Sir! Don't close the net!

"Moreover... now that the food processing plant has been burned down, neither outside businessmen nor people in the industry will give us food. We have to fight for it ourselves."

Sitch and Lorne exchanged a glance, Zhang

He opened his mouth wide.

They then realized the hidden crisis lurking in the food supply.

"Carly, what do you want to do?" Sherry sighed deeply, rubbing her forehead.

Their friendship is becoming increasingly expensive, but they have no other option but to continue investing in it.

"Let things continue to get worse."

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.

“Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Yellow Raincoat. However, the organization is a bit short of funds lately, so these books cannot be reimbursed,” Annie winked playfully at Li Yili and readily accepted the books Li Yili had placed on the table. “But I can assure you that your investment is the right one.”

“A rather heinous robbery of a homeless man just happened,” Li Yili said, spreading her hands.

"What?! This actually happened?! How dare they disregard my authority as a righteous sheriff!" Puss glared and angrily waved his revolver.

“They probably think the White Horse Knight will back them up,” Anne said, unsurprised, shrugging her shoulders.

Pus blinked, his aura softening little by little. "Will...will you stand up for them?"

“No way? That White Horse Knight, or rather, that Earl Wilson Parr, is now openly going against the Cult of Steam and Steel,” Anne smiled, turning her wheelchair to pick up the book. “But… don’t worry about it. Our goal now is to pass Sunday’s exam.”

"This……"

Puss adjusted his cowboy hat and looked down at the people studying below, lowering his voice.

"Won't this affect us?"

"This is not an excuse."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Screams at Night

As the sun set, the dazzling starlight silently swallowed up the sun's rays.

Before it was completely dark, the residents of San Die Quan, walking along the road, had already silently quickened their pace to return to their homes. The doors were tightly shut, and the incessant knocking echoed in the streets where only homeless people remained. The light from the windows was gradually being blocked out.

The homeless man's act of robbing a jewelry store on the street served as a wake-up call for them.

The homeless men who robbed the jewelry store were taken away, and the White Horse Knight didn't step forward. This was normal, because these homeless men had robbed the store in public, and their identity as robbers had replaced their identity as homeless men. The White Horse Knight was able to protect the homeless men because the Wasteland Royal Family had promised to provide a comfortable life for the residents of the Wasteland, but the Wasteland Royal Family had never encouraged robbery. In fact, in order to reassure people who came to live in the Wasteland, they had promised to establish a special force specifically for combating crime.

But this alone couldn't put their minds at ease, because the homeless had already looted a store. Even though the crime was stopped, the jewelry store was still vandalized. What if a homeless person were to break into their house at night? So many people witnessed the crime, yet only one person stepped forward to stop it.

There are no heroes of the night in the Triple Circle.

The homeless men walking on the road showed expressions of shame and anger, cursing as they lifted the manhole covers bearing their group's logo. Looking down into the dark, damp tunnel, from which a foul stench emanated from, the homeless men recalled the looks in the eyes of the residents of San Die Quan when they closed their doors.

They thought they were used to that kind of look, but now it seems that's not the case.

"Oh shit--"

A homeless man with a scar near his eye kicked the manhole cover, which was decorated with a rather imposing lion design.

His name was Lane Turing, a Nibelungen, who had been an underground gladiator. He had heard that the wasteland's law enforcement department offered good benefits, so four years ago he confidently came to the wasteland. With his years of experience in underground gladiatorial arenas and his ruthlessness, he successfully made it into the Cretaceous Circle. However, the unimaginable competitive environment of the Cretaceous Circle shattered his confidence. From the Cretaceous Circle to the Jurassic Circle, he eventually became a homeless person in the Triassic Circle.

With his terrifying scars and fierce appearance, he became a local tyrant among the homeless in the San Die Quan neighborhood. He lived like an emperor, relying on tributes from his underlings, and was even known as a homeless landlord. He was also the first to propose leaving marks on manhole covers to divide the ownership of the sewers.

Relying on his vagrant power and the advantage of being the first to act, his vagrant forces occupied one-third of the sewers of the Triple Circle, transforming him from a vagrant landlord into a veritable landlord.

He loved the way the homeless begged him, and he loved the atmosphere where he could decide their life or death with a single word. This made him believe from the bottom of his heart that he was not a homeless person, but a higher-level ruler.

But the gazes of those residents of the three-tiered circle were like an iron awl piercing his tattered heart. Those disdainful looks constantly reminded him that a homeless person is a homeless person, and even if they are gathered together, they are still homeless people. Looking at the manhole cover at his feet, Ryan felt extremely irritated. The stench coming from the sewer made him want to vomit, and he even felt a sense of astonishment.

Why should he be proud of taking over a few sewers?

"Boss Ryan? The fog's coming soon," the short homeless man behind Ryan, oblivious to Ryan's series of changes in expression, waved cheerfully to warn him, "Boss, a girl said she wants to join us today!"

"Shut up--"

Ryan cursed under his breath, veins bulging on his forehead. His fierce expression made the short homeless man feel somewhat aggrieved, but he had known Ryan for a long time and could tell that Ryan was currently angry. If he asked another question, he might get a beating. Other than that...

They looked at each other, not daring to say anything more.

The sun was setting, the starlight overhead was fading, and the homeless began to grow restless; they felt a chill.

Fog is coming.

Faced with the threat of death, someone finally couldn't hold back any longer and shouted as they squeezed toward the manhole cover.

"Boss?!"

Ryan took a deep breath, stepped aside, and waved.

The other homeless people breathed a sigh of relief. Although they didn't know why Ryan, who usually went first into the sewers, was being so generous this time, the fog was approaching, and they could think about it later once they were inside the sewers.

Soon, only Ryan was left standing outside.

Ryan looked up and saw that the brilliant starlight had become incredibly blurry, as if a thick layer of dark clouds was gathering above their heads. But he knew very well that what was gathering above them was far more terrifying than a storm that would bring thunder and rain.

Ryan suddenly recalled the humiliation he felt when he was first forced to hide in the sewers by this terrible smog, but in the face of the smog that was swallowing up the entire Triassic Circle, he was as insignificant as an ant.

Just as Ryan bent down to crawl into the sewer, a voice came from behind him.

"That's really embarrassing."

Ryan's forehead veins bulged, and like a provoked lion, he suddenly turned his head to look. In front of a house with its doors and windows locked, a thin figure wearing a long robe was staring at him. He couldn't see the other person's eyes, but he could hear the strong disdain in the other person's tone.

"They're just like a pack of wild dogs huddled together."

"What do you mean?!" Ryan stood up angrily, but the smog seeping from the corner stopped him.

"It's just describing your situation."

The thin figure turned to the side and pointed to the room behind him with its doors and windows tightly locked. "With so many of you, why don't you take this room? If you just kick it open, the door will open. Once you all rush in, the people inside won't have a chance to resist."

"There is plenty of time."

"Are you crazy?!" Ryan supported himself on the ground with his right hand and grabbed the manhole cover with a lion pattern with his left hand, slowly hiding his body in the passage, but his eyes couldn't help but look at the house behind the thin figure.

"A bed is much more comfortable than a sewer."

"If you don't cry out loud, who will care?"

Ryan's pupils contracted sharply, and he instinctively leaped out of the sewer, rushing towards the house directly in front of him amidst the cries of his underlings. As he passed the slender figure, he saw it: beneath the hood was a raven mask, the stitching along the edge of the slender beak gradually rising.

Ryan felt a chill run down his spine and rushed towards the tightly closed door at an even faster pace, kicking it open.

An unbelievable scream ripped through the deathly silence of the night.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Then let's beat them all down!

Have you heard?

"It's unbelievable..."

"Yes."

Li Yili raised an eyebrow.

An uneasy atmosphere permeated the Triassic Circle today.

"Mr. Yellow Raincoat, do you need to use the restroom?" Puss, who was next to Li Yili, tilted his head with a curious expression, adjusting his cowboy hat.

“Righteous Sheriff, haven’t you noticed that the atmosphere in San Die Quan is strange today? Last night… something must have happened,” Li Yili said, tilting her head to the side. In the distance, several homeless men were hurling insults at several residents of San Die Quan. Even without getting close to listen, just by looking at their distorted expressions, one could tell how nasty the insults were.

Puss followed Li Yili's gaze, pondered for a moment, then shrugged, "Isn't it like this every day? Mr. Yellow Raincoat, you're quite sensitive. Don't worry, at most they'll just exchange insults for a while. Of course, if they really start fighting—"

Puss drew Dio from the holster on his thigh, twirled around stylishly twice, and then curled the corners of his mouth slightly upward.

"And there's me, the righteous enforcer..."

Before Pusi could finish speaking, Li Yili pointed to a spot where the people who had been arguing had started fighting.

"..."

After pausing for a moment with his gun raised, Puss, under Li Yili's gaze, forced himself to shout, "I, I know! I'll go, okay! Hey—you guys, stop fighting!"

The loud voice masked the subtle tremor and stutter, and with the gleaming revolver in Puss's hand, the fighting men instinctively stopped. Before Puss could even catch his breath, a homeless man took advantage of their momentary lapse in attention and kicked them.

This kick became the first shot of the war. The homeless and the residents grappled together again, and more homeless and residents of the San Die Quan joined the fight. Pus, who was holding a gun, was forcibly pushed back to Li Yili's side.

"..."

"Don't look at me like that!"

Nothing was more lethal than Li Yili's silent gaze at this moment. Puss's face flushed red, and he waved the gun in his hand, shouting, "What can I do? I can't really shoot them! And... who should I shoot at?!"

"Couldn't you just fire a couple of shots upwards?" Li Yili pointed to the sky and complained, "At least use the gunfire to scare them off first."

"Oh right, right, right—"

Puss nodded vigorously and pointed his gun at the sky, but he didn't fire immediately.

Instead of addressing the gun, he cautiously added, "But what if they suddenly start fighting again like they did before?"

This time, it was Li Yili's turn to be stunned.

The effectiveness of police warning shots isn't just because they have guns; more importantly, they are police officers, representing state power. Even when hot-blooded, they need to remain calm in the face of such a behemoth as the state. But...

Although Puss always talks about being a righteous sheriff, Li Yili is sure that not many people in the San Die Quan circle know him. The reason he was able to stop those people earlier was simply because the scale was small and had just begun. Puss has a loud voice and a gun in his hand. Now the scale of the conflict has escalated, and in the worst way possible, it's escalating in the manner of "I've already stopped, and you still dare to continue."

Even if Puss fires a warning shot now, it has no effect.

“It’s just something that was bound to happen sooner or later, it’s a very normal thing,” Abel said, appearing silently beside Li Yili with his hands hidden in his pockets and leaning forward.

"Then let's beat them all to a pulp," Li Yili said, pulling up her collar and striding towards the homeless men and residents who were locked in a fierce fight.

Puss was startled to see that Li Yili's expression was quite serious.

"Hey—are you serious!? Okay, I admit, this seems more appropriate now, but you really want to take on so many people by yourself... Damn it! Do you think I'd back down!"

Before they could even make a move, a white horse descended towards the crowd with a terrifying momentum. Faced with the gleaming iron hooves, everyone instinctively let go of each other and stumbled and fell.

With a heavy thud, the iron hoof landed, and a piece of gravel that had been picked up grazed a homeless man's cheek, leaving a trail of blood.

If it landed on a person, it would most likely create a bloody, mangled hole.

Riding a white horse and wearing chainmail, Nemo glanced around, rolled his eyes slightly, then clutched his forehead and exclaimed in an exaggerated tone, "Ah~ why did such a tragic thing happen? Is this the peace that the Cult of Steam and Steel promised to the Wasteland Royal Family?"

This guy's acting is so fake.

Li Yili let out a long sigh and waved to Pus, "Things are getting boring, let's go."

"Hey?" Puss glanced at Nemo, turned around and quickly followed Li Yili, lowering his voice, "Isn't it a bad time for us to leave? After all, this sudden mess is related to this guy. What if he says something dangerous and muddies the waters even further?"