Before the shattered kindergarten wall on Twilight Street, everything seemed to have settled.
Some residents cautiously poked their heads out, while the braver ones carefully emerged to inspect the situation.
Holding kitchen knives, frying pans, and other makeshift weapons for self-defense, they stared at the scene before them in fear.
A middle-aged man's eyes suddenly lit up, and he exclaimed excitedly, "Everyone, the Ghostfire Syndicate has been defeated! Did you see that? Even a major gang can be beaten! We don't have to—"
Shnk!
A crimson blade protruded from his chest.
The man turned to look at the many cold-faced neighbors behind him.
After so much suffering, a savior had finally arrived. That immortal...
"Why?"
The light in the man's eyes once again sank into boundless darkness.
He looked toward the immortal and closed his eyes forever.
He would rather believe that the immortal would rescue them from their suffering than lose his final beautiful dream.
"Heh-heh-heh!"
Madam Ma's unmistakable laughter suddenly rang out. "You saw hope? No, no, no. I'm about to stamp out your savior! A single spark may start a prairie fire, but most sparks simply die in silence. Not even one in ten thousand ever ignites the prairie."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A sudden gravitational field crushed Vill-V to the ground.
It felt as though an object weighing several tons had descended upon Vill-V's head, pinning her flat and making even breathing difficult.
This gravitational field was even more powerful than the gravity guns Vill-V and the others had encountered previously.
"Ugh, this is..."
Vill-V raised her head and saw that the residents of the neighborhood had surrounded her. Every one of them was holding a gravity gun.
Furthermore, all the gravity guns in their hands had been modified. A gravitational field would only form when they were used together.
Madam Ma had deliberately customized them this way to prevent any one of them from "rebelling" and stabbing her in the back.
Otherwise, the man who had just "seen hope" might already have successfully betrayed her.
Fortunately, people capable of having their hope reignited were ultimately exceptions. Most had been domesticated into numb, indifferent creatures.
They would rather feast upon blood-soaked buns than believe some immortal would come to save them.
Among Madam Ma's trusted followers holding the gravity guns was even Granny Tao.
"Child, I'm sorry, but this is also for the blood tribute our residents must hand over. Without it, my child can't come back."
She had drugged Vill-V and Hua's food in order to capture them.
She had burned incense in the room when guests arrived in order to conceal the scent of certain crimes.
She was Madam Ma's accomplice!
At that moment, Granny Tao exposed her chest without the slightest hesitation. An artificial heart engine clung to the front of her chest like a spiderweb.
Yet over that hideous mechanism was a closely affixed photograph depicting a child around five or six years old.
Everything now made sense.
This old woman dared to travel far away alone to shop and climbed twenty-one floors every day without becoming winded.
It was not because she took calcium supplements. It was because she had technological capital throughout her body!
She was a cyborg.
"Heh-heh-heh! You didn't expect this, did you? Everyone in this neighborhood belongs to me!"
Her face bruised and swollen, Madam Ma explained with victory firmly in her grasp, "You truly don't understand these free streets, do you? Things that are free are the most terrifying of all. These streets devour people."
"Every free street is the same as ours. Each has its own unique laws for devouring people, without exception."
"You think defeating the Ghostfire Syndicate will make you free? No. You cannot possibly imagine that this is merely the tip of the 'Company's' iceberg. What you're truly facing is the 'Company's' system!"
"Every free street exists to supply the vampire lords of the 'Company'!"
As Madam Ma spoke, she glanced at Landro lying in a pool of blood. "People like him are merely experimental subjects created to pave the way for the vampire lords."
"So what exactly is the blood tribute?" Vill-V asked.
"Naturally, it is the blood of the young, offered for the vampire lords to drink. As long as they have enough young blood, the vampire lords can preserve their youth forever... Huh? What's going on?"
Only then did Madam Ma realize that the person who had asked the question was the one known as Azure Empyrea.
She was still completely unharmed.
After growing accustomed to the gravity, she had even stood back up and still had the leisure to question her.
"I see. No wonder there are no minors anywhere in this city. They were all taken away."
A person pinned beneath several tons of weight should bleed from every orifice even if they did not die.
"Hmph, forcing yourself to endure it? It seems you no longer want to live!"
Madam Ma snatched a gun from one of the residents, adjusted it to full rated power, aimed it at Vill-V, and pulled the trigger.
Since the gravity gun bore the name of a gun, it could naturally kill people.
At half its rated power, a gravity gun could crush a person's bones and rupture their organs.
At full rated power, it could compress a block of iron into a flat disk!
The entire gravitational field visibly distorted the space surrounding Vill-V.
Bang!
A fly passing through the air entered the gravitational field and instantly became a bullet that shot into the ground, blasting out a smoking hole.
Even the fly's remains were vaporized.
The gravitational potential energy spilling from the field made the surrounding residents struggle to remain standing.
The killing field was so terrifying that anyone who tried extending a hand into it would not merely have that hand flattened. It would probably be sliced into minced flesh by the horrifying gravitational forces before it even entered fully.
Yet everyone witnessed an unbelievable sight.
Azure Empyrea remained completely unharmed...
She even struck a taunting pose and shouted at Madam Ma and the Ghostfire Syndicate members behind her, "Hey, Ghostfire Syndicate, right? See that? The equipment your president gave you is total crap. Remember what I'm telling you. We'll be waiting for you at Ragna Plaza (Kowloon Stronghold address)!"
"Come on, Hua-chan, show them something... Oh, right, I'm the one doing it. Fine, I'll show you something."
Then, Vill-V performed an utterly meaningless backflip.
Afterward, she accompanied it with an equally meaningless, flat recitation. "Fuck, leave, ignore."
Her sole strategy was pure "cringe." As long as she did not feel embarrassed, the ones embarrassed would be her enemies.
However, those who witnessed this did not feel embarrassed. They felt only fear and disbelief.
That gravitational field had already transformed into a zone where life could not survive, so how could anyone still perform outrageous tricks inside it?
Doubt flashed through Madam Ma's eyes.
Without warning or a word, she fired at a resident beside her.
The resident did not even have time to scream before being flattened into a meat pancake.
Even his bones were crushed.
The gravity gun was unquestionably working!
Ignoring the horrified expressions of the surrounding residents, she repeatedly pulled the trigger at "Azure Empyrea" and shrieked hysterically,
"I refuse to believe you're truly that divine! Something must be taking the force in your place!"