The villain daughter did all kinds of things

The FBI is warning the public to be cautious of this monster. If you notice any significant changes in the behavior or speech of someone around you, do not act rashly. Protect yourself and then secretly report it. Professional mages will come to subdue the monster.

Meanwhile, the FBI stated that their technical team is using the corpse of the Squid Demon to reverse engineer the monster's disguise techniques, striving to develop a method to quickly identify them and uncover all the dangerous monsters lurking among humans.

Logically, this announcement was flawless, but it still had a significant impact.

Many people had already noticed significant changes in some of their friends, and now, upon learning of this incident, they began to suspect that these friends had been secretly replaced by monsters, and secretly reported them.

Emery knew, of course, that most of these reports were fake news, but in order to mislead the Squid Demons and slowly boil them down, she still instructed the FBI to take each report seriously and send people to investigate the reported targets as much as possible.

For a time, there was a sense of unease throughout the Allen Federation, but fortunately, no new squid demons were caught for several days, which relieved people somewhat, making them believe that there weren't that many monsters lurking among humans.

The real squid spirits were once again fooled by Emerald's feints, and after discussing it, they decided that the matter could be resolved peacefully.

Thus, under the instruction of the conglomerate's higher-ups, the squid spirit's father and brother had no choice but to issue a public statement expressing their grief over the deaths of their daughter and sister, as well as their hatred for the dangerous monster that had killed their loved ones and impersonated them. They declared that they would be irreconcilable enemies with that monster and would kill it on sight.

In short, the Ise Rei Foundation quickly severed ties with the Squid Demon, and even went so far as to donate 500 million Rons to the FBI, claiming it was to support the development of technology to distinguish monsters from humans.

Since they couldn't find the reason why Miss Squid suddenly revealed her true form, the squid spirits could only assume that Miss Squid herself had a problem.

They are quite confident in the innate abilities of their own race. The fact that the FBI had conducted a large-scale search for the hidden monsters for several days without any results only made them more confident.

Despite their confidence, the squid spirits remained cautious and secretly contacted their wandering kin living throughout the Federation, asking them to find a way to return to the Financial Triangle region to avoid trouble for the time being.

It's better to be safe than sorry. What if the FBI really develops some technology that can disable the squid spirit's talents? Those scattered squid spirits would be in big trouble.

But there's no need to worry once you get to the Financial Triangle region. Thousands of years of operation have given the Squid Demons a firm grip on this area, as has the local FBI branch. The so-called big search is just for show.

However, the FBI's actions seemed to be all bark and no bite. More than 10 days have passed since the Miss Squid incident, and nothing has happened during that time. The hype surrounding the dangerous monsters lurking among humans has gradually subsided.

Until this day.

After a vicious and deranged serial killer was apprehended, the federal court decided to hold him on trial in the same manner as it had with old man Langdon.

This time it wasn't in Sphingard, but in a large city in the central part of the Allen Federation.

Normally, this kind of thing wouldn't be a big deal; similar incidents happen every year in the Federation. However, the female judge in charge of this trial happened to be from the Financial Triangle region, and she already had nanoscale sacred seal particles lurking in her body.

However, this female judge came from a working-class family in the Financial Triangle region, and Emery didn't know whether she was actually a squid spirit.

However, since the potion that could make the squid spirit manifest was harmless to humans, Emerald remotely released the seal on the potion during the trial, allowing the potion within the female judge's body to take effect.

As it turns out... there are indeed too few pure-blooded humans in the Financial Triangle region. The female judge is also a squid demon, and much more ferocious than the one who participated in the singing and dancing competition.

Without Ameliette needing to secretly intervene or control him, the female judge, who suddenly reverted to her true form as a squid spirit during the public trial, went berserk. Like a real squid hunting its prey, she used her tentacles to bind the deranged murderer to her front and devoured him in front of everyone.

Even the bailiffs on site didn't dare to attack the squid demon female judge immediately. Instead, they chose to cover the retreat of others first. It wasn't until an elite team of mages arrived that the squid demon, who had gone completely mad and was indiscriminately causing destruction, was killed on the spot.

The topic of dangerous monsters, which had just begun to subside, has once again been thrust into the spotlight.

Unlike the singing and dancing competition, this time, shortly after the incident, a prominent figure stepped forward to reveal the true identity of the squid spirit.

It was Machira, the mermaid commander who happened to be visiting her good friend in Locke City at that time.

Chapter 323 Press Conference

The people who hate squid spirits the most in this world have never been humans, but rather the mermaids and fish-men of the sea.

The hatred and war between the two races were entirely instigated by the Squid People, who, through infiltration and espionage, put both races at risk of extinction.

Not to mention that Machira has become good friends with Yulia after being beaten up by her seven punches, even the Machira who used to hate Emerald so much that she wanted to bite her to death, could immediately put aside all personal grudges and join forces with Emerald as long as it was said that they were going to fight the squid people.

And then there was Xia Sha. Even though Xia Sha had never seen a squid man before, she got incredibly excited when she heard that Emery was going to take action against the squid men, and even volunteered to work overtime... Both the merfolk and the fish-men had been ravaged by the squid men, and exterminating the squid men had become their racial tradition, a top priority that would make them put aside all personal grudges.

So, according to Emerald's plan, after the news spread that the female judge had transformed into a squid monster and eaten the murderer in public, Machira took the initiative to contact the media and reveal that her sea tribe knew the true form of that squid monster—a very evil and cunning monster that had severely damaged the mermaid and fish-men tribes a thousand years ago, and was finally defeated by the concerted efforts of the entire ocean.

Like a stone thrown into a still pond, Machira's revelation immediately became the hottest topic in the entire Federation, with people paying close attention to this ancient secret of the sea race.

Machira also showed great enthusiasm, not only having her subordinates send a lot of information about the Squid People from the Merfolk to the Allen Federation, but also saying after the revelation that she would hold a press conference to explain the matter of the Squid People in depth.

Machira's sudden appearance dealt a heavy blow to the Ise Retsu Foundation, catching those squid spirits completely off guard.

But after a brief moment of panic, the squid spirits quickly calmed down.

After all, they had been lurking and developing within the Federation for over a thousand years, and they were quite confident in their current strength. They did not believe they would be easily exposed, so they planned to make preparations while also observing the situation and not acting rashly.

Machira's press conference was held as scheduled in Locke City. Reporters and intelligence personnel from all over the Federation rushed to the scene, and the hotels and inns in Locke City were almost full.

At the press conference, Machira did not wear her armor as an army commander, but instead wore a human-style dress, which was also ingeniously designed and tailored by Flora, perfectly matching her fishtail.

Among the reporters present, most were from media outlets invested and controlled by Melson Entertainment, but there were also quite a few reporters from other media outlets, and even several reporters from the squid spirits of the financial region of California. Amelie could clearly sense the nanoscale sacred crystals containing the magic potion sealed within their bodies.

However, Emerald had no intention of exposing the squid demon reporters today. She wanted to use a psychological tactic to seize this opportunity to have Machira reveal the true forms of all the squid demons, catch them off guard, and eliminate them as quickly as possible.

After the press conference began, the first to be given the opportunity to ask questions were, of course, reporters from Amelie's Melson Entertainment.

She was a young female reporter from the Federal Daily, very beautiful, dressed very fashionably, and her voice had a natural allure.

"Excuse me, Commander?"

After she stood up, she confidently displayed her charm under the gaze of the crowd, and asked questions in a voice that drew everyone's attention:

"What exactly is this 'squid man' thing you mentioned before? Could you explain it to everyone in detail?"

"I have copied all the official records of our tribe and handed them over to your government. I believe that relevant popular science books will soon be available in various places, and everyone can buy them and take a look."

Machira first gave a formal, official speech, then smiled slightly:

"Of course, I know you are all eager to hear it, so today I will share as much relevant knowledge as I can with you."

"Thank you, Commander! You truly are a friend of humanity!"

The pretty female reporter quickly offered a compliment.

"Ah."

Machira simply nodded slightly at her words, then her tone suddenly became serious:

"Let me first solemnly declare that what I am about to say is not alarmist, nor is it because our race has a grudge against the squid people and we want to smear them. Rather, it is the experience and lessons that our sea race has learned through countless blood and tears in the ten thousand years of war."

Although Machira has suffered repeated setbacks since coming to the Federation, and was eventually forced into a friendship with Yulia by her fists, this does not mean she is weak. It's just that she can't beat the opponents she chooses for herself... In reality, she is still very strong, and can be considered the gatekeeper and the passing grade of the world's top strong people.

At this moment, as Machira solemnly issued her statement, the atmosphere of the entire press conference became serious as well. Everyone listened attentively, eager to hear the secrets about the squid people she would reveal.

Let me state my conclusion first.

Seeing this, Machira took another deep breath, stood up from her seat, placed her hands on the table, and scanned the entire room with her sharp gaze:

"The squid demon is the most evil and dangerous monster in the world. Our only option in dealing with this kind of monster is to exterminate it! As long as even one of them exists, it is very likely to pose a risk of extinction to our race without us even realizing it!"

!

This was definitely a very serious statement. Many people who previously knew nothing about the Squid People race widened their eyes, eagerly awaiting more information from Machira.

After stating her conclusions about the squid people, Machira's expression softened slightly. She sat back down, took a sip of her tea, and continued:

"According to our clan's historical records, the earliest record can be traced back to 15,000 years ago when our mermaid clan established their own civilization and kingdom in the ocean... At that time, there were two other intelligent marine races that established their own civilization and kingdom around the same time as us: the fish-men and the squid-men."

"At that time, we still regarded the squid people as equal intelligent beings and were willing to communicate with them amicably... until they committed those sins in a despicable and evil way."

"As you all know, our Merfolk and Fish-Men are sworn enemies, and we have been at war since ten thousand years ago. Even today, there are still occasional local skirmishes... But you probably don't know that our two races were originally quite friendly. We often visited and traded with each other, and some of our people even intermarried. It was until the despicable Squid People destroyed all of that."

"At that time, it was said that the ocean was divided into three races, but in fact, our Merfolk and Fish-Men were stronger, occupied more territory, and had a more abundant population and resources."

"The squid people have the smallest territory and the fewest resources, so their main way of making money is not through resource gathering and production like our two races, but through trade and making a profit from the price difference... They sell the fish people's goods to our merfolk, and then we merfolk sell our goods to the fish people."

"But our two tribes aren't stupid. Direct trade is clearly beneficial to both sides, so why should we let the squid people make a profit for us? So our two tribes increased the volume of trade between us, intending to get rid of the squid people as middlemen."

"However, the greedy and despicable Squid People, for the sake of profit, actually went so far as to use dirty means to provoke a war between our two races... Of course, at first we did not know that the war was started by the Squid People. We all thought it was a natural friction and a struggle for interests. As a result, the war escalated and eventually turned into a blood feud that could not be ended. The fighting on the border never stopped."

"When the war is intense, production will be strained and supplies will be scarce, causing prices to soar. The happy life that we merfolk and their merfolk originally had will be completely shattered, and the merfolk at the bottom of society can basically be said to be living in misery."

"Many of our kind have realized the dangers of war, and some of the merfolk also understand that continuing to fight will only result in mutual destruction. We have all worked hard to restore peace."

"But every time that happens, some extremely radical pro-war factions inexplicably emerge in both of our races, which intensifies the hatred once again and makes the war difficult to quell."

"Two powerful clans have made a fortune from the war by secretly colluding to resell military supplies, preventing soldiers from fighting at full strength on the front lines and leaving the people starving in the rear, while they make a fortune."

"At first, both of our races thought it was an internal problem of corruption among the elites, a problem that is common in any intelligent race's kingdom, so we didn't think much of it... and the war continued day after day for thousands of years."

"During the most difficult period of people's lives, due to the mischief of those unscrupulous merchants, ordinary people had to spend 50 Bet coins to buy a seaweed cake weighing about 300 grams. In peacetime, the annual income of an average family in our Merfolk tribe is only about 10 Bet coins... You can imagine how the war has devastated the economies of our two tribes."

Some whispers finally broke out at the press conference. Those who were there, even if they weren't professional economists, were all highly educated and naturally understood how terrible the economic collapse described by Machira was.

The pretty female reporter from the Federal Daily was also clever; taking advantage of the moment when Machira deliberately paused, she asked loudly and curiously:

"Commander, do you mean... those extremists who deliberately instigated the war and those unscrupulous merchants and dignitaries who would stop at nothing to amass wealth are not actually from your two races, but rather monsters called Squid People in disguise?"

"You're very smart, Miss Reporter."

Machira smiled and nodded at the pretty female reporter before continuing her story:

"Just as this reporter guessed, perhaps the ocean itself couldn't bear to watch the squid people's cruelty any longer. In any case, due to some unexpected discoveries, many squid people hiding among our mermaid and fish-man races have been exposed. They are mostly extremists who deliberately provoke conflicts and increase hatred between the two sides, and unscrupulous merchants who will stop at nothing to make money."

"Thanks to the ocean! Fortunately, our two races discovered it in time, and later, a potion scholar developed a potion that could identify the squid people, which finally exposed their conspiracy."

"Then we were horrified to discover that the squid people had unknowingly eroded more than 30% of our two races... If we let the squid people continue to erode us like this, in a few hundred years there may be no more real mermaids and fishmen in the sea, and they will all become squid people."

"Therefore, we merfolk and fishmen had no choice but to temporarily put aside our hatred and unite to fight against the squid people. Only then did we finally destroy the squid people and reclaim the blue and clear sea."

"Even so, because of the squid people's relentless instigation, our merfolk and fish-men have not been able to resolve their hatred and border conflicts often break out... Fortunately, there has been no more large-scale war."

"erosion?"

The pretty female reporter seized the opportunity and once again asked the question that everyone was concerned about:

"Commander, what do you mean by 'erosion'?"

"...This is the key point I'm about to make, and it's also the two most evil and despicable racial traits of the Squid People."

Machira paused for two seconds, then stood up again and said seriously:

"The first talent of the squid monsters, as you may have guessed, is that they can almost perfectly mimic any race and maintain that mimicry for a long time. Most magic and senses cannot distinguish them, even the strong ones... And they can maintain their mimicry until death, without revealing their true form."

"And the erosion I mentioned earlier... comes from their second talent."

"Since they can disguise themselves as any race and blend in, they can naturally reproduce with any race, regardless of whether they are male or female... And the most despicable thing about this talent is that as long as you have a trace of squid-man blood in your blood, you will become a squid-man completely."

"This is what I referred to as erosion. They can assimilate an entire race without its knowledge through such despicable means... And if an entire race is assimilated into squid people, wouldn't that be annihilation?"

Hiss~~~~

The moment the words "extermination of the race" were uttered, gasps filled the press conference room as people immediately realized the danger posed by these monstrous creatures, the squid-men.

Even the few squid spirit reporters who had tried to whitewash the squid people through public opinion were now pale-faced and dared not speak... They understood that the reputation of their race was ruined, and speaking up for the squid people at this time would be tantamount to walking into a trap, so they could only remain silent.

The beautiful female reporter from the Federal Daily gracefully withdrew, giving up her right to ask questions so that other reporters could also use that opportunity to ask Machira questions.

The reporters' questions were, of course, all pre-arranged by Emerald. They asked some more questions about the details of the squid people's despicable behavior, and Machira, based on her tribe's records and Emerald's artistic embellishment, recounted in detail how despicable and despicable the squid people were.

Many bystanders were filled with righteous indignation, not only with angry expressions, but also with some directly cursing that the squid people deserved to die, wishing they could catch a few squid people and kill them right now.

"Commander, how did you identify the squid-man monsters back then? Could you teach us that method?"

Finally, someone asked the most crucial question.

"Of course, I am a good friend of the Federation, and I naturally do not want to see you suffer the same calamities we once did."

Machira smiled slightly and took out a bottle of potion. It wasn't the version that Emerald, old man Langdon, and Shasha had later improved, but the original version used by the merfolk and fish-men:

"This is the magic potion we used to identify the squid people. As long as you mix this magic potion with water and let that water come into contact with the squid people's skin... no matter what the squid people disguise themselves as, they will reveal their true form."

After placing the potion on the table, Machira rested her chin on her hand and said earnestly:

"The Squid Demon is similar to a cockroach in some ways—by the time you find one by chance, it may have already become a plague in the shadows."

"But don't worry, I have given the sample and formula of this potion to the federal government free of charge. I believe they will soon complete mass production and then use this potion to induce magical rain to identify the squid people hiding in the Federation."

People at the press conference breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody wanted to think that the person next to them was actually a lurking, dangerous monster; that would be terrifying.

The few squid-like reporters mixed in with the crowd actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Technology is always advancing, and the squid spirits are no exception. They were almost wiped out by this magic potion back then, so they naturally researched ways to fight it.

The initial version of the potion was effective on the test subjects captured by Viliana because those test subjects were controlled and forcibly injected with the potion.

However, if the Federation simply mixes the magic potion into the water to create magical rain, the squid spirits are not afraid at all.

Soon, someone suggested that Machira use the potion right now to see if any squid-man monsters had infiltrated the press conference.

This was naturally part of the script that Emery had arranged in advance, and the proposal was successfully approved.

Machira immediately activated a water spell, turning the water mixed with the magic potion into a torrential rain that soaked all the reporters at the press conference.

But people didn't care. Instead, they were all nervously staring at each other. No one was even in the mood to look at the beautiful curves of the female reporters' shirts that were soaked through. They were more worried that the people next to them might suddenly turn into squid monsters.

Fortunately, several minutes passed after the downpour, and no one suddenly transformed, including those squid-spirit reporters mixed in with the crowd.