

The Captain couldn’t help but sigh.

“Anyway, these guys have resurfaced here in Yujing recently and have caused quite a bit of trouble, the Gluttony Devilmen everywhere are also suspected to be related to them.”

“So the Bureau suspects Zhi Yuan is also connected to the Truth Society?”

“No.”

Looking at the girl who had frowned, the Captain said softly.

“If they really suspected Zhi Yuan was connected to an illegal organization like the Truth Society, they wouldn’t let her run around and wouldn’t even have left her weapons unconfiscated. But the relationship between her and that traitor is also real, so even with my guarantee, Zhi Yuan can only be on vacation until the matter is over.”

“A precaution ‘just in case’, right? Truly boring.”

“That’s enough.”

A hand-knife chopped down on the head of the girl who was acting sophisticated beyond her years.

Then the Captain stepped toward the outside.

“There are more things waiting for us to handle in other places, let’s go.”