By the time Yijinmo returned to the White Night Castle, nearly two hours had already passed.
There was no helping it—Vita’s intel was just too explosive.
The policewoman she mentioned was definitely a nobody; she’d only had a few beers, yet almost ended up revealing the color of her panties to Vita herself.
If that had been discovered, this nobody cop’s career would have been over just like that.
But honestly, such things were to be expected.
Unlike in Yijinmo’s previous life, thanks to the presence of Magical Girls, the police force’s treatment in this world had been steadily declining, and naturally, the quality of personnel correlated directly with their wages.
Two thousand a month—what’s the point in taking it seriously, and why bother risking your life?
Yijinmo silently sympathized with this stranger policewoman for a moment.
The intel Vita brought back was very detailed.
Besides the identity of the Flame Monster, there were also the recently appeared Frozen Monster and Ash Monster, both of whom had been defeated by the Magical Girls just a few days ago.
Judging from the official documents alone, the three little monsters at the scene were a mystery; all that was known was that in the end, the police had transferred them to the “Eve” sanatorium on the outskirts of the city.
This was a significant location, but Yijinmo didn’t intend to investigate it immediately.
Instead, she planned to take Chunfeng and Steel Thorn first thing tomorrow morning to redeem her beloved machine tool.
Before facing the boss fight, one had to at least stock up on equipment and potions, then strike at the right moment with overwhelming force.
Originally, Yijinmo had wanted to bring Vita along, but the little girl seemed to have other plans.
“Remember what I said, Sister Yi? Four monsters appeared this week in total, and one of them was defeated by me.”
“The one I beat doesn’t have an official code name yet, but I think I can bring her over for you to see tomorrow.”
With a major battle looming, it was always good to have extra strength on their side.
Taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, Yijinmo stepped onto the castle’s rooftop.
The marks left from her previous fight against the Red Spider Lily—when she had saved Shadow Mist—were still visible here.
Fortunately, that villain seemed to have left; the entire castle no longer carried the unmistakable scent of Guangdong Twin Ponytails that made Yijinmo want to vomit.
Still, she couldn’t be too careless and had to expand her warning perimeter as much as possible, cautiously making her way downstairs.
The first thing she did after returning wasn’t to look for Miss Luo, but to snap her fingers in the air, signaling Shadow Mist, who was lurking somewhere in the castle.
Soon enough, the purple-haired girl popped her head out from the ceiling, startling Yijinmo, who was standing on the ground.
“Benefactor Sister!”
“…What kind of strange entrance is that?”
“Hmph, it’s the Earth Escape Technique taught by our Shadow Club—super useful! Not only does it conceal one’s aura, but it consumes far less energy than using mist!”
“…But this is a ceiling, isn’t it?”
“Ah, concrete is earth too, of course it works.”
“Benefactor Sister want to learn? I can teach you!”
“No, no thanks…”
Compared to earth escape, she much preferred the electric escape technique she had developed on her own lately.
If she had mastered it back then, maybe that white-haired freak wouldn’t have caught her.
“Come try to run into the power lines and catch me, hah!”
“Anyway, back to the main point—how’s your tracking of Thunder God Corporation going?”
Talking while craning her neck was uncomfortable, so Yijinmo let Shadow Mist come down and stand properly.
“Well, I did overhear some pretty explosive inside info.”
“There were quite a few people at the banquet hall who were actually plants hired privately by Thunder God.”
“Plants?”
The girl raised an eyebrow, surprised at this.
Everyone invited here was either rich or influential; getting them to be plants wasn’t easy at all.
And then there was the owner of White Night Castle… For her to allow Thunder God to run rampant on her turf meant they must have struck a secret deal long ago.
“Besides that, Benefactor Sister, your girlfriend is really handsome.”
“You didn’t see it—she was so awesome at the meeting just now, shutting down that pompous lab coat without a single word in response. Even so, those people didn’t dare let her get away with anything; they all slunk off in disgrace.”
“…That too?”
Miss Luo had stepped up?
But why? She was just an ordinary rich girl, even commuting on an electric scooter. How could she dare to take on such a powerful company head-on?
This girl was something else—what if something happened?
“And then?”
“After that, the meeting ended. Things didn’t go as well as those people hoped; the vast majority still chose not to take sides.”
“But I’ve got some very important news for you!”
Shadow Mist waved mysteriously at Yijinmo, who leaned in closer.
“The company seems to have another experimental subject like that arson monster we just saw.”
…………
According to the timeline, if the company hadn’t made another move recently, the experimental subject in their hands should be the Ice Thorn Monster they’d captured before.
And the location was most likely that so-called “Eve” sanatorium.
But before forging her new gear, Yijinmo couldn’t just act recklessly.
For now, she could still rely on the reputation of the level 5 Thunder Monster to make certain people hesitate.
If they found out the Thunder Monster’s power had dropped significantly—down to level 3, in fact…
Who knew what would happen next.
With these thoughts in mind, Yijinmo had to keep asking Shadow Mist to track Dr. Wang and try to confirm Ice Thorn’s status and exact location.
Sighing with exhaustion, after parting with Shadow Mist, Yijinmo returned to the conference hall on the second floor, but at this hour, the crowd had long since dispersed.
Just as she was about to ask a nearby server if they’d seen a white-haired girl who looked a bit spacey, a familiar voice sounded right beside her ear.
“Wife, I’m here.”
“!”
“Miss Luo!”
The girl turned and threw herself into her patron’s arms in a big hug.
“Sorry for making you wait so long… I thought you had already left.”
“I told you, Luo Shiyun never goes back on her word. If I say I’ll wait here for you, then whether it’s one day, two days, or even a lifetime, I’ll be here… uh.”
Before the eloquent mouth could finish, Yijinmo’s fingers had already covered it.
“That’s just ridiculous. If you’re gone for so long, you could at least call and check in.”
“Standing there dumbly isn’t good—you’d make people think you’re silly!”
“I’m not silly.”
“You are!”
“I’m not.”
“No talking back! You! Are! Silly!”
“But I don’t even have your number.”
“Oh… that’s true.”
She really hadn’t given her patron her contact info before.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Yijinmo took out her phone and exchanged numbers with Luo Shiyun.
“Are you going to attend the press conference later?”
“They reached an agreement and prepared to block the news. The tech Thunder God showed them definitely won’t be revealed to the public, so the press conference will only announce trivial stuff.”
“…They’re cooperating now?”
“Both yes and no.”
“The disagreements still exist, but one thing’s clear—this technology must be controlled and kept from leaking.”
The monsters’ power was known worldwide.
Because of this, those clinging to their status and wealth not only feared the monsters but also coveted their power.
If someone used this tech to cultivate a controllable monster army…
No one wanted to think about what would happen next.
As for monsters governing monsters?
Hah.
The last Thunder Monster who tried to set up an independent organization in Jiangnan City probably had three-meter-tall grass growing over his grave by now.
Yijinmo: “?”
“It’s late. Wife, let’s go home to rest first. I’ll explain the details when we get there.”
“Alright.”
Letting Luo Shiyun take her hand again, Yijinmo obediently followed beside her.
“But I have to get up early tomorrow. I still have things to do.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll remember to wake you up.”
The same cute little electric scooter, totally inconspicuous parked by the street, but surrounded by luxury cars in the underground garage, it looked so striking.
Having experienced it once before, Yijinmo was comfortable this time, lightly resting her head on Miss Luo’s shoulder.
“Miss Luo, thank you.”
“What’s the matter?”
Just as she was about to put helmets on herself and her wife, she heard a voice of thanks from behind.
“Why thank me? Isn’t this just what I should do?”
“…It’s not what you should do.”
Before Luo Shiyun could press further, Yijinmo grabbed the helmet from her and put it on herself.
If she confessed to Miss Luo that she was a monster… would she still treat her the same?
Given this patron’s personality, even if she knew, it probably wouldn’t change how she felt.
She liked Yijinmo as a person.
But even so, inside Yijinmo’s heart was still the tender awkwardness unique to a girl.
“Wife, can you take a picture with me?”
Before leaving, Luo Shiyun pulled out her phone and made a strange request.
“Photo? Of course!”
…………
“Ah, my maid, where on earth are you?”
Alice had finally tidied herself up and made a grand appearance, only to find the banquet hall empty with everyone gone. She was left standing there in a daze.
“Could it be that white Luo girl ran off with her!?”
This absolutely could not happen… They had agreed she would stay with her tonight!
She had even stopped chasing after that crackling Electricity Princess just to come back and find her maid—though that had a lot to do with not being able to catch her anyway.
“This can’t happen, replenishment medicine…”
The beautiful foreign girl felt utterly wronged, her confidence and strength from earlier fights nowhere to be found.
No! I’m blonde! I can’t just give up like this!
Luo Shiyun should be the one crushed beneath her feet!
For the sake of the Augustin family’s proud tradition and supreme dignity, she couldn’t lose!
Clenching her pink fists, Alice suddenly became fierce again, scaring off a passing waitress in a hurry.
But just as she was regaining her spirit, her phone buzzed with a message.
“Small payment received, three hundred thousand yuan!”
“?”
She opened the screen to see a note from the sender.
At the top was a photo of her maid and Miss Luo, looking close and cozy while leaning on a cute little electric scooter.
Below it was a line of text.
“My wife, I’ve taken her away. Tonight she’s mine, and forever will be.”
“…”
Preferring to ride Luo Shiyun’s electric scooter rather than her luxury car…
Who was it that spread the rumor that the 86 couldn’t outrun a Mercedes?
Who? Someone please let Alice Augustin step forward and settle this!