it is Arknights!

We interrupt this program for an urgent news bulletin. A vicious assault incident has occurred in Londinium, the capital of Victoria. Baron Wessex of the Royalist Faction was murdered in an alley around 11 PM last night. The assailant broke the car window, dragged him out of the vehicle by hand, and cruelly dismembered and devoured him. The heinous nature of this case is unprecedented. Lord Spencer pointed out that this will be a premeditated confrontation, and everyone must be vigilant against the various hidden traps within…'

"Londinium, that's the capital of Victoria, right? I heard their military police are very capable over there? A noble being directly eaten or something, that should be a huge deal, right?" Eating wontons, Li Lin held his rice bowl, watching the news playing on the television, and asked Exusiai, who was also watching the news beside him, somewhat strangely:

"Speaking of which, are there still people who eat people in this world? The level of bloodiness and cruelty is a bit beyond my expectations."

Li Lin looked at the images displayed on the television, feeling slightly touched in his heart.

After all, in this day and age, for such a cruel incident to occur was already an almost impossible thing.

In Li Lin's era, the areas he lived in didn't have such heinous cases occurring. Li Lin himself also yearned for peace, finding it very difficult to pay attention to such vicious incidents, and the images appearing now deeply shocked his fragile little heart. Although he himself had once created things ten thousand times more disgusting than this, regarding this kind of incident, if you asked yourself honestly, it wasn't something an ordinary anti-human could do.

Cannibalism, this matter, for any intelligent being, was an extremely cruel and completely incomprehensible thing. Intelligent beings themselves should possess a kind of empathy, and cannibalism undoubtedly meant abandoning this empathy. Especially seeing the images appearing on television, that incredibly cruel appearance, made one feel a physiological disgust.

Indeed very strange.

Exusiai also frowned strangely at this.

Generally speaking, such a thing was impossible in Victoria, because Victoria's police and local gangs actually valued local order quite highly; their emphasis on matters in this aspect was no less than Lungmen's, Exusiai took a bite of a youtiao (fried dough stick) and continued,

"However, from a certain perspective, for such a thing to happen is indeed rather strange, but since it happened, it means there must be someone else's shadow behind it. After all, attacking a noble isn't a very easy thing; even if I were to attack, although I could easily kill that noble, the subsequent escape wouldn't be too smooth, as ballistics can still be investigated."

"Then this kind of thing is really incredible; after all, they don't even know what the culprit looks like or where the attack happened, only that he can move freely in the fog and seems to be able to catch up to vehicles. This sounds almost like a monster from myths and legends."

"Not really?"

Exusiai shrugged.

"Even ordinary people can sometimes do some very magical things, for example, using ricochets to create seemingly incredible things; I can do that kind of thing too, right?"

"…"

Are you considered an ordinary person?

Li Lin looked at the proud-faced Exusiai and complained inwardly.

The subsequent news reports were all some inconsequential ( lit. "doesn't hurt or itch") news, such as some star having an affair, or some people encountering some incident, or some city discovering a Catastrophe nearby; such daily Terra occurrences were still happening normally.

But the bloody and cruel scene always left Li Lin with a strange impression; a special impulse flowed within his body, as if that behavior corresponded to some tool or perhaps some character in his impression. This inexplicable intuition made Li Lin shake his head, because in his impression, he didn't know any such cruel and malicious characters; rather, if it were him doing it, it would definitely be much cleaner and neater.

Perhaps it's because I've been working too hard lately?

Recalling the day he walked with Sora, Li Lin's face was full of sorrow.

Sora was a very beautiful girl, her personality also very good, and very understanding, but the problem was, she was just a very beautiful and understanding girl, so it often led to a situation where Li Lin was clearly saying some polite words, hoping to end the topic, but she realized this very, very early on, so she skillfully guided the topic in another direction, leading to an infinite loop of conversation starting and ending.

This couldn't be said to be bad, merely an exploration of life views. But the problem was, Li Lin actually didn't want to engage in these explorations of life views; he just purely wanted to have fun with girls, he actually hadn't thought about these subsequent matters.

Rather, to some extent, he already regretted it.

"Then why don't you just tell Sora clearly?"

Exusiai held a baozi (steamed bun), saying with a strange expression:

"You two are just a fake boyfriend and girlfriend; can't you just speak openly if there's a relationship? Sora doesn't look like she minds; she just purely wants to find a safe harbor."

"But that's precisely the problem, isn't it?"

Li Lin had a headache-stricken expression.

"The problem is, I must do what I promise others. Besides, disappointing others isn't my style; how could I just abandon Sora there for no reason? After all, she's been such a good employee and teammate for so long; even if it's harder and more tiring, I definitely have to grit my teeth and continue doing this, right? It's just really tiring, that's all…"

"Then, tough on you?"

Exusiai tilted her head, handing over a baozi she had taken a bite from.

"If you said this while making me an apple pie, it would be even better."

"I don't want to."

Watching Li Lin eat the baozi, Exusiai ate the youtiao in one bite, picked up the firearm beside her, waved at Li Lin,

"Well then, Texas and I will go to work first. You wait until then to continue cooperating; anyway, it's just for a period, endure it and it'll be fine. If it works out, wouldn't it be good for everyone to have a meal together to celebrate?"

"You say it so easily…"

But can this thing be accomplished in a short while?

Thinking of that crazed fan's appearance, Li Lin couldn't help but sigh. And just then, the door beside them suddenly opened, and Sora's made-up face suddenly appeared.

"The new location has been booked, let's go."

"…"

Let's go.

Sacrifice me alone, happiness for all of Penguin.

Looking at Exusiai's mischievous smile, and Sora, who looked somewhat puzzled beside her, Li Lin let out a long sigh and stood up.