Léon: The Cat Killer

Hopefully, this will be a good start for Kal'tsit's plan.

Thinking this, the crimson power mode and aura amplification were fully activated. The storm and waves met for the last time, and then Nana slammed into the defense that Gladys had set up... The hunter almost slid into the other side by the edge of the gate.

With a loud thud, the gate, like a curtain, announced the end of a phase.

But as footsteps approached from behind, Nana recognized several familiar frequencies, deactivated her armor mode, and the Black Cat Killer reverted to her smart, tight-fitting combat suit.

"Nana-neechan!?"

It was Amiya... and the Guard Bureau troops that also came as reinforcements.

Nodding to the little guy, but before everyone could show a relieved expression, Nana recalled the lip movements of Gladys as she threw her punch... Rhodes Island's black cat, still with bare feet that looked like they were only wearing socks, found a corpse dressed in a slightly incongruous way without being stained with any blood... Sui-chan.

When killing, there's not much to worry about. At the time, I might have noticed why there was a guy with a big red flame and gold trim among a bunch of seaweed-green robes. But as the price for attracting attention, that guy was the first to die, so Nana just assumed it was their personal habit or some kind of hidden class.

But since Goredia specifically mentioned the 'Red Uniform Cultists' before leaving, Nana naturally turned back to take a few more glances.

As Nana twitched her cat ears and wagged her tail, she poked and prodded at the pile of paste with a small carbon stick she'd picked up from somewhere, but found nothing strange... After all, personal belongings are treated the same as their owners, and the subspace arrows treat physical matters equally.

It was only the arrival of Chen Huijie and others, whose bodies were wrapped in bandages, that dispelled Nai Nai's doubts.

"...This is...the robe of the Mountain and Sea Clan..."

"Mountain and Sea Clan?"

Using a small stick to scrape away the patterns on the frayed edges of the robe, Nana, being an outsider, belatedly realized that this guy wasn't a member of the Deep Sea Order at all... No wonder he kept waving his hands frantically, trying to express something when he saw her draw her bow and point it at him first.

But... we can't say it was a mistake to kill someone.

It felt like I had just casually completed a side quest that accounted for a fraction of a percent?

Just as Rhodes Island's black cat was lost in thought, Liu Lin'er II Sibabasi led Ifrit, who looked satisfied and still smelled strongly of barbecue... and Saria, whose arm was still adorned with a band of light from anti-demon components, solemnly to Nana:

"Medic...you should take a look at this."

"..."

The usually serious Dragon Girl unusually flicked her tail to express her unease, and after glancing at the documents handed to her by the Rhine Shield Lady, even the well-informed Nana, considered Rhodes Island's ultimate weapon, couldn't help but frown:

"(One) O also abandoned (four) wujiu is guilty... Is the test result confirmed to be correct?"

"Ms. Amiya carefully confirmed with her logistics team colleagues three times... confirming that the sample reaction was correct..."

After pausing for a moment and confirming that everyone around her was a relevant person, Saria continued:

"The remains of the monster that breached the trauma team's defenses... certainly possessed a significant amount of demonic signals."

After a few seconds of solemn silence, Amiya finally realized with Nana's weary sigh... that this seemingly invincible black cat had been fighting continuously for over thirty hours.

"In short, things have become complicated. Medic, you all should rest first... Saria and I will be responsible for the follow-up work here and the handling of the sea monster's nest. Nana, go and meet with the Doctor to report the situation, and then you can all get some rest together."

"Staying in that small place at the front-line outpost all the time isn't good for getting proper rest. I heard there aren't even enough beds there, so everyone has to take turns using them, is that right?"

Before anyone could respond to the little rabbit's curiosity, Croissant, hearing the conversation had turned to their own safe house, grinned and came closer:

"I don't mind, but I wouldn't object if Rhodes Island wanted to sponsor some beds for us~"

"Croissant, stop messing around... Besides, we really do need a long break."

Texas said, subconsciously touching her lightsaber armor pouch, which was now completely empty... Exusiai had a similar reaction.

Although Exusiai seemed to become invisible during both the final assault and the previous defensive formation operations... as the gunner operator with the fastest firing rate, she was the first to run out of all her allocated ammunition.

Having experienced the sea monster's vitality and relentless tenacity, Exusiai now even has a habit of frowning whenever she hears the name "Sea Monster"... This is the tragedy of a gunner operator without armor-piercing skills.

The red-haired young Sarkaz was already secretly considering whether to call someone to ask if he should change his gun or find someone to help him choose an armor-piercing spell.

As for Nana, who is right in front of us...

Well, after discovering that this guy, who seemed to be a chimera, had used multiple Judgments today, Aneng was a little hesitant to approach him.

It feels like... a pet cat, dog, or even a bird suddenly sees you first serve a glass of xanthine alkaloid solution (enough to kill a dog; this stuff can directly poison the central nervous system of mammals), and then, fearing the dose isn't enough, add a piece of fermented dough rich in cocoa powder (another toxic alkaloid). Or even just a few hours later, you soak fruit in a solution rich in caffeine alkaloids, reaching a pH of 3.5 (an acidity high enough to slowly corrode even aluminum, leaving irreversible marks), and then promptly devour a large plate of meat slices rich in nitrites...

Okay, that's enough. Right now, the way Exusiai looks at Nana is exactly like how an ordinary small animal looks at a human.

Look at this devastation, this eerie place that looks like an ancient battlefield, with even the supporting pillars of the mobile city half-shattered... If Texas and many other companions weren't here with me right now, Exusiai wouldn't want to be alone with this guy at all... What a terrifying punishment that would be.

In fact, it wasn't just Exusiai who had a similar reaction. Amiya's team and Rhodes Island operators who weren't familiar with Nana would probably all have a strange impression of 'Medic' after seeing the current scene.

In other words, the cat doesn't care about this kind of thing anymore... Right now, she just wants to find a quiet corner, put down a chair, and lie down. It would be even better if she could pet her potted plants.

"The myriad beings of the mountains and seas...?"

Back on the ground, using the gaps between her fingers to slightly shield her eyes from the setting sun, Nana stopped looking at the Rhodes Island and Guard Bureau's inspection and cleaning departments, who were vomiting profusely, as well as the Lungmen firefighters and Rhodes Island shipping staff who were clearing obstacles... After silently apologizing in her heart, Nana got into the car, and the group began to move towards the front-line command post.

PS: Waaaaaah, kitty

PSSS: The little fox who's been complaining about not appearing for so long ↑↑↑

PS5: My stomach suddenly hurts QAQ, sorry, please refresh this chapter.

9th Dragon Gate Seafood: Episode 356

"Wait until the tide recedes, until honor and life vanish together."

"All things in the world rise and fall, turning into dust."

"When the furnace bursts into flames, when natural disasters strike, when family and friends have all forgotten it."

"The last knight on this land, alone, charged toward the giant waves as dark as night."

Watching Nana holding the terminal, rapidly filling in the blanks in the report with PRTS while reciting a very Casimir-esque story, Jessica whispered to Mika, who was sitting on the other side of Nana, so as not to wake her:

"what is this?"

"The Last Knight...excerpt."

Clicking the upload button, Nana switched her phone back to the PRTS search page. Seeing Jessica beside her still curling her own tail with a gleam in her eyes, Nana coughed lightly twice and continued picking up the content—whether it was a biography or fabrication—...

"The knight's final enemy is this land."

"Those cities that should have been content to wait on the ground, feeding on the blood and sweat of the people, have actually begun to crawl forward."

"Cities are monsters of life. Let's call on them to fight against every city and return the purest beauty to them!"

"Let the grasslands be grasslands again, let the sky remain the sky, let humanity be reaffirmed, and let glory live on forever!"

"I am the last knight!"

Watching Nana's eyes drift upwards as if she were looking at a teleprompter, Jessica, knowing her own equipment's HUD was unknown, slightly curved the corners of her mouth but didn't point it out. The girl, also a little black cat, tapped her fingers, as if trying to forget the memory of the recently mentioned Yi Qiba Lin Liuyi, who had made her tremble all over. Jessica continued the topic:

"Very Kazimierz style... But, what I mean is, why did Nana-senpai suddenly bring this up?"

"Because the enemy mistook me for this, I did a quick search of the relevant records in PRTS."

"An enemy? You've mistaken your senior for that knight?"

Her drooping cat ears twitched, as if trying to shake the questions in her mind out of her thoughts. Looking at the search items Nana had handed her, and the search records that traced back to publications from the 1940s, Jessica counted on her fingers the nearly sixty years that had passed. She simply couldn't understand how a person from sixty years ago could give a modern cult member the opportunity to mistake her for someone else.

If their doctrines didn't already encompass the story of that knight, then it can only be said that, apart from Nana, there really was another 'knight' who recently carried out an operation against the Deep Sea Church.

Otherwise, such a misunderstanding would never have occurred.

Nana simply nodded in agreement with Jessica's assessment, otherwise just letting the other woman hold her hand tightly... Jessica just didn't want to talk about the cultists right now, since whether that knight existed or not was ultimately irrelevant to Rhodes Island at present.

Although Nana, on a whim, followed Gladys's advice and deepened the misunderstanding, it was ultimately just an impromptu performance, an attempt to conceal her identity with little effect... Aside from the matter of the knight, what everyone should really pay more attention to is that monster with demonic factors, a tentacle-like face, and even a collapse paradigm of non-linear movement.

Before Nana left, the Guard Bureau was arguing fiercely about whether Hai Si had 'acquired' or 'adapted' to the demonic skill... Superintendent Chen Huijie even made a video call, and despite being covered in wounds, he bluntly told the Da Yan personnel at the vault, "Whether you can't control your hands or your subordinates, if you can't do it, return the item to Rhodes Island!"

As an outsider, Nana didn't really want to comment on the operator's aggrieved expression... But in the end, even if the unknown source of this demonic contamination wasn't spread by Nana's tactical equipment, the warehouse manager was equally culpable.

After all, the Deep Sea Church members at the scene of Nana's pursuit discovered the common outer robe markings of the Mountain and Sea Clan, and just before the pursuit, the Deep Sea Church produced the Sea Heir Demon Chimera, which had never been found in Rhodes Island's database.

Following the clues currently revealed by the Mountain and Sea Clan, recalling the initial demonic corruption that appeared when Da Yan dismantled Nana's equipment, the porcelain monster in the warehouse... if it was controlled by the Mountain and Sea Clan, then everything makes sense.

The incident initially stemmed from Nana triggering a demonic alarm in Lungmen. Subsequently, during the dismantling process, an inside agent from the Mountain and Sea Clan, who was lurking in Lungmen or the Ministry of Works, sent out a porcelain monster to delay the Imperial Guard Superintendent, thereby obtaining a demonic sample.

As Lungmen embarked on a high-profile search for the Deep Sea Church, these terrorists discovered a new 'ally' who, while not particularly helpful, was certainly eager to cause trouble for Lungmen... The Red Robe Mountain and Sea Clan member who was casually killed certainly didn't just appear there randomly.

The Deep Sea Church, with its many former Agor personnel and highly advanced technology, handled the situation. Although the process is unknown, the result was that if Nana hadn't discovered it in time, the entire trauma team would have been severely damaged by a humanoid sea monster capable of initiating a collapse paradigm.

Of course, while the above speculations are logically sound, apart from the fact that the Mountain and Sea Clan did indeed make contact with the church, Nana has absolutely no other evidence for the rest... it is purely conjecture.

The assassin didn't intend to use such a half-baked conclusion to interfere with other people's thinking... Compared to police officers or detectives who pursue the truth, assassins are destined not to be good at solving problems.

Nana is better at dealing with people who raise questions.

Whether it's the Deep Sea Cultists, the Sea Heirs, or even the porcelain monsters or the Mountain and Sea Clan that we might encounter later, if they are enemies, then we should deal with them.

Nana has realized that, whether for herself, for her companions, or even just for the bewildered onlookers around Lungmen, she should try to make the most of her strengths... The faster she moves, the less pain she will experience.

Summarizing their experience, with Mika and Jessica, who had fallen asleep at some point, supporting each other on either side of their shoulders, and others also huddled together in the back row... taking advantage of the traffic jam during Lungmen's midday rush hour and the air conditioning in the Guard Bureau's van, the group took a short rest.

Upon arriving at the central area of ​​the city where the front-line command post was located, Nana compared Mikan's rubbing cheeks and saying things like "the pillow is so hard" with her own equally hard fist and finally decided to let this little one go... Next time this happens, she'll just let her sleep on the floor.

As for Jessica... well, Jessica is still the same Jessica. After everyone had regained some of their senses, the girl, who was also a Black Cat, quickly retreated back into the Black Steel Squad, ignoring Franka's teasing without any reaction.

However, the empty seat next to Nana wouldn't just sit there for no reason; Typhon quickly moved in.

"Cat Teacher".

"When there are outsiders, they still call me 'Medic' or 'Captain'..."

"Okay, cat teacher, no problem, cat teacher."

"...Don't learn such witty remarks from Mika...I know what you're looking for. Its state is stable. Since there may be more battles between collapse paradigms later, I may need to continue using it for a while longer."

Seeing Nana summon a black composite bow in a flash, Typhon, still in his 'angel' state, blinked in surprise, then shook his head.

"Teacher, if you want to use it, then keep using it. I still have that BMG50 to use... Bows, crossbows, and even guns actually have a lot in common when it comes to using them."

As Typhon rambled on about her little tips, Nana nodded occasionally in agreement as she went upstairs with the others.

In the eyes of the Guardian agents on the roadside and downstairs, the chattering of the purple-haired, twin-tailed 'Sarkota' and the girl who judged Felin might seem a little out of place, but knowing their achievements over the past two days, the Guardian agents, who had completely transformed into 'sweeping' characters from movies and TV shows during this period, did not show any impoliteness.

After all, the news that a colleague went to the front lines to clean up the mess and ended up vomiting profusely was not a secret among the criminal police and special operations team members in the command center.

After smoothly passing through the personnel identification and the Royal Guard's defenses, Nana finally saw familiar faces.

"Nana—!"

A tall figure, accompanied by the hot air from the sprint, and long-haired Film, a head taller than herself, yelled and lifted Miss Black Cat up by placing her hands under Nana's armpits:

"It's been almost forty-eight hours since I last replenished Nana's elements! I miss you so much—!"

"You became like this in just forty-eight hours... So how did you get through those months when Susuru and I went to pick up Linglan?"

"Of course, I relieve my longing for you by touching, hugging, and lifting you up high with rosemary~"

Seeing Huang tighten the shoulder strap with a "heh," and the chainsaw attached to it already having an extension module installed, it was clear that Huang was in a state of alert, ready to engage in battle at any moment.

She is currently assigned to ACE's E3 team, responsible for the Doctor's security.

"So, are you the kind of person who'll do as long as it's a film?"

"Actually, it doesn't have to be Flint. Amiya and I get along pretty well, don't we?"

Seeing Huang wink and act cute at her, Nana, who was still not put down, shook her little feet, which looked like they were only wearing footed socks, and stepped on Huang's chest to force the big cat to put her down.

Before Nana could resolve the question that Huang was curious about, "Nana, why aren't you wearing shoes?" and wouldn't let go of Nana's ankle, another guy appeared indoors wearing a full protective suit, who also made a strange noise upon seeing Nana.

"Nai-nai-!!"

Fortunately, there was also a small white Filin floating in the air like a cloud accompanying him. When it saw the doctor jump up and pounce on Nana, the white Filin pursed its lips and grabbed the doctor in mid-air, pulling him back to the ground.

"Hmm! Rosemary!?"

"Yes, Doctor, you called me?"

As she spoke, Cloud Cat tiptoed into Nana's arms in a few quick steps, and then proudly showed her little tiger teeth to the professor, making Huang Da Cat cover his mouth and want to laugh.

When the pink-haired angel rushed over after finishing the dried fruit on the command post coffee table (whose name was unknown) and shouting, "Ah! Rosemary, you ran away! Mika wants some too!", Huang could no longer laugh.

"Wait, wait, wait! Be careful! The Doctor is very fragile, don't hurt her!"

"Huh? Oh... well, Nana, give me a hug!"

"Sweetie, go play somewhere else."

Nana patted the pink-haired angel's head, and after watching Mika flutter her wings a couple of times before obediently sitting down on the sofa, she let go of Rosemary. As for the kitten wanting to float behind her, that was none of her business.

After settling the trauma team members who had been watching from the doorway with the doctor, Nana, holding her memo, gave the doctor a report on the past few days, who had returned to a serious demeanor and taken off his hood to reveal his young girl appearance.

What Nana needs to emphasize most is, as expected, the Hai Si chimera that appeared not long ago.

"That thing... Amiya is already leading the team to conduct detailed tests and confirmations. This time, Nana, you're the one facing that monster head-on... What's your assessment of its combat capabilities?"