Sir! Don't close the net!

At least... she wouldn't dare to do that.

"That guy... has he turned evil?" Rebecca couldn't help but mutter.

"From an objective point of view, this cannot be considered a turning to the dark side."

Li Yili sat on the bench, crossed his arms and legs, and under his guidance, Penny and Grey closed the church doors on either side, then turned around and stood back in front of Li Yili on either side.

Looking at Grey, who was as slender and petite as a young girl, and then at Penny, who looked like a ripe fruit ready to be picked, Li Yili pinched the bridge of her nose and thought for a while before reaching out her hand to Penny. Seeing this, Rebecca immediately turned around with Adi in her arms and raised her voice.

"Hey, hey, hey—even though people told you to use it properly, this is a church! It's sacred, you know!"

Li Yili rolled her eyes, reached out and pinched the slender beak of the raven mask on Penny's face. With a slight pressure, black, viscous liquid flowed out from her fingers and seeped into the mask through the gaps in the beak. As time passed, Li Yili's brows gradually furrowed.

Since she hadn't heard any strange noises, Rebecca, with her left hand covering Aditi's waist and her right hand covering Aditi's eyes, turned around and peeked out. Seeing that Li Yili was holding Penny's beak on her face without moving, Rebecca sighed in disappointment.

"Is this some kind of performance art?"

“We were just checking the quality of their products,” Li Yili loosened her grip, leaned back, crossed her arms, and grinned. “As expected of their most prized product at this stage, this raven mask is already a part of Princess Penny’s body.”

"Uh... what does this mean?" Rebecca tilted her head.

“To give an analogy, the relationship between Raven Mask and Penny is like that of a chosen one and an ancient legacy. The power of the ancient legacy has become part of the chosen one’s body, and there is no separation,” Li Yili raised her hand and waved.

"Wow... that's amazing. That guy seems to keep emphasizing that he's creating something original, not copying... So these masks are their original 'ancient heritage'? That's incredible..."

Rebecca sighed subconsciously, but Li Yili's subtle expression made Rebecca's expression gradually freeze.

The relationship between Raven Mask and Penny is now like that of a chosen one and a legacy.

“That mask… is the ancient legacy they created artificially, right?”

“Time to sleep,” Li Yili said with a bright smile. “Tomorrow might be quite lively.”

Rebecca suddenly stood up, picked up Aditi, and shuffled to a corner of the church. After trying to escape to no avail, Aditi simply gave up and fell asleep clinging to Rebecca's furry arm.

"call……"

Li Yili let out a long breath and raised her arm to rest on the back of the chair.

On your back.

Why do you look like you're constipated?

Abel, sitting opposite Li Yili with his legs crossed, spread his hands to the sides.

"You shouldn't have acted so impulsively."

“Okay, I admit that bringing back two products was a bit impulsive. After all, you can’t be too polite to those who do you. But don’t worry, I have a low moral standard. I will use their products to beat them up without any mercy,” Li Yili shrugged. “On the condition that they haven’t put any safety measures in the products.”

"Ha... You impulsively raided their home base, so why did you come back? Did you realize that this wasn't a small conflict that could be resolved by beating up two people, but an irreconcilable conflict between one race and another, one civilization and another?"

Abel lowered his head.

"If you hadn't accepted their offer and insisted on fighting, they would have directly caused a massive smog, turning as many Triassic residents as possible into their commodities, and then blamed the widespread population disappearances on the King in Yellow. Of course... they would have continued to try to sell you their products, even though you were met with cold indifference. To them, most people in the Triassic... are just pigs in a pigsty, and you are their honored guest."

How can guests express sympathy for the pigs' plight without appearing condescending?

"When you try to help the pigs in the pigpen with this kind of thinking, you are already as high and mighty as a god."

After a moment of silence, Li Yili complained, "It's a pity that our relationship is built on this foundation. Innate differences cannot be erased with just a few words."

"Whether it's emphasizing respect and equality or emphasizing giving respect and equality, neither side has placed itself on an equal footing with the other from the very beginning. One side is trying to gain far more rights than the other by taking advantage of its own weakness, while the other side is trying to demonstrate its status by giving handouts."

“Do you think this situation establishes equality? It’s just two snakes biting each other’s tails,” Li Yili sneered. “It keeps growing stronger and can never truly end the cycle because when they establish this relationship, what they need most is each other.”

“That sounds truly hopeless…” Abel rested his chin on his hand and rolled his eyes. “This situation will only continue indefinitely.”

“No…it’s very simple,” Li Yili said, crossing her fingers in front of her and revealing a bright smile. “It’s not about representing the group, but about me as a member of the group, doing my best to solve the problems caused by the differences in front of me.”

"All out?" Abel leaned forward slightly. "Hey, hey, hey—are you serious? This isn't fair at all."

“Ha… there’s nothing more respectful than going all out,” Li Yili flicked her nails and laughed easily. “They blame this and that when they lose. Nothing is more suitable for them than a pigsty. If they lose, they’re prepared to challenge again. They’re just stuck in that dirty circle for now.”

"Hey... so, are you starting to focus all your efforts on solving the problem?"

"Please... don't you think this is very much in my style?" Li Yili spread her arms wide. "A revolution of the underdog always needs a big fire when life becomes unbearable. Anyway, they're all pig feed that shouldn't be eaten, so why not just burn them all?"

Chapter Twenty-Four: The cloudy eyes cleared as the slap landed.

A massive fire destroyed the largest food processing plant in the San Die Quan area.

Every resident of the Santie Circle wakes up and pushes open their door; the first thing they see is a cloud of black smoke from the direction of the processing plant, threatening to engulf the entire sky of Santie Circle, and a raging fire burning beneath the smoke.

As the largest food processing plant in the San Die Quan area, it contains many things, so the fire will continue to burn for a long time.

Carly, wrapped in a brown robe, walked along the alleyway, stopping at the boundary between light and darkness at the alley's entrance to gaze at the street, where the flow of people was slower than ever before due to the fire.

Many homeless people and wage earners were laughing gleefully in the direction of the processing plant. They didn't realize the impact the fire would have on the entire San Die Quan area. They were like pigs raised in a pigsty. Even though the pigsty had a huge hole, they felt that as long as they did what the pigsty owner wanted each day, they wouldn't have to worry about food and drink. They never thought that the pigsty owner would sell them to plug the hole in the pigsty.

But Carly also noticed that many people looked anxious.

Even if they are unaware of the truth about food processing plants, many people clearly understand that they are pigs being raised in pigsties, and they begin to wander around in order to avoid becoming pigs to be sold.

"No...it wasn't them..."

Carly leaned against the wall of the alley, squinting as she peeked out, staring intently at every passerby.

She wasn't looking for the stupid pigs standing still waiting to die, nor were they the clever pigs roaming the sty; she was looking for the wild boars that wanted to break out of this comfortable sty.

Such wild boars definitely exist in the Triassic region.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"I made a bold assumption."

Li Yili raised her hand and slapped Rebecca across the face, causing the bubbles on Rebecca's nose, which were fluctuating in size, to burst with a pop.

Rebecca opened her eyes and looked around blankly. Taking advantage of this moment of confusion, Li Yili reached out and grabbed the big gray dog, who had already woken up but was afraid of being hugged.

The wolf was startled awake, and Adi, who had been too afraid to move, was brought out.

Rebecca, whose eyes were still cloudy, immediately grinned and let out a threatening growl.

Li Yili raised her hand expressionlessly and slapped Rebecca again. Rebecca's eyes immediately cleared, and she looked around before letting out a long yawn. "Is it already dawn?"

“I made a bold assumption,” Li Yili emphasized again.

“Speaking of which, what about breakfast? To be honest… I’m a little hesitant to eat the food here,” Rebecca said, rubbing her stomach as she got up and sniffed around.

Adi kept wiggling her limbs and shrinking behind Li Yili, afraid that Rebecca's eyes would fall on her as she muttered.

"Tsk—if my assumption is correct, then you can have a breakfast without any problems."

"What assumption!" Rebecca, who was about to stumble out, immediately darted back, her tail wagging rapidly behind her.

“Do you remember what Harry said when he was promoting Princess Penny?” Li Yili raised her hand and beckoned, and a Penny that was waiting silently stood beside her. “This princess is trying to gather forces to reclaim the throne of the wasteland royal family. In hindsight, it was indeed a correct idea. Whether the Cult of Steam and Steel is a religion or a corporation, they don’t care what the wasteland will become in the future.”

"It's fine if we don't care what the wasteland will eventually become. What we're afraid of is that the Cult of Steam and Steel will use the wasteland's inhabitants for their own purposes. Given the Cult of Steam and Steel's prestige in the wasteland, the royal family's power is just for show. Even if they notice the Cult of Steam and Steel's conspiracy, they won't have the ability to stop it."

"It is probably because she is worried about such a thing happening that Princess Penny is taking various actions under the surface of peace and prosperity in the wasteland."

“But she failed,” Rebecca pointed at Penny, who was standing next to Li Yili, “and ended up like this. Didn’t you say yourself that everything here was built by the Cult of Steam and Steel? It would be a stupid thing to rebel against the Cult of Steam and Steel on top of this.”

“That’s right, but a person, especially a princess who grew up in a greenhouse, can’t just have the idea of ​​wanting to rebel for no reason,” Li Yili pointed to her head. “I’m afraid that the royal family, including the nobles, have the idea of ​​seizing power back and have made all sorts of preparations.”

"Eh... so this noblewoman named Grey has also become a commodity?" Rebecca suddenly realized and pulled Grey, who was waiting on the side, over.

“The Cult of Steam and Steel is very cautious. They could have controlled the wasteland with their prestige from the beginning, but they chose to control the market and then take control of the entire wasteland’s economy, making the entire wasteland bound to them as a conglomerate,” Li Yili rubbed her nails. “The Cult of Steam and Steel wouldn’t be so bored as to turn a noble’s daughter into this. It’s more likely that their actions have crossed their bottom line.”

"what……"

"Don't understand? Since the bottom line has been crossed, it will definitely leave traces. Even if the main trunk is cut off, the roots will still remain in the soil. There must still be forces resisting the Cult of Steam and Steel in the wasteland, and... if there are no inside agents at all."

Li Yili raised her hand and patted Aditi on the head.

"They wouldn't blindly send their eyes into the Triassic region through refugee smuggling, which also explains why gangs in the Jurassic region are willing to help make connections."

“So…someone will be coming to meet Adi soon,” Rebecca said, scratching the back of her head.

“No…it’s us,” Li Yili said, placing her left hand on Adi’s shoulder and giving a thumbs-up with her right hand. Her yellow raincoat instantly disappeared, leaving her in only a rather old set of clothes.

"Ah—so that's how it works! I get it!" Rebecca's eyes lit up.

“But there’s one problem,” Li Yili said, bending her thumb toward Rebecca, “you can’t do it.”

"Huh? Why! They don't look like refugees to me!" Rebecca opened her blood-red mouth wide.

Li Yili reached out and flicked Rebecca's nose with her finger.

"You look like you're hunting refugees. If it were nighttime, we could consider a chase scene, but unfortunately, probably because we lost a lot of key figures, the other side is very cautious and it's impossible for them to make a move on their home turf."

"So I..."

Rebecca's fluffy ears drooped down and shrank back.

Li Yili tilted her head and didn't speak, but Penny and Grey stood on either side of her, raising their lanterns at the same time.

“You’re lucky, you’re my dog, you have no choice,” Li Yili smiled brightly.

"Remove her hair."

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Responder

In less than an hour, the once empty and deserted church suddenly became crowded.

Although it has become a conglomerate, it does not mean that the Church of the Steam and Steel God has abandoned its religious characteristics. After all, once the religious system is established, the effect of calling on the masses is really strong. There is no need to waste effort explaining this or that. Just say that this is the will of God, this is the doctrine, and the believers will not utter a single word of dissent.

There was so much flammable material in the food processing plant that it couldn't be burned off in one night, and the overwhelming black smoke cast a shadow over the entire San Diequan area.

“Let’s...let’s shrink further into the corner. I feel like a lot of people are watching me,” Rebecca said.

Clutching the large robe around her, Rebecca looked around nervously. Although Li Yili had found her a dress from the church and draped a robe over her shoulders, Rebecca still felt extremely uneasy. Every time the fabric rubbed against her skin, she felt a tingling, numbing sensation surging from her tailbone.

For an hour after losing my own fur, I thought about it.

The only thing that comforted her was that, for some reason, after losing her fur, Aditi seemed less resistant to her.

“It would be too suspicious if you shrank any further,” Li Yili said, raising her arm to hook Rebecca’s shoulder and pressing her down a little. Adi, sitting between Li Yili and Rebecca, closed her eyes and nodded her little head gently.

Soon, all the pews in the church were filled with people. Residents of the San Die Quan who couldn't find seats simply stood in the aisles. There were even homeless people outside the church, though it was unclear whether they were planning to take advantage of everyone's attention being focused on the fire at the processing plant and the members of the Church of Steam and Steel.

As the residents of the Triassic Circle waited anxiously, the priest of the Church of Steam and Steel finally emerged.

A man with heavy, almost shadowy dark circles under his eyes, a vacant stare, and slicked-back, greasy hair—completely unlike the image of a self-disciplined priest—stood before everyone.

"Ah... that's it. As you can see, the largest food processing plant in the Triassic Circle was engulfed by fire. I can't reveal the specific reasons, but please don't worry, the fire is under control and will not spread to harm the interests of any Triassic Circle residents. The only one that suffered huge losses this time was the Cult of Steam and Steel."

The priest gestured twice with his fingers in front of his chest, his unfocused eyes suddenly becoming incredibly sharp, and his serious expression successfully intimidated many residents who wanted to get to the bottom of things.