“Sister?”
Bai Miao’s small hand tugged at the corner of Su Ling’s clothes.
She could sense someone at the door.
For some reason, she felt a strange sense of familiarity from the person standing there.
It was different from what she felt for her sister; it was more like a sense of security, as if the other person was a loyal guardian who would never betray her.
“Be good, Miao Miao. It’s fine. It’s just a kind lady,” Su Ling comforted her.
Because Bai Miao had distracted her, she hadn’t heard what the girl said just now.
“Thank you so much. Um, I’m Su Ling, and this is my sister Bai Miao. May I ask your name?”
“Name?”
The girl paused, a flash of confusion appearing in her eyes.
“Empr… I don’t have a name. You can call me K423.”
No name? K423?
Su Ling looked at her with suspicion.
‘Is she another Automaton Maid belonging to some big shot?’
Su Ling thought of Ji Lingyuan’s Automaton Maids.
Those maids didn’t have names, only code names.
‘Wait, she couldn’t be an automaton from the Superintendent Department, could she?’
Su Ling immediately became wary.
She had been wondering why the police hadn’t done anything and had even let her go after finding out her mother was a deserter.
‘I see. So this is what they were waiting for.’
Suddenly, Su Ling’s attitude became somewhat respectful.
“Um, you’re being too polite. Would you like to come in and sit for a while?”
This was a police automaton suspected of monitoring her home; she didn’t dare be negligent.
Otherwise, if those people from the police department framed her for something, she would be lucky to escape with her life.
When K423 heard Su Ling use the formal “you” to address her, her pale face lost even more color.
*Thud!*
She knelt directly on the ground, her expression filled with terror.
“You mustn’t! This is K423’s disrespect!”
As she spoke, she actually pulled out a small knife.
Under Su Ling’s horrified gaze, she ruthlessly slashed her own fair, smooth arm.
‘Wait, is she crazy?!’
Su Ling was startled.
She hurriedly covered Bai Miao’s eyes, forgetting for a moment that Bai Miao was already blind.
“This is… punishment…”
“No, no, I… what I meant was…”
Seeing the girl’s blood dripping all over the floor, Su Ling scrambled to find gauze and alcohol.
However, just as she turned around, K423 grabbed her wrist.
“This is what I earned. Please, you must accept it.”
K423 stuffed a handful of crumpled bills into Su Ling’s hand.
Su Ling’s mind went blank.
She felt as if she were in a dream.
Early in the morning, a beautiful girl calling herself K423 had returned her Hajimi, then proceeded to stab herself after some unknown misunderstanding, and finally gave her money.
This was too absurd!
“I know you’ve been having a hard time lately. I don’t really know how to make money, but I earned this by selling scraps. Please don’t look down on it.”
“Also, you must never go looking for that witch named Ji Lingyuan again. You are in a critical period right now. If you continue to see her, she might discover… you and Her High… you might be in danger.”
“I have already dealt with the spies the police stationed here. Don’t worry, they aren’t dead. I only ate their memories.”
Blood was still dripping from K423’s wrist.
She gripped Su Ling’s wrist tightly, her eyes filled with lingering affection and fanaticism.
“I’m sorry. I took it upon myself to come see you. You may not understand right now, but you will know everything in the future.”
“Finally, please do not be confused. No matter what others say your identity is, please believe in yourself.”
After saying that, K423 took a deep look at Su Ling before turning and leaving resolutely.
“Hey, wait!”
By the time Su Ling reacted, K423’s figure had long since vanished.
“What is even happening!”
Su Ling rubbed her long hair in frustration.
Looking at the blood-stained bills in her hand, an inexplicable ball of anger suddenly rose in her chest.
“Sister.”
Bai Miao stared blankly in the direction where K423 had left.
“It’s nothing, Miao Miao. It’s just… a rather strange lady,” Su Ling said, closing the door and comforting her.
But deep down, a sense of unease grew.
However, K423’s final words left a deep impression on her.
‘Do not be confused… please believe in yourself…’
It was as if the girl knew about her transmigration.
‘But I’m not confused.’
Her self-perception had never changed.
She was Su Ling, a transmigrator from Earth.
Nevertheless, a seed of self-doubt began to take root and sprout in her heart.
***
“Chief, we found it.”
Upper District Police.
An officer hurried through the noisy corridor and into the operations room.
Shao Hua and Yun Guang both looked toward the newcomer.
“Last night, the Source-Devouring Beast possessed by Dalian was spotted on Pancheng Street in the Lower City. A street camera caught her shadow.”
The officer pulled up a blurry video where the faint silhouette of a black cat could be seen.
“It’s so blurry. Why is the Lower City still using such outdated cameras?”
Shao Hua frowned.
Yun Guang rolled her eyes at her.
‘Let them eat cake.’
‘Otherwise, why do you think it’s called the Lower City?’
“Pancheng Street… that address sounds familiar.”
“It’s Su Ling’s neighborhood,” the officer said.
She pulled up another file.
“The officers we sent to monitor Su Ling’s family yesterday were suspected of being hit by an unknown attack last night. A portion of their memories seems to be missing.”
Upon hearing it was Su Ling’s address, Yun Guang looked up sharply.
She stared fixedly at Shao Hua, who turned her head slightly away.
“Regardless, her mother is a deserter. It’s perfectly reasonable for me to send people to watch her.”
“You!” Yun Guang laughed out of anger.
What “perfectly reasonable”?
She knew Shao Hua was just using public resources to settle a private grudge.
“Senior, that matter is in the past. There’s absolutely no need to involve an innocent person.”
“Innocent person? Hah, it seems Su Ling’s suspicion has only grown,” Shao Hua sneered.
Dalian appeared in Su Ling’s neighborhood, and the people monitoring Su Ling lost their memories.
This only made Su Ling more suspicious.
Yun Guang’s brow furrowed. She didn’t want to argue with Shao Hua further.
She looked at the officer.
“What do you mean by ‘suspected’? Be more specific.”
“It’s like this. Until their shift ended this morning, the witches on watch last night didn’t notice anything unusual.”
“Then how do you know they lost a part of their memories?”
“It’s the work logs. Every officer is equipped with a real-time log developed by The Company, recorded by an AI throughout the entire process. The log doesn’t match the written reports they submitted this morning, so we suspect they lost a segment of memory.”
The police department had equipped officers with real-time logs specifically to prevent memory loss caused by Incinerators of the Memory Sequence.
At the end of each shift, each person would write a report, and the two would be verified against each other.
Hearing this, Yun Guang also felt that something was wrong.
“Which part of their memory did they lose?”
“Only one minute’s worth. The AI log says they were unconscious on the ground for one minute, but their written reports don’t mention this at all.”
“Was it an encounter with an Incinerator? Or another witch from the Memory Sequence?”
“That’s the strangest part. Their memories show no trace of intrusion by the Memory Sequence. The Memory Sequence witches in our department investigated thoroughly many times and concluded that their memories are perfectly normal.”
At this point, Shao Hua could no longer sit still.
“How is that possible? If there are no traces of the Memory Sequence, could it be that it wasn’t a witch…”
She suddenly froze.
Yun Guang’s frown deepened.
“I understand. Xiaoyuan, assemble Team Three immediately.”
“Yes!” Xiaoyuan responded quickly.
“Senior, what are you planning to do?”
“Hah, don’t you get it yet? Su Ling is now more than just a little suspicious,” Shao Hua sneered.
Ignoring Yun Guang, she packed her things and prepared to head out.
Yun Guang stood in place, her expression very grim.
She believed Su Ling wasn’t the culprit, but now all clues pointed to her.
Even if Su Ling wasn’t the killer, she was definitely involved.
“Phew! Ji Lingyuan, oh Ji Lingyuan, you really owe me a big favor this time!”
Yun Guang let out a slow breath, then took out her phone and found Ji Lingyuan’s contact information.
***
“Hehe, I’m so happy! The Empress actually touched me! I’m so happy, so happy!”
K423 turned into a dark corner.
Her small face was flushed as she touched the wrist Su Ling had just held, her eyes full of excitement.
When she had punished herself earlier, she had been careful not to touch the spot Su Ling had touched.
“Heehee!”
K423 was in high spirits.
She walked into the alley, and a pile of scrap metal came into view.
“Yes! I have to work hard today too, and try to help the Empress pay off all her debts!”
The wound on K423’s arm had completely healed.
She looked at the mountain of scrap metal, her eyes full of motivation.
Although she didn’t understand what witches’ money was for, she knew her Empress needed it.
For the Empress, she would not hesitate even if it meant risking her life.
“Idiot!”
Suddenly, a mocking voice came from behind.
K423 spun around and saw a tall figure in a black robe.
The figure slowly walked up to K423 and lowered the hood, revealing its true form.
It was half-human and half-insect.
The upper body looked like a normal girl with short white hair, but her face had six symmetrical, crimson eyes that looked terrifying.
Her lower body was the abdomen of a white spider, with six hard white legs that shimmered with a cold light in the dim alley.
“K424!”
Seeing the newcomer, K423’s face flushed with anger.
“Who are you calling an idiot! If you hadn’t eaten the Boss of Shao Nian You, would the Empress be in this much danger? The witches’ police have already noticed her!”
K424 remained silent for a moment, a flash of guilt appearing in her six pupils.
“It was indeed my oversight. If it wasn’t for my old injury…”
As she spoke, she suddenly coughed violently.
K423 hurried forward to check on her.
“You’re injured. I told you to hold back.”
“I couldn’t hold back at all. How could I endure them insulting the Empress like that?”
A frantic killing intent flashed in K424’s eyes.
She looked at the scrap metal behind K423 and sneered.
“You’re still too foolish. How can this tiny amount of money help the Empress? We have to deal with the source.”
Unfortunately, her old injury had flared up at the most critical moment, and everything had fallen through.
“You already alerted them last night. Didn’t you know those witches have AI?”
“Eh? What’s that?”
K423’s eyes were full of confusion.
K424 looked at her deeply and then sighed.
“Nothing. I just wanted to say that selling scrap is too slow. K423, we’re the only ones left of the Empress’s Imperial Guard, and you’re the only one who can still achieve perfect Mimicry. You must protect the Empress well, at least until the day she fully awakens.”
“Hmph, you don’t need to tell me that. Now that the Second Princess has begun to awaken, I think the Empress will soon as well.”
K423 looked forward with longing, completely missing the flicker of reluctance deep in K424’s eyes.
“Oh dear, talking to you is a waste of time. Get out of the way; the boss I contacted is waiting for me.”
K423 slung a large pile of scrap over her slender shoulders, grumbling and complaining about K424.
K424 simply watched her figure silently, a flash of determination in her eyes.
“Empress, K423… this is the mess I made, and I should be the one to fix it.”
She had been a member of the Empress’s Imperial Guard since birth.
Twenty-two years ago, that woman had taken the sleeping former Empress and come to the First Universe.
The image of a girl with black hair, red eyes, a face as cold as ice, and a black-and-red katana surfaced in K424’s mind.
Her expression grew complex.
That woman had not only lured away the former Empress but had also brought two princesses to the Zerg.
The First Princess had already inherited the Insect Hive Oez and been crowned Empress, and the Second Princess was currently in the process of awakening.
Yet at this critical moment, because of her own negligence, she had attracted the attention of the witches.
“For the Empress.”
K424’s three pairs of crimson eyes slowly opened, and her grotesque form gradually vanished into the darkness.
***
*Boom!*
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
As soon as Team Three, led by Shao Hua, teleported to the Lower City, they were ambushed.
Shao Hua’s face immediately darkened.
“Xiaoyuan, report the situation.”
“Chief, it’s the Zerg! The Original be praised, our luck is incredible!”
In the front, a half-human, half-insect monster was in a fierce battle with the members of Team Three.
Most of the team were Ordinary Witches who still relied on technology.
Countless laser beams intertwined like a dense net on the monster’s body.
*Sizzle!*
The lasers hit the monster’s body, leaving behind only faint wisps of blue smoke.
The monster seemed to be enraged.
The sound of fluttering wings echoed across the battlefield as she quickly took to the air, a crimson energy wave condensing in her mouth.
“Back off!”
A cold voice rang out.
Following that, ice walls rose from the ground.
A figure holding a katana made of ice charged toward the monster in the air.
The crimson energy wave hurtled down, but in the next instant, a flash of cold light sliced the energy wave in two.
At the same time, two white insect legs fell to the ground.
“Aeee!”
The monster shrieked in pain and immediately fled toward the depths of the Lower City.
“Tch.”
Shao Hua landed, performing a flourish with her blade as the ice katana melted away instantly.
“Chief!”
Xiaoyuan and the remaining members rushed over, their eyes full of admiration.
‘Is this a Transcendent Witch?’
‘So cool!’
They glanced at the ice walls on the battlefield.
This was the ability of the Ice Sequence.
“Chase it.”
Shao Hua’s brow was tightly furrowed, but she still gave the order.
She felt that something was wrong, but current events left her no time to think.
“Remember, capture it alive.”