He just broke up with his girlfriend and is already living with the devilish rich girl.

The morning sunlight streamed through the glass door of the convenience store, where a young woman in an employee uniform stood at the checkout counter.

Luo Yao altered the uniform herself, raising the waistline by half an inch compared to the standard version and cutting off a section of the skirt to reveal a pair of slender legs encased in black stockings.

She tied her hair into a high ponytail and added a strawberry hair clip.

He was humming a song as he wiped the oden pot on the cashier's counter.

Zheng Ningyuan stood outside the door for a full five minutes.

He changed into casual clothes, a dark gray jacket, and was carrying a bag of fruit; he didn't look like the commander of the Special Administration.

He looked more like a retired old man visiting relatives.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Before the sensor on the door even went off, Luo Yao had already looked up.

Welcome!

She tilted her head and smiled so brightly.

"What would you like, sir? Our strawberry cake is buy one get one free today!"

"I...I've come to find you."

He placed the fruit on the counter, unsure of what to do with his hands, and finally stood awkwardly with his hands pressed against his trouser seams.

"I've come to apologize for what happened last night. That white wolf... I didn't recognize it as one of yours and attacked it without permission."

Luo Yao picked up the barcode scanner and scanned a strawberry cake that was on sale at the counter.

It emits a crisp "beep" sound.

"Buy one get one free on strawberry cake, wanna try it?"

Sweat was dripping down Zheng Ningyuan's forehead.

"Last night at the factory, I attacked him. The situation was urgent; I was only thinking about saving my daughter—"

"Strawberry cake~ Want some?"

"Yes, I'll have one."

"Thank you for your patronage~ As for what happened last night... I understand your eagerness to save your daughter."

Luo Yao put down the barcode scanner, rested her chin on her hands on the cashier counter, and her eyes curved into crescents.

"And you just said 'your people.' I really like those three words."

Zheng Ningyuan suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

He had dealt with Luo Yao several times and knew her temperament well.

They're petty and narrow-minded, and never suffer a loss.

Anyone who offends her will be skinned alive.

Why are you being so agreeable today? He composed himself and tentatively asked, "You're not going to pursue this?"

"Of course we should investigate."

Luo Yao's smile remained unchanged as she took a document from under the counter and pushed it in front of him.

"I need you to investigate something."

"The Chaos Authority has nothing to do with the Special Administration Bureau, but the blind girl who played the flute last night clearly had remnants of the Authority of Domination on her."

"The power of control has always been held by your Special Administration Bureau, but now it has fallen into the hands of those who create beastly breath."

"Once chaos and branches are combined, you know what the consequences will be."

Zheng Ningyuan took the document, his expression turning serious.

"I know. Once these two powers are combined, a fully controlled high-level alien army can be mass-produced."

"That's not just a few dozen, it's tens of thousands, just like you... just like you at the beginning..."

In fact, Zheng Ningyuan never actually witnessed Luo Yao in full victory.

However, on the day he became the commander of the Special Administration Bureau, he opened a top-secret file.

That's not personnel material, it's not even a file.

It is an ancient record transcribed on parchment, and the sealer did not even dare to leave his signature.

He read it all night.

My fingers trembled slightly as I read the last page.

It doesn't describe power, but rather a nonchalant, condescending view.

To those eyes, everything in the world was nothing more than pebbles.

The laws that are revered by the world seem to have been disregarded by her.

The laws that constitute the essence of the world had no intention of causing her any trouble.

The two transcendent forces kept to themselves.

That sits high in the heavens.

This extraordinary being, possessing eight powers—devouring, domination, chaos, flesh and blood, void, plague, calamity, and contract—looks down upon all living beings with eyes that seem to regard them as ants.

Just thinking about that scene made Zheng Ningyuan break out in a cold sweat.

"So that's why." Luo Yao resumed her cloyingly sweet smile.

"You'd better help me find the mole."

"Don't worry, I'm not that cruel to let an old man like you investigate all by yourself."

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

The curtain at the back door of the supermarket was lifted, and a person walked in.

The man was dressed in simple casual clothes, his short black hair was a little messy, and he had a row of earrings on his ears.

She has a clean-cut and handsome face, but the figure of a young girl; if you don't look closely, you might mistake her for a cold-faced handsome man.

Zheng Ningyuan was stunned when he saw the face clearly.

He recognized the face; it was in the General Administration's confidential files, where four words had been written in red ink at the end: "Refuse to be drafted."

"You are... Tao Ye?"

Tao Ye scratched his messy short hair, looking utterly dejected.

"This is so troublesome, do I really have to become this old man's bodyguard?"

"Don't take orders from him. Just like before, save his life in critical moments."

Tao Ye shrugged, which was taken as an agreement.

Zheng Ningyuan was still in shock.

Tao Ye.

The only S-rank operator in Ninghai City, a lone wolf who has refused repeated recruitment attempts from the General Administration.

She is a troublesome figure who gives the Special Administration a headache, yet they are powerless to deal with her.

Luo Yao summoned her with a snap of her fingers, even though Luo Yao is currently powerless...

He composed himself: "I will find out as soon as possible."

"But, if I really find out, what do you plan to do?"

"Those people know you're very weak right now, and if they're determined to seize those two powers, they might even kill you—"

"Don't be silly, kid."

Luo Yao laughed, but there was a chill in that laughter that didn't belong to this morning.

"Do you know why those people only sealed me away back then, instead of actually killing me?"

"Because if they really kill me, all their power will vanish. They can't bear to do that."

She lowered her head and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"More than ten years ago, I did consider just dying."

"Let's drag those people down with us to die, since there's nothing worth staying for in this world anyway."

She remembered the underpass.

I recalled the dark, damp stone walls, the moldy straw, and the rotten fruit pits.

I remembered that ugly monster curled up in the corner, unable to even maintain the shape of a human body.

She had no strength left, and no reason to keep going.

With her last ounce of strength, she pressed her claws against her neck, about to stab—

A small figure appeared at the entrance of the bridge arch.

It was a thin boy, holding a small loaf of bread, standing on the edge of the shadow where the moonlight couldn't reach, tilting his head to look at her.

He didn't scream or run away; he just put the bread on the ground.

"I left it here, it's delicious." Then she turned and ran away.

Luo Yao looked up from her reverie and gazed at Zheng Ningyuan, who was dressed in a suit and tie, standing in front of her.

He glanced at Tao Ye, who was scratching his head and yawning beside him, and resumed his usual mischievous grin.

"And I'm not entirely unprepared; my little knight is currently growing up."

Zheng Ningyuan remembered the white wolf from last night.

Indeed... very strong, but not strong enough.

If it can keep devouring, then is its growth endless?

After Zheng Ningyuan and Tao Ye left, Luo Yao took off her apron, hung a "Temporarily Closed" sign on the cashier counter, and turned to walk into the warehouse.

She walked past the shelves piled high with cardboard boxes, pushed open an inconspicuous iron door, and went down the stairs.

The basement was a completely different space, and it was somehow expanded to be extremely large.

A deafening roar echoed through the empty underground space as a giant, silver-white wolf chased a cat-eared girl.

The cat's four paws were practically flying off the ground, its two tails were taut from running at high speed, and tears were welling up in its eyes.

"Help! Boss, help! This is the fourth day! He doesn't seem to get tired at all!!"

The white wolf leaped and pounced, but the cat narrowly dodged to the side, a tuft of fur being scraped off the tip of its tail by the wolf's claws.

She scrambled around the corner, running and shouting back as she went.

"Go after the boss! She's the one who tricked you! We're smoking buddies!! Have you forgotten our friendship from when we smoked together at the supermarket back door?!"

"Hey, how can you talk like that?"

Luo Yao had already appeared at the basement entrance, a strawberry milkshake in her hand.

She slowly walked up to the observation platform, biting on a straw.

"This is to help him completely control that power. Before he can overcome his wildness, I'll trouble you, being agile, to wear him down a bit more."

The white wolf howled as it pounced from below, and the cat was so jolted that it stumbled and almost fell. Its ears were pressed against its head as it desperately sped up, its voice cracking as it ran.

"I've been in the service industry for three hundred years and I've never taken a job like this before! I quit!! I resign! I'm quitting!"

Luo Yao took a sip of her milkshake and said with a smile.

"You need to submit your resignation letter thirty days in advance, and what kind of contract are you signing? What are you resigning for? Get moving! Run! Get moving!"