“I can’t take this. Besides, I have a salary now. You should keep it for yourself.”
Irena shook her head and refused. To be blunt, she was simply using Vivi and the others; she had even considered using Vivi as a test subject.
Vivi, however, did not see it that way. In a rare display of firmness, she forced the item into Irena’s hand.
“One thing is one thing. You’ve helped me so much; I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t show my appreciation.”
“This… Alright.”
Irena felt a bit helpless, but she still didn’t intend to keep the money. After thinking about it, she pretended to put the red envelope in her pocket.
While Vivi wasn’t looking, she secretly tucked the 100 yuan into the red envelope.
“Oh, right, Irena. What exactly is that thing you were talking about?”
Vivi didn’t notice the subtle movement and instead turned her attention to Irena’s usual workspace. It looked cluttered, covered in various materials that emitted an aura making her feel slightly uneasy.
“Oh, you mean this.”
Irena’s expression turned serious as she pulled a dagger from the pile of materials.
The craftsmanship was exquisite, and it was clearly an enchanted police dagger, though this specific model was obsolete equipment.
There was still a large stock of these daggers, so they were simply given to Irena for her experiments.
The dagger looked beautiful and felt comfortable in the hand, yet it gave Vivi a bad feeling.
“Irena, why does this knife feel… different?”
A faint smile played at the corners of Irena’s mouth. She took the dagger back from Vivi, produced a slime fragment from an unknown source, and stabbed downward.
With a *thud*, the slime fragment was cut into two pieces and did not regenerate.
Seeing this, Vivi instinctively felt a chill. She subconsciously took a step back, appearing frightened. Her instincts told her that this thing was dangerous.
“Irena, where… where did you get this thing?”
“Well… that’s a secret for now.”
She gave a sly smile, sheathed the dagger, and tossed it to Vivi.
“Consider this a form of protection. Oh, and don’t let the blade chip. This material is quite rare, and it took a lot of effort to perform the enchantment.”
“Oh… I… I understand.”
After Vivi left, Irena leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temples. Strictly speaking, the dagger she gave Vivi was a semi-finished product.
Its power might not be as great as her own weapon, but it should be enough to deal with current slime girls.
As for how to use these materials to make bullets, that was a major challenge.
First, the production materials were too rare and expensive; second, bullets required a standardized production line, and the tips were single-use. In that case, waste was inevitable.
She scratched her silver hair. Her long hair, which Vivi had just smoothed out, became messy again.
Perhaps there were other ways. At the very least, she could find a way to extract the essence from the materials and dilute it to coat the bullets.
But doing so carried a risk: the power of the bullet head might weaken or even fail entirely.
‘Sigh, it’s so hard~’
She let out a long breath, feeling as though the future was dark once again.
Forget it, she wouldn’t think about it anymore. She needed to make another one, at least to arm everyone on her side. That way, even if Eno’s forces grew, they would still have a fighting chance.
***
In the outskirts of the Old Town, amidst the continuous mountains, lay a small village with no paved roads.
Eno leaned against a cold wall, sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed. Faint pink magic elements swirled around her.
Under the influence of her magic elements, the wound on her outer thigh was slowly healing.
Finally… after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, her thigh had completely returned to its original state. Letting out a soft breath, Eno wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead.
Her injuries were mostly recovered. She moved a little but could still feel a slight pain.
‘That damned Irena. If it hadn’t been for her appearance, I could have turned all those guys into slime girls by now.’
Who knew Irena would interfere? The most infuriating thing was that in a one-on-one fight, Irena was definitely no match for her.
However, every time she came, Irena brought a large group of people, giving Eno no chance for a duel.
After these two clashes, she understood that she had to rapidly expand her forces to compete with the human powers of this world.
She pondered for a moment, comparing the strengths and weaknesses of both sides.
Now that her strength was mostly restored, she could start expanding her forces on a large scale.
But the human forces in this world were too bizarre; they could monitor her even in corners where no one was present.
It was a nuisance, but she wasn’t without advantages. They could easily disguise themselves as ordinary people, slip into the most crowded parts of the city, and move from place to place after each strike.
The more slime girls they converted, the better. Once they caused a large-scale commotion, the human forces would fall into chaos.
As she mulled over her strategy, a blue-haired slime girl entered the room.
“Oh, Zora. Did you find anything nearby?”
Zora shook her head, speaking with a mix of frustration and timidity. “This village has been abandoned for many years. We only caught some small animals.”
“Is that so…”
Eno nodded. Small animals without intelligence could not be converted into slime girls; at most, they would just become slimes.
‘Sigh, it’s better than nothing. I should strengthen my power as much as possible.’
Her goal wasn’t just to conquer this world; she also wanted to compete with her arch-rival. Therefore, the larger her forces, the better.
“How about this, Zora? Call everyone here. We need to discuss our next plan.”
“Okay~”
Zora replied sweetly and turned to leave.
‘The girl is quite cute, but she is still far inferior to Vivi.’
At the thought of Vivi, Eno’s expression darkened significantly.
‘That hateful Irena, that hateful Vivi. Why resist? Wouldn’t it be better to just honestly become a full slime girl!’
‘Being a slime girl is such a happy and joyful thing. Why aren’t they willing to forget the past, let go, and become a brand-new self?’
Eno couldn’t understand it, and the resentment in her heart grew stronger. However, there was nothing she could do to Vivi for now.
Before long, Zora walked in with a group of young slime girls. They sat obediently on the earthen bed, forming a small circle like little elves.
Just a single glance was pleasing to the eye. But as they sat together, the topics they discussed were enough to make one’s skin crawl.