Chapter 2: Slime Hunter?

“Wuu!”

The petite loli let out a whimper as the pink slime tried to overwrite all her memories.

She was unable to resist. She felt as though her memories were slowly shrouded in pink, then dissipated, forming new memories altogether.

“No! Don’t do this, I’m not a slime… I… I’m… a slime girl… No! I… I’m not, aaaaah!”

Her will was scattered to pieces, but not extinguished; unable to bear the impact, Vivi completely slipped into a deep sleep.

She couldn’t handle such a tremendous rush of memories yet. If this continued, it could inflict irreversible damage on her.

Eno sighed helplessly and stopped the brainwashing of Vivi.

Some things just couldn’t be rushed—at least, not right now.

“Forget it, let her rest for a bit.”

Eno withdrew from Vivi, the slime once more gathering into the shape of a young girl.

Looking at the motionless little loli, Eno felt unsatisfied.

Vivi was simply too cute, the ultimate beauty among slime girls.

Upon seeing such a rare gem, any slime girl would be enthralled by her adorableness. But there were too many people around; this wasn’t the right place to enjoy Vivi.

She needed to find a quiet, safe, secluded place to properly instruct this newborn slime girl.

At the same time, inside the old city district police station, a group of police officers were engaged in a heated discussion.

The atmosphere was tense as a drawn sword—no one’s face looked pleasant.

Just then, an officer suddenly burst through the door and called out anxiously.

“Chief! Emergency situation!”

The middle-aged man seated at the head of the table frowned and hurriedly stood up to ask,

“What happened?”

“We just received an emergency call, but it hung up as soon as it connected. All we could hear was the sound of something sticky flowing.”

Normally, the officers wouldn’t have cared much about something like this, but four people had gone missing recently; they couldn’t ignore it.

“Can you locate where it came from?”

“Faster, send someone to check the scene immediately.”

The young officer hurried out, and as the door closed, the old chief collapsed into his chair, beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

“Chief, do you think what that girl who came the other day said could be true?”

The chief frowned.

“Nonsense. She’s just some kid who’s watched too many anime—there’s no such thing as a slime girl.”

“Don’t think about those things. Get everyone together and check the last known phone locations for all the missing people.”

“Yes, sir!”

***

In a dimly-lit corridor, a girl carrying a backpack wore headphones, her neat high ponytail swinging behind her as she leaned against the wall, head down, playing on her phone.

When her game ended in defeat, she stomped her foot in frustration. Her pretty face was puffed up in anger—a kind of adorable contrast she didn’t even realize.

She didn’t bother to claim her in-game rewards and closed the app outright.

Only when she checked the time did she sense something was off today.

“Weird, where did big bro go?”

She hadn’t brought her keys today, and without Wu Ren at home, she couldn’t get in.

Standing around waiting wasn’t a solution, so she dialed Wu Ren’s number.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed…”

Beep—beep—beep—

“That stupid brother, did he sneak out to play while I wasn’t home?”

Annoyed, Wu Menghan decided to take matters into her own hands—and maybe give him a piece of her mind while she was at it.

Leaving the old neighborhood, Wu Menghan, relying on her knowledge of her brother, made her way to a small alley.

This old street shouldn’t have many people at this hour, but today was different.

The alley was already packed, and several police cars were parked on the street outside—it looked like something big had happened.

Wu Menghan curiously squeezed closer, tiptoeing to barely see what was going on ahead.

At the very center of the crowd, behind the police tape, several officers were collecting pink, fan-like slime from the ground.

“Hey, sis, what’s going on up front?”

Unable to see clearly in the night, Wu Menghan tapped the shoulder of the woman in front of her.

“I’m not too sure. But people have been going missing around here a lot lately. Guess the police finally found a clue.”

“Oh, thanks, sis.”

There was nothing more to see. Wu Menghan slipped out of the crowd and stood alone on the chilly street.

For some reason, she felt a strange emptiness inside, as if she were about to lose something important.

Just as she was about to leave, she spotted a young girl not far away, crouched down and looking quite young.

***

Under the night sky, the girl’s silvery-white hair stood out strikingly. She looked about sixteen or seventeen, her gloomy aura practically radiating from her.

“Little sister? What’s wrong?”

Wu Menghan asked cautiously, but didn’t move closer.

The girl slowly raised her head, her pale golden eyes reddened with tears, her collar soaked.

“Big sis, do you believe me?”

“Hmm? Don’t cry, tell me what happened?”

“Slimes. There are slime girls. This world’s been invaded by slime girls.”

Wu Menghan’s lips twitched, wondering if this kid had lost her mind.

Seeing Wu Menghan’s reaction, the girl knew she didn’t believe her and began sobbing even louder.

“Wuu wuu, why won’t anyone believe me? I’m telling the truth!”

“Uh… Little sister, what’s going on? I believe you, I believe you, okay?”

Seeing how pitiful she looked, Wu Menghan couldn’t bear it and sat beside her, comforting her softly.

The girl didn’t mind. At this point, just having someone willing to listen was enough.

She glanced around, making sure everyone’s attention was on the alley before leaning in close to Wu Menghan’s ear.

“Big sis, my name is Irena, I’m a Slime Hunter. I come from a world filled with magic.”

“But… my homeland’s been completely devoured by slime girls. I… I barely escaped.”

“I didn’t expect any slime girls to follow me through the portal.”

Irena choked out her story between sobs.

Wu Menghan stared at her with a complicated expression, wanting to say something but at a loss for words.

“Well… Um, little sister, I’ve got something urgent to take care of. Why don’t you go talk to the police over there?”

“They won’t believe me! None of them will believe me! Wuuuuu~”

Wu Menghan covered her ears, her brow knitting into a deep frown.

She really couldn’t deal with this crazy girl—better to go look for her own dumb brother.

Bzz bzz~

At that moment, her phone suddenly vibrated.

Big bro?!

That was her first thought. Excited, she pulled out her phone and answered, but a stranger’s voice came through.

“Hello, is this Miss Wu Menghan?”

“That’s me. Who is this?”

“We’re calling from the Old City Police Station. Are you Wu Ren’s younger sister?”

Hearing this, Wu Menghan’s heart tightened.

“Yes, that’s me! What happened to my brother?”

“This evening, we received a call from your brother, but his signal disappeared immediately after.”

“Then… where’s my brother?”

Wu Menghan’s voice trembled, a well of anxiety threatening to overflow.

“Sorry, we couldn’t find him. For your safety, we’ll send a patrol car to pick you up.”

After hanging up, Wu Menghan collapsed to the ground, dazed.

The cold air around her felt like countless sharp knives slicing into her flesh, burrowing deep inside.

Tears fell to the ground, and she couldn’t hold back any longer.

That was her brother—her stupid big brother. How could something like this happen?

Wu Menghan hugged her knees tightly, her gaze fixed on the ground.

The noise around her grew louder. She saw two figures standing in front of her.

Looking up, she saw it was the police officers from the alley.

They checked the location on their phones and confirmed the girl in front of them.

“Hello, you must be Wu Ren’s sister.”

“Alright, please come with us.”

As they prepared to leave, Irena hurriedly got up and blocked their path.

“I want to go with you too.”

The two officers exchanged a glance, then smiled helplessly.

“Little girl, we really can’t listen to any more of your stories. We’re in the middle of police work, so please—”

“Murderer!”

Suddenly, Irena pointed and shouted in a certain direction.

The officers’ faces changed as they looked where she was pointing—a glob of pink slime was dangling from the old building’s balcony.

“Hm? Caught already? Slime Hunters really are troublesome.”

Eno slowly materialized, hanging upside-down beneath the balcony, gazing at them with great interest.