Sir! Don't close the net!

"Um..." The chef rubbed his apron vigorously with both hands, looking somewhat awkward.

“I am Puss, but I prefer to be called the righteous sheriff,” Puss grinned, making an exaggerated gesture with his right hand as he placed it on his chest.

Puss's performance eased the tense atmosphere in the restaurant. The chef's wife stopped clinging to her child, and the chef's son also showed a curious look.

“Mr. Puss, thank you for earlier,” the cook said, ignoring the title of righteous sheriff, and waved to his wife and children. “My name is William, and this is my wife, Ellen. Hall, please greet Mr. Puss.”

His wife, Elaine, understood what the chef meant. She released Hall's arm and nodded her thanks to Puss. Although Hall was full of curiosity, he still politely nodded his thanks in return.

“It’s nothing, it’s my duty… haha, I just couldn’t stand it anymore,” Puss noticed William’s conflicted expression when he heard the word “duty,” so he immediately changed his words, raised his hand and waved, then turned his head to look at the direction of the shop window.

Outside the shop window, thick smog surged.

“You helped me too.”

“The situation is different, but…” William wanted to correct Puss’s statement, but a wave of fatigue washed over him. After pausing for a while, he sighed, sat down in a chair, and slumped his head. “Will the triple tassels always be like this?”

Ailian and Hall also recalled what had just happened, and their expressions became solemn and bitter.

Puss opened his mouth, then immediately straightened up and stood in front of Ailian and Hall, saying, "You two should get some rest. Overworking is bad for your skin and your growth."

Eileen looked at William, who nodded wearily. After hesitating for a moment, Eileen pressed Hall down and bent over to Puss, then turned and pushed open the back door, climbing the stairs to the second floor.

After looking up at the ceiling for a while, Puss pulled up a chair and sat opposite William, placing his hands on his knees. He remained silent for a long time before taking out a cigarette case from his pocket and handing it to William.

"Want one?"

William instinctively reached out, but then, glancing at the pastries displayed in the cupboard, he waved his hand again, saying, "Never mind, no smoking here. You'll have to have some."

Heart?

"Eh—is that okay?" Puss asked, somewhat surprised. He glanced at the outrageous price again, then immediately put his hands behind his head and whistled nonchalantly. "No, it's not necessary. Actually, I'm on a diet."

“Consider it repayment for saving my life. No, it’s more than just saving my life. I had a feeling that if you hadn’t shown up, I might never be able to make desserts again,” William looked at his hands and let out a long sigh. He got up and went behind the table to bring out the ingredients. “These are more than just a dessert.”

Since William had put it that way, Puss naturally couldn't refuse. After waiting a while, Puss scratched his head and said, "It might get even worse in the future."

William's hand trembled. "Really?"

“Although I would love to assure you that nothing will happen with me here, I’m sorry, I have no intention of making such an irresponsible promise,” Puss said, touching the revolver in his holster. He only had so many bullets, but the three-round vagrants had an endless supply. “And… Mr. William, you’re probably being watched by them.”

Puss reached out and grabbed a label with numbers that seemed exaggerated for the Triassic residents, then waved it at William.

William smiled calmly, and his hand movements became much smoother and more natural than before.

"Mr. Puss, you've got your eye on me too?"

Puss understood what William meant, paused for a moment, and put the tag back. "Well, it's true, I really can't afford this price. Every time I pass by, I can't help but wonder why anyone would buy pastries like this."

“Because this is a pastry that can only be tasted in the chalk circle,” William said, his hands on the cutting board, a helpless grin on his face.

“We have invested countless hours and spared no expense in the sculpting process. This is the culmination of our hard work, but people are not willing to give us the reward that allows us to continue.”

"Uh—a happy smile...is that not allowed?" Puss raised his hand and complained somewhat awkwardly.

“Of course, but… if we do it too often, our happy smiles will become cheap and perfunctory. For both us and our customers, our pastries are just passing through for our customers, but they are our everything. We will gradually lose our dignity and eventually drown in this gentle embrace,” William said with a helpless smile.

"However, it's a different story once you put on the chalk circle label and pay a high price."

"Our pastries will be respected."

William turned around and carefully placed the strawberries down.

“I don’t think I did anything wrong. Snacks are a luxury, not a necessity, and I would not force anyone to come to my place to spend money.”

William exhaled and pushed the strawberry cake toward Puss.

“Well… alright, Mr. William, I understand what you mean,” Puss pulled up a chair and moved closer to the cake, but didn’t start eating. Instead, he crossed his arms. “But you’ve seen the situation now. It’s not a matter of dignity anymore. Rather… do they look like they have any dignity?”

“This…” William tilted his head back and then lowered it again. “I don’t know either.”

Puss scratched his head, thought of Anne, hesitated for a moment, and then tentatively suggested, "Maybe we can form a self-defense force?"

"Self-Defense Forces?" William was taken aback.

“Yes, the biggest problem now is not that those millennial nobles are funding the homeless, but that they have banded together and, relying on the protection of the law due to the nobles’ funding, are committing robberies. The residents of the Triassic Circle are not united, just like just now. They outnumbered and had the upper hand, but they were still scared away by a gun,” Puss pointed to the revolver on his thigh. “This shows that they are essentially using the power of the powerful as a shield. If we form a self-defense force… those homeless people won’t be so bold.”

"Is this... feasible?" William pondered for a moment, somewhat hesitant.

“This is probably the only way we have left,” Puss said with a regretful expression, taking a bite of the strawberry cake.

"Mmm, it's delicious."

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.

After passing through the tunnel, Li Yili arrived at the basement of the butcher shop. Like the butcher shop outside, it was full of skinned animals, but these animals were all packed into boxes, seemingly to be transported somewhere.

Li Yili walked quickly to the nearest box, reached her right hand through the belly of the animal, and touched the cold metal. She pulled open the animal's belly, and a row of gun barrels appeared in front of her.

Li Yili frowned, but a furious shout from behind interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey—what are you?!"

Li Yili exhaled and withdrew her hand. As soon as she turned around, she felt a strong gust of wind blow past her face.

The man who appeared at the basement door was raising his arm, and the pale green gemstone embedded in his arm was emitting a faint light.

"Heritage? No... it's pollutants."

Chapter Sixty-Seven: It's Not Time for You to Scream Yet

A competent leader will never allow the lower classes to obtain the force to overthrow their class.

Although they are merely an empty shell under the tutelage of the Cult of Steam and Steel, the royal family and nobles of the wasteland are extremely diligent in defending their class, without needing any prompting or assistance from the Cult of Steam and Steel.

The legacy of the ancient gods represents a miraculous power before which science pales in comparison. No matter where one is, the legacy of the ancient gods is an extremely precious resource.

Especially in the wasteland known as the Wasteland, a place that produces neither the legacy of ancient gods nor even temples.

Every year, the Wasteland Royal Family purchases a large amount of the ancient gods' legacy from other regions. Most of these legacies are in the hands of the Wasteland Royal Family and nobles. At least a few legacies of less powerful ancient gods will flow into the Cretaceous Circle, but that's all. The legacies of the ancient gods will never flow into the Jurassic Circle.

The Cretaceous Circle engages in business and shares a common destiny with the Wasteland Royal Family. The Cretaceous Circle needs the capital Millennium, so it bestows favors by giving some of the ancient divine heritage. But the Jurassic Circle is different.

Because the Cretaceous and Millennial people didn't want to do dirty or strenuous work, and didn't want their homes to be polluted by industry, they built a Jurassic Circle. Steel mills and other such facilities were crammed into the Jurassic Circle, but the Jurassic Circle rebelled, and the Cult of Steam and Steel just stood by and did nothing to stop it.

Because the attention of the Cretaceous and Millennial people was always focused on the legacy of the ancient gods with magical powers, by the time the Wasteland Royal Family realized what was happening, the mafia and other gangs already had a rough arms manufacturing and sales chain. Even if they had the legacy of the ancient gods, they would be caught off guard, and with enough firepower, they could even suppress the guards who used the legacy of the ancient gods.

If it weren't for the limited firepower of Jurassic Circle weaponry and the deterrent effect of the Cult of Steam and Steel, the Wasteland Royal Family would have even suspected that Jurassic Circle would break through the walls of Cretaceous Circle. However, it did not break through the walls and established a new class. In order to add a new ruled class, Triassic Circle appeared.

If the Jurassic Circle gangs were to inherit the legacy of the ancient gods, it would truly threaten the ruling class of the millennials.

The sharp wind blades slashed straight towards Li Yili's legs, but before severing them, the black, viscous liquid swirled around them. The tattered yellow raincoat hung down, and all the wind blades landed on it like lightly touching the surface of a lake, creating ripples. Rebecca had already reached the attacker while enduring the wind blades, raising her sharp claws and flashing a savage, eerie green light in her vertical beastly eyes.

“Don’t kill him,” Li Yili said, raising her hand to dust off her raincoat.

Rebecca's eyes darted to the side, and three cold glints fell vertically to the ground. The man's arm, inlaid with a pale green gemstone, was instantly severed into three pieces and fell to the ground. The man was stunned for a moment before he reacted, then knelt on the ground with a thud, clutching his severed arm and opening his mouth to cry out in pain. But before he could utter a word, Rebecca had already kicked him in the abdomen. The immense force instantly forced all the air out of the man's lungs, and the man fell to the ground, his face contorted, writhing like a worm.

Li Yili nodded in satisfaction, reached out and twisted off the cow leg from the box, then tossed it behind her.

Rebecca, who had been keeping her ears perked up, immediately turned around, wagged her tail, and bit the cow's leg, turning her back to Li Yili and crunching away.

Li Yili grinned and walked up to the writhing man, kicking him over. She then raised her right foot and stepped on the man's severed arm, applying slight pressure. The man's eyes instantly rolled back in pain, and his legs writhed on the ground.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better behave yourself for now,” Li Yili said, glancing to the side. The viscous liquid at her feet spread backward and split into two streams. Penny and Gray lifted themselves up from the streams and held the two severed arms to Li Yili’s hands, one on each side.

The severed arm, inlaid with gemstones, was like an independent living entity, with the wound slowly wriggling and closing. The blood vessels at the location where the gemstones were inlaid were abnormally bulging, causing the muscles to squeeze the gemstones inward.

The severed limb, lying in a pool of blood, moved like a spider, its fingers swaying towards the man, as if trying to reconnect to his body.

"That's quite a peculiar phenomenon."

Li Yili glanced at the man whose arm Rebecca had severed. In just a short while, the man's face had become frighteningly pale. If it weren't for his eyes still moving, Li Yili would have thought the man was dead. But if the bleeding wasn't stopped soon, the man would really be dead.

Li Yili tilted her head and stared at the hand crawling in the pool of blood for a while before kicking it. The severed hand landed with a thud on the man's severed arm. A bizarre scene unfolded: the severed fingers of the hand quickly adjusted their positions, and the completely mismatched ends came together, with the flesh contracting as if to connect with the hand.

"Ugh—it looks disgusting. Is it really going to connect?" Rebecca, who had secretly gnawed on another beef leg, peeked out from behind Li Yili and complained.

“That’s not important,” Li Yili snapped her fingers, and Penny and Gray immediately tightened their grips. The writhing chunks of flesh in their hands exploded on the spot, and the fleshy pulp flowed down their black leather gloves. Their fingers opened again, and a piece of dark green gem appeared in their palms.

“The important thing is, where did these guys get these things?” Li Yili glanced at the gems in Penny and Gray’s hands and looked down at the man.

In just a short while, the severed limb in the palm area had regenerated. At first glance, the man looked as if his right arm was born deformed, but the gemstone embedded in the back of his hand had completely sunk into the man's flesh.

“Hey—wake up,” Li Yili leaned down and slapped the man across the face. “You’re just a little anemic right now.”

The man groggily woke up, the painful memories of before he lost consciousness washing over him. He suddenly raised his left hand and reached for his right arm, but what he touched was not his arm, but a palm, and it seemed that their fingers were interlocked.

The man froze, swallowed hard, and stiffly turned his head.

Looking over, his left hand was interlocked with his right hand, but his arm was gone, as if he had never had an arm in the first place.

The shocking fact made the man instinctively open his mouth to scream, but before he could make a sound, Li Yili had already raised her foot and stepped on the man's face, her heel pressing against his chin.

“It’s not time for you to scream yet,” Li Yili said, picking her ear with her little finger as she looked down at the man whose pupils were trembling. “Answer my question, and I’ll let you scream as much as you want later.”

"Who gave you this gemstone?"

"Who are you going to sell these weapons to?"

Chapter Sixty-Eight is about humans

“Shouldn’t we ask his name first?” Rebecca, standing behind Li Yili, complained.

"Huh? Ah~ What's your name again?" Li Yili yawned and stopped using her shoe to poke the man's chin.

The man looked at Li Yili with a mixture of shock and fear. He wanted to point his finger at her and yell, "Do you know who my superiors are? Do you know whose territory this is?! This will not be left like this!"

But behind Li Yili stood a tall werewolf, whose sharp teeth snapped shut, crushing even the hard cow bones as easily as candy.

If the werewolf that was inhaling a cow's leg like a marshmallow was a blatant threat, then Penny and Grey, standing on either side of Li Yili wearing raven masks, were an indescribable, unknown fear.

The man's lips twitched. "I am Wochi."

"What are you doing? Never mind that, I don't care about that. Answer my question from before: who gave you this gem? And who are you going to sell these guns to?"

Woch's eyes twitched, and he subconsciously moved back a little. Li Yili noticed Woch's movement but didn't care. Instead, she held up three fingers and said, "I know your rules. If you say something you shouldn't, you'll be in trouble. I'm a kind-hearted person, so how about this?"

"Let me cut your finger first."

Li Yili's ruthless demeanor, so contrary to her smile, made Wochi gasp. He cursed inwardly, wondering who the real gangster was, before forcing a smile. "No, no need for that—I, I'll talk."

His right arm was already in this terrible state; if they cut off his fingers as well, he would really be doomed. The thought of his enemies sent chills down Woch's spine.

"Is it really okay?" Li Yili squatted down in front of Wochi, tilting her head. "These two problems don't seem like trivial matters that can be solved by cutting off two fingers."

“But, but I didn’t, I didn’t keep quiet, right?” Woch swallowed hard. “Whether I die now or die a few days later, I can still tell which one to choose.”

"Ah~ that's true. Give it a few days, and maybe you can convince the higher-ups not to kill you."