"Looks like we'll be working overtime all night," Zhe said, shaking out his numb fists. Beneath the mask, his voice carried boiling battle intent, and his eyes had grown even sharper.
"Pulling an all-nighter isn't a very good habit," Qingyi replied with elegant ease, spinning her three-section staff, Gavel, through a flourish that traced cyan arcs through the air. Her tone was composed as always, though there was a trace of fatigue in her voice.
"Senior, we have to stop it here!" Zhu Yuan said, rapidly swapping in a special magazine. The barrel of her K22 Pacifier was already faintly red from continuous fire. "If that thing gets into the city, it's all over!"
"How pathetic..." Nicole gripped the humming Treasure Chest tighter, looking at the once-lofty patriarch with a complicated expression. "For the sake of that ugly greed, you threw away even the dignity of being human?"
"ROOOAR—!!!"
The beast-demon let out a sky-shaking howl. Its gigantic body charged forward, every step making the ground tremble. It swung its claws with a slicing gale so fierce that all four of them were forced to scatter and evade.
"Watch this!"
Nicole shouted and the Treasure Chest flared brightly, several ether shells striking the monster squarely in the chest—only to leave shallow scorch marks across its hardened hide.
Zhu Yuan seized the opening and fired in succession, her ether buckshot leaving streaks of deep blue light in the air. But the beast merely raised one arm to block; the rounds burst across its tough outer shell, yet failed to inflict real damage.
"My turn!"
ZZZ launched forward like a shell from a cannon, driving a heavy punch into the beast's flank. The force of the impact made the monster stumble a step, but it immediately swung back with a claw sharp enough to tear the air apart. Qingyi arrived just in time, her three-section staff shooting out like a snake to intercept the deadly strike, and the battle fell into a tense deadlock.
"This won't work—we need more firepower," Qingyi said through clenched teeth.
And then, in the middle of that stalemate, the beast's crimson eyes suddenly locked onto Shi Yueyu and Eous in the distance. It let out a roar dripping with murderous intent and, ignoring all four of them, threw itself madly in that direction!
"You're not getting through!"
ZZZ became a red afterimage, appearing in front of it in the last instant. Crossing both arms, he took the full weight of the monster's punch head-on. Sparks exploded where claw met armor, and the colossal impact carved two deep furrows into the floor beneath his boots.
"Urgh—!"
A pained grunt escaped from beneath the mask, but he did not give ground even by an inch.
The beast immediately swung its other claw, only for Qingyi to arrive and bind it fast with her three-section staff.
"Old bastard, time to drop your loot," Nicole shouted, pushing the Treasure Chest's output to the limit. The device let out an overloaded hum as it released a specially made ether grenade. "Ether force field—maximum output!"
A field many times stronger than before burst outward in an instant. The ether particles in the air became visible, gathering into a spinning vortex. The beast's gigantic body was trapped tight by the force, and every movement became painfully slow.
Zhu Yuan swiftly switched the K22 Pacifier into full annihilation mode. Layer upon layer of cooling fins unfolded from the weapon, and the whine of charging energy grew higher and sharper.
"Limiter off. Saturation fire!"
Dropping to one knee, she pressed her full weight into the stock and locked the sights onto the center of the beast's back.
"This shot is for every innocent person your people have hurt. Full discharge!"
A thick blue beam ripped through the air, twisting even the light around it. It slammed cleanly into the beast's back, and the agony made it howl loud enough to shake the room.
At that very instant, Zhe unhesitatingly slammed the Transform Capsule into the Driver.
[TRANSFORM!]
Blazing red light erupted like a volcano. The armor on ZZZ's limbs violently restructured. Plates unfolded layer by layer over his arms, recombining into massive gauntlets the size of battering rams, glowing crimson from the torrent of energy passing through them.
[Transform Vanish! Ze! Ze! Zeztz!!!]
"I'll end this... with one punch—"
ZZZ shot forward like a meteor, the gigantic red fist carrying an apocalyptic force as it drove out.
"Finish!"
With a thunderous impact, the beast-demon's enormous body was blasted backward, smashing through wall after wall until it was buried beneath a mountain of rubble.
The dust slowly settled.
The four of them stood amid the ravaged battlefield, their ragged breathing painfully clear in the silence.
"This place isn't safe anymore. We leave now," Qingyi said, folding the three-section staff away as her eyes flicked toward the beast's crumbling remains. Purple ether was leaking out of the corpse, and it was reverting into the ugly shape of the patriarch—though it was obvious he no longer had any life left in him.
No one dared waste time. They moved immediately.
Qingyi and Zhu Yuan loaded Shi Yueyu into a police vehicle. Zhe pulled Nicole onto the Code Zero-Eroder, while Eous leaped neatly into his arms. The bike's engine growled low, and both teams sped away from the Melopede family's industrial district.
"Mr. Shi Yueyu is in your hands now, you two righteous officers," Nicole called out, her voice carrying in the wind.
"We'll anonymously send every piece of evidence on the Melopede family to the Public Security Bureau later," Zhe added, his voice ringing clearly through the mask.
"All in all, this cooperation was pretty fun," Nicole said, waving cheerfully.
"Many thanks for your assistance. Adieu," Zhe said at last, before the motorcycle kicked into a graceful drift and vanished down another road.
On the way out of the district, Qingyi suddenly spoke.
"What do you think of those two?"
Zhu Yuan thought for a moment.
"I don't know their true identities, but from the way they acted, they're clearly people with justice in their hearts. It's a shame they possess that kind of power and still haven't joined the Public Security Bureau."
"Perhaps they each have their own reasons," Qingyi said, watching the night scenery race by beyond the window. "Even if they walk a different road, as long as it leads toward protecting justice, that is enough."
"Yes..." Zhu Yuan smiled faintly. "Tonight, we really did owe them one."
The police vehicle drove across the sea bridge, with New Eridu's lights glittering across the night.
On this dangerous night, protectors walking different paths had fought shoulder to shoulder for the sake of the same belief. Tomorrow they would once again go their separate ways—but that sense of mutual understanding had already taken root in all of their hearts.
Unnoticed by any of them, a pair of heterochromatic eyes watched from the top of a high-rise, following the departing figures of Nicole and ZZZ on their motorcycle.
"How very interesting," murmured a gentleman in suit trousers, elegantly adjusting his hat, his expression thoughtful. "I didn't expect someone to act before we did."
He turned toward the purple-haired girl beside him. The night breeze stirred her satin-like hair, and the red in her eyes reflected the neon of New Eridu lighting up one by one.
"What do you think, Vivian?" he asked softly. "Could they become allies of justice?"
The girl's lips curved into a smile that was hard to read, one finger idly twining a strand of hair.
"Allies of justice..." she repeated quietly, as though tasting a particularly amusing sweet. "Who knows? But—"
Her gaze followed the shrinking figure in the distance, and a flicker of interest flashed in her crimson eyes.
"They look like they're going to be even more interesting than I expected."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 119)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter79)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter125)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 73
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 55
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 66
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 63
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 55
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 31
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 31
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 31
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