I just hope to live a leisurely life in the world of anime.

An Shu patted the little girl's head, stood up, and joked, "Well, I definitely won't let the club president get expelled, don't worry."

"I'm leaving Hitomi to you guys. Prepare two extra meals for lunch and invite Miori to eat with us. I'm afraid that girl will starve to death at home!"

An Shu seemed to remember something and couldn't help but smile. She then pinched An Tong's little nose and said, "Be a good girl and follow Sister Mu Geng!"

Seeing the obediently nodding silver-haired loli, Rentaro interjected, "Anshu-kun, why don't you let Enju go with you..."

"No, no need, let her sleep," An Shu interrupted him.

“An Shujun, if things become unmanageable, please retreat immediately!” Tian Tong Mu Geng looked at him seriously.

"Of course, I'm not that stupid! Even if the mission fails, I can still afford to pay your tuition, President."

"I still have two girls at home to support," An Shu said with a squinting smile.

"I'm off!" He waved to them, and with a flash of blue light, An Shu had vanished without a trace.

Leaning against the wall, Sumire Muroto squinted, somewhat puzzled. This didn't seem to be an effect that technology could achieve...

……

"Should I have never come in the first place?" Looking at the towering trees around him, the occasional moonlight filtering in made the forest exceptionally quiet.

An Shu suddenly felt a pang of regret. Should she stay home and watch TV with her little girl? Should she sneak away?

An Shu was somewhat tempted. The plot was starting ahead of schedule, and without Rentaro, that emotionless loli probably wouldn't die...

No, that's not right either. Won't it make me die even faster? The plot has spiraled out of control.

And there's more than one loli here!

But those little girls have nothing to do with me! Why did I come here? An Shu asked herself, her mind in turmoil, unable to find an answer for a long time.

He sighed, scratched his head, and thought, "Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore! I'm really getting lazier and lazier!"

"Ok?"

After wandering aimlessly for a while, he stopped, looked up, and saw three red lights suddenly appear in the sky. "I was wondering why there weren't any Gastrea around here. So this is the territory of that Gastrea from the original story, the one that chased Rentaro and his group in Stage IV!"

"Roar—" The Gastrea couldn't understand him and roared at him defiantly.

"Just what we needed for the journey!" An Shu rubbed his hands together, not out of fear, but out of genuine joy, since he wouldn't have to walk a long distance ahead.

"Shut up!" An Shu said calmly, mimicking Hiruko Kagetane's snap of his fingers. His voice lacked authority, murderous intent, and any hint of world-weariness; it was plain and unassuming, like a normal conversation, as if it were always meant to be this way.

No wonder Hiruko Kagetane likes snapping his fingers so much; it makes him look so cool! Anshu stroked his chin, having learned something new!

Strangely enough, the Gastrea, which had been so fierce, actually stopped roaring. It even closed its legs, folded its wings, and lowered its neck.

"It's a bit ugly..." Looking at this creature that resembled a giraffe and a hammerhead shark, An Shu sighed, "We'll just have to make do with it."

He flipped over and landed on its head, ate another candy, patted himself down, and said, "Let's go take a look over there."

After all, the flashing gunfire over there never stopped.

……

"Brother Jiangjian, I don't recommend going that way. It's all trees and there's no sunlight there, plus it's too quiet!"

Chishou Natsuyo checked the equipment in his hands, his voice slightly worried but without much fluctuation in tone.

"It's alright! Do you think a bunch of monsters would know how to ambush us? Crossing that way will give us a quick way to get to the dock, and we can find the masked man before anyone else."

Yi Xiong swung his broadsword, shaking off the purplish-brown blood.

“If you insist… I will take over, Brother Jian!” Senju Natsume suddenly raised his voice and pointed into the depths of the woods.

Two lights, red and green, flickered on and off, as if flashing rhythmically.

"It might be other police officers, let's go check it out!" Yi Xiong, the supervisor, took the lead and walked towards the inside with his knife. He couldn't let someone else steal the credit for the masked man. If all else failed, he would...—his eyes flashed with murderous intent!

Senju Natsuyo sighed, a rare occurrence for him; he had no choice but to leave.

No police officer would be foolish enough to emit such a huge light at night in Gastrea's territory, where it's either a trap set by one of their own or a Gastrea's own.

There are quite a few people who share the same idea as Ikuma Shoken.

She knew her older brother's personality; he possessed great strength but wasn't very intelligent, his brain was all muscle. She figured persuasion would be useless, so she loaded her gun, followed closely behind, and secretly increased her vigilance without saying another word.

After walking for a short distance, we finally saw the source of the light, which was surrounded by several Gastrea.

"This is—Stage IV?!" Natsume Senju was startled.

"Damn it, we've been spotted! Run!" Seeing Stage IV turn its massive body, Ikuma realized something was wrong, used his sword to deflect a tree branch that was being flung towards him, and roared in anger. He'd been right; the Gastrea knew how to ambush people!

Senju Natsume, on the other hand, appeared very calm. He aimed his gun at Stage IV and fired several bullets steadily into its head.

Useless?!

Seeing the other party's growing anger, even she, who was usually very intelligent, was stunned for a moment.

Looking at the commander next to him, he saw that he was already entangled with the Phase III fighter who was originally surrounding Phase IV, and they were fighting fiercely, somewhat losing control of their own game.

Chishou Natsuyo knew that his mission was not to clear out the Gastrea, but to hunt down the masked man and retrieve the box. Preserving his strength was the priority, so he hurriedly called out to Ikuma Shoken, "Brother Shoken! Come back!" As he spoke, he pulled out a bomb.

"Roar—" Just then, a sudden change occurred.

A loud roar came from a distance, and the light was dim, so the exact shape of the creature that made the sound could not be seen. Only three red lights in the sky could be seen.

"The second Stage IV?" Chizu Natsume frowned.

"Hey, having so much fun?"

A nonchalant voice rang out from the Gastrea. Ikuma Shōken, who had just retreated to Chizu Natsuyo's side, was stunned along with his Initiator. There was someone on that monster?! What was going on?

As they drew closer, the two finally made out the Gastrea's exact shape and the book on its head.

"It's you?" Senju Natsumi was taken aback. Wasn't this the person who had given her candy before?

“It’s you!” Ikuma Shōgan’s brows furrowed.

###Chapter 21 Qianshou Xiashi###

“Shh—” An Shu gestured to them to be quiet.

"Snap—" A crisp snap of fingers suddenly rang out, instantly drowning out all other sounds, and the Gastrea, which was roaring halfway through, stopped abruptly, as if its throat had been choked.

The two people on the ground were a little confused. They subconsciously looked back and saw that the monsters had gradually turned into specks of blue light, like stars in the sky, illuminating half of the forest!

It...it disappeared?! What happened?!

"Cough cough..." An Shu coughed twice more, staring at his right hand, clenching his fist. It was becoming more and more stable; it wasn't a complete loss! Back then, he coughed up blood just treating Tong-chan's eye, but now, he could barely manage...

Seeing the two people turn around and stare at him in shock, An Shu patted his head and muttered to himself in a serious tone, making sure they could hear, "Should we kill them to silence them?"

Ikuma was startled and stepped forward, subtly shielding Chizu Natsuyo behind him. He warned in a gruff voice, "I hope you won't act rashly. I belong to the Mishima Royal Guard. I remember you're a police officer too. The government should have been monitoring this the whole time. This matter should have been exposed long ago. Killing me won't do you any good." As he spoke, he used his hand hidden behind his back to signal Chizu Natsuyo to prepare to escape.

Ikuma Shoken is just not very bright, but he's not stupid!

First of all, those Gastrea definitely didn't just disappear on their own; they must be related to the person in front of them!

Secondly, he was standing on another Stage IV, which was as docile as a domestic dog. Anshu's mutterings further convinced him that his guess was correct.

With a snap of his fingers, he could wipe out Stage IV Gastrea; Ikuma no Jōken wasn't confident he could defeat them.

When it came to his own life and the safety of Chishou Natsuyo, his usually inept mind was working intensely.

Who exactly is this person? He seems to possess the ability to tame Gastrea? The monster beneath him hasn't made a sound since it stopped!

I had only heard that he was the person behind Sima Heavy Industry, and his strength was unknown. Could he be the mysterious policeman with no information about IP1?

With Sima Heavy Industry's capabilities, concealing their identities is quite easy!

An Shu was unaware that this big, simple-minded guy had concocted an identity for her. However, seeing the two of them laughing inexplicably, Yi Xiong was so shocked that he broke out in a cold sweat.

The emotionless loli behind him looked at Ikuma Shogan's back and revealed an inappropriate sense of relief in her big eyes.

Finally, the supervisor can think! Although he's still rather dim-witted...

Shaking her head helplessly, she stepped out from behind Yi Xiong. If someone wanted to kill someone, they wouldn't just stand there!

She looked at An Shu, "I remember you. You're Mr. An Shu, right? What brings you here?"

"Huh? Aren't you afraid of me?" An Shu scratched his head, wondering if he should act even fiercer.

Her lips twitched, and she answered loudly, "I'm not afraid!" She then muttered to herself, "How could someone as beautiful as her be afraid..."

The voice wasn't too loud or too soft; it was unclear whether she was deliberately trying to let An Shu hear. An Shu's face darkened. Was this girl really that sharp-tongued? Wait, it seemed like she was praising him…

He reached into his pocket with his right hand, took out two candies, tore off the wrapper of one and put it in his mouth, and threw the other at Chizu Natsume.

Qian Shouxia was taken aback, but caught it steadily. An Shu's voice came from ahead, "Nothing's wrong. I just heard gunshots and then a bright light, so I came to check. New flavor, don't you want to try it?"

The blue light behind him hadn't dissipated yet. Qian Shouxia glanced at the packaging paper: "Made by Sima Heavy Industries?" Isn't Sima Heavy Industries a weapons manufacturer? Did this guy build a candy factory just to eat candy?

The candy was surprisingly sweet when I put it in my mouth.

“I’m going to the dock, do you want to come? I can give you a ride!” An Shu stretched and patted the Gastrea sitting down.

"No need, you can go..." Before Ikuma could finish speaking, he was interrupted by his own emotionless loli.

"Thank you very much! Brother Jiangjian, let's go!" Qian Shouxia tugged at his pants and winked at him.

Yi Xiong was a little confused, not knowing her intention, but she did not refute it. She was much smarter than her and must have her own reasons.

……

"Why do we have to sit on it?" Ikuma asked the emotionless loli next to him in a low voice as he sat firmly on the back of the running Stage IV.

“Mr. Anshu doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions towards us. With this Stage IV gun clearing the way, we can save a lot of time and energy. That masked man is not easy to deal with.” Qian Shou Xia Shi pulled the bolt and checked the equipment again.

“But his target should also be that masked man. If he’s with him, how can we compete with him?” Ikuma said, somewhat displeased.

“It’s alright, Brother Jiang. We only know that the masked man is near the dock, but we don’t know his exact location. He probably doesn’t know either. We’ll part ways with him when we get to the dock and see who finds the masked man first.”

An Shu listened to their conversation without interrupting. When they fell silent, she asked, "Have you seen any other police officers before I arrived?"

"No." Ikuma Shokan replied, still with a hint of inexplicable displeasure.

"Is that so?" An Shu nodded thoughtfully.

"Is that... the Heavenly Ladder?" Senju Natsume's usually expressionless face showed a rare look of confusion as he muttered to himself.

"A representative of killing weapons? It's not a good thing. Have some candy?" An Shu glanced at the huge launch pad not far away and handed over another piece of candy.

Distracted by An Shu, Qian Shou Xia Shi resumed his stoic expression, took the candy, and thanked him, "Mr. An Shu, why do you carry so much candy with you? Are you trying to lure little girls like me?"