Sir! Don't close the net!

“Because if we leave it until the next day, it might attract bugs,” Carly, who wasn’t used to the mask yet, kept scratching the raven mask on her face. “If it’s discovered, or if bugs appear in the products, the processing plant will be inspected and rectified by the food inspection authorities.”

"Even if it's not left until the next day, it will still attract bugs. But it's really surprising. No, I'm not surprised at all. It's because there are a lot of filthy things hidden inside that they have to make a good show of it. The only thing that surprised me was... that they were actually happy to play a trick of ambidextrousness to fool people."

Lee

Yili raised her hand and pressed it against her neck, twisting it left and right.

"Are we leaving?" Carly asked tentatively.

Although she was still able to maintain her consciousness, the thought of wearing this biological-like mask made her feel extremely uncomfortable. She was also unsure if it was just her imagination, but she could hear gurgling sounds coming from inside the mask, as if some liquid was flowing towards her face.

"Okay, although that's what I really want to say..."

Before Li Yili finished speaking, a crisp sound was heard. A nut fell from the deep darkness above them and landed with a clatter at their feet. Just like the conductor tapping the score with his baton at the beginning of a magnificent musical movement, the performance began.

Countless nuts rained down, the crisp sound of metal striking metal mingling together to create an incredibly dull and oppressive atmosphere that made Carly feel nauseous. Fortunately, this chapter didn't last long, and the noisy music faded away. Before Carly could even catch her breath, she saw a very familiar wisp of haze.

Carly was startled and looked up. The pipe, no longer secured by the nut, hung down and broke off. Nightmare-like smog seemed to emerge from it and fall down like some kind of creature. Soon, everything in their field of vision was covered by thick smog, like a triple-ring street.

Chapter Nineteen: I'm coming in!

Carly hugged her arms tightly, looking nervously left and right.

Although she is no longer attacked by the Raven Mask, it doesn't mean that the Plague Doctors won't attack her, and she certainly can't just have her head removed and put back on like those Plague Doctors.

However, knowing that Li Yili was right beside her, Carly wasn't so nervous anymore.

Just as Carly thought so, Li Yili kicked away the nut at her feet as if nothing strange had happened and moved forward along the assembly line. After a few steps, her figure became extremely blurry under the smog. Carly was startled and quickly followed, but this time she learned her lesson and just followed without trying to touch Li Yili or saying a word.

Carly looked around nervously. Smog had seeped into the factory, but the Plague Doctor hadn't appeared. The silence after the heavy noise was far more unbearable than before.

"Are you observing?"

Li Yili raised an eyebrow and waved her hand to clear away the increasingly thick smog.

"Are you planning to deal with me first before announcing the results? You're being quite cautious."

This is quite normal, but from the previous confrontation in the church, he demonstrated regenerative abilities that could be judged as immortality, and he does not feel pain no matter what kind of injury he suffers. Although the Plague Doctor is an immortal vessel, he can transmit pain. Even if he can selectively shield his pain, the premise is that he knows which part of the opponent will attack and can react accordingly.

As is expected, a single hit from such an attack would cause unimaginable pain that would shatter the controller's consciousness, rendering them unable to selectively block out the pain or even detach from the carrier.

Simply put, he can keep making mistakes, while the opponent only needs to make one mistake to end the game.

Because Li Yili and Aditi remained silent, Rebecca, unable to contain herself any longer, hugged Aditi and approached Carly, saying, "Hey—your name is Carly, right? Tell me about your life in the Triassic Circle. I've always heard people say that the standard of living in the wasteland is very high."

Carly turned her head, and the slender beak of the raven mask almost accidentally kissed Rebecca's wolf mouth.

Normally, Carly would have been terrified by Rebecca's wolf face and would have turned and run away, because it was truly ferocious and terrifying. However, a series of events that had happened in a short period of time had repeatedly shattered Carly's sense of security in maintaining her mental stability. The more normal things were, the more uneasy she felt. Now she didn't even dare to look directly at Aditi. On the contrary, Rebecca's wolf head brought her an unimaginable sense of security.

Even if something abnormal becomes extremely abnormal, it won't seem strange to anyone.

“I moved here because I heard that the standard of living in the Wasteland was very high…” Carly relaxed a little and recalled things from the past that she hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Normal people would want to live in Hagen, and not just because Hagen is the richest place in the world.

Most importantly, Hagen is the region with the most temples in the world, producing an unimaginable amount of heritage every day. Because of the temples, Hagen's flora and fauna are much stronger and healthier than those of other regions, and people born in Hagen are naturally closer to the divine in terms of life than others.

According to statistics, people born in Hagen are more likely to become chosen ones, which is the fundamental reason why Galarhorn has the most chosen ones. Even though Hagen's system is always an unchanging aristocracy, countless people still try their best to become a member of this everlasting myth.

The wasteland, on the other hand, is like the opposite of Nibelungen. It seems to have nothing to do with mystery, like a land abandoned by the world. Most of the inhabitants of the wasteland are destined to be excluded from the ranks of the chosen ones, and the few who want to become chosen ones also have to bear considerable risks. Even if they do become chosen ones, they are more likely to lose control than other chosen ones. This means that their potential as chosen ones is far lower than that of chosen ones in other regions.

However, the lives of ordinary people were relatively good. They spared no effort in supporting the population growth of the wasteland, the steam power, and the Cult of the Steel God, providing resources that would otherwise never have leaked from the nobles.

The welfare benefits are given away like money, and the scarcity of those favored by the gods means that they can avoid more than 80% of unknown disasters, so they don't have to worry about dying inexplicably one day.

There will always be people who give up on going to Hagen, and there will always be people who are scared off by Hagen's cruel and greedy aristocracy. The cult of steam and steel has spared no effort in expanding this "always," first the Millennium, then the Cretaceous, then the Jurassic, and now the Triassic.

"I don't think I have the chance or ability to become a chosen one of the gods, so I'm thinking of at least making my life... a little easier and safer..."

Carly raised her hand, tapped her fingers lightly in front of her, and looked a little awkward.

"a little."

In reality, the only time she was truly happy was when she initially had enough travel money for a week. By the time she realized she couldn't afford the freedom and perks of the San Die Circle, she was penniless.

Then she became a homeless person, unable to leave and unable to live a good life.

Even if she wanted to work and learn to be a better person, walls blocked her path to the highest institution of learning in the millennium. She couldn't climb them and could only wander in the triple circle.

Every time she felt she couldn't go on, she would remind herself that although she hadn't achieved the life she had imagined, at least she didn't have to worry about dying from an anomaly.

But a sudden industrial smog made her see a cruel reality clearly.

She's going to die a violent death, and the probability is very high. Right now, she has a disgusting mask stuck to her face. Could she please take it off...?

Li Yili's assurances made her very uneasy.

Thinking of this, Carly couldn't help but slump her shoulders, and her entire background turned gray.

Rebecca noticed Carly's dejection and stuck out her tongue somewhat awkwardly. She wanted to reassure Carly that life was better than in Teresa Prison, but upon reflection, she realized that Carly had basically been killing indiscriminately in Teresa Prison, and had been living a life of luxury since being captured by Li Yili.

"arrive……"

Li Yili paused, raised her hand and waved it in front of her. After a brief pause, the thick, wall-like smog was swirled into several vortexes, and a large door gradually emerged from the thinning smog.

“This is the warehouse where the goods are stored,” Carly added cautiously. “The warehouse is locked from the inside. Only tomorrow morning will the warehouse managers use a secret passage known only to them to enter the warehouse and open the door. Even with cannons…”

"boom--"

The strong wind made Carly stumble, and with a series of cracking sounds, the heavy, thick door slammed into the warehouse.

Li Yili whistled, stepped onto the fallen door, and peered into the warehouse.

Hello~

Chapter Twenty: This Body Is No Less Powerful Than the Valkyrie

This is an ordinary warehouse. The neatly arranged shelves are only visible in the darkness by their metal frames, each with a different price tag.

Carly swallowed hard; she saw a cake she couldn't buy even if she didn't eat or drink for a month.

"I heard that cake is so soft you can drink it directly."

Although she is in such a state now that she can't even drink water, let alone eat cake.

Carly could swear that if she weren't wearing that crow mask, she would have pounced on the nearest shelf and stuffed all the cakes into her mouth until her stomach was as big as a ball and she couldn't fit any more in. Even if she ended up so full that she couldn't walk and was discovered by the people here, she wouldn't regret it.

Carly subconsciously glanced at Rebecca beside her. She always felt that Rebecca was the kind of person who couldn't control her desires, but as Carly expected, Rebecca just peeked out, twitched her nose, and then shook her head with little interest.

"Oh~ then you'd better not drink it, eating too much of these cakes is bad for your health."

"Huh?" Carly stared blankly at Rebecca in front of her, but Rebecca didn't seem to have any intention of continuing. Helpless, Carly looked at Li Yili, who had already picked up a drinkable cake from the shelf, with a feeling of unease.

Carly didn't dare ask questions, but she was certain that Li Yili had overheard her somewhat ambiguous conversation with Rebecca. She hoped that Li Yili would notice her gaze and mood, but after looking for less than two seconds, Carly lowered her head in alarm.

She was so dazzled by the goods on the shelves that she rarely saw that she almost forgot about Li Yili's terror and the dangerous situation she was in.

Carly kept turning her head to look in the direction of the warehouse door that Li Yili had kicked open. The thick smog swirling around the entrance looked like a new door, but for some reason, this time the thick smog did not invade like it had invaded the factory and church before.

Li Yili casually tore open the cake packaging, pinched off a piece with her fingers, gently squeezed it, bent down to sniff the cake crumbs on her fingertips, and raised her eyebrows slightly.

Although it was so faint as to be almost imperceptible, he did indeed catch a fleeting, unusual scent, like a hair.

No further evidence has been found yet, but Li Yili has already figured out the answer, because the same thing is happening all over the world.

Experiments on the physical mutations of residents.

Since they can secretly conduct experiments all over the world, the Cult of Steam and Steel has no reason not to...

They used people from the outermost triple concentric circles of the wasteland for experiments.

They tamper with drinking water and food.

Because it's their own territory, they don't even need to trade or cede interests with other forces.

With a flick of her wrist, Li Yili caused the exquisite cake to slip and fall to the ground with a thud. Before Carly could even show a regretful expression, Li Yili had already stepped on it.

"Ugh... my head hurts..."

Li Yili raised her hand to scratch the back of her head, turned her head to look at the warehouse door with its smog floating around it, paused for a moment, then squatted down and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

If he had followed his previous method of starting with the market and proceeding step by step, it would have taken at least two months before he entered this warehouse, and at least three months before he entered it at night to confirm the answer he had now.

But upon closer examination, it seems there is no difference. The Church of Steam and Steel could not have only recently conducted such experiments on the inhabitants of the Triassic. The Instars have been conducting such experiments for thirty years.

An experiment involving mutations cannot be conducted on someone else's turf without careful consideration. The direction must be confirmed first before making a decision to place the bet.

When it comes to doing science, determining a certain direction is definitely not just about writing and drawing on a blackboard; it involves countless small experiments. No one would care if hundreds or thousands of homeless people disappeared in the Triassic Circle.

To use an imperfect analogy, the wasteland is already terminally ill. The Cult of Steam and Steel is not just beginning; it has already entered the acceptance and popularization stage. This smog, the Raven Mask currently on Carly's face, and the Plague Doctor created by combining the Raven Mask with a human are all products of this.

The crisp knocking sound ended Li Yili's distress. A tall, slender black figure emerged from the thick smog. Carly shuddered and immediately shrank behind the shelf, cautiously peeking out.

“If the King in Yellow is hungry, just let us know, and we will be happy to offer you food. There is no need for you to break into the warehouse in the middle of the night. If word gets out, your followers will be heartbroken.”

The first thing to emerge from the thick fog was not the slender beak characteristic of plague doctors, but a pair of chests that made the black leather robes reflect light, followed by the long, thin beak.

Black Martin boots emerged from the smog, revealing a slender waist, a pert bottom, and long, straight legs encased in black leather pants. The eerie crow mask did not detract from the beauty of this perfect body; instead, it added a dangerous and mysterious aura that could drive men to madness.

Li Yili raised an eyebrow slightly, but remained squatting on the ground without making any movement.

"Let me introduce myself. I am the captain of the execution department [Plague]. You can just call me Harry. It may be a bit presumptuous, but do you like this body?" Harry took off his top hat and bowed slightly. His huge breasts jiggled exaggeratedly twice. It was more like a seduction than a greeting.

Rebecca, standing to the side, unabashedly stuck out her tongue to express her disgust.

"Are you a man?" Li Yili raised her eyes.

"Ah~ I'm just speaking to you through this body. If you nod, this body will be offered to you as part of our meeting, just like the body behind you. By the way, this body was once the eldest princess of the Wasteland Royal Family."

"She is an admirable woman who quietly amassed troops and rallied supporters in an attempt to restore the monarchy."

"Of course, everything in the wasteland was built by us, and she didn't even make a ripple in the end."

Harry slowly raised his body, swaying his limbs as if displaying a product. "Compared to the grunts made from homeless people, we put a lot of effort into making these adjustments."

Li Yili put her hands on her knees, stood up, took a step, and circled halfway around Harry. She stopped behind Harry and, like a ghost, approached Harry's head.

"You? How much do you know?"

"Why would you care about such a trivial matter?" Harry lowered his arm, seemingly unconcerned about Li Yili's sudden attack. "Or are you dissatisfied with this body? It's truly frustrating..."

"I don't think this body is inferior to the Valkyrie created by the Galar Horn."

Chapter Twenty-One: Welcome Mr. Procurement

"Hey—Harry! Do you know what you're saying?!"

In the control room, structured like the ventricles of a heart, a brown-haired man clutching his crotch glared angrily at Harry, whose back was now riddled with tubes, replacing his own.